The Third Reich in Desperation

Vik was a major battalion commander in the Polish Armored Forces and commanded a full 25 Vickers 6-ton E-tanks.This tank is a tank manufactured by the British company Vickers-Armstrong, and Poland imported a total of 50 tanks.In other words, half of them were incorporated into Vic's [-]st Armored Battalion.

"Brigade Commander, is our brigade really going to be disbanded?" Vic asked his brigade commander Filipovitz in frustration.Just the day before yesterday, Filipovitz received a notice stating that the Polish 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, which had just been formed, would be dismantled and distributed to various cavalry units within a month.

The 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade was originally the only fully mechanized elite unit in the Polish army. The officers and soldiers wore German-style steel helmets from World War I and black fur coats. They had the nickname "Black Brigade".And in order to establish an armored force in Poland, a country that advocates cavalry, Brigadier Filipovitz even gave this motorized force a name with "cavalry".

However, it was the only fully mechanized "cavalry brigade" that was ordered to be dismantled by Marshal Piłsudski, a wise Polish military expert who commanded the "Military Miracle on the Vistula River".

Looking at Vic with expectant eyes, Filipovitz, the brigade commander, smiled helplessly and said, "It's about to be disbanded... In the eyes of the marshal, only the real cavalry is the most valuable .”

"Just because our cavalry performed well in the war with the Soviet Union, we completely neglect the development of the armored forces?" As the commander of the armored forces, Vic argued a little unconvinced: "Your Excellency, the Marshal, has not even seen our brigade. drills, they gave up on us.”

Patting Vik on the shoulder vigorously, Filipovitz, who had long been bearish, comforted: "Perhaps this is also due to domestic financial factors, and it is not entirely because of Marshal Piłsudski that we disbanded our brigade. You know, we The cost is much higher than that of the cavalry. As far as I know, the domestic funds originally used to develop and improve new tanks have been used to form a new cavalry division."

After a few seconds, Filipovitz seemed to be convincing Vic, and also seemed to be convincing himself: "The results of the Ruhr invasion commanded by the French a few years ago are still vivid in my mind. Facts have proved that the armored forces did not Not as invincible as imagined....... Rest assured, although our brigade is about to be disbanded, you will all be assigned to the glorious cavalry."

A week later, the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, the most modern in Poland, was disbanded.A total of 50 Vickers 6-ton E-type tanks were dismantled and distributed to various infantry regiments as support weapons according to the French consultant's suggestion.

As the commander of the armored battalion, Vik was incorporated into the Polish Second Cavalry Brigade with the entire battalion.Since the brigade commander of the 2nd Cavalry Brigade graduated from Suwaki of the Warsaw Cavalry Academy with the [-]nd grade in the school, the [-]nd Cavalry Brigade proudly called itself the Suwaki Cavalry Brigade.

Vic, who had just joined the Suwaki Cavalry Brigade, did not have any respect for the brigade commander who graduated from the military academy with honors.In Vik's view, there are few better brigade commanders in Poland than the former commander of the 10th Motorized Cavalry Brigade, Filipovitz.

Vic's adoration of Filipovitz makes sense.The brigade commander, who usually doesn't like to talk, can actually be called the best tank expert in Poland who is good at commanding armored forces.

Filipovitz has done countless deduction on the use of armored forces, and has a deep and unique understanding.Throughout Poland, only Filipovitz realized that France's defeat in the Ruhr was not because of the incompetence of the armored forces, but because the French commander dispersed the use of small units and did not concentrate the firepower advantage of the armored forces.

It is a pity that this could have been the only Polish armor master who commanded Polish troops and severely damaged the German armored forces.But because of his taciturnity, he was not valued by the Polish Marshal Piłsudski and was transferred to the reserve service.

Vik, who was replaced by an excellent superior, was naturally dissatisfied.This negative sentiment even spread to the new 1st Cavalry Battalion under Vic's command.

However, within a few days, this negative emotion completely dissipated.What changed the mood of Vic and others was only a personal training by the commander of the Second Cavalry Brigade, Su Waji.

