China understands the Western world, but the Western world does not understand China. Even Britain, the United States, France and other countries cannot understand why China must support Ethiopia in resisting Italian aggression, and even risk declaring war with the German and Italian camps.

Since the second half of 1936, China's political trend has suddenly changed a lot. First, through the Congress, it issued a statement to publicly oppose the extreme left and extreme right-leaning Spanish-dominated civil war, and publicly warned Italy to stop its military operations invading Ethiopia, accompanied by this

China also sent hundreds of thousands of free coalition forces into Spain and Ethiopia.

In March 1937, China reached an agreement with other member states at the Asian League leadership meeting that Asian League members shall no longer maintain direct military alliance relations with other countries. On this grounds, the Imperial Prime Minister Gu Weijun personally visited France.

Discussed the early interruption of Sino-French alliance relations and the signing of the Sino-French Friendship and Mutual Assistance Agreement.

Since China has essentially started war with the Soviet Union, Germany and Italy in the region, and is also in a tense naval competition with Japan. France, who is unwilling to be involved in the war, gave a decent understanding. After several rounds of negotiations, the two sides changed the "China" signing "China"

The French Friendship and Mutual Assistance Agreement officially ended its military alliance on August 15, 1937.

At this point, China has also clarified the diplomatic relations of the entire country and shifted China's diplomatic focus from developed countries in Europe and the United States to Asia, Central and South America and East Africa.

When China completed its strategic development plan for nuclear weapons, the political situation in the whole world changed drastically since this year, and few countries could understand the sudden changes in China's policy direction.

The empire sent more than 200,000 Free Alliance troops to the Spanish battlefield, and also invested 60,000 Free Alliance troops in the East African battlefield to form two semi-mechanized army divisions, attacking the Italian army head-on.

Speaking of which, the Italian army was not even as powerful as the Spanish civil strife.

The formal intervention of the Imperial CSKA quickly collapsed the Italian invading army, and the so-called Free Alliance was basically composed of the Imperial Second Line Patrol Forces and local retired non-commissioned officers, and some were even freshmen who had just graduated from military academy.

In May 1937, the furious Italy simply tore apart its face and directly threatened that the Empire would break out of a real world war. The Empire sent the regular Central Defense Forces into East Africa even more mercilessly, and all the Navy, Army and Air Forces sent elite main forces to arrive.

After the situation further deteriorated, Britain and France decided to intervene in mediation, but Italy refused because Italy had assembled 200,000 troops in Eritrea, and drew about 400 aircraft and more than 200 tanks from the country, and set up a pair of them.

The stance of expanding the war in an all-round way.

The Imperial Central Army confronted twice its enemy forces with four army divisions and one air division, but with the joint combat Free Alliance and the Ethiopian Army, the total force was basically equivalent to the army.

Ethiopia is already a very hot place in May. Ethiopia is different from Sudan in the north and Somalia in the east. It is a country with relatively abundant water resources in Africa. Of course, it cannot compare to countries like Uganda and Congo, but in Northeast Africa, it does have a climate.

The environment is very good, but unfortunately the utilization rate of water resources is too low.

After all, this is the place where human beings were born, and its natural environment has its own particularity.

Liu Gengyun knew very early that he might be going to Ethiopia, and he had been collecting information related to this and military intelligence from the Italian army. Even so, when he came to Africa, he still felt that he knew too little about this world.

In his impression, Africa was a vast grassland, with African lions and cheetahs, as well as endless indigenous people. During the Ethiopian leadership, he took the time to go to some local historic buildings to realize that Africa also has a long history.

It is not difficult to deal with the Italian army at his level, and the key is not his level, but the level of the entire army. Comparing from this level, he has several large-scale battles with the Italian army in the past few months

Judging from the level of the opponent's exploration, such an army is not even as good as the bandits in Northeast China back then.

At one point, he had a little difficulty in understanding that such an army dared to invade other countries?

Why?

He could understand this. Now Italy is not the Roman Empire era at all. Italy's city-state system has made soldiers from all over the country lack mutual identity. As the birthplace of modern national consciousness, Europe, especially Latin Europe, the Italians.

It seems too special, and it is difficult for them to even condense the heroic sentiment of dying for the nation.

This is a Roman descendant who has long been spiritually corrupt.

In fact, Liu Gengyun had been away from the front line of the army for a long time after the Sino-Soviet War and had always served as the dean of the Northeast Military Academy, but this allowed him to have extremely in-depth research on the changes in mechanized wars and modern military theories, tactics and strategies.

