The real Italian navy is not as strong as some people think, but it is better in people's hearts! ”

When Li Ming flew into his diary to write these lines, European history was entering a new stage, the Germans were creating miracles on the land of France with an unprecedented blitzkrieg tactic, and he, as an important member of the German navy, was now in the relative quiet of southern Italy, quietly thinking about the problems he had been puzzled about.

The British had successfully staged a Dunkirk retreat, and there was no suspense about the defeat of France, and in this context, Li Ming had not decided where Germany's pace would go, although it was not a decision, but he had already decided not to simply stay out of the matter - by 1945 there was only one "immortal" "Prinz Eugen" left in the German Navy, and he really did not want to see the defeat of history with his own eyes.

In line with the most fundamental purpose of coming to Italy this time, Li Ming opened the Japanese machine book under the desk lamp, and in the past week, Italian naval officers enthusiastically took him and his subordinates to visit various naval bases in Italy, and the scenery on the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea is charming, but unfortunately Li Ming has no time to appreciate it, and he is now more concerned about how much Italy can do in the Mediterranean as an ally of Germany. The reason why he felt that the Italian Navy was not as powerful as some people thought was that the Italian Navy was obviously superior to the German Navy in terms of the number of ships alone, but this was also the "result" of years of accumulation - many cruisers and destroyers were old and lacking in performance.

In terms of naval aviation, about 500 ground reconnaissance aircraft should sound sufficient for the Italian Navy, whose range of activity is mainly in parts of the Mediterranean. But that's not the case. According to the accompanying Italian naval officials, the Kante Z.501 "Seagull" single-water seaplane with better performance, the "Heron's Nest" seaplane and other relatively advanced bomber planes are controlled by the Italian Air Force, and the Navy must apply to the Air Force when it needs to use them. This situation is similar to that of the German navy in history, and its effectiveness is inevitably adversely affected by the coordination between the services. Li Ming could only sympathize with the difficulties of his Italian counterparts, and the situation of the German Navy in this regard was also complicated by the failure of the previous Dunkirk Mine Operation.

The situation of the air defense organization in the ports of the Italian mainland also disappointed Li Ming and others. There is a serious shortage of air defense facilities at many important bases. To make matters worse, some ports do not even have a monolithic air defense plan. This meant that once the British threw more bombers into the Mediterranean, the Italians would have to intercept them with their own air forces that were relatively inferior and not superior in numbers, and the results were not promising.

In the case of various differences in hardware facilities, Li Ming saw a positive side in the performance of the officers and men of the Italian Navy. In contrast to the slow movement of the Italian Sixth Army along the Alpine border and the cautious reconnaissance of the air force, the Italian Navy took a series of decisive measures at the first time. By June 10, half of their submarines had been deployed in the Mediterranean, declaring war. These submarines were immediately put into reconnaissance and offensive missions; At the same time, the destroyers and minelayers of the Italians very efficiently began to lay defensive minefields along the coast of their homeland, laying thousands of ** in a few days, and they also used minelaying submarines to offensively lay ** on the enemy's ports and waterways, and the ** laid outside Alexandria soon achieved the first results and caused a certain panic in the British ports.

In addition to submarine offensives and mine-laying operations, the Italian Navy sent two cruiser detachments to patrol the vicinity of the Sicilian Strait on the third day after the start of the war. The first battle at sea took place on 12 June, when British warships raided an Italian patrol ship off the port of Tobruk. But only a few hours passed. Another Italian submarine sank the British cruiser "Calisop" just near Crete. To the astonishment of their German counterparts, the Italian navy's special forces had taken advantage of the night to cut the submarine cables from Gibraltar to Malta - the cables were small and sunk to the depths of the sea, and the Italian side said that this "premeditated" operation would continue. Until all communication cables between Malta and the outside world are cut off.

In the following days, the Mediterranean region, especially the south and north coasts, became lively, Italy and Britain each sent ships to shell each other's targets, and the French soon made a comeback, they sent cruisers to carry out a limited artillery bombardment of Genoa, an industrial city on the coast of northwestern Italy, and the Italian navy sent destroyers and ** boats to return fire, and both sides suffered damage to each other. In addition, British planes began daily bombing of the Italian port of Tobruk in North Africa. In response, a detachment of Italian destroyers conducted an artillery operation on the port of Selum on the border between Libya and Egypt. The French submarine "Moreser" was sunk by Italy, and Italy lost the submarine "Provuna" in another operation.

The Axis and Allies were fighting for the Mediterranean region as the Mediterranean intensified, and the main battlefield of the war, France, was unfolding much faster than previously suspected, and in June the German vanguard entered Paris without firing a shot, and the city, which had been approached twice by German soldiers in 1914 and 1918 but had not been captured, had finally fallen into the hands of the Germans - all of which had been abandoned without resistance, which was an extremely heavy blow to the psychology of the French officers and soldiers, and the large arms factories in and on the outskirts of the city were extremely undestroyed and not relocated, they will soon be the German war machine *** artillery ammunition. After the fall of Paris, the German armies continued to advance at full speed, and the northern route swept the northern coast of France with the 5th and 7th Panzer Divisions as arrows, and the British Cherbourg withdrew the last of their troops in France; In the center, the Germans lined up the 8th Panzer Division, and the offensive of the armored forces of the French 2nd Army and the 4th Army, which had been heavily damaged and had no reserve support, was simply an unstoppable flood beast, and Guderian's troops marched more than 70 kilometers a day; On the southern front, the Maginot Line, which had been silent, came, the German 1st Army from the north, and the 7th Army from the south to this quilt

A fierce assault was launched on the impregnable defensive line, and a breakthrough was achieved after only a few hours of air bombardment and artillery bombardment.

