In a damp basement on the main island of Venice, 11 Italian soldiers stared at their commander, Leonardo Festa, a 37-year-old lieutenant in the Italian army.

Born into a family of soldiers, his ancestors had made great achievements in the Italian War of Independence, and Festa also had an indomitable spirit, and won the trust and support of the soldiers with his upright attitude and relaxed management style.

Festa's infantry company, attached to the Italian 58th Infantry Division "Legnano", is a unit that has never been noticed by the outside world. In the Italian-Turkish War more than 30 years ago, the division was incorporated into the Italian Expeditionary Force, seized Libya and other North African colonies from the Turks, and then stationed there for a long time until the outbreak of the Italian-Austrian conflict in the 40s. After the outbreak of the New Austro-Italian War, the 58th Infantry Division deployed on the border defense line bore the brunt of the attack by the Allied forces, and only 6 days after the outbreak of the war, it withdrew to the Veneto area to rest due to heavy casualties.

After the most severe three-day fierce battle, more than half of all units of the 58th Infantry Division were killed and wounded, and basically lost its combat effectiveness. Festa's company, also gradually reduced to less than 100 people from the beginning of the war, today's battle, there are many casualties, as the battle line fell apart, the entire company was scattered, and the 11 people who were easy to contain were basically wounded, and even Festa was also hung up.

The sound of gunfire outside was interspersed and sparse, and the occasional scream of unknown circumstances was heard, and Festa's expression became darker and darker. Just an hour earlier, they had lost their defensive positions and retreated in panic to the basement that had been used to temporarily house the wounded. Due to Venice's special geographical environment, such basements are rare, and it is for this reason that the Venetian defenders suffered particularly heavy casualties in the face of allied artillery fire and bombardment, and many people were even buried alive in the collapsed buildings.

"Warriors of Legnano!" Festa said, "We are in a very unoptimistic situation now, and there are only two paths in front of us: either stay here and resign ourselves to fate, or break out of the siege, find a way to contact our superiors, and retreat to the other side." ”

The soldiers looked at each other, no one spoke, no one took a stand.

The coalition forces had already captured the main island of Venice, so it was safer to stay in this basement until the end of the battle. If you leave here, go to the ground where bullets are flying, and follow your neighbors through the ruined city to try to break out, the probability of dying suddenly increases.

Festa knew the concerns of the crowd and understood their desire to survive as much as possible, but as a career officer, an orthodox soldier, he would not give up the fight when he lost hope completely.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, the tide of battle is indeed not in our favor, and I will not force you to follow me and risk breaking out. In this way, those who voluntarily stay, keep your water and rations, weapons, ammunition, and first aid kits to those who leave. With that, Festa crossed his hands on his hips and looked down at the ground, giving his soldiers one last two minutes to consider.

At this time, one of the soldiers muttered: "I heard them say that the re-annexation of Italy was a long-cherished wish of the Habsburgs for many years, and for this reason Karl I did not hesitate to pay huge commissions to the Irish, so that the Irish could send their elite into battle." We would not have been defeated if we had dealt with the Habsburg army alone, but we had to deal with the Irish mercenaries who lived by the war and the Germans who were secretly doing bad things, and we had no chance of winning from the outset. ”

Festa was tired of hearing such speculations from his fellow officers, and he knew that such views did not help to stabilize the morale of the army, so he made a decisive statement: "A great nation must withstand the test of invasion by a strong enemy, and I always believe that we will go through a decisive turning point, turning the tide with tenacity and perseverance, and breaking the enemy's delusion of colonizing Italy." ”

At the end, he raised his voice a degree: "Now, voluntarily follow me to break through to the right." ”

The soldiers looked at each other, and eventually only three people came out.

To the three soldiers, Festa gave them an approving look, and for the rest, he did not have any harsh criticism.

The soldiers who decided to stay cooperated in handing over their weapons and ammunition, but it was a pity that due to the haste and embarrassment of the previous retreat, the equipment and ammunition carried by the 11 people were barely enough for these three people. As for the battlefield first-aid kits in the individual soldiers' equipment, all of them actually made up only one pair.

Before leaving the basement, Festa saluted those who remained: "Gentlemen, you have done your best in the previous battle, good luck!" ”

The soldiers, who had given up the struggle, stood up and saluted their commanders.

Festa nodded and walked out of the basement with the 3 soldiers.

The city was still filled with the sound of heavy gunfire, and coalition warplanes tirelessly roared overhead, occasionally dropping powerful bombs.

The nearby positions had been destroyed by the coalition forces, and the only sight in sight was the ruins and bomb craters that floated like ghosts. Festa led his soldiers through houses, into narrow alleys, around the ruined walls, and over the ruins, sometimes westward, sometimes north.

