Chapter 149: [Italy... surrendered? Surrendered?!] Stunned Blue Star people (6k, two-in-one)

At this time.

In the stream of streamer Xu Jie, who had always been starting in the European theater.

He was streaming the situation in Kursk at this time.

As a protruding part of the defensive line, Kursk.

Under the calm surface, there was an undercurrent of both sides accumulating strength and preparing for a decisive battle.

Even without news through various channels, just being here, one could feel the increasingly tense atmosphere.

Xu Jie was on a hillside not far from the camp.

Leaning against a birch tree, the new green leaves of the birch forest behind him made a "rustling" sound in the wind; Xu Jie looked at the beautiful sunset on the plain and chatted with the stream:

"I don't know how many people will die this time."

"I estimate the grass on this plain will be very lush next year."

The viewers in the stream also agreed, seeing the barrage asking him to talk about the situation here, Xu Jie sat up a bit, and then pulled up the "Real-time Map" of the Polar Star official website in the stream:

"The situation in Kursk?"

"Preparing for a decisive battle."

"Starting from May, the Soviet side began to transfer troops from various places one after another."

"It's been almost two months now."

"The defense of the entire front line has all been prepared, just waiting for the order from above to start the war with the Empire."

"But to be honest."

"Starting a war at this time, I feel the Empire is in trouble."

Seeing that the viewers in the stream didn't understand, Xu Jie explained:

"It's mainly a problem of the defensive line."

"After this period of troop transfer, the Soviet Federation's defensive line is basically done, and there are various fortifications."

"Fighting at this time will definitely double the difficulty."

"I checked some information about the Empire's side in the player forum."

"It is said that Manstein wanted to attack in May."

"But the Empire's logistical supplies are now well-known."

"Over the past year or so, the Empire has lost thousands of tanks, and I estimate they haven't been replenished."

"Unlike the Soviet side which has the American Free Federation as logistics."

"Because of that 'Lend-Lease Act', the American Free Federation supported quite a few planes and tanks."

"The situation now is that there are more people than the Empire, and more logistical supplies than the Empire; no matter how strong the Empire's combat power is, I feel they can be exhausted."

That war in the end becomes a war of attrition is already well-known to Blue Star.

Because those who couldn't afford to consume had already perished, which was more straightforward.

And watching the Empire and the Soviet Union burn through resources like this is terrifying, because the number of deaths is truly too high.

A big battle means the death of over a million people.

It clearly tells the Blue Star netizens how cruel war is.

Plus those edited videos recently, many revealed darkness, look at those high officials, politicians, and then look at these young people who died shouting slogans for the motherland on the front line.

A wind that makes people sober blew into the minds of many players,

Xu Jie got up, chatting with the stream while walking toward the military camp below:

"The sunset in Kursk is really beautiful..."

When he walked into the camp, the sun had already set.

A tank crew that had just finished training, a few soldiers sitting on the tank looking at the sky, seemed to be imagining something; Xu Jie saw this and turned the stream's perspective over.

Click!

A photo was frozen in the stream.

(Because it's material, it's not divided by faction)

Even though it was backlit and couldn't see the faces clearly, one could feel their smiles from the slightly raised chins of those young soldiers; the barrage in the stream surged, and Xu Jie also smiled when he saw it:

"Really nice."

"I have to find an 'Earth Photo Studio' later and wash the photo with WWII photo studio equipment."

"The original flavor is even better."

The "Earth" IP series products released by Polar Star Company not only have food and alcohol, but also cameras, photo washing equipment, etc., but generally, individual players won't buy them; currently, the "Earth Photo Studios" in major cities.

Are all laid out by Polar Star Company.

Thanks to the player base, although it's not making big money, it basically won't lose money.

After taking this photo.

Xu Jie, who originally wanted to sleep and skip the plot, under the urging of the stream, took quite a few photos and shared them in the stream before the sunset disappeared.

It's just that he didn't expect.

