Chapter 162 Chapter Twenty-Six With the Family (5)

After Hitler turned his energy to the Western Front, he left for northern Italy on July 19 to hold the thirteenth meeting with Mussolini.The meeting took place at the palatial Villa Gaggia near Feltre.The meeting started promptly at 11:00 am.Hitler and Mussolini sat face to face in the Taishi chair.Surrounding them are military generals and diplomatic dignitaries.There was a moment of awkward silence as Hitler and Mussolini waited for each other to speak first.This is a very strange prelude, more like a meeting between a man and a woman to arrange a dowry.At last the Führer spoke first, and spoke calmly about the general political and military situation.Mussolini sat with his legs crossed, his hands on his knees, and listened quietly.His chair was so wide and deep that he had to sit on the edge.Suddenly, Hitler turned on the Italians for spreading defeatism.At this moment, Mussolini was fidgeting, stretched out a hand nervously to touch the lower part of his face.

From time to time, Mussolini pressed a certain point on his back—obviously, there was pain; sometimes, he sighed deeply, partly in obedience, partly in disgust—and Hitler continued to monologue, his voice getting louder and louder .To hide his pain, he wiped his forehead with a handkerchief.Hitler was relentless and continued to babble. At 12:55, an adjutant whispered a few words in his ear, Hitler was still eloquent, and kept reassuring the tired Italian Prime Minister that as long as Italy, like Germany, remained unwavering and determined to fight on, the crisis would soon be resolved. overcome.He said that every German has the will to conquer, and 15-year-old children are already operating anti-aircraft guns. "If someone tells me that our task can be left to the next generation, I reply that this is not the case. No one can say that the future generation will be a giant. It took Germany 30 years to Recovering and Rome falling apart. That's the sound of history."

At exactly 1:00, the adjutant was whispering to Hitler again.Others thought it must be a matter of urgency.This time, with a displeased look on his face, he ended his speech.He announced that the meeting was over and everyone had lunch.Mussolini remained silent amidst Hitler's rhetoric, making other Italians anxious.He didn't rise up even once to rebut, and he didn't try to explain.He did not tell the Germans that within a month the Italian army would no longer have the means or the will to put up effective resistance. Five days later, the Italian Prime Minister once again bit the bullet and let others abuse him-this time it was his own "Fascist Grand Council" who was insulting him.This is the first meeting to be held since 1939.After a long and exhaustive debate in the General Assembly on his conduct in time of war, a resolution was brought to restore the constitutional monarchy and place the armed forces at the command of the king.The motion was passed by a vote of 18 to 9.

The next day, July 25, a scorching Sunday, Mussolini had an audience with Victor Emmanuel III.He tried to control himself, but the paper in his hand was rattling.The king ordered him to stop pleading; it was futile to fight any more; Italy had been defeated, and the soldiers no longer wanted to fight for Fascism.He demanded Mussolini's resignation, and then revealed that he had appointed Marshal Pietro Badoglio as head of the government. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Outside the door, people heard him saying. "That's the solution, nothing else." The diminutive king accompanied him to the front door and shook his hand warmly.Just as Mussolini stepped out of the gate, an officer with a carbine came up to him and said that His Majesty the King had ordered him to protect his personal safety.Mussolini was saying that it was unnecessary, so he was led into the police car.He was arrested.

At 9:30 that night, Hitler surprised his military advisers by announcing that "Mussolini has resigned."The regime has been taken over by their sworn enemy Badoglio.Hitler overwhelmed the crowd; Jodl suggested not to act rashly before receiving a detailed report from Rome.Hitler replied bluntly: "It goes without saying, but we must plan ahead. There is no doubt that they will defect while declaring that they are still loyal to us; but this is a defection. It goes without saying that they will not be loyal to us." Well... Anyway, Mr. So-and-so (Badoglio) said outright that the war would go on, but it was worthless. They had to say that. But we can play the same trick; we want Get ready to catch the mess, and the untouchables. I'll send someone tomorrow with orders to the commander of the 3rd Armored Division, tell him to take a special advance team to Rome, and take the government members, the king—the scum, The most important thing is the enthroned prince - catch, catch all those rascals, especially Badoglio and his gang, without missing a single one. Then you see how they crawl around and beg for forgiveness. It won't take two In three days, there will be another coup there."

At a midnight meeting, Hitler issued more instructions.The 2nd Parachute Division had to be ready to drop in the Italian capital region. "Rome must be occupied. No one is allowed to leave Rome and let the Third Armored Division drive in." Someone asked whether the passage leading to the Vatican should be occupied. "Never mind," said Hitler, "I'm going to the Vatican. Do you think I'll worry about the Vatican? Take that power away. All the diplomatic corps will go and hide there. I don't care about that. If it's all there , I kick out all the hogs. We'll say sorry to them when we're done. It's easy to do. We're at war."

In front of several of his secretaries.He barely controlled himself. "Mussolini was much weaker than I thought," he murmured, as if talking to himself. "I personally guarded the rear for him and he disarmed. Well, we should never rely on Italy as an ally. I believe we would be better off without this irresponsible country." He sent for the two men he considered most trustworthy in a crisis—Goebbels and Goering (about the latter, he once said to his generals, "In the present situation, no one is more reliable than Not Field Marshal Goering as an advisor. In crisis, the Field Marshal is ruthless and calm. I have often noticed that in times of danger, he is a man of iron, without fear").At 10 o'clock in the morning, the three met; half an hour later, Ribbentrop (who had just recovered from pneumonia) also rushed to attend.Hitler calmly and "confidently" suspected that Mussolini's retirement was not voluntary.He has been arrested.This meant that fascism was at stake, and they had to try, by all means possible, not to let it fall.He talked about his plan to drop an airborne division around Rome and arrest the king and royal family, Badoglio and his gang of minions.

Hamburg was carpet bombed almost as soon as the disaster in Italy was over.By the morning of August 3, the whole city was on fire and turned into ruins.Residential, factory and office buildings covering an area of ​​more than 240,000 hectares were razed to the ground, and more than 70,000 people were killed.Hitler was furious, thinking that the terrorist attack was done by the Jews.He accused British Air Force commanders, including Porter and Harris, of being Jewish or half-Jewish.Psychologically, the destruction of Hamburg was as devastating as the battle of Stalingrad.This was true for ordinary citizens as it was for Hitler's gang of warriors.According to the diary of his press officer, after inspecting the destruction of Hamburg, Goebbels was "frightened" and posed the question to his subordinates for the first time: "What will we do if we fail?" pistol.

Not long ago, Goering, the head of the Luftwaffe, who was called "calm and composed", was even more frustrated by the bombing. "What we saw was a heartbreaking sight," recalled Adolphe Grande, one of those who were hastily summoned to Göring's office. "Göring was completely broken. He put one hand on the table, rested his head on the other, and muttered to himself, unable to understand the words. We stood there for a while, very embarrassed. Finally, Göring pulled himself together. , we have witnessed his most disappointing moment. He has lost the Führer's trust in him."