The development of things was indeed as Eisenhower and Zhang Chi thought. Despite the strong opposition of the United States, the direction of the offensive was still set in southern France, with the specific location in Sicily.

Although Zhang Chi does not strategically agree with attacking southern France, there are still many benefits to attacking Sicily from a tactical point of view.

First of all, it is because of the geographical location of Sicily.

It is only separated from Italy by the Strait of Messina, and the narrowest part of the Strait of Messina is only 3,219 meters. This distance is not to mention a fighter plane, even shells can be used.

It is conceivable that if Sicily is taken down, this 25,000 square kilometers island will become an excellent advance base for the Allied forces to attack Italy... Allied navy and air force can be deployed here, and supplies and materials can be stored here with confidence. After all, Italy basically has no counterattack ability and no counter-login ability.

Secondly, the intelligence shows that the German and Italian troops on Sicily are not prepared enough.

The German troops stationed on the island had a total of 100,000 Italian troops, of which about 40,000 German troops... They were obviously the main force of Sicily's defense, because the Italian soldiers even had the idea of ​​surrendering at this time.

This is known from the Italian prisoners. Italian soldiers generally have a thought, that is, they are unwilling to carry out resistance operations on their homeland, because they believe that if they fight in Italy, the stronger the resistance, the more severe the damage the hometown will be. At the same time, many Italians hope that the war will end sooner... The method to end the war early is very simple, that is, whoever gains the upper hand on the battlefield will surrender. The current situation on the battlefield is obviously the Allies gain the upper hand.

Therefore, the Italian army of more than 60,000 people on the island is almost negligible, and they may even become the helpers of the Allies to provide sufficient detailed information to the Allies.

The more than 40,000 people in the German army... cannot be underestimated in terms of strength. These more than 40,000 people are the 14th armored army of the German army, with two divisions, the 15th Motorized Division and the SS Herman Goring Armored Division. Both divisions are elite troops of the German army, especially the SS Herman Goring Armored Division, which is equipped with dozens of the most advanced "Tiger" tanks.

The problem is that these two divisions were not originally garrisons of Sicily... Sicily is about 200 kilometers wide from north to south and about 300 kilometers long from east to west. Moreover, the island is mountainous and complex, so such a small island is not suitable for armored troops at all.

The reason why the German 14th Armored Army was in Sicily was because they originally wanted to cross the Mediterranean to reinforce Tunisia, but the Allied Sea and Air Blockade was too strict and it was impossible to move forward. Then Tunisia and even the entire North Africa fell into the hands of the Allied forces, so the German 14th Armored Army could only stay on Sicily.

Since the Germans were "stand-out troops", they always believed that Sicily was not their base and that they would be transferred to other places soon, so they did not care about the defense on the island.

Therefore, the defense on Sicily is very weak, and it can even be described as a lot of flaws.

In response to this situation, the British and American staff teams formulated a combat plan called "Esky No. 8".

Zhang Chi took a positive attitude towards this plan.

It focused its operations on two ports on the Messina Strait near Sicily, namely the Port of Syracuse to the east and the Port of Palermo in the northwest corner. These two ports were attacked by British and American troops, while the French attacked the Port of Trapa near Palermo.

Once this is captured by the Allies in a port, the German and Italian troops on the entire Sicily will suddenly be cut off from retreat, and then they will have no third way to go except surrender or wait for death.

At the same time, this plan was recognized by most British and American generals, and many generals praised it after reading this plan.

If this battle is really fought like this, it may have some meaning. First, it can trap 100,000 Germans on Sicily, and the Italian army can weaken Germany and the Italian army's vitality. Second, it forces Italy to surrender based on Sicily.

However, this plan was soon opposed by the British senior officials, and the strongest opposition was Montgomery.

To this end, Montgomery held a special meeting.

"Gentlemen!" said Montgomery: "I know that in the eyes of many people, I am an annoying instigator, and it is not surprising that everyone has this idea. In fact, I have tried my best to prevent it from being so annoying. However, because I have witnessed too many mistakes and too many tragedies in this war, I have to instigate this way because I am trying to prevent these mistakes and tragedies from happening again. Everyone knows that the Allies are composed of armies of many countries, which can be said to be a kind of unity, but the same... If we encounter another tragic blow in Sicily, then our army will easily be divided!"

"General!" Eisenhower said impatiently: "We want to hear more about your reasons for opposing this combat plan!"

"Of course!" Montgomery replied: "My reason is actually very simple. Gentlemen, you think the Germans too simply. I have fought with the German armored division many times and know that they are not so easy to deal with. We must concentrate all our strength to defeat them. And this plan..."

As he said that, Montgomery picked up the documents on the table and Yang Yang: "It used the two armies of Britain and the United States separately, becoming two units that cannot support each other, and were even located between Sicily and Italy under the enemy's attack... Gentlemen, you should realize that this plan deviates from all common sense rules of actual combat, is completely theoretical, and it has no hope of success..."

"General Montgomery, I want to remind you!" Eisenhower said unhappily: "This plan has been unanimously recognized by many generals, including Admiral Cunningham and Admiral Ted Air Force!"

"Yes!" said Montgomery: "They are the Navy and the Air Force, aren't they? The biggest difficulty in landing operations is the Army, and they don't know what the key is!"

“For this!” Eisenhower said: “I think we have a more say because we have made successful landings again and again in the Pacific, and we have more experience!”

"That's in the Pacific!" Montgomery retorted: "You are facing Japanese people with only light tanks and simple equipment, not Germans with 'tiger' tanks!"
Chapter completed!