The Rise of Australia - Chapter 976

c957 Killing with a borrowed knife

The surrender of the Italian army in this small position seemed to have opened a domino effect. In the next few days, wherever the British, French and Australian coalition forces went, they could immediately see the Italian army holding high white flags and announcing their surrender.

Even more confused than the British, French and Australian troops were the German troops who were still holding on in Bizerte and Tunisia.

Originally, according to the German army’s plan, the Italian army in the south could hold out for at least two weeks. During these two weeks, the German army could completely rely on the terrain of Bizerte and Tunisia to build a solid coastal defense line.

But the terrible thing is that the Italian army did not even hold out for two days, let alone two weeks.

More importantly, with the surrender of the largest Italian army in Tunisia, it was also completely announced that the British, French and Australian armies had completely surrounded the entire Bizerte and Tunisia region from land.

On January 5, 1938, the Italian government received a questioning telegram from the German government, asking why the Italian army surrendered directly to the British, French and Australian troops without any prior notice.

At this time, Mussolini was confused, and he even didn’t believe the questioning of the German government.

After all, the reports of the North African army a few days ago showed that they were firmly resisting the attack of the British, French and Australian troops.

If it weren’t for the German ambassador to Italy, I’m afraid Mussolini really thought it was the enemy’s provocation of the relationship between Germany and Italy.

But Mussolini was even more confused at this time. It was clear that the front line was firmly resisting, so why did the Germans say that the Italian army on the front line had surrendered?

More importantly, it was only a few days since the British, French and Australian troops launched the offensive. Mussolini didn’t believe that the powerful Italian army would surrender in such a short time, not to mention that there was no way of resistance in the German population.

But after investigation and questioning, Mussolini was completely silent.

Reality gave him a slap in the face, making him realize that the powerful Italian army he thought was actually just a cloud. What was powerful was the weapons equipped by the Italian army, not the Italian soldiers who used these weapons.

What is even more ironic is that the Italian soldiers trusted by Mussolini not only surrendered to Britain, France and Australia, but also surrendered very simply, without any resistance.

It would be fine if they surrendered, but the surrender flag used by the Italian soldiers was actually cut from the Italian flag. This way of turning the national flag into a white flag is an insult to Italy, and it is a slap in the face for Mussolini.

There is more bad news for Italy. Because it is not only the German troops in Tunisia that are surrounded, but also the Italian reinforcements that landed in Tunisia.

Going to Tunisia at this time is undoubtedly a sheep walking into a tiger’s mouth, which is no different from sending a head.

Mussolini, who noticed something was wrong, immediately instructed the Italian staff to stop the landing operation in Tunisia, but at this time, the landing in Tunisia had already been carried out for the most part.

More than 200,000 of the 300,000 Italian troops who went to support had successfully landed in Tunisia, and the remaining soldiers were still in Sicily and had not set out.

Upon hearing this news, Mussolini’s face completely darkened.

Currently, the number of Italian troops in Tunisia is as high as more than 400,000. And considering the situation of Tunisia being surrounded, these 400,000 Italian troops basically have only two fates: being surrounded and annihilated or surrendering.

Considering the performance of the Italian army in the North African battlefield, it is believed that most Italian soldiers will choose the second one.

This also means that Italy may become the country with the largest number of surrendered soldiers in the history of World War II.

This is a full 400,000 troops! For Italy, which has almost lost all its colonies, these 400,000 troops are all composed of Italians.

If all 400,000 people were captured, it would be a heavy blow to the war support among Italians.

After all, 400,000 people represent 400,000 families, and 400,000 families represent at least millions of Italians.

The British, French and Australian allied forces hold these 400,000 Italian soldiers in their hands, which is equivalent to holding the lifeline of 400,000 Italian families.

If this matter is not handled well, it may even arouse high anti-war sentiment in Italy. After all, Italy was an ally of Britain and France in World War I, and its history as an ally is precisely betraying the Germans.

Mussolini is not the only one who is worried about this matter. The German government, which knows the nature of the Italians, is also worried.

