Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

After completing the mission of encircling and annihilating the main force of the British and French forces in Dunkirk, the German army turned its spearhead southward without stopping!

Wei Gang, who succeeded Gamelin as commander-in-chief of the French army in time and space, hastily built the "Wei Gang Defense Line" along the Somme and Aisne rivers, preparing to defend against danger and prevent the German army from moving south. However, the elite division of the French army had suffered a heavy setback, so The remaining 71 divisions were poorly equipped and had no air force support. It was almost impossible to withstand the hungry tiger-like offensive of 100 German divisions.

At this time, Gamelin was still the commander-in-chief of the French army. The only two options before him were escape or surrender, and he no longer had the option of persisting in resistance.

On the issue of continuing the war or ending the war by seeking peace, the French government was divided into two factions, one headed by Prime Minister Reynaud, and the other headed by Marshal Pétain. Pétain openly and unreservedly emerged as the leader of the capitulation faction. Pétain read a memorandum to the cabinet ruling out any idea of ​​continuing the fighting outside France itself. "We have a large number of colonies, but everyone knows that the French economy and industry are concentrated in the mainland. The colonies have no industry or economy. Once the mainland is lost, the capital of resistance will be lost."

And the local resistance is even more nonsense. France has a small land area and a relatively flat and single terrain. In addition, France has complete infrastructure and convenient transportation. German mechanized troops are simply at home in France. If France chooses to resist, the mainland will fall soon. Let alone a comeback after the fall of the mainland, it is not certain whether the overseas colonies can be preserved. In this case, it would be better to surrender directly to Germany and at least retain some of its territory and overseas colonies.

Pétain said in a helpless tone, "The revival of France cannot be achieved through military victory, but should be the result of the suffering of the motherland and its descendants. The armistice is not a punishment for defeat, but a new beginning." , is a necessary condition to ensure the eternal survival of France." No one spoke in the conference room. When Pétain finished these words, he felt very disappointed, so he also shut up.

The debate between Pétain and Reno continued, but the military's attitude was very clear: "We support Marshal Pétain, and the war can no longer go on."

At this time, several more bad news came. The German army easily broke through the Oise River defense line, and the leading troops arrived in the northern suburbs of Paris. Another force rushed towards the Maginot Line. The troops guarding the defense line have no chance of holding on, and it is only a matter of time before the defense line is breached.

What's more important is that it seems that Tours is not safe enough now. Prime Minister Reno could not care less about continuing the dispute and immediately decided to relocate the government agencies to Bordeaux.

After just two days in Tours, the French government is about to move the capital again! And the execution efficiency is unprecedentedly fast.

Just as Prime Minister Renault was about to get in the car and leave, the British ambassador who had moved the capital with them hurriedly found him. "Mr. Prime Minister, Prime Minister Churchill hopes that your country's navy will immediately lift anchor and set sail for Britain; the huge sum cannot be left for the Germans to receive." He had already seen that the French government had no intention of resisting at all, and it would be impossible to surrender if it continued to escape like this. Sooner or later.

Renault frowned. Even if he gave an order under the current situation, the navy would not necessarily obey it, especially since Navy Commander-in-Chief Darlan was firmly opposed to handing over the fleet to the British. So he could only say something perfunctory. "We will discuss this matter after we move to the new capital."

When they retreated to Bordeaux, another shocking news came.

The Italians sent more than a dozen divisions of troops to gather on the border between the two countries!

When Germany was preparing to launch war, many people had some concerns and hoped to find an ally to form an alliance. Even if they couldn't help, at least they would be emboldened. After all, it is not exciting for Germany to challenge European countries alone.

But the surrounding neighbors are either enemies, neutrals, or weaklings. It seems that there is only one Italy that can form an alliance.

Mussolini tactfully proposed an alliance, but Yannick rejected it even more tactfully.

You must know that when Germany and Italy signed the "Steel Treaty" in the original time and space, there were voices in the German Wehrmacht opposing the alliance with Italy. The German Wehrmacht has a relatively clear understanding of the level of Italian military combat effectiveness. This is what they once warned their Führer when the Mustache asked about the pros and cons of the treaty. "If Italy remains neutral, it is equivalent to adding 10 divisions to our army; if Italy joins the other side, we can defeat it with 20 divisions; but if Italy wants to join us, our army must spend 50 Use the strength of a division to protect it."

Later facts just proved the wisdom of the German Wehrmacht. Italy, its ally, followed behind Germany and cheered when things were going well, and was the first to surrender and switch sides when things were going badly. It failed to do much to help, and even fell behind at critical moments.

How weak is Italy?

In March 1895, the Italian army launched an all-out attack on Ethiopia. They fought for 10 years, losing troops and suffering repeated heavy losses. Finally, they were forced to conclude a treaty with the other side, recognizing Ethiopia's independence and paying Ethiopia 10 million lire in compensation. .

In February 1899, the Italian government sent a note to the Qing government, requesting the lease of Sanmen Bay in Zhejiang as a military port. Seeing that no one was paying attention, the Italian government issued an ultimatum, saying that if the request was not accepted within four days, the Italian fleet would attack Sanmen Bay. Italy was very angry, and Cixi was also very angry, and vowed not to give a single piece of soil to Italy. Italy brought 4 warships to the coastal waters of Qing Dynasty, but when they saw that the Qing navy was ready to meet the enemy, the Italians did not hesitate to light a fire, weigh anchor and return to Europe. They ran away without fighting and became Europe. A joke for the media.

In September 1940, with a numerical advantage, the Italian army attempted to seize the British naval base of Alexandria and the Suez Canal. Unfortunately for them, they encountered a counterattack by the British 7th Armored Division, known as the Desert Rats. Facing the powerful British tanks, the Italians ran away if they could, and surrendered if they couldn't. It was very simple.

When the US military landed on the Italian island of Sardinia, there were tens of thousands of Italian troops stationed on the island. After more than 40 people were killed by the Allied forces, the Italians decisively chose to surrender. When they landed on the Apennine Peninsula, the Allied forces faced not stubborn resistance, but Italian troops who surrendered happily. An American officer recorded this in his diary: "The Italian army is not good at fighting, but it is of first-class quality to walk in neat lines to the prisoner of war camp. The generals carried small boxes and walked in the line calmly, as if they were on a military parade." "

As an ally of the German army, the Italian army also went to help fight the Soviet Union and was sent to attack Stalingrad. As a result, the defense zone of the Italian 8th Corps became a breakthrough point for the Soviet army. In less than a day, a 27-kilometer-wide gap was opened, which expanded to 90 kilometers three days later. 220,000 Italian officers and soldiers fled in panic, completely exposing the German flank to the Soviet army. At that time, Italian Foreign Minister Ciano, who was visiting Berlin, asked about the losses of his army in this battle. A German officer replied: "There were no losses at all. They all fled."

Even the Qing Dynasty disdained his country, and Yannick even scorned it. "Even if we want to form an alliance with Italy, who has the final say after the alliance is formed? Will Mussolini, who has no ability and a high ambition, obey our orders? Rather than Italy, I am more optimistic about Hungary and Romania. Spain."