Battle of the Third Reich

As soon as the German fleet entered the Mediterranean, a big news came out, and the fierceness of Germanic barbarians once again opened the eyes of Italians.

Anyone who has a little strategic vision should be able to see the military value of this island. This small island, only 50 kilometers long, is just stuck on the main channel where Italy connects its African colonies.

Italian people of insight have also dreamed of seizing the island, and completely removed the stumbling block that the British put at the door of Italy. What is interesting is that this matter is only the intention of the people from the beginning to the end, but the Italian military has not even made a plan.

The reason for this may seem a bit ridiculous. The Italian Navy does not have its own Marine Corps and Air Force, and the Italian Army and Air Force are not willing to fight for the benefit of the Navy.

The contradiction between the Italian army, navy and air force has a long history, and the reason is that Mussolini's body is the problem.

The big chin of the big craze loves the navy enthusiastically. Those big ships and big guns satisfy his hobby of showing off. At the same time, he believes that only a strong navy can help him complete the magnificent ambition of turning the Mediterranean into the Italian lake.

After he took office, the entire government’s military finances were tilted toward the navy. The navy became Mussolini’s personal darling. Its comfortable working conditions and adequate logistics supplies made Italian young people who wanted to join the army more prone. The young people of the right age are scrambling to sign up for the Navy, which undoubtedly caused dissatisfaction with the other two services. In particular, the Italian Army saw the navy with envy and jealousy.

When naval officers and soldiers lay comfortably on the deck of the warship, they ate lobster and oysters while drinking cold wine. After lunch, you can sunbathe in the warm Mediterranean sun, but the grueling Italian Army soldiers can only carry a tattered rifle, wrapped in a thin army coat, and nibbling potatoes in the Alps. Shivering, or under the high temperature of 50 degrees Celsius, with the hot Jiaoyang on his back, carrying dozens of kilograms of equipment. March on the barren Gobi in North Africa. What is the reason, the Italian Army is also the armed forces of the Kingdom. It was not raised by the stepmother.

As time went on, Mussolini's propensity policy became more and more fierce, and the contradictions between the Italian army and navy became deeper and deeper, although it did not reach the point of incompatibility. But it is not much different from Japan. Speaking of which, the Japanese have always been very fond of Italy, perhaps because the two are really similar in many places.

In order to build a huge Italian fleet, the Italian Navy took up a lot of military expenses and resources originally belonging to the Army. This led to the great weakening of the combat power of the Italian Army. It is not that the Italians will not fight. The problem is that they will carry World War I equipment to fight World War II. This is indeed difficult for some strong men. The Italian leader has a good appetite, but lacks a good pair of teeth.

Italy is not incapable of producing advanced army equipment. When the Italians opened their minds, in fact, like the Germans, they could break through the sky. The military technology of the Kingdom of Italy was once at the forefront of the world, because Apennine has a tradition of folk scientific research since ancient times. Italian military inventors have made a lot of strange but interesting inventions, and many things can be regarded as genius innovations even if they are modernized.

But in the end, all this turned into smoke with Mussolini's rise to power, and Italian fascism confined thought. All creations must be carried out in accordance with the leaders’ instructions. Only things that Mussolini is interested in can be funded and purchased by the government. The Italians are loose in nature, and some inventors even advocate freedom in their hearts. Many people are dissatisfied with Mussolini's policies. They have no ability to resist and can only choose to escape from Italy. A large number of technical talents were lost, and a large number of countries across the ocean were cheap.

The Italian Army claimed to have millions of soldiers during the war. That big mouth even boasted that the total number of Italian armed forces could exceed 10 million after the National Mobilization. But in fact, at the beginning of the war, the total strength of the Italian National Army was only 450,000. These people were compiled into 74 twenty-two infantry divisions. This two-regiment infantry division is compared with other powers. It is called a mini, two infantry regiments plus an artillery regiment, and there are only 12,000 people in full.

Even among the 74 infantry divisions, there are only 19 of them with fully equipped weapons, and most of them are only placarded with an infantry division. There is a serious shortage of weapons and soldiers. The Italian Army does look like a stepmother. It is strange that Mussolini always used the Army as the main foreign attack force, but did not give them the funds and armament they deserved.

Italy has long-range artillery with good performance, but due to insufficient military spending and capacity problems, the total has never exceeded the three-digit mark. Most of the Italian soldiers were armed with 1891 rifles during the First World War. The main artillery in the infantry division was mostly produced in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and it was also the loot that Italy distributed at the end of the First World War.

Similarly, the Italians have good submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles. The problem is still limited production. As a result, they can only arm some black shirts and elite companies. The ordinary big soldiers are not assigned. Many soldiers did not know the army until the defeat of Italy. Even these weapons were equipped.

Italian soldiers spend most of their time on a bunch of antiques fighting with a group of enemies armed with teeth. They are participating in a war that is not in a weight class at all.

Mussolini's character led to his eventual failure. For his personal ambitions, countless Italians lost their lives. Mussolini had a deep reflection after his arrest. He believed that his failure was because he overestimated the national character of the Italian. They are not descendants of the ancient Romans, Mussolini said so, the current Italians are actually half-blood descendants of foreign slaves, immigrants and Goths.

The great leaders accused the Italians of all being incompetent cowards. Their souls lack something hard, Mussolini once said after the defeat in the Alps, if Michelangelo was given a piece of marble. He can sculpt a statue of David and give him some clay, he can only make a jug.

