Although Richthofen repeatedly stated that the airborne troops under his command could complete the task, the German General Staff still did not allow the air force to devote a large number of airborne troops to carry out the first wave of attacks at the first time, and they had the following reasons.

The first point is that neither Ancona nor Pescara itself has much defensive strength and a solid offensive, and it can be easily taken by the landing force under the cover of naval fire and the support of the air force. There is no need to throw more into the Airborne Forces. The second point is that the input of the airborne forces of the Air Force will inevitably require a large amount of transport aircraft and fuel. This has led to logistical constraints on other aircraft. And transport planes need to be escorted. This will inevitably reduce the size of escort formations of bombers and attack aircraft. It would be even better if these resources were used to supply other aircraft. The third point is that the airport is relatively tight at the moment. Until Austria-Hungary opened more airports, it would have been nice to be able to operate these aircraft.

But in order to save face for the Air Force...... The German General Staff promised to consider a large-scale parachute operation behind enemy lines on the opposing side if Austria-Hungary opened more airfields and after the Air Force had completed the cover of the first stage of the landing mission. But this so-called compromise was even a slap in the face in Richthofen's eyes. "We're just a chef, and we were going to make a big dish to show our hands, but the head chef only told us to take a small spoon and add some salt to the soup pot when the meal was almost cooked!" Richthofen looked at the documents sent by the General Staff and said angrily..........

Surprisingly, though. This decision of the German General Staff, however, allowed the German Airborne Forces to avoid falling into a quagmire. Because after launching the landing war, the German Army experienced the most difficult urban street fighting since the founding of the army! This made the Germans, who were accustomed to fighting in the field, feel quite uncomfortable!

There were few problems in capturing the ports of Pescara and Ancona. With the support of naval artillery of the German-Austrian Mediterranean fleet. The German convoy arrived at the assembly area without any problems. Then I went to the target smoothly, and then successfully completed the sea transfer, and finally successfully landed on the territory of Italy, but it was not smooth when I finally entered the city! Ancona was better, but the German Army's operation in Pescara was rather unsmooth.

The first obstacle that the Germans encountered was the fact that the ground was full of mines, mines of all kinds. These mines are buried on the roads, in the woods, around houses, and maybe even next to toilets! This infantry Ray Germans had never seen before, and the warhead was very small. According to the soldiers, the charge of this thing was not even the amount of a rifle bullet. Sometimes it even feels like stepping on a nail. It's hard to kill people with this thing. Moreover, the manufacture of such mines is extremely irregular. Some even use glass bottles to make thunder bodies, and they are very small in size and low in weight. Weighs less than 150 grams! But when it's camouflaged and mixed in the grass and woods, or in the city, it's hard to spot ..........

At first, the Germans thought that the Italians' inferior industrial level could only produce such a weapon with very low lethality, but as time went on, when more and more wounded appeared, the Germans found that something was wrong, because the person who was hit by the mine generally did not die, at most he broke his leg, and for the wounded, he needed 2 or 3 people to help him evacuate the battlefield and then need treatment, and some ships were drawn from the already tight capacity to send the wounded home. Invisibly. If one person is injured, it takes 3 or 4 people to withdraw from the battle to solve the problem, and if two people are injured in a class of 10 people. Then this squad will have no combat effectiveness, so let's take care of the wounded together! "It's so dark that the people who make these things!" A German official said. …。

At this point, the matter is not over, although this thing can only injure people, but because the shrapnel in it contains heavy metals such as mercury or lead, this thing will be poisoned if it enters the body, and a little careless handling will lead to amputation. When he came out, he was a strong soldier. When I went back, I was a disabled person on crutches, if you took into account the social pressure and burden that this would bring. For a country, the lethality of such anti-infantry mines is the greatest. And what is even more terrifying is that there are too many such mines, and they are too difficult to find, and mines with non-metallic shells are difficult to find even mine detectors! …。

However, although it was crooked, it was impossible to stop the German army with such things, so under the cover of various armored vehicles, an attack on the city of Pescara was launched. And after attacking the city, it is the beginning of falling into the quagmire of Pescara!

