The sun never sets

In the face of the armored torrent of the syndicate, the German army, although it had a very good exchange ratio, was beaten back step by step. Now the syndicate's long-range artillery can already bombard the Ruhr industrial area. This makes the war more intense and bloody. Germany's depth is not enough, and it is impossible to learn from the Soviet Union and transport factories to the safe rear.

And Germany didn't have time to do that. The front line was in urgent need of manpower and ammunition supplies, and a large amount of supplies were consumed every day.

The armored divisions of the German army consumed an average of 300 tons of supplies every day in combat, and Germany had 15 such armored divisions. Other types of German divisions consumed an average of 200 tons of supplies every day, and there were about 140 such divisions. In this way, the German army on the front line consumed more than 3 tons of various supplies every day.

In addition to these, there are a large number of independent German Army units and a huge German Air Force as well as personnel from other departments, which poses a severe test to the German Army's logistics and is also a severe test to Germany's overall strength.

The Ruhr industrial area is Germany's lifeline. Once the Ruhr is lost, Germany's industrial strength will be greatly weakened, and it will also have an impact on the domestic production system and seriously undermine the morale of the German people.

The government can deceive the people with false news and play tricks to conceal defeat, but the battle line will not deceive people. No matter how much the newspapers and radio boast that the German army is invincible, anyone will realize that something is wrong when they see the battle line advancing bit by bit towards the heart of Germany.

There were also long-lasting mutual bombings, with bacterial bombs, poison gas bombs, high-explosive bombs, incendiary bombs and other bombs causing a large number of casualties. There was no place in Germany that had not been dug into air-raid shelters. Both the industrial syndicate and the Axis were so bloodthirsty that they not only bombed factory areas, but also residential areas.

This is true of the trade unions and of Germany.

The German army had suffered heavy losses on the battlefield but saw no hope of victory, and had long wanted to pull the People's Revolutionary Union into its camp. Now that they had the opportunity, they naturally agreed without hesitation to the People's Revolutionary Union's request to send troops to Morocco. However, they did not agree with the Franco regime's withdrawal from the Axis and the war. Instead, they hoped that the People's Revolutionary Union would join the battle between the Axis and the Trade Union Syndicalists.

Naturally, this request was rejected. The Alliance was prepared for a major war, but would not follow the German plan.

Germany was willing to withdraw its troops in Morocco and hand over the territory to the People's Army, but the Italian government was unwilling to do so. Morocco was one of the few achievements of the Italian government's external expansion. The Italian government carried out extensive propaganda at home. How could it just give up the achievements of expansion?

Italy's performance on land was not very good, but its navy performed very well. It fought again and again despite repeated defeats, suffered heavy losses, and achieved considerable results.

When it joined the war between the Syndicalists and the Axis, the Italian Royal Navy had 7 battleships, 19 cruisers, 123 destroyers, 67 torpedo boats, and 115 submarines, which was a very impressive naval force. On paper, the Italian Navy was very strong.

Regardless of the combat effectiveness of Italy's huge naval fleet, at least its numbers are very impressive. Italy's excellent Veneto-class battleships and seven heavy cruisers are very difficult to deal with, and Italy's large destroyer and submarine forces are a headache for the British and French alliance. Italy's mini-submarines, frogman units and demolition boats are even more difficult for the Syndicate to defend against. Italy's mini-submarines once swaggered to the port of Marseille and severely damaged two French battleships, which surprised the French.

After the outbreak of the war, the Italian Navy quickly launched an attack on the Syndicate's Mediterranean Fleet, and many fierce naval battles broke out between the two sides. In the early stages of the war, the Italian Navy once beat the British and tried to withdraw from the Mediterranean.

In the battle in the Mediterranean, the loss of the Syndicate's ships was as high as 41.2 tons, the Italian Navy lost about 26.9 tons, and the Anglo-French Alliance lost more than the Italian Navy. The Italian Navy was definitely a tough guy that could not be underestimated, as it could beat the more powerful Red Navy.

However, although the Italian navy fought very tenaciously and the fleet's paper data was also very strong, Italy was far inferior to the Syndicate in terms of industry and resources. The strong industry and supply capabilities of the Anglo-French alliance were able to quickly replenish the loss of ships, while Italy became more and more exhausted. Not only did Italy have fewer and fewer ships, but it also ran out of fuel. Later, Italy's fuel was not even enough to support the Italian navy's sea operations.

