On October 15, 1939, news of the total fall of Poland had spread around the world with Reinhardt's military parade in Warsaw. At this time, Italian Prime Minister Mussolini, who was far away in Rome, could not sit still.

The German army sent troops from the border on September 15 and was able to parade in the Polish capital on October 15, and the speed of this victory was too fast!

"Say it! I know you've been holding back a lot of talk. Mussolini pretended as much as he could have anticipated everything, and motioned to several important Italian representatives of the discussion situation that he had summoned to speak freely.

At this time, in his secret meeting, a total of 3 types of people were gathered.

The first category is Ziano, Balbo, De Bono and others. Not only were they categorically opposed to entering the war, but they all had varying degrees of willingness to get rid of the German allies.

Such men had a brief upper hand at the beginning of the Polish campaign. On the morning of September 15, a month earlier, on the first day of the German invasion of Poland, Mussolini, at the instigation of Ziano and others, sent a telegram to Reinhardt, demanding that the German Führer relieve Italy of all its obligations to the Iron League.

In the letter, Mussolini stated that Italy could not face the danger of an attack by the British and French armies, and that the Germans had to accede to Italy's demands whether they wanted it or not.

Had Reinhardt not known that Italy's sending troops was meaningless to his plans, he would probably have been to death by such "clever allies".

When Italy was in need, the Germans should have done their duty. When the German army started the war, Italy did not want to fulfill the treaty. This is simply to make the Germans idiots in the first place, and only they Italians are shrewd in the world.

Reinhardt is also quite open in this matter, anyway, he knows the ending, and it is not impossible to satisfy Mussolini's wish before the start, and help others to reduce psychological pressure for Italy. After all, when he is still useful to Italy in the future, it is quite necessary for Italy to see Germany's strong military strength and rich results.

So, on September 15, Reinhardt made an unprecedented public statement that "Germany does not need any military aid from Italy for this war." ”

For this reason, Mussolini also developed a considerable affection for the German Führer, who was considerate of his own difficulties.

"Leader, this has come to this, and we should first congratulate the Germans." Governor Balbo, who had taken the lead in persuading Mussolini not to intervene, was embarrassed to defend: "Although we did not directly help the Germans militarily, we pinned down a large number of French troops in the Alps, which indirectly reduced the military pressure on the Germans on the Western Front." ”

Barbo, a close confidant of Mussolini who had been the governor of Libya since 1933, transformed Libya from a backward colony into a model of Italian province for Mussolini's "Great Roman Empire Project", and claimed to be the fourth coast of Italy.

In the eyes of many, Balbo was a "visionary" governor. He sat in the important town of Italian East Africa, with 9 Italian infantry divisions, 3 blackshirt divisions, 2 Libyan indigenous divisions, a total of 14 divisions of powerful legions, and 323 old aircraft.

As Mussolini's "Zhennan general" who remained in Libya, Balbo's previous proposal made a great impression on Mussolini. If it weren't for his advice, Mussolini would not have been so decisive in breaking the treaty of alliance.

But Balbo's suggestion was not wrong, and at least it allowed Italy to seek a lot of diplomatic "results".

In order to win over Italy, Britain and France provided a large number of orders for Italian factories, buying many military uniforms, military blankets, machine tools and other goods. For a time, Rome's stock market soared, and the economic situation was very good.

But Mussolini was a careerist, and he didn't like this soft fruit. What he wants is a glorious Warring States like Germany, and a huge dividend sought through war!

Mussolini could not deny Balbo's argument as a close confidant: "You have some truth in what you say, but the Germans will certainly not be happy about our breach of contract." Although Sergeant Reinhardt didn't say anything, he probably hated us all in his heart. ”

Sergeant, this is Mussolini's private disparaging name for Reinhardt. He always felt that he was much older than Reinhardt, and when he became Prime Minister of Italy, Reinhardt was just a milky child.

But Reinhardt, a generalist who only climbed to the sergeant position in 1923, actually rose through the ranks in the next 10 years, rising through the ranks at an almost perverted rate.

Since Operation Rainbow, Reinhardt's path to promotion seems to be on the rise. From sergeant to second lieutenant, it took only a month. Ensign to lieutenant, less than a week before the last promotion. Lieutenant to captain, captain to major, just in time for the most chaotic period of German internal affairs, without even the most basic process, passed under the arrangement of Ludendorff.

Later, this guy was even taken by Sickert, who was the commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht Army, and was taught as a student. The disciple of the commander-in-chief of the army wants to be promoted to lieutenant colonel, who would dare to oppose it?!

As for the reason for the promotion to colonel, it was also to give Reinhardt, who was in charge of Soviet-German cooperation at that time, a suitable rank, so that the Soviet partners could feel the sincerity of the German side.

The road to promotion at the general level is slower, it takes a total of 3 years, and on average, it is only one year to be promoted. If you want to say full, it is also aimed at the speed of his previous promotion. To put it on a normal officer, many people have not been able to cross the threshold from colonel to major general in their entire lives.

It's still peacetime, and the speed of climbing up can be faster than the promotion of those legendary generals in the war!

Mussolini ascended to the sky in one step, and that was on the east wind of a Roman march, for which he prepared for 15 years, a full 15 years!

Reinhardt, on the other hand, reached the pinnacle of power in just ten years.

It's just that this kind of nouveau riche is still taking one step at a time, walking fast and steadily.

First in the army, he was promoted from sergeant to general. Then he switched to politics, and naturally got what he wanted again and again, and finally became the head of Germany. Having been in the army, Reinhardt's control over the troops was much higher than that of Mussolini.

He participated in the planning of Operation Rainbow, put down the Karp coup, presided over the secret Soviet-German cooperation (Reinhardt secretly informed Mussolini in order to appease Italy's war fear), and defeated the Franco-Belgian invasion in the Ruhr. Full of merit and legendary experience, it is impossible to argue that his position is so high.

Now, Mussolini, who had achieved a military miracle in Poland, could only make fun of Reinhardt by amusing himself, and could barely calm down the jealousy in his heart.