Six Hundred Troops of the 3rd Empire

"Okay! When will the German army be able to fight?" Mussolini agreed without thinking. He would rather give up part of his interests and entrust matters such as war to a more professional German army, and he is no longer willing to trust his generals. He invaded France and ended up getting bloody, he invaded Africa and almost drove people into the sea, and now he invaded the Balkans, and he was slower than the Turks - no one would trust such a group of bad things. under his command.

"Italy needs to provide 200,000 barrels of fuel, including aviation-grade fuel for aircraft and ordinary fuel for the German armored forces. Once these fuels are in place, the German army will attack immediately." Akado replied to his allies with a smile.

Mussolini looked at Akado, and finally asked uncertainly: "My head of state, don't your troops need to be mobilized? Could it be that you are ready to enter the Balkans, but you ask me for a lot of money?"

Akado laughed loudly: "In fact, this is the case. In the northern part of the Balkans, there is a group army that has just been established by the German army. In fact, this group army was just established 15 days ago, and it was transferred from Kluge. Part of Army Group F, plus some recruits. The commander of Army Group is Hermann Hawke, and you will get to know him shortly."

"Recruit?" Hearing the news, Mussolini really didn't know how to express his feelings, depressed? Still worried? He originally thought that Akado deliberately lied to him to seek more benefits from Italy. But when he learned that this group army was a newly formed group army, he became worried again—is this army going to work? He knew that the elite troops of the German army can indeed be said to be an invincible force of a hundred battles, but the recruits are another matter. Everyone's recruits are almost the same. There is no shortage of recruits in Italy, because most of the Italian troops are It's recruits.

"My head of state, the new army group? Can General Hawke do it? Can this army group work?" Mussolini frowned and asked. This was his main concern, and he had to secure Italy's interests in the Balkans. Otherwise, giving up the colony would definitely be worth the candle.

Mussolini's calculations are very clear: the North African interests he gave up are actually just superficial. Some areas were originally French colonies, but Italy took advantage of the fire to snatch a lot when France surrendered to Germany-these colonies are of course not as good as Where it can border Italy, the colonies will eventually become territories that do not belong to them, and the bordering Balkans will become an inseparable part of Italy in the future.

That's why Mussolini was willing to use the African colonies he acquired in exchange for a large piece of land in the Balkans. This deal is definitely profitable without losing money, but the premise is that this territory can really be conquered.

"Don't worry!" Akado nodded and said, "If Italy can't get the originally planned place, then the North African colony and the 400,000 troops, the Third Reich doesn't have to. But it's best to get the oil in hand as soon as possible." After all, we are not responsible for the consequences caused by the delay on the Italian side.

"

General Hawke is not the unknown person in the mouth of Mussolini. This German armored warfare expert performed very well in the First World War in France, but at that time his troops were equipped with outdated No. 3 tanks and were responsible for covering Longmei. The direction of the flanks of Erle and Guderian, so the reputation is not obvious.

His armored forces suffered the heaviest losses and the most mediocre results in the French campaign. But it was well received by everyone. Marshal Brauchitsch praised him for his "very Prussian military style", and the then chief of staff, General Bock, also said that he was "a rare tank warfare expert".

Because his troops were in charge of dealing with the British and French tank troops at the time, and there were only the slightly backward No. 3 tanks, it caused heavy losses to the tank troops he led. On the other hand, he accompanied Guderian and Rommel all the way to Dunkirk in the face of heavy losses, but did not hold back a bit. This courage and perseverance are absolutely commendable.

So after the First World War in France, he rose to prominence and was promoted from major general to lieutenant general. Because he encircled the largest encirclement in the Eastern Front and wiped out the three southernmost armies of the Soviet Union with a total of 170,000 people, he was promoted to upper General, and eventually transferred to the commander-in-chief of the German Army Group J, responsible for fully commanding the German Army's operations in the Balkans.

What Akado and Mussolini said is true. Group J is indeed a newly formed group army, and most of its troops are recruits. However, these recruits have been trained in France for a full two months, and they have been practicing and training all the way east, so their combat effectiveness is much stronger than that of the recruits directly supplemented by Germany to the frontline troops on the Eastern Front.

The troops drawn from General Kluger's Army Group F are even more impressive. There is the famous 10th Armored Division of the SS, and there are also three relatively elite infantry mechanized divisions. These troops form the core of Army Group J: 8th Panzer Corps and 8th Mechanized Rifle Corps. Therefore, in terms of combat effectiveness alone, the German army that is about to attack the Balkan Peninsula has definitely not low combat literacy.

