Warriors are respected everywhere, even enemies. Chasing the reckless wasteland, you have to be quick.

Colonel Filip's farewell telegram was also intercepted by the Italian Navy, and Campioni was immediately embarrassed when he saw the full text of the telegram.

Flagship Vittorio. The battleship Veneto made a circle around the site where the battleship Ramillis sank.

All the main guns of the whole fleet collectively fired three times to pay their final respects to this respectable enemy.

Two days later, the port of Malaga in southeastern Spain was crowded with Spanish military bands playing the Italian national anthem to greet the triumphant heroes.

The first joint operation between the Italian Navy and the Japanese Navy was a complete success.

The result of this sortie was the sinking of the battleship Ramillis, the capture of ten merchant ships, and the rescue of more than 1,600 Italian prisoners of war.

In addition, more than 500 British wounded and 421 crew members of the Ramillis were captured.

The Italian Navy destroyers Lightning and Sudden were hit by the secondary guns of the Ramillis, and the Sudden was badly wounded and incapacitated, and was towed back by friendly ships.

Andre. The bow A turret of the battleship Doria was hit by the main gun of the USS Ramillis and lost the ability to turn.

The rest of the ships suffered minor losses, the most serious of which was the battleship Litorio, which was killed by a near-miss, flying shrapnel of seven anti-aircraft gunners.

The results of concentrating superior forces to fight a war of annihilation were very rich, but the losses were negligible.

The Atlantic Fleet received a warm welcome in the port of Malaga, and Rome's Palazzo Venetian was also full of joy.

Mussolini smiled triumphantly in his glass and said, "I knew this would be the case, and the little setback we suffered before was because we entered the war too hastily. The corporal had promised me that he would not start war until 1944, and I believed him. Who knew that the outbreak of the war was five years earlier, and we joined the war without psychological preparation. Now that we have passed the first difficult moments, the results of this naval battle represent the real combat effectiveness of the Italian army, and I see who dares to underestimate us, I will slap them hard with one great victory after another. ”

Admiral Racino, commander of the Italian Navy, said with a fluttering eyebrow: "This victory is nothing more than an appetizer, the real main course is yet to come, our battleships Count Cavour and Caesar have been refitted. Just in time to be sent to replace the injured Andrei. Battleship Doria. ”

"I think we should send more ships into the Atlantic to fight, the stronger the strength, the more fruitful the results, and the Navy Command immediately came up with a plan to increase troops." Mussolini said.

"How's the war going in Ethiopia?" Mussolini asked.

"The front is still in Addis Ababa. The Duke of Oster wants us to be able to send a general who is proficient in armoured warfare to take command of the two panzer divisions there. Marshal Badogglio said.

"Tell the Duke of Oster that I will grant all his requests as long as we can win the battle and earn honour for our great Italian army. Do you have any suitable candidates? ”

"I think Giovanni. General Messer is more suitable, now that there is no war in Albania, a talented person like him should not be idle there, Ethiopia is where he should go. Marshal Badogglio said.

Mussolini slapped his shiny bald head and shouted: "I have forgotten my dear General Messer, and sent him to Ethiopia at once, and you will arrange the duties."

I've been so forgetful that I've forgotten Messe, and if I had remembered him earlier, maybe the war in East Africa would have ended by now.

You do it as soon as possible. He also told Messer that if he could win the war in East Africa, he would ask for anything, and he would ask for it. ”

The next day, Giovanni. Messer flew to Rome to meet Mussolini.

Mussolini personally promoted him to lieutenant general and appointed him commander of the 1st Panzer Corps, which commanded the Litorio, Arreette and 2nd Blackshirts.

After flying to Addis Ababa, Messer actively reorganized his troops, surveyed the terrain, and actively consulted the German teaching corps.

Messer's due diligence was greatly appreciated by the Duke of Oster, and Colonel Barak, the head of the German Teaching Corps, secretly pleased. The Italian Army finally has a reliable general, and the pressure on itself can be reduced a lot.

In the excitement, Duke Auster and Colonel Barak responded to Messer's request, and the three of them held their breath. Once Messer was familiar with his men and the situation on the battlefield, he went on a big fight.

The Italian army's movements could not be concealed from their old rival, the Eighth Army, and Montgomery was keenly aware that a major battle was coming.

Ochinlake arrived at the front line and came to the same conclusions as Montgomery.

Ochinlake immediately summed up the situation on the battlefield and sent a telegram with a list of military supplies attached to the telegram.

