Anxious! Of course anxious! Therefore, as the "leader" of Italy, Mussolini still dialed the telephone directly to the office of the German Führer. He had already made a reservation for this time, because Germany, which looked to be victorious, still had a lot of things to do, so Führer Accardo's time was also very valuable.

"Dear German Führer, I am glad that you have taken time out of your busy schedule to answer my call. "Mussolini was very demanding, and naturally spoke very politely.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Mussolini, the great leader of Italy. Accardo picked up the phone, heard Mussolini's greeting, and replied with a smile.

"Although the diplomat has submitted a telegram congratulating Germany on the rescue of western Poland, I would like to personally congratulate you, as head of Germany, on your great success in Poland. Mussolini said on the other end of the phone.

"I also congratulate you, Leader, on your brilliant success in Africa. When you announced the results of the war in 1936, you said, 'Abyssinia will forever be part of the Kingdom of Italy,' is very inspiring. Accardo also complimented that he could probably know what Mussolini was calling this time for, so Mussolini was not in a hurry, and he was even less in a hurry to pick out the topic.

Italy was now desperate for Germany to find out what it was like to take on the Balkans, but Accardo preferred to bargain with Italy over the Balkans. After all, being able to reap more benefits is the diplomatic attitude that a mature country should have. And German diplomats have recently been plotting to draw Turkey into the Iron Axis Treaty, offering Turkey a share of the Balkan pie.

Mussolini was obviously not aware of these things, but he already had a vague sense that Germany was leaving Italy alone to distribute the interests of the Balkans, so this time he had to remind Germany, an ally, not to challenge Italy's bottom line.

"Let's be honest. Mr. Führer, Mr. Accardo. Our military operation in Abyssinia was not as successful as it had been, and it involved too much of Italy's energy and troops. So our entry into the Balkans may be delayed accordingly. Mussolini pondered the words and finally chose to take the initiative to speak.

Accardo did not seem to hear the Italian question, and asked about something else: "Monsieur Mussolini, the leader." In view of the hostility of the whole world towards Germany, Germany has decided to launch an all-round counterattack in order to safeguard its own living space and fundamental interests. In the light of your present situation, is your country now capable of carrying out the terms of mutual assistance of the Iron Pact and waging war against the enemies of Germany?"

"Yuan is born first. In fact, Italy would have preferred to cooperate with Germany on the Balkan issue - but as an ally, we in Italy could not have helped Germany much more in the war between Germany and England and France. I ask for your understanding in this regard. Mussolini, of course, did not think that Germany could defeat the Anglo-French alliance, and he preferred to take Italy to take advantage of the chaos in the Balkans.

In fact, Italy's calculations were very shrewd: I took advantage of the chaos to take North Africa and the Balkans, and when Britain defeated Germany, he would expand some space to the north, and reap more benefits by helping Austria and other countries recover.

It is a pity that Accardo is clearly unwilling to make Mussolini's wish easy: "Mr. Leader, since Italy has abandoned its loyal allies, then I will alone fulfill the sacred mission of defending national interests...... But Germany's previous promises of Italian interests in the Balkans will also lose their validity. After all, we need the help of other countries, such as Turkey. ”

The Italian leader Benito Mussolini was now faced with a difficult choice: to make a bold decision to go to war with the mighty Britain and France, or to risk losing the interests of the Balkans by not fulfilling the Covenant. For Italy, neither option is very satisfying, but one has to be chosen.

There was silence for a long time, so long that Accardo even felt that Mussolini had hung up the phone. He even wondered wickedly if the Italian leader would go to the bathroom. However, the faint sound of breathing on the phone still proved that Mussolini was next to the earpiece, and at this moment Mussolini did not speak, he was weighing and thinking repeatedly.

"My Führer, Italy will continue to cooperate extensively with Germany and support Germany's efforts to fight for its national interests...... But Italy really couldn't do anything about the upcoming German operation. It took about ten minutes for Mussolini to speak again: "Since Italy cannot fulfill the previous treaty, it will no longer have the face to ask for Germany's support on the Balkan issue, so Italy will deal with the Balkan issue on its own in the future." ”

"It's reassuring to understand the situation that Germany is facing. Accardo said with a smile, as if he had already guessed Mussolini's choice: "But when we are victorious, let the Kingdom of Italy continue to maintain good neighbourly relations with us and Germany." ”

In fact, it was not only Mussolini in Italy who was not optimistic about Germany going to war with Britain and France, but Antonescu in Romania also implicitly persuaded the German Führer to abandon the head-on conflict with Britain and France. Of course, in contrast, he preferred Germany to go to war with the Soviet Union, so that he could lead the Romanian forces to recover the territories that had been plundered by the Soviet Union.

