"Do you mean that in exceptional cases, the command of the German forces in the theater of operations will also be handed over to this command?" Mussolini thought for a moment and asked.

"Of course." Leon nodded, "Under special circumstances, the command of all units in the theater should be handed over to the unified command of the Joint Operations Command, and the command of the German army is of course included." ”

"What about the composition of the operational command?" Mussolini then asked, "What is the internal staffing arrangement?" ”

"The Joint Operations Command, as the name suggests, is composed of several of our countries together, and every country that has signed the Iron Pact has the right to recommend its own excellent commanders to this command." Leon said this, slyly smiled, "Of course, it is not that anyone who casually recommends a commander will definitely be able to enter the command, whether he can enter the command will have to be discussed and studied by all of us, but if this commander has extremely outstanding combat achievements, you can skip the discussion and directly enter the command to take up a position." You don't have any comments on this proposal, right? ”

"Nope!" "I'm for it!" Norway, Czechoslovakia, the Netherlands, the Belgian Provisional Government, the First Polish Republic and other puppet governments loyal to Lyon were the first to raise their hands in favor.

"I'm for it too!" "Finland agrees to this plan!" "Iraq agrees too!" Immediately following the puppet states, a number of countries that rely on Germany militarily have also expressed their support.

For example, Finland, they are still fighting with the Soviet Union, if there was no military aid from Germany, without 300,000 volunteers from Germany, Finland would have lost the Winter War long ago.

"Spain also supports this plan!" In the end, even Franco, who did not want to get bogged down in the quagmire of war, reluctantly raised his hand in support.

There is no way, now he and Mussolini have not expressed their position, he cannot withstand this pressure.

"What about Mr. Mussolini?" Leon asked with a chuckle.

Mussolini heard Lyon's questioning and was silent for a while.

Lyon's proposal didn't seem to be a problem, and Germany didn't take advantage of it, so it was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but he always felt that something was wrong.

"Mr. Mussolini?" Leon pressed again, "Don't you have the slightest confidence in your generals?" Think they won't be able to win a little bit of success? ”

"How so!" Mussolini finally raised his head when he heard this, and said, "The generals and soldiers of Italy are no worse than any other country!" ”

"Mr. Mussolini, this proposal by Yuan Xiansheng gives excellent generals more room to play." Carol Rommel, President of the First Polish Republic, duly advised, "I believe that with the ability of the Italian generals, they will be qualified to lead us to more victories!" ”

Listening to Carroll's words, Mussolini gritted his teeth and immediately agreed: "Well, Italy is in favor of the proposal of the German allies!" ”

Hum! I don't care what kind of conspiracy you Lyon is doing, anyway, this proposal was put forward by you personally, and when my Italian general rises to a high position to command your German army, I am not afraid that you Lyon will not admit it! He thought to himself.

"Okay, now that this proposal has passed, then the countries can start recommending your generals to form a command." Lyons spoke to the crowd as soon as Mussolini opened his mouth.

Subsequently, a number of countries began to recommend their own generals, and the two Axis giants, Italy and Germany, also began to review these generals one by one, trying to favor the officers on their own side.

In the end, the vast majority of the officers who were approved to join the joint command were pro-German, and only the generals from the Italian sphere of influence such as Ethiopia were more inclined to Italy.

After Franco had finished recommending the Spanish officers, the microphone was handed over to Mussolini – it was Italy's turn to recommend its own officers.

"Ahem."

After Leon, who was presiding over the meeting, signaled that it was Italy's turn, Mussolini first cleared his throat, then slowly stood up, and said: "Our Italian officers and soldiers are famous for their ability to fight well, so His Excellency the Führer asked me to recommend a few excellent generals, and it will be really difficult for me to decide who to recommend for a while-who makes our Italian generals so good." ”

After saying that, Mussolini pretended to be pensive, paused there for a full two minutes, and then continued: "First of all, I want to recommend Air Marshal Itano Balbo, I will not talk about Marshal Balbo's achievements, I think everyone here knows that the fact that US President Franklin D. Roosevelt personally invited him to dinner is enough to see his great military exploits." ”

However, none of the people present should be with Mussolini, because they really understood that Marshal Balbo really had no military exploits, and he was almost beaten when he led the superior air force to attack Ethiopia, where the air force strength was almost equal to zero. But to be honest, Marshal Itano Balbo still had a high reputation in Italy, so they did not raise any objections.

Mussolini was pleased with the reaction, believing that everyone spoke because everyone was stunned by the excellent Italian generals, so he looked a little triumphant, and continued: "The second one I would like to recommend is Field Marshal Graziani, whose bravery in dealing with the Ethiopian rebels is also obvious to all. ”

"The third one to recommend is Marshal Petro Badogrio, the first Duke of Addis Ababa and the first Marquis of Sabotino. During the offensive against the traitor Haile Selassie I, we had some difficulties that led to the stagnation of the offensive on the front, but after Marshal Petro Badogglio took over as commander-in-chief of the Italian Expeditionary Force, the Italian troops on the front line quickly recovered, breaking through several lines of defense of the rebels one after another! ”

And there is really nothing to refute this recommendation, because Mussolini is basically right.

During the Second Italian-Ethiopian War, the Italian army, which had advanced weapons, did stagnate for a while, and if it had not been for Marshal Petro Badogglio taking over as commander and using poison gas on the poorly equipped Ethiopian army, Italy would still be fighting with the Ethiopian black uncles in Africa.

After talking about Marshal Petro Badogglio, Mussolini crackled a long list of names, and there were indeed some excellent commanders, such as Giovanni Messer and Italo. Garibaldi, but more often than not, names that Lyons had never heard of, apparently indiscriminately indiscriminated by Mussolini in order to gain more real power within the command.