My Italy - Chapter 673 Cabinet Meeting

The battles in Corsica and Tunisia not only satisfied Italy’s own needs, but also served the purpose of containing France for its ally Germany.

However, in these two battles, the French army did not provide reinforcements, but was determined to recapture Paris.

This put great pressure on the defending German army. Although the German army invested 920,000 troops in the Paris area, its front lines were slowly forced back. Let Germany invest far more troops than expected. On the one hand, due to the strong resistance of the German army, the duration of the entire campaign was lengthened. It has been more than three months now. Mobilized troops in Germany have already participated in the fighting in waves.

On the other hand, Germany mobilized troops from the Eastern Front. Thanks to Russia’s hasty attack, although it aimed at the weak Austro-Hungarian army, the opponent stabilized the defense line with the help of the German army, causing the attack to end in vain.

With the idle German troops on the Eastern Front, they will naturally not be forgotten by Chief of General Staff Xiao Maoqi. It mobilized two armies consisting of six divisions with a total of 100,000 troops from Germany on the Eastern Front to reinforce the Paris area.

Germany received far more troops than expected to participate in the Battle of Paris, so its opponents, Britain and France, would naturally not fall behind. Putting their reserve troops out of the battlefield, Britain and France put troops drawn from their colonies into the battlefield. In addition, they also continued to put the new troops they formed into the meat grinder of Paris.

That’s right, it’s a meat grinder. According to statistics from Britain and France, the average survival time of each British and French soldier is only 24 hours, and that of an officer is three days. As the attackers, Britain and France have invested 1.37 million troops so far.

The current situation in the Battle of Paris is like goring a bull. No one dares to take a step back for fear of losing the battle.

In this battle, Germany felt the greatest pressure, so in addition to tapping its own potential, it was appropriate to seek foreign aid.

“Your Majesty Carlo, our country is in urgent need of your country’s help. I hope your country can provide sufficient support from the flanks. This is a personal letter from our Majesty William.”

After taking the letter from the guard, Carlo spoke to the German Ambassador Vangelis. “Ambassador, please rest assured that our army is almost ready and will launch an attack on the French army from the Alps within a week.”

Faced with Carlo’s personal assurance, Ambassador Vangelis also breathed a sigh of relief. You must know that Berlin sent him telegrams almost every day to inquire about the progress. One can imagine the pressure on him.

After Ambassador Vangelis left, Carlo got up and headed to the large conference room. High-ranking Italian military and political officials have already gathered here, but the majority are mainly from the military.

As soon as Carlo entered the door, the noise immediately stopped.

“Let’s start now.” Carlo announced the convening of the imperial meeting as soon as he took his seat. This is a meeting held every ten days, mainly to let ministers understand the current situation.

As soon as Carlo announced, the first person to speak was Director Kroger of the Intelligence Agency. The Bureau was established in 1910, when the Second Moroccan War asked Carlo to merge the intelligence agencies of the government and the army in view of the possible outbreak of war in Morocco, pursuing the result of a strong alliance.

In fact, this is a very wise decision. After merging the intelligence departments of the government and the military, its intelligence collection capabilities and domestic counterintelligence effects have increased by about 20%. From this, Director Kroger became a member of the cabinet from the director of military intelligence, which was affiliated with the military. Although he is ranked at the bottom, he is also a cabinet minister, which is much better than being a major general.

“Your Majesty, colleagues, let me first tell you about the situation of all parties during this period. The first is the most critical battle in the Paris area. The battle between Britain and France and our ally Germany is still fierce in this area. But on the front, we The allies have already lost the Bonteru and Seri lines, and the current battle between the two sides has reached the Gisol and Sersi lines.

According to the battle lines, we can see that Britain and France have semi-encircled the Paris area. In addition, we have received information that the British and French have set their final target from Pontepouan to Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris. “

“This is normal. Both sides lost millions of people and were seriously injured. The area around Paris was destroyed. I heard that there were cases where soldiers on both sides refused to carry out orders and even targeted Pontepouan. This is quite Unwise.”

These words can be regarded as the Minister of War, General Simeone, to clear up everyone’s doubts and let everyone understand the tragedy on both sides in the Paris area.

Of course, many people present also learned about the current unfavorable situation of their ally Germany in the Paris area from Director Kroger.

“So we can no longer prepare for the battle in the Nice area?”

“Yes, I have promised Germany that the Battle of Nice will begin within a week.”

At this time Carlo said his promise to the German ambassador.

Facing the king’s opening, and outside everyone present, the preparations for the Battle of Nice can only end here, and the next battle will surely begin within a week.

“Your Majesty, please rest assured that our army’s preparations for the Battle of Nice are almost complete and will surely begin within a week.”

