"I'm ashamed, but I have to tell you that, theoretically, any area within the range of naval guns is not suitable for a large-scale engagement with the opposing army." Tycho said apologetically. The Italian navy won the battle, but was unable to stop its operations in the Adriatic Sea, which had cleared several shipping lanes with the end of the Allied minesweeping. So their battleships could provide cover for the landing force. "It is obviously impossible for the Italian Navy to enter the Adriatic Sea and deliver the head under the watchful eye of the opposing shore-based aircraft. Therefore, the defense of these cities can only be entrusted to the army.

"It seems that today is really an unlucky day, and just this morning, this guy Li Mei told me that the air force cannot guarantee air supremacy. I didn't want them to help us clear the ground, but they couldn't even block the other side's planes! Barton said with a grim face.

"Italy is not a battlefield suitable for large-scale land warfare, let alone a suitable battlefield for defense, especially when the opponent comes by sea and lands from the western coast. The defender's depth is too small. And the front is too wide. De Gaulle, on the sidelines, was also pessimistic about the prospects for land warfare. When it comes to the Army, the Allied Triumvirate is a little worse than the Germans in terms of tactics and strategy. However, the terrain of Italy also limited the use of German armored forces. This may be good news.

"If we can't hold them, let's destroy them all. Ports, airports, roads, and hoarded supplies. You can't leave it to your opponent. After leaving Tycho's office, Barton said to Charles de Gaulle, who was beside him. The British were to be responsible for the defense of the north. The task of defense in central Italy was given mainly to the United States and France. In the south, the Italian navy was to defend it. After careful deduction, the two men believed that the easiest place for the other party to attack was the defense zone of the United States and France. The specific reasons are as follows.

First, from the point of view of the Allies. They needed to do everything they could to settle the war in Italy. Then it is naturally the best to attack the political and economic center of Italy, and this place is Rome, which is exactly in the defense zone of France and the United States, where can the Germans fight if they don't fight here?

Second, in terms of convenience, if you attack from the north, you need to cross the mountains between Italy and Austria-Hungary, which is better than a large army. Moreover, Germany, which was equipped with a large number of tanks and vehicles, was clearly not suitable for it, and from the intelligence point of view, Austria-Hungary intended to occupy this area. Naturally, the Germans would not shed blood for the interests of Austria-Hungary in vain. It was also not a good idea to attack southern Italy, which was far from the Balkans, and although the Italian navy did not have access to the Adriatic Sea, it was still possible to operate in the southern bay of Taranto. The Germans would not be so stupid as to be bored by the fire of the Italian Navy and the attacks of aircraft. So the only place to choose is Central Italy.

Patton and de Gaulle knew this, and the most important thing to do now was to plan a strategy for the future. For the enemy troops who landed. Being able to wipe it out in the process of landing is naturally the best. Unfortunately, Italy's eastern coastline is too long. And there was no fortification. Under such circumstances, it is naturally impossible to block the indiscriminate bombing of the naval and aircraft of the Central Powers. There were no permanent fortifications, no naval artillery support, no aircraft to ensure air supremacy and suppress targets on the sea, plus the long coastline, Patton and de Gaulle did not have enough troops to defend all the points, so the idea of holding the coastline naturally did not work, especially after Li May and Tycho both expressed their inability to support the operation on the east coast, and the two finally gave up the idea completely. Now we can only make a fuss about the inland.

It was impossible to restore the trench confrontation of the First World War, and Italy's narrow terrain from east to west and north to south made it very passive in the face of an enemy attacking from the east. It takes too much manpower, material resources and time to build a defense line from north to south, and this defense line is too thin because of the terrain, and it is difficult to remedy the defeat at the first click, and the relatively small number of troops on your own side can easily be beaten into a colander by the opponent. Then they were divided and surrounded by the other side, and each was annihilated. So this set of tactics is also not feasible.

As the guy from the Air Force and Tycho said, (In the historical plane of this article, the U.S. Air Force has survived as an independent army.) IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR US TO INFLICT HEAVY DAMAGE ON OUR OPPONENTS IN THE LANDING ZONE, AND NO MATTER HOW GOOD OUR M1 CANNON IS, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH ITSELF FROM NAVAL GUNS. Barton sighed when he thought of this. He was very excited when he learned that his troops would receive a batch of new long-range artillery, this long-range artillery nicknamed Long-legged Tom had a really good performance, with a marching weight of only 13,880KG, and a weight of only 12,600KG when shooting, with an elevation angle between -2 degrees and 65 degrees. And the horizontal shooting range is also 60 degrees! Don't look at this thing very light, but it can shoot a 42KG shell 23KM away! This thing is definitely a big killer in land warfare, but compared to the main guns on a battleship, it's better to wash and sleep.

