Chapter 153 The Great Counterattack of the Allied Forces
The repeated turbulence of Italy's political situation made the entire world war full of all kinds of variables.
After the initial secret surrender of the Badoglio government, Italian army officers and soldiers stationed in northern Italy occupied by the Germans and some Italian civilians began to organize guerrillas to take military action against the Germans and those fascist forces who still followed Mussolini.
They made contact with the Allied forces south of Rome and the Badoglio government. In order to deal with the German occupation and Mussolini's
The government and the Italians were in a brutal atmosphere of internal evidence, assassinations and massacres.
The Badoglio government's surrender took its hundreds of thousands of troops in the Balkans completely by surprise. Many troops were trapped between local guerrillas and the Germans seeking revenge, and were therefore in a very dangerous situation.
Almost all of the more than 7,000 Italian troops stationed on Corfu were annihilated by their former allies. The Italian troops on Kefalonia resisted until October 22. Those who did not die in battle were shot to death.
The rest were exiled to other places.
Some garrisons from the Aegean islands attempted to escape to Egypt in small groups.
In Albania, on the Dalmatian coast and in Yugoslavia, some Italian military detachments joined local guerrilla groups. More frequently, they were sent to forced labor and their officers were shot.
Coupled with the constant defeats faced on the frontal battlefield under the continuous attack of the squadrons, the Allies urgently needed to counterattack this action. The method was to do everything possible to strengthen the escape from Rome in addition to strengthening military operations, and established
The authority of the Italian king in exile and Badoglio also enabled them to do their best to faithfully fulfill the apostolic agreement and hand over the fleet they still had control of.
In addition, due to military reasons, it is also necessary to mobilize and concentrate all forces in Italy that are eager to fight the Chinese and German armies or at least resist and obstruct the Chinese and German armies.
These forces are already actively carrying out activities.
Therefore, the British and American leaders issued a declaration:
"The three governments of Great Britain, the United States and France recognize the position of the Royal Government of Italy stated by Marshal Badoglio, and accept the active cooperation of the Italian state and armed forces, regarding them as a common belligerent in the war against Germany. October
The military incidents since the 8th, as well as the brutal behavior of the Germans towards the Italian people, finally led to Italy's declaration of war against Germany. In fact, this has made Italy a common belligerent country. The governments of the United States, Britain and France will build on this basis.
and continue to work with the Italian government. The three governments recognize the Italian government’s promise to obey the will of the Italian people after expelling the Chinese and Germans from Italy. It goes without saying that the Italian people decide their final decisions through constitutional means.
This absolute and fully free right to a democratic form of government must not be allowed to be infringed upon."
Originally, the surrender of Italy's Badoglio government would have given the Allies the opportunity to gain important spoils in the Aegean Sea at very little cost and effort.
Except for a few die-hard troops who followed Mussolini, most of the Italian garrison obeyed the orders of the King of Italy and Marshal Badoglio.
If the Allied forces could reach the Italian garrison before they were disarmed by the intimidation of the German troops on the islands, the Italian army would surrender.
The number of local German troops was much smaller, but they had recently become suspicious of the loyalty of their allies and had prepared countermeasures.
The three islands of Rhodes, Røros and Kos are important strongholds for Hitler and Mussolini and have long been important strategic targets for the Allies. Rhodes is the key to this group of islands because it has a good airport.
If this island is obtained, the British and American air forces can take off from there to defend other islands that the Allies may occupy, and the Allied navies can completely control this sea area. In order to reverse the unfavorable situation in the Aegean Sea, the British
With the assistance of sea destroyers and submarines, three battalions of the army occupied the three islands of Kos, Leros and Samos respectively, and some small detachments landed on other islands.
Strategically speaking, Kos is another important island besides Rhodes. However, the island has an airfield from which Allied fighter jets can launch their activities!
Therefore, the island naturally became the primary target for counterattacks by the Chinese and German forces, and starting from October 18, it became the target of increasingly frequent air strikes.
Allied reconnaissance planes reported that a German convoy was approaching. At dawn on October 11, German airborne troops suddenly landed at the central airport and repelled the defenders on the island, thereby reoccupying Kos Island.
On the day that Kos fell, the British Admiralty ordered a powerful naval reinforcement force including five cruisers to sail from the island of Malta to the Aegean Sea.
They showed their power soon after arriving locally. On October 18, a German convoy carrying reinforcements to Kos Island was destroyed under attack by the navy and air force.
A few days later, the navy sank two more German transport ships.
However, the long-range fighter jets withdrew on the 19th.
