Lieutenant Sparous's encouragement to his men was indeed exciting, but his plan was doomed to fail, because at this moment, in front of the German tank company, a mixed battle group of the advance team had entered the city of Rome.

It was a combat unit composed of a mixture of the Naval Combat Frogmen, the Air Force Communications Squad, and the SS Storm Commando. Franke. Second Lieutenant Lucheni.

It was the first time that the Italian descendant had set foot on the land where his ancestors had been raised, and he was a little embarrassed to be an invading army, but fortunately his companions were understanding, and no one doubted Ensign Lucheni's loyalty to the Third Reich.

The intelligence of the Eye of Odin proved to be accurate, the Italians did not set up any defenses here, there were only two police officers on night duty in the local police station, and they were unprepared for the sudden arrival of the German troops. Under the kind guidance of the task force, the two police officers were unusually cooperative, not only offering the addresses of their colleagues to the aggressors, but also separating themselves in the detention cell at the back of the police station.

The task force infiltrated the two towns without the Italians noticing, and when the German landing fleet appeared in the open sea, the assault teams immediately launched a surprise attack on their targets, driving all the Italians on the street back to their homes, cutting off all communication links with the outside of the town, using mines and explosives at the junction to set up roadblocks, blocking traffic on several important roads in the vicinity, and when all this work was completed, the landing craft group launched the first charge towards the beach of Anzio.

Lucheni was ordered by his superiors to take an air force communications team and immediately march in the direction of Rome, the air force wanted to send a parachute infantry to occupy the Roman airfield, so a team was needed to guide the front.

In this matter, the navy and the air force have made a lot of deals behind the scenes, they have put a lot of effort into the last Sicilian landing, but the limelight has been stolen by the army alone.

So this time the navy and air force united, bent on taking away the honor of being the first to enter Rome from the army.

The main force of the advance team was the Navy's diving combat engineers, as well as some SS special commandos trained in sabotage behind enemy lines, and the rest were some land and communications units of the Air Force. After discussion, each of them drew two squads of manpower to form an armed force equivalent to a reinforced platoon of special reforces, led by a second lieutenant officer of the Air Force, and got into an Italian truck requisitioned on the spot, and quickly advanced along the intercity highway towards the city of Rome.

Judging from the map, it was almost 70 kilometers long, and the journey was fairly smooth, although many Italians were encountered along the way, but because the Germans were traveling in Italian vehicles, no one was curious about the convoy.

Two '36 Fiat four-door sedans opened the road, followed by four Lancia six-ton trucks painted with the logo of the fishing company, and finally an Alfa Romeo 500 three-ton truck with a tight bucket covered with canvas behind its buttocks.

"They thought we were Italians." The Air Force non-commissioned officer in the Fiat sedan smiled and waved out the window to greet the driver of the sedan that had passed.

"These are civilians, and it's normal that they can't tell our uniforms." Ensign Lucheny looked up at the window, then continued to look down at the map in his hand.

"We're going in the right direction, do you see that sign? It's five kilometers from Rome. "Corporal Ruhr, although a native of Germany, took Italian at university.

To be honest, there was no environmental protection concept in Europe at this time, and the greenery near Rome was seriously damaged, and the forest that Manstein mentioned to hide the troops had been cut down by the locals a few years ago. Along the way, the Germans were covered with loess with gravel and rock grains, as well as the remains of ancient Roman buildings that had been badly damaged by the wind, and only a few large olive plantations could add a little greenery to this ancient land.

"Isn't that a disappointment, second lieutenant?" Corporal Ruhl accosted.

"What do you mean?"

"Italy, Rome, look at the scene outside."

"Oh, it's a good place for tourism, and I don't have any ideas about it personally, so I didn't feel any disappointment."

"But it's your home country after all..."

"I was born in Cologne, corporal, and watch the dots."

"I'm sorry... I mean yes, second lieutenant. The corporal straightened his waist and steadfasted the steering wheel.

"What do you think of this operation, Corporal Ruhl." The lieutenant folded the map and tucked it into the map bag around his waist.

"It's great, it's an honor given to us by our superiors, and I'll do whatever it takes to complete this task."

"Yes, I'm the same as you think, corporal." The second lieutenant took out a cigarette case from his pocket, took out two and handed them to the communications soldier sitting in the back row, then one and handed it to Corporal Ruhl.

"Thank you, sir." The driver took the cigarette and nodded slightly in thanks.

"Pull over at the intersection ahead." Lucheni pulled out his lighter and lit a cigarette.

The motorcade stopped at the side of the road in turn, and Lucheni jumped out of the car to gather several squad leaders.

"Hang up our flags to let the Italians know we're coming." Lucheni commanded.

"Have plans changed? Ensign, we should go and occupy the airfield. ”

"The plan hasn't changed, the airport is in the north of the city, I don't want to go around from outside the city, that would be too much of a waste of time, we go completely straight through the city of Rome, I calculated that it would save about half an hour."

"You're the leader, it's up to you, second lieutenant, I don't have any opinion." Sergeant Major Venn of the Navy Dive Combat Engineer agreed.

"I don't think it's a good idea, we don't know the roads in Rome, we don't know the current situation in the city, and if the Italians stop me, I'm afraid it will affect the completion of the mission." The contrary opinion was expressed by Second Lieutenant Fred of the Storm Commando.

"I am the commander of this operation, and I will take all the responsibility."

"Now that you've decided, then the Storm Commandos will carry out the order, but I'm going to reserve my opinion."

"No problem, second lieutenant, you can make this point in your report."

"I will, second lieutenant." Fred nodded in acknowledgement.

Although there were some unpleasantness, it did not affect the cooperation between the units, these are all veterans with rich combat experience, and they will definitely not put their personal emotions into the task.

The German soldiers put up the red swastika flag on the front of their cars, and the naval diving combat engineers also hung a black, white, red and iron cross naval flag on the front of their trucks, which was the bow flag of the battleships of the Second Reich era, carrying the indomitable will of the High Seas Fleet.

The flying flag finally attracted the attention of the Italian drivers on the road, they were still a little unsure at first, and thought that it was a fascist organization that initiated a neurotic, there was indeed a group of fanatical Nazi supporters in Italy, and they marched with the swastika flag at both ends in three days, although this group of guys restrained after the outbreak of the war, but as the German army approached, this group of madmen seemed to have resumed their activities again.

But then they were no longer confused, and the tarpaulin of the truck compartment was lifted, revealing the heavily armed German soldiers inside. The MG34 machine gun was mounted on top of the truck cab, and the Italians learned that the German army had arrived in Rome.

At this point, it was pointless to find out where the Germans had come from, and the Italian drivers slammed on the accelerator and began to flee for their lives, not that no one wanted to report to the authorities, but at this time it was too late to do anything, and the German convoy almost drove the poor group of Italian civilian vehicles into the city of Rome.

PS: The second chapter may be a little later. (To be continued.) )