The continuous military strength made both Hitler and Emperor Hirohito feel tired, and at the same time worried about the future of the country and the nation, especially the Italian allies during this time, betrayal was imminent, so Hitler had to rescue Mussolini, who was already stupid in his eyes. **Soak! Book. Bar*

After receiving the mission, Skozin immediately rushed to Rome with his special combat team. It is worth mentioning that the Wolf's Den Special Combat Team was formed by a company specially transferred back by the SS from the Soviet-German front, and was trained by Skozinu at the Friden base near Berlin. By Mussolini's time, the commando team had been trained and was just waiting to show its skills.

On the second day, Skozinu flew to Rome and made contact with the German Airborne Forces in Italy. Subsequently, 60 people selected by the 7th Airborne Regiment and 10 spy specialists also arrived from Friedon and, together with Skozenu's commando team, formed a capable commando team.

It was difficult to rescue Mussolini, especially after receiving Han Yunhua's reminder, the Allies deliberately put pressure on the Italian side to immediately escort Mussolini to the Allied North Africa Command and hand him over to the American and British troops. But for a number of other reasons, the Italian authorities rejected the proposal of the Allies and instead transferred Mussolini to captivity on the island of Lyza. So to Skozenu's trouble, no one knew where Mussolini was being held. The Italian government had fully taken into account the possibility of Mussolini being taken by the Germans, and the place of detention was kept in a high degree of secrecy and constantly transferred.

After a period of reconnaissance. Skozinu finally had a clue. According to a fruit seller in a small town in Naples, one of his patron's maids was engaged to a policeman on the island of Poncha, but for more than 20 days the boss did not allow the policemen to visit him. Fiancées are also not allowed to go on a date on the island. From this, Skozenu surmised that the island must be home to important political prisoners, and that the policeman was playing an extremely important role as a guard. A few days later, a young Italian naval officer bragged to his German counterpart that Mussolini had been sent from Naples by his hunting submarine Yuu Sephone. This circumstance proves that Mussolini was in Poncha with certainty. Skozinu immediately reported the situation to the base camp. Hitler urgently ordered: 'Take back Mussolini with German warships!' But just as the Germans were preparing to carry out the rescue plan, the news came: the target had been transferred again, and the exact whereabouts were unknown.

It turned out that the Italian government, fearing that the Germans would rescue Mussolini, had transferred him to a small village on the island of Sardinia. Later, he was taken to La Dolla, 5 km north of Sardinia, where the naval base was built. On the island of Madarena, he was imprisoned in a mansion called Karen Villa.

Originally, the clues were broken again when they arrived here, but I had to admire the pervasiveness of the German spy service, and a few days later the intelligence came. A German intelligence agent stationed at the Rome post office intercepted a love letter from an Italian lieutenant to his girlfriend. In addition to the pain of lovesickness, the letter also explained that his sudden transfer was due to the fact that he was sent to guard Mussolini. The sender's address is pull. Madarena Island. Having confirmed the accuracy of the intelligence, Skozenu was overjoyed and decided to carry out a surprise attack with paratrooper units. Because Karen Hill is heavily guarded by heavily armed men, it is heavily guarded.

On March 23, Skozenu led the assault team on a bomber and marched towards La. Madarena Island flew away. However, the sudden appearance of the British Air Force aborted the raid plan, and Mussolini was immediately transferred to the place where he was imprisoned.

Because the alliance between Italy and Germany has been very good in recent years. Therefore, the penetration of the German team with Italy is also quite deep. Soon after, Scozenu's communications staff intercepted a telegram from the Italian Ministry of the Interior. The telegram said: 'Guarding measures have been completed in the vicinity of Mount Grand Sasso. 'Signed 'Cujeri' at the end of the paper. Cujeri was the general in charge of guarding Mussolini, as evidenced by this telegram. Mussolini has been transferred to the Great Sasso Mountains. …,

Located 120 km northeast of Rome, the Great Sasso is the highest peak in the Apennines. On the mountainside at an altitude of 1,800 meters, there is a winter sports center, including one of the General Camp Hotel, where Mussolini is imprisoned. The hotel is surrounded by cliffs on three sides, and only one side has a cable car connecting it to the village valley below. Although there is a trail up the mountain, the path is rugged and steep, and people usually take the cable car to reach the hotel. The Italians imprisoned Mussolini in this cliff hotel, which is really a painstaking effort.

