Mediterranean Hegemony Road

The battle during the day surprised the Allied forces, and the courage shown by the Italian soldiers was beyond everyone's expectations.

Wallycott asked worriedly: "Have the casualties of each unit been counted?"

The chief of staff sighed and replied: "We have already counted the number of casualties in the entire army, and the total number of casualties is 532; the French are still being counted, and the staff estimates that their casualties should be 15-2. range of thousands."

Wallycott asked in surprise: "Why are there so many casualties?"

After finishing speaking, his brows tightened even more, and a regiment was reimbursed in one day, and the number of casualties exceeded his expectations.

Although the Italians on the opposite side suffered more casualties, this is Rome! The Italians could pay hundreds of thousands of casualties for their capital, but the Allies couldn't!

The Allied forces in Rome were limited and could not accept an unlimited war of attrition.

Wallycott knows that the casualty rate an army can bear is limited. Even if the casualty rate of elite troops exceeds 30%, it needs to be repaired to maintain combat effectiveness; if the casualty rate exceeds 60%, Then it could crash at any time.

Although he now has ten infantry divisions in his hands, his total strength before today was only 1.28 million, and now he has lost another regiment.

If it were all Bulgarian regulars, it would be fine. Unfortunately, there are also nearly four layers of French cannon fodder troops. There is no essential difference between their combat effectiveness and the Italians who broke out, and their desire to fight is very general.

It's not a good fight...

The chief of staff shrugged and said helplessly: "Today the Italians are like crazy, desperately attacking our positions, and our casualties will naturally be large.

However, the enemy's casualties on the opposite side should be even greater, possibly several times or even ten times as many as ours!

Although I don't know what makes the Italians so crazy, I don't think they can continue in this state! "

Walicot nodded. If the current state of the Italian army can continue, as long as their army is trained again, it will become an army power again.

Wallicot rubbed his forehead and pondered for a while, then said, "Selection of three regiments to form a supervisory team, to help the French stare at the ***, don't let them collapse."

...

Compared to Wallycott's headache,

The senior officials of the Italian government were dumbfounded when they saw the casualties sent from the front line, and they all said "Verdun meat grinder", but the daily casualties of the Italian army in Verdun were less than one-tenth of the present!

How can this be done? You can't blame the soldiers on the front line for being too brave. They didn't even know how to pretend to be dead, which caused the casualties to increase, right?

The Prime Minister asked in horror: "We lost two divisions in one day. Are you sure that there is no mistake in the statistics of the Ministry of War?"

The Minister of War said with a wry smile: "I also think the statistics are wrong, but two divisions were indeed lost today!

And it was mainly lost in the morning. In the afternoon, the troops on the front line have reduced their offensive intensity, otherwise this number will be even greater!

The officers on the front line asked us to change the attack time to night, they thought it might reduce the casualties, and the War Department has approved it.

Of course, I personally don't think it's useful to attack at night, maybe the casualties can be reduced, but it will be more difficult to get results! "

The huge number of casualties made Vittorio Emanuele III shaken. He didn't know whether to continue the war. If it wasn't for his own interests, he wouldn't mind surrendering now.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer suddenly said, "We can't afford to fight this war. If we can't recover Rome as soon as possible, maybe we won't even be able to pay out the army next month!"

The Prime Minister added: "It's more than just military salaries. Our various strategic materials are insufficient. If we can't drive the enemy into the sea in a short time, we may not even be able to get the weapons and ammunition that the army needs to fight!"

The pressure on the Minister of Army suddenly increased greatly. The Minister of Defense, the Chief of General Staff and others who could have shared the pressure on him had become prisoners of the enemy because they ran too slowly. to the Ministry of the Army.

He suddenly had a feeling of regret. He knew that he would stop running like this, and now he doesn't have to worry about it, and he doesn't need to be responsible to the Kingdom of Italy.

In the face of the pressure exerted by everyone, the Minister of War had to bite the bullet and say: "Our army has done its best. It can be seen from the battle reports on the front line that all the troops are working hard. If you want to kill the enemy in a short period of time, Sorry this is beyond our capabilities!"

His answer is very Italian, very rational, if you can't do it, you can't do it, and there will never be an empty cannon like the Japanese counterparts.

In any case, the war will continue, but until the hatred in the hearts of the people is reduced, they will continue to fight.

Vittorio Emanuele III suddenly said: "Maybe the military can make a breakthrough elsewhere, don't forget that there is a British colonial army looting on our homeland, you can consider killing them first !"

Everyone's eyes lit up, as long as this British colonial army was killed, the enemy in Rome would be alone, and they might be forced to abandon Rome.

The Minister of War thought for a while and said, "The Ministry of War has already formulated a plan to eliminate the British, but it was put on hold because of the problems in Rome. There is no problem in starting the plan now, but the time to recover Rome will be postponed again. ."

Vittorio Emanuele III said without hesitation: "Go ahead and do it!"

Persimmons are looking for a soft pinch. Rather than fighting for Rome with the enemy, it is better to use this British colonial force. At least get a victory before the armistice and find a fig leaf for the Kingdom of Italy.

Obviously, Vittorio Emanuele III's expectations are getting lower and lower. From the beginning, he asked the British to obtain Fiume and Dalmatia, and now he just wants to keep the mainland.

Even paying a war reparation is acceptable, apparently the brutal war has awakened the Italians and made them realize their strength.

Of course, they don't know yet that no one in the Entente now regards them as a member of the great powers, and they have already begun to sharpen their knives.

On the issue of the partition of Italy, Britain, France, and Bulgaria have conducted many secret consultations, but the three parties have not been able to reach an agreement because of their interests. ()