The allied forces were taken by surprise by the day's fighting, and the courage of the Italian soldiers exceeded everyone's expectations.

Walikot asked with some worry: "Have the casualties of the various units been counted?" ”

The chief of staff sighed and replied: "Our side has already counted the total number of casualties in the whole army of five hundred and thirty-two; The French were still counting, and the staff estimated that their casualties should be in the range of fifteen to two thousand. ”

Walikot was surprised and asked, "Why are there so many casualties?" ”

After speaking, his brows tightened, and he reimbursed a regiment of troops in one day, and this casualty figure had exceeded his expectations.

Although the Italians on the opposite side suffered more casualties, this is Rome! The Italians could pay hundreds of thousands of casualties for their capital, but the Entente coalition couldn't!

The Entente forces in Rome were limited and could not accept an unlimited war of attrition.

Valikot knows that there is a limit to what an army can sustain in casualty rates, and even if the casualty rate of elite troops exceeds 30 percent, it needs to be modified to maintain combat effectiveness; If the casualty rate exceeds 60 percent, then there is a chance of collapse at any time.

Although he now has ten infantry divisions in his hands, the total strength before today is only 128,000 men, and now he has lost another regiment.

It would be fine if it was all Bulgarian regular troops, but unfortunately there were nearly four layers of French cannon fodder troops inside, and there was no essential gap between their combat effectiveness and the Italians who broke out, and their desire to fight was very average.

This battle is not easy to fight......

The chief of staff shrugged his shoulders and said helplessly: "Today, the Italians are like crazy, desperately attacking our position, and our casualties will naturally be large."

However, the casualties of the enemy on the opposite side should be greater, maybe several times that of us, or even more than ten times!

I don't know what makes the Italians so crazy, but I don't think they can sustain this! ”

Valikot nodded, if the current state of the Italian army could be sustained, their army would be a land power again as long as it was trained again.

Valikot rubbed his forehead and pondered for a moment, then said, "Draw three regiments of troops to form a warlord, go and help the French keep an eye on that ***, don't let them collapse." ”

……

Compared with Valikot's headache, the senior officials of the Italian government were dumbfounded when they looked at the casualty figures sent from the front, and they all said "Verdun meat grinder", but the Italian army's battle in Verdun had daily casualties of less than one-tenth of what it is now!

What can I do? You can't blame the soldiers on the front line for being too brave, and they don't know that pretending to be dead has caused a huge increase in casualties, right?

The prime minister asked in horror: "You lost two divisions in one day, and your War Department is sure that there is no mistake in the statistics?" ”

The Minister of War smiled bitterly and said, "I also think it's a mistake in the statistics, but today we did lose two divisions!"

And the main losses were in the morning, and by the afternoon the troops on the front line had reduced the intensity of the offensive, otherwise the number would have been even greater!

The officers at the front asked us to change the attack to the evening, believing that the evening attack would likely reduce the number of casualties, and the War Office had approved it.

Of course, I personally don't think it's useful to attack at night, maybe the casualties can be reduced, but it will be more difficult to achieve results! ”

The sheer number of casualties made Vittorio Emanuele III waver, and he didn't know whether to continue the war or not, and if it wasn't for his own interests, he didn't mind surrendering now.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer suddenly said: "We can't afford to fight this war, and if we can't recover Rome as soon as possible, maybe we won't even be able to pay our salaries next month!" ”

The prime minister added: "Not only in terms of military salaries, but we are also short of all kinds of strategic materials, and if we cannot drive the enemy into the sea in a short time, we may not even be able to get the weapons and ammunition that the army needs for combat in the future!" ”

The pressure on the Minister of War suddenly increased, and the Minister of National Defense, the Chief of the General Staff, and others, who could not have been able to share the pressure on him, had become prisoners of the enemy because they were running too slowly, and now all the things related to the operation had fallen on the War Department.

He suddenly had a regretful thought, he had known that he would not run away like this, and now he did not have to worry, let alone be responsible to the Kingdom of Italy.

In the face of the pressure exerted by everyone, the Minister of War had to bite the bullet and say: "Our army has done its best, and it can be seen from the battle reports on the front line that all the troops are desperate, if you want to kill the enemy in a short time, sorry this is beyond our ability!" ”

His answer was very Italian, very rational, if he couldn't do it, he couldn't do it, and there would never be an empty cannon like his Japanese counterparts.

In any case, the war will continue, but until the hatred in the hearts of the people is reduced, they will continue to fight.

Vittorio Emanuele III suddenly spoke: "Maybe the military can make a breakthrough elsewhere, don't forget that there is also a British colonial force wreaking havoc on our homeland, you can consider killing them first!" ”

It dawned on everyone that if they killed this British colonial force, the enemy army in Rome would be left alone, and they might be forced to abandon Rome.

The War Secretary thought for a moment and said, "The War Office has already drawn up a plan to exterminate the British, but it has been shelved for the first time because of the Roman problem. There is no problem with starting the plan now, but the reconquest of Rome will be postponed again. ”

Vittorio Emanuele III did not hesitate to say: "Don't worry, go ahead and do it!" ”

Persimmon is looking for a soft pinch, and instead of timidly fighting for Rome with the enemy, it is better to take this British colonial force. At least a victory before the armistice, to find a fig leaf for the Kingdom of Italy.

Obviously, Vittorio Emanuele III's expectations were getting lower and lower, and he had gone from initially asking the British for Fum and Dalmasia, and now he was only trying to keep his homeland.

Even another war reparations would have been acceptable, and it was clear that the brutal war had awakened the Italians to their own strength.

Of course, they didn't know that no one in the Entente regarded them as a member of the Great Powers anymore, and they had already begun to sharpen their knives against them.

On the question of dividing up Italy, Britain, France, and Bulgaria have held many secret consultations, but the three parties have not yet been able to reach an agreement because of their interests.