My Italian: Chapter 677 , Battle of Nice 6

The railway station is the main point of transportation in Nice, and people go to and from Nice from here. The charming sunshine and comfortable temperature make Nice an ideal place for a winter vacation in France.

Although this is the beginning of the twentieth century, there are not many people who come to Nice to travel.

But after the war broke out, few people came to Nice to travel, and the train station was too clean. Today, the train station is bustling with crowds and various vehicles inside and outside the station.

At this time, a rumbling train pulled up to the station with a puff, and the platform that had just been emptied was about to welcome new crowds. When the train stopped, the soldiers on the platform immediately opened the doors of the boxcars, and the officers and soldiers who had spent most of the day sitting in Marseilles immediately went down to the platform.

The officer leading the team looked at the time and loudly ordered his soldiers to line up and count the number of people. After spending three minutes solving these problems, under the guidance of others, the teams lined up and walked out of the station.

The officers and soldiers who got off the train were all from the 23rd Division, and it was this division that Admiral Ebert sent reinforcements this time.

Outside the station, there are all kinds of vehicles arranged by Lieutenant General Fast, the commander of the 16th Army, the highest commander in the Nice area, including the most advanced Sophia trucks and horse-drawn carriages that rely entirely on power storage. These vehicles are to allow them to rush to Les Carrenne more quickly, where they are going to join their defenders and jointly block the fierce attacking enemy 11th Army.

At this time, Lieutenant General Fast was talking with Major General Costa, the commander of the 23rd Division, on the second floor of the station.

"Major General Costa, this is the information about the enemy's 11th Army as of two hours ago. In addition, I have sent a regiment of troops to reinforce Lescalen. I hope it can help you."

At this time, Major General Costa took over the document containing the information, and opened it without hesitation. At this time, the rescue situation was like fighting a fire, and he couldn't stop for a moment, so he didn't have much time left. Lieutenant General Fast also understood it quite well, so he was not dissatisfied with his actions.

However, when Major General Costa saw the information, he suddenly froze and said. "The Italians are already less than eight kilometers away from the Kelin Bridge. Why hasn't the bridge been blown up?"

Facing Major General Costa's words, Lieutenant General Fast looked for it and took out a stack of telegrams and handed it to him. "Look, this is a telegram from the commander of the garrison occupying the east side of the bridge."

After receiving the stack of telegrams, Major General Costa finally saw the reason why the bridge was not blown up. At the beginning, they did not blow up the bridge, because they wanted to take back the bridge to ensure the retreat of the defenders at Bro Pass. For this reason, they stopped the suspicious actions of Italian soldiers several times in a row.

And when the defenders of Bro were defeated and routed, the Italians on the opposite side were unwilling to blow up the bridge again. Let's put it this way, the two sides are only separated by the Kelin Bridge, which is more than 100 meters away. This distance determines that anyone who wants to think about the bridge will be blocked by the other party. Even at night, the flares on both sides turned the night into day, and no one had a chance.

After reading the stack of telegrams, Major General Costa finally understood why the Kelin Bridge was not blown up. At this time, he only sighed and said. "I hope the 71st Division can capture the Italians who cut off the bridge and save the retreating friendly forces."

After reading the latest information, Major General Costa knew of the battle situation of the 71st Division. He failed to capture the enemy's position after several consecutive attacks, and suffered relatively large losses. Although the structure of the enemy's position is complex and there is air superiority, this is enough to prove that it is impossible for the 71st Division to conquer the enemy's position in a short time.

Then, according to the latest information, the enemy is only eight kilometers away from the bridge, so the fate of the French army east of the bridge is already doomed.

When Major General Costa, the commander of the 23rd Division, was talking with Lieutenant General Fast, there was a new situation on the east side of the Kelin Bridge.

At this time, in the mountain depression east of the Kelin Bridge, a large number of disgraced French officers and soldiers were sitting and resting here, nearly a thousand of them. If you observe carefully, you will find that these people are basically unarmed, and very few have weapons in their hands. In addition, there are almost no heavy weapons, and the real number is miserable.

That's right, this is the vanguard of Buro's defeated troops. They have no heavy equipment, low morale and panic. This is all caused by having no retreat and being chased by the 11th Army.