After that, the navy once again faced the same situation it encountered in the Battle of Crete two years ago.
The Axis forces had control of the air, while Allied ships could only operate at night to avoid serious losses.
The retreat of the fighter jets determined the fate of Leros Island. The German army was able to continue to gather forces by using scattered small fleets almost without serious interference. On the morning of November 1, the Chinese and German coalition forces attacked the powerful maritime fleet.
Under the cover of the Chinese army, they landed at the northeast end of the island and southeast of Leros city at the same time. The army's attack on the city was initially repelled. However, in the afternoon of the same day, 600 Chinese paratroopers landed in the Alin Bay and the Gner Bay.
The isthmus between them landed, thus cutting the British defense line into two sections.
Great efforts were made to recapture this isthmus.
In the final stage, the 2nd Royal West Kent Regiment, stationed on Samos, was sent to Roros, but it was too late. They themselves became victims of the Chinese.
The three battalions of defenders on the island did not have much air support, but they suffered fierce bombing from enemy planes. They fought hard until the night of November 16, and were finally outnumbered and forced to retreat.
Now that the island of Leros has fallen, all hope for the Allied forces in the Aegean Sea has been shattered for the time being.
The British army immediately tried to evacuate the few garrisons on Samos and other islands, and rescued the remaining troops from Leros. The number of British and Greek troops who evacuated was over 1,000.
However, the Allied navies suffered serious losses this time. One destroyer and two submarines were sunk by enemy aircraft and mines, and four cruisers and four destroyers were damaged.
The Greek navy shared these losses and they always participated in the battle.
The Allied military operations on land were not progressing smoothly either.
When the British and American troops heard the news on the radio that the Badoglio government had announced its surrender, many soldiers thought that tomorrow's combat operations would be easy, but in fact it was just the opposite.
Clark's troops began to land at Salerno. Despite night bombardments of German positions and strong artillery support from ships, the Fifth Army encountered strong German resistance.
The Chinese naval aviation participating in the war used remote-controlled guided glide bombs for the first time to launch a surprise attack on the Allied artillery support ships.
On the first day of landing, the Allied forces only captured a small foothold. It was not until the 11th that they occupied Salerno and established a landing site. Due to the extremely slow movement of the Allied forces, the Sino-German Allied Forces Command was able to mobilize two
The division's troops launched a fierce counterattack into the Salerno area on the 13th, forcing the Allied forces to retreat and split them into two parts.
The Allies were in danger of defeat. At the same time, the British army conducted a successful attack on Taranto in southern Italy.
Alexander promptly took advantage of Italy's announcement of surrender and selected 6,000 soldiers from the British 1st Airborne Division to go to Taranto to carry out a seemingly risky mission.
Due to the lack of transport aircraft, this airborne force had to sail directly into the port from the sea on warships and quickly occupied this large port that could be used by a group army.
In late October, Hitler adopted Marshal Chiang Baili's suggestion and changed his original decision on Italy's strategy.
He ordered the army to fight as far south as possible. The front he chose, the so-called "Winter Front", started from behind the Sangro River on the Adriatic coast, passed through the rugged mountain ridges of Italy, and extended to the west coast
The mouth of the Garigliano River!
Italy's natural features are steep mountains and fast rivers, making this position several miles deep very strong.
Over the past year, the German troops had been retreating almost non-stop from Africa, Sicily and southern Italy. Now, after receiving full help from the Chinese, they happily turned around and fought back.
Although the onset of winter would severely hinder Allied operations, the major strategic decisions made at the Quebec Conference benefited from the Germans' deep involvement in the Italian battlefield.
At this time, the balance of power between the enemy and ourselves on the Italian battlefield had changed greatly.
In the south, 11 Allied divisions faced 9 German divisions, and the participating squadrons had about 15 divisions ready to fight at any time, bringing the known total to 24 divisions, perhaps as many as 28 divisions.
Mussolini was also stepping up his efforts to recruit stragglers and recruit troops. According to the communication lines controlled by the coalition forces, they were able to assemble a total of about 60 divisions in Italy, mainly in the northern region.
The Germans apparently wanted to form a reserve army that could be used to further reinforce their forces in Italy.
In contrast, the Allies' position is not so favorable. The maximum number of troops they can use in Italy is: 12 divisions at the end of October, 13 divisions at the end of November, and 14 to 15 divisions at the end of December.
What's even more terrible is that the Chinese are already preparing to organize a major battle in Europe before the end of this year that can change the final and decisive direction of the war!