This was the last tranquility.

The next day, July 5.

At dawn, the sky hadn't fully brightened yet.

Boom—!

The roar of artillery fire exploded on the Soviet Federation's position; Xu Jie was startled awake, immediately got up, picked up his things, and rushed out.

At this time in the Soviet Federation camp, although a bit chaotic, everyone had practiced many times; Xu Jie rushed into the regimental headquarters, and at this time, the news came over the radio in the regimental headquarters:

"The Empire's 'Tiger' cluster is advancing toward your position."

"Rely on the fortifications, persist in defense, wait for support."

"Repeat."

"The Empire..."

The repetition in the radio made everyone in the regimental headquarters look ugly.

Not for anything else.

'Tiger' cluster?

Where did it pop out from? The intelligence they collected before didn't have this either.

Where did the Empire transfer it from?

The power of the Tiger tank was already demonstrated in the 【Battle of Kharkov】, sometimes several tanks couldn't trade for one on the opposite side, and the armor was so thick that shells fired at it would be bounced off.

Actually.

The reason the Empire waited for two months before attacking was because the Tiger tanks hadn't been fully equipped.

So the order wasn't given for Manstein to attack.

As a result, Manstein, who wanted to attack in May, didn't launch the attack until July when the Tiger tanks were equipped.

Xu Jie naturally didn't know.

But there was no time to think.

Even if it was a 'Tiger' cluster, they couldn't retreat.

The entire corps, according to the previous rehearsal, began to enter a combat state; on the edge of the distant skyline, black Imperial soldiers and tanks appeared, surging like a tide.

Tanks in the military camp rushed out to meet the Empire's "Tiger" cluster.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Shell explosions rose on the plain, the turret of a Soviet Federation tank was blown off like a canned lid, the entire tank burned instantly, and a tank soldier crawled out covered in flames.

But in the blink of an eye, dense machine gun bullets swept over, hitting him.

Boom—!

The broken tank underneath seemed to reach its limit, the ammunition in the cabin exploded, and flames rushed out from inside the vehicle.

The struggling tank soldier was blown away by the impact of the explosion and completely lost his breath.

Xu Jie just took a look and turned his head to continue commanding others to fight.

The Blue Star viewers in the stream were also watching this suddenly started battle nervously.

Day 3.

The sound of artillery on the Kursk plain didn't distinguish between day and night, and it had been going on for five days.

Xu Jie barely survived the first day, but collapsed on the second day; fortunately, the Soviet Federation's support arrived in the afternoon, and they followed the main force to retake the position.

However, at this time, the corps Xu Jie was in only had one-third of its personnel left.

It could no longer fight as the main force and could only be transferred to support other places.

Soon.

Xu Jie received an order to reinforce the Voronezh Front, where the Empire's "Skull Division" was attacking fiercely, and they had to block them firmly.

The entire corps set off overnight to reinforce.

It's just...

The roar of Stuka bombers in the sky sounded, and the entire corps stopped to camouflage.

They originally thought they had fooled those Imperial bombers.

But not long after they left, the Stuka's exclusive "death whistle" sounded, and it got louder and louder; this was a sign of their dive.

Xu Jie couldn't care about anything else and shouted:

"Disperse! Disperse!"

"Hide!!!"

Countless whistles filled his ears, and dense black dots fell like rain, spreading across this vast plain.

Boom boom boom boom!!!

Almost all-encompassing bombing, Xu Jie didn't know how many people in his unit survived.

War really means dying when you say die... fortunately, this is a game, and you can restart.

Under the urging of the Blue Star viewers in the stream, Xu Jie started again.

Fortunately, what came into view was still that familiar plain, although the place was different, it was definitely still in Kursk.

Day 7.

Xu Jie, as a tank battalion commander, commanded his tanks to enter Prokhorovka as the second echelon.

