Chapter 70: Secret War (2)

Since Seeckt is so unruly, why did he move him in as a military advisor? Is Contini a masochist?

Of course not! Although the decision to hire Seeckt was made in a short period of time, Contini had considered it comprehensively.

First of all, Seeckt's personal ability is beyond doubt. Without the foundation laid by the 100,000 Wehrmacht, the Third Reich's army sweeping across Europe would not have existed in history. Although this was not entirely due to Seeckt's credit, his military, political and organizational abilities were very outstanding, which could help Contini to reorganize the oil guards. As for the real tactical command level, Contini thought Seeckt was very average. The old man's thinking was rigid. He could handle World War I, but it was too difficult to handle mechanized and modernized warfare. He would rather believe in Manstein, Guderian, and Rommel for the latter;

Secondly, Seeckt had close ties with the German officers in the oil guards. Although on the surface these officers were retired and came to serve in Italy, did Contini know that they might really retire from active service? Most of them are filed separately in the secret archives of the Weimar Defense Army, and they will go back when necessary. He does not expect to rely on these officers for his whole life. As long as he leads them for 2-3 years, he can leave a deep imprint and run-in system, and the next step will be much more convenient. If Seeckt can serve as an advisor, it will help to grasp the close connection between this group of officers and Contini. After all, they are a little worried after Seeckt stepped down.

Again, Seeckt stepped down because of the royalist action, and royalism is the mainstream of the Junker Group at present. It is impossible to gain their support and recognition without this friendship. The advantage of Contini is that although he is a fascist trumpeter, he is an aristocrat himself, and he has connections with the royal families of various European countries in his career, which is conducive to establishing a separate channel of influence. Before Hitler can influence the officer corps, this channel is extremely important.

The last and most realistic point is that if you open fire with the French now and don’t invite the old man to sit in, I’m afraid they will really turn against each other.

Of course, Seeckt has a temper, and Contini doesn't want to spoil him. This kind of person is the type that gets more excited the more he is spoiled, and the more he praises him, the more he will put on airs. He had seen this clearly in the last action to protect Hitler, so he had to give him a warning, squeeze him, stimulate him, and tease him, so that he could work for him.

It turned out to be successful. Although Seeckt was whining all the way, he just didn't say "I don't care about this matter". Contini laughed in his heart and continued to laugh on the surface.

The Dante slowly left Taranto, but the Libyan side was like a pot of boiling water.

"Is this really the president's order?" Blomberg asked the Italian liaison, "That's Algeria, the French territory."

"So what? Our joint group will beat them up! It's just a few tribal armed forces, what's so scary, just kill them."

The German officers all shook their heads: the Italians are really brave, not only did they run to Algeria's territory to act wild, but they also had a confident face, and they were also convinced.

To be honest, the German officers were confused by Contini's high profile: the oil guards were obviously the president's private army. If it were Germany, such a thing would make a big fuss, but the Italians were fine, as if nothing had happened.

"The president called and said he had come to Tripoli on the battleship Dante. He asked us to deploy to the border between Libya and Algeria as soon as possible. He also brought a batch of military supplies on board, so we don't have to worry about consumption."

Blomberg asked in confusion: "Fabio, has the Italian Navy also been dispatched?"

"Navy? No!"

"Then... what's the matter with Dante? Isn't this your country's main battleship?"

"... You mean Dante... sold to the president three days ago, and now it is responsible for the United Group's Mediterranean transport boat, responsible for traveling between North Africa and Italian ports..."

"Transport boat?" Blomberg, Kesselring and several staff officers next to them were shocked instantly. Of course they knew what a transport boat was. Isn't it about the size of a torpedo boat, specially used for communication, messenger and important people boarding the ship? Whose transport boat has a displacement of 20,000 tons and 12 triple-mounted 12-inch guns?

Blomberg repeated again with concern: "Transport boat?"

"Anyway, that's what the telegram said. This is the president's current private yacht. The president is so rich, it's not too much to spend 4 million US dollars to buy a warship for fun, right?" As a member of the Youth League, Fabio said proudly, "Other countries' rich people like yachts, villas, wine and beauties when they have money. The president is not interested in these things at all. He only likes warships and equipment. Didn't we buy the Roma last time? Later, the Roma became a bathtub boat. Now it's time to change to a fresh taste. I think the Dante is pretty good. In the future, the artillery can be dismantled and converted into railway guns or competition guns. Tripoli and Benghazi are still short of these..."

Blomberg knew it in his heart: most likely the president has reached a consensus with Mussolini, and the Italian Defense Forces are not convenient to come forward. Selling a warship to show support is still okay.

"By the way, the telegram also said that General Seeckt has been hired as an assistant military adviser to the president of the United Group and is also coming on the same ship."

"General Seeckt?" Kesselring was not only shocked, but petrified. He stammered, "Is it General Seeckt, the commander-in-chief of our defense army? How is this possible?"

"Nothing is impossible!" Fabio whispered about Sickert's dismissal, and apologized, "You were all busy clearing out the Libyan tribal armed forces some time ago, and suddenly received an order to move to the border between Libya and Algeria, so I didn't have time to tell you."

"This matter is a bit serious, I need to discuss it, and we have to make some arrangements for how to fight."

"Of course, the United Airlines has initially assembled, and they will carry out reconnaissance missions from tomorrow to build suspicious terrorist nests and then clear them out... The president's intention is very clear!" Fabio strengthened his tone, "Don't leave any! Sweep them all!"

"How could this be?"

After listening to Blomberg's report, the first batch of German officers who arrived were also a little dumbfounded, but the Italian officers were extremely excited to carry out centralized rectification in Libya. The tactics of slowly advancing and compressing living space were right, but it was too slow and too energy-consuming. As a soldier, who doesn't want to attack in a coordinated manner and quickly eliminate them? So they must clear out the terrorists, and everyone was very excited.

"Let's do it! Sir! We have been training for so many days, it's time to move."

"But that's the French territory?"

"It doesn't matter. When the company signed the contract with the French government, it was agreed that it could dispatch and recruit security forces that the company deems necessary, so we are not violating the rules. Besides, didn't the French say that they don't have enough strength? Then we will help them."

The French measured the company's normal business, operation and profit-making perspectives. They didn't expect that the opponents they met did not play by the rules at all. As long as the opponent has strength, it doesn't matter whether they make money or not.

Contini even thought of an excuse: the tanks and armored vehicles equipped by the oil guards were all produced by United Defense itself, and were used for testing. In essence, there was no purchase of arms. Now United Defense is one of the two manufacturers in Italy that can produce tanks and armored vehicles (the other is Fiat), and the supply capacity is about 30%; the equipped rifles, machine guns, grenades and other light weapons are also products of United Defense. After acquiring Breda, United Defense controlled 70% of Italy's rifle production capacity (the remaining 30% was controlled by Carcano) and 75% of machine gun production capacity; United Motors has the ability to manufacture trucks and buses, and United Motors has 100% of the military tricycle manufacturing capacity; United Airlines also has its own aircraft and bombs; United Shipyard can build submarines, torpedo boats or other small warships, and it is complete in terms of the three lines of sea, land and air. The only thing missing now is the ability to produce artillery, but there is no need to worry, the United Special Steel Company has been established, and small and medium-caliber artillery will have a place in the future.

As the fourth largest armed force in the Mediterranean, how could the United Group not help the French colonial authorities to eliminate the terrorists?