Chapter 393: Sea Battle 1

Mussolini certainly couldn't trust anyone completely, but when he was desperate, he still issued an order for the Italian navy, army and air force to obey the order of the German-Italian Allied Forces General Headquarters. At the same time, he also approved the candidates for deputy commander-in-chief, chief of staff and deputy chief of staff proposed by Hessmann.

The deputy commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces was Admiral Ugo Cavaleiro, who replaced Badoglio as the Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces. The Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces was Admiral Cavgnari, Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy. The deputy chief of staff was Admiral Jeschonnek, the German Air Force, who was also the commander of the Mediterranean Air Force Joint Command.

After setting up the command team, Hessmann immediately began to exercise the command power. On the last day of 1940, the first Allied Forces combat meeting was held.

The meeting started with a speech.

In a room decorated as a combat command room, Hessmann faced a group of Italian generals who were wearing fancy uniforms, were old, and were mostly confused, and began to speak in a very serious tone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let me explain the situation before the meeting begins. The Italian army has just suffered two terrible defeats, one in North Africa and one in Greece. The Italian army, which is large in number and well-equipped, was defeated by an enemy that is far smaller in number.

About 3 divisions of British troops have invaded Libya and are capturing Italian troops in an organized manner, and have also seized countless weapons, ammunition and supplies. The Greeks have invaded the southern mountainous area of ​​Albania and stopped their attack due to the terrain and cold climate, but before that they also gained a lot and seized many advanced weapons that they could not afford."

Hersman's cold eyes slowly swept through the operations room, taking in everyone's expression. The Italians were very calm, and none of them showed shame or anger, as if they did not understand the English spoken by Hersman (few senior Italian generals knew German, but their English was very good, so Hersman could only speak English to them). Obviously, they all had good "cultivation", perhaps because they often encountered failures and had long been accustomed to it.

Hessman went on to say: "The consequences of these two failures are very serious. Now our two countries may face the terrible fate of losing the war! If we can't make up for the situation, then we will become the sinners of the country!"

Hearing Hessman mention "failure", the fascist generals in the room remained unmoved. They probably thought Hessman was bluffing - although Italy could not fight, didn't it still have Germany as a backer?

"Now I will propose a few ways to save the situation." Hessman also knew that the Italian generals were thick-skinned and didn't even feel ashamed to surrender, so he stopped talking uselessly.

"First, all Italian troops stationed in Albania will be under the command of the German Southeast Front Headquarters. Greece and Yugoslavia, which may turn to Britain, will be mainly dealt with by the German army on the Southeast Front. As for Greece, our Mediterranean theater is only responsible for Crete and its surrounding islands.

Second, Benghazi will be our base for counterattack in North Africa and must be defended with all our strength. Ground operations in North Africa will revolve around defending Benghazi. The main force responsible for defending Benghazi is the Italian Army. They should hold Benghazi until the German African Army arrives.

Third, the key to determining the outcome of the Mediterranean battlefield is the struggle for sea power. Only by defeating Britain's naval power in the Mediterranean can we achieve final victory. To achieve this goal, Italy needs The full cooperation of the Libyan Air Force, the Italian Navy and the German air force. Therefore, I now appoint Admiral Hans Jeschonnek as the commander-in-chief of all air forces in the Mediterranean theater except for carrier-based aircraft and seaplanes.

Fourth, the Greek island of Crete is the junction of the Balkan battlefield and the Mediterranean battlefield, and its geographical location is very critical. When the offensive operations are launched in the Balkans, we must seize it. Therefore, the main maritime operations in the Mediterranean will revolve around Crete, and it is expected that there will be fleet and sea and air decisive battles.

Fifth, before the Battle of Benghazi and the Battle of Crete, we must remove the nail that the British have inserted under Italy's feet-Malta! We must pull out this nail as soon as possible, otherwise our every move will be under the surveillance of the British. "

Malta! Hessmann asked the Italians to seize as much as possible a few months ago, and provided a not-too-small amount of aid for this. However, the Italians who received the aid kept delaying, and after their disastrous defeat in Greece, there was no such thing.

So until now, Malta is still in the hands of the British. Moreover, the British deployed radar stations there to monitor German aircraft taking off from Sicily, and also deployed Short "Sunderland" seaplanes equipped with airborne radar systems. These seaplanes were circling outside the Bay of Taranto every day, and at night they would fly to the sky less than 30 kilometers away from the Taranto naval port and scan the naval port with radar.

