Mediterranean Hegemony Road

Chapter 22: Attacking the Netherlands

The melee in Europe has already begun, and the French have played a big role to let everyone understand that they, the world's number one army power, are not in vain.

While confronting the Germans, they pushed the Italians to the ground and beat them. The French military also announced that they would go to Rome for a military parade in three months.

Judging from the current situation, the possibility of this happening is still very high. The Italians even lost Bologna, and whether they can last for three months is a question.

This is still based on the help of the British. If there is no blood transfusion from this nanny, let alone three months, it will be the Italians who can last for a month.

Less than half a month after the outbreak of the war, the Italians lost more than 600,000 troops. On average, 3 divisions were wiped out every day.

"Chief of Staff, tell me about the current situation in the European War!" Little Ferdinand said

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Christopher replied

"Since the outbreak of the war on July 18, the three major belligerent countries have mobilized more than 8 million troops and waged a great war with the Rhine and Milan as battlefields.

Among them, France mobilized about 2.87 million troops, Germany mobilized 2.76 million troops, and Italy mobilized 1.84 million troops.

At present, Germany and France are facing each other along the Rhine River, and no one can do anything to each other. The armies of the two countries have not yet formally fought.

The battlefield in Italy is already very obvious. The 800,000 French troops beat the Italians to tears, and the French troops performed very well.

The Italian army is still at a normal level. The current battle loss ratio between the two sides is about 1:14.6. Their performance is not as good as that of the Poles!

Judging from the current battlefield situation, if the Germans cannot break through the Rhine defense line, it will be a matter of time before Italy is finished. "

"What if the British join the war directly?" Prime Minister Torchis asked with concern

Christophe explained: "The British Army is limited in number, and there are only about 200,000 troops stationed in the mainland. It will take at least a month for them to complete the national mobilization.

The British are different from us. Their reserve mobilization mechanism is very backward. After these troops are mobilized, they have to undergo a period of training before they can be put on the battlefield.

When they join the war,

The Italian battlefield has long since ended. "

Sure enough, ignoring the British is not unreasonable. Unless someone declares war on them, according to the procedure, it is highly efficient to persuade Congress to join the war in one month.

Coupled with the backward mobilization mechanism, the French saw this in World War II in history, so they simply pretended to be dead.

"Is it possible for the British to blockade the coast of France and cut off the supplies of the French?" Chancellor of Finance Merkel asked doubtfully.

Christopher analyzed: "The British are already doing it, although they haven't finished yet, in fact the English Channel, the North Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean have all been blocked by them.

All the French ships were detained by them, and now the only transport companion for the French is the Mediterranean Sea. The French have concentrated all the main force of the navy and temporarily kept the only lifeline at sea.

Under normal circumstances, unless the main force of the Royal Navy enters the Mediterranean, they are unable to block France. "

It is easy for the Royal Navy to enter the Mediterranean Sea at this time, but it is not so simple to go out. There is no need to think about it. How could Bulgaria not eat the bait delivered to the door?

The British can afford to lose warships, but naval officers and soldiers cannot afford to lose them, and technical arms are not so easy to replenish.

Once naval superiority was lost, they had no choice but to throw in the towel.

It can be said that apart from worrying about being besieged by the navies of Bulgaria and France in the Mediterranean, the Royal Navy is not afraid of any battlefield in the world.

"Since that's the case, let's move on to the next topic. Is it still necessary for us to increase assistance to the French?" Ferdinand Jr. said calmly

The rise of the French is not without reason. The British supported Germany and Italy behind the scenes, and Bulgaria supported the French behind the scenes.

It can be said that the melee on the European continent was only the prelude to the Anglo-Bulgarian struggle for hegemony.

At this point today, everyone is forced, whether it is the British or Bulgaria, they have no choice.

The strength of the world's number two surpasses the world's number one, how can it be possible that the two sides do not have conflicts?

Even the two countries are very restrained and are trying their best to avoid the outbreak of war. But now is not the future, we don't have nuclear bombs that make the other side drop the mouse.

No, it's just that the British don't. Bulgaria already has it, but it is still in the secrecy stage. Even the cabinet members of this term don't know about it. Except for the people involved in the research, only the two emperors know about it.

If you know it, you know, little Ferdinand still has no plans to use it, unless the British Royal Navy gathers together, he doesn't mind a bomb.

Obviously, such an opportunity does not exist. The British have so many overseas colonies, how can the Royal Navy gather together? So now everyone is still conducting the strategy department according to conventional weapons.

"Your Majesty, strategically speaking, we still need to support the French, and it is absolutely impossible for the British to abandon Germany and Italy.

Now support the French to fight a proxy war and consume the strength of the British, which is very powerful for us! ’ Christopher replied

Chancellor of Finance Merkel said: "Your Majesty, there is no problem financially, all our supplies are sold to the French at market prices, and they will pay with loans.

After the war is over, let the French get better slowly, and repay the loan with their wealth, it is not a problem! "

Little Ferdinand smiled slightly, and said in a euphemistic way: In fact, aid is still charged, but the loans provided by Bulgaria are all low-interest or interest-free.

This is exactly the same as the strategy of the French pulling Bulgaria to join the Allied Powers in World War I, except that the priorities of the two sides were reversed.

It doesn't matter if you give more of this kind of aid, it's just to stimulate the domestic economy, and the French will pay the bill anyway.

...

