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The Kingdom of Serbia, the victor of World War I, was able to absorb much of the territory of the defeated Austro-Hungarian Empire thanks to the consideration of Britain and France.

Serbia, which quickly became a major country covering half of the Balkan Peninsula, changed its name to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929.

The king of Yugoslavia in 1940 was Petar II.

However, he was only the official king, and the real power was with his head, Prince Pavle.

Prince Pavle, who served as regent and ruled as the de facto ruler of Yugoslavia due to the king's young age, was on bad terms with government ministers and his nephew, Petar II, due to his dogmatic nature, but at least he had an eye for reading the general trend. There was.

France raised the white flag, Britain withdrew, and only Italy was standing alone.

Even the English Empire collapsed without being able to defeat the German army. Can Italy stop the German army?

No way.

Sooner or later, Italy will raise the white flag like France.

If it is a fight where the winner or loser is already decided, it makes sense to get involved quickly and pick up the pieces before it is too late.

Prince Pavle, confident of Germany's victory, ordered the entire army to prepare for war with Italy.

Even Petar II, who was often at odds with Prince Pavle, strongly agreed with Tangsuk's opinion this time.

"We must hurry before Italy raises the white flag. At least the Istrian Peninsula and Zadar must be taken. "Albania, if possible."

Just as a bear uses talent and a person makes money, Prince Pavle tried to take advantage of his country's interests by burying them in the German army's victory.

I'm sure I'll get some criticism from Germans, but what's the point? Originally, the world was a society of the fittest.

Isn't this a world where the weak are eliminated and only the strong and the quick-witted survive?

On June 25, 1940, Yugoslavia declared war on Italy.

***

June 25, 1940

Zadar, Italy

"Whoa, fuck."

Captain Miloš Karajevich wiped the blood that had spattered on his cheek with his sleeve and then carefully put his head out.

Immediately, a bullet flew out, hitting Milosi's helmet and flying away. Miloš reflexively tilted his head back.

After the end of World War I, there was a conflict between Italy and Serbia over Zadar, but it became Italian territory through the Treaty of Rapallo concluded in 1920.

The Serbs were outraged that Italy had taken away their rightful territory, while the Italians, on the other hand, were outraged that Serbia had taken Dalmatia that the English had promised.

Now that Italy's defeat was counting down, it was a good opportunity for Yugoslavia to annex Zadar.

As most of the troops had been sent to northern Italy to block the German army, there was only one regiment of Italian troops guarding Zadar.

The Yugoslav army began its attack leisurely, believing that with just one regiment it would be able to quickly suppress and force its surrender.

However, the Zadar defenders resisted fiercely, as if mocking the Yugoslav army's expectation that they would raise the white flag within an hour.

As soon as they crossed the border and set foot in Zadar, bullets from the Italian army flew in and mercilessly killed the Yugoslav soldiers.

"Damn it. "I'm going to turn around."

Milosi's company suffered 20 deaths and 6 injuries within 15 minutes of the start of the battle due to an Italian army ambush at the front.

Even now, they were unable to advance due to being blocked by the Italian ambush group.

The groans of the wounded soldiers among the bodies that had fallen from the Italian army's machine gun fire also made him even more distraught.

"Lord, kill me, give me..."

A wounded soldier, who had a bullet lodged in his spine and could barely move his mouth, gasped.

The company members, who had been making jokes out of confidence until 20 minutes ago, were turning pale and shaking. Miloš clicked his tongue.

"2nd platoon leader!"

"Yes, company commander."

"We will provide covering fire, so you lead the platoon and begin the attack."

"Do you mean me...?"

The 2nd platoon leader, who had suddenly taken on an important responsibility, stammered. Advancing through a barrage of bullets was in effect telling you to die.

"It's impossible. Aren't the enemy forces standing upright in front of you? "It is tantamount to suicide."

"Then what should I do? There is no way around it. Stop talking nonsense and start attacking. "If you don't want to be sent to a military court for disobeying orders."

"······All right."

The reason why 2nd platoon was selected out of 3 platoons was not that important.

This is because the 2nd platoon was the only platoon with a larger proportion of Croats than Serbs.

Since the 2nd platoon leader was also Croatian, Milosi sacrificed the 2nd platoon without hesitation.

Yugoslavia, like the Five Hungarian Empire, was a multi-ethnic country with various ethnic groups, including Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Montenegrins, and Macedonians.

However, not all ethnic groups living in the same country got along well, especially Serbs and Croats.

Just because two peoples who have been hostile to each other for a long time suddenly united into one country, forgetting all their resentment and living in peace is only possible in a delusion.

Even the military, which had a top-down rule, was no exception, and it was common for Serb soldiers to discriminate against Croat soldiers.