In addition, the Italian air force was not strong enough, so the Italian navy, which lacked naval aviation, suffered a lot from the Red Navy's carrier-based aircraft. In the Battle of Taranto, the naval aviation of the British and French alliance raided the Italian naval base Taranto, severely damaging the Italian navy, and it took Italy a long time to recover.

The Italian fleet lacks oil. Even though the output and quality of oil produced in Morocco are not good enough, it cannot give up so easily.

Mussolini then sent a telegram to Berlin, firmly opposing the handing over of Morocco to the People's Revolutionary League unless the People's Revolutionary League offered sufficient benefits.

Chapter 929 Options

Thirty years ago, the weakest link among the great powers was the Russian Empire. Although the Russian Empire had a large territory and a large population, only half of it was Russian. There were sparks of rebellion everywhere. Poles, Ukrainians, and Tatars were naturally centrifugal. The fact that they were not Russian was enough to be a reason for rebellion.

Even if they were Russians, what would that do? The bourgeoisie in the State Duma had always been at odds with the Tsar and his cronies, and had launched revolutions and uprisings countless times, but they had all been suppressed before.

It’s not that there was anything special about the February Revolution. No, it was just like before, all kinds of people in Russia came out to rebel, nothing different. It was just that at that time, the Tsar had no power to suppress the rebels/revolutionaries, which made the February Revolution successful.

As time went by, the huge and bloated Russian Empire, like a giant with feet of clay, became a

As part of the "quasi-innovative alliance", Italy is now the weakest link among the great powers.

Italy has great ambitions, a glorious past, and a trend of revival... To be fair, Mussolini's Fascist Party did a good job in Italy, providing order to chaotic Italy and expanding Italy's strength in all aspects, but even so, Italy is still the weakest link among the great powers.

The relatively affluent life and strong commercial atmosphere have led Italians to be content with pleasure and unwilling to fight to the death for the country and the enemy. It is also possible that Italians see too clearly and understand the fact that "the country is a tool for the ruling class to rule."

Apart from a small number of black shirts, the Italian army is hard to describe. Although the main reason is that Italy's national strength is not good, Mussolini would not think so. He would only think that the generals of the kingdom are all good-for-nothings.

The Italian navy was weak and the army performed poorly, which made Italy's voice in the Axis camp less and less. The German Empire in this world fought with the British and French syndicates on the European continent for more than two years, consuming too much manpower and resources. It did not send the African Corps to North Africa to eat sand, and Germany suffered a large number of battleships, so the Italian navy was not that important.

Mussolini asked William III to give an explanation for the Moroccan incident, but what could William III give him? He couldn't just give him a piece of tape, could he?

The Alps blocked Italy's advance toward France, and in turn blocked French armored forces from entering the Kingdom of Italy. Napoleon led his infantry and artillery across the Alps, but he certainly couldn't bring his armored divisions over.

Even if they managed to cross the Alps, the armored division command, without fuel and ammunition, would become a pile of immobile steel.

The German army was in urgent need of elite troops to fill the gap, and the General Staff agreed to withdraw the 100,000 troops from Morocco. If the fascist leader could send more troops, the German High Command would be able to help Italy get some compensation. This was not the first time that the interests of the Italians were betrayed.

After receiving the reply from Berlin, Mussolini flew into a rage in his palace in Sicily. He roared loudly, uttering the loudest curse that a "young man" in his 50s could utter, "Damn Germans! Do they regard us as servants of Germany? They humiliate us again and again!"

Ciano, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Italy, Mussolini's son-in-law, and the successor of the Italian Fascist Party, waited on the sidelines for a while, and only stepped forward to speak after Mussolini had vented his anger.

The waiting time was not long. Mussolini was not old among politicians, but his unbridled enjoyment destroyed his health. Even if he was extremely angry, Mussolini could only be angry for a short time and then he had to stop to catch his breath.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Ciano stepped forward and said to Mussolini: "Leader, how should we respond to the note from the People's Revolutionary League?"

"Can we stop the Alliance's army?"

Mussolini's fat body sank into the sofa, his eyes were bloodshot under his deep eye bags. He raised his head and asked Ciano, "We don't need to defeat them, we just need to stop them!"