"My company and I felt something was wrong as soon as we stepped into the city...... The city under your feet and the map you got in advance are simply two completely different places. The originally wide roads were riddled with barricades and mines. Because of the presence of mines and pre-set explosives, various armored vehicles are also struggling. We had to move slowly along the buildings on both sides of the street, and at first the advance was slow, but the casualties were not large, and most of the resistance came from the snipers, who were of average quality, but very cunning, and they focused not on destroying our infantry, but more on harassing attacks. ”

"In order to cover the advance of the infantry, we tried to occupy some houses as support points, but soon, when we stepped on the stairs inside the houses or opened a gate, the scythe of death inadvertently harvested the lives of our comrades. These bizarre explosives are placed behind doors, on the sides of passages, or on windowsills. Because these are the places that must be passed through to occupy a house, and the windowsills are generally used as machine-gun fire points. The bombs were so powerful that the Italians tied up several defensive grenades, some of which were covered with concrete jackets. Increase the number of shrapnel, often after a bomb is detonated, not a single person can escape from the whole house. A German captain who participated in the battle wrote in the report..........

The Germans' maladaptation was not only due to the strange and insidious attacks of the other side, but also to the mode of war. In the past, although the field environment may have encountered more complex situations, no matter how complex it is, it is better than the artificial steel forest. Maybe there's a sniper hidden behind some broken window. This situation of overt and covert enemies made the Germans, who had not fought for ten years, somewhat at a loss. The previous abundant fire support was also much less useful in this battle, because the Germans wanted a city rather than a scorched earth. For its own benefit, Germany was not willing to blow up the entire city to rubble, not to mention that if there were underground bunkers, even if all the surface positions were destroyed, all the resistance might not be wiped out. You don't see, in Xu Jie's plane, Russia, which has an absolute advantage in strength, also paid a heavy price when attacking Grozny.

If it was just some tricks or snipers, although it could cause some casualties to the Germans and even bring a certain amount of psychological pressure to the opponent, it would be too naïve to rely solely on these means to block the pace of the German attack. If the defensive operation is really fought only on the defensive, then defeat is not far away. Because for static solidified defenses, attackers can always find vulnerabilities to defeat in one fell swoop. Therefore, whether it is the minefield at the beginning or the harassment later, it is just to drag down the other attacking troops, and then free up their hands to concentrate their forces to deal with a certain attacking force. …………。

As an Italian military officer who had studied in China, Parzón's use of earthwork and tunnels was far beyond the understanding of Europeans at the time. (After all, there is Xu Jie, a traverser.) In addition to destroying the original urban layout, Parzon also rebuilt a hidden transportation system, the Italians used explosives or other tools to open up hidden passages between the houses according to their needs, and at the same time turned some basements into bunkers, and also used the city's sewer network as a tunnel for maneuvering and detouring.

If only that's all there is to it...... It was just a tactical breakthrough, but it was clear that Parzson had elevated the street fighting to the level of a campaign, and he had divided the city into several different parts, some of which could be abandoned, some of which were used to delay the opponent's attack and gain time, and some of which were used as preset pockets, waiting for the opponent to get in and then punch them up. There are also points that must be adhered to. What's even more commendable. In order to increase the depth, Parzon also incorporated the nearby Chieti into the defense system, as its own material base and general rear ..........

If you want to do a good job, you must first sharpen your tools, and after you have a good deployment and layout, you must also have good equipment! Originally, the Italian navy did not have many heavy weapons, but with the help of Britain and France, many problems were solved, not to mention the large number of Stokebrandt mortars provided by the French and some M1 75mm light howitzers provided by the Americans greatly enhanced the firepower of the defenders. The former, plus the gun carriage and barrel, weighs no more than 50kg, and can be easily disassembled into several parts for carrying. The total weight of the latter is less than 700kg. And it has the ability to deal with lightly armored targets. And the angle of fire is good. In order to supplement the lack of anti-armor firepower, the Italians also obtained a large number of 57mm anti-tank guns from the British, although the armor-piercing power was limited, but it was better than lightness. Moreover, in the first wave of engagements, the Germans did not have any strong ground armored units, and the relatively close combat distance made this weapon a great weapon in street fighting!

The second is ~~~, I wish you all a happy new year~~~. (To be continued).