With the fall of Sardinia, the fall of Lombardy, Parma, and Medina, the fall of Venice and Sicily, and the precarious position of Lower Sicily, Tuscany was facing the German front.

The list includes almost all of the richest and most developed regions of Italy, and it is these regions on which the royal family of Savoy, which stands on the shoulders of the Kingdom of Sardinia, on which it is most dependent for its rule.

The total fall of the industrial zone in northwestern Italy made it impossible for the Italian army to obtain new supplies of ordnance and ammunition. What is unbelievable is that this kind of thing, which should have been strictly kept secret, was quickly spread to women and children in the streets and alleys, so as expected, the morale of the army and the people instantly fell by 30%.

Interestingly, the Savoy royal family, which was supposed to be in a state of rage, remained silent during this period, which really made Mussolini, who was under great pressure, grateful that as long as the royal family remained behind him, the political situation in Italy could continue to be stable.

He had noticed that there had been some undercurrents within the Roman government in the past few days, and that some of the party's top brass and royalist parliamentarians were secretly in touch with each other, but Mussolini was still confident that he could control the situation. He had been in power in Italy for many years, and had long established an inseparable chain of interests with these parliamentarians and politicians, and he judged that these people were only mentally shaken by the threat of war, and that these cowards were destined to be impossible to do anything big.

Mussolini didn't bother with these problems at this time, and what he had been thinking about for the past two days was how to get Germany to agree to make peace with him alone, so that Italy could end this absurd war with dignity.

Mussolini really wanted to relent, he was now convinced that the [Mussolini] line could not save the defeat of the Kingdom of Italy, although the German army stopped advancing in the central Apennines, but the Italian army on other fronts was still retreating, if he had not seen what was behind it, he would have been a leader for so many years.

Some of the army's henchmen reported to him that several theater commands were now left with only an empty shelf, that the generals were playing a game when they were making plans, that there was no one to command the grassroots army at all, that the troops lacked ammunition and supplies, that the morale in the troops was very poor, and that many people were worried about whether their hometowns had been attacked and bombed by the German army.

Rumors were rife in the army, but the officers did not seem to have seen these situations at all, and if the situation was allowed to develop, it was believed that soon there would be few people left willing to continue fighting.

The Italian soldiers were not cowardly cowards, but they often lacked judgment and were generally not highly educated, and many feared that they would become meaningless cannon fodder in this war.

In the end, it was the same problem, the Italian soldiers saw no hope of victory, even if the Roman radio station blew the [Mussolini] line like an iron wall, and these people saw only a hundred rounds of ammunition and a Carcano rifle older than themselves.

Mussolini believed the reports were true, but he could not come up with any useful ideas on how to change them. It is impossible for him to punish those "dereliction of duty" generals at such a time, on the contrary, he has to constantly use advantages to win over these bastards, and at this moment he should be glad that these people are still obeying his orders at least superficially.

Mussolini was now able to control only part of the army and the surrounding areas of Rome, and the local councils of some provinces and cities in Upper and Lower Sicily had openly defied the prime minister's orders, saying that the Roman government must also take into account local difficulties when thinking about the overall strategy.

At the same time, some politicians began to blame Mussolini, claiming that it was because of his reckless behavior that finally led to this unnecessary war, although this is a problem recognized by everyone, but this is the first time that anyone has mentioned it in public, and it is also the first time in more than a decade that anyone dares to point the finger at Mussolini.

It was nothing short of an open rebellion against the prime minister, and to Mussolini's intolerability, many of those local leaders were also colleagues of the fascist National Party.

The main force of the Italian Air Force has been dragged to death in Albania, their local reserves of fuel have been exhausted, the supply line to the mainland has been cut off, and the once powerful Italian Air Force Group has been paralyzed in Albania in droves due to lack of spare parts and fuel.

The German and Yugoslav forces had invaded Albania, and the Albanians showed a very cooperative attitude towards this, and the common people even rushed to bring food and wine to entertain the German troops, and the Wehrmacht was seen as a liberator who had come to the aid of the Albanian people and rescued them from the evil Italian colonizers, and the German soldiers were warmly welcomed by the local population in every town he visited.

The Italian fascist police and gendarmerie did little to put up their arms and surrendered to the Germans almost as soon as they made contact, with the only demand being that the Germans be responsible for their personal safety, because if they fell into the hands of the almost insane Albanians, they would be met with terrible things.

Keitel made a point of requesting the High Command, and then conveyed to the entire army the Führer's order that the Germans should not only ensure the safety of the prisoners of war, but also provide assistance to the Italian expatriates in the controlled areas, so that they could temporarily take refuge in the German barracks to avoid the harm of local civilians, and the Wehrmacht would take care of their safety, and although these people would lose most of the property they had accumulated here, at least the lives of their families would be saved.

German fighter units blocked the airspace around the Italian air base, and the bulky Savoia-Marchetti 79 Sparrowhawks or Gaunt Z1007 Kingfishers did not dare to take off, and could only be blown up by German bombers in groups along the runway and in hangars.

Air Force Admiral Alexandro, commander-in-chief of the Albanian Air Force, reported to Rome that his troops were in extreme danger, that the Albanians were attacking the Italian garrison and civilians everywhere, and that the country was turning into a hell for Italians, and that if Rome did not provide support or come up with a solution, he could only choose to lead his troops to surrender to the Germans at an appropriate time.

The air wing of the Italian mainland suffered heavy losses in the confrontation with the German, French and British air forces, and the pilots of the 6th Independent Fighter Group stationed in Naples disobeyed en masse and refused to take off to carry out the mission, and the initial version of the Markey MC200 they piloted had some defects that had not been solved, and they were immediately defeated when they encountered the German aces who flew the Mercedeschmidt, and a flight group with 26 fighters survived only seven people.

The Italian Navy almost tore its face directly with Mussolini, and the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Navy, Angelo. Under the pretext of going to Taranto to inspect the fleet, Admiral Iaquino took the former chief of staff with him and never returned, leaving only two or three kittens at this time in the Roman naval headquarters, and the highest rank was only a colonel.

The naval fleet has all shrunk into a few military ports, and even basic patrols in peacetime are not carried out, and the once very active Italian submarine forces have also returned to their respective home ports and no longer set sail, and the navy is clearly not prepared to confront the three forces head-on.

But Mussolini could not condemn this blatant act of treason, and he could not even mention it, because once the news leaked, the morale of the people, which had been boosted by the [Mussolini] defense line, would immediately collapse.

Admiral Graziani of Libya sent a telegram every day asking for urgent and supplies, and the Italian border troops stationed there had already exchanged fire with the French Foreign Legion several times, and it was clear that the French were conducting a battlefield reconnaissance and test before a large-scale offensive, and he needed more soldiers and tanks, artillery and supplies and fuel on the Western Front, otherwise it would be difficult to stop the French from attacking. An attack in the direction of Nice, where, according to the information currently available, the French had gathered a strong mechanized force.

Even more worrying is the frequent movement of Commonwealth troops on the Eritrean border, and it is clear that the British are also ready to use their brains in this African colony, which was the first to be developed by Italy. (To be continued.) )