Ciano hesitated for a moment, and under Mussolini's gloomy gaze, he said: "If we send out the most elite troops, we can stop the [People's Revolutionary League], but..."

"There is no but. We have to teach those barbarians a lesson and not let them think that Italy is easy to control."

Ciano was not impressed by this. After entering the wartime system, Italy's steel production increased a lot, but it did not exceed 200 million tons per year, only a fraction of the German Empire.

With such a small amount of steel production, no ambitions can be sustained.

Wouldn't a country without power be easily controlled by others?

But now Mussolini was becoming more and more paranoid. Ciano tried to persuade him a few times, but found it was useless, so he wisely stopped talking about this matter. After Mussolini drank a few more glasses and gradually fell asleep, Ciano quietly retreated and carefully closed the door.

"Mr. Ciano, how is the leader now?"

Ciano whispered, "The leader is asleep, don't disturb him."

"Yes!"

Mussolini refused to bow to the People's Revolutionary League, but someone still had to do the work. The Italian ship looked like it was about to sink, and the passengers and rats on board were looking for an opportunity to jump overboard.

The Italian Fascist Party controlled newspapers, radio, television and other media, which had been boasting about the victory of the Italian army. There were so many lies, and since only lies could be published publicly, many people were deceived.

However, people feel that life is becoming increasingly difficult, and some of them are skeptical about the government's propaganda. However, they have no channels or opportunities to speak out, and cannot openly discuss the ongoing war. They can only passively accept the various lies instilled by the government.

The lower class and the middle class could only passively receive the news, but the powerful people in the upper class could get the news from various channels. Many people knew that the situation of the Axis powers was not good and Italy was on the verge of defeat.

these messages

The well-informed people were prepared to leave a way out for themselves. It would definitely not work to leave the way out to the syndicates, which had brutally eliminated the nobles and the rulers of the old era. After defeating the old rulers, they would also trample on their corpses with ten thousand feet, so that they would never be reborn.

The Italian nobles and capitalists did not want to end up like that.

Then, the only option left is the People's Revolutionary League.

Chapter 930: Jumping Left and Right

The Syndicate wants to liberate the world, and the Human Revolutionary Union also wants to liberate the world. However, the Human Revolutionary Union recognizes the diversity of political systems, religions, and cultures, and allows some countries that join the Human Revolutionary Union to retain their original national political systems. For example, New Zealand, Finland, the Grand Duchy of Siberia, and other countries have different political structures and laws from the Human Revolutionary Union.

If the People's Revolutionary League can allow Italy to retain its state system and not liquidate the nobles and capitalists in the country, it is not impossible to join the People's Revolutionary League. Italy has already used the skill of jumping left and right more than 20 years ago, and it is easy to use it again now.

Ciano was born into an Italian aristocratic family and later became a capitalist. He was the spokesperson for a large number of people in Italy. He did not like fascism or the practices of the People's Revolutionary League, but as long as it was necessary, he could join the Fascist Party and successfully become the successor of the Fascist Party.

Similarly, if necessary, he can also abandon fascism and join the People's Party. As long as he can keep the power and interests in his hands, changing political stance is not a problem.

Abandoning fascism and joining the People's Revolutionary League was the escape route prepared by some bigwigs in Italy. Now that the Axis powers were clearly in decline, the backup plans they had left behind could almost be used.

The person in the middle was still Count Ciano, who was Italy's foreign minister and also held other positions. It was not too easy to contact the [People's Revolutionary League]. He even flew to Chang'an under the guise of business cooperation and had a private meeting with Lin Yongchang.

Well, it can't be said to be a complete cover-up. Even when leader Mussolini was very rude to the People's Revolutionary League, Italy still had a lot of business dealings with the People's Revolutionary League. Even if the fascists came to power, Italian businessmen still had to make money.

Count Ciano traveled between Chang'an and Rome, obtained many orders for Italy, and also purchased many high-quality and low-priced goods from the alliance, making a lot of money with everyone.

This is good. What's even better is that the Count has received a promise from Chairman Lin that if one day in the future Italy decides to change its allegiance, the People's Revolutionary League will fully support Count Ciano to become the Prime Minister of Italy.

