Chapter 924: Attitude Problem

The loss of a Chancellor who was like a stabilizing pillar for Germany was an event whose impact would not fade away so easily. At the very least, the handover of German internal affairs would take a very long time.

August was truly a formidable figure. Even before his death, he had been working hard to delegate the matters he had to oversee. He had handed over all industrial matters to Speer, and the facts had proven that Speer was a master of organizing industrial production. He alone had shouldered the burden of Germany’s industrial reorganization and had brought prosperity to the entire European industry.

As for the foreign policy part, Ribbentrop had taken over Germany’s diplomacy. Subsequently, Germany and Northern Britain had completed a series of treaty exchanges, including border confirmation and delimitation, as well as the attribution of North Sea minerals to Germany, and a series of alliances in which Germany supported Northern Britain in its national defense.

As for the remaining internal affairs, Dominis was also a worthy student of August. From the way he had taken over the work that August had left behind, although this new Imperial Chancellor was lacking in pioneering spirit, he was absolutely more than capable of maintaining the status quo. Therefore, although the handover of internal affairs was fraught with problems, it was also uneventful, and no unnecessary chaos had occurred.

However, the current Akado had no way to rush back to the Eastern Front. After all, with one less stabilizing pillar in Berlin, Akado had to properly stabilize the specific situation in his own nest. After all, it was a transitional period, and with Akado, this Führer, personally holding the fort in the core nest, it could play a role in stabilizing the hearts of the people.

And an important problem that August had left behind was the matter of the divergence in the diplomatic rhetoric of the Axis powers. Dominis and Ribbentrop were now meeting with Akado at the Führer’s residence because of this matter and were reporting this very thorny issue to the Führer.

“My Führer. More than half a month ago, American troops landed in Australia and are now fighting the remnant Japanese forces in western Australia…” Dominis briefly introduced the situation. The entire Empire was collecting this intelligence from abroad, some from enemy radio stations, and some from the regular reports of spies.

“The problem is, when the Americans landed in Australia, we, as a staunch ally of Northern Britain, stated our attitude on this matter,” Ribbentrop said, holding a brief statement that Akado had made at the Wolf’s Lair at the time. “The Imperial position you stated at the time was: ‘From now on, as long as the American troops do not leave the territory of the Axis allies, the war will never end!'”

As he spoke, he put down the document in his hand, then picked up another, and said to Akado, “But my Führer, the leader of Italy, Mussolini, has not stated Italy’s attitude. They have chosen to remain silent on this matter, which is not good news.”

“Mussolini… I really didn’t see that he still had such skills!” Akado said with a cold laugh, and then continued, “Has this matter been communicated with the Italian embassy? Do you know what they are thinking?”

“The personnel at the Italian embassy also don’t know what their leader is up to. We have our own people inside, so we can be sure that this diplomatic move was made by their own people at home, without consulting their embassy…” Dominis said with great regret. “From the looks of it now, they may have made a very unwise decision on this matter.”

After the end of the Balkan War, Italy had begun to lose interest in expansion. They were more enthusiastic about developing the oil fields in Libya and were reveling in the matter of annexing a part of the Balkans, this act of expanding their territory. Mussolini was very satisfied with the benefits Italy had obtained at this stage. He was unwilling to carry out any more high-risk expansions and instead hoped to end the war as soon as possible and to turn his vested interests into “faits accomplis.”

The oil fields in Libya had allowed Italy to find a pillar for its future economy. The losses of the frontline Italian troops and their poor performance in combat had made the Italians unwilling to believe in their army’s combat effectiveness any longer. In this situation, Italy had been unilaterally seeking to be marginalized. Mussolini felt that to let Germany fight the United States and the Soviet Union on its own was in line with Italy’s national interests.

So this leader was not very interested in the affairs of the Axis now. He was more willing to talk about Italy’s economic problems and the more long-term development and integration of its colonies.

It was also for this reason that the Italian Navy’s blockade of the Mediterranean had been slow to materialize. The German squadron that was originally planned to enter the Mediterranean had instead, due to Italy’s resistance, been forced to wait in the ports of Vichy France. The shipping route from Italy to the Black Sea also could not meet the German army’s requirements for reducing transport costs, which on the other hand had also dragged down the German army’s operational plan in the Caucasus region.

