Bab 92: 92
The Luftwaffe's air raid on Rome killed 7,200 civilians and destroyed or damaged nearly 10,000 buildings.
Italians, who had already been growing dissatisfied with the government due to the deteriorating war situation, exploded with dissatisfaction following the air raid on Rome.
On July 5, two days after the air raid, a large-scale protest was held in Rome.
About 500,000 protesters marched through the chaotic city of Rome, holding signs and placards with slogans scrawled on paper and boards, shouting slogans.
"Stop the war now!"
"The incompetent king, go away!"
The military and police alone could not stop the sadness and anger of those who lost their families and homes in the air raid.
The only time protesters stop and disperse is when an air raid alarm sounds.
Demonstrations were held not only in Rome but also in cities such as Naples and Salerno that had not yet been hit by air raids.
It was no exaggeration to say that protests were held all over Italy.
To make matters worse, the police and military, who were supposed to suppress the protesters, turned a blind eye to the protests or even joined them.
When the situation began to take an unusual turn, the King, who had ignored the recommendations of the military and the cabinet and insisted on ceding Trentino-Alto Adige, ordered the cabinet to review Germany's demands.
While the cabinet was considering German demands, the Germans launched an onslaught on the Italian defenses along the Po River.
"launch!"
"Drop the bomb!"
While field artillery, self-propelled guns, and bombers rained bombs on the Italian positions, infantrymen on boats and barges crossed the river.
The Italians were unable to attack the Germans crossing the river because of artillery and bombardment.
After the bombardment and airstrikes, infantry and tanks crossed the river and attacked the Italian positions.
In the first step, the No. 4 Tank or Hatcher fired grenades and devastated the trench, and in the second step, the infantry charged and took control of the trench.
On July 6, German forces crossed the Po River and attacked Ferrara. Stukas and Hs123s raided and destroyed the Italian defense line on the outskirts of Ferrara.
"Stukada!!!"
"Everyone bow your heads!"
When the Stuka siren sounded, the Italian soldiers were busy putting their heads down on the bottom of the trench.
The pilots, who had gained experience through repeated combat in Poland and France, accurately dropped bombs on Italian positions.
The camp that was hit by the bomb dropped by the Stuka through a dive bombing attack was blown away with a huge flash of light.
The Hs123, which was older than the Stuka and had weaker mobility and defense, was also an object of fear for the Italian military.
Occasionally, there were aircraft that crashed after being hit by anti-aircraft artillery, but those anti-aircraft guns soon became targets of Stukas and were blown to pieces.
After the dive bombers devastated the Italian positions, the infantry attacked with armored vehicles.
The weakened defense line of the Italian army was easily broken through by the German army's attack with tanks.
***
July 7, 1940
ferrara, italy
"Pasta bastards. "You're shooting like crazy."
Gangul, who hid with his platoon members behind a stone wall built during the Roman era, changed the magazine of the MP38 with skillful hands.
Gangul's platoon was stuck for 10 minutes due to a five-story building fortified by the Italian army.
"Platoon leader, platoon leader!"
"What?"
"Panzerfaust has arrived."
"Oh yeah? "It was great!"
When Gangul heard that Panzerfaust had arrived, a smile appeared on his face. Two platoon members came whimpering, carrying a wooden box containing Panzerfaust.
The number of Panzerfausts in the box was 2, and there were 8 warheads.
Gangl took out a Panzerfaust from the box and aimed it at the Italian army's machine gun position.
Gangl's target was an enemy soldier shooting a Breda M30 mounted on a third-floor window.
As the name suggests, the Panzerfaust was originally a weapon made to take out tanks, but it also boasted excellent power against machine gun emplacements and bunkers.
For this reason, the German army fired Panzerfausts at anything that was difficult to destroy with rifle bullets.
When I aimed the machine gun at the third floor window and pressed the trigger, I felt my body being pushed back by the recoil. When the warhead left the launch tube and hit the target, a flash of light erupted.
As new warheads were being inserted to deal with other machine gun emplacements, the sound of rolling tracks was heard. I looked behind me and saw a broom bear rolling by.
"It's a broom bear. Everyone, cover your ears and bow your heads."
Broom Bear's 15cm cannon has excellent firepower, but it is noisy, so if you stand still, your eardrums could be damaged.
Therefore, when Brumbear tried to fire, the Germans covered their ears.
When Broom Bear's 15cm grenade hit, a thunderous roar sounded and the building tilted to the right and collapsed.
