Five Hundred and Ninety Nine Balkans
Khrushchev and Voroshilov are very sad now. Except for some simple arsenals in the local area that can produce and supplement some light weapons and ammunition, they actually do not have the ability to repair or produce heavy weapons. The devastation brought by the bombing to the Crimean Peninsula this time almost killed the two of them.
About 100 anti-aircraft guns were destroyed, most of which were large 85mm anti-aircraft guns, which directly shattered and collapsed the high-altitude air defense network of the Crimea. From this day on, the vicinity of Sevastopol became a German bomber Frequented place. But this time, due to operational needs, the large butcher strategic bomber was replaced by the outdated medium-range bomber-217, which has a good range and is economical.
Khrushchev and Voroshilov's families were not very rich, and their only self-sufficient industrial bases were in Sevastopol and Chike. Now one has become a There are ruins, and the fire has not been completely extinguished even two days later. It is conceivable that this bombing caused a lot of damage to the forces controlled by the two people.
Everyone thought that the German army would start the battle of the Crimean Peninsula immediately after this bombing, but the German army did not appear in the possible position as scheduled. None. On the fourth day, when everyone felt that the German bombing was just a super-large-scale retaliation for the bombardment of the Soviet Navy's Black Sea Fleet, German bombers once again swept across the entire Crimea region.
No one doubted the target of the German attack anymore. The Soviet command estimated that the German attack would start within 24 hours. After receiving the news, the American intelligence analysis department also predicted that a large-scale battle would break out in the Crimea. And the large-scale bombing of the Crimea for 5 consecutive days has never happened since the London Air Battle.
But what makes people dumbfounded is that just after the bombing of Sevastopol lasted for 5 days, the war on the Crimean Peninsula did not break out, but the war on the Balkan Peninsula suddenly ignited. Turkey undeclared war and launched a full-scale invasion of Bulgaria. 400,000 Turkish infantry crossed the Bulgarian border defense line and began to storm north.
Two hours later, Romania joined the massive partition war, it declared war on Bulgaria, the army entered the northern part of Bulgaria, and began to seize Bulgarian territory. The war went very smoothly. Because of the containment of the German army, Bulgaria's defense center was placed in the northwest direction, and the other main forces were in the south to guard against Turkey. Therefore, Romania achieved an amazing result of advancing 30 kilometers after the war started.
About 4 hours later, Italy came late and declared war on all the countries on the Balkan Peninsula, and then the Italian troops couldn't wait to march into the Croatian area and fought fiercely with the local defenders.
The battle was very fierce, and the Italians showed their true background for the first time. After a long time of brewing, Italy has made full preparations, both in terms of logistics and morale.
The attack this time can be described as devastating. Italy alone invested 900 cannons and beat the Yugoslav army on the border to disgrace.
It can be seen from this that when they are fully prepared and determined to fight, the Italian troops actually still have certain combat effectiveness. At least the main force of Italy is not as useless as it is said in the legend, they are definitely more capable of fighting - if you evaluate the combat effectiveness of the Italian army when everything is ready, it is at least similar to that of Japan, but in most cases the Italians Lack of desperate courage, not as desperate as Japan in terms of momentum.
However, although the Italians fought well, they did not achieve any decent results. Several Yugoslav divisions relied on a strong line of defense on the border to prevent the Italians from attacking. Although they suffered heavy casualties, they still did not give up an inch of ground. They fought all day and night After that, the positions were still under the control of Yugoslav soldiers, and the Italian troops only achieved some insignificant results in local areas.
Akado doesn't want to throw the main force of the German army into the rotten pit of the Balkans and get entangled with the guerrillas. This is the powder keg of European wars. The wars caused by ethnic disputes are almost the history of large-scale wars in Europe. No one will be too comfortable in this area, at least until the ethnic issue is completely resolved, there will be no real peace here.
Therefore, the German army is only going to control a part of the area, and throws most of the hot potatoes to Turkey, Italy and Romania. What the German army really wants is Crete. military base. In the carve-up meeting held by several countries that invaded the Balkan Peninsula, Akado chose not to participate in the contention of the Balkan region as much as possible, which made Turkey and Italy very satisfied, so Turkey blocked the Bosporus Strait despite the protests of the Soviet Union and the Dardanelles.
