Chapter 970: Another Italy

In a desperate last resort, Turkey had no choice but to send more troops to the border, hoping to break the current stalemate with a numerical advantage. On another front, Turkish diplomats began to frequently contact the German Foreign Ministry, threatening Germany with the prospect of them swallowing the Middle East whole, trying to force the German army to quickly intervene and help stabilize their southern front.

The disastrous defeat of Army Group G on the Eastern Front was still fresh in everyone’s minds. The German army had not yet recovered its strength. The O and P Army Groups had been forced to start moving to the front before they were even fully formed. In this situation, the Third Reich simply could not spare the forces to help Turkey clean up its current mess. So Ribbentrop appeased Turkey and tactfully conveyed the hope that Turkey could hold on its own for three months.

“Ha! Do those Turks think the whole world is at their service?” Akado, dressed in his black SS uniform with the Iron Cross from the First World War pinned to his cuff, asked Ribbentrop with disdain at a meeting at the Foreign Ministry. “At a time of victory like this, to do such an ungrateful thing, and in the end, they still want us to help them clean up their mess?”

Ribbentrop also felt that this request had reached a certain level of shamelessness. He stood by Akado’s side, nodding slowly, and only spoke after Akado had finished his complaint. “My Führer, we cannot reply directly to our allies in this tone. After all, in international relations, our current focus is on Italy.”

Akado knew that the current victorious situation had caused the ambitions of many Axis powers to swell. They were stirring restlessly, hoping to gain more benefits for themselves at the final moment of victory. But these fools were completely unaware that their actions were dragging the entire Axis into the abyss of defeat.

And if one were not in this position, a normal person could not possibly imagine to what a shameless degree the relationship between nations could be. It was completely impossible to deduce with human thinking, because at this level, any face and any sense of shame had become a joke. An ally who had just sworn to fight for you one second could, in the next second, brazenly extend their hand for money, and in the second after that, they might be standing in the enemy’s camp, digging up some decades-old grudge to “settle old scores”!

“We can’t let these idiots continue to play around like this. Otherwise, even if we have a chance to win the war, we will ultimately be done in by these insatiable bastards,” Akado said after a moment’s thought, instructing his Foreign Minister. “We should start preparing for the matter of the ‘Greater European Union’ now.”

“…My Führer, once this plan is initiated, then the Axis will first fall into chaos internally. This will be of no benefit to our operations on the Eastern Front,” Ribbentrop quickly replied. He was really afraid that if Akado acted impulsively, he would ruin the current favorable situation.

Akado, having been tempered by such a long period of time, was naturally no longer the rash young man he once was. In foreign policy, he still mainly left things to his subordinates to handle, and, as in military affairs, he tried to minimize his own interference. This bottom line of not letting an amateur lead a professional had saved Akado from many mistakes and had also served as a constant reminder for him not to be arrogant and to restrain himself from giving orders, to avoid walking down the path of self-inflation and ultimate destruction.

And this practice of self-restraint, far from causing him to lose control over his subordinate agencies, had on the contrary won him an unprecedentedly huge reputation. Everyone praised the Führer’s professionalism and shrewdness. He would often offer his own views on certain directions, which made everyone feel that the Führer was almost omniscient. On the other hand, he never pretended to understand the trivial details, which made people feel he was approachable.

“Prepare, lay all the groundwork, use grassroots public opinion, vigorously promote the Greater Europe theory, and support the forces in the governments of various countries that are worthy of our support! Make all preparations to lay a good foundation for our ‘Greater European Union’ plan,” Akado said. He certainly had no intention of breaking his self-restraint. He was very satisfied with Ribbentrop’s efforts these past few days. At the very least, on the side of Italy’s Marshal Garibaldi, the German spies and diplomats had achieved a great success.

This scion of a noble family, who had originally been loyal to the Kingdom of Italy, had now completely sided with the German Third Reich. He was completely obedient to the advice of his German aides and Rommel and had already firmly taken control of the entire Italian power in North Africa.

Hearing that Akado was not going to fall out with them immediately, Ribbentrop breathed a sigh of relief. He respectfully expressed his admiration for Akado’s wisdom and also put forward some of his own diplomatic views. “My Führer, for you to be able to suppress your anger is an excellent quality that only a wise leader possesses. On the issue of Turkey, we do not need to worry too much. As long as we use delaying tactics, we can wear down their excessive demands and buy enough time for our own diplomatic actions.”

