Germany does not seek survival

Some Italian soldiers tried to counterattack, but Faust walked directly into the Corbin Fortress with a Luger P17 in one hand and a trench stick in the other.

The roads inside the fortress were narrow, and a corridor was only wide enough for three people to walk side by side. Faust rushed in recklessly, like a wall, and crushed the counterattacking Italian army.

Although the Italian army had a large number of troops, they were unable to take advantage of their numbers and firepower due to the narrow roads. Instead, they were forced to flee in the chaos, allowing Faust to kill their way through.

The ground was in a mess, full of Italian corpses. Dozens of Italian soldiers rushed upstairs along the fortress corridor. Before they could raise their rifles, Faust rushed to them. The moment their figures crossed, blood spurted out.

A trench stick was swung left and right, and whoever it struck on the head would see his brains burst out.

Vasily and Lieutenant Ptacek also rushed in with the rest of the commandos to support Faust, but when they rushed through the corridor, they saw Faust covered in blood, holding a trench stick, standing among dozens of Italian corpses, like the Grim Reaper.

The Italian soldiers were horrified. Their morale, which was already on the verge of collapse, was completely destroyed by Faust's killing in a short while. Large groups of soldiers began to flee the Corbin Fortress.

"We must prevent the Italians from blowing up the bridge in front of Fort Corbin."

In front of the Corbin Fortress, there is a bridge connecting the inside and the outside. The location is very important. Faust is also worried that if the Italian soldiers are anxious and directly blow up the bridge, it will still affect the German offensive.

Faust moved forward and ran to a revolving artillery position in Corbin Fortress. The view from here was good, and he could see all the money and food in front of the fortress.

"The Italians are gathering in front of the bridge!"

Faust grabbed the telescope. His eyesight was so strong that, combined with the eight-fold Zeiss scope, he could clearly observe every move of the Italian soldiers in front of the bridge from the top of the Corbin Fortress.

Faust saw very clearly that about six or seven Italian soldiers gathered in front of the bridge and began to prepare to detonate the explosive device to blow up the bridge.

Faust estimated the distance between him and the bridge, which was more than 1,200 meters!

Even for the modified G98, the distance of 1,200 meters is only a theoretical range. The effective range of a normal G98 rifle is only about 500 to 800 meters at most. After the modification, it also exceeds this range.

A distance of 1,200 meters is a sniper range that only exists in theory, even in World War II.

But Faust had no time. No matter how fast he ran, he could not jump off the roof of the fortress and run more than a thousand meters to control the bridge.

Well, it probably can't be done, right?

Faust placed the G98 rifle in his hand on the wall of the Corbin Fort and held his breath. A distance of 1,200 meters was completely beyond the normal effective range of the G98. However, within the theoretical range of the G98, the bullet could indeed reach 1,200 meters and still maintain its lethality.

"11 o'clock, northwest, wind speed level 3, distance 1189 meters, ready..."

"boom!"

Faust exerted force with his tiger's mouth, and the bullet accelerated along the spiral rifling in the barrel, and then flew out steadily. The next moment, the head of an Italian soldier in front of the bridge exploded immediately and he fell down.

Faust remained calm and continued to slightly adjust the muzzle of his gun. When the Italian soldiers in front of the bridge looked around, Faust continued to fire. Each bullet killed an enemy at the incredible distance of 1,200 meters.

The G98 rifle has an effective range of 500 meters when using mechanical sights, and less than 800 meters when using optical sights. Effective range refers to the distance within which a shooter can accurately hit a target and achieve a certain level of lethality. At a distance of 1200 meters, while the bullet can reach the target, various factors can significantly reduce its accuracy and lethality.

Therefore, every time Faust shoots, he must accurately hit the enemy soldier's head, so as to have the effect of knocking down the enemy. Otherwise, the bullet from 1,200 meters away will not be lethal enough.

Faust calculated the distance, wind speed, and temperature in his mind and adjusted the angle and minute. When everything was ready, he pulled the trigger again. With a "bang", another Italian soldier 1,200 meters away shook his head and then fell down.

