"I didn't expect Tycho to come up with such a constructive suggestion at the end." After Xu Jie saw the text handed over by the Italian ambassador to China, his evaluation of Tycho was raised to a higher level. This plan was very constructive and of great significance for the future consolidation of the Entente's defense line in the Mediterranean, especially to ensure the security of France's flanks. It provides a very important barrier to the southern coast of France. For Tycho, if he could establish a government in his own territory, he would naturally be able to rally the people and boost morale. And the industry in Sardinia is also passable. It's good for both parties.

Without doing anything, Xu Jie immediately prepared to contact the three giants of the Entente. "If we can strategize Sardinia and deploy air and submarine forces there, it will be tantamount to putting a dagger in the waist of the Allies. Even though Mussolini controlled Italy, the mainland was within the range of our air force and navy. To defend against blows from Sardinia and Corsica, they had to be fully fortified. We can pin down 3 or even 4 of their squadrons with one squadron of aircraft! In the overall situation, controlling Sardinia is equivalent to cutting off Spain from Germany and Austria, and once the war starts, we can concentrate our superior forces to quickly defeat Spain, and then regain control of the western mouth of the Mediterranean. The home fleet of the German Navy would not be able to support the Mediterranean Fleet, and at the same time organized the entry of German submarine forces deployed in the Mediterranean and Spain into the Atlantic. It's definitely a very good build. On the phone, Xu Jie repeatedly emphasized.

The key to this plan was that someone had to take over, which meant that someone had to help Tycho hold the place. And the most suitable of all countries is naturally France. How close Corsica and Sardinia are! Just across the channel, and this island is in the best interest of France. France should agree to this. Of course, as allies, China, the United States, and Britain must also help France in taking control of the region. But what Xu Jie didn't expect was that France, the most important player in this plan, actually hesitated at a critical moment!

The French also realized that Sardinia's strategic location was very important, especially when it came to the defense of the mainland, and in addition to the reasons Xu Jie said, France could also rely on Sardinia to establish a security corridor to ensure the connection between the mainland and North Africa. In Xu Jie's view, the French have no reason to refuse. But actually. The French are also thinking about the risk of taking over when they see the role of Sardinia!

First of all, the French knew that this war had to be ended as much as possible, and Xu Jie's proposal to gather the navies of various countries to cover the withdrawal of troops was because all countries had this idea. The Entente could not fight anymore. Then it's time to consider the aftermath. "Even if the plans of the Combined Fleet can be implemented, we already have more than 8000 French officers and men captured in Italy. We need to solve the problem of the return of prisoners. And in this case. It is quite possible that the Germans will offer a complete withdrawal of Entente troops from Italy in exchange. The French prime minister said this on the phone. In order to allow the French prisoners to return home safely, the French did not want to take this into the matter.

Of course, this is a very small reason. The question of a few thousand captives returning home was not a difficult task in Xu Jie's opinion, after all, the British and Chinese armies also captured many Austro-Hungarian prisoners in the north. What France was really worried about was what would happen if, after the end of the war, the Chinese, American and British armed forces were withdrawn from the Mediterranean, and the Germans were not willing to continue their offensive against Sardinia!

It is not possible for the French government to directly declare the annexation of Sardinia to France. De jure Sardinia is Italian territory, but its defense depends on France. This time, the five countries can be said to have attacked Germany in advance before they were ready, which was regarded as a surprise to the other side, but the final result was to lose Italy, and when Germany was fully prepared to enter the Mediterranean, and gradually stabilized Italy's shape before launching an attack on Sardinia, what would France do? Let Germany occupy this place? Or did France send its own troops to fight Germany in battle? Well, one might say that Britain, the United States, and China would have come to the aid of the French. This is really good, but the premise is that the French garrison in Sardinia must be able to hold out until the arrival of reinforcements, and the British may react faster, but China and the United States, then it can only be hehe! It's not that aid is not provided, but that it is too late to provide it, and the war may be over.

And in the deduction of the French Ministry of Defense, France, which lacks a navy and air force, is simply unable to hold Sardinia in the face of the German-Austrian forces, "If there is another war, our troops in Sardinia will only be able to hold out for 7 days at most, and during this time, it may be that the American fleet has not yet reached Europe!" A French officer said. Sardinia is good, but for this undefinable place, no matter how good it is, it's useless! Moreover, given the current economic situation in France, the first problem to be dealt with after the end of the war was the economic problem, and there was simply no money to build the army and fortifications needed to defend Sardinia. It is not an exaggeration to say that France is powerless.