On the night of 29 March, he and his assault team used gliders to attack the General Camp Hotel, which was a successful attack that not only rescued Mussolini, but also captured the Italian general who was guarding Mussolini. That night, Mussolini stayed at the Reichstagon in Germany. Hitler, Himmler, Goering, Keitel, and others called one after another to congratulate them.

The next day, Mussolini flew to Munich to meet his wife and two children, who had fled Italy. The raid was successful, for which Skozinu was awarded the Knight's Cross by Hitler and promoted to the rank of major. Congratulatory telegrams poured into him, and in Berlin and Vienna, celebrations were held one after another. The Berlin newspapers called Skozenu's surprise attack 'the devil's masterpiece.'

Mussolini was successfully rescued, and Han Yunhua was stunned by the short time, which was less than a month after Mussolini's arrest, and a full two and a half months passed in history from Mussolini's arrest to his rescue.

Han Yunhua didn't have time to sigh, he informed the U.S. government through General James, suggesting that the troops in North Africa should be stationed in Italy immediately, and at the same time forcing the new Italian government to surrender immediately, otherwise Hitler would definitely support Mussolini's comeback.

At the time of the thrilling special war in Europe, there was also unfavorable news from Asia, the Japanese army continued to increase troops in the Chinese battlefield, and so far the number of Japanese troops in central China has increased by a full 250,000, and the Japanese army has also sent three additional tank divisions and an aviation division to central China.

The news of the continuous increase of Japanese troops on the Chinese battlefield came as a surprise to the Nationalist Government and the Chinese Communists. This is because judging from the current war situation, the Chinese battlefield has not yet been eroded to the point of being out of control, but Southeast Asia has reached the point where it cannot be saved, especially the defeat in the Burma battlefield has led to an unfavorable situation in which the entire Southeast Asian battlefield tends to collapse completely. In particular, the 500,000 Japanese troops stationed in the Indochina Peninsula were directly facing the terrifying situation of being surrounded by the Allied forces. 、

The Allied fleet continued to cruise in the Pacific region, resulting in the annihilation of many Japanese supply fleets, and the Japanese troops on the Indochina Peninsula had not been replenished with ammunition for several days. They can raise food on the spot, but ammunition alone cannot be replenished, and the industrial base of Indochina is several levels worse than that of China, and it is a dream to produce weapons and ammunition.

It stands to reason that the Japanese should first reinforce Indochina and then deal with the situation on the battlefield in China. But the opposite happened, and the Japanese army continued to increase its troops on the Chinese battlefield. And he also put on a posture of stubbornly defending Wuhan, which is really intriguing.

Han Yunhua stared at the entire map of China in silence, the Japanese army's combat intentions were extremely unclear, although the fighting in the Wuhan area continued. However, this does not mean that the reason for the Japanese army's increase was to hold on to Wuhan. After analyzing for a long time, Han Yunhua didn't have a clue, but felt even more confused.

In desperation, Han Yunhua had no choice but to compare the battles launched by the Japanese army on the Chinese battlefield from 1943 to 1944 in history, but finally found that there was no similar battle with this Japanese operation, but the combat motive had a certain similarity with the Yuxianggui Campaign launched by the Japanese army in 1944. …,

