Chapter five hundred and thirtieth Mussolini again
After Garibaldi failed again at Sedles, at Reinhard's request, Rommel reported to him the Italians' performance on the battlefield based on what he knew about the situation and the information he received from the French. .
Rommel said in the report: "This is really a shocking force. I can't imagine how they fought until now!"
Of course, this is not a compliment to the Italian army, but a mockery. Reinhard has long heard about the combat effectiveness of the Italian army, not only now, but also in the era before he traveled through time. The Italian army can always give two opponents on the battlefield The army is out looking for some fun.
After reading the report given to him by General Rommel, Reinhard's lips slightly raised, and a bad idea came to his mind - to give the Italian leader a small gift to encourage him.
And this small gift is not an expensive physical gift, but an Italian gift that can make Mussolini furious and go to war.
After all, Mussolini has always been known for his shamelessness. If he is not given a taste of hardship and a longer memory, he may really think that the victory in the southern tip of Algeria is inseparable from the participation of the Italian army. What about the relationship.
He may even be immersed in the dream of reshaping the New Roman Empire just around the corner.
In order to make the Italian leader sober, Reinhard immediately sent people to contact major German newspapers, preparing to send this "malicious ridicule" to the Italians in the newspapers.
In order to carefully prepare this small gift, Reinhard also specially sent someone to find the famous German writer Hermann Hesse to write the content of this article - the original manuscript of the report that mocked the Italian army.
The next day, this report was on the headlines of major mainstream newspapers in Germany, led by Social Worker. The content of the reports in different newspapers was mostly the same, but small details in the article were modified. After all, this article It was written by everyone, and there are very few areas that need to be modified. The title, introduction, illustrations and text of the report are all available.
The title of this report is "Not even shooting can prevent the Italians from continuing to surrender." The introduction says: Being braver than the Italians is something that most cowards in the world can do, and the accompanying picture chose A picture of a British commander smiling and talking next to an Italian prisoner.
It has to be said that every part of the report is selected very incisively and reasonably, and each one directly pokes at the fragile hearts of Italians.
Soon, this news report, with its humorous and ironic language and numerous references to Italian soldiers’ funny battlefield stories, received a large number of favorable reviews and was even spread to countries around the world - except, of course, Italian newspapers.
The German Social Worker newspaper once had a dispute with the Washington newspaper in the United States over copyright issues.
But the dispute remained a dispute, and newspapers from various countries continued to reprint it one after another. Later, almost all official newspapers in major countries in Europe and the United States included this report on the front page.
The Washington Post commented: The Italian army is an interesting army.
The London Metropolis newspaper said: The Italian army is the most enjoyable army I have ever seen on the battlefield.
The reason why the London Metropolis newspaper said this is because Germany gave an example in the report: British Lord Forbes decided to imitate the German "Operation Rainbow" and planned to scuttle the HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier in the hands of the Italian army. He used the captain of the German submarine force to Otto's help foiled Sir Forbes' conspiracy...
The first half of the report undoubtedly demonstrates the reliability of the German army. A German captain foiled the conspiracy of an entire British fleet high-ranking officer, which is undoubtedly a very ambitious propaganda.
The second half of the report was purely belittling the allies and highlighting the stature of the German army.
It mentioned that after the incident was exposed, Sir Forbes thought he was going to be executed and received a luxurious last supper. However, he later discovered that it was the Italians' compensation for Forbes' aristocratic status, in order to allow him to enjoy more than ordinary meals.
Better treatment for soldiers and prisoners!
Also, the official reason for the surrender of the Italian fortress Tobruk was because the crowbar for the ammunition box could not be found.
When Wavell's men reported the results of the battle again, they announced that they had captured officers from 5 acres of land and soldiers from 200 acres of land. (Although this was to contrast Rommel, who led the French army with two battalions and defeated two British divisions, it was still
The Italian troops were hacked.)
...
All kinds of hilarious black materials about the Italian army, whether present or not, were listed one by one.
In fact, Mussolini immediately saw the maliciously mocking newspaper reports from Reinhardt through Italian intelligence agents scattered abroad.
At first he tolerated it, but later when more and more countries reprinted and commented on this report, he couldn't sit still!
He did not want the Italian army to become an inferior army in the eyes of the world.
After all, Italy will build a new Roman Empire in the future and play an important role in the world. How can it not save face?!
Mussolini soon found Reinhardt's theory. During the phone call with Reinhardt, he strongly condemned Reinhardt's malicious slander of the Italian army. It could be seen from his tone that Mussolini was
Very angry indeed.
But who knew that instead of apologizing, Reinhard even asked Mussolini with a smile: "Leader, do you think you need to add more information to the report so that your generals can feel the shame and work hard to change the status quo?"
Woolen cloth?"
In fact, Reinhard said this sincerely. He really felt the need to further stimulate the Italians in order to wake up this sleeping "lion". To put it bluntly, he just wanted Mussolini, the leader, to wake up.
And the Italian generals learned their shame and became brave.
But... what Reinhard didn't expect was that Mussolini, who was known to him as a thick-skinned man, would fall extremely fragile this time.
"Shouldn't it be?" Reinhardt fell into deep thought as he listened to the violent impact of Mussolini falling to the ground and the panicked screams of his secretary on the other end of the phone.
This Mussolini was already the master he had found in this world whose face was second only to his own.
Even he can't stand this excitement?!
Later, according to intelligence reported by Italian Deputy Prime Minister Rossi to Reinhardt, it was said that Mussolini had relapsed due to his aggressive war and was admitted to San Giovanni Hospital for the fourth time.
After Mussolini regained consciousness, he immediately ordered a complete blockade of news of his hospitalization.
After all, being hospitalized for being angry is not an honorable thing.
But what Mussolini never expected was that the German side seemed to know the news of his hospitalization the next day, or even earlier.
Reinhard, the German head of state, personally proposed to go to Rome to visit Mussolini the next day, but was politely rejected by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ciano had the courage this time to reject the fierce Reinhardt for Mussolini. Otherwise, the leader would probably have fainted again after the two met.
Although Reinhard proposed to visit Mussolini, he actually did not mean to laugh at him. On the contrary, he really felt a little guilty towards Mussolini.
Zhuge Liang angered Zhou Yu to death when he first angered him, but Mussolini was sent to the hospital for the fourth time because of anger, and two of them were due to Reinhardt!
"Mussolini, don't be so angry." Reinhard muttered in his mind: "If you die, where can I find a fool who is willing to go all the way with Germany? So
It’s better not to die.”
This time, Reinhardt's original idea was really just to use the newspapers to ridicule Italy, further stimulate the Italian top brass, make Mussolini and the Italian generals realize their shame, and make all kinds of people in the Italian army more courageous.
There are fewer generals who rise to power through connections.
After all, Reinhard did not want to see the Italian troops responsible for supporting Rommel firing blanks into the sky when Rommel was surrounded in the future.
But what I never expected was that Mussolini, who had always been shameless, could not withstand the blow this time.
The famous San Giovanni Hospital in Italy was unable to do anything about the disease and could not allow Mussolini to recover in a short time.
Next, Italy's domestic affairs had to be handed over to Deputy Prime Minister Rossi.
After hearing the news, Reinhard, who had just felt a little guilty, was immediately overjoyed.
This time he was really a blind cat and a dead rat. The Italians actually handed over the leadership to Rossi, a Gestapo cadre he installed in Italy?!
It just so happens that Rossi, the German puppet, can take this opportunity to cooperate with Reinhardt to carry out many tasks and steadily improve the strength of the Italian allies.
