When it comes to the equipment of the Italian infantry divisions, the main armaments at this stage are 34 100-mm field guns, 30 81-mm mortars, and 8 47-mm anti-tank guns.

A significant part of these guns were captured from Austria-Hungary during World War I, and most of the rest were assembled from vintage parts produced by Italy itself before and after World War I. It is not difficult to see from this that the artillery used by the Italian army can no longer meet the requirements of modern warfare.

But Mussolini didn't think so, he felt that he should win, and that the Kingdom of Italy was waiting for leisure, the shock soldiers were tired, and the French army, which was demoralized, had no reason to lose.

In his opinion, the little lieutenant general in front of him who hindered his participation in the war was mostly because he was timid and afraid of war.

"Don't be there, but yes." Mussolini waved his hand impatiently, interrupting the lieutenant general who was trying to continue to dissuade: "In this battle, we only need a few thousand people to die before we can join the final peace negotiations as a participating party." Kingdom of Italy, there's no reason not to get involved! ”

Yes, it looks like France is about to surrender. If you don't get a piece of the pie at this time, isn't Italy tantamount to missing the opportunity to be delivered to you?!

During the Polish campaign, Italy lost the opportunity to share the spoils because of too much consideration. Now that the French campaign is almost over, how can it repeat the mistakes of the past!

"Don't worry, according to my research, the main reason why the Germans are invincible is that they have armored divisions and concentrate on tank combat."

Although Mussolini was a half-irrigated militarily, he read Reinhardt in his letters all day long: "Germany concentrates on the use of armored forces, and the blitzkrieg is invincible." "Now I have more or less a certain concept.

"Don't forget, the Germans are not the only ones who will concentrate on tanks." Mussolini pretended to smile profoundly, and he said to the generals with a kind of pointing momentum: "This leader has long studied the tactics of the Germans, and ordered the formation of three Italian armored divisions. Now, we in Italy also have the confidence to blitzkrieg! ”

This is what is inevitable in war. You Germans can come up with new tactics in advance with Reinhardt's intervention and take advantage of the early stage. Correspondingly, other countries can also take the opportunity to learn from the wisdom of the German army.

The armored forces of the Third Reich, which swept through Poland and overpowered France, shocked the world and sent experience to the whole world.

Not to mention other countries, even Italy, a country with a very low level of mechanization, under the influence of Germany, worked hard to establish an armored division that concentrated the use of tanks. For countries with stronger industrial foundations, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union, it is even more natural to form armored divisions.

However, whether you can learn or not varies from person to person.

Mussolini, the dictator who led Italy, learned Reinhardt's armored tactics only scratching the surface, not grasping its essence.

Take, for example, the 3 armored divisions he formed in the Italian Army. Although there were a total of 1,200 tanks, nearly 1,100 of them were 3-ton 13 light tanks with thin armor that could be penetrated by rifle bullets.

And one of the biggest features of these Italian thin-skinned tanks is that they are not equipped with artillery and carry only a machine gun. Even Italy's own armored generals jokingly called this pocket version of the tank, which had long been eliminated by Britain, France and Germany, a "rouge box", and some called it a "sardine canned box".

In fact, it was not clear to Mussolini that his pocket tanks were not as suitable for combat as German tanks, but could only exist as an aid to the delivery of ammunition in wartime, as small transporters that looked like tanks.

And his other 100 or so 6-ton Italian 16 medium tanks were not yet able to go to the front.

The reason for this is that its artillery sight has a problem and needs to be overhauled. Otherwise, it will not be possible to hit the front line.

In addition, most of the British or French armored forces of the enemy at that time were equipped with medium tanks of more than 13 tons, and in front of them, Mussolini's armored divisions were also vain and vulnerable.

"Honorable leader...... "The anxious lieutenant general of the Italian army really wanted to speak out and tell Mussolini, that the Italian armored forces were even more different from those of Germany, that there was a gap between people and between countries.

Since no one in Italy expects Mussolini to be as omniscient and all-powerful as Reinhardt, you don't have to ask the Italian German army to become as effective as the German army!

It's a pity that the lieutenant general, who wanted to stop talking, was finally stopped by Itano Balbo, who knew how to read eyes.

This Italian air marshal can be said to be a rare capable person in the Italian high-level.

As a result of Mussolini's promotion, Balbo served as Minister of Aviation of the Kingdom of Italy from 1929 to 1933, although he had no prior knowledge of flying. But he soon learned to fly, and he set about reorganizing the Royal Italian Air Force.

During his tenure, he worked hard to develop Italy's military and civil aviation, and sought to build the Italian Air Force into one of the most elite swordsman in the world. Balbo has always emphasized that as long as it has air supremacy, the Italian Army will not fail even if it is not able to fight.

After all, the Air Force can both support the offensive when the Army is attacking and cover bombing and pursue the enemy when the Army retreats, which can be described as Balbo's golden oil in his heart.

It may also be due to his high prestige that Mussolini, a vaunted dictator, is suspicious.

So at the end of 1933, Balbo was promoted to Air Marshal and removed from his position in the Air Force.

This is somewhat similar to Reinhardt's method of elevating Blahsitz to field marshal and removing him from his post as commander-in-chief.

Of course, Mussolini and Reinhardt's motives were diametrically opposed. Reinhardt's demotion to Bohthitch was for the public and for the country. Mussolini, on the other hand, was purely for his own personal consolidation of power.

Unfortunately, if Mussolini had not suppressed Balbo so early, perhaps Italy's air force would have been much larger now.

After all, during the time of working in Balbo, Italy's aviation technology had developed by leaps and bounds. Today, Italy has 1,132 bombers, about 900 of which are operationally capable, and of these 900 aircraft, 600 are very modern. Italy also has 1,100 fighters and attack planes, of which 700 are combat-capable.

In addition, Italy has hundreds of transport and reconnaissance aircraft, and 323 vintage aircraft in East Africa. It can be said that the strength of today's Italian air force has caught up with the British and French air forces, which were weakened by the German army, and its bomber and fighter strength even exceeds that of the current Britain!

Therefore, in the eyes of Balbo, even if the Italian army is not very good, he can confidently guarantee that the air force can suppress the French. Even though, he had not been in contact with the Italian Air Force for many years.