Romania's seizure of the island of Cyprus completely exposed the territories of Britain and France in the Middle East. This naturally worried Britain and France, and France, because of the pressure from Germany and Italy, did not want to send troops to reinforce it, and even wanted to transfer more than 60,000 French troops in Syria back to China. So the defense of the Middle East basically fell on the British army.

And in the face of Romania's aggressive attitude, the British side is also under great pressure. On the one hand, he had to deal with the demands of France across the sea, and on the other hand, he had to deal with the Romanian attack in the Middle East.

Churchill was a big headache about this, the German army was well known for its combat capabilities, and the Romanians did not look much weaker than the Germans, plus an Italy.

Although Italy's army does not seem to be very strong, its naval and air forces are still very combative. According to the report of the French Navy, their combat capability in skirmishes with the Italian Navy is not weaker than that of their French counterparts, so France has not been confident of winning a decisive battle with a fleet. It can only use small warships to prioritize the consumption of its combat power, but it is not known who consumes whom.

And in the Air Force, France is also the most vocal. They did not gain much advantage in the fight with the Italian Air Force. Its main fighter, the MS.406, was also in a disadvantageous position in the battle with the MC.200 fighters of the Italian Air Force.

It is worth mentioning here that the current Italian air force is affected by the fragmentation of the aviation industry. But someone secretly helped. The Italians did not rest on their laurels, so their aviation industry also developed.

The simplest example, the MC.200 fighter, which was supposed to be put on the battlefield in 1940, was successfully developed in early 1939. And the maximum speed of the aircraft reaches 510 km, and the low-altitude dogfight and climb are good. The only thing that is almost lacking is its firepower, which is too weak to be armed with two 12.7 mm Breda Safat machine guns.

In the face of the growing pressure from the Axis bloc, Churchill, as the British Prime Minister, was even more anxious.

"Beaverbrook, how is Spitfire production at the moment?"

In the conference room of the Prime Minister's Office, Churchill asked about the situation of the fighter planes as soon as he opened his mouth.

Beaverbrook, who was the Minister of Aircraft Manufacturing, glanced at the document in front of him and replied. "At present, Spitfire can only achieve the production scale of two squadrons per month, and when the new factory in Coventry starts, it will be able to increase the production capacity to four and a half squadrons."

When Churchill heard this, he shook his head and said. "That's not enough, the Middle East and the French war show us that the current hurricanes simply can't fight the BF109 of the Germans and the RF20 of Romania, as well as the HF201. In addition, I heard that this HF201 in Romania was jointly developed with the Japanese, how could they be entangled. ”

Beaverbrook remembers this, because this fighter appeared in the air raid on Alexandria at that time, and he deliberately asked the intelligence community to pay attention to its specific situation.

"It seems that relations between the two countries fell apart after the Romanians received aid from the Soviet Union because of the Far East, and then Romania quickly moved to Japan. I heard that at that time, in order to improve the relations between Romania and Japan, Romania specially came up with a new air-cooled engine for the development of new aircraft. And our intelligence officers in Japan have heard that this new aircraft is called the Zero in Japan, and it is a carrier-based aircraft developed, but judging from the use of Romania, this aircraft has a great range. ”

"That's what I'm worried about, as the current situation of the war shows that only the Spitfire can compete with it, and at the moment our enemy already has thousands of these new fighters, and we have less than a thousand now. This would cost us air supremacy, in which case the results would be catastrophic. ”

Here, Churchill informed everyone present of the possible consequences. No one expected that the beloved British Manufacture would suffer such consequences, so the faces of those present tensed.

Churchill was very pleased with the effect of his words, so he continued. "What's our next issue?"

"It was a telegram about the defenders of the island of Mala asking for help, and they said in the telegram that at present the island's various supplies are insufficient, and the island's current air defense is insufficient, and now Italian planes are bombing every day."

As soon as Churchill heard about the island of Malta, he was a little unkind. The island is in an extremely advantageous location, otherwise it would not have been chosen as the home port of the Mediterranean Fleet. It was only later that with the development of science and technology and the growth of the Italian navy, it felt too close to Italy, so it moved to Alexandria.

But right now, the island of Malta is a bit uncomfortable for the UK. Because of the loss of the Mediterranean Fleet, it has lost its control of the sea areas in the Eastern Mediterranean, and in this case, it is somewhat unrealistic to let the fleet provide material supplies and equipment replenishment for the Maltese Island.

At present, the replenishment of supplies and transportation equipment to Malta is protected by France, and after Britain sailed the material fleet to Tunisia, France provided warships and aircraft escorts. France is also quite happy to have a nail in the Italian seas and make it uncomfortable to nail it in the back.

It's just that the French lost a bit too much after transporting the island several times, and according to the statistics of the French side, the average loss rate of each shipment to the island of Malta was as high as 27%. This is also too exaggerated, four transports to lose an escort fleet. France, which has a big business, can't stand it, so France is becoming more and more reluctant to transport.

In fact, Britain can't stand it, but Malta's status is too important, and it is easiest to grit its teeth and insist. There is also a voice in the country that the island of Malta has become a bleeding mouth for Britain and France, and that our fleet should no longer be put on this small island with precious supplies, but should be used where it is more needed.

The emergence of such voices is just that it cannot interfere with British policy at the moment.

In fact, in Churchill's heart, he was in favor of giving up the island of Malta. At present, the island of Malta can no longer play its role, because the naval forces of Britain and France are not sufficient to protect the island.

It's just that Churchill didn't mention this idea to anyone, because this plan would be a huge blow to himself. Without firing a shot, he surrendered strategic points to the enemy, and he, the prime minister, was afraid that he would not want to do it.

So he is now in a dilemma about Malta, but he has to find a way. "How is the communication with the French side so far?"

Sir Dudley, First Sea Lord, replied. "At present, France has agreed to escort the next fleet, but from the next time onwards, France wants to have our own fleet to escort it, and they can provide aircraft protection."

"These Frenchmen!"

When Churchill heard Sir Dudley's words, he couldn't help but complain. It's just that the rest of the aid to the horse must be continued, I saw him speak. "Then this time the convoy is a little bigger."

"Yes, Prime Minister."

What Churchill meant, how could Sir Dudley not understand.

"By the way, what is General Wavell saying at the moment?"

As soon as Churchill spoke, everyone sat up straight, because this was the most important motion of the day.

As Secretary of War Aiden, he spoke. "At present, General Wavell has returned to Egypt with his army in view of the seizure of the island of Cyprus, and he is currently working on the defence of Egypt and the Palestinian coast. It's just that he currently lacks armor and anti-aircraft artillery, so he hopes that the country can support him with these materials. ”

Churchill frowned a little as he listened to Aiden's words. Because at present, the main forces of the British army are on the mainland, and in order to land at any time

France, its equipment is also the best. So Wavell's Middle East legion was completely inferior to the native army. Of course, this also involves another topic, that is, the lack of British military industrial capacity. It's pitiful to say, the output of weapons at the Skoda plant last year was comparable to the output of the British in a year.

Although this proves the huge scale of Skoda, it also proves the low capacity of the British military industry. After the outbreak of the war, in the face of the problem brought about by the large-scale expansion of the army, that is, the shortage of military materials. Of course, Britain and France can also import from the United States, but the United States, which has not been mobilized, has limited production capacity, and the United States itself is preparing for military expansion, and how much can it be used to support Britain and France.

Therefore, the decision made by the British side is to give priority to ensuring local troops, and the Middle East can only belong to the second demand. But now General Wavell's complaint came.

Churchill thought for a moment, and just as he was about to speak, the door was opened with a bang, and his secretary walked in with a telegram on his face.