Crazy Warfare Classified Files

On October 27, 1940, Hitler was in France, in Montoir, on the Loire. He just saw Marshal Petan and Laval. A few days ago he was in Anday, on a date with Franco. He waged war on England and was completely absorbed in the project of occupying Gibraltar.
And suddenly a sensational message came from Rome: "Italy decided to attack Greece. The information is reliable. War is inevitable. "
This news was extremely unpleasant for Hitler, because his policy demanded at the moment peace in the Balkans. He was even afraid of Turkish intervention - he was still at that stage of prudence when he was afraid of a war on two fronts.
A short order — and Hitler’s special train — a genuine mobile fortress, laden with machine guns — carries full speed to Florence. Duce called by telegram.
The meeting took place on the morning of October 28. Mussolini - with a protruding chest, with a raised head, had a very self-confident appearance. From the very first words of Hitler, he stopped him.
"Fuhrer, too late. The point is already running. Our troops entered Greece today at six in the morning. "
Seeing the discontent on the face of the interlocutor, he added: "Do not worry, everything will be over in a few days."
This scene seems incredible if it were not confirmed by three witnesses: Goering, Jodl and Keitel.
Officially, the dictators exchanged vows of friendship and proclaimed the steel strength of the Axis. But, when it came down to business, then everyone worked for himself.
Hitler was deeply distrusted not personally by Mussolini, but by his military and political environment. According to Keitel, he said: "What Mussolini knows is also known for Ciano, and what is known for Ciano is known in London."
That is why he revealed to his comrade-in-arms exactly as much as could not be hidden from him.
Hitler assured Mussolini, like the rest of the world, that he would land in England, while he had long ago abandoned this idea; Mussolini offered his troops to help him and was offended by Hitler's refusal.
Later, on January 21, 1941, Hitler withheld from Mussolini his preparations for the war against Russia. Duce learned about the start of hostilities on the radio, since the personal letter that Hitler had notified him of the war came too late.
Mussolini, for his part, also disguised his policy.
"It is very likely," Jodl testified, "that the Italians started their operations a few days ahead of schedule because they were notified that we knew their plans and were afraid of our resistance to these projects."
So, faced with a fait accompli, Hitler returned to Berlin. Duce, seeing him off, repeated again that in the shortest time he would enter Athens. The Führer stoically accepted the role that his ally made him play. However, two weeks later, when Mussolini’s affairs began to take a bad turn, Hitler wrote to him in order to finally close all the questions. This letter finally convinces us that the attack on Greece was a complete surprise to Germany.
Hitler wrote: "Duce, when I asked you for a date in Florence, I took a trip in the hope that I could share with you my thoughts even before the start of the conflict with Greece, about which I had only the scantest information.
I would like to ask you, first of all, to postpone this operation, if possible, until the best time of the year and, in any case, until the presidential election in America.
At least I wanted to ask you not to do anything until the occupation of the island of Crete, and I expected to offer you to use the German paratrooper division and the airborne landing division. "
But the train arrived in Florence too late.
Two weeks after the start of the operation in Albania, the brave Italian army fell into a quandary. Two months later, she was in a critical situation and a few months later she was hopeless.
Hitler very soon realized that he would not be able to avoid interference.