Chapter 525: Italian Invasion of Greece

The next time is another time to rip off.

Although Lao Chiang did not dare to provoke a fight by force, the old councillors in the Central Council had the time to accuse the vanguard army of all kinds of wrongdoings.

And the government of the joint theater is also the hat of the people's democratic election, flying out one after another, blocking the central government's condemnation of the saliva. As for all kinds of things that are smeared and slapped in the face by each other on the dark side, there is its own gossip circulating, but it is not what should be put on the table.

However, the exposure of people has not stopped.

This is not much to scandalize, and the crimes committed by devils in China are already too numerous to mention. With the recovery of Jinzhou and other places, the mass graves in Fuxin and other places were discovered, and the hardships of the people under the rule of the puppet Manchus were put in front of the people little by little, and a wave of hatred of Japan was set off in China. forced Lao Jiang to dare not say anything about peace talks.

In addition, due to domestic pressure, they shelled Liaohe, Songjiang, and other places towards Panshan, Jiaxing, and other places. A partial return fire was carried out on the Vanguard. The pictures and news sent back to China also highlighted the content of the shelling of the positions of the vanguard army, and sang praises.

At the junction of the people and the vanguard army, the two sides also exchanged cold guns, maintaining a customary state of engagement. In such a state, both sides are easy to explain internally and externally. Secretly, however, there are other arrangements.

These tricks are trivial, but they are the most time-consuming. Before you know it, September has passed.

When October just came, the time and space that had begun to deform gave Meng Xiang another surprise.

On October 2nd, the Germans had already entered Romania with a large army and took direct control of the oil bases. Although they have the upper hand in the English Channel, the consumption of fuel has skyrocketed with more intensive air and naval operations. In particular, the operation of several large ships of the Navy is a bottomless pit of oil. Rao is the Germans scavenged some from the French and other places, but are still worried about future applications.

Meng Xiang also did not remember this operation of the Germans 5 days in advance, and even this time there was no movement of too many waves, he only had a vague impression. He was only concerned about this, but Mussolini reacted much more to the actions of the Germans.

The Balkans are considered a belly by Italians because of their proximity to Italy. Mussolini also had been reluctant for the Germans to meddle too much in the Balkans. When Germany entered Romania, Mussolini also accelerated the pace of his attack on Greece.

In recent months, the Italians have been on the battlefields of Somalia and Egypt, and Mussolini has become arrogant. He thought that the Greeks, lacking modern weapons and equipment, were nothing to mention in front of the Roman legions that roamed Africa, so he devised a plan of only 4 divisions, plus 2 divisions of backup, to bring Greece to its knees before the Greeks mobilized their population. But his usual arrogance overlooked the weakness of his army and underestimated the Greeks' will to resist.

Another round of battle is about to begin between Rome and Greece, the cradles of ancient European civilizations. But all this was outside the overall consideration of the Germans.

"You say the Italians are going to attack Greece?" He was in France at this time, and in addition to leaving the footprints of the conquistadors all over France, he was also negotiating with the Vichy government. Even if there is a subordinate relationship between the two countries, all aspects of the matter need to be negotiated and coordinated to strive for the greatest interests of each country, and some things need to be decided by Hitler himself.

Germany's desire to annex France is far from simple, and more than three months are just the appetizer time for this French meal.

Hitler, who had just seen the defeat of the British and was somewhat relieved, heard the news from Skynet, which gave him a headache.

"What do those stupid Italians want to do? Don't they know how bad it is for the Balkans to be upset? "Hitler was a little mad. For the sake of the oil base of the Germans, the Germans have just sent troops to protect it. At this time, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, etc., because they had long been the younger brothers of the Germans, did not resist strongly. But Greece and Yugoslavia were not touched by the Germans.

As soon as they went to provoke these neutral countries, they would immediately fall to the British, and planes from there could bomb directly into the oil fields of Bōsti, Romania. This is something that the Germans have always avoided, but the recklessness of the Italians ignited the powder keg.

"This stupid idea of his must be stopped, at least not now!" He wanted to go to Mussolini in person, but some negotiations with the French Vichy government were still at a critical juncture, and some things could not be separated, so he sent the German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop to make a special trip.

It was Ribbentrop, the son-in-law of the German champagne king, who signed an alliance agreement with the Italians, so he was an old acquaintance. But Mussolini was a little unhappy: you Germans can toss in the Balkans, why can't we reach out? The former Roman Empire had conquered Greece, and he wanted to regain that glory.

The success of the Italian army's initial challenge to the British Empire brought him back to the feeling he had when he was Hitler's big brother. When he seized the post of Prime Minister of Italy in the twenties, Hitler had to come to greet him personally. But by this time, the Germans had completely overshadowed him by crushing the Anglo-French forces and occupying France.

This time, if Lao Xi had come in person, as in the past, Mussolini might have been afraid to delay for a while. But in the face of the bitter words of the German foreign minister, Mussolini instead accelerated the process of the offensive.

On the 7th of October, he regretfully informed Ribbentrop that the Greeks had harmed the legitimate rights and interests of the Italians in Greece, and that the Italian generals had decided to teach them a lesson after hearing that the Greeks had refused to apologize.

"Our army has already begun to move! The armies of three of our divisions have already crossed the border line of Albania and Greece! Mussolini said proudly.

As soon as Ribbentrop heard this, he understood that everything was irreparable, and that Mussolini could not listen to him, and that he had obviously been fooled up for the past few days.

Some things will happen, and the storm of butterfly wings is only a small part of this world.

The Greeks, facing the threat of the Italians, shouted "n!" very strongly. ”

"The king of the Greeks is George II, but the real power in Greece is in the hands of the prime minister, General Metaxas, and as a general, it is a shame to surrender without a fight." Lu Sihua was analyzing the situation in Greece for Meng Xiang at this time, and Lu Sihua, who was proficient in Western culture and background, became Meng Xiang's staff officer to understand Western affairs in this matter.

