My Italy - Chapter 680 Battle of Nice (7)

Although the defeated army at Bulo Pass went up the mountain to avoid being annihilated, it also made way for the 11th Army.

Of course, the 11th Army would miss this opportunity. After opening the Colin Bridge, its forward 24th Division caught up with the retreating 71st Division in the valley five kilometers away from Les Carrennes.

Speaking of which, the 71st Division was also unlucky. It wanted to respond to the defeated army at Bulo Pass, but was unable to capture the Colin Bridge for a long time. The target to be picked up later told himself that there was no need to wait for them, they would leave via the mountain road.

The commander of the 71st Division was so angry that he vomited blood. He had lost a lot of troops in order to ask for help from them. Now he left with just one word, leaving them messy in the wind.

As a result, they were caught up by the 24th Division because they were slow to carry a large amount of heavy equipment.

At this time, facing the pursuit of the 24th Division, the 71st Division had no choice but to stop and prepare for a counterattack. As for leaving the troops to cut off their tails and survive, this was simply impossible. If he had to cut off his tail to survive, the commander of the 71st Division would have to be ordered to retire.

Of course, the 71st Division also knew that it would be difficult to stop the enemy 24th Division with its own heavy losses, so it immediately asked for help from the 23rd Division that had just arrived.

Faced with the request for reinforcements from the 71st Division, Major General Costa, who was the front-line commander of Les Carrennes, immediately sent a brigade for reinforcements.

At this time, faced with the increase in enemy strength, the commander of the 24th Division, Major General Odolovan, performed very well. He first sent the vanguard to hold back the enemy, and then deployed two regiments to penetrate the mountains on both sides, assuming a posture of encircling and annihilating the 71st Division.

Although this was blocked by the 71st Division sending two regiments, it fell into the trap of Commander Odolovan. Mountainous terrain is not easy to walk on, and it is not easy to retreat. Especially for the Italian army with the bonus of mortars, mountain warfare is a required course.

Previous battles have shown that the performance of French officers and soldiers in mountain battles is far inferior to that of Italian officers and soldiers. At this time, letting the two regiments watch the enemy’s two regiments is a bargaining chip for the 24th Division. If the enemy retreats, they will lose the two regiments that went up the mountain.

Of course, the 24th Division also paid a price for this. The 71st Division, which was reinforced by the French 23rd Division, tried to push back the 24th Division. The 24th Division did not take a step back despite huge casualties, just to stick to the enemy and not let it leave easily.

The actions of the 24th Division finally proved to be in vain. The 17th Division arrived a day later, and more importantly, various heavy weapons also arrived. The 17th Division, which had received reinforcements at this time, was too late to retreat.

When the enemy is approaching with heavy troops, it is actually not a good choice for the disadvantaged party to retreat, because it can easily lead to a defeat. At this time, Dulan, the commander of the 71st Division, made a serious wrong decision. Seeing that the enemy’s troops were increasing, he wanted to use the cover of night to gradually withdraw his troops from their positions.

This was discovered by the vigilant enemy troops, so under the fierce enemy attack, the position of the major general who was short of troops was quickly broken through, and a rout was inevitable. Of course, the officers and soldiers of the 11th Army would not miss the opportunity to beat up the drowned dog.

As a result, under the pursuit of the 11 officers and soldiers, these rout became bigger and bigger. A large number of French officers and soldiers also fled, driven by the defeated troops.

The offensive force composed of the 17th and 23rd divisions used the help of the broken troops to attack Les Carrennes in one fell swoop. Driven by these broken troops, how could the low morale of the French army in Les Carrennes withstand the ferocious force? 11 officers and soldiers. Even though Major General Costa, the commander of Lescarene, repeatedly inspired his soldiers, how could the soldiers fight with peace of mind when they saw the steady stream of retreating troops.

As for these broken troops, Major General Costa also wanted to collect them, but it was useless in front of these panicked troops. The gendarmerie and two companies of soldiers it sent were directly dispersed by it. For this reason, dozens of gendarmerie were killed.

Now these defeated soldiers have no morale and only want to escape. Anyone who wants to stop him is his enemy. The failure to collect the defeated troops made Major General Costa feel that something was wrong, but now facing the approach of the 11th Army, he was helpless and could only ask Lieutenant General Fast for help.

