Sicily is the largest island in the entire Mediterranean, on the world map, just like a football at the feet of Italy, in this era, football has just been launched, has not yet become the world's largest sport in later generations, and even cultural and sports activities are not very important, war and economy are the mainstream of the world.

Sicily extends into the Mediterranean, which is one of Italy's maritime barriers, and there is also a huge military port here, but the Italian navy, in front of more than 1.5 million tons of warships, has become a joke, they did not dare to dock in Sicily, they ran directly back to the northern port, where is the safest place, not only has a perfect fortress, but also a large number of shipyards to provide maintenance.

There is no fleet sea defense, it's really a joke, Sicily's 25,000 square kilometers of land, a long coastline, there is no way to fortify everywhere, the scattered Italian army did not do a good job of defense at all, but in the Sicilian capital Palermo retained 3 divisions of the army, scattered elsewhere more than 2 divisions, only less than 70,000 troops, to defend more than 1,000 kilometers of coastline, it is impossible, even arrogant Italians, it is impossible to think that they can hold on.

The Entente's offensive against Sicily represented a plan to open a second battlefield in the Mediterranean, and it was quite well prepared, not only among more than a dozen targets, the landing site was carefully selected, and there were three targets selected in the end, and the commander selected according to the situation on the front line, and put it into practice, starting the landing plan.

Beta was an excellent fleet commander with an unusually rich amount of experience, and he first made a false shot. With the help of a large number of ships, Palermo was suppressed and the attack on Palermo was carried out. Then part of the fleet carrier troop carriers landed directly, and the landing site was less than 70 kilometers from Palermo. It is a relatively open area, as long as 30 kilometers ahead, is the ring of Sicily, where the road is located, you can easily enter all parts of Sicily, is the best location of the three landing positions.

Originally, this position was just an alternative, after all, in a war, the best position must be fortified by the other side. This is the common sense of war, but when it comes to the Italians, they don't play cards according to common sense at all, one of the three divisions should have been placed in this position, although it could not delay the landing of the Entente, but it could bring great trouble to the landing of the Entente, and the convenient transportation conditions here can still allow them to maneuver quickly.

Even if Beta is an enemy army. As a vested interest, I can't help but despise the Italian army, which really doesn't play its cards according to common sense, since it is within 15 kilometers of this key landing site. Without any Italian troops, then he would not have been polite and chose this best place to land.

The location chosen was very good. The Italians did not stand in the way, and the landing was not hindered. First of all, the landing of 3 regiments, the creation of a simple beachhead. On the first day, 12 divisions of the army landed in Sicily, opened up a complete landing ground, temporary docks, simple camps and the like were also arranged, and then, a steady stream of troops began to enter Sicily.

The temporary wharf was almost 10 times more efficient than the tidal flats without any mooring conditions, and when the Allied troops landed in a steady stream, Italy could no longer resist.

Sicily is the largest island in the entire Mediterranean, with an area of 25,700 square kilometers, but if you really want to go, it is not big, only one or two hundred kilometers in diameter, and the landing site is almost like a knife, dividing Sicily into two halves, no matter in that direction, it is not very far.

The landing ground guarded by battleships, the firepower was absolutely superior, and the next day, after the second batch of troops began to land, the first batch of 12 divisions began to attack in Sicily, which was really like an autumn wind sweeping away the leaves, sweeping across the entire Sicily.

On 12 March, seven days after the outbreak of the war, the Entente forces had taken control of most of Sicily, most of the cities except Palermo had been conquered, and the defenders of Palermo had lost one and a half divisions, and the two scattered divisions had been annihilated two days earlier.

Due to the problem of casualties, the Entente took a more soothing approach to Palermo, and did not attack sharply, but it was so, on March 16, the defenders of Palermo, Italy, who suffered huge losses, chose the head, and with the fall of Palermo, the whole of Sicily fell into the hands of the Entente, and it took almost only 11 days to completely occupy Sicily,

Italy's largest island, after being conquered by the Entente, immediately caused a shock to the Allies, you must know that Sicily is not only the largest island in Italy, but between him and the Apennine Peninsula, where Italy is located, it is only separated by a 3 km wide Strait of Messina, 3 kilometers, not even the widest part of the Yangtze River in China, that is to say, the difficulty of the Entente to attack Italy is almost non-existent, and Sicily will become an extremely safe forward base in the superior Allied navy,

As long as the logistical and material resources are continuous, and the personnel and materials are combined, the Entente will no longer be an expeditionary operation, but a similar to a local operation.

