Rommel could feel the hot gaze from within the command. www.biquge.info He was flushed at the moment, his chest was rising and falling rapidly, his hands were clenched into fists, and his whole person felt like he was about to be blown up.

This is an insult, an insult to Chiguoguo. The field marshal of the German Empire actually had to flee when he was about to be defeated. Once this matter spreads, his reputation will be ruined. Everyone will look down on him and think he is a coward. This was completely unacceptable to the arrogant Rommel. He was a soldier and he valued his reputation so much that he would never have done such a thing.

"Your Excellency, Marshal." A German lieutenant colonel with gold-rimmed glasses raised his hand and pushed his glasses, and looked at Rommel with a calm face, "You are the field marshal of the German Empire, and there has never been a field marshal captured or killed on the battlefield in the history of the German Empire." You are responsible for the honor of the German Empire. ”

"......" Rommel was silent. He finally understood what His Excellency the Prime Minister meant. The German Empire could not have a field marshal who was captured or killed on the battlefield, which would have been an indescribable blow to the morale of the entire empire and the army. But by doing so, he was damaging his own reputation!

At this moment, Rommel thought of suicide. However, the thought was dispelled as soon as it arose. In the military, suicide is a deeply dishonorable thing. would be considered an irresponsible coward. The damage to an individual's reputation is even greater than that of a captive.

There was an indescribable silence in the Command. Everyone looked at Marshal Rommel with bated breath, and the silence in the room was terrible. Only the radio station buzzed. Rommel slowly closed his eyes, and his face returned to calm. But everyone could feel from his slightly trembling hands that his mood at this time was definitely not as calm as it seemed.

After a moment of silence, Rommel lifted his eyelids and breathed a sigh of relief. Turning around, he picked up his military hat from the map table and put it on his head, and after glancing at his deputy, General Kohler, he strode out of the headquarters.

Looking at Rommel's distant back, the atmosphere in the entire command was very strange. No one spoke, and no one moved. It's just that there was a look of despair in everyone's eyes. Everyone knew that they had lost the battle.

Rommel's departure was a devastating blow to the hundreds of thousands of German troops in the encirclement. Although the German command did its best to cover up the incident, in the end the news was leaked. The blow to the morale of the Germans was too severe, and the Germans' resistance was quickly extinguished as soon as the news passed.

In fact, at this time, it was the best option for the German General Staff to let Rommel die on the front line. A field marshal who fought valiantly and finally died in the face of a strong enemy was of great significance to the propaganda of the German army. That's what they planned to do in the beginning. It's just that the German Chancellor interfered in this matter.

Germany is different from the rest of the world. Because in other countries, the state has an army, or a private person such as an emperor or a powerful person such as the king has an army. But in Germany it is the army that owns the state. Germany is more like a huge military camp than a country. All this is in the service of the army.

But a country cannot be all military, and even if the military is powerful, it will have different voices. Germany's aristocratic royal family, the Junker class, the emerging bourgeoisie, and so on all had their own demands. Struggle for power and profit and mutual antagonism in all aspects are inevitable. And the German army, as the most powerful, naturally became the common goal of all parties. In addition to strongly supporting the rise of the navy and air force against the army, various classes continued to extend their hands to the German army to cultivate their own power.

Rommel had been an ordinary member of the German army. Although he was capable, he was not conspicuous among the German army. It was only after he was valued by the German Prime Minister that he was able to stand out and have been able to hold important positions. This is inseparable from the strong support behind him. It is not just the power of the German Chancellor, but the power of the class represented by the German Chancellor.

For the German Chancellor and the forces of the class behind him, Rommel, whom they promoted, must not fall like this. With so many resources and forces already invested before, giving up at this time is a joke. Therefore, the German Prime Minister directly resisted the pressure of the General Staff and ordered Rommel to be rescued from the siege.

It's just that even if Rommel escaped in this way, his military career was hit hard. It is foreseeable that Rommel will live in darkness for a long time to come. It's definitely very difficult to get back up again.

After Rommel took advantage of the night to fly away, General Kohler, who had taken over him in command of the battle, did not last long. Faced with a powerful siege by the Ming army, the German army, which had been cut off from supply lines and was constantly compressed, soon lost the ability to resist. On April 10, 1942, General Kohler announced his surrender at his headquarters in Piombino.