The Italians were terrified. They looked around but couldn't find the enemy.

Indeed, what is the difference between sniping at a distance of 1,200 meters during World War I and shooting someone to death from space!

The Italian soldiers had no choice but to give up blowing up the bridge. They all fled to the trenches, trying to hide in them. However, during the escape, every Italian soldier was named by Faust, and fell to the ground one after another.

The German commandos freed up their hands and competed to blow up the cannons and artillery positions. Vasily and Putachek quickly found an ammunition depot inside the Korbin Fortress. After installing time-detonated explosives in the ammunition depot, they left the fortress. After the explosives and the ammunition depot exploded, a thick black smoke immediately rushed into the sky.

After the earthquake, the Italians who were fighting the German-Austrian coalition forces near the Brenta River could also hear the rumbling sound coming from behind them. The explosion once again dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the Italian army. Most Italians quickly realized that the Corbin Fortress had been attacked.

Just like the defenders of Fort Corbin, the Italian army certainly did not think of a glider attack at the first time. They all thought that the destruction of Fort Corbin meant that a large German force had bypassed the Italian front.

In order to prevent being surrounded and annihilated by the German army, the Italian regiments and battalions quickly made a unanimous choice: they began to abandon their front-line positions and retreat behind them.

Chapter 114: The November Revolution in Russia

Faced with such a sudden full-scale retreat, Rommel would certainly not miss such a good opportunity. He continued to pursue with the bicycle troops of the Großdeutschland Regiment, chasing the Italians all the way, and soon turned the Italian army's retreat into a rout.

The Italian army completely collapsed, and the positions were filled with densely packed soldiers, with helmets piled up against each other. Rommel was just about ready to open fire, and then he shouted to the Italian army, asking them to surrender.

These Italian soldiers turned around and looked at the Germans in astonishment. Their guns fell to the ground, and they began to surrender in groups of one.

During their escape, the Italian soldiers dropped everything that was cumbersome and heavy, and the attackers captured cannons of various calibers and a large amount of ammunition.

Knowing that Vicenza was no longer defensible, Division Commander Bagdoglio persuaded General Brusatti to retreat to Padua with the remaining troops. The commander, who had been busy in meetings throughout the battle, now became more assertive.

Admiral Brusatti, in turn, dissuaded Bagdoglio from going to Padua. He told Bagdoglio, "General Luigi Capello of the Second Army has a bad relationship with our Chief of General Staff, Marshal Cadorna. I don't believe a narrow-minded man like Marshal Cadorna would risk his life to rescue Capello's Second Army."

Admiral Brusatti grasped Bagdoglio's shoulders. "I'm old, it doesn't matter. You're still young. Don't go to Padua, or to the Piave River or Venice to die. Take the rest of your troops and retreat south to the other side of the Po River. There, we'll build a new line of defense!"

"And you, Commander?"

Admiral Brusati said sadly: "I am responsible for my army group."

After General Brusatti sent away Division Commander Bagdoglio and some other remaining Italian troops, he continued to command the battle in the headquarters of the Italian First Army until the German army completely broke through the defense of Vicenza.

When General Brusati could vaguely hear the sound of German gunfire in the headquarters, he picked up the Beretta pistol on the table, put it in his mouth, and with a bang, he committed suicide to bury his army.

The Italian defense in Vicenza collapsed quickly, but the German army continued to advance. The eight divisions of the German-Austrian coalition were like giants, pushing a huge rock forward. The next target was Padua. If Padua was occupied, the one million Italian troops would be surrounded in the Veneto Plain.

remain……

Needless to say, in the remaining battles, the Italians were unable to hold on to Padua. As the German-Austrian coalition forces pressed towards Padua, the Italian army had wavered across the board. The remaining troops of the German-Austrian coalition, the Austro-Hungarian Tenth Army moved south from Pieve, the Austro-Hungarian Second Army moved west from Trieste, and headed straight for Venice. The German Fourteenth Army also crossed the Isonzo River and captured Udine.

