Luigi Cardolna is in a good mood right now, and since the outbreak of the world war, the morale of his Fifth Army has never been so high.

As for the reconquest of Rome, Lieutenant General Luigi-Cadorna thought that victory was in his hands, and he had already figured out the deployment of the Allied forces in the city, five Bulgarian infantry divisions plus five French colonial divisions, and some artillery units.

And these ten infantry divisions have all fought all the way, and they have not had time to replenish their losses, they are all dissatisfied, and the total strength will not exceed 150,000!

The Italian army besieging the city numbered more than 800,000, and it was a local battle, and it was 5.3 times the superior strength to attack the enemy on the labor expedition, so naturally there was no reason for failure.

At the same time, Luigi Cadorna also secretly despised his peers, more than 200,000 Italian troops defending Rome, and they didn't hold on for even a day, which was simply a shame to be thrown to his grandmother's house.

He completely ignored that the Italian government immediately held a celebration after announcing its withdrawal from the war, and it was the "drunken culprit" who lost Rome!

After Italy announced its withdrawal from the war, the Italian garrisons of Rome began to take a self-holiday, how could a romantic Italian be without alcohol?

It's been more than a year, and it's rare to have a chance to indulge, so naturally the officers are going to the ball, and the soldiers are going to get drunk.

And then there was no then, and before the Italians could react, the enemy entered the city. In a panic, the government was busy running away and handed over Rome to the enemy!

Of course, these things naturally can't be said, and the black history of a proper government must be hidden. So it's enough for everyone to condemn the shameless behavior of the Entente, and there is no accountability!

……

Luigi Cadorna is all too familiar with the city of Rome, and even the weak points of the city's defenses, he has a rough idea.

The chief of staff said solemnly: "Your Excellency, the War Department has issued a combat mission and ordered us to launch an attack on time at 7:20 on September 16!" ”

Luigi Cadorna thought about it and said in high spirits: "September 16th is tomorrow, call back to the War Department and we will attack on time!" ”

After fighting the Western Front for more than a year, without any decent results, it is finally his turn to raise his eyebrows.

The reconquest of Rome was not the same as the attack on France, and the Italian soldier now had a much stronger will to fight, and he no longer had to worry about the soldiers playing soy sauce.

You must know that on the Western Front, the Italian army made a lot of jokes, such as shooting empty on the opposite side in order to avoid the attack, and lying about the military situation that the French had attacked.

Or maybe there was a sudden food poisoning in a group of troops, and the group began to have diarrhea, and it was still really diarrhea, and the bitter meat tricks were used very realistically!

More often than not, when the attack was launched, one rushed out to find a feng shui treasure and died one after another, basically a company was killed and wounded in minutes, two regiments were killed in an hour, and two divisions were killed in a morning.

When it was time to retreat, one by one they rose from the ground and returned the same way, in short, with their efforts, the casualties of the Italian army were reduced to a minimum.

In line with the principle of not holding the public accountable, Luigi Cadorna also took them seriously, and most of the officers who dared to punish the soldiers on this ground had already been killed by stray bullets on the battlefield.

Now Luigi Cadorna doesn't have to worry about that anymore, at least he hasn't heard his soldiers talk about life-saving tricks on the battlefield lately, but he's cursing the Allies' shamelessness, or discussing how to take out the enemy in the city.

This is a good start, as long as the soldier has the courage to fight, he believes that the Italian army will not be worse than any other country!

……

At 7:20 a.m. on September 16, the Italian army began to attack as flares soared into the sky.

At this time, the genius had just begun to shine, and under the cover of artillery, the brave and fearless Italian soldiers took out the courage of their lives to launch a charge, and then ushered in a shuttle of bullets, and the Italian soldiers began to fall on the way to the charge one after another.

Of course, this did not attract anyone's attention, and for the Italian officers it was all a small scene, and it was not worth mentioning at all.

On the Western Front, they had seen the scene of a division or two being killed within an hour, then waiting a few hours later to order a retreat, and then suddenly come back from the dead.

How many people have died now? It's been almost an hour, and the number of dead is less than a regiment, which is trivial!

Anyway, under the cover of gunfire, they couldn't hear the screams of the soldiers, whether they were really killed or fake, and there was no way to tell if the attack was still going on.

As time went on, the enemy's defensive line remained solid, but Luigi Cadorna did not have the slightest worry, and this was only the beginning.

