Chapter 390 Great Britain Holds On Part 3

Egypt, Port Said, December 14, 1940, early morning.

The snow-white searchlights pierced the night, countless trucks were running between warehouses and docks, Indian soldiers with red cloth wrapped around their heads shouted from time to time, urging hundreds of Egyptian coolies to speed up loading and unloading of goods, and the frequency of the cranes on the dock swinging back and forth was much higher than usual.

Standing on the top of the bridge of the battleship "Rodney", looking at the busy unloading scene on the dock, Vice Admiral James Somerville, commander of the H Fleet, couldn't help but think of the lifeline in the Atlantic maintained by blood and fire.

Since the naval battle in July last year, although there has been no large-scale fleet decisive battle in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the British Empire has not escaped the situation of hanging by a thread.

The "submarine + aircraft" tactic used by the Germans once forced the British Empire to the point where its lifeline was almost cut off. It was not until someone came up with the idea of ​​installing an aircraft catapult on a large cargo ship to launch a Hurricane fighter into the sky that the losses were controlled to a certain extent. However, the losses of Hurricane aircraft and pilots increased accordingly. These Hurricane aircraft that were launched into the sky suffered great losses. They were either destroyed by Fokker Zeros or forced to land at sea because they ran out of fuel and could not fly back to the British mainland. Most of them could not be recovered.

Fortunately, the Americans provided volunteer pilots and aircraft in time, which allowed Britain's lifeline to continue. But the losses are still huge. From July to now, Britain has lost about 500,000 tons of merchant ships every month. In the past year or so, the British Empire has lost more than 8 million tons of cargo ships, and the total tonnage of newly built merchant ships is less than 3 million tons. Now the total tonnage of merchant ships in the British Empire has been reduced from 15 million tons before the war to less than 13 million tons-it’s not that Vice Admiral Somerville failed in mathematics, but that Britain captured many French and Belgian cargo ships at sea and in British and American ports to make up for the losses.

However, 500,000 tons of merchant ships were sunk every month, which could still cause a fatal blow to the British Empire. Because a considerable part of these merchant ships were fully loaded with goods and raw materials purchased from the United States or other parts of the world. They sank to the bottom of the sea along with the merchant ships, which was equivalent to the remaining gold reserves of Britain sinking into the Atlantic Ocean!

Under the rapid consumption, Britain's gold reserves were close to the bottom in October. It had to raise funds by levying special national debts on wealthy Indian princes to maintain the situation, so that the bankrupt British Empire could survive until the US "Lend-Lease Act" was passed by Congress.

However, the most deadly threat to the British Empire is not the above, but the crisis in the Mediterranean! This is why Vice Admiral Somerville and his H Fleet are now in Port Said at the northern mouth of the Suez River.

Because Germany has deployed hundreds of aircraft on Sicily, the Strait of Tunisia has now been completely blocked. The H Fleet stationed in Gibraltar dared not go deep into the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean Fleet based in Alexandria had to face the dual pressure of German aircraft and the Italian fleet.

Once the Mediterranean Fleet was severely damaged and lost its control of the Mediterranean, no matter what kind of victory the British Army achieved in North Africa and East Africa, it would not matter whether Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey would jump out to serve as cannon fodder for Britain. The ruling power of North Africa and the Middle East will change hands in a very short time, and then Britain may even lose India...

Britain that loses the Middle East and India is probably no longer the British Empire that used to be known as the sun never sets. Germany, which has the Middle East and India, will undoubtedly successfully integrate Europe and become a more powerful behemoth than the United States.

Therefore, Vice Admiral Somerville will lead the strengthened H Fleet (including the battleship Rodney, the battleship Queen Elizabeth, the battleship Warrior and the aircraft carrier Royal Ark) to bypass the African continent and join the Mediterranean Fleet.

In addition to the battleships and aircraft carriers that the main force of the Mediterranean Fleet already has, the Mediterranean Fleet now has eight battleships, including the Warspite, Malaya, the Sovereign, the Rodney, the Queen Elizabeth, the Warrior, the Resolution, and the Lorraine, as well as three aircraft carriers, including the Royal Ark, the Glorious, and the Eagle. It can be said that the strength is already very strong, and it should be able to deal a devastating blow to the Italian Navy!

…

Salzburg, Berchtesgaden

I don't know if it was to let the "20th Century Caesar" Mussolini, who was in a state of panic, relax. Hitler did not meet him in the serious Berlin, but chose the beautiful Berchtesgaden.

