Chapter 673

How many ships escaped from Alexandria? No one knows about this problem. In short, when acardo knew that the Italian Navy, for fear of loss and lack of fuel, did not go to the outskirts of Alexandria as agreed to encircle and annihilate the ships full of British soldiers, he fell the glass cup in his hand.

A total of 20000 Britons were able to escape from the huge encirclement of Alexandria by boat. However, the Italian fleet, which was enough to crush the British Mediterranean fleet without battleships, only dared to watch the British fleet in the harbor, which did not dare to fight at all, leave. The British's one hundred year status as a maritime overlord scared the Italian Navy not to have the courage to fight head-on. It sounds very funny, But it's a cruel fact.

Even the Germans have been struggling for a long time to overcome the phobia of the British fleet. If it wasn't for lutjans' brainstorming, or if it wasn't for the German fleet's courage at the last moment, now that the German fleet on the high seas is still being beaten by the British in the North Sea, how can it be able to dominate the Atlantic?

However, everyone knows that there are several new and old Italian battleships, and the number of cruisers is almost five times that of the British Mediterranean fleet. As a result, this huge gap has not filled in the fear of Italians, which is a little too annoying.

"Me! Why am I willing to throw stutton's paratroopers into that crappy place in Africa? Why should I keep some air force support capability and let the paratroopers face Barton's tanks alone in Damanhur? " In his office, akado yelled at the Italian envoy.

He stepped on the broken glass on the ground with his leather boots and made a click: "everything is for the Italian Navy to blockade Alexandria and annihilate or capture the British Mediterranean fleet under the cover of the German air force! 100, 000 British defenders trapped in Alexandria harbor! This is our agreement! It's agreed! "

He walked back and forth in exasperation, completely ignoring the pale Italian diplomatic envoy: "my paratroopers lost almost 3000 people in Damanhour! 3000 people! What about the Italian fleet? Is it the only one who sprained his toes because of the big waves? "

It's no wonder that akado was so angry. After all, all the actions of the African Legion started from Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in North Africa alone. As a result, 200000 Italian troops failed to complete their tasks. Instead, they were driven out of Ethiopia by the British * team and were defeated all the way back to Tunisia. If Rommel had not saved Italy's defeat at the last minute, the whole of North Africa would be British now.

It is reasonable to say that Germany is helping Italy to stabilize its position in the whole African Legion. If it only marches into the Middle East, it would be more convenient for Germany to join hands with Turkey and directly fight to the Middle East. Now the war in Africa seems to be paying for Italy's strategy.

The result is such a war for Italy's interests. The agreed attack strategy is absolutely infallible: the German Paratroopers raided Damanhur, the Italian Navy blocked Alexandria, Rommel's troops smashed the Allied defense line, and the final result was to annihilate all the British forces in North Africa, capture or destroy the British Mediterranean fleet, This is in the best interests of all parties. In order to ensure the safety of the Italian fleet, Germany also retained some bombers and fighters to cover the Italian fleet across the sea at any moment.

But at the time of the final implementation, the Italian fleet did not appear where it should be, so the British fleet left Alexandria calmly, escaped easily from the Suez Canal, and even carried away 20000 British soldiers.

The Italian fleet did not go to sea, but a special envoy arrived at the residence of the head of state in Berlin, stated a lot of reasons why the Italian fleet could not go to sea, took the unfinished oil and preparation work as an excuse, and shamelessly hoped that the German high level would understand Italy's difficulties.

"In this matter, what Italy has done is indeed thoughtless. It is simply hurting the traditional friendship between the two countries." Prime Minister Augustus, who was sitting on one side, said that his predecessor was a famous iron prime minister. Naturally, he would not be indifferent to this kind of unilateral taking advantage. So he looked at the Italian envoy who was about to be scolded by acardo for spitting blood, and slowly stated his own idea: "Mr. Mussolini must give a statement to the third empire. If he does not give it to the third empire, We'll get it ourselves! "

With trembling hands, the Italian envoy took out a handkerchief from his arms and wiped the sweat on his forehead. Mussolini didn't give much chips. In fact, he had his own considerations when he didn't take them out. After all, Germany was very good at talking about France, the Balkans and North Africa, which made Italy a little bit elated, Some people even think that the Germans are idiots, and Italy only needs to reap the benefits.

