Chapter 947 D-Day (9)

"If you were in the Führer's position and perspective, would you tolerate it? The Führer spared no effort to export industry, technology, and equipment to Italy in order to allow Italy to cooperate better with Germany, rather than being used by the leader as capital to fight against Germany. What's more, the Führer has been kind to Italy. The StuG III was given; the Bf-109 production line was given; the Panzer IV production line was also given; even the Tiger tanks and jets that the leader coveted were given, but we just can't get them for now, but we can take it slowly in the future. In terms of materials, crude oil, coal, and minerals, everything that can be coordinated for us has been coordinated, and we have not been treated unfairly in terms of territory. The leader has obtained all the territory he wanted, and even Serbia, which he didn't expect, was given to us by the Führer." Moro, the confidant, talked freely in front of Ciano.

Moro is also an Italian nobleman, lower in rank than the Ciano family, but can be regarded as an ally with whom he has always had a close relationship in history. When Ciano became the director of the Press and Publication Bureau, Moro realized that the latter had unlimited prospects and reported to Ciano. Now he is the director of the European Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is 6 years younger than Ciano and can be regarded as a leader among the younger generation.

"To be frank, what did we do? The territory was actually conquered by the Germans. The navy and air force barely made some efforts. The army was basically a joke in North Africa and its performance on the Eastern Front was also average." Moro said with great sorrow, "The head of state gave Italy the second-ranked voting right with an eye on the future of the European Union. Although Britain and France are defeated countries, to be fair, Italy cannot beat any of them alone. Isn't it enough to be above Britain and France now? Do you still want to grab the position of the head of state? If the leader complained privately, it would be fine, but he actually reached into the head of state's pocket and wanted to take away the state of Sao Paulo. This would anger the head of state. Many people in Germany were dissatisfied with the head of state for being too accommodating to the leader..."

"He complained that the leader only cared about having fun and having sex with women. If you don't do your job properly, it will have a bad impact... At the end, he said, 'I hope I can help the leader take more responsibility'. I was sweating profusely on my back..." Ciano described his feelings at the time without exaggeration, "I felt like I was standing in front of a huge beast - this beast had devoured Schleicher, Rohm, Goering and more than a dozen generals and marshals..."

"Now that the Eastern Front is over, millions of German soldiers are going home. What if..." Moreau made a gesture from north to south, "Who do you think will help us, Britain, France, Romania, Hungary or Spain? Not watching the joke is already good enough. "

This is what Ciano feared the most, but he also had concerns: What if it was just a misunderstanding? What if getting rid of Mussolini had a bad impact and he became a scapegoat? What if Hitler was looking for an excuse to take action against Italy? What if he didn't gain power in the end and was taken down by others?

"You can't seek guarantees from Italy for these concerns, but only from Germany. Any new Italian leader who doesn't get the approval of the head of state will not be able to hold his position. I believe all the elders of Fascism understand this." Moro thought for a long time, "Because you are not only the successor chosen by the leader, but also his son-in-law, so we can't use violence or other extreme means, which is not conducive to your election. It would be best if the leader suffers from some kind of illness that temporarily prevents him from governing. In this way, according to the original political arrangement, you are the well-deserved new generation leader of Italy. As for the leader himself, he can still eat, drink and have fun after retirement... Doesn't he like this?"

The phone suddenly rang, and the butler announced that it was for the count. Ciano answered the phone and said only a few words, then his expression became nervous, and he quickly said: "Okay, okay, where, where, welcome, welcome." Then he hung up the phone quickly.

Moro saw that his face was not right and asked: "What's wrong?"

Ciano sat heavily on the sofa and squeezed out a sentence painfully: "Marshal Albert Kesselring will come tomorrow and visit me by name."

"This is a dangerous signal, indicating that the head of state's idea has been implemented and is ready to be implemented. I bet that in addition to Marshal Kesselring, the Gestapo must also be prepared."

Moro's sense of smell is undoubtedly sensitive, and the truth he guessed is almost the same as the facts. Although the Gestapo has many problems, in Italy, their penetration level is no less than that of Germany, and their work efficiency and results are undoubtedly very outstanding - Italians who sell intelligence are constantly being arrested, and moles lurking in the Italian government and army are constantly being caught. Originally, the Italian local intelligence agencies expressed disgust at the Gestapo's interference, but at least they had the real stuff. Now it is becoming increasingly difficult for Britain and the United States to obtain intelligence on naval dispatches in Italian ports. In many cases, intelligence agents are disposable - sending intelligence means the end.

"Let me think about it, let me think about it..." Ciano sighed, "Although the leader has many problems, at least he is very generous to me. He gave me everything. Just because he has not performed well recently and does not satisfy the Germans, I want to get rid of him. I can't do it."

