Rise of Australia

Chapter 960: Attack on Rome
Time quickly came to March 1938.

The war on the European continent became more intense, and countries continued to expand their mobilization scale, even betting their entire national destiny on this war.

The most striking example is Germany. After Germany changed its mobilization law, it expanded its army from less than 600 million to more than 1200 million in just a few months. The total size of its army is second only to Russia, making it one of the largest armies in Europe.

Italy, which was under attack, was not willing to be outdone. At Mussolini's suggestion, the Italian government announced a national general mobilization, recruiting male citizens under the age of 55 and over the age of 16 into the army. Female citizens also entered various military-related facilities to produce sufficient weapons, equipment and other supplies for the troops on the front line.

But the Italian resistance was like a desperate struggle of a prey after being shot by a gun to the British, French and Australian joint forces. Although it looked mighty, it actually posed no threat.

It was the Italian air force that played a role. Apart from the air force, the performance of the Italian army was a mess and was completely incomparable to the status of the great powers.

With the Italian army's usual stable performance, the Australasian Armored Corps easily tore through Genoa's defense line, crossed Genoa, La Spezia and Lucca, and finally reached the rear of Florence, one of the most important cities in north-central Italy.

Although there were also a large number of Italian troops in Rome to the south, they were no longer important to the Australasian Armored Corps at this time.

While the main Italian army was attracted by the British and French frontal forces, 35 Australasian troops launched a mighty attack on Genoa and La Spezia through the gap torn open by the armored forces.

The speed with which the Italian army was defeated shocked everyone.

In less than three days, the Italian army retreated from Genoa to La Spezia further south.

But at this point it didn't matter where they retreated to, because the armored forces had successfully bypassed the rear of Florence. If the Italian army could not evacuate to Rome before the encirclement was formed, they would be eaten away step by step within the encirclement and eventually be wiped out.

However, the Italian army is not without better solutions.

Just when Australasia thought Italy would fight hard to break out, the defenders left behind in the Genoa area surrendered one after another at a speed that was astonishing.

Even Britain and France did not expect that the larger British and French coalition forces had not yet made any progress in their attack in northern Italy, but had already captured Genoa in the south and were marching towards Florence.

As it concerns the contribution to the entire battlefield and the future distribution of post-war interests, Britain and France still attach great importance to it.

On March 1938, 3, Britain and France also mobilized a large number of armored groups to attack Milan.

In Eastern Europe, Germany and Russia were also fighting fiercely. After the Battle of Moscow, the Russians had gained some experience in resisting Germany.

And using this experience in the Battle of Sudalingrad can at least play a certain role.

Under the heroic resistance of hundreds of thousands or even millions of Russian troops, the German army's offensive became extremely difficult, even impossible.

But the German government at this time could not care less. After a cabinet meeting, the German Prime Minister personally sent a telegram to the French front, asking the commanders of the French front to hold their positions at all costs, at least to hold the Paris defense line.

As for the troops in Sudalingrad in the east, the German Chancellor also demanded that the German army attack at all costs, to capture Sudalingrad before Britain and France recaptured Paris, and to march into the Caucasus region to destroy Germany's industry in the Caucasus.

As for Italy, which is being attacked by the British, French and Australian forces, the German Prime Minister said he could no longer care about that.

More importantly, it was because of the poor performance of the Italian army in North Africa that the German army faced such a serious situation in Western Europe.

For Germany, the importance of Italy as an ally is no longer that high. At present, Italy's biggest role is to hold back the British, French and Australian troops for Germany, so that Germany can defeat Russia as soon as possible and return to support before the British, French and Australian troops enter the mainland.

There are no eternal interests between countries. It is obvious that the German government has planned to sacrifice Italy to save itself.

On the Italian side, after repeatedly seeking help from Germany to no avail, Mussolini also realized that Italy was now abandoned.

The situation changed so quickly that he was not prepared at all, and the fall of cities in northern Italy made him even more uneasy.

Arthur will not let Mussolini off easily, and even Italy will not let him off easily.

First of all, Mussolini tried to challenge the monarchy, which Arthur was unwilling to accept. After all, such an action would not only threaten the monarchy of Italy, but also all monarchies in the world.

On March 1938, 3, Arthur made a public statement saying that the Italian government's Mussolini's frame-up of the Italian royal family was unwarranted, shameful and illegal.

Arthur also said that Mussolini was one of the main culprits who started the Second World War. He, like the German Prime Minister, was a sinner in this war and the main culprit who caused tens of millions of casualties among mankind.

Arthur's attitude is very clear, that is, he is unwilling to let Italy go easily.

With Arthur's attitude, the Australasian government naturally understood what they should do.

At a regular meeting of the Allies, Australasia reiterated the Declaration of the United Nations that had been signed and stated that no country had the right to sign an armistice agreement with Italy alone.

The meaning is very clear, we must fight Italy to the death.

This does not conflict with the interests of Britain and France. After all, they can both gain many benefits from the defeated Italy.

Perhaps knowing that he had no way out, Mussolini began to frantically arm more troops in an attempt to fight to the death with the British, French and Australian forces.

But the outcome has proved that such desperate resistance is futile.

On March 1938, 3, hundreds of thousands of British and French troops marched into Milan and took over one of the largest cities in northern Italy.

In the following weeks, the northern Italian cities of Brescia, Verona, Trento, Padua and Venice were successively captured by the British and French forces, and the war gradually spread to the southern regions such as Parma and Ferrara.