But Accardo was now more confident than ever, and his army was much larger and more elite than Hitler's 1940 battle for France. Opponents such as France were weaker than in another plane, and he thought he had won the battle.

As early as 1914, Moltke's successor, Schlieffen, saw hope in the railroad tracks to end the dilemma of fighting on two fronts. He formulated the Schlieffen plan, which in general was to move the Guò railway to quickly defeat France, and then to transfer the troops to the Eastern Front and defeat Russia through the Guò railway maneuver.

In fact, the German warplanes at that time also began large-scale construction and drills according to this opportunity. By 1914, there were 13 two-track railways running through the east and west, four north-south two-track railways on the western border, two double-track railways and one single-track railroad on the eastern route, and four separate two-track railways specifically connecting the east-west front. In addition, the single-track feeder railway is as dense as a spider's web. If you can see a map of the German railway network built in 1914, you will probably be dizzy.

At the same time, the Germans made a strict transportation plan for each unit, for example, it took 170 officer cars, 965 soldier cars, 2,960 cavalry cars, and 1,915 artillery cars to transport a corps, and about 140 trains were needed to carry 42 cars per locomotive. According to the ration of 20 trains for one army a day, the transfer of one army can be completed within a week, and at the same time, the military supplies of an army need about 6,000 carriages, and the number of trains required can also be calculated. It can also be calculated that 1 reserve army needs 85 columns, and a separate cavalry division needs 31 columns...... And so on and so forth.

On August 1, 1914, Germany declared war on Russia and issued a general mobilization order, and on the 3rd, declared war on France, and the world war broke out. From the 1st, the German railways began to run at full speed for the war, and reached a climax on the 4th-6th, by the 12th 1.5 million troops were sent to the Dutch front, and on the 20th, when the mobilization was completed, the German railways transported a total of 3 million troops, 860,000 war horses, and a large amount of ammunition and military rations. A large number of military trains crossed the Rhine every day, and the busiest Hohenzollern Bridge had a total of 2,150 military trains in the two weeks before the 12th, almost one every 10 minutes. Crucially, a total of 11,000 trains participated in the transport mission, and none of them were delayed.

I want to say so much foreshadowing here in the hope that everyone understands that the meticulousness and rigorous style of doing things of the German nation are very, very terrible. These achievements are not someone's boasting, not the fantasies of weapons of war that have not been completed, but miracles that have been truly accomplished.

Now it's time to get to the point, Accardo officially came to power around 1930, expelled the Allied Arms Control Committee in 1933, at that time Germany began to reorganize the arms war, naturally paid more attention to the construction of railways, he unified and loosened the railway companies, established the German Bahn Company, 36 years changed its name to German railways, this German state-owned railway company will be responsible for Germany's first qiē railway transportation in the future. Doppmuller, who swore allegiance to the Accados and became Reich Minister of Transport, was headed by Doppmuller, and the entire railway system began to develop more sophisticated wartime transport plans.

In 37 years of blitzkrieg against Poland, this railway system helped Germany quickly transport more than 30 divisions of troops, and when the French and British did not react, they concentrated their superior forces to kill Poland in one go, and now, at least 50 divisions of troops are on this railway transportation system, with incredible efficiency and high speed, to the western border areas of Germany.

France did not realize that the crisis had come: the German 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and 7th Panzer Corps, a total of 5 panzer corps, and more than 2,000 tanks had begun to assemble on the Western Front. And to cover these tanks, the Air Force also mobilized more than 2,000 fighters and bombers. In addition, Germany deployed more than 1.1 million Wehrmacht infantry on the Western Front, supported by more than 9,100 artillery pieces of various types.

At this moment, Britain and France were still dreaming of the German army advancing eastward, although there was intelligence that Germany was increasing the number of troops on the western front, but the British Army confidently felt that this was still a reasonable behavior for Germany to guard against another French attack.