The next day, when the Balkan Peninsula was in full swing, the German army declared war on Bulgaria, and the entire Balkan campaign was in full swing. The Bulgarian government then surrendered to the Germans and Romania, ceding almost a third of its territory to Turkey. So Turkey gained a land border with Greece on July 30, 1938.
On July 31, 1938, Turkey declared war on Greece. On the same day, Mussolini visited Germany. He hurriedly boarded a plane and rushed to Wolf's Cave to meet Akado, hoping to win the German army in the Balkan War. support. Because he can see that if Akado doesn't do anything, then two-thirds of the entire Balkan region may fall into the hands of Turkey, which is strong and well-prepared, and Italy's interests will be threatened.
"My head of state, please consider the unbreakable alliance between Germany and Italy in Europe. If Turkey controls the Balkans, it is not in the fundamental interests of Germany." As soon as we met, Mussolini couldn't wait Sowing dissension, he must ask Accardo to help, so that Italy can gain enough benefits in the war to keep his leadership position in Italy. After all, he is not the same as Akado. Mussolini also has a nominal leader on his head, that is, His Majesty the King of Italy.
"Great Mr. Italian leader, all alliance treaties between Germany and Italy are being fulfilled by Germany seriously. In North Africa, the Germans are fighting bloody battles to expand Italy's colonies. In the Balkans, Italy's attacks are also being carried out by the German foreign service. Support, isn’t that enough?” Knowing that Mussolini was coming, Akado deliberately prepared a conference room with a map of the Soviet Union’s Eastern Front to meet Mussolini, and Akado even brought the president The chief of staff, General Manstein, aims to reap more benefits.
Manstein is a traditional soldier, he takes obeying orders as his vocation, and Akado ordered him to act according to the script, so it can be said that there is no truth when talking about the Eastern Front. Pointing to the map, he gave Mussolini a military lesson for half an hour: "The German army is preparing for the summer offensive and the autumn decisive battle. End the War on the Eastern Front."
In short, under the behest of the head of state, the chief of the German general staff took the old version of the Barbarossa plan as a real thing, and turned his head away from what Mussolini said in one breath. In his mouth, the German army will launch at least 4 large-scale offensive operations in the future, using more than 6,000 tanks, and dispatching the air force to account for more than 70% of the German air force. Mussolini felt very happy to hear such a large-scale plan.
But then the fatal question came. If such a large battle plan was forced to be suspended due to Italy's reasons, what would Italy have to do to make up for the losses suffered by the German army? This kind of thing is not big, but it is definitely not small-if Germany insists that if the deployment of the campaign is disrupted, it will lose the war, and Italy will not be able to afford it.
Mussolini gritted his teeth and begged Accardo to send troops to rescue him. In his heart, he didn't know how many times he scolded his general and those troops who couldn't do anything. He wanted to restore Italy to the glory of the Roman Empire, but he had no choice but to respond to the old Chinese saying: the heart is higher than the sky, and the life is thinner than paper. His plans have been repeatedly frustrated, and the Roman Empire in his heart, which encloses the Mediterranean Sea as an inner lake, is getting farther and farther away from him.
But this is the wolf's lair of the Third Reich, and no one pities Miss Mussolini's body and the life of a maid. Akado said helplessly to Mussolini: "If the whole plan is forced to be suspended, then the German army will be preemptively attacked by the Soviet Union in winter, and the empire will suffer heavy losses-you know, if we have problems on the Eastern Front, then everything will be destroyed. It's all over."
"My head of state, if you help me this time, then Italy is willing to send out 200,000 expeditionary troops on the Eastern Front to help Germany resist the Soviet invasion in winter!" Mussolini gritted his teeth and threw out Own chips: "Italy is willing to give up some of the fringe colonies in Africa as the price for Germany and France to send troops! How?"
"400,000! Don't worry, I only need 100,000 Italian troops to participate in front-line operations, and I will put the rest of the troops in the rear to stabilize the supply line." Akado stretched out his four fingers and bargained: "This way we can Make up for the loss and give an explanation to the supporters of the Third Reich."