Chapter 1028: Italy's Defection

In the end, what had made Mussolini decide to break free from the Germans’ coercion was a report submitted by General Diego on the morning of the fifth day, which stated that a large amount of war material was not in place and that the potential war against Germany could be lost as a result.

However, this poor General Diego was dismissed by Mussolini for this report, without even being given a chance to explain. Surprisingly, General Diego did not seem to want to explain anything. He happily handed over his office, took a large sum of money, and left Rome, his whereabouts unknown.

After sweeping away “this German-planted obstacle,” Mussolini felt that he had to act. He had, in his own mind, dealt with the German mole. In turn, the Germans would immediately become vigilant and take action. There was truly not much time left for him.

In this world, many things can happen at one time. Perhaps while someone is being killed in one corner, a new life is being born in another.

And at almost the same time as the Jewish state was being founded, Mussolini was also preparing his speech to the nation about withdrawing from the Axis. He had already made up his mind, and the American support fleet had already sailed from its harbor. This was his last chance, and he was betting that the Germans were not prepared for a total war.

But were the Germans really unprepared? At a checkpoint on the border, in front of the Italian garrison that had been ordered to seal the border, a German officer smiled and handed his papers to his counterpart. His expression was natural and warm, as if it were some kind of joyous occasion.

“I’m sorry, Captain. We’ve received orders to prohibit any German armed forces from entering Italy… Although this order feels strange, I have indeed received it,” the Italian officer said, looking at the German officer in front of him.

He had to be obsequious in his response to the German in front of him. Leaving aside the German army’s long-standing dominance, just the Panther assault gun parked behind this German captain was enough to deserve his respect. That thing was not to be trifled with; it was said that one shot could take out an entire bunker.

“I’m sorry to hear that. The order I’ve received is to disarm you, cross the border here, and occupy the few towns behind you,” the German captain said, taking back his papers. He then pointed to the Panther assault gun parked on the side of the road, and an armored car and two trucks, and continued in a calm tone, “If you refuse, then I will go back, and we will settle this in another way.”

The Italian officer coughed, then gave an awkward laugh. “Look at you, what a thing to say. I’ve been thinking all along that the order we received was a mistake. We’ve always been staunch allies, haven’t we? Since you are taking over here, as long as you don’t harm our personal safety, I will be in my barracks, obediently waiting for new orders.”

“Very good! Please hand over your weapons, and then take your men from the trucks back to your barracks and take over the defense there. I still have to go to the next town. I hear you’ve reinforced the garrison there with a whole regiment,” the German captain said, turning his head and walking back to the Panther assault gun, which had already started its engine.

The Italian officer, with great cooperation, drew the weapon from his waist and threw it to the side of the sentry post, which was already manned by German guards. The other Italian soldiers, all following their officer’s example, piled their own rifles at the feet of the German soldier.

The truck started up, and the German troops crossed the border defense line, advancing into the Italian heartland. The side of the road was filled with laughing and joking Italian guards, as if the ground the arrogant German soldiers were treading on was not the land they had been ordered to defend. The Germans drove straight in, as if they were just traveling on their own land. In most cases, they didn’t even encounter the slightest resistance.

“I say, these Italians… they aren’t just letting us pass, and then preparing to encircle and annihilate us, are they?” a new German recruit, sitting in a truck and clutching his Mauser rifle, asked the old veteran beside him, his voice full of apprehension as he looked at the Italian guards on the side of the road, who outnumbered them several times over.

The old platoon sergeant, who had been in this infantry company since J Army Group was formed, glanced at the new recruit beside him and gave a cold laugh. “This bunch of Italians, even if you gave them twice the men, as long as you let us get out of the truck and dig a hole, we could hold out here until reinforcements arrive.”

Mussolini’s declaration of Italy’s withdrawal from the Axis was still echoing on the radio, and yet, the German army had already crossed the entire Italian border region. Most of the units hadn’t even fired a shot and had already disarmed the Italian garrison stationed on the border, which had an absolute numerical superiority.