In addition to the above two reasons, Xu Jie can vaguely feel one reason, that is, France's fear of war! What are you afraid of? France fought hard to break out again in a large-scale land engagement. Although the tragic course of the Western Front in World War I was somewhat lower in this plane than in history, (the center of gravity of the German World War I was in Russia. So the Western Front is all defensive in nature. Only in the last year was an offensive campaign launched. But the bitter trench warfare and heavy human losses were still too much for the French to bear. The population of France is simply too small compared to the Germans! Historically, France preferred to defend itself by conservative means of building defensive lines against Germany before the rise of Germany, but after Nazi Germany showed its fangs, the French government hoped that it could sell Poland in exchange for Germany attacking the Soviet Union to gain peace. So Xu Jie can think of the French government's unspeakable reason! The essence of France's reaction in different historical planes is the fear of large-scale land battles, but in a different way!

"This is another version of the Misfortune!" Xu Jie couldn't help but smile bitterly after looking at the text handed over by the French diplomat. Historically, it was Britain and France who decided to abandon Poland and let the Germans attack the Soviet Union, and this plane was France that gave up Sardinia to give Germany and Austria peace of mind to attack India! No one wants to be pointed at a knife behind their back, and the French think that Sardinia is the knife! The sharp blade on the waist of De'o, so De'ao will definitely get rid of it quickly! And in order to avoid facing Germany and Austria alone, the French chose to retreat.

The attitude of the French was so resolute that even if China and the Entente promised to assist France in the defense of Sardinia, the latter refused to offer France more aid. In the end, Tycho's opinion ran aground because of France, and this stranding in the future led to a series of unforeseen consequences and a catastrophic situation after the start of the future war!

"France in both planes has failed, as always, in the matter of defense! Historically, it was the Maginot Line that did not cover the Franco-Spanish border area, allowing the Germans to successfully bypass the front of the line. And this time the French had a good land defense, but it turned out that the Germans could hit it from the sea! After France finally decided to reject the Italian proposal, Xu Jie said angrily.

"You see, after gaining Italy, Germany will definitely not let the French live in peace, don't look at Germany's target is India, but they don't mind using a surprise attack to destroy France!" Xu Jie swore to Deng Shichang, Peng Yi and others. The words reveal concern about the future of the war in Europe.

Because the French Navy has withdrawn its main forces to the Atlantic, there is no power left at sea, as for the Air Force? Not to mention that the level of the French Air Force is much worse than that of the Luftwaffe in history, and the gap is even greater compared with the current strengthened version of the Luftwaffe! Moreover, the French Air Force was mainly deployed in the north to support the defensive line. The number of aviation units in the south is limited. Coupled with the fact that it was impossible for the French to build a defense system that stretched across the entire southern coastline, this amount of engineering and economic pressure was almost unacceptable to the current French. Xu Jie was kind enough to help the French in order to keep the area where the battle was going on as far away from the French mainland as possible, but the French still didn't appreciate it! In Xu Jie's opinion, Germany suffered greater losses in this war, and it was impossible for them to launch another war against France in a short period of time! This is almost equivalent to a confrontation with the Entente as a whole! So France's worries are somewhat unnecessary.

"Even if France could not hold Sardinia in the Second World War, as long as it could be delayed for a while, it would be of considerable benefit to the change of the whole strategy, at least to increase the strategic depth and provide time for reaction. Why can't the French figure it out? Xu Jie has a kind of hatred in his heart.

Was it possible for the Confederates to land from the south of France? In Xu Jie's opinion, it is completely possible, some people may ask, even if the Central Powers take Sardinia, it will take a certain amount of time from the mainland of the Central States to Sardinia and then to France, and considering that France itself is an army power, the landing operation of the Germans may not be successful. Historically, landing operations have been difficult, such as the Battle of the Dardanelles in World War I, the U.S. operations on Saipan and Okinawa in World War II, and the Normandy landings, the attacking side had to have a large enough advantage to win. It seems that the Allies did not have such an advantage.

But don't forget that the U.S. seizure of islands in the Pacific in World War 2 was fought at a considerable distance from the mainland, and the Normandy landings required the U.S. imperialists to transport large quantities of supplies to Britain before launching a campaign. And what about the Mediterranean? How long did it take to get from the Austro-Hungarian railway to Guò to Renaya in northwestern Italy? And then how far is it from here to the port of the south of France? What's more, mainland France was still within the range of the Luftwaffe. Even the deployment of single-engine aircraft at the front point can cover Marseille and Toulon! Looking at the French gathering of the main force of the army in the northeastern border area, Xu Jie shuddered!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the tip~~~. (To be continued......)