Chapter 219: Coincidence
"General Bock, should we march directly on Athens?"
Bock stood before the map of Greece, his eyes moving across mountain roads, coastal routes, ports, rail lines, and the scattered markings of enemy units.
After a moment, he shook his head.
"No. Why reinforce Athens directly?"
He tapped the map with his finger.
"We are currently in Bulgaria. From here, reinforcing Athens and moving the Army toward Albania are almost the same in terms of distance. The Italian and French forces have stretched their front too far, and judging by Italy's performance in Hungary…"
His expression remained calm, but there was a hint of disdain in his voice.
"The only reason they could advance so quickly is certainly because the French have been doing all the heavy lifting. That means the main attacking forces on the front line are French units, and that also exposes the weakness of their rear defense."
"To cut off their retreat is equivalent to relieving the crisis in Athens."
Bock straightened.
"Order the armored forces to attack the North Macedonian region of Greece and advance toward Albania."
The order was immediately relayed to the front line.
Bock did not rigidly execute the Führer's command of speed above all else. Instead, he gave the Army two days of buffer time, allowing the troops to recover from the fatigue of travel and ensuring that the Air Force was fully prepared.
This was also where he differed from Manstein.
If Manstein were commanding the Southern Front, he would undoubtedly push speed to the absolute limit. In Manstein's eyes, a soldier's fatigue was far less important than the objective.
Bock, however, still retained some of the steady, old-fashioned temperament of the old officer corps.
But this personal trait did not affect his strategic judgment in the slightest.
In the North Macedonian region, only two infantry divisions reinforced from mainland France were deployed as serious defenders.
All the other units were newly designated infantry divisions transferred from Italy.
As soon as the battle began, the German bombardment crushed their nerves.
Faced with indiscriminate bombing, many soldiers panicked. Some even forgot the most basic instinct of resistance, thinking only of survival.
The German officers, understanding that the Italians' will had long been softened by the Mediterranean wind, did not wish to waste time on such units.
Many did not even bother to disarm them personally.
The capture of prisoners was left to the Bulgarian Army following behind.
In the North Macedonian region, Italian commander Delong Liel sat before a map table, deeply troubled.
The collapse of the front was already inevitable.
Aside from the poor combat effectiveness of his soldiers, almost the entire Air Force had been diverted to support the offensive, leaving him with only a meager air contingent.
More importantly, the French seizure of command had caused a serious deviation in the entire command system.
The mid-level officers below him saw German aircraft bombing their positions and immediately requested air support.
But no support came.
The entire Air Force deployment process had become absurdly cumbersome.
First, they had to report to their own high command and obtain approval. Then their high command had to report to the French operational center. Only after the French approved it could Italy deploy its own Air Force.
The Italian Army still needed the French to command it?
What a joke.
Liel was deeply dissatisfied with the French indirectly weakening his authority. But instead of thinking about how to organize a defense, he was already considering how to shift the blame for the failed defense onto the French.
"Sir, what… should we do?" his adjutant asked.
"What else can we do?"
Liel's expression darkened.
"Retreat. The French like to command, don't they? Then let them defend the line themselves."
Meanwhile, defensive commander Peter Jolin, completely unaware that the Italian Army was already preparing to sell him out, was also not thinking about how to defend Skopje, the core city of the North Macedonian region.
He disliked invading another country.
He disliked the Italians' loose military style even more.
Gazing at the map, he was thinking about how to make the Italians charge at the front in order to reduce French casualties.
Then a staff officer's report made his eyes brighten.
"Sir, our front line units report that the Italian Army is continuously contracting its defensive line."
"Contracting its defensive line?"
Peter Jolin's lips curled slightly in disdain.
"They want to retreat. Losing Hungary in three days has already fully demonstrated their incompetence."
"Then what should we do?"
"What should we do?"
Peter Jolin sneered.
"Retreat. The Italians can retreat, but my soldiers have to become their scapegoats?"
He pointed toward the southern front.
"Our front line units have already reached the gates of Athens."
"The Greeks are not as formidable as the Germans. I estimate Athens will be captured within two days. Once that happens, even if North Macedonia is lost, it will not affect our ability to gain a foothold in the Balkans."
His voice became firm.
"As long as the strategic objective is achieved, that is enough."
In the trenches, an Italian soldier with his mouth full of dirt stared blankly at the German tanks rolling across the hills.
He raised his rifle, but did not know where to aim.
When he looked back, he discovered that his squad leader, who had been crouching in the same trench only moments earlier, had somehow already raised both hands.
As for the French soldiers who had called them "friends" in the camp before, they were nowhere to be seen.
Sofia, German Command Center.
When the third day's phased battle report arrived, Bock was so shocked by the ease of the advance that the hand holding his coffee pot trembled slightly.
He asked repeatedly, "Is there a mistake, Lack? No resistance at all?"
Lack, who had confirmed the information with front line officers several times, nodded.
"Yes, sir. I have confirmed it with Skopje. The French and Italian armies did not organize any defense whatsoever. Before we even entered the city, the released Greek prisoners had already raised the Greek flag in the city center ahead of us."
"According to intelligence from the Air Force reconnaissance department, no military deployments were discovered at any defensive points. Even all the way to the Albanian border, only a few retreating Italian units were found."
Bock had never seen such a method of defense before.
It was not a defense at all.
It was a collective surrender of responsibility.
After thinking for a long while, he asked, "What about the Albanian region?"
"A considerable number of enemy units are deployed in Albania."
Hearing this, Bock's brows finally relaxed slightly.
He began asking and answering himself.
"They must be abandoning North Macedonia and preparing to establish defenses in Albania."
Then he frowned again.
"But that does not make sense. If they are abandoning North Macedonia to defend Albania, which has stronger defensive fortifications, they should not have offered no resistance at all."
"Digging trenches and pouring fortifications all require time. They should have tried to delay us as much as possible. Even if they could not organize large-scale resistance, they should have at least carried out small-scale harassment."
He fell into a long silence.
Bock scanned the front line deployment photographs taken by reconnaissance aircraft.
Albania did indeed possess stronger defensive capabilities.
But precisely because of that, it might also contain a trap.
After hesitating for a long time, he changed his plan to directly seize Albania.
Since the enemy had voluntarily abandoned ground and granted Germany a speed advantage, then they could reinforce Athens first and catch the Italian and French attacking forces off guard.
As long as the defenders in Athens could hold against the Franco-Italian assault, would the more than one hundred thousand attacking troops not be completely surrounded by them?
"Lack."
"Yes, General."
"Tell the Bulgarians to move toward the Albanian border."
Bock turned away from the map.
"The front line units are to immediately turn around and advance toward Athens."
On the other side, on the Athens offensive front, De Gaulle was stunned by the telegram he had just received.
.....
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