Akado let out a deep breath and lamented with some resignation, “Germany’s geographical position is simply too terrible. We don’t even have an ally we can trust with our back… having one Italy is already annoying enough. Who would have thought Turkey would be like this too…”

Ribbentrop touched his nose and gave a wry smile. He knew this was just Akado’s complaint, because this Führer’s diplomatic sense was so sharp he couldn’t even fathom it. The current situation might not have been something this Führer hadn’t anticipated. This was Akado’s mysterious and terrifying aspect. He seemed to be able to see everything that would happen in the future and could take precautions in advance.

So to stand by the side of such a terrifying monster, the invisible pressure was suffocating. The Führer was a gift from God to the German people, the hope of the entire Third Reich. This slightly mythical rumor was already deeply ingrained in their bones, and with every glorious victory, it became even more unforgettable.

In front of this man, every word of his own had to be careful, because from the formulation of the entire empire’s diplomatic strategy, it was not difficult to see that this Führer was no amateur in diplomacy—on the contrary, this man had a terrifying diplomatic sense, almost more terrifying than any diplomat Ribbentrop had ever known.

Leaving aside the distant for now, just on this matter of Turkey’s southward advance, one could see that Führer Akado’s understanding of Turkey was far beyond that of an ordinary person. Just half a year ago, the voices within Germany hoping for Turkey to go north to the Soviet Union or south to the Middle East were still clamoring. Turkey’s exorbitant price had made those who hoped for its participation in the war miserable. The result was that at that time, the Führer had, against all opposition, stopped the entanglement with Turkey on the matter of starting a war. The result was that half a year later, Turkey’s performance had proven that it was simply not worthy of the high hopes that the Axis group had placed on it.

It was for this reason that Ribbentrop timely shifted the topic to the recently more successful Italian front. “The problem with Turkey is in fact just a little disgusting, and has not yet reached the point of being out of our control. But Mussolini on that side seems to be making bigger moves. It seems he also knows his situation is rather dangerous.”

Akado glanced at Ribbentrop and knew that this clever man was suddenly bringing up Italy to change the subject. He had no intention of getting entangled with this dead fish of Turkey for too long. As for Mussolini’s recent eagerness to jump over the wall, that was a good show that he himself had orchestrated behind the scenes.

Intimidated by Germany’s powerful military and terrifying industrial might, there were many in the Italian government who were pro-German and believed in Germany’s invincibility. It had not taken much effort for Germany to control Mussolini’s every move. Now Mussolini’s driver and personal secretary had both defected to Heydrich, and most of Mussolini’s few confidants were “friends” of Gascoigne.

In this almost-surrounded, closed environment, for Mussolini to be misled by intelligence and to misjudge his own situation was a natural thing. This Italian leader was still convinced that the Germans were completely unaware of his flirtations with the Americans, and had even assured the Americans that Italy could easily resist the pressure from Germany.

And so Akado followed up and said, “The intelligence department has already extended its hand to the side of that leader. When he will begin his action is all within our calculations. We have been making arrangements for four months. It is clear that with these underhanded methods, your diplomatic mediation will also be much smoother.”

To have such a superior, was that perhaps what all serious workers secretly longed for? To point out the direction, to lay the groundwork, and then to send out the doers to overcome the few remaining difficulties and directly complete the entire plan. Thinking of this, Ribbentrop immediately nodded in agreement. “Thank you very much, my Führer! I will immediately arrange for personnel to go to Italy and Turkey, to be sure to stabilize these two countries during the Battle of the Middle East and the Battle of Moscow.”

“Thank you for your hard work!” Seeing Anna approaching from the distance, Akado knew that the army’s meeting was about to begin, so he ended this conversation. “Go, and good luck to you!”

“Yes, sir! I will definitely bring you the best result, my Führer!” Ribbentrop stood at attention and raised his right hand. “Heil Akado Rudolph, my Führer!”

In the end, Turkey failed to secure support from Germany, so the plan to quickly occupy all of Syria and even to control Iraq and Saudi Arabia had to be aborted. The casualties at the front could only be borne by themselves, and the border, where the flames of war had already been ignited, was consuming countless Turkish lives every day. After seeing the fragile nature of the Turkish army, the United States and Britain had transferred a full division of troops to the main front. The enemy the German army had to face had become even stronger.

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