Now the German combat force has a total of 12 group armies, ranging in size from large to small, but the organization is at one level, from a to l, the twelve group armies. These group armies are responsible for different combat tasks and numbers according to their locations. In addition, the German army still has three quasi-group armies under preparation, only the group army structure, and the current number does not exceed 20,000. Prepare more for the m army commanded by Manstein.

In the west is the C Group Army, which was renamed from most of the original A Group Army plus additional recruits. The commander is General Loeb, who is responsible for the defense of the British Isles.

It was followed by the B Group Army stationed in France. Its predecessor was the B Group Army occupying France, but it replaced many supplementary troops and expanded its establishment. The commander is General Keitel, who is responsible for the defense of France, Belgium, the Netherlands and other regions.

In Germany, the latest Army Group A is being reorganized. The commander is Marshal Rundstedt, who has just returned to Germany from England. Tate's personal reward. At present, this is also the only group army of the German army commanded by a field marshal.

Army Group I is the most dispersed, deployed in Denmark and Norway, with its headquarters at the southernmost tip of Norway. The commander was General Kleist. This army group is responsible for ensuring the supply of high-quality Norwegian iron ore to the German army.

In Poland and behind Ukraine, Army Group H is responsible for the logistical defense of the entire German army, and the commander is the calm General Weicks. This group army does not have many heavy weapons, and is mainly responsible for destroying the guerrillas in Poland and ensuring the absolute safety of the transportation lines behind the German army.

On the battlefield on the Eastern Front, General Model's D Army, General Lister's E Army, General Kluger's F Army, and General Guderian's G Army were deployed in sequence. These group armies are the main battle corps of the German army so far, so the number is relatively larger. These four group armies together account for almost half of the total number of German troops, about 3 million people. Among them, Guderian's Group G has the smallest number of troops, only 350,000; Liszt's Group E has the largest number of infantry, with about 1.1 million infantry.

In North Africa, Rommel's African Army has two armies, but the number is not large. The l army has only about 130,000 people, and Scherner's k army has more establishments, almost 210,000. This is mainly because fighting in North Africa requires too much logistical supplies, and the Axis powers can only support so many German troops there at most.

The remaining J Group Army will attack the Balkans under the command of Hawke, and the number is also not large, only about 200,000. According to the plan, this force will be assigned to Rommel's control and become part of the German Mediterranean Corps.

According to the future plan of the German army, the entire German army will be divided into 5 groups as the highest unit for launching large-scale battles. This plan will start after the end of the winter battle with the Soviet Union. It will take a year to reorganize all the German troops and eventually improve the combat effectiveness of the German frontline troops. The plan of the Supreme Command was to stabilize the Eastern Front in the winter of 1938 and use Ukraine as a barrier to withstand the Soviet Union's counterattack. In 1939, it prompted Ukraine and Belarus to fall to Germany, weakening the strength of the Soviet Union, and then began to counterattack across the board in 1940, implementing the New Barbarossa plan, and starting the final battle of the Soviet-German War.

At that time, there will be as many as 2 million friendly troops cooperating with the German army, and the total number will exceed 7 million if the German army's own troops are included. This number is about the same as the total number of front-line combat troops that the Soviet Union may mobilize. Based on the evaluation of German weaponry and combat effectiveness, the chance of winning is close to 70%.

The plan in Acador's mind was that once the United States invested troops on the Pacific battlefield and began to counterattack, then Germany would also deploy troops on the Eastern Front to start fighting at about the same time. In this way, Germany can knock the Soviet Union out of the game almost at the same time as the United States solves Japan. The bipolar world begins again, only this time between Germany and the United States.

"In that case, then I will return to Rome and send the fuel to General Hawke as soon as possible!" Mussolini saw that Akado was so determined, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to hypnotize himself, making himself convinced that Germany The undefeated myth. Now the fighting power of the German army is his mental drug, as long as he thinks about it, he will feel that he is extremely powerful.

"Okay, I won't send it off. I have an important military meeting to attend in a few minutes." Akado said with a smile: "I hope that the next time we meet again, it will be in the Balkans of Italy."

"Good! In the Balkans of Italy!" Mussolini became as excited as chicken blood, and replied with a smile: "Goodbye, my head of state."

"Goodbye! Mr. Leader." After finishing speaking, Accardo chatted with Manstein about the details of the bombing of the Crimea. It seemed that the chief of staff of the empire seemed unwilling to send the Italian leader in the room.

Anna had no choice but to take a trip to avoid the trouble, she seemed aggrieved.

Of course Mussolini was more aggrieved, but it was unspeakable. Who made his army no longer the legion of the Roman era?

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