But even then, the Germans did not have an easy time. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

As Hermann, the commander of Goering's division, said: "Our replenishment of personnel and the supply of weapons and equipment have been completely cut off, and everything that is requested has been put aside by the endorsement of the Supreme High Command as 'postponed'." We don't know what to use to stop the enemy's attack, and although we still have morale, we don't even have enough mines on the road......"

Hermann did not exaggerate at all, because since the Italian "uprising", the German logistics units no longer dared to pass through Rome and then transport ammunition and supplies to Army Group A as usual...... This would have almost amounted to suicide in the absence of an uncertain situation and with only two divisions in the vicinity of Rome.

In fact, the situation is far more serious than Herman said.

The reason was that Italy was previously an ally with Germany, so a considerable part of the German army's supplies came directly from Italian factories...... For example, Germany had five arsenals in Italy, which produced ammunition for the German army, and the workers were mostly Italians.

As you can imagine, these workers were reluctant to work for the Germans when they learned of the Italian "uprising", and even destroyed their machines and burned the factories.

Kesselring had nothing to do about it, for he had so many troops at his disposal that it was impossible to think about the arsenal when he was looking forward to the Roman and Allied attacks.

The same thing happened in the food factory, which immediately put Army Group A in a difficult situation.

In addition to this, there are communication ...... The Germans relied on the Italian postal network for almost all telephone communications, and of course they were completely cut off.

This made it impossible for Kesselring to speak to his unit commander, and he had to use very inefficient radios.

It can also be seen from this that if the Allies launched a fierce attack on the German army at this time...... Even if they did not parachute and land in Rome as Zhang Chi thought, the Allies could have caused the German army to flee at least German Army Group A.

But Britain and the United States did not do so because of their own evil intentions.

Perhaps Britain and the United States thought that this was nothing, because the Germans seemed to have no other way out but to continue to retreat, so what about giving Germany a little extra time?

On the battlefield, time is one of the most important factors.

If it is in the hands of a mediocre person, it is indeed worthless, because he can't think of a solution, and can only let these times and opportunities slip out of his hands bit by bit.

But Kesselring was not a mediocre man, and in some ways he was much more clever than Rommel......

However, like Rommel, he was also a field marshal who "did not accept military orders abroad".

Hitler, upon learning of the "uprising" of the Italian army, angrily ordered all Italian troops to be disarmed and taken prisoner......

Kesselring was puzzled by the Führer's order: it was an army of more than a million, and he had only two paratrooper divisions of less than 30,000 men at his disposal, and the rest were busy in the south to deal with the Allied attack. Disarming the Italian army? How could it be done!

Of course, Kesselring would not be stupid enough to do this, and he knew very well that if the conflict with the Italian army really intensified, it would only end up being out of control...... Even if a sheep is provoked, it will bite, not to mention that this is still a million sheep.

After thinking about it for a long time, Kesselring decided to go a moderate way: negotiate with the Italians.

Because Badoglio, the King of Italy, and even the army staff had fled, Casselring had no choice but to negotiate with General Cosimo, who was in actual control of the military in Rome.

Kesselring asked the soldiers to deliver a letter to Cosimo...... He had no choice but to do so, because telephone communications in Germany had been cut off.

In the letter, Kesselring strongly expressed his desire to speak with Cosimo, who could choose a location in order to reduce unnecessary losses on both sides.

At this time, Cosimo was panicked and did not know what to do, although he had 100,000 Italian troops in his hands, the Führer and the king all fled, and the Italian army was completely unconfident against the Germans...... For the Italian army, the German soldiers were like war machines.

Therefore, the Italian soldiers, including Cosimo himself, did not want to clash head-on with the Germans.

Cosimo soon met with Kesselring in a small building in the middle of the road.

"Dear General Cosimo!" Kesselring warmly shook Cosimo's hand and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, please believe that I have no ill will at all!" ”

This surprised Cosimo, who thought that the haughty German would denounce the Italian betrayal as soon as they met!

"I'm glad too, Your Excellency!" Cosimo's expression stiffened, and he looked around alertly, a little worried that Kesselring was a big man.

Kesselring didn't care, beckoned Cosimo to sit down, handed him a cigar, and then said slowly: "I regret the current situation, we used to be comrades-in-arms, but now we have become enemies. However, I believe that there are quite a few of you who are reluctant to develop into such a ...... However, now that things have come to this point, I think we should seek a path that minimizes bloodshed as much as possible, don't you think? ”

"What is this path you are referring to?" Cosimo asked: "Let's surrender and stand with the Germans again?" No way, this will make us abandoned by all Italians! ”

"No!" Kesselring shook his head and said, "Of course I don't mean this, I know it's impossible!" I mean...... Why don't we maintain the status quo? ”

"Maintain the status quo?" Cosimo didn't understand what Kessellin said, if it was the status quo, then why did he ask to meet?!

"That's right!" "Our aim is to hold off the Allied offensive, your aim is to avoid conflict with as few casualties as possible, and you can be on the side of the Allies," Kesselring explained...... All of this is fine, I mean, you are on the side of the Allies, and the Germans are not going to attack Rome or any other city, and when the Allies attack Rome, you can join them. ”

"And what are your requirements?" Cosimo did not believe that such a good thing would happen.

"All I ask is ...... Restore communications and traffic! Kesselring replied: "In other words, you remain neutral for the time being, and Rome and the rest of Italy are no longer necessary to be battlefields, and I promise to treat them as open cities, and only for the police to enter, for the sole purpose of maintaining order and protecting the passage of German goods and men!" ”