69novels Chapter 264
Chapter 264
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“General, the war report from the Mediterranean!”
Mainz had just arrived in Munich and received a telegram as soon as he got off the plane. It was an urgent telegram from Italy.
Mainz took it, opened it and took a look, and then he was happy!
“Haha, this guy Dönitz actually let him succeed!”
The content of the telegram was very simple: The British and Gallic coalition forces clashed with the Italian navy in the Mediterranean. Two Italian battleships, two heavy cruisers and a dozen other warships were sunk, 2,400 people were killed and 2,100 were captured.
Two British battleships were damaged, 120 people were killed and more than 300 were injured.
From the results and the casualties of both sides, it can be seen that the British won a complete victory in this naval battle.
One third of the Italian navy was destroyed, and the remaining escaped warships were almost all injured.
The damaged Hood was in the subsequent pursuit.
In the battle, they were like gods descending to earth, killing gods and Buddhas.
Their speed of 30 knots was the highest among the dozens of warships on both sides, so the Italians were caught up not long after they escaped.
If the battleship Cavour had not stayed behind to cover the retreat and hold back the Hood at the critical moment, I am afraid the entire Italian fleet would have been killed here.
However, the Hood was a warship ahead of the entire era after all. After they sank the battleship Cavour in a one-on-one duel, they continued to chase the Italians at the maximum speed, and then actually caught up with them.
In the two-hour-long battle, the Hood emptied all the shells of its main guns and damaged three Italian battleships, two of which were seriously injured and needed at least half a year to repair after returning to the home port! The Italians were lucky.
If the Hood had not used up all its shells and their air force had not come to support them, the Italian battleships would have been left in the Mediterranean!
This battle made the Hood famous and became the focus of the world’s attention. Countries around the world noticed the Hood’s heroic performance in the Battle of the Mediterranean and were in awe of the strength of the British Navy! The British Navy was also proud of this and showed the world the strength of the British Navy, letting them know that the British Navy is still the world hegemon and not just any cat or dog can challenge it!
Putting aside the reactions of various countries to the strength shown by the British Navy, the Italians who swallowed the bitter fruit of failure in this battle were probably feeling a mixture of grievance and regret at this time!
“Humph, Mussolini doesn’t know anything. I warned him long ago that our navy was not strong enough to challenge the Royal Navy, and that sending us to war would be like sending us to our deaths. But he didn’t believe me. What happened?
In this battle, we lost more than 200 soldiers, more than 2,000 were captured, and the entire navy lost more than 8,000 soldiers, including the wounded. Our navy was completely crippled after this battle. The capital accumulated through decades of hard work was squandered in one day!”
The former Italian naval commander said to domestic newspaper reporters with great sorrow. After the reporters interviewed him, they immediately exaggerated what he had just said. Anyway, no matter how exaggerated, it is guaranteed to attract people’s attention!
So, when the newspaper came out the next day, the Italian people were shocked. The headline on the front page of the newspaper was a line of words: National sinner, how Mussolini destroyed an army!
Title parties are very common both in this era and in later generations. After all, for newspapers, newspaper sales are related to their survival. If they want to survive and make money, they must attract readers’ attention and let readers willingly pay for their newspapers!
Therefore, title parties, deliberately exaggerating facts and so on have become their usual means!
Not to mention, this trick is quite useful for readers!
Once the newspaper of this Italian newspaper was published, it immediately caused people to rush to buy it, and quickly ignited public opinion and aroused discussions throughout society!
“It’s all Mussolini’s fault. If he hadn’t dismissed our naval commander, how could we have lost?”
“Damn Mussolini, he caused us to lose the victory of this war!”
“Mussolini, step down, and return the lives of our eight thousand heroes!”
……
Affected by the content of the newspaper reports, for a time, the public opinion in Italy was developing in a direction that was not favorable to Mussolini.
And worse was yet to come, because the competition between newspapers was very fierce.
When one of the newspapers attracted the attention of the people across the country with such a report, and the newspapers sold well, other newspapers immediately became jealous and began to follow up, and used more exaggerated means than before, criticizing Mussolini to the point of being a scum of society, a sinner of the country, and a national shame…
In just a few days, Mussolini’s reputation was completely stinking, and demonstrations against Mussolini broke out all over the country.
Hundreds of thousands of people and workers took to the streets to demand that Mussolini step down!
What’s more terrible is that because of the failure of the naval battle, Italy lost control of the Mediterranean Sea, and could not stop the joint fleet of the British Empire and the Gauls from heading to the Balkan Peninsula!
So, on October 25, the British Empire and the Gauls landed in Alba, and they sent 50,000 troops in one breath!
This bolt from the blue had a greater impact on Mussolini, because they only had 20,000 troops in Alba. When these 20,000 troops dealt with Alba’s own armed forces before, they could easily win. But now facing the British Empire and the Gallic coalition with more people, better equipment and stronger combat effectiveness, they had no chance of winning at all!
“Führer, the British Empire and the Gauls sent you a telegram!”
Just when Mussolini was at a loss and didn’t know what to do, the British Empire and Gauls jointly sent him a telegram with extremely strong wording.
The content of the telegram was mainly:
First, the two countries asked Mussolini to punish the war criminals of the Italian Navy who provoked the war without authorization, and handed over the war criminals to the British Empire and Gauls for disposal.
Second, the two countries unanimously demanded that the Italian army must withdraw from Alba within one month, and hand over the areas controlled by the Italian army to the two countries, and then the two countries will hand them over to the Alba government!
Third, the British Empire demanded that Italy compensate for the British Empire soldiers who were killed and injured in the Mediterranean naval battle, and compensate for the losses of the British Empire Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet in the battle!
After reading this telegram, Mussolini immediately tore it to pieces!
“I’m so mad, so mad!”
He was so angry that he jumped up and down. He had never seen such a shameless person like the British Empire in his life! It was obviously they who provoked the Mediterranean naval battle. If they hadn’t used torpedoes to attack the Italian Navy’s battleship Dante, the Italian Navy would not have risen up to resist!
Not only did the British Empire sink several Italian naval warships, but they also dared to come to them to demand compensation and ask them to hand over war criminals?
What kind of logic is this?
Could it be that the British Empire thought that they were the gods of the universe in mythology and had the ability to decide the fate of others?
Moreover, the two countries asked Italy to withdraw its troops. Doesn’t this mean that Italy had been busy for half a century? My god, the land that was obtained with great difficulty was just handed over to others?
How could this be possible!
Mussolini could never accept it!
However, the failure of the Mediterranean naval battle had slapped him hard in the face and made him sober up. Not to mention Italy, even the powerful Second Empire was not a match for these two powers. How could Italy fight against the British and the Gauls?
To fight against these two countries, they must have a powerful ally!
And looking across the whole of Europe, there is only one such ally, and that is Hans!
Thinking of this, Mussolini made up his mind! _Feilu reminds you: Three things to do when reading-