"The Greeks quickly mobilized the whole population, and their army by this time had 15 infantry divisions and 1 cavalry division, as well as 4 mountain brigades." Lu Sihua said again.

"Mountain Brigade?" Meng Xiang asked, and he began to think that the terrain of Greece was mountainous.

"Yes! Greece is mountainous, and not only these 4 specialized mountain brigades, but more than half of the infantry divisions are also trained in mountain warfare! Lu Sihua served in the military when Lu Zhengshen was in Belgium, and he had some understanding of the military, especially the introduction of some background figures in the army, and he understood it more thoroughly.

As for the introduction of weapons and equipment and establishment, Meng Xiang, who has the advantage of a base, is easier to obtain. It is very easy for spies to infiltrate, but some interpersonal relationships are not something that spies can grasp, and this shortcoming can just be made up by Lu Sihua.

"In this way, the Italians are going to suffer a big loss! Their equipment is not adapted to fight in Greece! Meng Xiang nodded slightly.

Lu Sihua was surprised by Meng Xiang's affirmation, of course he didn't know that Meng Xiang still remembered the fact that the Italians were deflated at the hands of the Greeks in his mind.

Fighting in the mountains, the restrictions on equipment are very large, otherwise the United States and Soviet Russia will be deflated in Afghanistan.

In war, the right time and place are always something that every commander should pay attention to. The Italians were not only ruined by the unsuitability of mountain warfare, but also by the continuous heavy rain in the bad weather of Greece, and when the stubborn resistance of the Greek people was triggered, the defeat of the Italians, who were in the right place at the right time and in the right place, and the Italians, who had lost both, were inevitable.

There are many such examples in later generations, even if there are many classic examples in World War II, Meng Xiang does not dare to forget the warnings of these predecessors and descendants. At this time, the vanguard army already had a regular army of 4 million, of which except for some engineering troops and construction corps, those field troops all needed to go through field training. In addition, the training of urban street fighting and night fighting is also essential, and it has become a must for every regular soldier.

It was precisely these regular trainings that made the training of the soldiers of the Pioneer Army more difficult and prolonged, which was also one of the reasons why the Pioneer Army did not launch a major operation for a long time. Although they did not go to war, the training was just as easy.

"In modern warfare, there are more and more things that soldiers need to master and understand, even ordinary soldiers, the requirements for all kinds of techniques and tactics, as well as the requirements for fighting in various environments, are becoming more and more stringent!" Meng Xiang sighed, "After all, people's energy is limited, so the army can only increase the compound skills of each soldier on the one hand, and need more specialized talents." ”

"Yes! In the past, we grabbed a few strong men and stuffed a gun and went to the battlefield, but now we feel that the training of our army during the three-month recruitment period is not enough, and in addition to the recruitment period, we have to train more. In the face of so many illiterate soldiers, it is too difficult to become a composite talent. More is better than fine, but doing one thing alone can produce more results! Fan Chong also lamented that the vanguard army had strict requirements for soldiers. But the reality is that it is impossible for everyone to be a soldier king. You can only play to one person's strengths, and train specifically for xìng to cope with special environments.

For this reason, the vanguard army has set up special combat units to cope with various special environments. For the sake of future operations, Meng Xiang has set up special units to conduct training and research against the severe cold and snowstorms in the north, the tropical rainforests in the south, the deserts in the Middle East and other places, and the islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Among them, the mountain troops are the largest special environment combat units in the vanguard army.

The original mountain brigade, mountain division and even the establishment of the army were not suitable, just because Meng Xiang handled it in a low-key manner, and did not merge it into the establishment of the national defense force.

But in the vanguard army, which was created specifically for mountain operations, there were already 12 divisions.

Among them, there were two divisions that were familiar with Sichuan operations in Hanzhong and Qinling Mountains; There were two divisions operating in Jiangnan and Nanling, Fujian; a division operating around Guangxi Vietnam; There was a division scattered in Yunnan, Burma, Thailand, etc.; There were two divisions in Sumatra and Kalimantan that were familiar with the rainforest mountains; There is also a division trained in the plateau and mountain activities of Qinghai; In addition, Wei Hanchao's Second Guerrilla Column also had a special mountain division adapted to the mountains of Northeast China and the mountains of Korea.

Supplies in these areas were relatively difficult, and training was time-consuming and labor-intensive, but Meng Xiang still persevered in these trainings and trained every soldier as a seed. The huge amount of money and energy invested made the informed Fan feel distressed and pity. Although Meng Xiang didn't say it explicitly, he could also guess Meng Xiang's intentions from some plans and was amazed.

"Mountain troops, if they have the right tactics, are indeed better adapted to operations on mountainous terrain than those with better weapons and equipment, and it is normal for the weak to defeat the strong and achieve victory. Throughout the ages, the example of defeating the strong with the weak has been to take advantage of geographical advantages. So if the Greeks had studied mountain warfare, it would probably have made the Italians suffer. I've seen the Italians fight, and to be honest, the combat effectiveness is not very good! Fan, who was familiar with the new tactics of the mountains, was also not very optimistic about the Italian operation, adding, "At least compared to our army, they are much worse." ”

Jīlie's European war gave the vanguard army a lot of reference information, and after understanding the comparison of the models of his own army, he was also proud of the combat effectiveness of the vanguard army. Although he did not dare to boast of being the first in the world, except for the elite troops of Germany, Fan Chong looked at the armies of other countries at this time.

"If our vanguard army shows all its strength, it will surely surprise the world!" Fan Chong sighed in his heart. But he still didn't know that the vanguard army was hiding more than he knew. ro@。