The Battle of Yuxianggui was the destruction of the U.S. air base in China by the Japanese invading forces from April to December 1944 in order to save the isolation of the Japanese army in Nanyang. A large-scale strategic offensive launched to open up the continental lines of communication from North China to South China and even Indochina, also known as the Battle of the Continental Lines of Communication. In 1943, in order to destroy the U.S. air base in China and stop the U.S. bombing of the Japanese mainland. Japan decided to launch the Henan-Xianggui Campaign in an attempt to open up the Pinghan, Guangdong-Hanzhou, and Xiang-Guizhou railways. Master a land line of communication. The Japanese army mobilized a total of about 510,000 troops of all arms from the mainland and northeast China, making it the largest offensive battle since the Sino-Japanese War. The first stage of the campaign, the Battle of Henan. The Japanese army dispatched about 150,000 troops, and the Kuomintang army concentrated 35-400,000 troops. In April and May, the Japanese army captured Zhengzhou, Luoyang and other places. On the same day that the Japanese captured Luoyang, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese Chinese Dispatch Army, Shunroku Hatata, advanced the advance command post in Nanjing to Hankou and began the main phase of the campaign, the Xianggui operation. The Japanese army, with 13 divisions as the backbone, invested a total of more than 360,000 troops, while the Chinese side invested more than 300,000 troops. In a short period of eight months, the Chinese army lost 6,700,000 troops on the battlefield of Henan, Hunan and Guizhou. It lost more than 200,000 square kilometers of national territory, equivalent to 20 percent of the territory actually controlled by the Nationalist Government at that time, and also lost 146 cities, 7 air bases, and 36 airfields.

The current situation is almost the same as the situation faced by the Japanese army during the Battle of Henan-Xiang-Gui, except that the strong counterattack by the Nationalist Government in Wuhan seems to be different from the historical Nationalist Government, but the general national environment has not changed, and the Japanese are also in an unfavorable situation in the Pacific Ocean, especially the Japanese army on the Indochina Peninsula is almost isolated. Therefore, Han Yunhua judged that the continuous increase of Japanese troops on the Chinese side should be to launch a new and larger-scale battle of the mainland line of communication.

"Call Minister Qian over, and say that I have something to do with him, and ask him to bring all the important information collected during this time." Han Yunhua said outside the door.

"Yes," the guard replied outside the door.

Soon, Qian Zhuangfei hurriedly ran in from outside with a briefcase, came to Han Yunhua's desk, saluted and said, "Commander, are you looking for me?" ”

"Well, it's Comrade Zhuang Fei, come here and help me analyze and analyze, what do you want to do, the little devil is trying to send troops to China, this is not the style of the Japanese army base camp." Han Yunhua said.

"It's really weird, the little devil has always not looked down on the national army on the Chinese battlefield and the army led by our Communist Party, after the outbreak of the Pacific War, a large number of elites were transferred to the Pacific theater, and the total number of troops on the entire Chinese battlefield once dropped to 850,000, and now the little devils continue to send more troops to the Chinese battlefield, and it is still when the Pacific theater is so tense, the intention is unknown!" Qian Zhuangfei also agreed with Han Yunhua's opinion.

"Is there any news of the latest transfer of devils?" Han Yunhua asked.

"Yes, there were large-scale movements of Japanese troops in North, Central, and South China. However, now the Japanese puppet army is mainly concentrated in central China, especially along the Yangtze River, and the main fleet of the Third Fleet after the reconstruction of the Japanese army has all entered the Yangtze River waterway, and now it is all over the Yangtze River waterway. In addition, during this period of time, the Japanese air force was constantly looking for the main force of the air force of the Nationalist Government to fight a decisive battle, although the air force of the Nationalist Government also fought very well, but on the whole it had fallen into an absolute disadvantage, as of 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon, 12 airfields in the Kuomintang area were bombed by Japanese aircraft groups, and the commander of the Air Force of the Nationalist Government was injured in the bombing, and the Japanese army also carried out a large-scale bombing of the urban area of Chongqing. The 350 fighters of our joint air force command were ordered to urgently reinforce Chongqing, but the Japanese army seems to have replaced more advanced fighters this time, and the interception effect of the joint air force this time was not good, and 24 fighters were shot down by the Japanese in yesterday's air battle. Seventeen pilots died, the vast majority of whom were shot down by the new Japanese planes, while our Combined Air Force shot down only 14 Japanese fighters, which can be said to be a defeat. The most infuriating thing was that the Japanese pilots actually opened fire on our pilots who had already parachuted. Without the demeanor of an air knight. Qian Zhuangfei said. …,