Montgomery, on the other hand, actively spies on the movements of the Italian army and makes targeted deployments to prepare for the imminent outbreak of the big war.

War clouds are gathering in Ethiopia. The Spanish direction is also a tense atmosphere.

On the morning of 2 April, the battleships Count Cavour and Caesar arrived in the port of Malaga with three heavy cruisers, three light cruisers, and five destroyers, ready to take part in the ensuing naval battle.

The Seawolf King Dönitz sent fifteen submarines into the Spanish military ports, bringing the number of submarines operating in the Mediterranean to forty-two.

The Japanese Navy's European Task Force under the command of Nagumo Tadaichi was all sailed to the port of Barcelona, Spain.

German naval aviation sent two regiments of Ju-88 bombers, which had just completed training, to Spain to reinforce the 1st Air Division.

For a time, there was a heavy concentration of troops in Spain, and the target was directly aimed at the Canary Islands.

The happiness of the Axis has always been based on the misery of the British.

In the port of Las Palmas, capital of the Canary Islands, in the combat command room of the H Fleet Command.

H Fleet Commander James. Vice Admiral Somerville stood next to the charts hanging on the wall, silently contemplating the next combat operation of the H fleet.

Somerville had completely lost the joy of successfully consuming the Canary Islands by this time.

Originally based on the Gibraltar Peninsula, the H Fleet was forced to withdraw after Spain declared war and was subsequently strengthened in early March.

The USS Ark Royal, the battlecruisers USS Prestige and Counterattack, and the battleship Brave led five light cruisers and eleven destroyers to cover 5,000 infantry, killing the Spanish defenders of the Canary Islands in an instant, and occupying the Canary Islands.

After capturing the Canary Islands, Somerville discovered that his huge fleet had become a lone force by this time.

The Canary Islands were about 2,500 kilometers from the British mainland in a straight line, and in order to avoid the 500-kilometer hunting radius of the Axis air forces, a detour had to be taken. The distance between the two places is close to 3,000 kilometers.

Once the H Fleet was attacked by the Axis navies, the home fleet simply could not arrive in time and could only fight alone.

To add insult to injury, the Canary Islands produce only agricultural products. There are no industrial products or minerals.

All of the ammunition, fuel and medicines required by the H Fleet were to be transferred from the British mainland.

This means that the logistics line of the H fleet is three thousand kilometers long.

In the event of a fierce battle for the H Fleet, a logistical problem alone would be enough to weaken half of the H Fleet's combat effectiveness.

And these 3,000 kilometers of logistics are fraught with crises.

There are Axis reconnaissance aircraft in the sky, powerful fleets on the seas, and insidious submarines under water.

If you are not careful, the fate of the OB-272 convoy is a lesson from the past.

The Admiralty's order to the H-Fleet was to use the Canary Islands as a base. Surveillance of enemy warships in and out of Gibraltar from the air and sea, and the smooth flow of air routes off the west coast of Africa is ensured.

In Somerville's view, the more the H Fleet looked, the more it tended to enter the enemy-occupied area alone and be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy's superior forces.

The situation is quite serious and does not allow for optimism, and the Canary Islands may well become the burial place of the H fleet.

The more Somerville thought about it, the more he felt that the situation of the H Fleet was fraught with danger.

"Report that the fleet of the Japanese Navy has reappeared, about ten nautical miles northwest of Gran Canaria, in the number of one light cruiser and two destroyers, and the destroyer Magnum is monitoring them." A captain staff officer walked up behind Somerville and said.

The Japanese Navy actually entered the war in this way. It was unexpected.

For three days, the Japanese Navy conducted reconnaissance in the waters near the Canary Islands every day, and the distance was getting closer and closer, to the point of brazenness.

The H fleet can only watch these ill-intentioned guys scout nearby and be powerless, after all, the other side is a neutral country, and the sea area where the other side appears is the high seas, and the H fleet has no right to drive the other party away.

Three days on, the appearance of the Japanese Navy is definitely not just surveillance and reconnaissance, the next target of the Axis Navy is likely to be the H Fleet.

Holding on is likely to wipe out the entire army, and the disparity in strength is too great.

Abandonment of the withdrawal of troops from the Canary Islands? Mr. Prime Minister will certainly not agree.

Somerville struggled to figure out what to do. But I don't have a clue.

"It was reported that the Japanese fleet made a long radio transmission that lasted up to twenty minutes."