If Italy repeats the same mistakes and directly betrays Germany and joins the British and French camps in the middle of the war, it will be a lot of fun.

Although it should not happen from the current situation, as long as there is a possibility, Germany must solve and avoid it from the root.

How to prevent Italy from surrendering to the enemy?

First of all, we need to understand why Italy chose to join Germany.

From the root, the biggest reason why Italy became Germany’s ally was Mussolini, the current de facto ruler of Italy.

It was because Mussolini and the German Chancellor had the same ruling ideas that the two countries quickly approached and formed an alliance.

This also means that if you want to ensure that the Italians do not turn against you, you must ensure that Mussolini’s rule in Italy is deeply rooted.

On January 6, 1938, German and Italian diplomatic representatives held talks in Munich to discuss the situation in North Africa and solutions.

In one of the topics of the talks, the German diplomatic representative formally raised the issue of Italy’s political system and expressed the idea of ​​helping Italy establish a dictatorial republican government headed by Mussolini.

Yes, Italy was still a kingdom at that time and was ruled by the Savoy Dynasty.

The Savoy Dynasty was well-known in Italy and supported by many Italian people. This family was also very famous throughout Europe, and its rule over Italy could even be traced back to the distant period of the Count of Savoy more than 900 years ago.

More importantly, Vittorio Emanuele II, the unifier of Italy and the first Italian king affectionately called the father of the motherland by the Italian people, was a member of the Savoy Dynasty.

It was precisely because of the Savoy Dynasty’s deep-rooted rule in Italy and its contribution to the unification of Italy that the Kingdom of Italy has survived to this day.

Even though Mussolini had obtained the right to rule the Kingdom of Italy for several years, he still did not abolish the royal family of the Savoy Dynasty.

After all, for some people who support the royal family, whether there is a royal family or not is a completely different concept. They can accept Mussolini’s emptying of the royal family, but they cannot accept Mussolini’s direct abolition of the royal family.

Coincidentally, Germany’s current situation is similar to that of Italy. Germany’s official name is still the German Empire, and the supreme ruler to the outside world is still Kaiser Wilhelm II.

But in fact, whether it is Germany or the Kingdom of Italy, the real ruler is the prime minister of the government.

It is precisely because of the same situation between Germany and Italy that the previous German government did not support the idea of ​​establishing a republic in Italy.

But now it is different. In order to ensure that the Italians are firmly tied to their chariots, the German prime minister has also gone all out and openly proposed to help Mussolini establish the Italian Republic.

Needless to say, the benefits of establishing a republic. After Italy becomes a republic, Mussolini’s rule over Italy will become more reasonable, and there is no need to worry about the king, who is in the way, affecting himself. The people can also be loyal to themselves exclusively, instead of being loyal to the royal family and the government at the same time.

If the Germans had helped, the impact of Mussolini’s abolition of the royal family could be minimized.

As for whether the monarchical powers such as the British Empire and the Australasian Empire would interfere, the war had broken out between the two sides, so why bother about their interference?

Thinking of this, Mussolini was obviously moved. If he could abolish the king and do it alone, who would want to have another guy who was in the way?

What’s more, whether it was the German Prime Minister or Mussolini, their control over the country was not so absolute.

They also had opposition parties in the country, and Kaiser Wilhelm II and the King of Italy both had certain powers.

Although it seems that the two people’s rule is deeply rooted now, if Wilhelm II and the King of Italy are determined to oppose them, they will definitely face difficulties.

However, abolishing the king means a complete break with the aristocratic forces in Italy. It is not an exaggeration to say that Mussolini may have to face the counterattack of the deeply rooted aristocracy and members of the Savoy Dynasty in Italy.

Such a violent conflict meant that a purge was necessary, but thinking about the huge power after success, Mussolini still decided to take a gamble.

On January 7, 1938, the Italian government issued a notice stating that an Italian army in North Africa had surrendered to the British, French and Australian troops and turned the Italian flag into a white flag.