After getting Chairman Lin's promise, Ciano revealed everything about Italy. This time, Ciano negotiated with the People's Revolutionary League again. He eagerly expressed that he could launch an uprising to overthrow Mussolini's dictatorship. There was no need for the People's Revolutionary League to send troops. Ciano and the group of people behind him could handle the matter themselves.

What the League had to do was to grant recognition and asylum to Italy afterwards. In addition, Ciano hoped that the League would not hold leader Mussolini accountable.

"He will be under house arrest in a villa in the Alps."

In any case, Ciano was Mussolini's son-in-law. He and Ada truly loved each other and he didn't want his wife to hate him for the rest of her life.

The person who went to Rome to negotiate the Moroccan incident was Major Huang Siqi, who had served in the army, had been in a company, and had joined the General Staff. Later, he was assigned to be in charge of Count Ciano's line.

Although Major Huang Siqi's position was not high, Count Ciano trusted him very much, not for anything else, but because Major Huang looked too much like Chairman Lin. The Count had heard some rumors that Chairman Lin had many descendants besides the children whose identities were made public, and Huang Siqi was one of them.

In the closed room, Ciano said to Huang Siqi: "The question now is whether the Farnese Commune and Britain agree that Italy should withdraw from the war? If the British and French forces continue to attack, can Italy's security be guaranteed?"

The Italian Navy performed beyond its capabilities in the Mediterranean, causing huge casualties to the Anglo-French Red Navy. The Italian Navy gained an advantage in every naval battle, but due to its lack of industrial strength, the Italian Navy was on the verge of collapse while winning.

Huang Siqi still seemed a little taciturn. He listened quietly to what Count Ciano said, and then said: "As long as you become the Prime Minister of Italy, the Alliance will guarantee Italy's national defense security. If Italy is willing to join the [Human Innovation Alliance], we welcome it. If not, the Alliance will sign a military alliance treaty with Italy."

The meeting between the two was public, with the ostensible reason being to discuss the division of power in Morocco, but in reality it was a conspiracy to overthrow Fascist rule in Italy.

Mussolini did a lot of practical things, which inevitably infringed on the interests of the original ruling class. Many people were dissatisfied with Mussolini, and as the war continued, domestic dissatisfaction became increasingly serious.

Unfortunately, Mussolini had almost completely destroyed the Black Shirts, who were the cornerstone of Mussolini's rule over Italy. The Black Shirts suffered heavy losses, and Mussolini's regime began to crumble.

Most of the Blackshirts were fervent nationalists who believed in the leadership of Mussori.

Nican was able to lead Italy to rebuild the Roman Empire, so the morale of the Black Shirts was very high and they performed very well on the battlefield.

After these nationalists and fascist supporters were consumed, the new members who joined the Black Shirts were not so simple and easy to deceive. On the surface, the Black Shirts' personnel and weapons and equipment were replenished, but their actual combat effectiveness could not be compared with before.

Even when the Blackshirts were at their best, they were unable to fight against the armored forces of the German and the Red Workers' Syndicalists. In the Battle of Aachen, a Blackshirt infantry division entered the battlefield, but after two days it had to retreat to the rear for repairs due to heavy casualties.

The battle between the Syndicalists and the Germans was more about the number of planes and tanks. Dozens of German and Syndicalist heavy tanks were destroyed, and the wreckage of armored units and aircraft could be seen everywhere on the battlefield.

Many generals in the army were pessimistic about the future, and many of them secretly colluded to end this war in which there was no hope of victory.

Ciano sensed the rising war-weariness in the country and the growing dissatisfaction in the army, so he took the opportunity of negotiating with the People's Revolutionary League to reveal his determination to launch an uprising.

The People's Revolutionary League can guarantee Italy's national defense security, but Italy also needs to pay something for it.

Major Huang Siqi said: "The Italian government needs to open ports, military camps and other necessary military facilities to the alliance. If necessary, the Italian army needs to accept the unified command of the alliance."

Chapter 931 India

Ciano was very supportive of opening the port to the People's Army. The People's Army had strict military discipline and generally would not cause any problems. Instead, it would promote Italy's economic development. The navy's treatment was very good. All the officers and soldiers of the Allied Navy had some savings, and they were very frustrated in their own country. When they came to a passionate place like Italy, they would spend all their money happily.

However, Ciano was hesitant about letting the Italian army accept the unified command of the League Central Committee. If the army command was in the hands of the League, wouldn't it mean that anyone could be replaced as prime minister at will?

