While Borgo in northern Corsica was attacked by the Italians, it was also attacked in the south of the island.

Propriano is the fourth largest city in Corsica and the third largest port in Corsica, located only thirty kilometers from Ajaccio, the largest port city in Corsica.

However, at this time, in the city hall of Propriano, Lieutenant General Brasso, commander of the 16th Army under the Sixth Army, was receiving the surrender from the mayor of Propriano.

"General Brasso, on behalf of all the inhabitants of the city of Propriano, I declare my surrender to Your Excellency."

Lieutenant General Brasso took the surrender letter from the mayor and spoke. "Rest assured, Your Excellency, our army is here to return Corsica to the bosom of Italy. As long as there is no danger to our army, we will protect you from harm. ”

In the face of Lieutenant General Brasso's assurance, the mayor was relieved, and he also gave an account to the citizens of the city.

Speaking of which, the surrender of the city of Propriano was also thanks to the help of the island's independence organization. The secretary of the mayor of Propriano was a member of an independent organization. And under the persuasion of this man, the mayor, who was already not confident in holding Corsica, also surrendered to Italy under his persuasion.

Of course, the mayor alone was not enough, and the independent organization also rebelled against the two militia regiments stationed in Propriano. These militias were formed by local and nearby militias in and around Propria, and under the propaganda of independent organizations, these people were somewhat resistant to the Italian army's fighting, and then after some discussion, they chose to do it anyway after getting good conditions.

As for why the Independent Corsican Organization was willing to help Italy, the reason is simple, in addition to its cultural and linguistic bias towards Italy, but also because Italy promised to finance the development of Corsica after the war.

In addition, the rapid development of Italy in recent years has also been seen by Corsicans, compared to the situation that they belong to their grandmother and uncle in France, they will not be worse than before, right?

As for why they didn't choose independence directly, these independent organizations were not stupid, and at this time, they chose independence at the time of the world war, not to mention whether the Italians did it or not, and France might have to implement expedient measures in order to ensure the ownership of Corsica.

The surrender of the city of Propriano gave the Italian army a port in Corsica, although this port could not accommodate larger ships, and the port facilities were relatively backward, but it was still enough to serve as a supply port for the Italian army in the south, with small and medium-sized ships and sufficient manpower.

The next task of the 16th Army was to rely on the port to launch an attack on Ajaccio.

And the news of the surrender of the city of Propriano without a fight naturally quickly reached the ears of Lieutenant General Fofana, the supreme commander of the French army in Corsica and the commander of the 37th Army.

"These damned traitors, they betrayed France, they made deals with the enemy, they are all deserving of hell."

Upon seeing the news, Lieutenant General Fofana was furious and cursed those who had surrendered in his most vicious language. What made him so angry, in addition to the anger at the surrender of Propriano, was also the anxiety about the future of his 37th officer.

For the attack on Corsica, in fact, the French side has long been psychologically prepared. As early as 1910, the French General Staff drew up a plan for the Italian army to attack Corsica, and in the following years, the French General Staff gradually perfected the plan.

According to the plan of the French General Staff, the French troops in Corsica were supposed to defend with heavy forces the various landing sites where they could easily land. (As a result of Corsican topography, there are very few locations on the island that can carry out landing missions.) ）

Seeing this, some people may ask, is this?

Don't worry.

After the plan was unable to resist the forced landing of the Italian army, it demanded that the French troops defending the island resist step by step, and then retreat to the mountains of the island, and then rely on the vast mountains to launch an attack on the Italian troops on the island. Relying on more than a dozen supply warehouses in the mountains, 40,000 French troops could live in the mountains for a year and a half.

After the French launched a counteroffensive, the French fighting guerrillas on the island could help the French troops to recapture Corsica.

Hey, this plan is not at all suitable for the French army's offensive supremacy style, and it actually turned to guerrilla tactics.

The French army is not stupid, and the huge gap between the blind navies of both countries can see. With such a huge disparity in the strength of our navies and our enemies, it is strange that the person who made this plan was not a spy when a large number of troops were placed on Corsica.

Therefore, the French army can also formulate plans according to local conditions, of course, this is because the difference in strength between the two sides is too large.

And Lieutenant General Fofana, who was cursing in the Ajaccio headquarters, was also about to think of a solution after venting at this time, and it happened that the chief of staff, Major General LeBron, rushed in.

"Commander, what is it that deserves your anger?"

Faced with inquiries from the Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Fofana handed him a telegram. "Look, it's news from Propriano."

After quickly skimming through the contents of the telegram, Major General LeBron said with a frown. "It's a big problem, and Propriano's behavior will be a big disadvantage for us in the rest of the battle."

Major General LeBron could see at a glance the effect of the incident on them, but then he changed his voice. "Didn't we already have all kinds of plans, and I remember that we had four different plans just because the local people were no longer welcome."

As the commander of the army, Fofana certainly knew what his chief of staff meant. At this time, this commander can't even be calm, how can he reassure others.

"It's me who lost my temper, Bordeaux refused the request for replenishment before, and I didn't restrain myself when I received the news that Propriano had surrendered to the enemy."

Lieutenant General Fofana was convinced, and LeBron naturally would not continue to say anything, no matter what he said at this time, it was easy to play a bad role.

Just as Major General LeBron was about to say something, suddenly a communications staff officer walked in.

"Report!"

"Come in."

"This is a telegram from Major General Bakers."

Major General Bakers, the commander of the 52nd Division stationed in Borgo, what message would his telegram send?

At this time, both Lieutenant General Fofana and Major General LeBron had a not-so-good feeling.

Lieutenant General Fofana then took the telegram and read it, it was very short but very disgusting.

"Chief of Staff, take a look."

Lieutenant General Fofana, who was trying to calm down, handed the telegram to the Chief of Staff.

Major General LeBron also felt a wave of dizziness when he saw it, because the telegram sent by Major General Bex was full of bad news.

First of all, the 52nd Division suffered heavy losses, and in the three-day defensive battle of Borgo, it lost more than 6,000 people and lost the ability to continue fighting. (A division has six or seven thousand front-line infantry, and without these line-resistant infantry, it will lose its combat effectiveness)

In addition, Major General Bakers requested that the place be evacuated in view of the current situation in Borgo.

"Send a telegram to Major General Bakers, I agree to his request to retreat."

After thinking for a while, Lieutenant General Fofana agreed to the other party's request.

After the staff officer left, Lieutenant General Fofana smiled wryly and said to his chief of staff. "I have now lost confidence in the ability to carry out the plan set by the General Staff."

Although Major General LeBron wanted to persuade his commander, he couldn't open his mouth. Because he knew that it would be against his heart to say it now, and in the end he could only say it helplessly.

"For the sake of France, we can only insist."

"Yes, for France."

There is no need to question the French army in World War I, they really blocked the German attack with blood.

(End of chapter)