1943, July 9, 18:42 to 20:20.
The British 1st Airborne Division landed 2,000 troops from the 1st Brigade. Under the leadership of Brigadier General Hicks, the brigade commander, they took off from Susa Airport in Tunisia in 144 gliders towed by transport aircraft. However, due to aircraft failures, only 137 took off successfully. According to the combat plan, the transport aircraft should decouple from the glider at about 2,700 meters away from the Sicilian coastline and at an altitude of 3,000 meters. However, due to bad weather and in order to avoid being detected prematurely by German radar, the transport aircraft flew at a low altitude and decoupled from the glider before it could reach the appropriate altitude when approaching Sicily. As a result, 69 gliders fell into the sea and 605 airborne troops died. The glider on which Brigadier Hicks was riding also fell into the sea. Hicks climbed onto the wing of the glider before it sank and was rescued by a special landing craft and brought to the shore. 24 hours later, Hicks arrived at the scheduled airborne area-Pendeglang Bridge to command the battle.
22 of the remaining gliders landed within 1,600 meters of the target, 49 landed within 10-16 kilometers of the target, and only 2 landed near the Pendegrand Bridge. The two gliders that landed in the predetermined area, under the command of Lieutenant Withers, captured the bridge from the Italian defenders and quickly organized a defense. By the early morning of the 10th, nearly 100 more airborne troops arrived one after another, including Lieutenant Colonel Walsh, the deputy brigade commander. Lieutenant Colonel Walsh organized the airborne troops into combat groups and launched a desperate battle with Italian coastal troops and German tank troops. However, due to the disparity in strength, heavy casualties, and exhaustion of ammunition, the bridge was once again occupied by the Germans at 16:00 on the 10th. Thirty minutes later, the landing force of the 5th British Infantry Division arrived and worked with Lieutenant Colonel Walsh to recapture the bridge.
The British 1st Airborne Division landed at the 1st Brigade Bridge Headquarters.
"Lieutenant, have you found Sergeant Moffitt?" Brigadier General Hicks, the brigade commander who had just arrived at the unit, asked immediately.
Lieutenant Withers shook his head with a heavy tone: "Someone witnessed the transport plane she was on crashing into the sea."
"Have you found the body?" Lieutenant Colonel Walsh, the deputy brigade commander, understood that Anna Moffett, the missing secretary of the British sergeant, was responsible for a secret mission deep behind enemy lines.
"No, not even the plane wreckage." Lieutenant Withers meant that neither the plane wreckage nor the body had been found.
"Keep looking. Sergeant Moffett is very important to this battle." In fact, the brigade commander, Brigadier General Hicks, was not very clear about what was important. Because when he arrived, he was only told by his superiors that this was a top-secret mission.
"Yes!" Out of the duty of a soldier to obey orders, Lieutenant Withers didn't ask any more questions.
"This battle was very hard." When only the confidants were left in the bridge headquarters, the deputy brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Walsh, gave the latest battle report: "The multiple beach landings launched by the Allied vanguard were defeated by the Italian Coast Division. retreat."
"When did the Italians on Sicily become an elite force?" Brigadier General Hicks, the brigade commander, also frowned: "This is completely inconsistent with previous intelligence."
"I heard that the entire Coastal Division was recruited as extras to participate in the filming of "The Great Battle."" Lieutenant Colonel Walsh, the deputy brigade commander, shook his head: "Maybe they were trained by filming the movie."
"If the intelligence is accurate, then these Italians are just like what people say, they are born to show off, good at disguise and deception." Looking at the expression of Brigadier General Hicks, the brigade commander, there seems to be some understanding: "Starting from Mussolini, All of them are 'born performers'."
"These Italians have spent a lot of money to perform with their lives." These words of Lieutenant Colonel Walsh, the deputy brigade commander, hit the point.
