When conflicts arise between the two parts of the Allied forces, the contradiction between Germany and Italy is actually even greater.

Under Hitler's command, Rommel pretended to move the command center to Greece. After inspecting several new troops to support Greece and giving several passionate speeches, he secretly flew to Sicily.

The first thing he did when he arrived in Sicily was to call the officers to hold a meeting... He needed to integrate the power on the island into a team that could coordinate with each other. This also included the Italian army stationed in Sicily, so Rommel also invited Lieutenant General Zoni, the commander of the Italian army.

Of course, because of concerns about the leak, only Lieutenant General Guzoni was an Italian, and even Lieutenant General Guzoni's translation was found by Rommel.

"Gentlemen!" Rommel introduced to the officers: "This is Lieutenant General Guzoni, commander of the 6th Italian Army!"

The officers applauded politely when Lieutenant General Guzoni stood up to salute.

"I'll forgive me for introducing the others one by one!" Rommel said: "After all, this is not an award ceremony!"

The officers couldn't help laughing.

"This is the situation!" Rommel immediately got to the point: "We got the exact news that the Allies will attack and carry out large-scale landing operations against Sicily, and their troops may be about 200,000! They are the British 8th Army commanded by Montgomery and the US 7th Army commanded by Patton!"

The officers were not surprised by the news, because the British had already carried out large-scale bombings on Sicily... Although this can be regarded as a strategic deception, most people do not think so.

However, the Allied forces would dispatch 200,000 troops to launch an attack, which still made the German officers feel uneasy, only General Guzoni seemed to be calm.

"The good news is that we have more troops than the Allied forces!" Rommel continued: "We have the 6th Italian Army..."

As he said that, Rommel glanced at General Guzoni and said, "I think it's more appropriate for General Guzoni to introduce this aspect!"

Lieutenant General Guzoni nodded and stood up, pointing at the map with his baton and introducing: "Gentlemen, the Italian 6th Army is under the jurisdiction of two armies, namely the 12th Army west of Syracuse and the 16th Army south of Messina. Our total force has a total of 4 field divisions, 6 coastal defense divisions, 2 coastal defense brigades, and 6 artillery groups, with a total force of 250,000. I believe that as long as we work together, we will definitely defeat the Allied offensive and defend Sicily from the enemy's invasion!"

Lieutenant General Guzoni was full of confidence, but the German officers present did not agree. They were not even interested in listening to these numbers on the table... because they all understood one truth. No matter how many Italian soldiers there were, they were just numbers. They could not become comrades-in-arms, and they would even be burdens.

Of course, Rommel hoped that these Italian soldiers could play at least a role, or cooperate with the deployment and combat of the German army, so Lieutenant General Guzoni was allowed to participate in this meeting.

After asking Lieutenant General Guzoni to sit back to his seat, Rommel continued: "We have seven divisions in total, one of which is an armored division, two mechanized infantry divisions, three infantry divisions, and one paratrooper division... a total force of 100,000 people!"

Speaking of this, Rommel deliberately paused. The officers all understood that this meant that the German army could basically rely on these 100,000 people to deal with the 200,000 Allied troops.

"We will lose air supremacy and sea supremacy!" Rommel said: "There is no doubt about this. In fact, air supremacy and sea supremacy are already in the hands of the enemy. So what we can do is to deploy troops on deep high ground."

As he said that, Rommel pointed to the map with his baton and explained: "From west to east, there are the 22nd Infantry Division, the 200th Infantry Division, the 23rd Infantry Division, these troops rely on the terrain to build a tunnel fortification. I believe your fortifications have been almost completed..."

Speaking of this, Rommel turned his attention to the generals of several infantry divisions.

"Yes, General! We will need two more days!"

"We may need three more days!"

...

"Very good!" Rommel nodded and said, "I will take my guards to the high ground to make sure you all have built the fortifications and conducted at least three drills!"

"Yes, General!"

"Goring Armored Division and the 39th and 52nd Mechanized Infantry Divisions are on standby behind Inna..."

At this time, Guzoni said a few words in a gurgling manner, as if protesting.

Rommel asked the translation in confusion: "What is he talking about?"

"General!" The translator replied: "Lt. General Guzoni believes that we should first discuss the issue of the ownership of command!"

The German officers couldn't help but laugh.

The translator continued: "Lieutenant General Guzoni said that the Italian army has more than the German army and is more familiar with the terrain and climate of Sicily, while the German army comes from Africa and France, and is very unfamiliar with everything here, especially Sicily or Italy's territory, which is the hometown of the 6th Army, and their relatives here, so Italy should have more command of combat!"

The officers couldn't help laughing again.

"I don't want to hand over the tank to the Italians' command!" Major General Graf smiled and said, "Because I absolutely believe that they will transform the 'tiger' style into a stove for cooking pasta!"

The officers laughed even louder.

Major General Graff is the commander of the "Herman Goring" armored division.

As soon as you hear the name of this armored division, you will know that this unit is a unit formed by Gestapo Gorin.

Moreover, this armored division is a bit special, and it is also called the paratrooper armored division... This is because Germany pays great attention to the cooperation between the air force and armor. If these two armies are not familiar with each other's combat methods, it will be difficult to achieve close coordination. So just like the US military always uses pilots as aircraft carrier captains, the Goring Paratrooper Armored Division often exchanges officers with the Air Force for auxiliary command. The Goring Paratrooper Armored Division even has its own flight reconnaissance team.

Of course, this may have something to do with Gorene being a pilot.

Rommel ignored Lieutenant General Guzoni, and continued: "All we have to do is wait. The enemies on both wings will launch a fierce attack towards the port. The 22nd and 23rd Infantry Divisions will retreat while fighting... Because their route is spreading along a triangle, it will be further and further away from the middle..."
Chapter completed!