On the Australasia side, they successfully captured La Spezia in a short period of time and formed a huge encirclement in Florence.

At this time, there were at least 30 Italian troops in the encirclement, and the life and death of this Italian army was also related to the safety of the Italian army further north.

Once Florence completely fell, the army in northern Italy would have no way to retreat, and the whole of Italy would be divided into two from Florence, and the Italian government would completely lose control of northern Italy. This would be fatal to Italy and unacceptable to Mussolini.

But the cruel reality is that Italy alone is simply unable to resist the three countries of Britain, France and Australia.

Even to say no to resistance, it is so difficult to delay for a while.

By May 1938, Australasia had successfully captured Florence, and the army had successfully cut off the connection between Rome and northern Italy.

With the complete establishment of a defense line across the Adriatic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, Italy's fate was doomed to failure.

On May 1938, 5, more than 15 planes bombed Rome and finally dropped a letter of surrender.

The letter of surrender warned the Italian government that if it did not stop resisting and surrender unconditionally within a month, the Australasian government's new weapons would be considered for deployment in Rome.

Such a warning would be a fatal blow to Italy because the Italian government would not dare to bet on whether such a warning was true.

The power of Australasia's powerful weapon was beyond doubt.

Such an exaggerated power, let alone being launched on Rome, even if it was launched on any small city in Italy, would still be a loss that Italy could not accept.

Of course, issuing such a warning also puts Australasia under a lot of pressure.

Because there is a very special area in Rome, that is the Vatican, the center of world Catholicism.

If Australasia used that kind of weapon in Rome, wouldn't that mean that the Catholic holy city, the Vatican, would also be bombed?

Such a warning caused dissatisfaction among some Catholics, but fortunately, Australasia is a Protestant country and the impact on Australasia is not that great.

Naturally, this pressure came very smoothly to the Italian government and Mussolini.

There is no way, because the Italian government is one of the criminals who started this war.
Italy was not in the right, so it was inevitable that it would bear all the pressure. In addition, Mussolini's crazy expansion of the army caused dissatisfaction among many Italian civilians, and protests against the government became increasingly fierce.

Since Australasia issued the warning, a large number of civilians in Rome have taken to the streets to protest against the government's behavior in this immoral war and demanded that the government lift the state of war as soon as possible and return a peaceful country and environment to all Italian civilians.

Although this did not anger the Italian government, it did anger Mussolini.

After all, the attitudes of Britain, France and Australia are already very clear. Italy may exist after its defeat, but Mussolini will definitely not exist.

Aren't these civilians asking the Italian government to surrender simply asking for Mussolini's death?

For a dictator who had ruled this country for many years, this was something Mussolini absolutely could not accept, and it was something Mussolini would definitely use to make an example of someone else.

On May 1938, 5, an event occurred that shocked Italy.

Mussolini mobilized a large number of troops to surround several streets where the parade was taking place, and launched a bloody massacre against the marching crowds in the streets.

These marches included, but were not limited to, a large number of military factory workers, soldiers' families, students from various universities in Rome, some capitalists and farmers, and even members of Mussolini's opposition party.

The massacre did quieten Rome and Italy a bit, and the Italian people didn't seem as annoying as they seemed.

But the turmoil behind the scenes was even more intense. The Italian people no longer opposed Mussolini, but instead held fierce hatred and hostility towards him.

The Italian army's anti-war attitude became more obvious. They were unwilling to participate in such a war in the first place, and now they had a better reason for their anti-war actions.

On May 5, the day after Mussolini's massacre, the Italian army in Bologna announced its surrender, abandoned all positions in Bologna, and walked out of the city with a white flag.

Perhaps some of the families of the soldiers massacred by Mussolini were families of these surrendered troops, perhaps Mussolini's attitude of massacre made these soldiers feel disheartened, or perhaps these Italian soldiers were already tired of the cruel war.

In short, no matter what the reason, these Italian troops did surrender, and they surrendered so easily.

Thanks to the surrender of the Italian army, the British, French and Australian troops were finally able to gather in Florence and launch an attack on Rome south of Florence.

Trieste in northeastern Italy was left to the Balkan countries to deal with. Anyway, Italy was already in great chaos, and the Italian army in Trieste could no longer cause any trouble.

On May 1938, 5, British, French and Australian troops arrived in Rome and launched a full-scale attack on the most famous city on the Mediterranean coast.

Almost at the same time, some French troops also began to land on Sardinia on transport ships.

According to the distribution of Italian land among Britain, France and Australia, France could take Sardinia and make it its own native administrative region.

Of course, there is a price to pay for every gain. France would need to agree to Britain's full occupation of the western Mediterranean outlet and transfer several Caribbean islands to Australasia.

However, these are nothing compared to the complete Sardinia. Sardinia is located in the Mediterranean Sea, across the sea from the French island of Corsica. Tunisia is dozens of kilometers away from the Mediterranean Sea in the south, and it is also very close to France's North African colonies.

As long as France can control Sardinia, it will be able to connect France and its North African colonies through the line from mainland France to Corsica to Sardinia and then to Tunisia, strengthen its control over African colonies, and thus enhance France's overall strength and potential.

Although the improvement is not as great as expected, under the premise that European countries have been greatly depleted, France can still maintain its position among the top five in the world through continuous transfusions from its colonies.

Although it is not easy to revive France, if France can maintain its position in the top five in the world with such a foundation, it will be enough for France at this moment.

(End of this chapter)