Although not many supporters of this argument, Mussolini did forget that the terrible national power of the third empire was actually a steel knife hanging over Italy's head. In the Balkans, where the whole country of Italy can't do anything, 200000 German troops can easily settle down. That is to say, it's not difficult to settle down Italy just because of the permanent troops in Germany, without having to deploy troops from the front line.

So the poor envoy did not dare to say Mussolini's conditions which were similar to provocation now. He was really afraid that the actual ruler of 70% of the European territory, the head of the third empire, acardo really ordered to attack Italy, and Italy would almost become history. Since the Italian Navy can be intimidated by the paper tiger Britain, which has been dominating the world for 100 years, its army can definitely regard the German army, which has never been defeated in Europe, as a God. If the British navy is terrible, the German army is invincible in the eyes of Italians. Let the Italian garrison confront the invincible German army. If these people do not rebel immediately, they will surrender immediately“ My head of state, as a diplomat of Italy, I hope I can return home immediately and explain the harm of this matter to the leader in person... "The Italian envoy wiped the sweat on his head and explained in a trembling voice:" if necessary, we can arrest several generals of the Navy and let your country handle them! " In fact, whether we let go the Mediterranean fleet or 20000 British soldiers, these are not the reasons why akado is so angry. The most important thing is that this retreat reminds akkado of the Dunkirk retreat he killed himself. He doesn't know what kind of hidden danger this small mistake will bring to him in the end. It was because of the unknown that he was afraid. It was because he could not estimate and speculate that he became hysterical“ This is not a problem that a small diplomat can solve. " Acardo waved his hand and refused the request of the Italian envoys. After thinking about it, he continued to say coldly: "let Mussolini come to Berlin to see me. The most important test of the axis powers is coming. At this time, I don't want to have any unpredictable problems, such as unilateral breach of contract this time." He went up to the envoy, a pair of eyes with a little blood because of lack of rest, staring at each other like eagles, and said: "let Mussolini come to me in person, understand? Adjust the wording and use the most beautiful diplomatic language. If you can't, I'll let general Holt invite him! " General Holt is the commander-in-chief of the German J group army. His troops are stationed in the Balkans, Crete and other regions. He is the nearest German integrated group army to Italy. Akado's meaning of threat is very obvious“ I, I get it! My Fuehrer! I'm going back to Italy to convey your invitation to the leader... "The Italian envoys feel that they are really unlucky. When others come to Germany, they are treated with good wine and meat, and even put forward some excessive demands. The German authorities will try their best to agree. Why do they come to Germany, Is everything so bad? When the Italian envoys fled from the residence of the head of state, akado had ordered the mobilization of group J and group A, and the German army was ready to prepare for the worst for Italy at any time. Because of his age and his recent hard work for the German economy, Augustus didn't look very well, and he was a bit old-fashioned. He took a look at akado, who gradually calmed down his anger, and said, "if Italy really doesn't give us Egypt. Do you really want to send troops to Italy? "“ It's 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. In addition, if we do not comprehensively enhance the combat effectiveness of the Italian troops, do we dare to use these critical moments to delay our actions in the eastern battlefield? " Augustus nodded and asked a more concerned question: "if we capture Italy, we will have to involve some troops, and the estimated hundreds of thousands of Italian allies will be lost. It seems that this matter is not good for us?"“ A country that even the British Mediterranean fleet without battleships is afraid of, do you expect them to defy the will of the Third Reich? " Akado burst out laughing: "get ready to meet Mussolini. Just hit him hard." Augustus laughed and walked out slowly.