The meeting place was the Eagle's Nest villa at an altitude of 1,881 meters. This villa, which can be called a miracle in the history of architecture, was ordered to be built by Emperor Wilhelm in 1938 as a gift for Hitler's 50th birthday.

The German emperor originally planned to make Hitler the Count of Berchtesgaden, but Hitler refused and just accepted the Eagle's Nest.

However, Mussolini has not yet gone to the Eagle's Nest, but is a guest in the villa of Marshal Hessmann in the small town of Berchtesgaden at the foot of the mountain. Hessmann planned to have a heart-to-heart talk with the Italian leader before Mussolini and Hitler met.

"Mr. Prime Minister," Herschmann said to Mussolini with a smile in a very spacious and beautiful living room, "General Halder has had several phone calls with me. He told me everything about the situation on the North African front. I’m sorry...the situation is indeed not satisfactory, but it’s not particularly bad.”

Mussolini forced a smile and said: "I have given an order to Marshal Graziani to hold it at all costs...keep it..."

He didn't know where to hold his ground, because the Italian army completely collapsed on December 10. By December 17, the Italian 10th Army had lost 237 artillery pieces, 70 tanks, and approximately 38,300 soldiers. The British army followed the defeated Italian army, advanced westward along the Victoria Highway, passed the Halfaya Pass, and invaded Italian Libya.

"Just defend Benghazi," Hessman suggested kindly. "I think it can still be defended there. Perhaps two divisions of fresh troops can be transported from Italy to deploy defenses in Benghazi in advance."

"Benghazi?" Mussolini's face turned livid, "No, absolutely impossible!"

Hersman shrugged and said with a smile: "Prime Minister, whether the battle line will retreat to Benghazi actually depends on the outcome of the maritime battle. The battle in North Africa is actually part of the Mediterranean battle, and the key to the Mediterranean battle is the battle for sea power. As long as The Italian Navy can defeat the British Mediterranean Fleet with the support of German air power. The defeat on land in North Africa is temporary, and the Italian army can eventually realize the ideal of the Prancing Horse Pyramid. But if we fail in the Mediterranean..." His tone suddenly became solemn. Get up, "Our two countries might even lose the war!"

The possibility of losing the war certainly exists! Although Hessmann tried his best to suppress Hitler's idea of ​​attacking the Soviet Union, it is hard to say whether Stalin would be deceived by Britain and the United States into attacking Germany.

As for the final trump card of the atomic bomb, although Hersmann said in front of Hitler that it could be built in two or three years, in fact he was not sure.

Therefore, to ensure undefeated, the best route is to win the Mediterranean! With the resources in North Africa and the Middle East, Germany can really say that it is invincible.

"Failure?" Mussolini looked at Hessmann in surprise, "Marshal, what are you talking about? How could we fail? Now Germany has conquered almost all of Europe, the Soviet Union is also a friend of Germany, and there is Japan in the East Echoing our sentiments, the UK is fighting alone.”

Mussolini was quite shrewd and had weighed his options repeatedly before entering the war. It is a pity that Hitler in history got into big trouble with the Soviet Union, and Japan gave the United States an excuse to participate in the war. As for Italy, it lost the war in the Mediterranean despite its obvious strength.

Hersman winked at Mussolini. "The possibility of losing the war cannot be completely ruled out at present. But considering the serious consequences of defeat, I suggest using an overwhelming naval victory to completely rule it out! The victory of this naval battle will also make Italy become Egypt , Sudan and Syria.”

Under Hersmann's plan, oil-producing countries such as Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait must all be protected by Germany. The Kingdom of Jordan will also be protected by Germany, while the State of Israel will be formally established on Palestinian land.

Therefore, the two territories that can be allocated to Italy around the Mediterranean are Egypt and Sudan. Considering Italy's combat effectiveness, it would be good to get the rich territory of Egypt, not to mention Sudan?

"What about Greece?" Mussolini still did not forget Greece, which gave him a severe lesson.

"Then add Greece," Hessmann knew that he still needed to catch Mussolini's appetite, so he nodded and said, "Greece can be given to Italy. But we must first defeat Britain. In order to achieve this goal, it should be established Unified Mediterranean Theater Combined Command provides unified command of all German, EC and Italian forces in the Mediterranean area.”

"Unified command of all armies?" Mussolini asked.

"Yes," Hersman said, "including the Army, Navy and Air Force."

"Then who will be the commander-in-chief of the joint command?" Mussolini asked again.

"Me!" Hessman smiled, "I will hold this position concurrently until we defeat the British army and navy in the Mediterranean. In six months at most, we will win in the Mediterranean!"