One after another of the tanks that the Italians so feared, with the rumble of their engines, crashed through the residents’ fences from the country roads. The vigilant German soldiers, with their weapons in hand, emerged from the rice paddies. In just a dozen minutes, they had driven the Italian soldiers, one squad after another, out of their foxholes and simple shelters.

“Why? My order was to hold your ground! If the Germans dared to fire, you were to return fire! Hold your positions! Say it clearly! What do you mean, the Germans took your guns?” an Italian division commander roared in his command post, at his wit’s end. He had not heard any gunfire or artillery from the frontline troops, but his own trusted units in the rear were reporting that they had seen German armored units speeding past on the highway.

“Rat-tat! Rat-tat!” Before he could even finish his call, the machine gun in a bunker outside his shelter spat a dazzling tongue of fire. As one of Mussolini’s elite units, at least within the 1st Regiment, the order to resist had been carried out rather thoroughly.

It was just that the target this machine gun was firing at was an approaching German Panther tank. The bullets struck the tank’s armor, kicking up a shower of sparks and chipping off a good deal of paint, but they could not penetrate the thick steel. Soon, the German tank had aimed its own cannon at this machine gun bunker. Before the men inside could even escape, it had, with one shot, blown the bunker sky-high.

“Division commander, get out of here, quick! The Germans have already broken through our defense line on both flanks. If we don’t go now, it will be too late!” a staff officer pleaded with his superior, as he still wanted to leave a way out for himself and his family. As he pleaded, he was inwardly cursing Mussolini. The German concentration camps were no joke. To announce a withdrawal from the Axis at a time like this, wasn’t that just insane?

“Don’t shoot! We surrender!” Before this division commander could even change his mind, a chorus of surrender shouts came from outside the door. It was clear the German soldiers had already stormed the command post, and the area just outside the door was a dangerous combat zone.

“Rat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!” There was no answer, only the sound of a volley of MP-44 assault rifles. It seemed the Germans had no intention of taking prisoners from those who had resisted. They were just responsible for eliminating all resistance and occupying all ofItaly.

“Prepare to breach! Grenadiers! Grenade, ready!” From outside the door, a shout came in German. They didn’t care who was standing in the room. For these German soldiers, who had been ordered to finish off all resistance, for the man in the room to be Mussolini would have been the best possible outcome.

Before the division commander and his staff officer could even speak, the door was kicked open from the outside, and a hand grenade rolled into the room. It clattered and rolled, coming to a stop on the floor at the division commander’s feet.

BOOM! After the explosion, the German soldiers rushed into the room and found a cloud of flying dust and two mangled corpses on the floor. A German veteran at the head of the group walked to the side of one of the corpses, kicked it with his leather boot, and then sneered, “A division commander. Not a small rank.”

In Rome, in the Italian Border Defense Command, the phones were ringing off the hook. Everyone was dealing with the sudden situation. The border defense line, which was said to be able to stop the Germans for three to seven days, had only wasted 10 minutes of the German army’s time before it had completely collapsed, as full of holes as a sieve.

“Quick! Quick, contact the Leader! Just say there’s a problem at the border! Our… our defense line… has been easily broken through by the Germans!” an Italian officer, in his panic, finally remembered one thing: to report this chaotic situation to the still-uninformed leader, Mr. Mussolini.

“Are you kidding me? It’s been less than 10 minutes! The Leader is still on the podium. To tell him at a time like this that our defense line has been broken? How do you propose to tell him? Drag him away from the live national broadcast microphone?” another of Mussolini’s trusted generals, with his hands behind his back, questioned loudly and angrily.

Although he had heard that there had been a lot of corruption in the construction of the border defense line, he had never thought that it would be so rotten. He had always believed that even if the border defense system could not hold for 7 days, 3 days was still a safe bet. But now it seemed his estimate had been too optimistic. His troops hadn’t even been able to hold for 3 hours before they had been routed and had surrendered.

“Order the second-line troops to immediately launch a counter-attack! The Germans have tanks, don’t we have them too? Order those troops to defend the main towns of the second line as long as possible. I need them to buy me a day’s time, so that we can strengthen the defense system around Rome!” This Italian general thought for a moment and gave the best order he thought Italy could take in the current situation.

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