After 11 failed battles on the Isonzo River, the Italian soldiers had accumulated a lot of dissatisfaction, despair and frustration in their hearts. Once they thought the army had been defeated, the flood of emotions broke through the constraints of military discipline and became a bursting dam.

Among the Italian volunteers was an emergency worker who came all the way from the United States named Ernest Hemingway.

Hemingway asked an Italian military doctor he knew, and the doctor's face was full of anxiety: "I heard at division headquarters that the Austrians have broken through the 27th Army's position and are heading straight for Caporetto. There have been fierce battles in the north every day, and the situation is very bad. If those bastards really let them break through, we will be trapped."

"It's the Germans who are attacking," another doctor emphasized. The mention of the Germans had everyone trembling with fear. "There are fifteen German divisions, maybe twenty. They've broken through. We're all finished."

Rumors play a significant role in the collapse process, a role that surpasses their impact on war itself, which is, after all, the very source of rumors. Rumors exaggerate the severity and momentum of certain events, thus accelerating their development. However, they also cause panic, which in turn leads to the spread of rumors in ever-increasing numbers and wider areas.

The rumors disrupted military order, undermined the morale of the soldiers, and ultimately turned an orderly retreat into a crazy escape.

The front line was broken, retreat, escape, panic - during the collapse of the Italian First and Second Armies, it was rumors that drove Italy's defeat step by step.

Italy's military brass sought to prevent the army from disintegrating with a firm hand and a resolute attitude, publicly executing soldiers deemed deserters. The military wanted to make it clear that deserters faced a higher risk of death than those who continued to fight.

To this end, the Italian commander-in-chief, Marshal Cadorna, ordered the execution of the Roman-era "eleven-stroke law" on the troops involved, that is, one person was executed for every ten people.

This abstract order caused even greater panic. The basic principle followed by the Italian military was that officers had higher responsibilities than ordinary soldiers, so if an officer was found not with his troops, he would be executed immediately.

Amidst the chaos, Hemingway retreated and fled with the main force. On the way, he encountered a patrol supported by the military police, which stopped a large number of retreating soldiers. If there was an officer in the crowd who was not with his troops, he would be interrogated.

The interrogator was said to be a war hero of high status. He had a long, thin horn mustache with an artistic touch. He looked calm, capable and awe-inspiring. This was what Italians who had the power of life and death looked like, because they only shot people and there was no danger of being shot themselves.

Hemingway asked the interrogator's name, and the interrogator just stared at him and said, "I represent Italy!"

After a long time, the interrogator produced his ID with his name on it: Gabriele D'Annunzio.

Before coming to Italy as a volunteer, Hemingway was a reporter for the Kansas City Times in the United States. He had a good level of education and of course he had heard of the name D'Annunzio, a very famous Italian writer who had written two masterpieces, "The Innocents" and "Fire".

Especially in "The Innocents", the psychological description of a cuckolded man is meticulous and very consistent with the anxiety brought about by Italian nationalism at that time.

During the war, D'Annunzio, a womanizer, heavily in debt and of bad character, became a war hero. His past dark history was wiped out, and he is still so powerful now.

D'Annunzio asked an officer, "Which brigade do you belong to?"

After the officer answered the question, D'Annunzio asked again: "Which regiment?"

The officer answered truthfully, and D'Annunzio continued, "Why aren't you with your own group? Don't you know the rule that an officer must stay with his troops?"

The officer was helpless: "Have you ever experienced a retreat? I can't find my troops."

"It's people like you who let these barbarians in and destroy the sacred land of our motherland!"

D'Annunzio ordered his men on the spot: "Mussolini, execute all officers who are not with his troops in the order in which they are interrogated."

A young man named Mussolini excitedly shouted slogans: "Italy will never retreat!"