After the first echelon of T34s exchanged fire with the Empire's "Tigers," Xu Jie, as the second echelon, commanded his T34/85 tanks to flank from the side, with the cover of the first echelon.

With a suicide charge, they crashed into the flank of the Imperial armored division.

This was the only way.

Facing the technical advantage of the "Tiger" tanks, the Soviet Federation could only trade space for advantage; shells from hundreds of meters away couldn't damage the "Tigers."

Then charge within a hundred meters and shoot at close range.

And this method was indeed effective.

Facing the tank shell bombardment at close range, even the "Tiger's" armor was penetrated, but relatively...

The power of the Empire's "Tiger" shells also increased.

One shell could even penetrate one and then continue to penetrate the next Soviet Federation tank.

Looking down from a high altitude.

Over 1,200 tanks were charging on this plain, and the flames of explosion were blooming everywhere.

As time passed.

The emerald plain turned into a burning hell.

There were burning tank wrecks everywhere; fighting to this point, the T34s that had run out of ammunition even crashed directly into the "Tiger" tanks that had also run out of ammunition.

Boom—!

The two tanks trembled violently.

The hatch opened.

Soldiers from both sides crawled out, using light weapons to shoot, and even engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

From dawn until dusk.

Until the sky went completely dark, both sides stopped.

And Xu Jie... died again.

Seven days of fighting, died twice.

The start of the 【Battle of Kursk】 also temporarily attracted the players' attention.

Not only did the Kursk battle in Xu Jie's 【Immersive Plot】 mode start, but other streamers and players who skipped a lot of plot also had their timelines reach here, participating in the 【Battle of Kursk】.

Because on the Polar Star company side, Zhao Ming set all the latest timelines to synchronize in the background.

So this Battle of Kursk, which had been fought for over a month, was going on synchronously across the entire network.

And elsewhere.

With the start of the 【Battle of Kursk】.

The Allies also launched an operation 【Allied Invasion of Sicily】.

Attacking from Tunisia, they then quickly occupied Sicily, and the spearhead of the attack pointed directly at the Kingdom of Italy's mainland.

However, the change in the situation... no, or rather, the weakness of the Kingdom of Italy.

Far exceeded the imagination of Blue Star netizens.

After the Allies occupied Sicily, they hadn't even attacked the Kingdom of Italy's mainland yet.

July 25.

The regime of the Kingdom of Italy was overthrown.

Then the new regime secretly negotiated with the Allies and surrendered.

This scene.

Stunned the Blue Star netizens.

Surrendered without even fighting?

And it was a secret surrender, this was pitting the Empire to death.

The key is that even if Blue Star players knew this information, if the Imperial faction wanted to tell the leader, they couldn't notify him.

They could only watch helplessly as the Kingdom of Italy secretly negotiated with the Allies and surrendered.

Some Blue Star players reviewed the Kingdom of Italy's operations; when the Empire swept through Europe, the Kingdom of Italy only sent troops to assist.

Seeing that the Empire had unified Europe, Italy discovered that the Empire was so strong, so they thought about sharing a piece of the cake.

However, the cake in Europe was already gone, so Italy set its sights on Africa.

They fought in Africa for a while, but couldn't beat the British Commonwealth, so they started shaking people, and this shaking brought a "Desert Fox," bringing the Empire's troops and Italian troops.

They fought in North Africa for over two years.

As a result, Rommel returned to the country due to illness, and the Italian troops only held out for a little over a month before being driven out of North Africa.

And then it was the Allies landing in Sicily.

Before they even attacked the Kingdom of Italy's mainland, their own regime collapsed and was overthrown, and then they immediately sent people to secretly negotiate and surrender.

This series of operations made the Blue Star netizens' heads throb.

This is... not even catching up to the hot stuff, and backstabbing in return.

The Kingdom of Italy's surrender was so fast that all Blue Star players couldn't understand it; if it really didn't work, couldn't you just make a gesture?

Never heard of anyone who said a harsh word, and the opposite side knelt down and begged for mercy.