The Italian government stated that the commander of this Italian army was a distant relative of the royal family, and some members of the army were originally royal guards.

At the end of the notice, the Italian government also stated the serious harm that this surrender brought to Italy. First of all, it seriously damaged the reputation of the Italian government and insulted the Italian flag.

Secondly, the surrender of this army would put hundreds of thousands of German and Italian troops in Tunisia into a crisis of being surrounded, among which the Italian army was as high as more than 500,000.

Although the entire notice did not mention the responsibility of the royal family, such a statement was obviously putting the blame on the royal family.

Almost at the same time, many media in Rome reported the announcement. Among them, the media that were obviously well prepared also published the composition of the Italian army, proving that the commander and some soldiers of the army were indeed from the Royal Guard.

For a while, the Italian people had different opinions about the royal family.

Some people believed that the royal family should not bear the responsibility. After all, the Royal Guard had been disbanded long ago, and the army was already planning to reorganize into the Italian army, with only a small number of guards still protecting the Italian royal family.

Just origin cannot prove the relationship between the surrendered army and the royal family, and the responsibility for surrender cannot be thrown on the royal family.

But another part of the people believed that the surrendered army once belonged to the Royal Guard, and it was impossible to say that they had no relationship with the royal family.

What’s more, the King of Italy had opposed the reorganization of the Royal Guard. Could it be that the King of Italy specifically ordered his officers to surrender in case of danger in order to retain the strength of his own guard?

The majority of people hold the second view. After all, there are many Italian families with family members who join the army.

Italians are afraid that such a situation will occur in all battlefields, putting their families in danger on the battlefield.

Especially for the hundreds of thousands of Italian families whose family members went to the battlefields in North Africa, it is impossible for them not to complain about the royal family at this time.

Here we have to mention the origin of the Savoy dynasty. Although the rule of the Savoy family in Italy can be traced back to more than 900 years ago, the founder of this family was not an Italian, but a Burgundian who migrated to Italy.

If it were normal times, Italians would certainly be willing to praise the Savoy family and the unifier of the kingdom.

But if the lives and safety of their families were affected by the royal family, they would not have so much good feelings towards the royal family.

Mussolini’s public opinion attacks continued. Because some words were not convenient for the local Italian media to say, the German media needed to make some remarks in favor of Mussolini at this time.

Only on the second day, the German media also published a number of articles in succession, condemning the Italian royal family for ignoring the safety of hundreds of thousands of German and Italian troops still fighting in Tunisia in order to preserve their own strength.

The news reports from Germany seemed to confirm the guilt of the Italian royal family at once. After all, if only the country condemns the royal family, the people will inevitably have some doubts and distrust.

But if such deeds are reported both at home and abroad, the people’s trust will increase a little.

On January 9, 1938, Mussolini responded to the current public opinion about the royal family and said that he was still willing to believe in the royal family.

But at the same time, Mussolini also said that because it involved nearly 500,000 Italian families and a full 500,000 Italian soldiers (exaggerated), it was not up to him alone to decide whether to forgive the royal family.

So, Mussolini announced that the public would decide on the handling plan of this incident.

The Italian government will hold a public vote for half a month at the end of January, and all Italian citizens can participate, regardless of gender, age or status.

The final result of the vote will also determine the direction of this incident, and it can also show the most real attitude and opinions of the Italian people.

Some Italian people are quite satisfied with this handling plan. In addition, since all Italians can vote, the royal family and the royalists have no excuse to oppose.

After all, if the people really think that the royal family has no responsibility, then they can choose to support the royal family in this referendum.

As long as there are enough people supporting the royal family, even if Mussolini has any ideas about the royal family, it is impossible to do anything when all Italians oppose it.

But if the final voting result is against the royal family, even if Mussolini has no ideas, he must give an explanation to all Italians for the so-called voting results.

Perhaps the Italian soldiers who surrendered at the beginning could not have thought that their random choice would make the Savoy dynasty, which has ruled Italy for more than 900 years, face the most serious crisis.