In fact, as early as two months ago, Italy had already begun to advocate for a ceasefire and peace. Mussolini’s idea was to “abandon the expeditionary force, save Africa, and make peace with the United States.”

The specific operational procedure was this: on the one hand, to provide Germany with hundreds of thousands of expeditionary troops as insurance money for peace, and then to consolidate its own vested interests in Libya and Egypt, and finally to reach a ceasefire agreement with the United States and to completely end this world war. Of course, whether the Germans on their side ended the war or not was not Italy’s business, as long as Italy on its side had ended it.

It had to be admitted that this set of Italian foreign policy was indeed very attractive. It adhered to the core concept that Italy had always fantasized about: to put in the least effort and get the most benefits. At the very least, it was very much to the liking of the Italians themselves—to treat the whole world as a fool, and to have only Italy be the smart one.

“Mussolini takes me for a fool. And that President Roosevelt, whom I have never met, also takes me, this Führer, for a fool,” Akado said, looking at Dominis and Ribbentrop. He spoke slowly, “The SS on their side, as early as six months ago, were already drawing up corresponding countermeasures. Reinhard over there has suggested that we use subversive means, and if necessary, to get rid of Mussolini.”

“The attitude of the King of Italy is very ambiguous. I cannot judge what kind of impact it will have on Italy’s foreign policy if he were to regain his power,” Ribbentrop said with a sigh. “Until a designated pro-German successor appears, I suggest it is best not to easily subvert the Mussolini regime. That would cause us trouble ourselves.”

Akado nodded. On such international issues, no matter how skilled he was, he could not be more skilled than the geniuses before him. So at least in terms of listening to opinions, Akado was not opposed to them providing him with more suggestions. So he proposed an alternative plan. “In fact, in Africa, we have been focusing on cultivating the Italian Marshal Garibaldi. We hope he can become the new leader of Italy.”

This Marshal Garibaldi was the one who had always partnered with Rommel, who was the Governor-General of Italian North Africa and the commander-in-chief of the Italian forces in North Africa, General Garibaldi. He had been promoted to Marshal for his meritorious service and had become a national hero of Italy. And this Marshal also had a super-secret background that was unknown to others, which was that he was related to that Giuseppe Garibaldi.

This Marshal Garibaldi had always been a follower of Rommel. In terms of his position, he was pro-German and believed that Germany’s military strength was invincible. It was precisely for this reason that he had always maintained a good relationship with Germany in North Africa, which also made the Germans very fond of dealing with this Italian general.

The reason Rommel was able to organize his offensive and stockpile supplies in North Africa with peace of mind was because of the support of this Italian backer. After all, if the German army were to ask for things under Garibaldi’s banner, it would be easier for the Italian government to grant them.

“Are you saying, to mold him into an Italian Napoleon? To return to Italy from North Africa, to seize power, and to become our loyal ally?” Ribbentrop immediately heard the underlying rhythm in Akado’s words. With the participation of this media tycoon, Fanny, it seemed that to create a national hero of Italy was not a difficult matter.

“Once the operation begins, Mussolini will know what we are up to. This is a last resort, and to bring it out now is a bit…” Dominis thought for a moment and said, “We should have our embassy in Italy have a good talk with Mussolini and try to get him to give up his flirtations with the United States.”

“If, I say if, our final action is forced to begin. My Führer, how confident are your troops that they can complete the total control of Italy?” Ribbentrop was clearly not as optimistic as Dominis. He directly asked the last thing he wanted to know.

Akado thought for a moment and then replied, “We will do three things at the same time: first, to have the Italian troops in North Africa and on the Eastern Front support Marshal Garibaldi, to support him in returning to the country to seize power; second, General Hoth’s J Army Group will immediately enter Italy and disarm the Italian troops; third, the SS will wipe out all the high-ranking Italian officials who obstruct our actions, including Mussolini and the King of Italy if necessary.”

He paused, then continued, “The matter of disarming Italy is the most complicated, but I think that overall, the probability of us successfully controlling all of Italy is at least seventy percent.”

After hearing this, Ribbentrop nodded slightly. He was not concerned with the specific implementation plan of these plans, but only with the probability of success. Now that he had the Führer’s word, he thought for a moment and said to Akado, “I will do my utmost on the diplomatic front to prevent Italy from withdrawing from the Axis group… One month. Give me one month. If I fail, do not hesitate. Please immediately execute the plan against Italy.”

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