Luigi Cadorna said calmly: "Send someone to ask, what is going on with the artillery?" Didn't you eat, why is the hit rate so low today? ”

A young staff officer spoke: "General, I think I should know the answer to this question!" ”

Luigi Cadorna asked, somewhat surprised: "Oh, what reason?" ”

The staff officer confidently replied: "General, on the other side is Rome!" ”

Luigi Cadorna spat out two words in agony: "Hell! ”

The reason "Rome on the other side" was so strong that he didn't dare to order the artillery to increase its accuracy, and there were too many buildings that could not be attacked.

In the unlikely event that something particularly important is damaged, whoever gives the order will be held responsible! This is also a matter of no choice, how can you fire unscrupulously in your own capital?

It is no wonder that as soon as the battle began, the enemy directly abandoned the remote suburbs and fought street battles in the city, which was expected to be fearful.

Luigi Cadorna thought sadly, what was the way to attack without the use of heavy artillery?

A staff officer proposed: "General, perhaps it would be more appropriate for us to attack at night, now that our soldiers are all exposed to the enemy's line of sight, the casualties will be too great if we continue to fight like this!" ”

Luigi Cadorna thought for a moment and said, "Alright then, it's almost time for lunch, and those idiots on the front line are probably tired too, so signal them to come back!" ”

"Yes!" A herald staff officer replied, and with that, he walked out of the headquarters to deliver orders.

……

In the afternoon, the chief of staff came over and said: "Luigi is in a bad situation, we are in big trouble!" ”

Luigi Cadorna, who was taking a lunch break, rubbed his eyes and asked depressedly, "What's wrong?" Can our Excellency the Chief of Staff, make such a fuss? ”

The chief of staff said with a worried brow: "This is the number of casualties counted today, and our Fifth Army alone has suffered more than 5,000 casualties!" ”

Luigi Cadorna said incredulously: "This can't be! Do you think our army is stupid British? There were more than 5,000 casualties in one morning, and it must have been a careless mistake on the part of the people below, and it would be against the sky to have 500 casualties!

You can check again, I think maybe they omitted a decimal point! ”

It's no wonder that Luigi Cardolna is incredulous, he has seen a lot of such scenes when fighting on the Western Front.

Unless the French were fighting on their own initiative, casualties were usually well kept to three digits as long as the Italian army took the initiative.

And the famous British Field Marshal Hague was the object of their contempt, and he could actually set a record of 60,000 casualties a day. If it had been replaced by the Italian army, it would have been possible to control the casualties to no more than six hundred.

The chief of staff said with a wry smile: "I also think it's a mistake, but it's a pity that I have checked this casualty report three times, and I also went to the field hospital myself, which is already full of people, most of whom were injured by bullets!"

Our soldiers were so heroic that this time someone actually rushed to the enemy's position, and many of the wounded were carried back at a distance of 180 meters from the enemy! ”

Luigi Cadorna was dumbfounded, when did the Italian soldiers become so brave?

You must know that during the battle on the Western Front, a French regiment blocked the attack of the Fifth Army for three days, and when reinforcements came, they were beaten back.

In the end, Luigi Cadorna could only smile wryly and nodded, the Italian soldiers had indeed become brave, and he was a little unaccustomed to it.

If the Italian soldiers had always been so brave, perhaps they would have been parading in Paris by now, after all, at the beginning of the war, their allies still had a great advantage.

It's a pity that it's too late! Seeing the casualty figures this time, Luigi Cadorna couldn't be happier, the Fifth Army alone had suffered more than 5,000 casualties in one morning, what if you add several other groups? If you don't know how to fight the strength of the two divisions, you'll already be done!

Luigi Cadorna thought about it, sighed and said: "We can no longer attack blindly like this, the current situation is not the same as before, one bad will cause heavy casualties!" ”

The Chief of Staff nodded in agreement, and it suddenly became clear to him that it wasn't necessarily a good thing for the soldiers to become too brave, at least until they changed their existing tactics.

The chief of staff thought for a while and said: "Let's remind our comrades-in-arms, in case they are negligent, then the losses will be great!" ”

Luigi Cadore smiled wryly and said, "Well, remind them!" By the way, the General Staff will count the battle situation and report it directly to the War Department, and tell them that our Fifth Army has done its best! ”

The chief of staff said helplessly: "Okay! ”