"A slight defeat is not a big defeat, but I have to say that the little devil is indeed very suitable for war, and he is also very adaptable to war, relatively speaking. The ancient Chinese country, with its 5,000-year-old civilization, lacked something in this regard. The Japanese knew that only by destroying the enemy's living forces could they strike at the enemy more forcefully. And many of our generals can't see this clearly, and talk to the devil about benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and faith. It's just unreasonable. Han Yunhua said.

"Then what should we do now, Commander, the little devil's intentions are unknown. The Wuhan front seemed to be fiercely fought, but neither the Nationalist Government nor the Japanese did their best, especially the Japanese hoarded a large number of troops in Nanchang and Wuhan, and it was indeed not a way to go on like this. Qian Zhuangfei said.

"What is the situation on the Qingdao side, and have the Japanese increased their troops to Shandong?"

"I don't know, the Japanese have completely put the Qingdao wharf under martial law in the past few days, and all the Chinese workers in it have received orders to have a holiday from the 20th to the 28th, and our people can't find out the situation at the Qingdao wharf for the time being, but there is detailed information from Shanghai, the Japanese have increased their troops in Shanghai by 3 divisions, and now the total number of garrisons in the Shanghai area has exceeded 120,000, and this number has been increasing." Qian Zhuangfei said.

"Since the little devil's intentions are unknown, then we will fight his conspiracy and tricks, what is the internal situation of our military region, can we conduct a big battle?" Han Yunhua asked.

"Yes, but it can't last, we captured a large number of Japanese-style weapons and equipment in the Northeast War, so the troops in the military region equipped with Japanese-made weapons are nothing, and the supply is still sufficient. But the rest is not good, and the military region now has not only Soviet and American weapons, but also domestic weapons, which have been more or less affected in terms of ammunition replenishment. However, the vast majority of the troops stationed on the southern front were equipped with Japanese weapons, and they could still fight a battle without mobilizing reinforcements. Qian Zhuangfei said.

"Very well, I think the little devil should want to open up the transportation channel between the hinterland of China and the Indochina Peninsula, which is known as Indochina in the Japanese population. Now the little devils can also see that their navy may not be able to fully compete with the Americans for the time being, and the Japanese puppet army on the southeast peninsula will soon become the eighth king of Wengzhong, and may become the fat in the mouth of the allies at any time. Therefore, it is necessary to think of a way back for the hundreds of thousands of troops on the Indochina Peninsula, if things are really bad to that point, the only thing the Japanese can do is to withdraw these troops to China, but now there is no convenient passage to the Indochina Peninsula in China, and this has to cross several provinces held by the Kuomintang, so if the little devils want to achieve this goal, they must launch a campaign with the main purpose of opening up the communication line. Han Yunhua analyzed.

"What the commander said is very reasonable: Since launching a full-scale war of aggression against China in 1937, Japan has not only failed to defeat China in a quick and decisive victory, but has also fallen into the whirlpool of China's protracted war, and can only maintain the occupation of points and lines, that is, the occupation of strategically important points and important lines of communication. As a result, the Japanese army was divided into several parts, and it was never able to form a complete strategic body, and the main force of the army was deeply trapped in China and could not extricate itself. If the ambitions of the Japanese were limited to this, then it would not be a big deal, but the bad thing was that they did not have enough snake heart to swallow up the whole of Southeast Asia, and this hidden danger was undoubtedly revealed after the outbreak of the Pacific War. Moreover, information returned from overseas during this period showed that there seemed to be a problem with the Japanese sea lines of communication. For this reason, the strategic intention of the Japanese army to open up the communication lines of Chinese mainland, connect all parts of the invading Japanese army, and contact the Japanese army in Nanyang, which has been cut off from sea communications, can be judged, so I support the commander's idea. Qian Zhuangfei said. (To be continued......)