Chapter 302: Italy Starts to Go Down

Because of the emergence of the so-called "socialist axis", the "Anti-Internationale Pact" that should have appeared in 1936 did not appear, and there was no question of Italy joining the pact. Therefore, by the end of December 1939, Italy, the little cute friend of the Third Reich in history, was still a happy neutral country.

Yes, it is a happy neutrality, not the nervous neutrality of the Netherlands and Belgium.

After all, Italy is also one of the big gangsters in the world today. The army claims to have 8 million bayonets, the navy is said to be stronger than France, and the air force also claims to be able to fight Germany. And Italy also has a great leader Mussolini who will be remembered by the people forever. Under his wise leadership, Italy has won two wars in the past few years, defeating the Abyssinian emperor and the Spanish Republicans, showing strong combat effectiveness.

Such a military power naturally became the object of competition between the warring parties after the start of the world war.

Not only did the bigwigs of Britain, France and Germany visit Italy one after another and offer various conditions for joining the war that made people happy, but even the equally neutral American Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins came to Rome at the end of 1939.

"Leader, there is no possibility that Mussolini will side with Britain and France, no matter what Hopkins said to him."

On January 2, 1940, on a special train bound for Italy, Marshal Hersmann told Hitler very confidently, "This Italian leader is a smart man who knows how much weight his country has. Before the outcome of the war is clear, he will not join any side, so we don't have to offer too generous conditions... As long as we defeat France, Mussolini will naturally stand on our side."

Listening to Hersmann's tone of indifference, Adolf Hitler frowned slightly while eating a vegetarian dinner. He knew that Italy played a key role in the "victory route" formulated by Hersmann and Schleicher!

Without Italy, it would be very difficult for Germany to enter the Middle East. Although Romania, Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey are relatively pro-German, these countries are only third-rate and fourth-rate weak countries, and are not real players in the world war. And they don’t have a strong navy!

To ​​enter the Middle East, you must have a navy that can fight the British Mediterranean Fleet! In the Mediterranean, apart from France, only Italy has such strength. According to the Italians’ plan, they will have 4 powerful "Veneto" class battleships by 1943 (one has been built so far). The standard displacement of this class of battleships exceeds 41,000 tons (the first ship "Veneto"), and the firepower is powerful, with 3 triple-linked 381mm caliber main guns, which is theoretically more powerful than the 4 twin 380mm caliber main guns of the Bismarck class.

If Germany plans to settle the Mediterranean battlefield and seize the Middle East oil-producing areas within 1941, it will be inseparable from the battleship "Veneto" and the battleship "Litorio" to be completed in 1940, as well as the two aircraft carriers "Eagle" and "Sparrowhawk" converted from cruise ships.

"Marshal, when can we defeat France?" Adolf Hitler asked worriedly, "The battlefield on the Western Front seems to have come to a standstill now. Marshal Hammerstein submitted a report on December 30, saying that it would be difficult to launch an offensive in 1940... If we have to wait until all the heavy artillery that can be used to destroy the "Maginot" Line is completed, the offensive may be postponed to 1941."

Marshal Hammerstein is the current commander-in-chief of the Western Front. His idea is to attack Belgium and the "Maginot" Line at the same time and form a breakthrough from the front. For this reason, he proposed the development requirements of super-large-caliber artillery and super bombs (more than 1,400 kilograms) that can destroy fortresses and fortresses.

"No," Hessmann shook his head, "We don't have to wait for the heavy artillery to be built, we can bypass the Maginot Line!"

"Bypass?" Hitler asked, "From Belgium?"

"Yes!" Hessmann nodded, "The plan has been formulated. When I return from Italy, I will discuss the battle in France with Marshal Hammerstein."

The plan to attack France was of course formulated by Lieutenant General Manstein. If nothing unexpected happens, the General Staff led by Hessmann will soon come up with a "Manstein Plan."

"When can France be resolved?" Hitler asked with a frown.

"Before July 1940!" Hessmann gave a timetable that was realized in the original time and space.

"Then Italy..."

"It will become our ally in at most 6 months," Hessmann said, "These 6 months are extremely important to Italy and us."

That is to say, Italy only has 6 months left to prepare for war!

...