When a model cavalry battalion brought by Suwaki performed a round of tactical charge demonstration in a tight and neat formation, all the officers and soldiers of the newly formed 1st Cavalry Battalion were fascinated by the appearance of the model troops trained by Suwaki Living.The turning and interspersing time after time, clutching and changing formations, showed the impact of the cavalry to the extreme.

Officers and soldiers such as Vic, who were originally transferred from the cavalry unit to the armored battalion, quickly accepted the basic formation and tactical discipline training arranged by Suwaji.During the whole training process, Su Waji's control over the details, the discovery and handling of problems, and even the relaxation of the training rhythm were all properly controlled.

In just one day, the new 1st Cavalry Battalion completely recovered the feeling of training in the cavalry unit.And judging from the segmented indicators of training subjects, this battalion has completed the basic indicators for transforming into a cavalry battalion.As a cavalry unit, the remaining mission of the new 1st Battalion seems to be to spend more time to strengthen today's training.

When the first day of training was over, all officers and soldiers in the battalion, including Vic, had no doubts that the future cavalry unit would be invincible.

Text Chapter 80 Alliance with Italy

The recent Reinhardt can be said to be worried.In the past few years, Germany's military power has grown almost geometrically, but the diplomatic environment has become increasingly hostile.By the end of 1935, the German army had not been able to deploy a single soldier on the other side of the Rhine.The more and more fragile Treaty of Versailles has been revived.In particular, the relevant provisions that do not allow the deployment of troops on the east bank of the Rhine have been repeatedly emphasized by the French government.It is possible that the French army may send troops at any time to maintain the status quo atmosphere on the east bank of the Rhine.

German troops cannot be deployed within German territory.This is unreasonable for any country!

Internationally, however, there was little sympathy for Germany.In this regard, Reinhardt can only sigh helplessly, there are really too few friends in Germany.

Except for the friends of the Soviet Union who always want to export revolution with evil intentions, Germany may only find a real friend in Italy.

Although historically Italy has shown all kinds of ugliness, it seems to be Germany's worst ally.However, Italy is still an ally of Germany after all.

In the original history, Italy provided Germany with a huge number of allied forces.In North Africa, Italy provided hundreds of thousands of troops to help Germany contain the Commonwealth forces.In the Balkans, Italy sent tens of thousands of troops to suppress the endless guerrillas for Germany.In the Soviet Union, Italy dispatched a group army to coordinate with the German army to stabilize the defense line.In the south of France, Italy...well, this one doesn't count.

In short, if there is no Italian army of one million to share the pressure, the German army will at least disperse more than 10 people to complete the tasks completed by the Italian army in history.At least, Reinhardt thinks so.

The alliance with Italy is not Reinhardt's mindless continuation of historical development.It was the final decision after a lot of deliberation, and for this decision, he has been thinking about it all the time in recent years.The result of thinking is that Germany must and can only form an alliance with Italy.

From the perspective of choice, Germany was defeated by the Allied Powers such as Britain and France in World War I. Therefore, there are irreconcilable contradictions between Germany and them, and it is naturally difficult to form an alliance with Britain and France.Historically, Hitler has always fantasized about forming an alliance with Britain, but he was beaten to the end by Britain, wasting many great opportunities.

Although Reinhardt established a good relationship with the Soviet leader, the Soviets and Germans also had many cooperations.But from an ideological point of view, the Soviet Union and Germany are two systems that are absolutely impossible to become allies.

And Italy, which has been proven by history, is undoubtedly the most "reliable" ally that Germany can find now.

Of course, from the perspective of strength, although Italy developed relatively late on the capitalist economic road and its strength is inferior to Britain and France, its navy and air force are still the strongest in southern Europe.In terms of data strength alone, Italy is still full of confidence.

From the perspective of purpose, after Mussolini came to power, he devoted himself to rebuilding the glory of the Roma Empire and wanted to turn the Mediterranean Sea into an inner lake of Italy.Britain and France are the biggest obstacles to Mussolini's dream blueprint.

And if Germany wants to really rise from desperation later, it must have a battle with Britain and France.With the same enemy, the alliance between the two sides will be a matter of course.

Correspondingly, from a military point of view, if Germany wants to rise, it must first dominate the European continent.Italy, on the other hand, wanted to expand its sphere of influence from the Mediterranean to North Africa.There is no conflict in the strategic development direction of the two countries for the time being, and there is no need to give up any interests after forming an alliance.