At this point, a total of five panzer divisions, one panzergrenadier division, 14 infantry divisions, nearly 250,000 German troops and two American infantry divisions were wiped out. If you include the results of the Ming Panzer Corps' flank attack and the American and German troops killed and wounded in Florence, the total losses of the American and German troops in this battle were as high as 300,000.

In addition to the loss of soldiers, the losses of various equipment of the American and German armies were also very staggering. In total, more than 1,100 tanks of various types, more than 1,400 armored vehicles of various types, more than 800 heavy artillery pieces, and tens of thousands of vehicles of various types were either destroyed or captured by the Ming army.

The Allied air forces, which supported the ground forces during the campaign, also suffered extremely high battle losses. The loss of fighters of all types exceeded a thousand. It also included more than 100 transport planes that were intercepted by the new double-engine night fighters equipped with radars by the Ming Army Army when the German ground forces were surrounded and the Luftwaffe used transport planes to forcibly evacuate its troops at night.

The battle was a nightmare for the Allies. Although it has always faced great pressure from the Ming army, and has had the painful experience of more than 200,000 troops being surrounded and annihilated in southern Italy. However, the allies are still in a state of mind for the Ming Dynasty that has not reached the crisis of national extinction. They still believed that the Ming army was far away.

However, as the Ming army continued to approach and the scale became larger and larger, the losses and damage caused by the high-altitude strategic bombing also increased. The countries of Europe are now finally deeply aware of the great threat posed by the Ming army. They finally stopped entering this war with the mentality of playing soy sauce.

The Germans suffered heavy losses, but not to the point of breaking their bones. After all, the Germans still have millions of troops. After the defeat on the battlefield in Italy, the Germans quickly readjusted their deployment and mobilized a large number of troops to reinforce Italy, preparing to hold on to this extremely threatening battlefield.

The heavily reinforced German Army Group South was reorganized, and the commander was replaced by General Rundstede, who had a high reputation among the German army, and Kesselring remained chief of staff.

Although the Germans increased rapidly, they were slow to move due to the Alps. The morale of the Ming army was high after encircling and annihilating the German heavy army group, and it won consecutive battles all the way north, until it was barely blocked by the Allies after fully occupying the front line of ******, Parma, and Bologna.

At this point, most of the entire Apennine Peninsula had fallen into the hands of the Ming army. The Ming army could calmly arrange a powerful strategic bomber force to carry out a fierce bombing into the hinterland of Europe, thereby weakening the war potential of various countries. At the same time, after leaving enough garrison forces behind, Zhang Cheng ordered the withdrawal of most of his troops from the Apennine Peninsula and launched an attack on the Balkans and the Iberian Peninsula on both sides.

Although these places are difficult to really pose a threat to European countries on the ground due to the terrain. However, doing so can effectively weaken the strength and war potential of each country, while at the same time containing their power, thereby contributing to the main offensive on other battlefields.

Compared with the Germans who suffered heavy casualties on the battlefield, although the losses of the Ming army were not small, they were very suitable because of their huge victories.

During the entire Apennine campaign, the Ming army was killed, wounded, captured, and the missing number of troops was about 150,000. The total number of tanks, armored vehicles and vehicles of various types lost was as high as tens of thousands. However, many of these pieces of equipment were able to be repaired and still in use, and they also captured a lot of equipment from the Allies.

During the campaign, the Ming Army lost about 800 planes of various types, many of which were transport planes shot down during the airborne landing in Pisa. The anti-aircraft battalion of the German 219th Infantry Division did not follow the main forces to Florence because of their heavy equipment. This remaining air defense battalion brought huge casualties to the airborne troops when the Daming Airborne Forces were airborne.

The Ming Navy, which cooperated with the operation, also lost some ships in the air raids of the Allied Air Force, but these losses were insignificant for the entire battle situation.

The Battle of the Apennines dealt a heavy blow to the living forces of the Allies, seized the front-line airfields, and greatly damaged the morale and war potential of the Allies. At the same time, it also pushed Zhang Cheng's prestige and power to the peak.

Although there are many factions in the army, the vast majority of officers and soldiers will worship the commander who can bring them constant victories. Zhang Cheng can continue to bring victories to the Ming Dynasty, so naturally there will be countless officers and soldiers who admire and respect him. Under these circumstances, those forces who oppose Zhang Cheng have no choice. (To be continued.) )