Under the joint attack of the 2nd Armored Division of the New United Kingdom and the 4th Armored Cavalry Division of the Austro-Hungarian Defense Force, the southernmost part of the "Piave River Chain" was the city of Sant Dona, which was facing the Adriatic Sea in the south, fell before dawn. The huge encirclement firmly locked the more than 500,000 Italian troops in the border construction area. So far, the Italian army had the best equipment and the most experienced 39 field infantry divisions, 6 heavy artillery divisions, 11 fortress divisions and a large number of border garrison troops who had lost their land connection with the rear. To the west of the Piave River, the Italians neither had enough troops to protect important towns such as Verona and Milan, nor had a solid line of defense to prevent the enemy from entering the Apennines.

In the early morning, Umberto, Italy, who had been staying in Venice for two days because of visiting the front line, witnessed the coalition forces advancing on land and land, and launched an attack on this wealthy and world-famous "water city". His Highness ****, who was originally energetic, had to retreat to the small town of Solezino more than 40 kilometers away under the crowd of personal guards. The accompanying staff officer suggested that he return to Rome, but the heir to the throne with the rank of the Field Marshal clearly realized that his country was facing a terrible disaster. At this very bad moment, someone must stand up and turn the tide.

After more than an hour of communication and debate with the Italian General Staff Chief of Staff Marshal Graziani via telephone, His Highness Umberto, who often claims to be the "Modern Octavian", personally served as the commander of the Northern Front Command and set up his command in Solezino.

In name, the General Command of the Northern Front allocated combat troops and military resources throughout northern Italy. The number of combat troops on paper reached 76 field divisions, 10 heavy artillery divisions, 3 armored divisions, 20 fortress divisions and a considerable number of border garrison troops. The combat personnel reached more than 1.4 million, accounting for more than 60% of the total Italian army's active force. It can eliminate nearly 600,000 troops trapped in the "Piave River Chains" and those troops deployed on the northern and northwest borders. There are less than 400,000 mobile troops available for dispatch. Among them, the main force on the front line

There are only 9 divisions, and they mainly gather into two forces: one is the armored combat group commanded by Army General Cavalero, which is under the jurisdiction of the 1st Panzer Division, the 3rd Armored Cavalry Division and the 10th Rapid Infantry Division. This elite combat force is currently in exchange for fire with the coalition forces in northeastern Verona, intending to open a breakthrough in the coalition's "Chain of the Piave River"; the other is the infantry combat group commanded by Army General Messe, which is under the jurisdiction of the 7th, 9th, 16th Infantry Division and the 3rd Heavy Artillery Division. This combat force was previously deployed near Bologna and is currently being transferred to the Piave River front through a railway line.

In addition, among the combat troops deployed in northern Italy, there are two elite troops, the 2nd Armored Cavalry Division and the 14th Rapid Infantry Division. The former is located near Brescia east of Milan, and the latter is stationed in the northern town of Tenno, which is closer to the front line.

Before the arrival of the staff officers dispatched by the Italian Army's General Staff, His Highness Umberto formulated the next combat plan for cigars and coffee, and issued instructions to the front departments in the name of the Northern Front Command.

The telegram was quickly sent to Cavalero and Messe, two veteran army generals, and they were stunned. Cavalero's armored combat group was the strongest mobile combat power of the Italian army, and their counterattacks were quickly achieved results, but just as they were about to break through the defense line organized by the coalition airborne troops, the reconnaissance troops discovered the coalition armored troops crossing the river from the city of Bellono on the flank. The Italian army's p38 tanks and p43 tanks were used to deal with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Facing the "Irish Tiger" and "Irish Leopard" of the new United Kingdom, they were simply a scumbag. Cavalero quickly ordered all his troops to transfer from attack to defense. At this time, let them withdraw half of their troops to Venice, which not only meant giving up the blocking of the coalition assault arrows, but also giving up the road to Verona and even Milan.

The orders received by Messe's troops were originally to rush to assist the Venetian defenders, but the new combat order required him to complete the troops' deployment and attack preparations within 24 hours, which was completely in accordance with the exercise standards. Due to the loss of air supremacy, the railway line to Venice was intermittent, and a large number of soldiers and materials were piled up at the stations along the route. Even if the most optimistic situation was estimated, it would take 72 hours to complete the mobilization and deployment of all four divisions. Once the battle situation was in urgent need of each unit to enter the battle nearby.

What is even more ridiculous is that when the 2nd Armored Cavalry Division and the 14th Rapid Infantry Division received the order, they had no idea where the Northern Front Command was. They hurriedly drove away until they got a clear reply from the Italian General Staff. However, after arriving at the nearest railway station, they could only stare at the empty railway line in a daze: Italy's railway system is indeed well developed, but it has severely lacks combat readiness design and strategic reserves. With the large number of locomotives, passenger and freight cars, and railway track lines, and railway control facilities were damaged in the air strikes, the railway system in northern Italy could no longer operate normally, resulting in the military mobilization and the supply of materials being greatly affected.