Looking back at the geographical point of view, Germany has strong enemies in the east and west, so Germany also needs a neighboring country to help itself.Allied with Italy, Germany can avoid being attacked by the enemy in three directions, east, west, and south, as in World War I.At the same time, Italy can also be used to hold back part of the British army in North Africa from both sea and land directions, so as to ease the pressure on the western front in the future.

Most importantly, the alliance with Italy indirectly protected the security of Germany's southern line, allowing the intensive industrial agriculture in southern Germany to develop steadily.You know, Italy in history made a major contribution to Germany's resistance to the Allied forces on the southern front.Without the Normandy landings, the Allied offensive on the southern front would never shake the foundation of Germany.

Of course, in the traditional view that Reinhardt came from the East.From the point of view of morale, if Germany does not have a strong ally, if Germany singles out the whole of Europe, it may seriously reduce the confidence of the Chinese people in victory.The participation of allies, especially the participation of a contemporary major country like Italy, can even mention the expectations of the Chinese people for victory, which is also an inspiration to the hearts of the people.After all, Italy in 1935 was a European military power in the eyes of many countries.

So even if Reinhardt knew that Italy's gold and jade had failed, he could only form an alliance with it.Otherwise, Germany's diplomacy in the near future will also be very isolated and painful.In the future, Germany's annexation of many Germanic ethnic areas will be inseparable from the support of Italy.

Unfortunately, when Reinhardt stepped off the plane and set foot on Italian soil, he still regretted it a little.

Along the way, Reinhardt was completely disappointed by what he saw and heard.At the Naples naval port where Mussolini chose to meet Reinhardt, Reinhardt seemed to recall all the shortcomings of Italy in World War II for a moment.

Italians, it seems, will always only make a fuss on the surface.This rotten country, under the leadership of the stupid Mussolini, no longer deserves to be called a great country.

They put all their energy into the decoration of the facade.And proud of it.The appearance in front of me looks full of modern technology, and the Naples Naval Base, which covers an area even larger than all the naval bases in Germany, is the garbage they piled up with money!

Apart from making ordinary people who don't know anything about military affairs marvel at the majesty of these buildings in the base, and be shocked by the number and size of warships, this base has no use.

Reinhardt believes that it only needs to use a newly built German armored regiment equipped with T3 tanks to raze this beautiful, ornately decorated, so-called well-defended base that will never be breached!

"Idiot!" Reinhard squeezed the word out between his teeth.

Perhaps Mussolini's original intention was to allow Reinhardt to feel Italy's best naval strength in this naval base and to show off.But now Reinhardt is full of contempt.The two accompanying German Gestapo translators had clearly sensed Reinhardt's emotional changes.

When Mussolini appeared in front of everyone, Reinhardt had a playful look on his face.

After transmigrating to Reinhard Heydrich himself, his appearance is not good enough.As a result, Mussolini, the bald and fat man, was even uglier, not only ugly, but also silly!

Reinhardt couldn't imagine how this guy could think of himself as a contemporary Caesar.

Just his face? !

Text Chapter 81 Satisfy you

Mussolini thought he had hit it off early enough.He became Prime Minister of Italy at the age of 39, reaching the pinnacle of power in Italy.

However, German Chancellor Reinhardt, who is only in his 30s, broke his record.A 30-year-old prime minister took this position even earlier than Mussolini, the youngest Italian prime minister.

Mussolini, who was a little jealous in his heart, said unhappily: "Prime Minister Reinhardt from Germany is really young."

When he heard the translated sentence, Reinhard was taken aback for a moment. Facing his adoring eyes, Mussolini seemed not satisfied.

"I hope Germany will not pay the price for your youthful frivolity. When dealing with the relationship between Germany and the Kingdom of Italy in the future, you'd better be as calm as I am." Mussolini's tone revealed obvious self-boasting And belittling Reinhardt.

The two German translators accompanying Reinhardt translated Mussolini's words as unemotionally as possible.In their view, Führer Reinhard probably couldn't stand Mussolini's arrogance.

However, after a translator relayed Mussolini's words to Reinhardt.The adoration in Reinhardt's eyes became even more intense.