Milosi, a typical Serb, had no desire to be friendly with Croats.

The Croatian second platoon leader gritted his teeth.

It was clear that if he refused orders now, he would be sent to a military court after the battle.

If you are very lucky, you will be demoted to sergeant or sergeant. If you are unlucky, you will be executed by firing squad.

Because it was the same whether one died one way or the other, the 2nd platoon commander chose to fight and die like a soldier.

"Platoon, follow me!"

"Covering fire!"

Still, Milosi kept his promise to provide covering fire.

When the 2nd platoon leader led the platoon members to attack, he ordered the company members to provide covering fire.

With the Madsen light machine gun firing, members of the 2nd Platoon, many of whom were Croatians, rushed in.

The Italian army's Breda M30 also opened fire immediately.

The 2nd platoon leader was attacked from the front by an enemy machine gun and rolled around on the floor in a hive.

Many of the platoon members immediately followed the platoon leader.

A small number of soldiers succeeded in advancing through enemy fire.

The soldiers who succeeded in advancing kicked in the main door of the building where the Italian ambush team was hiding. As the Italian soldiers were fighting with the 2nd Platoon members, the shooting slowed down.

"Now! Everyone move forward!"

As the enemy's fire slowed down, Milosi led his company members and charged.

A couple of soldiers lost their lives to blind bullets, but after those two there were no more casualties. The 2nd Platoon personnel who had charged ahead took care of the Italian ambush group.

The battle continued until sunset.

***

June 26, 1940

Trento, Italy

I visited Rendulic's headquarters in Trento to encourage him.

The vast majority of the residents of Trento were of Austrian descent, and they suddenly became citizens of Italy, an enemy country, following the dissolution of the Five Hungarian Empire.

Mussolini thoroughly oppressed the Austrian residents of Trentino-Alto Adige who advocated independence.

Residents who had been oppressed by the Italian government even suffered the tragedy of the city, their home, being destroyed by war.

Nevertheless, when the German army arrived, people enthusiastically welcomed them, waving Hakenkreuz flags that they had improvised at home.

The feeling that they had liberated themselves from their Italian oppressors seemed to have a greater influence than the fact that they had dropped a bomb on the city in which they lived.

"He is the Fuhrer! "The President has arrived!"

"Heil Hitler!!"

"Sieg Heil!!!"

The soldiers, surprised by the unexpected visit of a famous person, gathered around and shouted Heil Hitler.

I shook hands with a few of them, signed their military notebooks, and then entered Rendulik's headquarters.

Even after the main gate of the headquarters was closed, the voices of soldiers chanting my name continued.

"You've been through a lot, General. "Is the war going smoothly?"

"Yes, Mr. President."

Rendulic grinned and showed a map board showing the Italian army's movement route. The blue line was the friendly army, and the red line was the Italian army.

"As you can see, the enemy is busy retreating. Morale is low, and weapons are poor due to lack of supply due to friendly air raids. Just yesterday, two divisions of the Italian army were disintegrated and 1,500 people surrendered. "There are so many prisoners in the rear that we are in trouble."

"This is true. "Maybe it's an advanced strategy to paralyze the administration by taking on more prisoners than we can bear."

Rendulik's staff burst into laughter. Ren Dulik also whined, as if it was difficult for him to smile, but soon regained his composure and continued his explanation.

"An hour ago, Rommel reported that Venice was occupied, and the 15th Panzer Division and 164th Infantry Division are attacking Vicenza."

Egglesge's 4th Mountain Corps is engaged in combat with the Italian army to open the road to Verona.

It is said that Rodolfo Graziani, commander of the Italian army, who fled from Trento to Verona, fled to Bergamo. Anyway, running away is really fast.

"We expect to be able to reach Verona within three or four days. From now on, we will continue with Operation Coconut."

Operation Hannibal, the invasion of Italy, consists of three operations.

Operation Benito, whose goal was to advance to the Verona-Venice line; Operation Coconut, whose goal was to advance to the border of San Marino; and finally, Operation Alaric, which was to advance to Rome and capture it.

Operation Benito was effectively over, and it was decided to launch Operation Coconut as soon as supply and reorganization were completed.

There is also Operation Chromium to occupy the northwestern region of Italy, including Milan and Genoa, but that is on hold for now.

"Wouldn't it be more effective to end the war by going straight south to Rome rather than advancing to Milan?"

"That's my opinion too."

Yugoslavia, which had declared war on Italy, was struggling against the dying Italian army.

To date, the only Italian territory occupied by the Yugoslav army is Zadar, and all offensives made in the direction of the Istrian Peninsula were repulsed by the Italian army. Only an artillery battle is going on at the Albanian border.