Arms, legs, and parts of the torso fell between the crumbling bricks and pieces of glass.
"Come quickly. "You wasted just one precious warhead."
"Still, I'm glad I came now."
Gangul's platoon members advanced over the huge pile of rubble that had been a building just moments before.
The heads and arms of the Italian soldiers were sticking out from the rubble like weeds.
The smoke and dust made my nose itch every time I breathed in.
It was good to blow up the entire building and save the infantry from their efforts, but it was not without problems.
Because the remains of the building blocked the road, heavy equipment such as tanks could not pass.
While the soldiers found another route to allow the tanks to pass, Gangl's platoon ran into the Italians' next line of defense.
This time too, Panzerfaust played a big role. When the machine gun position was blown away by a single Panzerfaust, the Italian soldiers guarding the defense line retreated.
Gangul fired his MP38 at the retreating enemy soldiers. I could see the sight of three or four Italian soldiers falling to their knees.
As I was about to give the order to advance to my platoon again, I heard the sound of rolling tracks and a tank came out from around the corner. It was the Italian army's M13/40.
"Holy shit, it's a tank!"
"Everyone spreads out!"
As the tank appeared, the platoon members spread out left and right. Because each machine gun position had been fired with a Panzerfaust, there were only two warheads left.
Two M13/40 units. You only need to catch one shot per shot.
"Hoover."
"yes!?"
"I'll take down the guy in front, so you aim for the guy in back. "You can do it, right?"
"Just leave it to me, platoon leader."
While Sergeant Huber, holding the Panzerfaust, lowered his posture and moved, Gangl hid behind a tree and waited for the M13/40 to approach. As the sound of rolling tracks grew louder, Gangul's heart beat faster.
The range of the Panzerfaust is 50m. The distance to the enemy tank is 60m. I had to wait until it got closer than 10m.
As soon as the M13/40 came within 50m, Gangul emerged from the tree line and took aim at the enemy tank.
The Italian tank crew did not notice the gangle emerging from the street trees. Their eyes were all directed straight ahead.
The Panzerfaust warhead left the launch tube. Soon, a loud explosion sounded deafening, and several metal fragments flew out.
The Panzerfaust fired by Gangl hit the M13/40's ammunition depot and caused the tank to explode. The tank crews had no time to escape from the tank and were melted by the flames that swept inside the tank. Desperate screams and cries came out of the tank.
"good!"
The following tank turned its turret and fired its coaxial machine gun. Gangul quickly escaped. Soon a stray bullet flew and tore into pieces the street tree where he was hiding.
"Hoover, it's time!"
"All right!"
Now it was Hoover's turn to take care of the rest. The moment Huber came out and was about to fire the Panzerfaust, the Italian soldiers following the tank spotted Huber and opened fire.
"Ugh!?"
The Italians' bullets did not hit Hoover, but instead distracted him from concentration. The warhead missed the M13/40's turret by a narrow margin and fell into the outer wall of the building, exploding.
"Ayit sitpal!"
As the opportunity to catch the tank wasted in vain, Gangul spat out a curse. There are now zero warheads remaining. Without a warhead, the launch tube was nothing more than an ordinary iron pipe.
"Hey you idiot! "It's the last one left, so what are you going to do?!"
"sorry!!!"
Even if you reprimanded Hoover, nothing would change. Due to an attack by Italian troops supported by tanks, Gangul's platoon had no choice but to return the way they came.
Soldiers ambushed on the side fired MG34s and knocked down the infantry following the tank, but the tank did not even flinch.
No matter how notorious it is for its crappy performance, a tank is ultimately a tank. You had to have at least an autocannon to catch a tank, but you couldn't even dream of machine guns or grenades.
If I had known this would happen, I would have used Panzerfaust sparingly... . The problem was that the Panzerfaust was recklessly used every time a machine gun emplacement was encountered.
Ganggeul had great regrets.
The entire platoon was complaining about one tank, but to make matters worse, additional tanks and infantry appeared.
The tank that appeared this time was the M11/39, which was inferior in performance to the M13/40, but from the perspective of Gangul's platoon, which did not have anti-tank weapons, it was no different in that it was difficult to deal with except in appearance.
"If only there were firebombs… . uh?"
"Platoon leader, over there!"
Where Hoover pointed was an armored vehicle with a slanted front and a main gun mounted on the hull. It was the German military's luxury weapon, the Hatcher.
"Hetcher!"
