Six Hundred and Seventy-Three Extortion

How many ships escaped from Alexandria? No one knows about this issue. In short, when Accardo knew that the Italian navy did not go to the outskirts of Alexandria to encircle and annihilate the ships full of British soldiers because of fear of loss and lack of fuel, he fell into his hands angrily. glass cup.

A full 20,000 Britons were able to escape the huge encirclement of Alexander by boat, but the Italian fleet, which was enough to crush the British Mediterranean Fleet that had no battleships, only dared to look at this British army that did not dare to fight in the port. The fleet is leaving - the British's one-hundred-year maritime supremacy frightened the Italian navy without the courage to fight a decisive battle. It sounds funny, but it is indeed a cruel fact.

Even the Germans struggled for a long time to overcome the phobia of the British fleet. If it wasn't for Lütjens' sudden inspiration, if it weren't for the German fleet's courage at the last moment, the German High Seas Fleet is still in the North Sea. Being suppressed and beaten by the British, how can they have the ability to dominate the Atlantic Ocean?

However, everyone knows that there are several new and old Italian battleships at any rate, and the number of cruisers is almost five times that of the British Mediterranean Fleet. As a result, this huge gap still did not fill the fear in the hearts of the Italians, which is a bit too disturbing. Annoyed.

"Me! Why am I willing to throw Student's paratroopers to that shitty place in Africa? Why do I not hesitate to retain part of the air force support capability and let the paratroopers go to that damn place in Damanhur? Face Patton's tank alone?" Akado cursed at the Italian envoy in his office.

He stepped on the broken glass on the ground with his leather boots, making a crackling sound: "Everything is for the purpose of enabling the Italian navy to blockade Alexandria under the cover of the Luftwaffe, annihilating or capturing the British. The Mediterranean Fleet! Completely trapped the 100,000 British defenders in Alexandria! This is our agreement! It is an agreement!"

He walked around angrily, completely ignoring the gray-faced Italian diplomatic envoy: "My paratroopers lost almost 3,000 people in Damanhur! 3,000 people! Where's the Italian fleet? Is it the only one?" A patient with a sprained toe because of too much waves?"

It is no wonder that Akado is so angry. After all, all the actions of the African Legion actually started with Italy alone invading Ethiopia in North Africa. As a result, the 200,000 Italian troops failed to complete their mission and were driven out of Ethiopia by the British army instead. , defeated along the way back to Tunis. If Rommel hadn't killed at the last minute and saved Italy's defeat, the whole of North Africa would now belong to the British.

It stands to reason that the entire African Legion is Germany helping Italy to stabilize its position. If it is only to enter the Middle East, it would be more convenient for Germany to unite with Turkey and directly attack the Middle East. Now this war in Africa seems to be for the sake of Italy's strategy is paying the bills.

The result was such a war for the interests of Italy,

The attack strategy agreed by the two sides is absolutely foolproof: Germany dispatched paratroopers to surprise Damanhur, the Italian navy blocked Alexandria, and Rommel's troops smashed the Allied defenses head-on-the end result was to wipe out all the British North African forces and capture them. Or destroy the British Mediterranean Fleet, which is entirely in the best interests of all parties. In order to ensure the safety of the Italian fleet, Germany also retained some bombers and fighter jets, and wanted to cover the Italian fleet across the sea at critical moments.

But when it was finally executed, the Italian fleet did not appear where it should appear at all, so the British fleet calmly left Alexandria, escaped easily from the Suez Canal, and even transported 20,000 British soldiers along the way.

The Italian fleet did not go to sea, but a special envoy rushed to the residence of the head of state in Berlin, stating a lot of reasons why the Italian fleet could not go to sea, using fuel and unfinished preparations as an excuse, and shamelessly hoping that the German high-level could understand Italy's difficulties.

"In this matter, what Italy did was really ill-considered. This is simply hurting the traditional friendship between the two countries." Prime Minister Augustus, who was sitting on the side, said. He would not be indifferent to this kind of unilateral taking advantage of things, so he looked at the Italian envoy who was about to be scolded by Akado for vomiting blood, and slowly stated his thoughts: "Mr. Mussolini must give the Third Reich an explanation. If he doesn't give it, we'll get it ourselves!"

