Chapter 1579: Going to the Front Line
Italy's position in the current European landscape is very delicate. Italy seems to be in a neutral position and has the initiative in diplomacy, but in reality, Italy has conflicts with both camps.
Therefore, if Italy wants to have its cake and eat it too, it is feasible in the early stages. If it has no ambition, then it is not impossible for it to remain neutral.
However, Italian Prime Minister Benito is obviously not a person who can sit idle, and his ambition is no less than Adolf's.
…
September 11, 1934.
Rhine City.
In between busy economic statistics, Crown Prince Frederick and other East African high-ranking officials had been paying close attention to the development of the war situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
"Now Germany has occupied Prague, and the major cities in northern and western Bohemia are also under its control. The German army is also making good progress in the south and is rapidly advancing towards Vienna."
"However, Germany did not go further south to support or incorporate the remnants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's southwestern war zone, probably because of concerns about Italy's attitude."
East African Defense Minister Schwager placed flags on a sand table: red for Germany, yellow for the Labor Party, green for Italy, and blue for Austria-Hungary.
It can be seen with the naked eye that the number of red German flags is increasing, while the number of Italian troops represented by green flags is not small, but they are mostly concentrated in the western part of Venice.
The number of yellow Labour Party flags is gradually decreasing, but there is a trend of expansion in the east.
As Schwager planted flags along the Danube River, he said, "The Austro-Hungarian government forces are facing a serious problem. Because of the previous Hungarian incident, the Austro-Hungarian Empire dismantled a number of fortresses between Vienna and Hungary in an attempt to strengthen its control over Hungary."
"And now, this has benefited the Labor Party coalition government that occupies the Vienna Basin. As they advance towards Budapest, Hungary's lack of military fortresses will hinder the Austro-Hungarian Empire's counterattack."
"The distance from Vienna to Budapest is less than 300 kilometers, which poses a fatal threat to the Austro-Hungarian government in Budapest."
Vienna has a natural geographical advantage over Budapest, and this geographical advantage played an important role when the Hungarian Labor Party regime collapsed.
Now the situation was reversed. The Labor Party controlled Vienna, while the Austro-Hungarian government was in Budapest. Moreover, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had previously dismantled some military facilities along the two cities, which put the Austro-Hungarian government in a difficult position.
Schwager said, "The current war situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire is quite bizarre. The Labor Party's losses in the north and west have been made up in the east and south. According to our judgment, if nothing unexpected happens, the Labor Party will reach Budapest within a month."
"Although Budapest is nominally the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it is inherently weaker than Vienna. Last time, in order to suppress the Hungarian Labor Party, Hungary's military industry was destroyed."
"As a result, the Hungarian army is now facing a serious shortage of weapons and ammunition."
Budapest is the main industrial center of Hungary. In order to strengthen centralization, the Habsburg royal family, which previously worked in Vienna, castrated the original military industry in Budapest.
Now, they themselves have tasted the bitter fruit, which is indeed an unexpected thing.
Schwager said: "Now, if the Austro-Hungarian Empire wants to turn the tables, the only thing they can count on is Germany defeating the Labor Party government. However, after the Germans defeat the Labor Party, even if the Austro-Hungarian Empire still exists, it will most likely become a German puppet."
Crown Prince Friedrich said, "I'm afraid Germany's ambitions are even greater than we imagined. After all, restoring Greater Germany has always been one of Germany's obsessions."
"However, we are powerless to lend a helping hand to Austria-Hungary right now. East Africa does not have much influence in Europe, and judging from the attitude of the United Kingdom, they do not want us to intervene in European affairs."
Whether East Africa can intervene in Europe militarily depends entirely on the British people's ideas. After all, if East Africa really wants to provide military support to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it can only do so through the Suez Canal.
The British did not dare to put East Africa into the Mediterranean. Previously, the British ambassador to East Africa had implicitly told East Africa that European affairs should be resolved by Europe itself. The implication was naturally that they did not want East Africa to take action.
