After discovering that their retreat was blocked by the Germans, the Italian troops on the front line suddenly couldn't sit still.
They began to doubt that the German army's strength was definitely not as small as they thought. Otherwise, the German army would not even be able to fill the front line. Where would there be extra troops to attack them?
The Italians on the front line speculated that the German army opposite them had at least 150,000 to 250,000 troops. Otherwise, the German army would not have the courage to take the initiative!
Thinking of this, Yi Daili was so scared that he no longer dared to take the initiative to attack the German army. They began to shrink their defense lines and planned to wait for reinforcements!
However, an army of 100,000 people consumes an astonishing amount of food for food and drink every day. In addition, fighting also requires the consumption of weapons and ammunition, and the injured also require medical treatment. These materials need to be transported from the rear.
At this time, their way back was cut off by the German army. If they sat idly by and ignored them, the Italian troops on the front line would be out of food in a few days.
People are like iron rice and steel. If you don't eat a meal, you will be hungry!
If there was no food, they would probably starve to death in this ravine!
Therefore, the Italians had no choice but to send troops back to attack the German army and try to recapture the logistics base.
Twenty thousand Italians walked along the railway in fear. Fearing that they would be ambushed by the Germans, the army dragged its feet and only arrived after walking three days of the day's journey.
When they arrived in Carnia, they found that the German army had already disappeared without a trace, leaving them with only a dozen warehouses that had been burned to ashes!
Seeing this scene, the Italian army looked at each other in shock!
Although they were lucky enough to open the passage and recapture the strategic fulcrum that was very important to them, all the supplies they had stored here were burned, which meant that they were still facing a huge food crisis!
Therefore, the Italians hurriedly reported the situation to the front line and also reported to the capital Rome area, requesting Rome to provide them with emergency food assistance!
Roma was a little shocked after hearing the news. How was this battle fought? Why did they need another batch of food and grass in just a few days?
Didn't they bring a large amount of food and supplies when they went on an expedition a few days ago?
Because it was not long after the end of World War I, Italy's situation at this time was not good. Italy was not a powerful country to begin with, and could only be regarded as a second-rate country in Europe. The war's consumption of the economy was very huge, so Italy's situation at this time was not very good. Like other European countries after the war, prices have soared.
Although Italy paid great attention to the request from the front line, ten supplies was not a small amount. It took them six months to collect these supplies, and when they loaded the supplies on the train and transported them to the front line, they It took a day!
Because of the German sneak attack, the Italian army faced a shortage of supplies for more than a week. During this period of more than a week, the soldiers in the army already knew that their supplies had been burned, so the soldiers Morale is declining at a speed visible to the naked eye.
They were originally asked to attack the German defense line, but the morale of the soldiers had been dampened due to the large number of casualties. At this time, they were affected by the bad news from the rear. The Italian troops on the front line suddenly lost all morale, and some troops even refused to fight!
And they have little fighting will, which does not mean the same is true for the German army!
Encouraged by the news of the victory of the friendly forces, the morale of the German army was greatly boosted. Not only did they constantly harass the Italian troops during the day, but they also sent small groups of troops to attack the Italians from time to time at night.
Small groups of German troops continued to appear near the Italian military camp and attacked their sentries. Over the course of a few days, more than a hundred Italian sentries were killed, which caused considerable harm to the Italians. In panic, the soldiers were unwilling to go on sentry duty. Even if they had to be forced out, they did not dare to leave their barracks too far because the enemy's night attack was too terrifying!
However, the Italians were like a coward. Although the German army had no good solution for a while, if the Italians did not come out, the initiative would completely fall into the hands of the German army!
Model was bold and careful. He ordered the German army to bypass the Italian army, march south along the railway in a swagger, and then blow up six or seven railway bridges along the line!
It is very, very difficult to build railways in this area of the Alps, and the most difficult thing is to build railway bridges in these places!
After the German army destroyed these railway bridges, the 100,000 Italian troops in the north were completely cut off from the rear and became a thorn in the side of the German army!
However, Model has no interest in this Italian army that has temporarily lost its ability to move, because they have all retreated into their own turtle shells. If the German army takes the initiative to attack, it will definitely be lost under the Italian artillery fire. Tragic. Once the enemy discovers that they only have 10,000 troops, the Italians may regain their confidence and take the initiative to attack them. If so, the situation will be very unfavorable to the German army!
So Model gave up on the big fat sheep in front of him. He divided the German troops into several groups and asked them to go south and deep into Italy to wreak havoc!
In order to gather 100,000 troops to launch an attack, the Italians almost demobilized all the troops in the northern part of Italy. At this time, there were almost no troops everywhere, and because they knew that there was a 100,000-strong army on the front line, they He was not worried about his own safety at all. Such a careless approach naturally provided the German army with an opportunity!
From October 12th to October 29th, for more than half a month, the German army attacked in all directions and launched attacks on dozens of towns around Udi.
The German attack is very skillful. They will conduct advance reconnaissance of the towns they attack. If they find that the opponent is well-defended and has sufficient troops, they will abandon the target and instead look for other targets that are easier to attack!
And if it is discovered that the opponent is neglecting defense and is not too vigilant, the German army will launch an attack without hesitation.
Although the German attack did not cause any horrific massacre, they almost completely destroyed the towns they captured, and the people in the towns were escorted out with arms.
Soon, a refugee army consisting of more than 500,000 people appeared in northern Italy. After this army gathered, it began to move towards Venice!
Now, the Italian government is really starting to have a headache!