The huge island of Sicily, with the help of the Allied fleet, became a bridgehead to conquer Italy, and a steady stream of supplies began to enter the Mediterranean Sea through the Strait of Gibraltar, and then transported to Sicily, and then the army rested a little in Sicily, although the war did not further intensify and expand, but everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before the Entente attacked Italy.

The southern front battlefield, which was expected by the Allies, the fleets attacking the Middle East were suspected of attacking Italy, and Italy was also reminded, which eventually turned out to be a false alarm, and it was this false alarm that made Italy think that the Entente did not dare to come to Italy at all, and it was like this, even later, Germany reminded twice in a row that a large number of troops were going to the Mediterranean, probably against Italy, and Italy did not change anything.

Especially this time, Britain, France and the United States did quite hidden, but there were still clues, using a large number of warships, more than 1 million troops to the Mediterranean, it is definitely impossible to go to the Middle East, the Middle East already has 800,000 troops, add another 1 million, it will be almost 2 million, maybe the Middle East really needs so many troops, but in terms of importance, it is impossible to give them so many troops, and then think of the solidity of the Dardanelles in Turkey, the possibility of attacking Italy is very large, The German foreign minister personally went to Italy and asked Italy to pay attention to it and build fortifications, but Italy turned a deaf ear and did not make any changes, which ultimately led to the defeat of the southern front.

In fact, in the whole World War, Italy's performance was really not good, Italy, as part of the Central Powers, played a role in this European war, almost minimal, that is, when Germany attacked France, in the south of France, but it was not successful, even if the French were beaten by the Germans, but compared with the Italian army, the French army was still strong, the French army of 2 armies, the Italian army that blocked the Albis Pass, slightly contacted, When France showed its combat effectiveness, Italy was stagnant, no matter how urged by Germany, it was stagnant, which made Germany quite angry, and the German side let them attack more than once, but he always avoided it for various reasons.

With the previous lesson, now, even if he has long discovered the actions of Britain and France, he has not made more moves, more to warn Italy, hoping that they will pay attention to it, in the eyes of Germany, Italy is also one of the great powers, with a certain industrial base and a large number of troops, not to mention that the 1.5 million troops that have been mobilized, at least, will not be easily occupied by the Entente.

Germany can't help but be anxious, the Entente has already taken action, and it is clear that Italy is used as a soft persimmon, although Italy and the European continent are separated by the Alps, but as long as they cross the mountain, whether it is Austria-Hungary or Germany, it is very convenient, in the war between the two sides, if Italy has a problem, the next thing is that Austria-Hungary will face the firepower of the Entente.

With China's reminder, Germany is still prepared for Italy's pit attributes, but I didn't expect it to be like this, the landing operation that should have been tragic was turned into an armed parade by the Entente, and it didn't cost much, once Italy couldn't withstand it, Austria-Hungary was estimated to follow in the footsteps, in the past year, Austria-Hungary, which was known as as powerful as Germany, played very little role in the European war, and Russia, which was beaten by Germany, and Austria-Hungary and Turkey, which were all over the place, were not the main direction, really going to the main direction, Austria-Hungary is finished.

In the vast majority of the time, Austria-Hungary is only responsible for defensive tasks, more to act as Germany's labor force, to produce some materials for Germany, if the Entente really faces them, it will be very troublesome, unlike Italy in the Apennines, Austria-Hungary is the real core of the Allies, an important fulcrum of the 3B railway, and even an important partner of Germany, once he suffers irreparable losses, it will directly affect Germany.

In order to avoid this consequence, Germany once again reminded Italy that this time Italy really took action, after all, a 25,700 square kilometer island, the largest island in the Mediterranean, has been captured, it is impossible not to pay attention to it, a large number of troops are mobilized, ready to make a final resistance, to prevent the Allies from invading Italy proper. (To be continued.) )