"Only if you do it can you save the leader's status, reputation and life." Moro advised, "The Führer still has feelings for the leader. They are like-minded friends. Strictly speaking, the Führer is still the leader's student. Now the student has become the world hegemon, but the teacher still can't put himself in the right position. He wants to take advantage of his seniority to teach the student. Even in Sicily, such a godfather will have trouble..."

Sicily is a paradise for the Mafia, and the same thing is common in the Mafia - when the younger brother grows up, he will replace the older brother. If the older brother knows what's good for him, he can still be a spiritual leader. If he doesn't, he will probably die without a complete corpse.

"Why is the Führer so sure of me?" This is what Ciano couldn't figure out. Logically, since he has this kind of relationship with the leader, the Führer should find someone else, but he chose him.

He will never know that in history, it was he who took the lead in launching a coup to remove Mussolini and took the lead in achieving a ceasefire - a decent end for Italy, so Hoffman thought of him first. Unfortunately, Ciano himself died at the hands of Mussolini later.

"You should think about it carefully, but..." Moro reminded, "You can't tell your wife anything, otherwise it will be all over if the leader hears it. Have you forgotten how Marshal Balbo died?"

The outside world has always said that Marshal Balbo was shot down and killed by his own anti-aircraft guns, but people familiar with the situation sneered at this: with the level of the Italian anti-aircraft artillery, it would be great if they could have such accurate air defense...

Just when Ciano was hesitating about whether to take action, Churchill, who could no longer delay, finally made up his mind.

On the evening of June 17, after being convinced that the Soviet Union and Germany were close to peace and receiving news of the Brazilian coup, the British Parliament decided to hold a discussion meeting to discuss the future of the British Empire. The meeting specifically asked Churchill to make a statement on behalf of the cabinet and to initiate a vote of confidence in the cabinet. Once the vote was against it, Churchill's career as prime minister would come to an end.

Everyone who attended the meeting had a gloomy face. The situation was very clear today: Germany quickly deployed forces to Iceland, where there were at least 60,000 German troops and 400 aircraft, and the force was still growing.

Now the British Empire is facing blockades on the east, south and north. It is not easy to pass through the submarine attack circle and Azores attack circle that Germany has worked hard to build in the west. The lack of industrial raw materials and energy makes it difficult to maintain local production, especially the oil is almost at the bottom. Aviation fuel can only support large-scale operations for ten days. The Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy were forced to stop all new pilot training courses and only use oil to ensure the most important combat duty troops, but even this is meaningless.

As the Red Army continued to withdraw from its current positions, the German army began to take over one after another, and then the troops originally scheduled to go to the Eastern Front for rotation received orders to stop advancing. In one month, at the latest three months, the German army will transfer its main forces from the Eastern Front back to the country - that means at least 5,000 aircraft and 2 million German troops.

According to the Soviet-German agreement, the Red Army's downsizing and German withdrawal were carried out simultaneously: before the end of 1944, the Red Army would first withdraw to the defense zone defined by the treaty, and at the same time reduce its size to less than 4 million, and the German army would reduce its troops to 2 million at the same time; before the end of June 1945, the Red Army would be reduced to 2 million, and the German army would withdraw another 1 million troops.

No matter how hard it struggled, the British Empire could not find a way to break the blockade.

There is only one way to solve it by military means: delay until the end of this month, wait for the US aircraft carrier formation and the Royal Navy aircraft carrier formation to be barely in service, and then concentrate superior forces to retake Iceland, but how easy is that?

And even this life-saving straw now seems to be unable to grasp it, because Brazil has a problem again. According to the American temper and Truman's utilitarian attitude towards aiding Britain and the Soviet Union after taking office, even the most optimistic Prime Minister Churchill himself did not dare to say such naive words as "the Americans will come to save us".

But he had to make a report, which was a necessary procedure, and then wait for the judgment of fate: not the vote of the parliamentarians, but the Rangers he relied on and the 2nd Infantry Division of the US Army stationed in London - this old infantry division was the first to accept the transformation of the triangle division. It was originally intended to serve as the vanguard of the European counterattack, but now it has become the vanguard of another action.

Churchill walked up to the podium and habitually scanned the audience, waiting for the venue to quiet down before giving a speech.

He just said: "Dear parliamentarians..."

Someone squeezed to the side of Marshal Brooke and whispered: "Marshal, the rats are out of the hole."

"How many people?"

"About 300, and the 2nd Army Division is mobilizing under the pretext of exercises."

"Got it..." Brooke, Pound and Porter exchanged opinions and nodded in agreement, and then a large number of middle-level officers began to act. As for the three major military leaders, they had to witness the big scene in the venue...