Chapter 1322: Chapter 960: Italy Surrenders_2 Chapter 1322: Chapter 960: Italy Surrenders_2 Under the heavy bombardment of numerous warships of the Royal Fleet, the British Army took less than a week to conquer Sicily and the city of Messina, which is across the sea from the Italian mainland, and took the opportunity to head south and successively occupy Catania and Syracuse.

As a result, only the capital Palermo remained unconquered on Sicily, and it was only a matter of time.

If you had a map, you could see that by now, nearly half of Italy’s territory had been occupied, and the remaining land was precisely the least important southern region.

The southern region did indeed have a substantial agricultural scale, but how could Italy carry out agricultural production under the relentless bombing and surveillance of the British-French-Australian Air Force?

With continued strikes, the defense of Rome also seemed precarious.

On June 17th, 1938, after nearly a month of siege, the Italian capital Rome declared its fall, and Italian Prime Minister Mussolini fled south to Naples.

Having successfully escaped from Rome, Mussolini breathed a sigh of relief, but when he saw the Australasia Flag hanging over the city of Naples, he finally lowered his head in despair.

On June 18th, 1938, the King of Italy announced Italy’s unconditional surrender through a broadcast from within the City of Rome and stated that Prime Minister Mussolini was a war monger and a criminal against all Italians and humanity.

On June 19th, Mussolini was arrested in Naples and immediately detained as a war criminal in a Naples prison.

Starting from June 18th, the British-French-Australian forces took over the defense of Italy in its entirety and received the Italian navy, which had scarcely been deployed since the war began.

Italy’s surrender was a shock to the whole world, and naturally, it was a huge jolt to Germany.

Germany and Spain were not adjacent; it was Italy that served as the intermediary linking the two countries.

After Italy’s unconditional surrender, the connection between Germany and Spain was obstructed, drastically reducing Germany’s chances of acquiring supplies from Spain.

And as for Spain, which was now fighting a lonely battle, how much longer could they hold out?

On June 24th, 1938, the French Army marched triumphantly into Barcelona, proclaiming the liberation of the entire Barcelona region.

Almost simultaneously, British and Australasian forces poured out of Gibraltar in an unending stream, advancing toward the southern Spanish military stronghold of Seville.

In the African region, Ceuta, Melilla, and Tetuan were under full assault by the British-French-Australian forces, and due to the near impossibility of receiving supplies from mainland Spain, they quickly fell.

On June 27th, 1938, the airplanes that had bombed Rome were transferred to Spanish territory, beginning extensive bombing over the Spanish capital, Madrid.

At a time when the Spanish Government was at its wit’s end, representatives of the British Royal Family, the Australasian Royal Family, and the Spanish royal family were holding a meeting in London.

The main subject of the meeting was naturally concerning the restoration of the Spanish Monarchy after the war. The restoration of the Spanish royal family was good news for both Britain and Australasia; after all, monarchies naturally stood together, and relationships between monarchs would be tighter and more united.

Only with an increasing number of monarchies would the status of monarchs like Arthur and George VI become more stable.

However, Britain did impose some additional conditions for the restoration of the Spanish royal family.

The first was regarding Gibraltar, it was impossible for Spain, as a defeated country, to recover Gibraltar.

This was the first condition the Spanish royal family had to agree to before restoration, which was to promise to never reclaim Gibraltar.

But on closer inspection, Spain no longer had the strength to recover Gibraltar at this time. Even the Spain of later generations still had a weak presence in Europe and could hardly be considered a strong country even within Europe.

This is a surprising fact. Although Spain’s land area ranks among the top in Europe, it could never become a power in Europe.

Ever since the decline of the Spanish Colonial Empire, the hope for Spain’s rise had been extinguished.

The second condition was that Spain must cede all its colonies and give up the Balearic Islands.

The Balearic Islands have another name, which is the famous Majorca Islands of the Middle Ages.

Although the strategic location of the Majorca Islands was vital to Spain, and the African colonies were a significant supplement to Spain’s national power.

As a defeated country in World War II, Spain was lucky to keep its native Iberian lands, naturally unable to negotiate terms with nations like Britain, France, and Australia.

Once these two conditions were agreed upon, the restoration of the Spanish royal family became a matter of course.

Britain and Australasia would not object, and the French would not likely jump out to cause trouble for Britain-Australia.

Now, it was only a matter of waiting for the Spanish government to surrender and during the subsequent dealings with Spain, Britain and Australasia would propose and agree to the restoration of the Spanish Monarchy.

There was no need for Britain and Australasia to make such a proposal, loyal subordinates were sure to suggest it, and ultimately Britain and Australasia would make the final decision.

The surrender of Italy was a heavy blow to Germany and made the already maniacal German Chancellor even more deranged.