"Your Majesty, if the Italian battlefield continues to deteriorate, the Germans may take risks and attack the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg!" Christophe said.

What should come is still coming. The Germans attacked Belgium and Luxembourg, and Ferdinand didn't care. If they attacked the Netherlands, it would be different.

The wife is the Crown Prince of the Netherlands, and if war broke out, they would be awkward, at least in a position of trouble.

But embarrassment is embarrassment. In the face of international interests, these must be put on the back burner.

The Netherlands is a neutral country and has not joined the Eastern European Union. Bulgaria has no ally obligations to them. Naturally, it is impossible to fight for them.

Don't say that the wife is the crown prince of the Netherlands, even if she is the queen of the Netherlands, it will not change Bulgaria's position.

Once the war broke out, Ferdinand would be embarrassed. There is no doubt that the queen, as the crown prince, must be a staunch anti-German faction.

When the time comes, she will wave the flag for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, how will little Ferdinand deal with herself?

Follow up?

Is he still the Emperor of Bulgaria?

This will send a wrong message to the people. Bulgaria is about to join the war. With the militant nature of the Bulgarian people, the war is not far away.

The aftereffect is that his impression in the hearts of the people has plummeted. No one likes an impulsive king.

He is only Ferdinand II, not Ferdinand. He does not have such a high prestige, and the people will not help him find reasons and think that his decision is correct.

What about keeping silent?

At first there was no problem, but when the Dutch government-in-exile came over, little Ferdinand's troubles came, no wonder he was harassed every day!

The point is that he cannot avoid this kind of harassment, which is also a political need.

The Dutch queen in exile must work hard to restore her country, and the unlucky little Ferdinand is the target of the attack, and the wife next to her also needs to make a show for it.

Every now and then, it is necessary to have a diplomatic meeting as a matter of routine, and to chat about the same topics, which is enough for him.

This is for the Dutch people to see. No matter what, he has to cooperate unconditionally, to give them experience as a baby, and brush it down again and again until Bulgaria ends.

Regarding the emperor's headache, everyone was helpless. Bulgaria would not participate in the war until the French were seriously injured.

No one dares to underestimate the French. What if their nationalism continues to explode and another Napoleon is born?

Bulgaria doesn't want to make wedding dresses for them. After defeating the British, another European overlord will come. Isn't this making yourself unhappy?

"Remind the Dutch, let them strengthen their defenses, and let God decide their fate for the rest, we are beyond our reach!" Little Ferdinand said with a sigh

The tragedy of the Dutch lies in their lack of strength. They survived the First World War by relying on neutrality. This time it is different.

No matter how good their relationship with the Germans is, in front of national interests, these are just floating clouds.

The weakest link of the Rhine defense line is in the Netherlands. If the Germans don't attack from here, where will they attack?

Can the Kingdom of the Netherlands lend a way to Germany? If they did, they would no longer be a neutral country, but a vassal state.

Although, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was once a part of Germany in history, they have become independent, and they don't want to return to that big family anymore.

Whether the Kingdom of the Netherlands can stop it is not a matter of consideration. In Ferdinand Jr.'s view, it is not bad for the Dutchman to persist for a week.

If you had prepared a few years in advance, you might be able to defend yourself with common sense. Now that the war is about to break out, the Dutch don't know it yet, and the tragedy is already doomed.

Of course, those politicians must have known that Germany would invade the Netherlands, but they chose to pretend to be deaf and dumb for their own benefit.

The strength gap between the two sides is too big, they can't win anyway, and no one will blame them if they lose. Now it's doing more and making more mistakes, it's not bad.

Once the war is prepared in advance, a bunch of idiots will come out in the future and push the responsibility for the war on them. This kind of thing has not just happened once.

Isn't the current London government a ready example?

From the perspective of national interests, their strategy is not wrong. But in the future, they will definitely be labeled as war criminals, and political enemies will not let them go.

Anyway, someone has to take the blame, either by himself or by someone else.

The London government is also digging holes. For example, they just don't participate in the war, obviously wanting to delay the time to participate in the war until after the general election.

Secretly provoking wars among countries on the European continent and allowing the British Empire to directly participate in the war are two completely different concepts.

The former, the British Empire has been doing it for hundreds of years. As the saying goes, the law does not blame the public. Almost every previous government cannot escape.

The latter directly dragged the British Empire into the war. It was fine if they won, and they could be cleaned up later. If they lost, they would really be infamous for thousands of years.

Bulgaria's attitude of watching from the sidelines undoubtedly gave the Germans the confidence to launch a war. As long as the Eastern European Union does not join, the three countries of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg are not worth mentioning at all.

On September 12, 1939, the Germans suddenly made an excuse to the Dutch government and ordered a reply within 24 hours.

The Dutch government was dumbfounded for a moment, and hurriedly asked the British Empire to intervene. Unfortunately, in this war, the British supported the Germans.

Look for Bulgaria again, but unfortunately it is too late at this time. When the Eastern European Union was established, they refused to join, so now they have to pay for it.

Queen Wilhelmina immediately ordered a national mobilization after the Germans issued an ultimatum to war.

Unfortunately, in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which has been peaceful for decades, the war mobilization mechanism has long been rotten. Just after mobilizing 50,000 young and strong men to join the army, the war broke out before they arrived at the barracks.

On September 13, 1939, half a million German troops crossed the border and attacked the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and the world war began to spread.

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