Battle of the Third Reich

"It doesn't make sense at all." Sergeant Carl Dick turned and jumped into the natural trench that was used as a bunker, and found that his platoon was sitting comfortably on the trench wall at the moment, drinking cold with an aluminum cup. Coffee, also relishing a seized Italian newspaper, the headline of the newspaper read "German army is moving forward" in large print.

"It's ridiculous." Dick settled against the ditch wall, and then put the submachine gun back on his shoulder.

"What did you just say?" Sergeant John Fam platoon winked, as if he had just discovered his boss.

"I say this is ridiculous. The other troops are all advancing, but we are here playing a stand-off game with a group of Italian mountain infantry. Those in the battalion are all crazy. We only need to launch a simple assault now. Take down the position opposite." Dick took the aluminum cup passed by Farm and watched the other party pouring cold coffee into the cup.

"Isn't this good? Comrades have been fighting continuously during this time, and they have been very tired. Just take a good rest. Since this command was issued above, then they must have their reason. The rest of you have a few points. Come on, don’t forget to go to the kitchen and fill a pot.” Sergeant Farm passed the thermos to a soldier beside him.

"Well, you're right, maybe I'm too impulsive." Dick put the empty glass on the ammunition box beside him, and took out his pipe from his pocket.

"Don't underestimate the Italian mountain soldiers, that is the Verona battalion, which belongs to the second Alps mountain division of Italy. This is one of the most elite troops in the Italian army." Sergeant Fam folded the newspaper. , Stuffed into the map bag around his waist.

"Aren't we the same? No one dared to underestimate the Hundredth Hunting Battalion." Dick twisted a handful of shredded tobacco from the shredded tobacco pack and filled it into the rough walnut pipe of the carver.

The Fifth Mountain Division of the German Army is a newly formed unit. It is generally believed that this new unit must be filled with a bunch of rookies, but in fact the number of experienced veterans in the Fifth Mountain Division is no more than that of any German army. There are few established units.

This unit was assembled by a team split from several old units. For example, Dick’s 100th Hunting Regiment, originally affiliated with the First Field Division, was the earliest group of mountain troops organized by the German Army. The officers and soldiers All have undergone extremely rigorous training, and at the same time experienced the test of war in the European War.

The 85th Infantry Regiment of the other Infantry Regiment in the division was adapted from the Common Infantry Regiment. It originally belonged to the 10th Infantry Division of the German Army, so the mountain combat capability was slightly lacking. To achieve the standards of the mountain division, It takes a lot of time for professional intensive training. However, these infantry were very good at conventional operations. At that time, they were the 85th Regiment of the infantry unit. They participated in the European War all the way, from Poland to England Beach. This unit performed exceptionally well.

Before the outbreak of the Italian War, the Fifth Mountain Division was transferred to the Austrian border city of Villach, which is the junction of Austria, Yugoslavia, and Italy. The issue of garrisons here in the past was very sensitive, and every troop change It drew the attention of the governments of Italy and Yugoslavia.

But this time there was a serious misjudgment by the Italians, which may have something to do with their focus on preparing for the invasion of Greece. Anyway, the behavior of the German Chen Bing Villach was regarded by the Italians as the head of the head. A means of demonstration in Yugoslavia.

The Fifth Mountain Division was the first group of troops to enter the Italian border from the Eastern Front. These troops attacking from the Eastern Front progressed very smoothly. After breaking through the national border, there was only sporadic resistance along the way. Because the number of towns on this line was not large, the German infantry divisions entered the Pohe Plain almost effortlessly along the railway line.

Next came the stage for the performance of the armored forces. Eighteen hours after the war, the Germans announced that they had occupied the area of ​​Venice. At midnight on the 21st, the last Italian army in the Veneto region announced that it would give up resistance and surrender to the Germans.

The Italian's fighting spirit can not be said to be high, but the backward equipment and poor logistics dragged these soldiers' hind legs, and there were also serious problems in the choice of tactics and field command at the command level, and they were unable to obtain the correct Intelligence information, after losing the air control, they can't even control the number and position of the enemy forces.

The Italian troops generally lack heavy weapons. The main firepower is some medium-caliber artillery, and because of the chaos in the logistics supply and the destruction of the German troops interspersed with the troops, the rear cannot be replenished after the battle broke out. Once the two sides began to exchange fire, The Italian artillery often quickly used up the ammunition carried by the team. After receiving the artillery, they could only pick up the rifle and were used as an infantry to put in the first line of resistance.

The Italian infantry can only rely on small-caliber mortars, heavy machine guns and grenades to resist the attack of the German infantry and tanks. They squatted in the temporarily dug simple trenches and foxholes, suffering the Germans almost endlessly. The heavy artillery bombardment, from time to time, there will be a horrible howl of Stuka, and then the entire row of positions will be turned into a sea of ​​fire under the attack of incendiary bombs.

These are not the most terrible. The most terrible thing is that when they found the trail of the enemy forces behind them, and their retreat was cut off, as mentioned before, the system of Italian troops cannot withstand too much pressure, so when those After the troops found themselves in a desperate situation, the officers found it difficult to continue to let their soldiers obey their orders. Usually, as long as the Germans launched a surprise attack, they would see a spectacular collapse.

The few armored units in Italy in the north, regardless of quantity or quality, are not rivals of their German counterparts. After encountering the attack of the Italian L3 ultralight tank and armored vehicle, the German infantry was pleasantly surprised to find that the 37mm gate hammers that were originally intended to be eliminated had once again had their place. These Germans could only count as armored vehicles like armored tracked transporters or machine gun vehicles, and soon lost their lives under the strangling of the German multi-layer anti-tank firenet.

The only thing of interest to the Germans is the l3/33 fire-breathing tank assigned to the Italian armored fire-fighting platoon. If the fuel trailer dragged behind this small car is more conspicuous, plus the Germans have already been alert to this vehicle. Perhaps the frontline infantry troops will suffer a big loss in front of this special tank.

Italy’s main armored forces were previously transferred to Greece and Libya. Only a few independent armored units were left in the country. Most of the equipment was eliminated by other troops. Of course, there are some experimental companies equipped with the latest Italian tanks. The ninth armored division had encountered such an Italian tank company. In addition to a pile of l3 and l5 tanks, it was even equipped with four latest m13/40 medium tanks.

But this is another story. It has little to do with the current war, so let's put it aside for a while.

ps: Sorry, something happened today, the number is a little small, and I will try to make it up tomorrow.

The current results are not satisfactory, the subscription is very poor, and the monthly ticket has dropped to 140, and there are only more than 1,000 votes in 20 days. I have no energy to say anything. (To be continued.)

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