The Italian envoy took out a handkerchief from his pocket with trembling hands, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Mussolini didn’t offer many bargaining chips, and he had his own reasons for not taking it out. Germany is very talkative on the French issue, the Balkan issue, and the North African issue, which makes Italy a little bit elated. Some people even think that the Germans are idiots, and Italy only needs to reap the benefits.

Although there are not many supporters of this argument, Mussolini did forget that the terrible national power of the Third Reich was actually a steel knife hanging over Italy's head. The 200,000 German troops in the Balkan Peninsula, where the whole of Italy can't help it, can easily settle down - that is to say, it is not difficult to conquer Italy without dispatching troops from the front line, just the permanent troops in Germany .

So this poor envoy does not dare to say Mussolini's provocative conditions now. He is really afraid that the actual ruler of 70% of Europe's territory in front of him, the head of the Third Reich, Acador If he ordered to attack Italy, then Italy can almost become history.

Since the Italian navy can be intimidated by the paper tiger Britain, which has dominated the world for a hundred years, its army can definitely regard the German army that has swept across Europe without defeat as a god. If the British navy is terrible, then the German army is invincible in the eyes of the Italians. Let the Italian defenders face the invincible German army, who will immediately surrender if they don't rebel.

"My head of state, as an Italian diplomat, I hope that I can go back to China immediately and explain to the leader the danger of this incident..." The Italian envoy explained tremblingly after wiping the sweat off his head: "If necessary, we can arrest several generals of the navy and let your country deal with it!"

In fact, whether it is letting go of the Mediterranean Fleet or letting go of 20,000 British soldiers, these are not the reasons why Akado is so angry. The most important thing is that this big retreat reminded Akado of the Dunkirk retreat that he personally killed. He didn't know what kind of hidden danger this small mistake would bring to him in the end. It is precisely because of the unknown that he is afraid, and it is precisely because he cannot estimate and speculate that he is so nervous that he becomes hysterical.

"This matter is not a problem that a small diplomat can solve." Akado waved his hand and rejected the request of the envoy of the Italian division. After thinking about it, he continued to speak coldly: "The matter of the Italian Navy first Put aside, let Mussolini come to see me in Berlin in person, the greatest test of the Axis powers is coming, at this time I do not want any unforeseen problems, such as a unilateral breach of contract like this one."

He walked up to the envoy, staring at the envoy with bloodshot eyes like an eagle because of lack of rest, and said, "Let Mussolini come to me in person, understand? Adjust your wording and use the most beautiful words." Diplomatic rhetoric, if you can't do it, I'll send General Huot to invite him!"

General Holt is the commander-in-chief of the German J Army. His troops are stationed in the Balkans and Crete. He is the closest German reorganized army to Italy. When Akado said this, the meaning of the threat is already very obvious.

"I, I understand! My head of state! I'm going to go back to Italy and convey your invitation to the leader..." The Italian envoy now feels that he is really unlucky. When others come to Germany, it is good He was entertained with good wine and meat, and even made some excessive demands, and the relevant parties in Germany would agree to them as much as possible. Why did everything go so badly after I came to Germany?

By the time the Italian envoys escaped and left the residence of the head of state, Accardo had already issued the mobilization order for Army Group J and Army Group A, and the German army was ready to prepare for the worst against Italy at any time.

Because of his age, and the fact that he has been working day and night for Germany's domestic affairs and economy recently, his complexion is not very good, and he looks a bit old-fashioned. He glanced at Akado, who gradually calmed down his anger, and said, "If Italy really doesn't give us Egypt and doesn't let our military police and instructors train Italian troops, do you really plan to send troops to Italy?"

"This is inevitable." Akado snorted coldly, looked at the war zone map in front of him and said, "We must hold the Suez Canal in Egypt in our own hands. Since Italy has given us this opportunity, we must seize it." Stop. In addition, if we don’t comprehensively strengthen the combat effectiveness of the Italian army, would we dare to use these idiots who are slowing down at critical moments on the Eastern Front?”

Augustus nodded, and asked a more concerned question: "If we capture Italy, it will involve another part of the army, and the estimated hundreds of thousands of Italian allies will be missing. This matter seems to us Not very beneficial?"

"A country that is even afraid of the British Mediterranean Fleet without battleships, do you expect them to dare to violate the will of the Third Reich?" Akado laughed loudly: "Get ready to meet Mussolini and hit him hard That's it."

Augustus laughed and walked out slowly.