At first glance, it looks like they entered the war with the intention of gaining some money from the Congo in hopes of Germany's victory, but it seems that they are not as powerful as expected.

That's because the Yugoslav army was so bad that the Italian army looked like fairies.

In Yugoslavia, a multi-ethnic country like the Five Hungarian Empire, the Serbs monopolized all power, oppressing and completely ignoring minorities, including Croats.

There was no way the army would be in good shape when the country was in shambles, and the Yugoslav army, which was already poorly armed, was not even united, so its discipline was in shambles.

When the German invasion began, Croatian soldiers shot and killed a Serbian officer and deserted to join the Germans. Even Serbian soldiers had low morale and were busy running around when they heard the Germans had appeared.

As a result, Yugoslavia was defeated 11 days after the start of the war and disappeared from the map.

Fortunately, the Yugoslav partisans led by Tito played a big role and the Yugoslav army's disgrace was relatively buried. If it had not been for that, the Yugoslav army might have taken the place of the Italian army.

"It's like they're just rushing in without even checking whether their own country's soldiers can fight properly. "It is a truly pathetic country."

"I know yeah. "Who knew there was a floor under the floor and that there was an army that could fight worse than the Italians?"

If there is a benefit gained from Yugoslavia's participation in the war, it is that the Albanian garrison was prevented from crossing to mainland Italy - there are not many troops left since they were already drafted as soon as possible - and that the Italian troops isolated on the Istrian peninsula are behind the friendly forces. What this means is that the possibility of threatening has become zero.

Anyway, even without these things, I don't think we'll lose to Italy or anything like that.

***

June 27, 1940

Milan, Italy

Hitler's decision to prioritize southward advance over westward allowed northwestern Italy to avoid the fate of becoming a battleground.

However, even if the tragedy of the city becoming a battlefield was avoided, air raids could not be avoided.

In order to completely annihilate the Italians' will to resist, the Luftwaffe continued merciless air raids every day.

"Kids, hurry! I do not have time!"

When the air raid alarm sounded, people hurriedly ran to the shelter. Everyone, including a housewife holding the hands of her two children, an old man holding a cane, and a delinquent son who had skipped school to play, all rushed to the bomb shelter and basement when they heard the siren.

Milan, the capital of Lombardy in northwestern Italy and the economic capital of Italy, was hit by Luftwaffe air raids. It was the first air raid since the start of the war.

The Italian Air Force's Ro.37 fighter jets scrambled to intercept, but were all shot down by the Bf109s escorting the bomber formation. When all the obstructionists disappeared, the bomber pilots leisurely dropped their bombs.

"It's time to eat. "Italian pigs."

Bombs dropped by Fw 200 and He 177 one after another set fire to the houses where Milan residents lived, the schools their children attended, restaurants, shops, and hospitals.

Originally, religious facilities such as schools, hospitals, and churches were excluded from attack targets in accordance with the Geneva Convention, but all buildings looked the same to bomber pilots flying several kilometers above the ground.

The aimrs also targeted any large building, regardless of whether it was a school or an ordinary house.

Milan Cathedral, a famous landmark in Milan, also fell victim to the bomb.

Hitler and Goering's instructions to not touch cultural heritage as much as possible prevented direct bomb hits, but the bomb fell right near the cathedral, breaking all the windows of the cathedral and destroying part of the wall.

Anti-aircraft guns fired shells, but it was not enough to stop the German Air Force's air attack.

The Italian army even brought in old anti-aircraft guns that had been used in World War I to prevent air raids, but both firepower and range were insufficient to prevent bombings. It was so meager.

"It's beautiful."

"Didn't you hear me clearly?"

The co-pilot asked back Richthofen's words.

"Look down."

Milan, vaguely visible, was filled with balls of fire blooming everywhere and smoke rising from the ends of the balls.

Richthofen looked down at the ground with a gaze as if appreciating a watercolor painting.

"There is no sight more beautiful than an enemy city engulfed in fire and smoke. "I think it's several times more beautiful than Guernica."

On April 26, 1937, Richthofen reduced Guernica, a small city in the Basque Country of Spain, to a sea of fire using Ju87 Stukas and He 111s.

More than 1,600 of the 15,000 residents died in the air raid, and upon hearing the news, Picasso painted 'Guernica' and exhibited it at the Paris World's Fair.

Although the whole world poured out its voices of condemnation for Germany's atrocities, Richthofen did not even listen.

His only regret was that he had not been able to make Paris a 'true city of light.'

"I couldn't turn Paris into a sea of fire, so I definitely want to turn Rome into a sea of fire. "You probably think the same as me, right?"

"Would it be possible?"