Cowardice couldn't be to this extent, right?!

But the Kingdom of Italy did it... The Allies just walked to the door, and Italy directly backstabbed their allies and surrendered.

Not only that.

Some players even started as officials on the Allied side.

Following into the secret negotiations.

Live streaming the whole process, watching the smiles on the faces of the Kingdom of Italy officials on the opposite side and their constant condemnation of the Empire.

They had to be convinced.

But if they had any shame, they couldn't be so sycophantic in condemning the Empire.

And at this time, the Empire.

Still didn't know that Italy had secretly negotiated with the Allies and surrendered.

They were still fighting to the death with the Soviet Union at 【Kursk】.

It's just that although the early offensive was fierce, after only half a month, the weakness was exposed.

Lack of supplies!

That's right, still a lack of supplies!

This was already an unsolvable problem.

From the winter of Moscow, the winter of Stalingrad, to the Tunisia Campaign on the North African battlefield, and now the Battle of Kursk.

It was all a serious problem, lack of supplies.

Because of the lack of supplies on the North African battlefield, Rommel couldn't expand his gains and could only defend passively.

And on the European battlefield, in the Battle of Kursk, although the Empire broke through the Soviet defensive line early on, it consumed a large amount of ammunition and fuel.

Even if Manstein was the head of the Empire's famous generals, he couldn't solve the fuel problem.

The Tiger tank itself, as a new tank, had a high failure rate, and now that fuel couldn't be replenished, after fighting for half a month, the original offensive momentum had turned into strategic defense.

Even because of the fuel shortage, the armored tanks couldn't maneuver quickly.

So much so that while fighting, the tank soldiers could only rush out of the tanks to fight hand-to-hand with the Soviet Federation soldiers.

What's worse.

Because of the Allies' successful landing in Sicily, the Empire's leader thought about it and finally ordered the transfer of some armored troops from Kursk to support the Kingdom of Italy!

Directly weakening the power of the army group commanded by Manstein, and they could only defend passively.

But the Kingdom of Italy had already secretly negotiated to surrender.

The Empire didn't know at all.

Sending the important armored power of this 【Kursk Battlefield】 to the ally who had already secretly surrendered... even the Blue Star netizens standing in the third perspective couldn't watch anymore.

It was too pitting.

This was pitting the Empire to death.

However.

The Blue Star netizens didn't know yet, this was just the beginning... Italy would pit them even more in the future.

With the landing in Sicily, it indirectly affected the outcome of the Battle of Kursk, so that after August, the Imperial troops that turned from attack to defense were unable to resist the Soviet Union's great chariot.

Just a month and a half.

In Kursk, the casualties of both sides reached nearly 1.4 million.

On average, over 20,000 soldiers were casualties every day; fortunately, the death rate was only about 30%, but even so, both sides had to die nearly 10,000 people a day on average.

The defeat at Kursk made the Empire's defensive line unable to maintain any longer.

Followed by the attack toward the Dnieper River, a million-strong army pressed over, recovering the lower Dnieper, Kiev, etc., and this completely shattered the Empire's "Eastern Wall" defensive line.

The change in the game's situation was so fast that the Blue Star players hadn't reacted yet, because they could skip the plot, so one day in reality could skip five or six days in the game.

This led to the Blue Star players watching the streamer's plot, and the Battle of Kursk ended.

The next day, they fought to the lower Dnieper!

Waiting until they got off work in the evening to watch, Italy surrendered!!!

That's right.

This time it really surrendered.

And it was the kind that was announced publicly; the Blue Star players were stunned, you really have the guts to announce it?

At this time, the immersive plot mode, the fastest had reached September.

Imperial faction streamer Cheng Yu was in the stream, listening to the broadcast in a daze:

"Holy crap?!"

"How dare he?!!!"

Not only was he incredulous, but the surrounding Imperial soldiers and officers were also stunned.