Mussolini's words were indeed excessive. The Italians did not lack courage. What they lacked was the motivation to ignite courage. Once they found a reason to fight bravely, this group of guys went crazy and were afraid of themselves.

Because of the contradiction between the arms. As a result, all military services are strictly guarded and guarding their territory. I won't interfere with you, and you don't want to step into my field. The Italian Navy was banned from forming marine forces, and was also strictly prohibited from having its own aviation power.

All those who can fly are owned by the Italian Air Force. In this respect, the Italian Air Force has the style of Gorin fat. As a fashionable emerging arm. The romantic and adventurous air force is the first target for the Italian dignitaries to join the army. Because the pilots are all made up of officers, and do not need to come from professional military schools, this is exactly the appetite of those noble children, because these guys don't want to waste time in the military school, but also want to serve as officers as soon as they join the military. Moreover, the training of the Air Force is far worse than that of the Army. Those airborne babies don’t need to carry a 35-kilogram rucksack to march in the sun. They can drink iced drinks under the umbrella, lazy and slack. After a whole day, as long as the crew members take the plane to fly a few laps a day. If you have an adventurous spirit, you can also drive a fighter plane to play tricks like stunts. The military discipline is for those civilians. No one in the Italian army dared to trouble a nobleman.

The Air Force has become the best place for mixed seniority. Often a noble child is enlisted in the army for three or four months, and then immediately takes a chest medal and the rank of Air Force Lieutenant. Military experience and ranks are the background that the Italian nobles must have. Only with these backgrounds can they enter the political arena with integrity and confidence. This is a process that the new blood of the power class must go through before they come to power.

The Italian Air Force performs the same plot every year, and it is really a soldier in the iron camp. Outsiders have always been strange. As a gold-plated tool, the Italian Air Force does not seem to receive any special treatment, except for a few fighter groups that have been specially brushed by the dignitaries to get some of the latest toys. The rest of the company was filled with the ruins of Italy's various eras.

Before the war, the Italian government announced that they had established Europe's top flight force. The powerful Italian air force has more than 2,300 various advanced aircraft types, which can easily turn Italy's enemies into a fan. Mussolini himself was not very clear about the amount of water in this propaganda. Actually, the role played by the Italian Air Force's high-level officials has been divergent afterwards. It is difficult to reach a clear conclusion.

The scandals such as the Italian Air Force’s shortfalls in corruption and military spending have never been cut off. Because there are a lot of dignitaries who are behind their backs or even take action in person, they have always only made big things small and small things together with witnesses.

The actual strength of the Italian Air Force during the war was shrunk by half compared to the propaganda. At least 1,300 aircraft were only on paper. In fact, these aircraft have long been waiting for disassembly because they are old, or because they are no longer suitable for flight. Can only lock in the hangar and wait for scrap.

There are only about a thousand aircraft that can be used, more than 80% of which are various old models of the 1930s, and the remaining 10% are improved versions of the above models. Only 10% are barely able to meet the standards of the times. Advanced models.

Although Italy claims to be a power in Europe, it cannot change the nature of a resource-poor industrial country. Most of the raw materials that Italy desperately needs must be imported from abroad. This problem severely restricts Italy's military production and the replacement of equipment.

Italy has a good industrial system, but it is stuck on a resource that cannot be crossed. Italy does not want to update the army with guns and weapons. The problem is that his steel output is only more than 2 million tons per year, and most of them will be used to build the navy in addition to civilian use.

Turning now to the strategy of Malta, some officers in the Italian navy considered that once the war started, they must immediately take possession of Malta and reduce the threat of the Royal Navy to the Italian navy.

But in the end it turned out that it was only for them to think about it. The Italian army up and down firmly opposed fighting for the benefit of the navy. Malta had no use for the Italian army at all, and it would only be cheaper for the navy and air force. The Army certainly does not express objections to the face, they use the most idiomatic means, drag word tactics, must undergo investigation, verification, research, calculation, deduction, etc... so you can only wait and wait.

As mentioned earlier, the Italian Navy does not have a Marine Corps, and their warships have no way to go ashore, relying on the sailors to merge with the British Army, the Italian Navy has absolutely no confidence in this.

Also on this issue, the Italian Air Force's attitude is also very ambiguous, and they are not interested in going to die with the British for the Navy, so like the Army, the Air Force replied that the Navy must study and study on this issue and plan carefully, the British are very It's not easy to mess with that. Unlike a ribbed Italian army, they are still playing with a small abacus to pick peach afterwards.

Eventually, the Navy gave up its plan to seize Malta. Anyway, something happened and it stood tall, as long as it didn't say I didn't remind you before.

So, after a series of games between the three armed forces in Italy, the pearl of the Mediterranean fell into the hands of the Germans.

When the German Mediterranean task force with three British battleships as the core appeared on the sea of ​​Malta Island, the British commander on the island collapsed in his heart. Are you going to dispatch such a strong fleet for such a small island? It should be known that at this time, the British army, navy and air force stationed on the island of Malta add up to a full battalion.

A German fighter group that took off from Tunisia became the last weight to overwhelm the defender's psychological balance. The fierce Messerschmitt fighters slaughtered the six hurricanes that circled the German fleet in five minutes. This is all the RAF forces on this island.

When the German Army soldiers climbed the net and began to transfer to the landing craft, a white flag was rising on the flagpole on the top of the British Command headquarters in the port of Valletta.

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