“Only in a state of war will there be a unified command, and the alliance will provide weapons and equipment to the Italian army.”

Ciano's mind was moved. "Is it the same equipment as the People's Army?"

"Yes, the troops under the command of the alliance will be uniformly armed and organized according to the light infantry division, but the military pay and food will need to be provided by the Italian government."

Even the light infantry divisions of the Allies were far ahead of Italy in terms of weapons and equipment. Italy could not afford assault rifles because they consumed too much ammunition. The German Empire had made a lot of semi-automatic rifles, but those new rifles were not enough for every German soldier, so it was impossible to distribute too many to the Italian army.

Ciano was not concerned about rifles, but aircraft, tanks and heavy artillery. On the European battlefield, due to the disadvantages of aircraft, tanks and heavy artillery, the Italian army had a hard time fighting and often suffered heavy casualties. In naval battles, due to the lack of advanced carrier-based aircraft, the Italian Navy also suffered a lot.

"Can the alliance provide Italy with the technology to produce aircraft and tanks? It would be best if some equipment could be provided directly."

The Italian Air Force, like the Navy, was faced with the situation of having good designs but being unable to transform the designs into combat effectiveness. In fact, the first person to systematically propose the theory of air supremacy was Italian Giulio Douhet, but building a modern air force was very expensive.

Aircraft, pilots, ground staff, oil depots, airports... etc., all of these cost money, and Italy's fiscal revenue, like its steel production, is at the bottom among the great powers.

Even if the fascists took the path of militarism, Italy's strength was still not enough and it could only fight Africans.

"Count, what you said is beyond my authority."

Ciano was only a few years older than Huang Siqi, and they were of the same generation. They had established a good personal friendship. Huang Siqi did not speak in an official tone, "Count, the central government will provide a lot of assistance to Italy. As long as Italy stands on the side of the alliance, these are not a problem."

The labor syndicates provided their allies with all their heart. The People's Revolutionary League was a little worse than the labor syndicates in this regard, but it was still much more generous than the German Empire. If you want to be the leader, you must share some benefits with your younger brothers.

The alliance's industrial strength is already very strong. After industrial upgrading, some backward production capacity is supposed to be transferred. It is reasonable to allocate some industries to Italy.

Italy has an important geographical location, a naval tradition, shipyards and tens of millions of skilled workers, which are valuable assets.

After Ciano and Huang Siqi discussed some of the alliance's aid projects for Italy, they talked about another topic, "Is the People's Revolutionary League still prepared to wait until both sides are tired of fighting before coming out to clean up the situation, just like the last world war?"

Europeans called the war between the two major camps of the Syndicalists and the Axis "World War II". In their perception, Europe was still the center of the world.

What Ciano wanted to say was not "clean up the mess" but "reap the benefits". Staff officers always prepare for war based on the experience of the last war, and politicians also like to apply past experience to the current situation. Ciano thought that the People's Revolutionary League just wanted to take advantage of the war to gain benefits.

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Major Huang Siqi also thinks so. Few people know that what the People's Revolutionary League wants is not a few pieces of territory in the Arabian Peninsula and Africa, but the entire world!

While negotiating with the Italian government on the Moroccan issue, the People's Republic of India, one of the members of the alliance, launched a war to unify India. The 95-strong army, which had been prepared for a long time, was divided into three groups and launched a fierce attack on the Republic of Madras.

Nominally it was the Indian People's Army that was dispatched, but in fact the armies within the People's Republic of India are directly controlled by the Central Government of the Union, and many generals and middle and senior officers came from the People's Army.

The Indian People's Army's weapons and equipment, troop organization, and tactics are the same as those of the People's Army. Its combat effectiveness is higher than that of the Mad Night Raid Group in the south. The German Empire is still stuck in the quagmire of war, which has led to the disintegration of the soldiers in the south, and their combat effectiveness can only be 70% to 80% at most. Seeing such low morale, many people decided to surrender from the beginning.

Over the past decade, the development of the People's Republic of India has been obvious to all. After implementing land reform and abolishing the caste system, the People's Republic of India has exploded with great vitality. Apart from the mandatory sinicization and positioning Chinese as the first language, Indians have almost nothing to complain about.

In recent years, more and more southerners have fled to the north, which is an obvious proof of the power gap.