Chapter 757： Italy asks for help

There is no way to prevent Edel from being shocked, because Romania has already provided a lot of supplies to the Italian army, and Italy's economy is much better than in history.

Let him think that after Italy has been strengthened, not to mention where to fight, at least not to block the enemy. It's just that Italy's strength has increased a lot, but Mussolini's heart is big. He wants to capture Egypt and the idea of ​​attacking Tunisia. Therefore, the more than 400,000 troops in Libya are divided into two groups, both attacking Egypt and Tunisia. .

Under Graziani’s leadership, nearly 200,000 Italian troops attacked Egypt. After occupying the Dubai Rani area, they encountered 60,000 British troops commanded by the British commander-in-chief in the Middle East, General Wavell. The cracks in front of the British army were fully exposed and nearly 100,000 people were wiped out. Only more than 60,000 people were returned to Libya.

I heard that Britain is gathering at the border and intends to invade Libya to seize oil-producing areas.

In fact, this is not terrible. It was even worse when the Italian army attacked Tunisia. Under the leadership of the old marshal Badoglio, they attacked Tunisia. However, they were attacked by 80,000 French troops. Under the leadership of General George Catroux, these French troops succeeded in annihilating nearly 100,000 Italian troops, only allowing Bagdoglio to retreat with more than 20,000 Italian troops.

It’s just that the French army did not have the concerns of the British army. After annihilating most of the Italian army, they rushed into the territory of Libya. At present, the peak of troops is about to arrive in Tripoli. If it weren't for the Italian navy to block the shelling in time, let the French army know how powerful it was. Maybe the French army will directly invade Tripoli.

The Italian army's two defeats in Libya made Mussolini angry. He didn't expect that his general would bring him such a result, so he could not wait to fly to Libya and shoot these two guys. Only after calming down, he knew that he could not do this, because the support from the army was the key to keeping him stable as the prime minister.

And he couldn't even transfer it to reserve service, so he could only transfer it to other areas. But now is not the time to complain about his army’s disastrous defeat, because the French army has entered Libya, which makes Mussolini particularly concerned about the safety of this colony. He immediately mobilized nearly 100,000 troops from eight divisions from his homeland. Reinforce the past.

Of course, relying on these forces alone cannot give him the confidence to repel the British and French forces. It's just that the current Italian troops are either defending the coastline or deploying on the border with France. These eight divisions were originally prepared for Malta. Now there are no more combat-capable troops in the country. Many troops are mobilized and they are not equipped with enough guns. Where does the fighting power come from?

Now if you don't want Libya to be lost, there is only one way before him, and that is rescue.

There is basically no consideration as to whom to ask for assistance, and asking Romania for assistance is the only choice. Because Romania has a good relationship with Italy, and Romania has just taken Greece just to have troops to support itself.

On the German side, apart from the fact that its forces are basically concentrated on the front line of France, it is not in Italy's interest to allow it to make a foothold in North Africa. Therefore, this telegram came to Edel naturally.

In the face of Mussolini's request for help, Edel was surprised, but all that was left was a headache. It's not that he didn't intend to pay attention to Mussolini's request for help. The moment the telegram arrived in his hands, the reinforcement of Italy had already been decided.

It's just that how to rescue you must also talk about methods, first of all, the commanding authority must not fall into the hands of Italians. Such a record made Edel distrust the Italian general at all.

Second, the number of troops to be dispatched must also be skillful. First of all, the troops sent cannot influence Romania's subsequent battles, just enough to knock back its enemies. Secondly, the choice of the commander is also very important. A general with independent combat experience is required to understand the true meaning of this combat.

Of course, these are the points that Edel briefly summarized in a short time. Everything needs to wait for the military to make a decision.

Thinking of this, Edel glanced at the telegram again and called a guard to speak to it. "Immediately call Admiral Feleit, Admiral Romodan and Admiral Ankerdra, and say that I have an urgent matter to find them."

Although the guard didn't know what was going on, he heard his Majesty call so many military leaders over, knowing that it must not be easy, and hurriedly left after an answer.

And Edel can only wait for the military to arrive before discussing this issue.

Without letting Edeldo wait, the three generals rushed to the palace in less than an hour.

After the three generals arrived and looked at them with an unknowing look, Edel was not polite, and directly gave them the Italian telegram for help.

Regarding this telegram for help, the three generals had different expressions, but they were all shocked. They did not expect Italy to play so badly.

"Okay, now let's talk about how we should rescue the Italians."

In the face of Edel's words, the first thing to speak was Admiral Lomodan, only to see the Secretary of the Navy speak. "Your Majesty, our navy can provide ship transportation for reinforcements at any time, as well as warship escort."

The navy has the most confidence to say this, because at present the Eastern Mediterranean is dominated by the navy, and all the way from Romania to Libya is under its own waters, there is no need to worry about being attacked.

Of course, British submarines still have to be worried, and Malta is still in the hands of the British. Lomodan didn't panic at all because of the abundance of small Romanian warships, and it is still possible to provide them with anti-submarine escorts.

As for the island of Malta, it is believed that Italy will be able to suppress the aircraft on the island and not lift off. In other words, it has been almost two months since the war, and Italy has not captured the island of Malta, which is a dereliction of duty. Or on the other hand, the preparations for Italy have not yet been completed.

Unlike the Navy, Air Force Secretary Admiral Ankerdra spoke up. "Your Majesty, our air force currently has a lot of tasks. If we form a reinforcement to Italy, we can only provide up to 300 fighters from the two wings in the early stage."

The Secretary of the Air Force is right. Within the three services, the air force is the most important combat mission. There is an air force in every battle, so regardless of the fact that the air force currently has more than 4,000 fighters of various types, it can only draw on more than 300 fighters to support it.

Edel didn't care about Admiral Ankerdra's words, because the Air Force did exactly what he said. After the navy and air forces expressed their views, only Admiral Feleit was left.

This old admiral was talking about it. "I don't know, your Majesty, what purpose do you plan to use for the reinforcements to appear?"

"To drive the British and French troops out of Libya to protect the safety of the oil fields."

For what he thought Edel said it without hesitation.

After hearing what Edel had said about the target, Feleit said after a while. "Then we can deploy a rapid mobile force mainly composed of armored division motorized units to help Italy achieve this goal. In terms of scale, considering that our country will need a lot of battles in the future, the scale will be 80,000 to 90,000. the best."

It seems that Admiral Feleit is still worried about the Anglo-French troops and gives such a large scale.

Edel didn't know this, but now that Admiral Feleit said the scale of troops, he continued. "Then you want to make a plan."

After sending off the three generals, he called Koster. "Now give Italy electricity and tell them that they want our country's rescue, but we need command. If we can't, we can't rest assured to send troops out."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

After Edel sent away the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he looked at the sky outside the window and couldn't help but sigh. "Italian, what are you doing?"