For the defeated French soldiers who are now gathered at the Collin Bridge, if they want to get rid of this predicament now, they can only start from two aspects.

One is to open up the Kelin Bridge so that the troops have a way out. But this is not easy. Although the 71st Division is attacking on the opposite side, they can cooperate with the Italian army on the west side of the bridge, but now there are two problems.

A terrain restriction, it is definitely the best to seize the west side of the Kelin Bridge and pass through the bridge, but the bridge is only ten meters wide and its width is limited. If you attack from here, the casualties will be heavy. Attacking from the valley under the bridge, the terrain is very steep, and the difficulty of attacking upwards is not much better than attacking from the bridge.

The other is time, even if it is to survive by docking a lot of troops to defend steadily, it can be delayed for up to 6 hours. It is very difficult for the French army on the east side of the bridge to conquer the Colin Bridge within this time period.

In addition to opening up the bridge passage, there is another way, and that is to climb the mountain. Turn over the remaining mountains of the Alps on both sides to avoid the danger of being wiped out. However, the path up the mountain is not easy to walk, and some people may leave (abandon) after (abandon).

These two methods also represent radical and conservative, and now the retreating French army does not know how to choose between these two options. The main reason why the army did not know how to choose was the disagreement between the two commanders.

"Major General Beckett, I disagree with you. Attacking the terrain on the left side of the bridge is too disadvantageous. I have learned from Lieutenant Colonel Kaman before that the enemy's firepower on the opposite side is very fierce. In addition, the attack channel is limited. This task is too difficult. Don’t forget, the soldiers are very tired, they won’t be able to take three attacks at most, and they will definitely riot.”

"Major General Aquino, I know what you think, and I understand the dangers involved, but do you understand the dangers of climbing over the mountain? As far as our location is concerned, the mountain is full of small roads and there is no way to use vehicles. What we need Food and ammunition need to be carried by ourselves. And the small road also means that the movement is slow, as long as the enemy is faster, it is likely to cut off our road.

In addition, the slow movement also determines that we will not only increase the risk of being annihilated by the enemy when we take the path next. In addition, we plunged into the mountain, so the next battle has nothing to do with us, Major General Achino, do you know what consequences this will bring us? "

"Of course I know."

Facing Major General Beckett's words, Major General Aquino immediately retorted. "It's at least better than us taking prisoners. Look at our soldiers. They have no confidence in the defeat after passing through the mountain pass. Many of them even lost their weapons. You rely on them to help you seize the opposite position. I think it is Think too much. As long as the pursuing enemies appear, they will definitely surrender immediately. And our two divisions were all captured by the Italians. This is not good news, even if we return to China in the future, there will be no good fruit to eat."

Obviously, Major General Achino did not think that Major General Beckett's method of storming was effective. Although he was only the deputy commander, he would not stand idly by in the face of the life and death of the troops.

"Major General Aquino, your view is too pessimistic."

"No, this is the result of my comprehensive consideration based on our current situation."

At this time, the dispute between the two commanders allowed the retreating troops to rest here temporarily. However, both of them knew that continuing to argue like this would not bring good results to them, so both of them tried to speed up the way of persuasion~www.mtlnovel.com~ At this time, a piece of news brought their argument to a conclusion.

"Report, Lieutenant Colonel Gilley sent a message that their blocking position was breached by the enemy."

This news caused the two generals who were arguing to lose their voices immediately. The two battalions led by Lieutenant Colonel Ji Lei are their second line of defense. If the enemy breaks through the third line of defense 3 kilometers away from them, they will become vulnerable.

"Now order the troops to retreat along the trail, let the defenders here also withdraw, each carrying three days' rations, we evacuate from the north trail, and go to Levan. And inform the 71st Division on the opposite side of the news of our withdrawal. In addition, let the soldiers send We destroy all the heavy weapons that we can't take away, and don't leave them to the Italians."

Faced with a series of orders from Major General Achino at this time, Major General Achino did not refute it. It seems that this radical general also agreed with this point.

The defeated soldiers at Buluo Mountain Pass chose to climb over the mountain without waiting for the road to be opened.

(end of this chapter)

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