The defeated army at the Buro Pass went up the mountain, and although it avoided its own annihilation, it also made way and cleared an obstacle for the 11th Army.

Of course, the 11th Army would have missed this opportunity, and after opening the Colin Bridge, its forward 24th Division caught up with the retreating 71st Division in a valley five kilometers from Lescarenne.

Speaking of which, the 71st Division was also unlucky, wanting to meet the defeated army at the Buro Pass, but it was unable to conquer the Colin Bridge for a long time. Then the target who is going to be picked up tells them that they don't have to wait for them, they have to leave on the mountain road.

This made the commander of the 71st Division vomit blood angrily, and he lost a lot of troops in order to ask for help from them, and now he left without a word, leaving them messy in the wind.

As a result, because he was slow to carry a large amount of heavy equipment, he was caught up by the 24th Division.

At this time, in the face of the pursuit of the 24th Division, the 71st Division could only helplessly stop and prepare for a counterattack. If this is to survive, the commander of the 71st Division can only be ordered to retire.

Of course, the 71st Division also knew that it would be difficult to hold off the enemy's 24th Division by relying on its own troops with considerable losses, so it immediately asked for help from the 23rd Division, which had just arrived.

In the face of the 71st Division's request for help, Major General Costa, who was the front-line commander of Lescaren, immediately sent a brigade to reinforce him.

At this time, in the face of the increase in the enemy's strength, the commander of the 24th Division, Major General Odolovan, performed very well. He first sent the vanguard to drag the enemy, and then sent two regiments to insert diagonally into the mountains on both sides, assuming a posture of encircling and annihilating the 71st Division.

Although this was stopped by the 71st Division, which also sent two regiments, it fell into the trap of Division Commander Odolovane. The mountains are not easy to walk, and it is not easy to retreat. Especially for the Italian army, which has a mortar bonus, mountain warfare is a must.

In previous battles, it was shown that the performance of the French officers and soldiers in mountain warfare was far inferior to that of the Italian officers and soldiers, and at this time, letting the two regiments look at the enemy's two regiments was a bargaining chip for the 24th Division. If the enemy retreated, he would have to lose two regiments up the hill.

Of course, the 24th Division also paid the price for this, and the 71st Division, reinforced by the 23rd French Division, tried to repel the 24th Division, but the 24th Division did not take a step back despite the huge casualties, just to stick to the enemy and not let him leave easily.

The actions of the 24th Division proved to be in vain, and the 17th Division arrived a day later, and more importantly, all kinds of heavy weapons also arrived. At this time, the 17th Division, which had been reinforced, was too late to retreat.

When the enemy is overwhelmed, it is not a good choice for the inferior side to retreat, as it can easily lead to a rout. At this time, the commander of the 71st Division, Duran, made a serious wrong decision, he saw that the enemy's forces were constantly increasing, and wanted to take advantage of the cover of night to gradually withdraw troops from their positions.

This was discovered by the vigilant enemy troops, so under the fierce attack of the enemy, the position of the missing major general was quickly broken through, and a rout was inevitable. And the officers and men of the 11th Army, of course, will not miss the opportunity to beat the water dogs.

As a result, under the pursuit of 11 officers and soldiers, these routs became bigger and bigger. A large number of French officers and soldiers, driven by the rout, also fled.

The attacking force composed of the 17th and 23rd divisions used the help of the rout to attack Lescarrenne in one fell swoop, and under the drive of these routs, how could the low morale of the French army in Lescarrenne withstand the fierce 11 officers and men. Even Major General Costa, who is the commander of Lescarenne, repeatedly motivates his soldiers, but looking at the continuous rout, how can the soldiers settle down to fight.

As for these routs, Major General Costa also wanted to retract them, but it was useless in the face of these panicked routs. It sent a gendarmerie and two companies of soldiers to be dispersed by it, for which dozens of gendarmes were killed.

Now these defeated soldiers have no morale and no intention of escaping, and whoever tries to stop him will be their enemies. The failure to collect the rout made Major General Costa feel that something was wrong, but now he was helpless in the face of the approach of the 11th Army, so he could only ask Lieutenant General Fast for help.

In the face of the telegram from Major General Costa, who was given high hopes, Lieutenant General Fast must have read it with mixed feelings. The person who was given high hopes failed to fulfill his instructions, although the main responsibility for this was the commander of the 71st Division, but how could Major General Costa, as the commander, not be responsible.