However, Cheng Yu, as a player, knew that Italy had secretly surrendered long ago.

It's just that he didn't expect the Kingdom of Italy to be so brave, you could just surrender secretly, now you actually dare to go public, really stepping on the Empire's face to death.

And the surrounding NPCs were shocked by the American Free Federation commander in the broadcast announcing that the Kingdom of Italy had surrendered unconditionally.

And the official broadcast on the Kingdom of Italy side also confirmed this.

The Empire, in order to support the Kingdom of Italy, had transferred the armored troops from the 【Kursk】 battlefield.

Otherwise, the 【Battle of Kursk】 would have had to be fought until September, or maybe it hadn't ended yet.

At this time, the Imperial NPCs on "Earth."

From the leader down to the small soldiers, there wasn't one who didn't curse.

Soon, Cheng Yu's troops received an order to occupy the northern part of the Kingdom of Italy immediately.

Cheng Yu didn't have anything.

And the Imperial soldiers and officers who were full of anger fought very fiercely when occupying... it's just that what made them even more angry was yet to come.

Not long after.

The Kingdom of Italy joined the Allies directly.

Publicly declared war on the Empire, accusing the Empire of invading Italy.

At this time.

In Cheng Yu's stream.

In the military camp in northern Italy, Cheng Yu had nothing to say, the cup in his hand froze there.

Before, he knew Italy had surrendered long ago, so it was nothing, just surprised that they dared to go public.

But this time!

He was really shocked, and the Blue Star viewers in the stream were the same.

Cheng Yu looked suspicious of life:

"No?"

"Does the Kingdom of Italy have any py deals with the Allies?"

"Are there any big shots or Allied official players who can tell me?"

"An invader, turned around and changed into a skin?"

"Turned around and pointed at the Empire for invading?"

The barrage in the stream was also surging.

【6666, refreshed the lower limit again.】

【This also proves that war is just a dirty deal between those politicians.】

【I laughed to death, because of Italy's invasion of North Africa, the Empire supported, killed nearly 100,000 British Commonwealth and American Free Federation soldiers, and as a result, Italy turned around and stood with the US and Britain, brothers?】

【Speaking of reason, whoever is advocating war, see if I don't laugh at him to death.】

【That's right, laughed to death, both sides died tens of thousands of people, and as a result, the politicians exchanged interests and shook hands to make peace, tens of thousands of soldiers died in vain,】

【Really, civilians' lives are not lives?】

【+1, this is the best anti-war game, no problem, the championship is well-deserved.】

Really hard to evaluate.

Cheng Yu felt as uncomfortable as if he had eaten...

Aggrieved.

Really aggrieved.

Damn!

When will the order be given to finish off these guys from the Kingdom of Italy.

However.

In the current situation, the Empire had no way.

Why did Italy dare to publicly accuse the Empire?

Because the European battlefield couldn't hold on anymore.

In the first half of the year, the Empire's defensive line was still at Stalingrad.

And now, facing the Soviet Union's fierce attack, the Empire was retreating steadily.

The vast territory lost by the Soviet Federation had been recovered, and they were about to hit Kiev; as long as Kiev was recovered, the Empire's Eastern Front battlefield would completely collapse.

In just half a year.

The war situation had undergone earth-shaking changes.

North African battlefield ended.

Italy surrendered.

The European Eastern Front battlefield almost completely collapsed.

The second half of 1943 seemed to determine the direction of this war.

Anyone with eyes knew the Empire was going to be gone.

It's just that they couldn't think of anything worse happening.

However.

Soon there was news.

Because the newspaper published the news of the meeting between the leaders of the US, UK, and Soviet Union, and there was news leaked.

They were going to open a second front on the European battlefield and attack the Empire from both sides.

This news made the Blue Star players' spirits shake.

If you say a new battlefield, that's fine, but the second front... isn't that 【Normandy Landing】?!

We are familiar with this, when will it start?!