And this is precisely the reason why the emperor sent him to agree to the main battle of the army. He wanted to use one experimental battle after another to prove the development of the imperial army in this ancient ruins of the Aksum Empire.

The question of whether the direction is correct.

If there is an error, they can also readjust.

Although it is not superior in military power, Liu Gengyun brought three elite mechanized divisions, namely the 10th Division, the 14th Division and the 20th Division. These are elite troops established in the early days of the empire's reorganization division.

The 10th Division is the main tank armored division, and the 14th and 20th Divisions are both conventional armored divisions.

In the past few months, by fighting and practicing, Liu Gengyun organized a 120,000 Free Alliance into six new Free Brigades. However, until today, Liu Gengyun has not really taken out the main force, nor has he allowed him to do so.

The Free Alliance fought quickly with the Imperial Army's most expert fast mobile tactics.

Just like cooperating with Chen Wu as the head of the director, Liu Gengyun of the academy was not the kind of general who was eager to succeed. He was better at maintaining the defensive steadily and waiting for the other party to reveal great flaws. Before that, he was not used to it.

The main force is exposed by seeking success early.

In addition, because the entire army had never fought against the Italian army, the earliest contact with the Italian army was during World War I. Both he and the troops needed time to adapt to the opponent, become familiar with the opponent, and understand the opponent's habits.

The Italian army has colonies and ports in both north and south of Ethiopia, but because the Imperial Navy entered Aden and guarded the entire Gulf of Aden, the Italian army did not dare to take risks easily, and could only gather at the Massawa port in Eritrea on the north side and headed south to enter.

Aksum, once again assembled into an army of 400,000 in the Aksum Heights, and the Army Air Force had more than 2,000 fighter jets and more than 400 bombers.

Although it only took several large-scale battles, the Italian army retreated very quickly, and had basically emptyed the entire Ethiopia, and only concentrated defense around Aksum.

Liu Gengyun arranged the troops of the Free Alliance in a small town called Abiadi to set up defenses, and the agreed army maintained a distance of about 30 kilometers, while the three mechanized divisions and a newly formed logistics brigade of the Central Army, the main elite, were left.

In the Mercklay area.

It makes sense for the Italian army to deploy defenses in the Aksum area, because this area is full of barren mountains and no roads. It is too difficult for mechanized troops to quickly penetrate. The overall terrain is extremely beneficial to the defense, although the Italian army's combat literacy is not strong.

General Liu Gengyun, who was sent from the academy, did not intend to attack him hard.

Before he knew it, he was already a 57-year-old veteran general. He fought for ten years and served as the dean for twenty years. He was familiar with "Records of the Grand Historian" and was more like a literary writer in every move.

Not a military general.

After understanding the local terrain, Liu Gengyun re-formed a new combat plan and reported it to the Central Military Department, hoping to obtain approval.

Before the military department approved it, he should actively make preparations. If the Central Military Department does not approve it, he can only attack hard. Even if it is a hard attack, he must be strategic. If the central government approves his plan, he must attack quickly.

There is no strategy for a quick attack. Just be fast enough. If you march for a 300-kilometer marches directly, you can directly cut off the opponent's port, but it only requires the cooperation of the navy.

In the past few days, the Central Military Department has been holding meetings. The majority of supporters of Liu Gengyun's new combat plan have been, because this has always been the style of the Imperial Army. Although the strength of the Imperial Army is definitely strong enough, the Army prefers to perform quickly

Offensive advantages.

The Army agreed, but the General Staff and the Navy did not agree very much. The Army could also use the Free Alliance to cover up the war. Even the Navy was killed. What is this? Is it equivalent to completely declaring war between China and Italy?

The Imperial Central Navy's two aircraft carriers and two battleships have arrived in the Gulf of Aden, only 700 kilometers away from the Italian Navy, and it can be reached in 14 hours. With the submarine troops hidden in the Somalia waters, and the air force stationed in Ethiopia, I want to

It is not impossible to defeat the three battleships docked by the Italian Navy at the port of Massawa.

After endless debate, he had to go to the emperor in the end, and the emperor concluded that "declare war first, then fight decisively."

This decision made the cabinet very uncomfortable. Although Germany and Italy have not signed a formal alliance treaty, in form, the two sides have confirmed quasi-ally alliance agreements such as coordination of foreign policy. After the empire decided to interfere in the Spanish civil war, Germany considered China and Germany.

The importance of the relationship and Hitler's personal special respect for His Majesty the Emperor, Germany immediately chose to withdraw from the war and reduced its support for the Spanish far-right.

