The prince's preparations for war proceeded in an orderly manner, and in just one week, two groups of 3,500 officers and men of the Blue Legion and their equipment were shipped to North Africa. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info And the preparations of the naval side are also going according to plan. Rear Admiral Scheer is already ready to go to the Mediterranean with his own fleet.

The battleship sold to Turkey this time was the Prince Albert, the third ship of the Mainz-class armored cruiser. Some of the Turks had already come to Germany, and although most of the positions on this battleship were held by the German Navy, after all, it was a battleship sold to the Turks, and there must always be an honorary captain and some officers and men on it.......

On the diplomatic front, Germany and Austria-Hungary also made it clear to Italy that Germany and Austria would accept Turkey as a member of the Central Powers, and at the same time Germany said that it would help Turkey build a "defensive fleet". It is hoped that through these means, the Italians will be able to pull back from the precipice and not do things that are "detrimental to the interests of the Allies". But alas, both Germany and Austria underestimated Italy's determination to fight!

"The Germans and Austrians wanted to rely on intimidation to bring Italy to its knees. They did just that a year ago. Umberto I, an Italian abroad, said as he looked at the large-scale map of the Mediterranean Sea hanging on the wall.

"But they were wrong, how could our dedication to restoring the glory of Rome-era Italy and its position in Europe be abandoned by a verbal threat?" King Umberto turned to the ministers below and asked, "Are our fleets and landing forces in place?" ”

"All the armies are ready, and we just lack a reason to go to war now. His Majesty the King. The Prime Minister respectfully said that the entire Italian fleet had been concentrated in Sicily and Taranto, the first landing force of 25,000 men had been assembled in the port, and a full convoy of 80 ships of various kinds was also ready to go.

"Well, then, let our people quickly create some trouble, and then let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issue a statement, we must be quick, while Germany and Austria are not ready, quickly deal with the Turks!" With the order of Umberto I, the Italo-Turkish War, which had been advanced for nearly 10 years, began, the rumbling chariot drove into an unpredictable future, Italy and Turkey were put on the scales of war, and a new rising country and a dying empire collided directly!

I have to say that the Italians have made very good preparations this time, first of all, the Italians learned about the attitude of Austria-Hungary through the spies arranged in Austria-Hungary,—— Austria-Hungary does not want to meddle in this matter, the Austrian parliament has not held an emergency meeting recently, let alone the Hungarian parliament, they don't even care about the naval construction of the empire, how can they care about Turkey? There were no major changes in the army, that is, if nothing else, Austria-Hungary would at best fight with mouths.

The Germans made some moves, such as the appearance of some Bavarians in the coastal ports of Libya, and at the same time Germany will provide Turkey with a Mainz-class armored cruiser. The former is naturally the work of Bavaria, which has always advocated good relations with Turkey, while the latter, although it shows the tendency of the German central government, there is no more evidence that Germany will take more action.

And the most important thing is that it will take about 2 weeks for the German battleship to be delivered! The British had already assured that the Suez Canal would not allow the passage of the German battleship, so as long as the Italian government could block the ****** strait, then it would be impossible for the battleship to reach Turkey! Although the Mainz-class armored cruisers are powerful, they are not NB enough to single-handedly take on the entire Italian fleet, right?

And that's what the Italian Navy did, in fact! According to the opinion of the Duke of Abqilu, all the light battleships and speedboats of the Italian Navy were to form 3 cordons in the ****** Strait, the fleet was to be divided into two parts, and all the battleships were concentrated and anchored in Licata, in the south of Sicily, ready to intercept the armored cruiser Prince Albert. And the cruiser fleet will be responsible for the security of the transport fleet. and support the army in operations. In order to ensure smooth communication, the Italians also arranged for radio relay ships to be responsible for relaying messages!

As for the Army Operational Plan? Compared to the more rigorous blockade plan of the navy, the army has almost no plan, joke, in the eyes of the Italians, there are 25,000 people on their side, and the Turkish side is also this number, in this case, how can the Italian army lose? You must know that in the Battle of Adwa, those African natives also concentrated more than 5 times the strength to defeat the Italian army, how could the Italians lose with the same number?

It all unfolded according to the Italian script, and three days later, there were mass riots in Tripoli, in which several Italians died or went missing. The next day, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement demanding that the Turkish government open the port of Tripoli in order to allow Italian troops to enter and ensure the safety of Italians there, a request that was naturally rejected by the Turkish government. On the third day, the Italians officially issued an ultimatum, declaring that if Turkey does not accept the opinion of the Italian government within 48 hours, then the parties will be at war!

"Damn Italians!" Prince Ruprecht, who was in Vienna at this time, was also a little worried after learning that Italy had declared war on Turkey, the Italians were moving too fast, almost enough to start the war before they completed their preparations, most of the personnel and supplies of the army had already been transported, and a small part of the remaining could also be transported to Libya through Egypt through secret channels, but what about the navy? Without the containment of the armored cruiser Prince Albert, neither unloaded ships nor minelaying could be carried out!

"They will definitely block ****** strait, and it will be almost impossible if they want to break in!" The prince immediately turned down all entertainment, even the invitation to the banquet of the Emperor Ao. He now needs to contact the German ambassador to Austria immediately in order to exchange research countermeasures as soon as possible!

"Now we must find ways to get the fleet to pass anyway, we must prepare the warships provided to the Turks as soon as possible, while the Turks have not deployed mines now, we can only rely on the fleet blockade alone, if the mines are laid, we will not even have a chance at all!" In a telegram to Berlin, the prince wrote.

Although it is a little unexpected, the war still has to go on, and it is not the prince's style to give up when there is a little accident and setback! Under the strict orders of the Kaiser, the entire task force began to work overtime to prepare, reducing the preparation time that originally took 2 weeks to 5 days!

Thank you for the tips from the book friend Fly Hammer of Destruction, 1st Guards Tank Brigade, 2013, Wu Yue, Fisherman's, and Sea Border~~~! And what book friends want is what, Pig Cola, What a Big Rabbit, MeTaTron, Canesium & Chain~ and other book friends' monthly pass support~~~! (To be continued.) )