Capítulo 224: Chapter 302 Her Majesty the Queen
On that evening, the entire Italian radio broadcasted Mussolini's confession recording.
In many major city squares, outdoor cinemas were set up, continuously playing footage exposing Mussolini's conspiracies with the British. In smaller places without such conditions, leaflets detailing both sides' confessions were distributed.
"Reporting to Your Excellency, the entirety of Italy is now in complete turmoil. Protests have erupted in cities large and small, demanding the government declare war on Britain as retaliation. The British Embassy and consulates across the country are surrounded by enraged citizens. Do you think we should further escalate the tensions?" Reinhard, who came to report on the situation in Italy, couldn't help but admire the deep calculations involved. What kind of foresight and planning took place over the past few years?
Wilhelm nodded and ordered, "Merely surrounding them has no meaning. Let our people continue to incite; it's best if they rush in and kill the ambassador. That's what I call stimulating. Have our troops encountered resistance?"
"At the beginning, there was slight resistance in some areas. However, after the broadcast and leaflet distribution, our advance has been unimpeded. Our airborne division has landed in the city of Rome, controlling key points, and all the royal family members have been securely detained. Our ground forces will advance to Rome in three hours, and within a maximum of 36 hours, we will have control over the entire Italy."
"Convey to General Hans Krebs and General Paul Hausser that I will leave 100,000 men for them, and they should train at least 1 million Italian troops capable of fighting hard battles. Accelerate the penetration and expansion work of the Gestapo."
"Yes."
In the original timeline, the "Operation Barbarossa" mentioned German forces on the Eastern Front with numbers like 3.05 million, 3.2 million, and 5.5 million. The 3.05 million and 3.2 million referred to the land forces on the Eastern Front, with the former being 145 army divisions under the "Eastern Front" theater, and the latter also included three divisions and four Waffen-SS divisions deployed in the Finnish theater. The "5.5 million" was the Soviet estimate, including the total number of German forces on land, sea, and air. However, there is little confirmation from German materials, so it is rarely adopted by the Western side.
He hoped that, in this timeline when executing the "Operation Barbarossa," the number of land forces, especially the Italian troops, could reach 3 million, or even 4 million.
Throughout history, due to Italy's clumsy performance, people generally believed that the Italian military was of low quality. Some even thought Italy was dragging down the Axis powers. Countless online jokes mocking the Italian military could be found. So, what was the actual level of the Italian military?
In terms of equipment, the Italian military's level was quite decent. The Italian Air Force possessed the highly capable Macchi and Fiat series fighter planes. Italian fighter planes were even exported to Japan. Germany praised Italy's Fiat G.55 as the Axis powers' most promising fighter. The Italian Navy also had strength; the design of the Vittorio Veneto-class battleships was world-class, surpassing the French Richelieu-class in appearance, firepower, defense, and craftsmanship. It was even considered superior to the American South Dakota-class. Italy's submarines and coastal combat vessels were well-made, and they had the capability to design and build aircraft carriers. The Italian Navy was considered nearly first-rate globally, second only to the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Although the Italian Army's equipment was slightly inferior to the German forces, it was far superior to the Japanese. Both the quality of weapons and the level of mechanization of the Italian Army were much higher than Japan, reaching nearly first-rate standards globally.
In terms of combat proficiency, the Italian military's combat capabilities were not worse than the Japanese. Italy adopted fully Western-style modern training, and with German assistance, their combat proficiency significantly improved. They did not fall behind in battles in North Africa and against the British. However, due to the lack of outstanding commanders and the soldiers' limited combat experience and weak combat will, their performance was mediocre, barely reaching a second-rate level.
Looking at individual combat capabilities, the Italian military was indeed quite average. Although the individual skills of Italian soldiers were good, the Italian military had a high aversion to war, and soldiers were relatively weak in combat will. They rarely fought desperately unless forced to, making their performance against Greece challenging. They could be considered second-rate in this regard. However, when the Italian military swept through Ukraine, capturing a hundred thousand Soviet soldiers in one campaign, comparing this with the war situations of the Soviet Union and Japan, the combat effectiveness of the Italian military might not be much worse than that of the Japanese.
In terms of logistics and supply, due to Italy's limited national power, weak industrial base, and scarce resources, the Italian military had a lower level of mechanization, resulting in relatively poor logistics and supply. It was far behind the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom, placing it in the second-rate category among major powers. However, compared to other second-rate countries, the Italian military was much more fortunate. At least they could still enjoy Italian pasta and potatoes, and on the battlefield, they could even drink red wine.
It's just that in the original timeline, Italy indeed wasn't well-prepared for war, coupled with a pig-headed leader.
If you are familiar with World War II, you would discover that when the war broke out on September 1, 1939, Italy had steel that would last for 14 days, coal for 50 days, and iron ore for 180 days.
What kind of war could they fight with that...
No wonder at the time, the Foreign Minister, Galeazzo Ciano, after inspecting Italy's industry, wrote in his diary, "We are in such a situation, how dare we go to war!?"
In summary, the combat performance of the Italian military in World War II was indeed very poor. However, fundamentally, it was due to inadequate war preparations, outdated equipment, excessive interference in military command by leaders, political instability, and other reasons.
Most importantly, when Italy declared joining the Phoney War, the majority of the people in the country disagreed. However, Italian leader Mussolini insisted on entering World War II. With insufficient military preparation and low public awareness of participating in the war, some even intentionally sabotaged, the Italian forces, constantly fighting abroad, ended up defeated so quickly and embarrassingly.
Now, with the encouragement from Britain, Mussolini has been accused of killing their king, and the whole of Italy is in an uproar, eager to tear Britain into pieces.
Not enough weapons and supplies?
While capturing hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers in Dunkirk, the German forces also seized a large number of weapons and equipment. Over 2,000 artillery pieces, 63,000 cars, 75,000 motorcycles, over 1,000 tanks and armored vehicles, more than 20,000 machine guns, and 500,000 tons of military supplies were captured. Wilhelm ordered all these supplies to be allocated to Italy for emergency use. He also dispatched Speer to Italy to integrate their industries, especially the military industry, converting all weapon production lines to German standards.
Wilhelm yawned, glanced at the clock, folded the documents, and stood up. "Occupying so many countries all at once might be a bit overwhelming, but even when busy, we must take care of our health. You should also go back and rest soon."
Reinhard expressed his gratitude with a grateful look. "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness."
Back in his bedroom, Wilhelm, looking at Princess Silvia asleep, leaned down and kissed her tender cheek, whispering softly, "Congratulations, my Queen."
"Wilhelm, brother..." Silvia, with sleepy and blurry eyes, stretched out her hands, holding his neck, and murmured in a coquettish tone, "I don't want to manage the country or anything."
"Don't worry; others will take care of that for you."
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder