The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Chapter 1146

“Italy’s attitude is complicated!”

Mainz said with a smile.

Mussolini has his own ideas. He is willing to send part of the army to follow the German army to participate in the war against the bear, but he is unwilling to send all the main forces.

Mussolini can become the head of state of Italy, naturally he has his own ability.

However, he won the victory too easily in the domestic power struggle, which made him seriously overestimate his own strength and underestimate the ability of others.

Mussolini always thought that after joining the European Union dominated by the Third Reich, the Third Reich would not deal with them.

And in his opinion, the head of state must form Italy sent troops to participate in the coalition, and it was the main troop contributor. When the Romanians stood up to provoke the war against the Russians, Italy made great efforts.

In the coalition, the largest number of troops belonged to them, Romanians and Finnish.

Under such circumstances, when Mainz notified him to send another main force to participate in the upcoming Soviet-German War, Mussolini was naturally unhappy.

In his opinion, Italy had already done a lot, and there was no need to continue to pay a greater price, especially for the ambitions of the Third Reich to pay a price that they should not bear!

“So, do you have any way to solve the problem in the south?

Compared with the Iberian Peninsula, the Apennine Peninsula is closer to us. It can be said that it is right at our doorstep. If we put an army here when our troops are short of manpower, the threat will be much greater than that of the army of Banya!”

The problem between Banya and Italy is related to the empire’s eastward strategy. If the armies of these two countries cannot fight together with the German army, it will pose a threat to the Third Reich’s homeland, and then it will drag down the Third Reich, forcing the empire to dispatch a large number of troops to watch over them.

Manstein hopes that there will be at least 12 field armies on the Eastern Front. In this case, the empire’s native military strength will be compressed to the limit. He does not want his plan to be affected by the relationship with Italy.

“Of course there is a way. First, give Mussolini a warning to let him understand the will of the empire. If he is stubborn, then there is nothing we can do but let Himmler go and plan a coup to bring the young Italians to power!”

“The Young Turks of Italy?”

It was the first time that Manstein had heard of this faction, so he asked curiously.

“Well, this is a secret group formed by young officers from the army and navy, and their existence was originally to resist Mussolini’s rule.

Himmler’s SS discovered them long ago, but did not tell the Italian authorities about this. Instead, they were arranged as chess pieces and prepared to be used at a critical moment.”

Mainz introduced Manstein as he recalled.

A few years ago, Italy sent troops to Alba, which was right next to its home country, but failed due to the interference of the British Empire and Gaul.

After the war, Mussolini’s prestige in Italy plummeted, and many young officers in the military were very dissatisfied with him.

In the eyes of these young people, the Third Reich made rapid progress in national strength and its military strength suddenly became the world’s number one because of the replacement of the young General Mainz.

After Mainz came to power, the various innovative measures he took were deeply supported and even admired by these young military men.

As for Mainz’s achievements in the military reform of the German army, they were even written into textbooks and became teaching materials for the Italian Military Academy. It was only after this defeat that the Italian army began to learn rapidly from the Third Reich and gradually became An imitator of the German army.

In the process of comprehensively learning from the Third Reich, Mussolini and Mainz, who came to power almost at the same time, were naturally compared.

But there is no harm without comparison. After some comparison, people found that Mussolini was worthless in front of General Mainz. After he came to power, he did almost nothing except consolidating his power, eliminating dissidents, and suppressing rebels.

The only external expansion was defeated because of the interference of other powerful countries!

This is simply incomparable with the heads of neighboring countries!

As the victors of World War I, their achievements and post-war status were not even as good as those of the defeated countries, and at this time they had been completely surpassed.

This naturally made the Italians very unhappy, and Mussolini, who had been in power for a long time and did nothing, naturally became the object of the Italians’ anger.

“How long will a coup take?”

Manstein’s plan was to start a war before May. Now it was already April, and there was only a month left before the war.

In a month, I don’t know if the situation in Italy can be resolved.

Moreover, this problem can’t be solved by just a coup. After the coup, they must immediately get the young faction to agree to send troops and organize the army to set off immediately.

As long as the main force of Italy leaves the mainland and arrives at the Eastern Front, and then the control is transferred to Manstein, he can be completely relieved.

“If it’s fast, it will take one or two weeks, if it’s slow, it will only take one month.

Therefore, we have to leave an army in Audili.

Your combat concept of twelve field armies cannot be met in a short time, but Eisenhower’s North American Corps has good combat effectiveness.

They have rich combat experience and good fighting will, and their equipment has been completely replaced at this moment.

Their performance on the battlefield is worth looking forward to, but this army may not be able to withstand the bitter cold weather in the bear country, so you have to avoid sending them to the northern battlefield.

It’s best to send them to the southern front, such as Stalingrad or the Caucasus!

”

The strength of the North American Corps is almost that of an army, and this force was selected from the millions of surrendered American troops. Most of them have been on the battlefield and have rich combat experience. They were trained by General Pershing, so they have a solid foundation and can accept new weapons and new tactical ideas.

If this army is used well, it can be equivalent to a German field army.