"6 months?" Billionaire Val T. Rathenau, who got on the train in Venice, was shocked when he heard the timetable of "6 months to join the war."

"How is this possible? This is impossible!" Rathenau, who was already in his 70s, shook his bald head desperately, "This is unrealistic."

Because of Hirschmann's arrangement, Rathenau became an old friend of Mussolini very early. After Hitler came to power, his business focus also shifted from Germany to Italy.

Although he has long been an honorary Aryan, he is an arrogant "big mouth" and has said a lot of nonsense about Jewish domination of Europe, and even published it in newspapers. After the anti-Semitic Nazis came to power, it was not safe to stay in Germany. It was better to live in a safe Italy - Italy under Mussolini's rule was the country with the best security in Europe today. There is no doubt about this.

In addition, he had good relations with Mussolini and many fascist figures. Doing business in Italy is easy. He is now the boss of Italy's largest hydropower company and Italian Aluminum, and ranks among the top ten richest men in Italy.

A person like him, of course, has a very good understanding of Italy's domestic economic conditions and the reserves of various strategic materials (this is also the intelligence Hessman entrusted him to collect in Italy).

“The Abyssinian War and the Spanish War have emptied Italy’s wealth,” said Val T. Rathenau. “Now Italy’s steel reserves are only enough for one month, coal for two months, and iron ore. It is enough for 3 months, and the oil reserves can only last for 3 months of wartime consumption at most..."

This number is actually better than in history. After all, Italy is now a neutral country "loved by everyone" and no one will impose an embargo on Italy. Moreover, the special envoys from Britain, the United States and France were too embarrassed to come to the door empty-handed, so they would at least send some good things to Italy.

For example, Hopkins, who just left a few days ago, gave Italy a low-interest loan of US$10 million guaranteed by the US government - Italy can use this money to purchase US oil and steel.

However, it is not easy to reserve strategic materials on a large scale, because the Kingdom of Italy's treasury is empty and there is not much gold and foreign exchange.

"Abyssinian Company spent a total of 10 billion (liras) on military expenses and subsequent construction and maintenance costs, and spent 20 to 30 billion in Spain." Val T. Rathenau continued, which made people feel a little discouraged. In other words, "The Italian leader spent money on things he shouldn't have spent, so his army was not as strong as he claimed. The Italian army did not have 8 million to 10 million. That was the limit that could be used, but the Italians' weapons reserves There were too few (all used to support Spain), and they probably couldn't even arm the 500,000-strong army.

As for the strength of the Italian Air Force, it is not satisfactory. As far as I know, the Italians have slowed down the development of their air force since the beginning of the Abyssinian War. Italian Air Force Chief of Staff Pricolo told me: Currently, 847 of the 2,300 aircraft in the Italian Air Force will be dismantled because they are too old, and about 500 aircraft are not suitable for front-line combat due to backward technical performance. There are only about 1,000 truly useful aircraft. "

Hitler may not know much about what Wal T. Rathenau said, but Hessmann already knew it—if you don’t count the navy, Italy’s military strength is about the same as Poland’s.

However, Italy's geographical location and its navy are still extremely valuable to Germany!

"Marshal," Hitler thought for a moment and then asked Hersmann, "in six months, will you be able to prepare Italy for a world war?"

"No, actually we can't," Hessman shook his head with some regret, "because I am not the chief of general staff of Italy. But... we can still win in the end!"

"Can you still win?"

"Yes," Hessmann said, "the key is not whether Italy is ready for war, but whether we, Germany, can obtain command of the Mediterranean battlefield! As long as we can command, victory in the Mediterranean and the Middle East is still within easy reach ”

What Hessmann said now is not the best way. The best way is to let the Italian Air Force and Army stay aside and cool down, and directly send the German army onto the field. Then before 1941, the overall situation in the Mediterranean and the Middle East was decided.

Unfortunately this is not possible! Italy will not realize that it is just a bowl of "noodle" that can be bullied by any powerful country until it suffers a lot. The main purpose of Hersmann's visit to Italy with Hitler this time was to persuade the Italian leader to reserve more oil before the war.

If there is nothing else, Germany can provide assistance, but there is nothing we can do about oil. Furthermore, it would be ideal if the Italian leader could be persuaded to reorganize his army and form a truly useful Afrika Korps before entering the war.