Battle of the Third Reich

At 7 a.m. on the 21st, the German vanguard arrived in Rovereto, an important transportation hub in the southern Alps. From here, you can turn east, and you can cross the foothills of Pasubio through the mountain road from Torrebelvic Nuoshankou entered the eastern plain of the Po River. It is one of the most prosperous regions in Italy, with ancient cities such as Padua, Vicenza, Traviso and Venice.

From Rovereto to the south, along the Adige River and the railway line, you can go from the southern pass of the Alcarol Mountain to the Po River Plain, which is only 20 from the Verona City, the target of the 9th Armored Division Less than kilometers away.

The ninth armored division took the southern route according to plan. The biggest obstacle at present is the Ca'ano Canyon on the way. The road here is narrow, the road is close to the cliff, and on the other side is the rushing Adige River. A good place to set up an ambush, but as soon as you pass this bottleneck, the next road begins to become suddenly bright.

At the same time, the assault group will divide a military-level battle group from the east line. The task of this unit is to cut off the road from Vicenza to the Bay of Venice. They will depart from Austria and Yugoslavia and enter Italy from the northeast. Together, the assault groups at the frontier divided and surrounded the Italian heavy troops in Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto and annihilated the plain.

Intelligence shows that Italy alone has three standard infantry divisions stationed in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, and it also deploys an unknown number of air forces. This should not be blamed for the slackness of the German intelligence department. It is really on the Italian Air Force. The force is too far from the actual situation.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the heavy search platoon of the ninth armored reconnaissance battalion had rushed over the Ca'ano Canyon, and it turned out that the Italians did not lay an ambush here. From the confession of some Italian highway police captured on the way, they It didn't even know that the Germans had broken through the border defense.

At this time, the military and political institutions in the Veneto region have not yet arrived at work. The staff on duty at night are wondering that a series of communications in the northern cities have suddenly been cut off. The Italians could not even imagine that the Germans had leaped 200 kilometers in just eight hours, occupying more than 30 Italian villages and cities along the way. The first troops had rushed out of the Alps and are now focusing on the town. Verona approached quickly.

Lieutenant General von Hubiki of the 9th Armored Division knew that as long as the troops entered the prosperous plains, the concealment of military operations ceased to exist, so they kept the radio silent until the order was started, and they were still in Innsbruck at the moment. Assault Group Command reports on the current progress of the armored division.

The terrain of the mountains interferes with the radio signal very seriously, so it must be relayed through the radio relay stations established in the pass of Bolzano and Brenner. The communication command of the armored forces in mobile operations has always been a problem. Although the division is equipped with a half-track remote communication vehicle equipped with a ten-meter whip antenna, because the battlefield is too large, there will be some problems in the transmission of information with the headquarters. Delay, if you want to improve this situation, you can only move the command forward to the command center as close as possible to the front line, but this will cause some security problems.

So when the reply command of the Innsbruck Command was passed to the 9th Armored Division, two light armoured companies of the 33rd Armored Regiment and one infantry regiment of the 9th Guards Infantry Brigade had arrived outside Verona. Too.

The Germans have broken through the Alps and are approaching the ancient city of Verona. With the radio waves, the news spread throughout the entire Kingdom of Italy within an hour.

At this time, most Italians were sitting on their balconies and enjoying breakfast under the warm sunshine. Most of them thought it was the announcer of the radio station who was suddenly confused. Everyone knows what is going on in the Alps. Even if it takes a car to traverse this mountain, it will take at least one day. How could the Germans break through the sky in just one night, so many cities and villages along the way The people who lived were all dead.

Some smart people have guessed the truth. The Germans must have transported the assault troops by rail. Why no one has prepared for this, the officials responsible for this matter should be dragged out and shot immediately.

However, it is meaningless to put these horses behind the guns. The Italians really felt the pressure of the war on them this morning. Italians have seen wars in Europe in newspapers and news films before. Some cities near the northwest border have even been bombed by the French. The fall of Sardinia has just passed for more than a month, but these things are common in Italy. In the eyes of the people, they are still too far away. Although more and more friends around them are enlisted in the army, life is still not going to be. No matter what Mussolini or fascism, the key depends on who can fill their belly.

But this time is different. Anyone who understands maps and has studied history knows where Verona is. Even illiterates who haven’t read the book should know Venice and Milan. The Germans have rushed into the Po River Plain, and cities such as Milan and Venice are destined to fall soon. It is a vast plain, and there is no natural danger at all.

At this moment, even the capital, Rome, no longer made people feel safe. The Germans could even break through the dangerous Alps, and the road's extensive Apennines were more like a sieve than they could be.

When the Italians discovered that the war was really coming to their heads, the panic atmosphere immediately accompanied by various rumors, spreading like lightning across the streets.

"This group of old guys are crazy, this is just letting us die." Lieutenant General Bernardino received the telegram from his subordinates, and after reading the previous lines, he could not help but exclaim.

The 19th Venetian Infantry Division of the Italian Army under his command was stationed in a small town called Vestino, and was preparing to move towards Vicenza after lunch.

Rome had given him the order to mount the prepared military ranks in Vicenza, then went to Bolzano, and then built a line of defense on the nearby mountain pass, relying on the city. And in order to strengthen the determination of the lieutenant general, Rome also assured him that they had mobilized the 28th Aosta Infantry Division for reinforcements and expected to reach Bolzano three days later.

In addition, the Twelfth Sassari Infantry Division and the 133rd Lidorio Armored Division, which are confronting the French on the western front, will also be transferred to the northern defense line. The Roman Command believes that after gathering such a powerful force, even the powerful The German Wehrmacht cannot easily break through the Alps.

Yesterday's telegram was still in a briefcase beside him. Today, he told him that the German had already killed the Venetian master. Can he find something more outrageous than this?

The Roman Command may not know the current status of the Venetian division, but as the division commander, Lieutenant General Bernardino is certainly well aware of the strength of his subordinates. The Venetian Division is almost an abolition division. This group of guys are serving as coast guards. They are stationed in the barracks on the outskirts of Venice, and they are full of bright and bustling towns. The officers and soldiers have long developed a lazy habit. After combat training.

When I heard that I was going to fight against the Germans in the cold mountains, the morale of the troops suddenly plummeted. Finally, the officers were vaccinated early and guarded underneath, otherwise there will be a large number of deserters last night. Don't think that these guys don't have this kind of courage, if you open your mouth, believe it or not, you can run a company commander overnight.

Now Rome actually wants such a force to go to Verona to reinforce the defenders there and resist the German offensive. The opponent is the German ninth armored division that has long been known, which is equivalent to sending these six thousand small people. The same as the execution ground. Yes, you are not mistaken. The infantry division currently has a serious shortage, and the total is only 5,600.

ps: sorry, the update is a bit late, please understand.

Seeking monthly tickets, seeking recommendation tickets, thank you for your support (To be continued.)

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