As the absolute main force in the Battle of Nice at this time, the Minister of War was the first to make a guarantee.

“Our navy will also send warships to provide maritime fire support to the army.”

Admiral Yagier, Minister of the Navy, also gave assurances.

Now that the two military bosses have given their guarantees, the topic of the Battle of Nice comes to an end here.

Chief Kroger continued. “In addition to the Battle of Paris, the negotiations between our allies Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria are also coming to an end. I heard that Vienna has made a lot of concessions. In addition to promising to give the Serbian Macedonia region to Bulgaria, it is also willing to give the southern part of Nis Also to the other side, Bulgaria has agreed to participate in the war.

In addition, we have also received information that Greece has shown signs of turning to the Allies. According to the news we received from Athens, Greek Prime Minister Venizelos has received support from the military and parliament. They are preparing to replace King Constantine, who did not agree to participate in the war, and intend to let the king’s second son, Prince Alexander, succeed him. “

“Are the Greeks crazy?”

At this time, Interior Minister Brugger exclaimed. In his view, the current situation in the Mediterranean is so clear that there are still Balkan countries that are so bold.

“There are huge pro-British forces in Greece, and Britain is in a bad situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, so it is normal for a country to be backed up.”

At this time, the Foreign Secretary Bacona, who also knew Greece relatively well, analyzed to him the situation of Greece’s upcoming entry into the Entente camp.

Bacona’s analysis was quite thorough, and it was indeed true that Britain wanted Greece to join the Entente camp.

At this time, Admiral Yagir, the Minister of the Navy, spoke. “It seems that the Bulgarians are very lucky. They can get back both North Macedonia occupied by Serbia and South Macedonia occupied by Greece. But since Greece dares to join the Entente, we will let it know the consequences.”

“I very much agree with your words.”

Admiral Simeone, on behalf of the Army, agreed with the Admiral’s words.

After the ministers expressed their views on Greece, Kroger continued. “One hundred thousand Japanese troops have arrived in Egypt, and their commander is General Kuroki Moraki. This has caused the number of Allied troops in Egypt to rise to 370,000.”

“It’s not like we haven’t encountered Japanese soldiers before. Their tactics are not much better than those of the Russians.”

Regarding the Japanese army, Simeone does not think that it cannot have high combat effectiveness. Although the Japanese army proved itself through the Russo-Japanese War, it was a situation where all countries worked together to deceive Russia. Although Japan defeated Russia, its backward human wave tactics really did not interest Simeone. He had to wait until the Battle of Egypt for the drastically changed Japanese army to surprise him.

“According to our intelligence, the Japanese dispatched troops to receive equipment such as machine guns and mortars from the British army only after they arrived in Egypt.”

At this time, Director Kroger also came to add another blow.

Okay, now all the ministers present have an impression of the Japanese army.

Although Carlo felt something was wrong, his Italian army was stronger. At this time, he asked the military to pay attention to the Japanese army. Wasn’t this a blow to the military, which had high morale and had always won?

So Carlo didn’t speak. Besides, there were only 100,000 people, and these troops could be wiped out in one battle.

Kroger then continued. “In East Africa, Britain and France transported more than 60,000 people to Kenya. Currently, there are 290,000 British and French troops in Kenya. Half of the troops are British and Indian divisions, and a quarter are African colonial troops. Then They are the Australian and New Zealand troops, and the least are the British and French local troops. In addition, in Sudan, the British and French have gathered 180,000 people here. Now the enemies faced by our East African colonies have grown to 470,000, which is a huge blow to our East African colonial division. A big test.”

“East Africa and Egypt are one. After we finish the Battle of Nice, it’s time to prepare for the Battle of Egypt.”

“Greece’s shift to the entente camp has a great impact on our preparations.”

At this time, the two ministers of navy and army saw the danger facing the East African colonies. But both of them also know that if the Egyptian campaign is launched now, it must be based on the capture of Tunisia and Corsica-Nice.

After talking about the situation in East Africa, Kroger talked about some situations in Asia and the Americas. It focuses on the intelligence of Southeast Asia and the United States.

Both camps are trying to win over the United States, the most important neutral country in the world. However, the two sides have different purposes. The Entente camp wants the other side to join, while the Alliance camp wants the other side not to join the Entente.

In addition to listening to foreign intelligence, cabinet meetings also summarize domestic situations and work. For example, which department has difficulties, who has not completed the task, two or more departments have disputes, etc. These issues need to be resolved one by one. Of course, Carlo, as the king and the supreme ruler, also needs to adjudicate some issues.

But no matter what, the Kingdom of Italy has made a decision and will soon start its third battle, the most important Battle of Nice.