"The "master of acting" Mussolini, who brought Italy to destruction with his acting skills, led the Fascist party to march into Rome in 1922 without encountering any resistance and was canonized by the king. From then on, he turned the whole of Italy into a He set up his own theater and began to perform a one-man show. He began to dictate everything, appointing people he trusted to take charge of civil affairs, engineering, diplomacy and other aspects. He determined the content of newspapers, books, radio, movies and even encyclopedias, and he had no objection The faction needs to be dealt with. He is also the only ambassador, general and various bureaucrats. However, he has also been confused by his multi-tasking. Diplomatically, he is too optimistic about the world situation; in propaganda, those fanatical words have become worse over time. , even he believed it to be true. In order to reflect his diligence and talent, he also personally participated in various specific things, such as engineering construction, military training and weapon design.
He has a firm grip on the publicity machine, releasing stuff that drives people crazy. In order to portray himself as diligent in government affairs, the lights in the Prime Minister's Office were kept on all night. However, his guards revealed to reporters at the time that in fact, the head of state did not always work in the office. The head of state would enjoy various lifestyles and even chat with the guards to pass the time. When I am a performer to the public, I am completely living in an illusory kingdom.
Which city he wants to visit must be carefully prepared in advance. Many public projects were built for him and opened by him. After receiving him, most of them were abandoned. Soldiers from various places will be transported to the place he is about to visit, making him feel like he can review millions of soldiers anywhere. Even the policemen in black clothes were bought from the countryside a day in advance to fill up their numbers. It has to be said that during Mussolini's rule, Italy's public works construction also made certain progress. However, due to the whitewashing and exaggerated propaganda, as well as the large number of profiteers who obstructed it, in general, these achievements were not as good as the reputation and reality. The moral price paid is extremely disproportionate. This skillful deception technique even deceived Hitler. It is not unreasonable for Hitler to regard Mussolini as his idol in his early years. Mussolini is indeed the ancestor in terms of propaganda methods and demagoguery. When Hitler visited Italy in 1938, Mussolini ordered that 'all nineteenth-century stuff' be covered up, any infrastructure given a fresh coat of paint, and the reviewing troops brought in the best equipment from across the country. and brand new uniforms. Such deception made the alliance believe that Italy was a highly industrialized modern country.
However, all this was a mirage. Mussolini once imagined that the various low-cost weapons he designed could be used to assemble troops on a large scale and win with numbers, while the opponents' so-called sonar and radar were just deceptions exaggerated by the media. trick. As everyone knows, every time he reviews, many of the Italian army's weapons and equipment have shell models carefully created by artists for review purposes only. And Italy's backward industrial system is completely unable to support these 'military parade exclusive' products to be effective on the battlefield. On the battlefield, Italian soldiers could achieve some short-term victories in the early stage by relying on high morale and tactical tricks. They had good military discipline and high morale. But soon, a series of problems such as insufficient logistics, backward equipment levels, and low tactical literacy of the commanding generals were exposed. The situation reversed slightly, and the army was quickly defeated.
People were willing to accompany Mussolini in this performance and to believe Mussolini at first. But as the front line retreated, Italians began to discover that their brave children had become the performer's burial objects. People could cheer for a performance, but they could not endure a performance at the expense of their lives and the lives of the next generation. cheat. In 1943, with the king's verbal support, domestic opposition parties arrested Mussolini as a condition for armistice peace talks. What Mussolini never dreamed of was that he would no longer have the support of his comrades and the masses. The play ends. He has deceived the people and brought Italy into war, but at the same time, he has also been deceived by the deception he created. Mussolini was later rescued by a Nazi glider and fled to northern Italy to establish a puppet regime. After two years of survival, the Allied forces were overwhelming. When Mussolini was at the end of his rope in 1945, he tried to change into soldier's clothes and flee to the border. At that time, he was discovered by the local guerrillas and immediately executed. Thus ended his life as a performer.
After his body arrived in Rome, he was brutally murdered on the street. Italians hated this clown who had deceived them for more than 20 years. After all, the pillar of support collapsed. His performance deceived many people. The most tragic thing is that even he himself believed his performance to be true. In this big play, Mussolini directed and acted himself, using the whole of Italy as his extras. But what awaits the clown is the day when the death knell rings. ”——Adapted from “The “Performer” Mussolini, Leading Italy to Destruction with His Acting Skills”.
