"Marshal Balbo, you say ......." At the time of separation, Ziano, as Mussolini's son-in-law, very respectfully accompanied Balbo to the airport, and frowned all the way and said: "We are hiding from our German allies this time, and we are planning such a huge offensive first, they know whether it will ....... later."

After all, Ziano was the foreign minister of the Kingdom of Italy, and he was in charge of it, and he had never been very optimistic about the results of Italian diplomacy.

Although Mussolini and Reinhardt became superficial brothers, Italy also formally entered into a military alliance with Germany. However, the cooperation between the two countries has always been unstoppable.

This time, Italy, without consulting its German allies, directly decided the combat operations in North Africa, only sending a telegram to the German allies afterwards to inform them. From the point of view of military alliances, this approach is clearly disadvantageous.

After all, as military allies, the two should consult each other on strategic actions to avoid conflict with each other.

But Mussolini did not inform the German allies about the relevant matters just because he was angry, and only informed Reinhardt of the date of the operation when the outbreak was about to break out, which was regarded as a mention.

If something goes wrong with today's military plan in the future, and the Germans are asked for help, then others will have an excuse to excuse themselves.

However, compared with Ziano's worries, Balbo seemed much calmer: "Count Ziano, you think too much. Truth be told, we really don't need to care about the views of a country that is too busy to take care of itself. ”

Balbo, the only marshal of the Italian Air Force who led the organization of the Great War in North Africa, also has the titles of veteran of the Black Wood Party, the head of Mussolini's "Four Famous Generals", and the governor of Libya.

Although he initially advocated the Germans to fight along, after Mussolini made it clear that Italy had to go it alone, Balbo stopped thinking about Germany as an external force.

Yes, the Germans are slightly more able to fight than the Italians.

But they also have a lot of problems of their own, on the one hand, they seem to have been fighting with the British in the air recently, and they are hurrying to prepare for the landing. On the other hand, they mobilized troops on a large scale on the eastern front to guard against the Soviet Union, which had annexed the three Baltic states and the two northern provinces of Romania.

Compared with Italy's advantageous defensive geographical environment, which can be attacked and retreated, the Germans who are attacked on two fronts should be most worried about their own safety.

Not to mention that Italy doesn't care where it wants to fight or where it doesn't want to fight, if Italy really doesn't move, it will be to let the British send African garrison troops back to China to strengthen their homeland.

Once this was the case, the German landing operation would be even more difficult.

Therefore, from the perspective of Germany's interests, they should have wished that Italy would send troops to Africa as soon as possible to help them contain a main force of the British army.

Balbo turned his head and said to Ziano, who was still uneasy: "Germany is a country, you must know it very well. They will only respect the person who has won, whether that person is their own, their ally, or even their enemy. As long as whoever is strong enough and can win the battle, they will respect whom! ”

Looking at Ziano's eyes, Balbo said lightly: "In the face of this iron and bloody ally, the more ruthless I fight on the front line, the more you have a say in diplomacy." As for cooperation and consultation, those are useless. ”

Balbo, the old Italian marshal, was quite thorough in his analysis of Germany.

felt that what the other party said was very reasonable, and Ziano was also a little relieved: "I hope we can win smoothly and finish at the bottom of Italy's position in the league." ”

Ziano doesn't know much about the German nation, and all his insights are only superficial.

He was born into a noble family in Livorno, Italy, to his father, Costanzo Ciano, Count Capri, a close friend of Mussolini, a fascist senator, and a key member of Mussolini's march to Rome.

Under such a background, Ziano can be said to be born with a golden soup spoon, and he and Mussolini became in-laws, so it can be said that he is destined to become a high-ranking official early on.

Therefore, although he is the foreign minister of Italy, the origin of this position is undoubtedly full of water.

As a result, even though Ziano participated in major events such as the Munich Conference and the German-Italian alliance, he never calmed down and got to know the German nation as an ally of Italy like an official who should have real talents and learning.

In terms of what Ziano has seen and heard during his several visits to Germany, the German nation is a barbaric, vulgar, and non-artistic nation.

In just a few months, the beautiful forests on their border would have turned into a base full of sandbags and nets, high-strength concrete bunkers as ugly as graves, and the air filled with the smell of sweat and the smell of cold steel.

Ziano always felt that, unlike the Italian soldiers, everything the German soldiers did seemed to be to suffocate themselves to death.

Their poor brains seem to be unable to accept and appreciate all romantic things, and they are only interested in rigid discipline, boring training, and their ugly tanks, warships, and weapons.

In Ziano's eyes, those Germans, even if they conquered the whole world, were pathetic. Because their lives are completely meaningless!

If the life of the Italians is a beautiful lakeside, then the life of the Germans is like a depressing, gray, and colorless garbage factory! Those German soldiers who were rigid, had no artistic cells, and did not know how to live, should not be put in the grave when they died, but should be thrown into the metal scrap recycling station!

How did they sing that military brother?

"If we are doomed, then at least our faithful tanks will give us a metal grave."

That's right, Ziano always felt that the German soldiers would have to be thrown into this metal grave.

Although Italy was allied with Germany, he Ziano did not like Germany as a nation.

However, there is one thing that Ziano cannot deny and cannot understand.

That is, this German nation, which was rigid and did not understand romance in his eyes, but in the course of hundreds of years of history, a large number of world-famous writers, poets, philosophers and musicians such as Goethe, Schiller, Bach and Beethoven were born.

Finally, when Ziano and Balbo arrived at the airport, Balbo, an old-timer, patted him on the shoulder and said, "Minister Ziano, don't worry too much. The Germans are not as complex as you think, and our Italian army is not useless. As long as we can win on our own, why care what the Germans think? ”

"I hope so." Ziano smiled, shook hands with Balbo and said goodbye: "Then I wish the marshal a great victory in North Africa!" ”