My Italy - Chapter 685 Liberation of Nice

Admiral Robeck was as stable as a rock and remained motionless, which greatly disappointed the Italian Admiralty.

Yes, this is indeed a trap.

No, this is a conspiracy. The battle patrol formation led by Lieutenant General Gomes also bears risks. If it is surrounded, it will be a disastrous defeat.

Is it worth taking such a big risk to lure out the Allied Powers’ combined fleet?

Italy’s top brass will tell you it’s worth it.

Because if the combined fleet of the Allied Powers is eliminated in the Mediterranean, there will be no rivals in the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia, and the Far East that can rival it.

This will also allow the Italian army to send troops to Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia and other places under the protection of warships. This is simply a good situation. This would allow Italy to destroy British and French colonial rule and accelerate the possibility of surrender.

If this could be achieved with the loss of five battle cruisers, Rome would wake up laughing while sleeping.

However, Britain and France did not take risks, leaving Italy with some mistakes and could only arrange the Egyptian campaign step by step. The mission of the navy is to suppress the enemy fleet, which is not an easy job.

However, if the Egyptian campaign is to begin, it will require the cooperation of other campaigns. After all, only when fighting elsewhere stops can there be enough supplies for the Egyptian campaign.

At present, the Tunisia campaign has ended, and even the Eighth Army has moved to the Benghazi front line.

As for the battle in Corsica, it has now entered the stage of security war. The Italian troops that landed have completed the occupation of the main towns. Currently, more than 9,000 French troops have retreated to the mountains in the center of the island to fight guerrillas.

At present, the 21st Army has deployed two divisions to carry out encirclement and suppression. However, in view of the complex terrain of the mountainous area, as long as the enemy does not have short circuits, it is impossible to successfully encircle and suppress them in a short time, and they can only work slowly and carefully.

In addition to the 21st Army, Rome also sent two mobilization divisions to Corsica. The price was that in addition to the 21st Army, the 16th Army, the Army Headquarters, and the Second Marine Division all evacuated Corsica.

Two of the three battles have ended, so the most important Battle of Nice has also come to an end.

At this time, the 11th Army, which was on the flank, performed amazingly. Lieutenant General Caviglia first mobilized more than 3,000 elite troops, discarding everything except weapons and one day’s rations. Then under his leadership, he climbed over the ridge, bypassed the French defensive position, and suddenly attacked Levan. .

It quickly defeated Lewan’s small garrison. At this time, a regiment of French troops and a regiment of militiamen were blinded and they were blocked in the valley. Later, under attack from two sides, except for a few who escaped over the mountains, most of the others were taken prisoner.

And this is just the beginning of Lieutenant General Cavilla’s wonderful performance.

After capturing Levan, Lieutenant General Cavilla boldly divided his forces. The 31st Division was sent to attack the upper reaches of the Wa River.

The Va River turned westward into a large bay 6 kilometers north of Levan, and the 31st Division thoroughly implemented Lieutenant General Caviglia’s instructions and successively captured Marcelloin and Pigetenje along the Va River. , Saint-Benoit and other places. In three days, they had already reached the Luyin Pass, 4 kilometers south of Arno Town.

As long as they continue to attack, they can reach the upper reaches of the Ferdon River and continue to attack along the river. Then they can fight all the way to Perdy, forty kilometers north of Marseille. Although this is impossible, who can guarantee that the Italian army that continues to occupy this place will not attack from the north and south from here in the future?

In addition, this move of the 31st Division does not matter. It directly cuts off the 38 kilometers of French troops guarding the Alps east of Colma. There are only more than 30,000 troops here. It is impossible for one division to block the French army attacking from Riez and the French army coming down from the mountains.

So after receiving the 31st Division’s request for help, Lieutenant General Caviglia sighed and said that the 31st Division was so courageous, and immediately sent the request for help to General Baxter.

General Baxter immediately sent a telegram to Turin, asking him to immediately organize an airship to dispatch a reserve division to send it to the 31st Division. He also requested that it be completed within two days.