His greatest responsibility was for failing to hold the point of Lescarenne, which the 11th Army captured in just 18 hours. The reinforcements sent by Lieutenant General Fast could only retreat to Turt along with Lescarren's defeated army.

It is a three-way junction with a stream that flows into the Parno River, and it is also the meeting point of the Les Carrennes-Nice and Coaraz-Nice roads, one of the most important points in the north-east of Nice.

Digging fortifications using terrain is an essential skill for the army, and if they are given three days, a well-equipped field fortification can be built. Unfortunately, Lieutenant General Kaviglia didn't give them a chance at all.

In the early morning of the next day, the officers and men of the 17th Division appeared in front of them first, and a fierce battle ensued.

In the next two days, the 11th Army also arrived. With superior forces and firepower, it took only three days to conquer Stuart. Stuart was able to be broken so quickly, in addition to the ferocious offensive of the 11 officers and men, the firepower was strong, and there was also the reason why Lieutenant General Fast did not send any more reinforcements.

As for why no more reinforcements were sent, it was because the reserves in his hands had already been sent to more important places. Is there a more important place than Stuart?

This is the town of Eze, a small town located on a coastal hill, not only on the top of the hill, but also only 7 kilometers from Nice, which can be described as the gateway to Nice. The seizure of this place had a much stronger impact on Nice than Stewart, because the large-caliber artillery of Army Group South could directly shell the city of Nice.

From this alone, it can be seen who is more important, not to mention that Army Group South is the main force of heavy troop gathering. The 11th Army was just a partial division, and although it could fight, its importance was far less than that of Army Group South.

Of course, Lieutenant General Fast paid enough attention to Army Group South, and two-thirds of his troops were defending against the other side, but it was too well equipped and its personnel were much higher than his own. With the dual advantages of firepower and manpower, the strong positions and fortresses were conquered one by one.

The Southern Army has nothing to say about conquering these positions, fortresses and other defensive facilities, it is just to gnaw hard step by step, and use firepower and troop consumption.

And in just over a week, Army Group South has spent 200,000 tons of ammunition, which has already caught up with the consumption of previous border battles. Such a large consumption of ammunition even aroused the vigilance of Admiral Simeone, who sent a telegram to Admiral Baxter to inquire about the situation.

For this reason, General Baxter immediately sent the details to the head of the army. And after seeing that most of these shells were consumed by attacking various strong and permanent fortifications, Admiral Simeone later warned to pay attention to the consumption of ammunition.

What makes the head of the army pay so much attention to the consumption of ammunition is also the reason why ammunition reserves are constantly being depleted at a rapid rate. Before the start of the war, the Italian military had a reserve of 1.35 million tons of ammunition, and now only 650,000 tons of ammunition remain.

Although the Italian military industry was able to produce 3 million rounds of ammunition per month at this time, it was still not enough for the military to consume. The bulk of the consumption is the Army, and the battle on the border between Italy and France is the heaviest in the Army. This is normal, because the continuous mountains on the border between Italy and France determine that the effective damage effect of its shells is much inferior to that of other terrains.

In addition, at this time, the War Department was already preparing for the Egyptian campaign, and in order to prepare various materials, the War Department was very busy, and it must be extremely sensitive to ammunition, a key material. Therefore, Admiral Simone sent a telegram to inquire, which was also the proper meaning.

With the breakthrough of the Italian army on both fronts, the situation in the Nice area became favorable to Italy. Taking advantage of the favorable situation, it was natural to strike while the iron was hot, so the 11th Army began to do things.

At this time, the 17th and 31st Divisions, which had just broken through Conte, under the leadership of Lieutenant General Cavilia, rushed along the road to Levan to the west, and they had to climb over two large mountains and cross a long valley to reach Levan for 37 kilometers. Considering that the distance from Levan to Conte is only 9 kilometers in a straight line, you can imagine the complexity of the terrain.

This also makes there a lot of dangerous places along the way, which is very suitable for the enemy to block.

However, it is not without good news, according to intelligence, the road from Conte to Levin is basically a militia group, and there is only one regiment of French troops in Levão.

For the 11th Army, this good news was enough to defeat all the change of news.

(End of chapter)