Before the war, Mussolini was a member of the Italian Socialist Party and a socialist. Like Hemingway, he was a journalist by profession and had a relatively high literary literacy. He had been a fan of the famous writer D'Annunzio from an early age.

After Mussolini and D'Annunzio met in the army, it was obvious that D'Annunzio, who wrote cuckold novels to create national anxiety, was very much to Mussolini's taste and had a huge influence on Mussolini's thinking.

The look in Mussolini's eyes when he looked at D'Annunzio was far from pure. The admiration that was almost overflowing was almost close to love. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it was almost reaching the concentration of Nantong.

D'Annunzio led the gendarmes to try and execute defeated soldiers everywhere, trying to curb the trend of the Italian army's total defeat.

However, in the situation of the collapse of millions of troops, the efforts of one person were completely meaningless. On the front line, except for the Italian First Army and the Second Army, which had about 100,000 troops retreating to the Po River line, the remaining nearly 900,000 people in the four Italian armies were declared dead.

Of the 900,000 soldiers lost in Italy, only 20,000 were killed and 80,000 were injured, totaling no more than 100,000 casualties. Most of the remaining 800,000 were taken prisoner, and many disguised themselves as civilians and escaped into the civilian population.

The German-Austrian coalition took advantage of the situation to occupy a large area of ​​territory in northern Italy. In addition to the area on the north bank of the Piave River that had been occupied by the German-Austrian coalition in history, the Arsiero, Vicenza and Padua line on the south bank of the Piave River were also occupied by the coalition forces.

Venice, which had no strategic location to defend, was subsequently declared an undefended city and surrendered to the German-Austrian coalition forces.

The Allies finally achieved an extremely brilliant and decisive victory on the Italian battlefield. In a short period of time, the Italians would no longer be able to fight back. Even Britain and France on the Western Front had to dispatch troops to help Italy stabilize the collapsing situation. They urgently organized an expeditionary force to rush to the Po River to help the Italians stabilize the front line.

Russia, Italy... were successively resolved, and Ludendorff was finally able to concentrate all German forces. According to his imagination, on the Western Front, he would completely defeat the British and French forces before the United States took action.

The Battle of the Po River became the most important and final victory of the Allies on the battlefield.

Faust also led his army into the famous city of Venice. In early December 1917, Faust received a commission from the General Staff promoting him to Army Colonel.

But this is not what Faust cares about most. On this day, Faust is more concerned about another piece of news he saw in the Russian Pravda.

Moscow Uprising.

The conflict between the Bolsheviks and the Provisional Government finally broke out. Lenin had launched an uprising in Moscow, which set the whole country on fire, and vowed to lead the world into a new era.

Chapter 115: The Nun of Venice

As the German soldiers' boots stepped on the cobblestones of St. Mark's Square, the dusk was gilding the five Byzantine domes of the cathedral with cold gold.

Faust looked up at the bronze spires that had stood in the sea breeze for a thousand years. St. Mark in the mosaic was spreading his purple cloak. The moment the soldiers pushed open the bronze door, the damp scent of incense mixed with the salty sea water hit his face. Four thousand square meters of golden mosaics floated in the candlelight. The pupils of Christ were frozen with the ingenuity of Byzantine craftsmen from eight hundred years ago.

The medieval Republic of Venice was known as "three-eighths" of the Roman Empire.

This nickname reflects an ugly history of Venetian merchants. During the Fourth Crusade, they bribed the Crusaders to launch a surprise attack on the Byzantine Empire, which was also a Christian country. After conquering Constantinople, they plundered a large number of holy objects and works of art from Constantinople and occupied many Byzantine territories.

That is why it is called three-eighths Rome, probably because Venice occupied a large territory of the Byzantine Empire.

The bronze doors of St. Mark's Basilica came from Constantinople, and the four bronze horses on the dome of the basilica were also taken from the hippodrome in Constantinople.