After China and France ended their military alliance and only maintained their economic covenant and strategic mutual assistance agreement, Germany could not wait to strengthen China-Germany relations and tried to form an alliance with China at all costs. It has been showing goodwill recently, which has maintained China-Germany relations very much.

In a good situation, Germany has been actively trying to mediate the Sino-Italy war.

If the military headquarters really declares war, it will not only completely break up with Italy, but also give Germany a loud slap, and even Sino-German relations will break down.

Military, China is not afraid of the breakdown of this relationship, but economically, the cabinet still hopes to maintain existing relationships and cooperation.

After another dispute between the military headquarters and the cabinet, the emperor summoned Prime Minister Gu Weijun late at night to coordinate on this, but the cabinet finally chose to make concessions.

On May 25, 1937, the Central Cabinet Government notified the Italian Embassy in Beijing, and formally announced that the Italian army must recognize Ethiopia's freedom within 5 days, withdraw all the Italian army's military armed forces in Ethiopia, and compensate Ethiopia 40 million.

The British pound war compensation, otherwise China will declare war on Italy and end all Italian colonial rule in East Africa.

After receiving this news, Liu Gengyun couldn't wait to let the main force of the army march northward. Regardless of whether the navy fights or not, he will definitely fight. After all, he has enough air force in his hand, so he will definitely fight.

On May 30, under the coordination of Germany and Britain and France, Mussolini decided to agree to China's request for a ceasefire, but refused to pay any war compensation to Ethiopia. The two sides failed to reach any agreement on this clause.

On May 31, China officially declared war on Italy at 9 a.m. Beijing time and 3 a.m. Cairo time.

As a result, the most dramatic scene in the history of human war will officially happen.

Two days after the declaration of war, Liu Gengyun was still actively preparing for the offensive. In order to restrain the Italian army and cover the main elite to go north to cut off the Italian army's retreat, he decided to send the Free Alliance to attack the Aksum area. Six new brigades will do this day.

Be prepared to go north in full.

Just as Liu Gengyun was preparing to send troops, four infantry divisions and an armored brigade of the Italian colonial army stationed in East Africa had already advanced south to attack, and more than 100,000 troops rushed to the Abiadi defense line stationed by the Free Alliance.

Academic generals like Liu Gengyun are very good at choosing a defense zone. The defense line he arranged is only twenty kilometers away from the Italian army's Aksum defense line, but there are plateau mountains on both sides, only in the middle.

A fifteen-kilometer-long area is a hilly area.

In the construction of the entire defense line, Liu Gengyun also chose to rely on the high ground for defense. The Italian army could easily attack the defense line, but the main force was also extremely easy to be cut open and must be dispersed to siege the high ground of the Free Alliance. Once this is the case,

In the battle situation, Liu Gengyun can fully utilize the Chinese Army's expertise in rapid offensives, use defensive highlands to attract the enemy, and then conduct surrounds and cutting operations around the surrounding areas, and constantly use the mobile skills of infantry to encircle and annihilate the opponents.

Liu Gengyun's idea is very good, but the Yijun did not think so. What did they think will probably be an indescribable suspense for a long time. In short, the Yijun directly rushed the south, and four infantry divisions followed.

Behind an armored brigade, he rushed directly into Liu Gengyun's Abiadi defense line with a line of force, as if there was no defense line here, or they thought that once they came, their opponents would run away.

The Italian Air Force has reconnaissance aircraft, fighter aircraft, and bombers. These aircraft can know the situation here as long as they fly over the air. The battle has been fought for so long. Since war is about to be declared, they have confronted each other for nearly three times a distance of less than 20 kilometers.

Months, you must have a basic understanding of the enemy's defense arrangement?

As a result, the Italian army had no idea what the situation was in Abiadi's defense line.

Academic generals like Liu Gengyun can be said to have been fighting for the first half of their lives and engaged in strategic, tactical and military research for the second half of their lives. However, they have never encountered such an army in their lifetime, nor have they studied such an army in their lifetime.

It is neither imaginable nor understandable.

Liu Gengyun operated the Abiadi defense line for three months and arranged more than 40 key highland defense areas. As a result, the Italian army rushed in like tens of thousands of blind troops, and no air force participated in the battle from beginning to end.

The end result is obviously a tragedy comedy.

After being cut, more than 100,000 troops were bombarded. After two troops in front and behind, Liu Gengyun originally wanted to siege the city and attack the aid, annihilate the two troops, and surround the remaining troops in the center, allowing the Italian army to follow up.

The troops came to rescue and sent the main force to intercept the rescue troops. As a result, before the army could encircle, the Italian troops of more than 100,000 troops surrendered.
To be continued...