Therefore, if the nail of Malta is not removed, every move of the Italian Navy will be under the eyes of the British. Ships transporting reinforcements and supplies to Benghazi will also be attacked by British submarines and British bombers taking off from Crete because their whereabouts are exposed.

"Marshal," about a few minutes after Hessman finished speaking, Admiral Cavgnari, the Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, asked the question, "How are we going to occupy Malta?"

"Landing!" Hessman said, "The British have been strengthening Malta in the past few months and have deployed a large number of radars and anti-aircraft guns there, so they can't rely on airborne capture of the island."

In fact, the German Air Force had long been studying how to interfere with and evade radars. The radar on the island of Malta was no problem for Hessmann. But if the paratroopers were used to deal with Malta, the British fleet would not come.

Admiral Cavgnari said slowly: "Marshal, if calculated by the sea voyage, the distance between Malta and Taranto is about 320 nautical miles. If part of the Z-shaped route is adopted, it will take at least 400-500 nautical miles. At a speed of 15 knots, it may take 30 hours.

As soon as our large fleet leaves the port of Taranto, the British reconnaissance aircraft or submarines will find it... and the British aircraft carriers will sail about 540 nautical miles from Alexandria to the attack position west of Crete. If part of the Z-shaped route is adopted, it will take at least 800 nautical miles. Considering the faster speed of the aircraft carriers, they can reach the attack position within 40 hours. And the landing operation will definitely not be over by then.

In addition, British aircraft deployed on the Greek island of Crete and the Peloponnese Peninsula may also be deployed in air strikes against our fleet."

Not bad, not bad! Hessmann nodded repeatedly in his heart. This Italian Navy Chief of Staff is a talent.

In fact, in history, the Italian Navy had wanted aircraft carriers for a long time, and they had formulated a plan to seize Malta during the war before the outbreak of the war, but Mussolini turned a deaf ear to all the correct suggestions.

Hessmann glanced at Jeschonnek, and the German Air Force General immediately said: "Our aircraft have obvious advantages in quantity and quality. If we fight in the waters west of Sicily, the exchange ratio will definitely be in our favor."

Jeschonnek is an air force general, and his thinking is of course air force-style. Fighting a war is a matter of the exchange ratio of fighter planes.

Among the Italian Air Force and German Air Force under his command, the fighter squadrons that can be used for air combat over the Mediterranean (excluding night fighters, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, fighters with insufficient range, and carrier-based aircraft under the command of the navy) include 6 German squadrons (3 of which are equipped with Fokker Zero and 3 with Fw-190) and 26 Italian squadrons (4 of which are equipped with Fokker Zero, 10 with CR.42, and 12 with MC.200), for a total of 32 squadrons.

In addition, there are 4 fighter squadrons equipped with Fokker Zero in the 9th and 10th German carrier-based aircraft squadrons under the command of the Italian Navy.

In total, there are 34 squadrons with 432 fighters - of which the 6 German shore-based fighter squadrons are all composed of 16 aircraft.

So Jeschonnek has a lot of capital in his hands and is not afraid of fighting a war of attrition with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Naval Air Force.

"Moreover, we have a significant advantage." Yeshunnek said, "We have Germany behind us, and the losses are very easy to make up. Now the German Air Force and Naval Aviation have 6,500 combat aircraft, which can withstand a war of attrition. The British troops in the Mediterranean are more than 20,000 kilometers away from the British mainland, and their losses are difficult to make up."

Hearing Yeshunnek's well-reasoned analysis, Admiral Cavgnari just smiled bitterly. The navy doesn't calculate accounts like this. The naval aviation is opportunistic. If they seize the opportunity to overturn a battleship, it is worth it even if they lose 100 aircraft.

And Cunningham is a master of naval aviation. Exposing the Italian fleet to Cunningham's carrier-based aircraft and shore-based aircraft is really risky!

"Admiral Cavgnari," Hessman said to the Italian Navy Chief of Staff at this time, "It is the air force that determines the ownership of the Mediterranean. Once the British Mediterranean Fleet loses its air cover, we will win the war. So you don't have to worry about losing battleships, as long as the losses are valuable.

The battle plan will be jointly drawn up by you and Admiral Jeschonnek. The basic idea is to surround the point and attack the reinforcements, and the old-fashioned "Count Cavour" class and "Doria" class can be used as bait. However, the "Veneto" class battleships and two aircraft carriers should be preserved as much as possible.

In addition, the primary target of the torpedo aircraft unit and the dive bomber unit is the British aircraft carrier!"