Hitler, well-versed in the ancient history of Europe, quipped, "These four bronze horses are the same size as real horses, and their forms and spirits are so lifelike. When the Venetians conquered Byzantium, they took a fancy to them and placed them in St. Mark's Basilica. Later, when Napoleon conquered Italy, he also took a fancy to these four bronze horses and took them to Paris."

Faust smiled faintly: "The Venetians and the French both believed that spoils of war could prove the eternity of their empires. In fact, their great empires have become a drop in the ocean. The plundered spoils have only exposed the ugly side of Venice and France's glorious victories."

"We Germans don't do things like that."

Rommel, following behind Faust and Hitler, swore solemnly, but Faust was very skeptical. Had the Germans really never done such a thing?

It is true that the Germans failed to plunder many important cultural relics from Eastern countries during the colonial era, but that was not because the Germans were kind-hearted, but entirely because the Germans failed to obtain the "land under the sun."

Whenever they had the chance, the Germans would not hesitate to plunder cultural relics. During the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China, Germany looted a large number of cultural relics from Beijing. In Africa, when Germany colonized Cameroon, Namibia and Tanzania, it also looted many treasures of historical value.

Rommel's words were really an exaggeration.

Venice has a unique topography, built on a lagoon, and the design of St. Mark's Basilica means that when Faust and his companions left the cathedral, the tide flooded over the stone steps at the edge of the square, which was truly a beautiful sight.

Walking along the Giudecca Canal, the Gothic spire of the monastery is looming in the mist. The Monastery of San Zaccaria is another famous historical site in Venice.

The Monastery of San Zaccaria is one of the oldest monasteries in Venice, dating back to the ninth century, when it was founded by the Doge of Venice, Pietro Tradonico, in 864 in honor of Saint Zaccaria.

In the Middle Ages, the Monastery of San Zaccaria was a place of spiritual practice for aristocratic Venetian women. The architecture combines Byzantine and Renaissance styles. Giovanni Bellini's "Madonna and Child" looks down in the niche of the morning prayer room, and the gold foil background reflects the nuns' headscarves.

The sound of carriages and horses and a large number of Austrian soldiers in leggings broke the tranquility of the monastery. They were wrapping several statues with canvas, then dismantling them and loading them onto trucks for transportation north, as if they were recreating the scene when the Venetians looted these works of art.

In front of the wooden door of the monastery, a large group of nuns were holding rosaries in their hands, blocking the door. They were unwilling to let the Austrian army break into the monastery, but the Austrian soldiers showed no mercy. They knocked down two nuns with wooden rifle butts and then broke in directly.

Faust was also amazed. He frowned and ordered Hitler: "Go and ask which unit this is? Their discipline is so poor! Who allowed them to loot the monastery's belongings?"

Hitler was also very covetous of the artworks in Venice, so the man with a mustache did not allow the Austrian army to plunder them at will. When he got angry, he was not easy to deal with, especially in front of the Austrian army. Hitler had a sense of revenge. He wanted to let all Austrians know that this wandering painter who had been down and out in Vienna was now such a great figure in the German army.

Hitler commanded the soldiers in a domineering tone, speaking in a low German accent, and asked the Austrian soldiers to stop dismantling the artworks for a while.

A lieutenant walked up to Faust and Hitler. He glanced at Faust's rank of German colonel and his face suddenly became serious:

"Colonel! We are acting on the orders of Marshal Conrad to recover all the Austrian cultural heritage that Italy took away in the last war."

The last war.

The last war mentioned by the Austrian lieutenant should be the war launched by the Italian army as an ally of Prussia against the Austro-Hungarian Empire during the Austro-Prussian War.

In that war, Italy performed extremely poorly and was defeated by a small force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. There was no possibility at all that it could invade the heartland of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and plunder cultural relics.

Faust understood that this was just an excuse for the Austrian army to plunder Venetian art.

Not far in front of Faust, there was the muffled sound of leather boots kicking. An Italian nun from the Monastery of San Zaccaria was particularly stubborn. She desperately grabbed the uniform of an Austrian soldier to prevent him from leaving with the paintings of the monastery.