"What are the Italians doing, how can they lose their advantage in the Mediterranean."

In Berlin, the Führer's capital, Hitler was venting his dissatisfaction with Italy.

In front of him were Canalis and Heydrich, who were German intelligence chiefs, and on the side were Goering, Hess, Himmler and other high-ranking party leaders, as well as military leaders Brauchitsch and Keitel.

"Now it's making us very passive."

Goering, who was on the side, also took the opportunity to interject, but after he finished speaking, he couldn't help but look at the army officers.

The gathering of senior German military and political officials was certainly not just news of Italy's defeat in the naval battle. Because Canaris and Heydrich brought the French to issue an order to withdraw some of the African troops back to the mainland. This had a huge impact on Germany's subsequent war, so Hitler specially summoned them to discuss the plan of war against France.

In fact, the battle plan against France had already been drawn up, that is, the historical operation of the Scythe to pass the armored troops through the Ardennes Forest, which was drawn up by Manstein's opinion.

Although the plan was opposed by Brauchitsch and others in the War Department (considered too risky), who liked Hitler and Guderian, the commander of the armored forces, and others, in the end, under Hitler's strong pressure, the plan was approved.

Of course, the approval of this plan is partly due to luck. The original plan for fighting France was called the Yellow Plan, which was similar to the Schlieffen Plan for the German army to attack France in World War I, that is, to put the main German army on the right flank and attack France through Belgium.

However, in January, a Luftwaffe officer with the yellow plan made a forced landing in Belgium due to a plane lost, and because he could not burn all this important document, part of it fell into the hands of Britain and France. Faced with the danger of leakage, Germany had to overturn the Yellow Plan and activate Maninstein's plan.

However, now with the tendency of France to transfer some troops back to its homeland, this makes Hitler and others a little anxious. So this time it was on the surface that Italy had lost the naval battle, but in fact it was putting pressure on the army to try to start a military operation in advance.

So for Goering's words, naturally someone took it.

"Göring is right, we can't just watch France continue to build up its forces on the border, which is very detrimental to our next operations."

This time it was Hitler who was speaking, but Brauchitsch, as commander-in-chief of the army, was a little embarrassed by Hitler's obvious pressure. At present, the commander-in-chief of the army has not achieved much in politics, but is more known for his military ability.

And in the face of the Führer's obvious pressure, he thought about it and said. "At present, the increase in French troops on the border is actually nothing. Most of its troops from Africa came from the colonies, and their equipment and morale were not comparable to those of the native army. ”

"But that's an army of more than 100,000 people, and their weapons can also hurt the soldiers."

It is clear that, despite the insignificance of Admiral Brauchitsch's desire to bring the new French troops back home, there is still some opposition, and the person who spoke was Admiral Keitel next to him.

Faced with the opposition of William Keitel beside him, Brauchitsch was not surprised. This was Hitler's spokesman in the army, and he was known for his resolute obedience to the Führer's orders.

It's just that the current situation makes him feel a little bad.

Sure enough, as Admiral Keitel's words fell, Hess immediately took over. "Your Excellency the Chief of Staff is right, we cannot remain indifferent to this, it will be a crime against the soldiers on the front line."

As Hess finished speaking, the other ** high-ranking officials immediately joined in, which made the parliament almost turn into a critical meeting for Brauchitsch.

Brauchitsch, who was almost cornered, immediately retorted. "But this can't change the time of the battle, you must know that changing the time of the plan will have serious consequences for this, and no one wants to see it changed to this."

"But the plan needs to be modified according to the actual situation, and there are already unexpected situations, and it's time to make changes."

Keitel, who also belongs to the military, tried to counter Brauchitsch's words from a military point of view.

"However, the current increase in the strength of the French army is not enough to allow us to advance our plans."

Since Keitel tried to suppress himself with a military point of view, Brauchitsch also fought back unceremoniously. Although Brauchitsch does not think that he can be the best in the army militarily, he does not want to submit himself to Keitel. The two have worked together for such a long time, and he still knows how many catties and taels the other party has.

"But we can't wait until that time to decide, we need to plan ahead."

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, do you know how much risk it takes to change the timing of the battle plan? At present, all preparations for the army are proceeding according to plan, and this cannot be solved in advance. Military problems need to be solved militarily. ”

Although Brauchitsch did not say it explicitly, everyone present knew who he said his last sentence to.

However, Brauchitsch's reaction was expected at the moment, and Goering interjected at this time. "Although it may seem that France is not mobilizing too many troops from Africa at the moment, we cannot just wait. And at the moment our allies are making very good progress, and we can't afford to wait too long. ”

Well, Goering pulled back to politics from a military point of view.

And in the face of political topics, Brauchitsch has no way to compare with the people in this room, and quickly becomes at an absolute disadvantage. However, even at an absolute disadvantage, Brauchitsch still clung to the bullet and did not agree to launch an attack on France in advance.

In fact, everyone present knew in their hearts that the issue of planning ahead of time also had a lot to do with Hitler's desire to master the army.

It is known that Hitler came to power with the acquiescence of the Army. However, the Army has always been in the hands of Juncker, and they have more and more cooperative relations with the German Workers' Party. Their philosophy is also to serve Germany.

Before Hitler disbanded the SA and shot Röhm in order to make the army identify with him.

It's just that since Hitler became the Führer, the infiltration of the army has not stopped. He wanted the army to serve the party. And the Junkers in the army are also well aware of this, and the open and secret battles between the two have also continued until now.

However, the army now has a huge disadvantage, that is, since Hindenburg's death, the army has not had a leader. Therefore, the army is at a disadvantage in this confrontation.

Of course, Hitler, as an excellent statesman, naturally knew that if he wanted to achieve his wishes, then he needed to take his time to do so. So whenever he finds an opportunity, he will exert his influence.

This Italian naval battle was lost, and he thought it was a good opportunity. Of course, he had also asked a few generals before to understand that the early implementation of the plan would not have as much impact on the army as Brauchitsch said, so he made a challenge in the parliament this time.

And Brauchitsch, who was unprepared for this, could only fall into isolation.

In the end, Brauchitsch, who was not alone, pushed forward the time of the attack under Hitler's pressure a little, from the beginning of May to the end of April. 、

Although it seems to be not much in advance, it perfectly shows the current relationship between the army and Hitler.

Of course, the impact of the Italian naval battle was not limited to Germany, and there was also a discussion in Romania.