"Therefore, our defense method can only be mobile defense, just like we did in the late stage of World War 1, using highly mobile vehicles carrying infantry and artillery to penetrate behind enemy lines to attack the opponent's transportation lines, transit stations and other key sectors, and at the same time, the frontal front also uses guò mobile and flexible elastic defense to consume the opponent's attack power. This is also one of our greatest strengths. De Gaulle said. The US-French coalition can be regarded as fighting at home, and it can be regarded as occupying land and people. (After all, the Luftwaffe's strategic bombing kept most of the ordinary Italians completely on the side of the Navy and the Allies.) But the more important advantage was that the United States and France had a large number of trucks for their own troops, which provided mobility that was not comparable to that of the German Army.

The most mechanized armies in World War II in history were the American and British armies, and the German Army needed a large number of horses to transport supplies and equipment. As for the Soviet Union, its level of mechanization was not as good as that of Russia, and if it had not been for the large number of trucks provided by the United States and Great Britain, I am afraid that the Soviets' ten campaigns would not have been so smooth. And in this plane, the Americans still inherited the style of wealthy local tyrants, and equipped the troops with a large number of transport vehicles. The mobility of the troops has been greatly improved.

"ALSO, ALTHOUGH THE AIR FORCE GUYS SAID THAT WE COULD BE SAFE IN THE SKY 50KM WEST OF THE COASTLINE, I STILL DIDN'T TRUST THEM, SO I PREPARED IN ADVANCE AND MOVED SOME 12.7MM MACHINE GUNS AND 25MM GUNS TO THE HALF-TRACK. According to the Italians, these things are also good for flat fire, and if we can, we will get a little more. Barton added.

When making the plan, both of them coincidentally took into account the problem of air defense, but Barton had experienced the bombing of Florence, and if he hadn't run into the air raid bunker, I am afraid that he would not have been able to stand with de Gaulle today to discuss the problem of army operations, and the best result would be lying in the hospital with bandages. The thought of the bombers that obscured the sky and the bombs that rained down made Patton nervous.

"By the way, according to the news from Huaxia, the Germans may send airborne troops to occupy some key points, and we should be on guard against, what should you do about this problem?" De Gaulle asked. This news comes from Xu Jie to be precise, as a traverser, he naturally has some understanding of the achievements of the German Airborne Forces in the early days of the war, this well-trained and well-equipped army has conquered fortresses, occupied islands, and made great contributions to the Third Reich.

"Paratroopers? What can you do with a rifle and a couple of mortars in your hand? They were too vulnerable to the onslaught of armored forces. Barton didn't really care about that.

"But even so, we should be prepared, at least we need to leave enough reserves, and we need to step up the construction of fortifications at key points." De Gaulle was also not optimistic about the combat effectiveness of the German Airborne Forces. But for the sake of safety, he planned to make some arrangements to draw a group of elite infantry from various units, and equip them with various armored vehicles and half-tracks, so that in the event of an accident, he could rush to the battlefield as soon as possible.

"If my intelligence is accurate, you must have a French heavy cavalry from Caen in your possession, right? When are you going to use it? Barton said nonchalantly. The French Army had made extensive use of armored units as early as World War I, and these heavily armored steel behemoths played an important role in many battles, especially in defensive operations, where the hard armor and strong firepower of these tanks were always the most reliable pillars of the entire support point, so the Americans were still very concerned about this force.

"It seems that your intelligence department is not only responsible for scouting the enemy's intelligence, but also collecting information on friendly forces." De Gaulle, though reluctant, confessed. "You're talking about the B1 tanks of the 3rd Panzer Division. THE FRONTAL ARMOR OF THIS TANK WAS UP TO 60MM THICK, AND IT WAS ALSO INCLINED ARMOR, AND THE FRONTAL TURRET WAS ALSO UP TO 80MM. Armed with a 75MML40 main gun. There were also 3 machine guns, the combat weight reached 32 tons. I think this tank will be enough to destroy all the targets that it can touch, and they will come into play at the critical moment. ”

"Well, then I'll be relieved. Sooner or later, the Germans will line up their steel behemoths into battle, and I'm afraid our M3 tanks won't be able to deal with these guys. "For the ugly appearance of the Grant tank, Patton is very dissatisfied, if it's just ugly, forget it, your main gun horizontal angle is so point, not as wide as the German tank destroyer's firing angle, what is the matter?!

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