Somerville nodded silently, the sense of crisis in his heart getting worse.

The Combined Fleet of the Axis powers may be on its way to the Canary Islands. You can't hesitate anymore and you have to make a decision right away.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, a long radio wave flew into London.

An hour later, wartime cabinet members poured into 10 Downing Street for an urgent military meeting.

"Look at this telegram, General Somerville thinks that the next target of the Axis bloc is the H Fleet. He suggested that we send reinforcements, especially battleships, to strengthen the defense of the Canary Islands, or abandon the Canary Islands altogether. Churchill handed the telegram in his hand to Admiral Beckhausen, the Admiralty-Chancellor, on his right.

The telegram quickly circulated in the hands of the congregation and returned to Churchill.

Seeing Churchill's inquiring gaze fall on his face, Beckhausen got up and stood in front of the map, pointed to the map and said: "The battleships Warweary, Queen Elizabeth and Barham are now in the Indian Ocean Fleet, and their mission is to cooperate with the aircraft carriers Athletic and the Radiance to blockade the Gulf of Aden and prevent the Axis fleet from entering the Indian Ocean.

USS Brave, USS Prestige, and USS Counterpunch are now in the H-Fleet, oh, and the USS Ark Royal.

The battleships Revenge and Resolve are on convoy duty at sea, and currently there are only four battleships in the home fleet: Nelson, Rodney, George V, and Prince of Wales, as well as the battlecruiser Hood.

In order to blockade the German High Seas Fleet, especially the Bismarck and Tirpitz, I think that the five capital ships of the Home Fleet cannot be reduced in any way.

Let me be blunt, we don't have troops to adjust right now. ”

"How do you think we should respond to General Somerville's request? Agree to give up the Canary Islands? Churchill's gaze was gloomy.

"No, we can't give up the Canary Islands, giving up the Canary Islands is tantamount to giving up the shipping routes off the west coast of Africa, and our maritime ties with India and South Africa will be weakened to a terrible extent, which is unacceptable to us." War Secretary Aiden said.

General Ismay, a member of the Chiefs of Staff, said: "The Eighth Army in East Africa has just sent a telegram that the Axis Yankuai is preparing a large-scale offensive in Ethiopia, and they urgently need more supplies, and we are preparing for it. At this time, if we abandon the Canary Islands and the route to the west coast of Africa, our transport fleet can only choose the route across the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Our army in East Africa is tantamount to fighting a war without enough food, without adequate supplies, and it is only a matter of time before East Africa is lost. ”

Seeing that Churchill was just staring at him, Beckhausen said helplessly: "We really don't have enough battleships to send to reinforce the H Fleet right now." Because the OB-297 fleet, which was transporting supplies for the Eighth Army, also needed battleships to escort them, and at least two of them, and they needed the H fleet to cooperate, otherwise they would most likely also suffer the fate of the OB-272 fleet. In short, we really don't have any troops. ”

"What are the two battleships escorting the escort?" Churchill asked.

"Tomorrow the Revenge and the Rodney will arrive in China, and the H Fleet will also send troops to meet them, as long as they cross the most dangerous distance between the mainland and the Canary Islands, the Rodney can leave for home, and the long-distance escort will be completed by the Revenge, this is my idea." Beckhausen said.

"Could it be that the royal navy of the British Empire can't even find a single usable battleship right now?" Churchill asked dissatisfied.

Beckhausen was defeated by Churchill's aggressive gaze, and said in a hurry: "The Home Fleet cannot be reduced in any way, I think we can only find a way from the Indian Ocean Fleet to transfer the Barham to the H Fleet, Mr. Prime Minister, do you think it is possible?" ”

Churchill pondered for a while and said: "We have another question, how to maintain the supply of the H Fleet in the Canary Islands?" Do you have any suggestions? ”

Beckhausen let out a wail in his heart, and then said with a strong spirit: "I will go back to a meeting with the Admiralty, and I will definitely submit you a plan that satisfies you." ”

At 10 Downing Street, Churchill and others were in a meeting over how to keep the Canary Islands.

In the city of Seville, Spain, Chen Dao had just finished a combat meeting against the Canary Islands.

"The intelligence of the British has been well gathered, and tomorrow the first round of attacks on the Canary Islands will be launched, and the British will be intimidated first." Chen Dao said to his old subordinate Garand.

"Is it up to us naval aviation to do it?" Garland asked.

"We just cooperated, and it was the Italian Navy that really played the leading role." (To be continued.) )xh118