In the middle of the night, the Italian navy's speedboats docked on the west side of the main island of Venice to bring in some supplies and evacuate some of the wounded. With the railway bridge long since it was destroyed, taking a boat was the only way for the defenders to evacuate quickly. Of course, it is unrealistic to expect Italian naval ships to come at this point in the face of artillery fire, and if you don't want to swim away, you have to find a civilian ship, such as the Venetian most common point.

Although the inhabitants evacuated with a large number of boats, Venice is a city that has no shortage of boats.

Leaving the basement, I walked about a kilometer by meandering to a ruin near the water's edge. Festa watched cautiously for a while, and several buildings in the vicinity were completely collapsed by artillery shelling, and the lack of shelter from this side approaching the waterfront could easily be spotted and strafed by enemy aircraft, and worse, even if there were boats buried under the rubble, they could not dig them out.

Turning to the north, he suddenly heard a fierce exchange of fire ahead, and Festa hurriedly signaled the soldiers to hide in the ruins on the side of the road, and quickly climbed a broken wall himself. In front of them, a large group of Allied soldiers were attacking the Italian barricades adjacent to the docks, at least four or five German-made 43 machine guns were roaring in turn, and the rockets fired from individual bazookas occasionally flew towards the defenders with tail flames in tow.

Behind the barricades, Festa could faintly see boats moving across the water.

Attacking from behind the enemy, both to join up friendly forces and to delay the enemy's attack, seems to be a good way to kill two birds with one stone. As soon as Festa's heart was hot, he was poured cold water on the rumbling roar from the other side: dozens of coalition soldiers accompanied by two amphibious combat vehicles equipped with artillery came along the road, and along that direction, more coalition soldiers and combat vehicles could be vaguely seen running over

Festa hurriedly jumped off the remnant wall and came to the side of the hidden soldiers.

In a few moments, the coalition force passed less than forty meters away from them.

Festa's stragglers, with only three spears, a pistol, and a few grenades in their hands, were not enough to make a difference.

"Oh God!" One of Festa's soldiers, holding a piece of debris in his hand, said in astonishment, "We are sitting on the spire of St. Mark's Basilica now!" ”

Looking around, Festa suddenly realized that this was indeed St. Mark's Basilica.

This church is the pride of Venice, the glory of Venice, the richness of Venice and, of course, the history and faith of Venice. Founded in 829 and rebuilt in 10431071 AD, St. Mark's Basilica was once the largest church in medieval Europe and a classic of Venetian architecture.

Apparently bombarded by powerful artillery, all that remained of the magnificent cathedral was this pile of ruins.

"If the enemy were allowed to move all the way south and across the entire Italian peninsula, more historical monuments would be reduced to ashes." Festa whispered, "Someone has to stand up and stop them!" ”

Although the soldiers all had expressions of righteous indignation, they did not have the confidence to turn the tide and reverse the decline.

"The road ahead has been blocked by the enemy, and we will have to wait here until dark, and then cross the battle line at night and join up with the friendly forces holding the docks, or else," Festa said, raising his hand and looking at his watch, even if it was dark at 6 o'clock, it would be more than six hours of waiting. Prior to this, he felt that the Italian army trapped in Venice had built a large number of barricades, and had converted many buildings and ruins into defensive points, and that with the barricades, buildings, and ruins of the city, he should hold on for another three or four days. But now, after only half a day, almost all the strongholds outside the main island have been lost, and the main island, where many artillery pieces are deployed, has also been broken into by the coalition forces.

Judging from the development of the battle, the remnants of the defending troops could not support it at all.

"Otherwise, we will have to swim across the river armed and withdraw to the other side of the river." Festa then finished what he had just said.

"But I can't swim." One soldier said worriedly.

"I know a little, but I'm not proficient." Another soldier followed.

Only the third soldier did not squeak.

Festa glanced at the crowd: "Don't worry, the average depth of this lagoon is only 15 meters. The vast majority of the body of water, in which adults can walk, and the outside of the head is exposed to the water. I can be at the front of the road and help people avoid the depths. ”

Since they had chosen to leave the basement with Festa, the three brave Italian soldiers would not be intimidated by this obstacle.

The probe surveyed the surroundings, and Festa climbed the remnant wall again. This time, he looked west for a long time, and then went to the soldiers: "Come with me, there are two relatively intact buildings on the south-west shore of the water, where we may find tools to help us swim across." If you're lucky, you might even get a gondola. ”

With that, Festa grabbed his pistol and walked through the ruins with his head bowed. The three Italian soldiers, though tired, followed without hesitation.

End of chapter

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