For Britain, East Africa is a bigger problem, posing a greater threat to its Mediterranean hegemony than even Germany and Italy.
Schwager said disdainfully: "In the minds of the British, the Empire is much more difficult to deal with than Germany and Italy. Germany is not a maritime power, so it is not easy to threaten its Mediterranean interests and status in a short period of time."
"Although Italy also has ambitions in the Mediterranean, its own weak strength naturally limits its naval development."
The problem faced by Italy is similar to that faced by Japan, that is, its domestic resources are extremely scarce. In fact, Italy's problem is even more serious. After all, Japan's geographical location is not easily blocked, and it can obtain stable coal and iron ore resources from the outside, while Italy is blocked in the Mediterranean.
The two vital points of the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and Gibraltar, are controlled by Britain, while the resources along the Mediterranean coast are either difficult to develop or not controlled by Italy.
Therefore, it is not difficult for Britain to suppress Italy. Italy is not Japan and is too far away from Britain, so when Britain faces Japan's backstab, it can only watch helplessly.
On the other hand, as the overlord of the Mediterranean, it is very easy for Britain to control Italy.
As for Italy, if it wants to break the deadlock alone, there is basically no possibility of doing so. However, it may still have a chance by cooperating with Germany.
However, in East Africa, even Ernst was undecided as to whether Germany and Italy would join forces as they had done in their previous life, because Italy's situation was too special.
Schwager said: "Right now, Italy's attitude in Europe is full of uncertainty. No one can guarantee which side Italy will choose in the future."
"Both the British and the Germans may think Italy is worth winning over, but who can ultimately bring Italy into their camp depends on which one is more in line with Benito's wishes."
"The conflict between Italy and the German-Austrian camp was primarily a conflict between Austria-Hungary and Italy, and there was no possibility of reconciliation. Previously, Italy had always regarded Austria-Hungary as its number one enemy, and Germany, as an ally of Austria-Hungary, was naturally also implicated to some extent."
"The conflict between Italy and Britain and France cannot be ignored either. Italy has territorial disputes with Austria-Hungary and a dispute with France over Corsica. The two countries are also in competition in North Africa."
"As for the conflict between Britain and Italy, it is equally difficult to reconcile."
The conflict between Britain and Italy involves Italy's geopolitical interests. Italy's terrain is like a dagger extending into the Mediterranean.
Therefore, including Benito himself, he believes that the Mediterranean is Italy's most core interest. He calls it "our sea."
However, everyone knows that Britain is the current hegemon of the Mediterranean, which creates a fundamental conflict of interest with Italy.
Italy is also unlikely to attach importance to expansion on the European continent. After all, the existence of the Alps naturally determines that Italy will not be too interested in European territories outside the Mediterranean coast.
Schwager said: "If Italy wants to become a world power, it must expand in the Mediterranean, and the actual vested interests in the Mediterranean are Britain."
"So, among the major European countries, Germany and Italy have the least conflicts. However, the relationship between the two countries has now reached a critical period of testing."
"If Germany refuses Italy's recovery of Venice, Eastern Lombardy and other territories, Germany may be regarded as an enemy by Italy."
"On the other hand, Germany might not be willing to give up these interests of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, which may be the main reason why Germany avoided this region."
"However, Italy now has the support of Britain and France. However, Italy's military progress in Venice is still far from ideal."
"Although Italy now has the strength of a great power, it ranks at the bottom among the great powers. Its military industry is far inferior to that of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and its weaponry and equipment do not have an advantage."
"Especially since Austria-Hungary still has a geographical advantage and its army has more combat experience."
"If Italy cannot capture Venice before the rebellion within the Austro-Hungarian Empire is suppressed by Germany, Italy will become very passive."
It was not surprising that the Austro-Hungarian army was able to suppress Italy. From the founding of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to the present, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had to go to war almost every once in a while, more frequently than Germany.
Therefore, the military quality of the Austro-Hungarian army was able to maintain a certain level.
Now, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was still on the defensive, occupying the high ground and possessing strong fortifications, which made it impossible for Italy to defeat its southwestern garrison in a short period of time.