This made Turin feel as if a whip had been whipped, and they were immediately busy without touching the ground. Of course, in the evening, 46 airships of various types were organized to transport an infantry regiment to the 31st Division.

The next day, under the cover of various aircraft, 167 airships were organized to transport the troops of the 42nd Division to the 31st Division. Except for more than ten cannons and some non-emergency equipment that were not transported, Admiral Baxter’s order was successfully completed. Later, more than 4,000 troops were transported for the 31st Division, and more than 2,000 wounded were transported out.

It was precisely with the reinforcements shipped in a short period of time that the 31st Division and the 42nd Division withstood the enemy’s two-sided attack. Not only did it provide convenience for the annihilation of the 30,000 French troops in the Alps, but it also inserted into the Haute-Provence region. An excellent location.

The 31st Division turned the enemy upside down, and the performance of Lieutenant General Caviglia and the 17th Division was equally matched.

The 17th Division first captured Saint-Martin-d’Ivar, then Castagnier, and attacked all the way to Gatières, which was only 9 kilometers away from the French army’s retreat in Nice. This was the most uncomfortable thing for the Nice defenders.

As for why, you directly occupy its rear route, which forces the Nice defenders to fight for you. Lieutenant General Caviglia only had one division in his hands. If there were three divisions, he would not choose to directly occupy its retreat, but would instead advance to a distance of two kilometers. The enemy could pass, but the casualties would definitely not be small. In addition, because the road was not blocked, the French soldiers had no intention of fighting for their lives. In addition, you can also take advantage of its panic mentality, which may cause the opponent to collapse, which is an unexpected surprise.

The 11th Army caused an uproar on the flank, which really amazed General Baxter. He did not expect that the 11th Army could achieve such outstanding results.

But since the flanking troops can fight so well, he must win Nice to complete the campaign goal.

Although the three main corps of the Southern Army cannot perform any tricks in the attack in the narrow coastal strip, they still have the ability to nibble step by step (if the 11th Army were to attack, they could only nibble slowly).

Although the enemy has many bunkers, tunnels, and permanent fortifications, the Southern Group Army has now gained experience. It first used heavy artillery to knock down the strong and obvious fortifications, and then used smoke grenades. The commandos armed with light machine guns, submachine guns, shotguns, Explosives rushed forward, and occasionally new flamethrowers appeared.

After the commando first disrupted the enemy, the infantry behind them also rushed up. Then comes the fight on the battlefield, whoever is stronger wins. Of course, there are successes and failures in this tactic. However, the army is still very satisfied with this set of tactics that have been explored. Except for the somewhat useless elite soldiers and smoke bombs, everything else is very good.

And after nibbling step by step, the Southern Army finally reached the top of the Marg Mountain in the east of Nice from Eze. It is only 2 kilometers away from the city of Nice, and any artillery can hit the city of Nice.

At this time, facing a situation with enemies both front and rear, Lieutenant General Fast wanted to withdraw.

Although there were not many enemy troops behind him, he was a little afraid of the enemy airships coming for air transport. Speaking of which, those who designed fighter jets are useless, otherwise they would not have allowed Italian and German fighter jets to show off their power over their heads.

I heard that new fighter jets with machine guns in the nose are already in production, but unfortunately they are all in Paris. As for the Sixth Army defending the Italian-French border, not a single one was caught. On the one hand, the production of aircraft is low, and on the other hand, the Battle of Paris has entered the last five minutes, and even if the shoulders are crushed, they must bear it.

When faced with Lieutenant General Fast’s telegram that he wanted to withdraw, Admiral Ebbett replied directly after some consideration. There must be fighting in Nice.

Okay, Lieutenant General Fast understands.

Lieutenant General Fast then gradually withdrew his troops from various positions, leaving only one regiment to defend Nice, and ordered them to defend for a day, and then led his men to retreat to the front line of Sadere, which was regarded as withdrawing first. Nice area. In the face of the French retreat, except for the 17th Division’s slight fight, they all retreated successfully.

As for why Italy let go of the 100,000 French troops in Nice, it was because they did not want to destroy Nice.

On October 17, Nice returned to the embrace of Italy.

Make up for the missing chapter yesterday