Faced with Major General Costa’s telegram asking for help, which was given high hopes, Lieutenant General Fast must have mixed emotions after reading it. The person who was given high hopes failed to fulfill his instructions. Although the main responsibility for this lies with the commander of the 71st Division, how could Major General Costa, as the commander, not be responsible.

His biggest responsibility was that he failed to hold the key point of Les Carrennes. The 11th Army captured it in only 18 hours. The reinforcements sent by Lieutenant General Fast could only retreat to Tourt along with Lescaren’s defeated troops.

This is a fork where a stream flows into the Parno River. It is also the intersection of the road from Les Carrennes to Nice and the road from Coaraz to Nice. It is also one of the most important points in the northeast of Nice.

Using the terrain to dig fortifications is a basic skill of the army. As long as they are given three days, a well-equipped field fortification can be built. But it’s a pity that Lieutenant General Cavilla didn’t give them a chance at all.

Early the next morning, officers and soldiers of the 17th Division first appeared in front of them, and a fierce battle began.

In the next two days, the 11th Army also arrived. With superior troops and firepower, Tourt was captured in just three days. Tourte was defeated so quickly not only because of the fierce offensive of the 11th officers and soldiers but also because Lieutenant General Fast did not send any more reinforcements.

As for why no more reinforcements were sent, it was because the reserves in his hands had been sent to more important places. Where could it be more important than Tourte?

That is the town of Eze, a small town located on a coastal mountain. It is not only located on the top of the mountain, but also only 7 kilometers away from Nice in a straight line. It can be said to be the gateway to Nice. The capture of this place had a far greater impact on Nice than Tourt, because the large-caliber artillery of the Southern Army could directly bombard the city of Nice.

From this point alone, we can see who is more important, not to mention that Army Group South is the main force in the heavy troop concentration. The 11th Army is just a partial division. Although it can fight, its importance is far less than that of the Southern Group Army.

Of course, Lieutenant General Fast paid enough attention to Army Group South. Two-thirds of his troops were defending the opponent. However, its equipment was too good and its personnel were much higher than our own. With the dual advantages of firepower and manpower, solid positions and fortresses were captured one by one.

The Southern Group Army has nothing to say about conquering these positions, fortresses and other defense facilities. It just needs to attack them step by step, using firepower and manpower consumption.

In more than a week, Army Group South consumed 200,000 tons of ammunition, which has already caught up with the consumption in previous border battles. Such a large consumption of ammunition even aroused the vigilance of General Simeone, who even sent a special telegram to General Baxter to inquire about the situation.

For this reason, General Baxter immediately sent the details to the army chief. After seeing that most of these artillery shells were consumed by attacking various solid and permanent fortifications, General Simeone later warned to pay attention to ammunition consumption.

The reason why the army chief attaches so much importance to the consumption of ammunition is that ammunition reserves are being rapidly consumed. Before the war started, the Italian military had stockpiled 1.35 million tons of ammunition, but now only 650,000 tons of ammunition reserves remain.

Although the Italian military industry could produce 3 million rounds of ammunition per month at this time, it was still not enough for the military’s consumption. Among them, the largest consumption was the Army, and among the Army, the battles on the Italian-French border were the heaviest. This is normal. The continuous mountains on the Italian-French border determine that the effective damage effect of artillery shells is far less than that of other terrains.

In addition, the Army Department was already preparing for the Egyptian campaign at this time. In order to prepare various materials, the Army Department was extremely busy, and it must be extremely sensitive to key materials such as ammunition. Therefore, it was appropriate for Admiral Simeone to send a telegram to inquire.

With the breakthrough of the two front lines of Italian troops, the situation in Nice became favorable to Italy. Taking advantage of the favorable situation, it was natural to strike while the iron was hot, so the 11th Army began to do things.

At this time, the 17th and 31st Divisions, who had just conquered Conte, led by Lieutenant General Caviglia, rushed along the road to Levan in the west. They had to climb two mountains and cross a long valley to reach Levan. Wang, the total distance is 37 kilometers. You must know that the straight-line distance from Levan to Conte is only 9 kilometers. You can imagine the complexity of this terrain.

This also creates many dangerous places along the way, which are very suitable for enemies to block attacks.

However, it is not without good news. According to intelligence, the road from Conte to Levan is basically filled with militia groups, and there is only one regiment of French troops in Levan.

For the 11th Army, this good news is enough to defeat all the news.