Although Admiral Baxter was a little sad that he had not been able to lead the French army into a decisive battle with him, he was definitely a good commander, and since the French did not want to show his head, he would be beaten until he showed his head.

Therefore, the day after the capture of the town of Menton, Army Group South launched a huge offensive, with eight divisions of 140,000 troops, attacking the defending French troops at the Ternane, the Donde Valley, the Ambrandt Pass, and the Basrot Pass.

This time, the Southern Group Army was in great force, and in addition to all kinds of artillery in its hands, it also dispatched airship units to bomb several key areas.

As for the bombing effect of the airship, it is somewhat unsatisfactory, first, the air flow in the mountainous area is chaotic, the airship is very unsuitable for flying in the mountainous area, and the bombing accuracy of the airship is not high. Although it is possible to reduce the altitude to improve accuracy, ground-based anti-aircraft artillery is not vegetarian.

On the first day of the all-out offensive, an airship wanted to lower its altitude, improve the accuracy of its bombing, and open a gap for the infantry on the ground. However, under the care of the defenders' anti-aircraft weapons, the airship was eventually damaged and crashed into the valley. In addition to this crashed airship, five other airships were damaged.

At this time, the disadvantages of the airship also appeared, that is, after the enemy has anti-aircraft fire, the huge airship coupled with the slow speed is very easy to be hit by the enemy.

Of course, the airship was not suitable for front-line combat, and it was quickly transmitted back to the army headquarters. The War Office immediately halted the airship's bombing mission.

A large airship is almost enough for a destroyer, and the army does not dare to lose too much at this cost. After all, airships can do a lot of things besides bombing.

In addition to Army Group South, Army Group North also participated in the offensive on the French border, but compared with the powerful Army Group South, Army Group North was much worse, and its offensive was only 40,000 men.

Because Army Group North was located in the middle of a more dangerous mountainous area, there were fewer roads and checkpoints for the army. Army Group North could only attack the French from dangerous places such as the Lars Pass and the Viso Pass, which were all in the valley of the Pass. There is no way to deploy troops, so the numerical advantage does not play much of a role here, and depends more on the superiority of weapons, the elite of the troops, and the command level of the leading officers.

And this huge attack was also a very big deal for the attacking Italian side, and the infantry divisions that launched the attack were strengthened, and in terms of the artillery they were equipped with, in addition to the artillery within the divisions, each division was reinforced by at least one 105 howitzer battalion.

The most exaggerated was the 19th Infantry Division, which was responsible for attacking the coastal town of Tainane. In addition to its own artillery, it also has a 150-mm heavy artillery battalion (12 guns), a 210-mm heavy artillery battalion (6 guns) of the group army, an engineer regiment, and a transport regiment, adding up to nearly 30,000 troops. Of course, this is also because it has the heaviest task and the most complex situation.

The coastal areas of the two countries are mountainous and undulating, and it is not easy to attack from here. Moreover, it may be attacked by the enemy navy at any time.

The use of such a large army to attack France made General De Casiterno, who served as the Sixth Army, immediately feel that something was wrong.

The Sixth Army was the French army that guarded the Ito-French border. The army group had 11 divisions and 210,000 troops.

In the face of the onslaught of the Italian army, although it was not yet possible to shake the defensive line, the veteran had to be careful, and after careful consideration, he sent more than 60,000 people from 4 divisions to reinforce the various divisions. At present, in addition to the reinforcements sent and the troops stationed in the positions, he also has three divisions in his hands in case of any unexpected situation.

The movements of the French troops were soon transmitted by intelligence officers to the Italian side. In the face of the news from the intelligence officers, the Italian military took it very seriously.

Subsequently, airships and planes were dispatched to conduct reconnaissance.

One more thing to say here is that at present, the planes used by various countries to conduct reconnaissance are generally capable of flying more than 100 kilometers. This kind of faster aircraft is more conducive to reconnaissance than a large airship.

So after the start of the war, planes from both countries flew into each other's territory every day, trying to check for any clues. Of course, in the face of such a move to allow enemy planes to come and go freely, the military must not be satisfied.

There is no need to worry, the Siegel aircraft factory is already developing an epoch-making product, and it is believed that it will soon surprise the enemy aircraft.

But now he can only let the other plane look above his head. But one thing is good, that is, there are more planes on the Italian side, the Italian military already has more than 100 planes before the war, and the French army on the opposite side has only more than 10 planes, and the difference between the two can be seen at a glance.

Therefore, in terms of reconnaissance, the French army lagged behind the Italian army.

However, it is not enough to rely on the reconnaissance of the aircraft alone, and the advantages of the airship staying in the air for a long time can also be used. In this regard, Prince Filipberto, who is the commander of Army Group North, very much agrees with this.

At this moment, a small airship slowly landed in the open space outside the small town of Aosta, and Prince Filiberto took the lead out of the airship.

However, he was embarrassed as soon as he got off the airship, because his partner, Lieutenant General Cabrera, the chief of staff of Army Group North, was standing in front of him and looked at him coldly.

"Cabrera, is there something urgent about you waiting for me here?"

Prince Filipbeto pretended not to see it at all, and asked his chief of staff with a curious expression.

"Your Excellency, I have a matter I would like to ask about, please answer me truthfully."

Looking at Prince Filiberto, who was pretending to be stupid, Lieutenant General Cabrera was not used to the other party, and spoke directly.

"Ask, my chief of staff."

"Where did you go on this airship?"

Faced with the chief of staff's inquiry, Prince Filiberto answered truthfully. "I went to the French position to have a look, so that I could be prepared for the next combat mission."

Upon hearing Prince Filiberto's words, Lieutenant General Cabrera felt a surge of muscles. "Your Excellency, I repeat, you should stay with your troops, not go and check on the enemy yourself. If something happens to you, then our Northern Army Group will have no commander, especially when the combat mission is about to be issued, which is undesirable and extremely dangerous, and at the same time irresponsible for one's own duties. ”

Faced with the number of chiefs of staff, even Filiberto, who was a prince, lowered his head helplessly. "Obey my chief of staff, I won't take the airship next time, okay?"

Seeing that his commander admitted his mistake, Lieutenant General Cabrera did not want to pursue the matter anymore.

It's good to talk about this kind of thing two or three times, but too much will make people annoying.

"Commander, I'm not here to criticize you this time. Rather, we have just received the news that our ally, Germany, has entered the northern border of France, and our plans are about to begin. ”

"What, show it to me."

After reading the telegram a few times, Prince Filiberto immediately ordered. "Deliver my orders, Operation Zeus begins in 24 hours."

"Yes."