The biggest problem now facing the Venetian Austro-Hungarian army is the supply of weapons and ammunition.
With the Austro-Hungarian army in Venice and the industrial areas of Bohemia and Vienna cut off by the Workers, Austria-Hungary now relied heavily on its stockpiles for ammunition on the Italian front.
Therefore, if we exclude the changes in the situation within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy can deal with the Venetian defenders alone and take over this area as long as it pays a price, but the problem is that Italy does not want to drag it out that long.
…
September 30, 1934.
When the Italian and Austro-Hungarian armies were fighting fiercely in Venice, Benito, who was in the rear, finally couldn't hold back.
The Italian dictator risked his life to go to the front line and give a speech to the Italian generals.
"Just a few days ago, the Germans took Prague. Meanwhile, our army, carefully prepared by the Empire, is being held back along the Brenta River by a remnant of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, unable to move forward."
"Is this what you promised me before the war? Take Venice within a month! But now we can't even see the shadow of Venice."
Facing Benito's rebuke, Italian General Hurst lowered his head and explained: "Prime Minister, it's not that we don't want to break the Austro-Hungarian defense line, but it will take time."
"It took decades for the Austro-Hungarian Empire to build this defensive line, so it's not surprising that our army was temporarily delayed."
"Not to mention that the Austro-Hungarian Empire's firepower in the early stages was much stronger than ours. Now, even with all the advances and the advantage of terrain, it still caused us a lot of trouble."
"If we attack blindly, pursuing only progress, we will inevitably suffer heavy casualties."
Benito completely disagreed with Hurst's explanation. He said, "I'm not here to listen to your explanation. I just want to see the changes in the battle line."
"If we wait until the Germans stabilize the situation in Austria-Hungary, we will be in a passive position and Italy may lose the opportunity to take Venice back forever."
"We will all become sinners in Italian history. Therefore, starting now, even if it costs a huge price, we must recover all the lost territories. This is related to Italy's future and is the key and foundation for Italy to rise and become a world power."
"So, from now on, I will give you a maximum of one month. The army must cross the Brenta River and capture Venice. Within three months, we will completely recapture Trieste."
In Benito's view, the land including Trieste was originally Italian territory. Of course, as the largest seaport in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, if Trieste could be taken into Italy's possession, it would definitely be a huge victory.
However, now Italy cannot even cross the city of Venice, which makes Benito very dissatisfied. He has to go to the front line to supervise the battle and boost morale.
Hurst said, "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, we will follow your instructions and do our best from now on, but we also need to make a request."
Although Benito was not satisfied with Hearst's bargaining, he still said, "Tell me!"
Hurst replied, "We need more artillery and shells, preferably more heavy artillery. After all, the Brenta River defense line, the military fortresses built by the enemy, and the fortresses are very strong."
"We can't use our soldiers' flesh and blood to face the Austro-Hungarian machine guns and artillery. That would be meaningless."
Although the Italian army has a larger number of troops, due to the underdeveloped Italian industry, there have always been problems with the supply of weapons and ammunition to the army.
There was no way around it. Before Benito, Italy itself was a divided country. Although the Kingdom of Sardinia was willing to develop its army, it was constrained by finances, while the Papal States and Naples took a negative attitude towards military development.
After all, these two countries were puppets supported by the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the Italo-Austrian War in the last century, so their national defense development was restricted by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
It was not until Benito unified the three countries that Italy had the conditions to develop a complete national defense industrial system, but by this time, Italy had been out of touch with the world powers for too long.
Many weapons research and development and manufacturing had to start from scratch. Italy obviously could not be compared with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had many excellent military industrial enterprises such as the Skoda Arsenal.
The Italian military industry needs time to develop, but the Battle of Venice cannot wait until that time.
Benito frowned, pondered for a moment, and then said, "I will quickly purchase a batch of heavy artillery from abroad and have it shipped to the front lines to resolve the firepower problem. However, once the weapons arrive, I hope you won't make excuses for failure."
(End of this chapter)
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