When there was a contradiction between the two parts of the Allied forces, the contradiction between the German and Italian armies was actually even greater.

Rommel, under Hitler's command, pretended to move his headquarters to Greece, where he secretly flew to Sicily after inspecting several new units and making a few more passionate speeches.

The first thing I did when I arrived in Sicily was to call a meeting of the officers...... He needs to integrate the forces on the island into a team that can work together. This also included the Italian troops stationed in Sicily, so Rommel also brought in the commander of the Italian army, Lieutenant General Zonny.

Of course, for fear of leaks, only Lieutenant General Guzoni was an Italian at the meeting, and even Lieutenant General Guzzoni's translator was found by Rommel.

"Gentlemen!" Rommel introduced to the officers: "This is Lieutenant General Guzzoni, commander of the Italian 6th Army!" ”

The officers politely applauded Lieutenant General Guzoni as he stood up to salute.

"I'll not introduce the rest one by one!" Rommel said: "This is not an award ceremony after all! ”

The officers couldn't help but laugh.

"Here's the thing!" Rommel immediately got to the point: "We get definite news that the Allies will attack and carry out a large-scale landing operation on Sicily, and their troops may be about 200,000 men!" They were the British 8th Army commanded by Montgomery and the US 7th Army commanded by Patton! ”

The officers were not surprised by the news, as the British had already carried out a massive bombing of Sicily...... While this can be seen as strategic deception, it is not seen that way by the average person.

However, the Allies would send 200,000 troops to attack, which still unnerved the German officers, and only General Guzoni seemed to look at ease.

"The good news is that we have more troops than the Allies!" Rommel went on to say: "We have the ...... of the Italian 6th Army"

Saying that, Rommel glanced at General Guzoni and said, "I think it would be more appropriate for General Guzoni to introduce this aspect!" ”

Lieutenant General Guzoni nodded and stood up, pointing to the map with his baton and introducing: "Gentlemen, the Italian 6th Army has two armies, namely the 12th Army deployed west of Syracuse and the 16th Army south of Messina, and our total strength has a total of 4 field divisions, 6 coastal defense divisions and 2 coastal defense brigades, as well as 6 artillery groups, with a total strength of 250,000 people. I believe that if we work together, we will be able to defeat the Allied offensive and defend Sicily from the enemy! ”

Lieutenant General Guzoni was confident, but the German officers present were not impressed, they were not even interested in listening to the figures on the table...... Because they all understand a truth, no matter how many Italian soldiers there are, they are just a number, they cannot be comrades-in-arms, and they will even be a burden.

Of course, Rommel wanted these Italian soldiers to at least play a role, or to cooperate with the deployment and combat of the German army, so he asked Lieutenant General Guzoni to participate in this meeting.

After inviting Lieutenant General Guzoni back to his seat, Rommel continued: "We have seven divisions, one armored division, two mechanized infantry divisions, three men infantry divisions, and one paratrooper division...... A total of 100,000 troops! ”

Speaking of this, Rommel paused deliberately, and the officers understood that this meant that the German army could basically only rely on these 100,000 men to deal with the 200,000 men of the Allied army.

"We will lose air and sea supremacy!" Rommel said: "There is no doubt about this, in fact air supremacy and sea supremacy are already in the hands of the enemy. So what we can do is to deploy our forces in the deep high ground. ”

As he spoke, Rommel pointed to the map with his baton and explained: "From west to east are the 22nd Infantry Division, the 200th Infantry Division, and the 23rd Infantry Division. I'm sure you're almost done with your fortifications......"

Speaking of which, Rommel set his sights on the generals of several infantry divisions.

"Yes, General! We still need two more days! ”

"We may need another three days!"

……

"Good!" Rommel nodded and said, "I'll take my guards and walk around the high ground to make sure you've all built fortifications and conducted at least three drills!" ”

"Yes, General!"

"The Göring Panzer Division and the 39th and 52nd Mechanized Infantry Divisions are on standby in the rear of Enna......"

At this time, Guzoni muttered a few words, as if protesting.

Rommel asked the translator suspiciously, "What is he talking about?" ”

"General!" The interpreter replied: "Lieutenant General Guzoni thinks that we should first discuss the issue of the ownership of command!" ”

The German officers couldn't help but laugh.

The interpreter continued: "Lieutenant General Guzzoni said that the Italian army is more numerous than the German army and is more familiar with the terrain and climate of Sicily, while the German army came from Africa from France and is very unfamiliar with everything here, especially since Sicily is still the territory of Italy, the hometown of the 6th Army, and their relatives here, so Italy should have the command of the battle!" ”

Again, the officers couldn't help but laugh.

"I don't want to put the tanks in command of the Italians!" Rear Admiral Graff laughed, "Because I absolutely believe that they will transform the 'Tiger' style into a stove for cooking pasta!" ”

The officers' laughter was even louder.

Major General Graff "Herman. Goering "Commander of the Panzer Division."

As soon as you hear the name of this armored division, you know that this unit is a unit formed by the Gestapo Goering.

And this armored division is also a little special, it is also called the paratrooper armored division...... This is because Germany attaches great importance to the coordination of the air force and armor, and if the two armies are not familiar with each other's combat methods, it is difficult to achieve close coordination, so just as the US military always uses pilots as aircraft carrier captains, the Goering paratrooper armored division often exchanges officers with the air force for auxiliary command, and the Goering paratrooper armored division even has its own flight reconnaissance team.

Of course, this may have something to do with the fact that Goering used to be a pilot.

Rommel ignored Lieutenant General Guzoni, who continued: "All we have to do is wait, the enemy on both flanks will launch a fierce attack in the direction of the port, and the 22nd and 23rd Infantry Divisions will fight and retreat...... Because their route is in a triangle, they will get farther and farther away from the middle......"

"General Rommel!" At this time, Lieutenant General Guzoni got up with a displeased face and said: "I strongly recommend that this battle be commanded by me, and we must put our troops and defense line on the coastal line, so that we can destroy the enemy on the sea!" ”