As soon as Hetcher started breathing fire, the M13/40 exploded into a ball of fire. As the upper hatch opened, the tank commander and ammunition man jumped out and became a hive in Hatcher's MG34.
M11/39, embarrassed by the appearance of the hatcher, hurriedly tried to back up, but it wasn't long before he too was roasted. The Italian army, which had been fighting back with great vigor with tanks on its back, was scattered like dust when all the tanks were hit. Gangul's platoon members heartily cheered the appearance of friendly forces.
Gangul's platoon members, who had overcome the crisis with the appearance of Totenkopf Division soldiers, resumed their advance.
***
July 8, 1940
Rome, Italy
Vittorio, who was already 71 years old, grew older in just a few days and looked like a living corpse, without any surprise if he died at any time.
He had a simple breakfast of a few pieces of bread and milk, and then met Badoglio, who rushed to see him.
Badoglio, like Vittorio, had aged dramatically in the past few days. The wrinkles on his forehead were a sign of how long he had been struggling.
"Hello… . "Do you mean this is the best?"
These were the words left by Vittorio after reading the document of surrender brought by Badoglio.
"your majesty. I'm sorry, but there is no other way. "The public's anger has already surpassed the danger level, and troops and supplies are slowly reaching their limits."
"When it comes to troops, why not bring in divisions from Libya and Ethiopia? "You haven't heard yet that the German Navy has advanced to the Mediterranean?"
Badoglio, who had been hesitant about the king's rebuttal, made a bombshell remark as if he had made up his mind.
"Your Majesty, I don't know if you know, but the troops currently in Libya and Ethiopia are nothing more than a ragtag group of people who are embarrassed to even be called second-class. "The elite divisions that my predecessor brought back to the mainland to fight against Germany were all destroyed or taken prisoner by the German army."
The elite troops of Libya and Ethiopia had long since been reduced to nothing, and the divisions remaining there were, as Badoglio said, third-rate divisions, not even second-tier divisions.
Due to lack of numbers, they had no choice but to let the guerrillas run wild.
It was clear that if the remaining divisions in the colony were brought to the mainland, the guerrillas would become even more active.
And, there was no way the German army would sit still while the divisions were brought back to the mainland.
By the time these divisions arrived on the mainland, the German army would have advanced right in front of Rome.
'If the people are patient until then.'
Even today, protests were in full swing in Rome. The slogans shouted by the protesters could be clearly heard even in the Royal Palace, which was surrounded by several layers of military and police.
"Stop the war! "Go away, the incompetent king!"
"Abolish the monarchy! Make Italy a republic!"
"… Although it is late, we must end the war now so that we can plan for the future. "Please make a decision."
"… .."
When Vittorio nodded, the waiting chamberlain came holding a seal. It was a seal that only the king could use.
Vittorio's hands as he stamped the documents were weak.
"Prime Minister."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Do you believe that one day the people will understand my decision?"
"I have no doubt about it."
The thought that people would ask why the war wasn't ended sooner was rising, but it never came out. Badoglio came out of the palace, leaving the king lost in his own thoughts, and looked up at the sky.
The sky was as clear as spring water.
***
July 10, 1940
Graz, Ostmark, Germany
As Badoglio and the Italian surrender delegation entered the meeting room, reporters all flashed their flashes.
We exchanged salutes with each other. It was strange to see both the German and Italian sides greeting each other with a Roman salute.
"You must have had a hard time coming this far, Prime Minister."
"Thank you, President."
When I approached him first and offered his hand, Badoglio smiled bitterly and shook my hand.
I thought about teasing him for not looking so good on such a nice day, but when I actually saw him face to face, the thought of doing so suddenly entered my mind.
An expression that looks like it might cry at any moment. I find it odd that a man in his 70s makes that kind of expression. It feels like I'm the only bad guy here.
Oh, he's a bad guy?
"Hmm, hmm. "Although it is never too late, I cannot tell you how fortunate I am that we can end the war even now."
"I also agree. How much better it would have been if this day had been 10 days, or even a week earlier... ."
Badoglio's eyes seemed to be heading somewhere out of my reach. His words came from sincerity. Seriously.
Rome was only spared by one air raid, but cities in Northern Italy above Rome were reduced to ashes by multiple air raids.
Plus, since we lost the war, the entire country will be strained to pay the compensation for a while.
So who called for war? If we had just remained calm and neutral, this division would not have existed.
"Okay then, let's hurry and get to the point."
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