His Highness Umberto and his aides who always talk about strategies and tactics did not fully estimate the current difficulties. They were also confident in fighting a counterattack around Venice, the "Water City". In order to allow the navy and air force to fully support this combat operation, Umberto personally spoke to the commanders of the navy and air force, and used his personal influence to prompt the Air Force Command and the Navy Command to adjust their original combat deployment.

After the early combat losses, the Italian Navy and Air Force was greatly damaged. The Italian Air Force not only had to maintain a certain force on the Mediterranean battlefield on the Western Front to cooperate with the Navy to fight the New United Kingdom Navy Fleet, but also deploy elite fighter jet wings on the Apennine Peninsula, especially the capital circle to conduct air defense operations. The air force that can be put into the northern battlefield was stretched; the Italian Navy's war role was to block the Adriatic Sea on the Eastern Front and block enemy fleets layer by layer on the Western Front. Their main fleet was not suitable and there was no need to go deep into the Adriatic Sea to fight to the death with the Austro-Hungarian Navy. However, the Venetian counterattack was personally conducted by His Highness ****. The Italian Navy and Air Force generals could neither disobey their superiors nor were willing to fight for their own family, so they had to deal with the matter with some compromises.

Umberto**** was able to become the Italian Field Marshal in his forties because of his status as a crown prince. He graduated from the Royal Military Academy of Turin and had more than 20 years of military experience. He participated in joint military exercises of the Allied Powers as a commander many times. He was not a layman in the field of military command. Under his orders, the Italian troops stationed in Venice relied on urban buildings, bridges, and waterways to resist the coalition offensive.

Due to the special geographical environment of the city of Venice, after breaking through the outer defense line of the Italian army, the coalition armored troops bypassed the main urban area of ​​Venice and advanced westward. The task of capturing the city was handed over to the infantry units, mainly the 12th, 29th and 33rd Infantry Divisions of the Austro-Hungarian National Defense Forces. The Austro-Hungarian Navy also sent fleets and marines to support the land combat operations. Although the coalition offensive was very strong, the fierce battles only occupied half of the main urban area of ​​Venice from morning to dusk. Every time they captured a building, they had to pay a heavy price. The angry Austro-Hungarian commander even had the idea of ​​mobilizing the main fleet to level the city, but due to the concerns of the top naval leaders about the Italian submarines, they finally gave up.

When night fell, the coalition armored troops had captured the last stronghold of the Italian army in southwest of Venice, thus making the tens of thousands of Italian defenders in Venice a "cage trapped beast". At the request of Umberto, the Italian Navy dispatched five cruisers and nine destroyers from the port of Taranto to support the Venetian defenders north, and after nightfall, they assigned lightning strike ships stationed at ports such as Grino, Garibaldi, and Lavina to blockade Venice against the Austro-Hungarian Navy fleet.

Night attacks were carried out. In the initial battle, the Italian Navy sunk a light cruiser and a destroyer of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the cost of only three torpedo boats, forcing the Austro-Hungarian fleet to temporarily evacuate the nearshore waters of Venice. Late at night, the Italian Navy organized several ships to transport ammunition supplies to the Venetian defenders and evacuated the injured civilians, but was attacked by the Austro-Hungarian lightning strike ships on the way. Three transport ships and one gunboat were sunk, causing hundreds of army wounded and civilians to drown.

In the second half of the night, the Italian support fleet, which was rushing to the sea, was subjected to a coalition air strike on the sea more than 150 kilometers away from Venice. Due to the insufficient night bombing capacity of the coalition forces, the Italians rushed to fight. As a result, three of the five cruisers were damaged and more than half of the 9 destroyers were injured. The fleet commander General Castaniac was unfortunately killed in the air strike. Soon afterwards, because the radar detected several enemy ships coming from the north, Colonel Ferrari, who was the commander of the fleet, led the fleet to turn around and return at full speed despite the opposition of the accompanying inspector.

With the efforts of the logistics department of the Austro-Hungarian Army, two heavy mortars, Barbara, with a caliber caliber caliber, arrived at the Venice front the morning the next morning. These big guys with a range of 15 kilometers were able to fire 750 kilograms of shells, and a high-explosion bomb was enough to destroy a solid four-story building. Including these two Barbara, the huge roar of dozens of heavy artillery fired unprecedentedly inspired the coalition soldiers who were preparing to attack, and also pushed the Italian troops guarding the city into the abyss of despair.
Chapter completed!