On 617, Marshal Pétain, the new French prime minister of the wartime cabinet, made his first radio address to his compatriots, and this pessimistic speech proved to have disastrous consequences for the morale of the French army, up to this point. The French campaign was practically over......

The day after Petain's "famous" speech. Zhang Hainuo returned to Germany with his newly completed report. The first thing he had to do was to gain the support of the German navy's top brass, with his position and connections in the navy, which seemed to be easy, but this report was by no means an ordinary admonition, because it was related to the future strategy of the whole of Germany, when Li Ming explained it to the generals at the navy's top meeting, the audience was full of surprise!

"Don't doubt your ears. I think that Germany's future strategic focus should and must be on the Mediterranean! Li Ming looked around the conference room, and the neat dark blue military uniform made him feel good, and he immediately explained (.2.) "Before we have the strength to cross the English Channel, the Mediterranean is the front line of our battle against the British!" ”

If this was said by some nobody, someone at the conference table would have jumped up at the conference table and said that he was "nonsense", but now it was the commander of the German main fleet, the commander of the naval department of the high command, and the most favored admiral of the German Yuan who made this statement. In terms of seniority, he fought in the last war and was the captain of the navy, in which he had already achieved a series of brilliant naval victories; On backering. Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Raeder has long been his supporter. His extraordinary personal relationship with the German Yuan was both enviable and envious, and if there was one fly in the ointment, it might be the unsuccessful mine-laying operation led by him in the Battle of Dunkirk, which ended not long ago. But when neither the Yuan nor the Navy Command pursued this matter, how could others dare to make a mistake?

"It seems that this trip to Italy has made a very deep impression on the general, but as far as I know, it is difficult for our Italian allies to compete with the British and French fleets, and as long as Gibraltar is at this checkpoint, it is impossible for our surface ships to enter the Mediterranean!"

In the end, the first to speak was the former commander of the main fleet of the German Navy and Zhang Kai's old boss Wilhelm. Admiral Marshall, now a veteran of the Navy General Command's special adviser, has retired from the ranks of front-line commanders, but remains a prominent figure within the Navy.

Li Ming replied without humility or arrogance: "General, the fortress of Gibraltar is indeed a very headache level, compared to the channel of the Suez Canal, which is much smoother!" However, in my personal opinion, as long as the Italian Sixth Army is going well and succeeds in capturing several important islands, our main fleet does not need to enter the Mediterranean! ”

William. Marshall thought for a moment and asked in a calm tone: "I have always thought that a direct attack on Britain would end this war, but does the expedition to the Mediterranean coast and Africa complicate the strategic issue?" ”

Li Ming still replied respectfully: "General, the British Isles seem to be very close, but it is difficult for us to seize them in the short term; The Mediterranean Sea may seem far away, but it does not have a natural line of defense like the English Channel! Ladies and gentlemen, if we lose the shipping routes of the Mediterranean, the oil of the Middle East, and the colonies of Africa, why should the British Empire continue to fight this war with us? ”

"I have a question, General!" Look at William. General Marshall stopped talking, and Chief of Staff Haye politely asked Li Ming: "In your vision, what is the main focus of the future battle in the Mediterranean?" Naval battles, land battles or air battles? ”

This question seems simple, but it is very in place, and Li Ming immediately replied with the answer he had already thought of: "Only the army, navy, and air force actively cooperate and coordinate operations, regardless of priority!" ”

Heyer said with a hint of helplessness: "But we can only decide on the navy at most!" ”

Li Ming had already considered such a problem, which may be the biggest obstacle to the implementation of the plan, but he still said with confidence: "As long as everyone is aware of the strategic location in the Mediterranean, the cooperation between the three armies will be as successful as the battle of Norway!" I would like to get support from within the Navy before submitting this report to the Führer for review! ”

Heye wanted to say something more, but looking at Li Ming's determined expression, he didn't say any more. Immediately after that, several other generals put forward their own views and different opinions, and in the end they were all "resolved" by Li Ming one by one, and at this time, the two commanders of the navy -- Commander-in-Chief Raeder and Deputy Commander Gu Ze -- had not yet expressed their position.

Seeing that the cold scene was a little long, Raeder whispered a few words to Gu Ze, as if making a final communication, and after a while, the admiral stood up and said, "Everyone, I should be the highest person to see Feng Ze here. The first impression of General Finkenstein's report was that it was new, bold and strongly targeted, and I have been thinking about what our enemies fear most these days. Yes, they are afraid that we will attack the British mainland, they are afraid that we will conquer Europe, but they have the English Channel as a natural line of defense! As you may not know, I myself am outraged that the long time ago offer to the British for peace had been rejected, and that he was ready to concentrate on this intractable enemy, having settled the French question once and for all! ”

When everyone's previous speculation was confirmed, most of the people present were very excited, the victories of Norway and France gave them confidence in the next battle, but few could have predicted that the invincible Luftwaffe on the European continent would fall on the weaker British Royal Air Force - although Germany now also has advanced radar, Li Ming believes that the range defects of the Messerschmitt 109, the self-defense capability and bomb load of various types of German bombers, The strategic posture of both sides, as well as the determination of the British, made it difficult for the Luftwaffe to overwhelm the British through pure bombing tactics.

Raeder's next calm and cautious statement remained the same: "Considering the strategic arrangement of Yuan and the attitude of our Italian allies towards the war in the Mediterranean, I think this report is entirely valuable as a backup reference plan. General Finkenstein insisted that he could submit it to the Supreme High Command for evaluation on his own behalf, and I personally supported this! ”