Mussolini couldn't help but be angry when he saw this telegram, and he replied in strong terms, not understanding the situation at all: "No, Libya is Italian territory, and I will never let the British set foot on this land, not at all...... If the German army could not keep it safe, the tenacious Italian army would have done it! ”

Mussolini seems to have forgotten that the British had fought all the way to Tripoli a few months earlier, but this is not surprising, the Italians have always lived in their own imaginations, and they have always had a mysterious confidence in themselves, just as they thought they could easily defeat the British and occupy all of Egypt.

Hitler ignored Mussolini, he just sent a telegram to Rommel: "You have done a good job, my general, let the British be proud for a while!" Also, you can sometimes not think about the ideas of the Italians, get it? ”

Rommel couldn't help but be overjoyed...... This is also Rommel's sorrow, although he is Hitler's favorite general, but he rarely gets Hitler's support on the battlefield, such as Hitler repeatedly ordered Rommel to stop the offensive, such as refusing Rommel's request for reinforcements again and again, etc., which made Rommel have some psychological shadows.

Rommel once quipped to his staff officer: "The Führer and I are like two opposite strategists, and what I want to do, the Führer will oppose!" ”

But for the first time, Hitler would support Rommel in this matter, which made the stone hanging in Rommel's heart completely let go.

Then he savored Hitler's words: "There is no need to think about the Italians!" ”

Soon Rommel understood the meaning of this sentence, so he led his troops to retreat and let out the wind along the way: "Germany supports Libyan independence, but Italy does not want to do so!" ”

On the surface, this does not seem to work, because the Libyan people do not have much sense of independence, and many of them do not even have a sense of statehood.

But the Libyan colonial army under the command of Italy is different, because they are a group of troops and have participated in battles in various battlefields, they have fought a lot and have more knowledge, and they have a faint desire to establish their own country, but they dare not take action because of Italian control. At this time, they could not help but be overjoyed to hear that Germany supported their independence, and the troops responded to the detachment from the Italian army, expressing their willingness to follow the German army.

This also includes the Italian "Lightning Division".

As mentioned earlier, most of the Italian "lightning divisions" were indigenous Berbers from Libya, and news of the Germans' support for Libyan independence reached Algeria that night...... In fact, it was Colonel Slane who deliberately let out the news.

Then the Italian "Lightning Division" took control of the Italian officers who commanded them that night and sent someone to contact Colonel Slein.

Mussolini couldn't help but burst into flames after hearing these things, but there were strong enemies in Britain and the United States and riots in Libya behind them, and Mussolini did not dare to do anything with the German army, and finally could only make a promise to Libya: "If it can help Italy defeat the Allies, Libya will be allowed to become independent!" ”

This moment was like a shot in the arm for the Libyan colonial army.

What's more important is that Italy, the colonizer, and the colonized Libya, were still quasi-hostile, but now they have instantly become comrades-in-arms on the same front.

At this time, Qin Chuan was standing with Colonel Slane on the battleship "Dunkirk".

The two were invited by Raeder to the warship to test the new shells.

"We meet again, Lieutenant!" Of course, Conrad was indispensable on this occasion, and he said excitedly to Qin Chuan: "We produced this fuse according to your ideas...... It uses a cartridge case as an antenna, and the fuse contains a vacuum tube radio wave transmitter that emits 180 to 220 MHz of radio waves when energized. And then...... You know! ”

Raeder asked, "Have you verified the reliability of this shell?" ”

"Of course!" Conrad replied: "It's a feat, at least a few times more hits!" ”

"Then let's try!" Raeder said.

Of course, the experiment is not with a target machine...... There were no drones in this era.

Therefore, the experiment could only be carried out on a few fishing boats of different sizes such as airplanes on the surface of the sea.

This is possible because the self-detonation function of the shell is to be tested, and nothing else.

In order to make the experiment as accurate as possible, Raeder also made the fishing boats sail autonomously at sea...... It's easy to do, just press the throttle with a heavy object to keep it running.

"Ready!" WITH AN ORDER, THE GUNNER LOADED THE TWIN 130MM SECONDARY GUNS WITH SHELLS.

Then, with a mechanical sound, the guns aimed their guns at one of the fishing boats.

With a "fire", the naval guns fired two shells at the target with a "boom...... But the shell completely deviated from the target and exploded more than a hundred meters in front of the fishing boat.

"Marshal!" Conrad laughed, "You need to get a better gunner, or you're wasting shells...... These shells only detonate automatically, I didn't say they automatically look for targets! ”

The officers burst into laughter.

Raeder frowned a little embarrassedly, then glanced at the staff officer.

The staff officer understood and hurriedly replaced the gunners.

In fact, this is understandable, the navy needs time to familiarize itself with the naval guns of French warships.

"Ready, put!"

This time, the gunner was reliable, two shells accurately hit the fishing boat and exploded, and then several more rounds blew up the fishing boat farther and closer in succession.

"Gentlemen!" Conrad explained: "It may not seem like a big deal, but it is to wreck a few fishing boats. But be careful, we use anti-aircraft artillery shells, and there is no delay adjustment for the fuse, which means that the shell will automatically explode accurately according to the distance of the target. Otherwise...... The cannonball should not explode until it hits or passes through the fishing boat! ”

There was soon applause around them, and as a navy, of course, they knew the importance of such shells in air defense.

Raeder excitedly shook Qin Chuan's hand and said, "Lieutenant, you successfully persuaded me. Now, I'm interested in your defense plan, and it's important for us to discuss the detailed plan further! ”

Conrad interjected at this time: "Marshal, I have to remind you that we only produce this kind of fuse for 130mm shells, because we cannot further reduce the volume for the time being, and at the same time we cannot afford to pay for small-caliber anti-aircraft guns!" ”

"Enough!" Raeder replied: "I hope you will provide us with this shell as soon as possible, the more the better!" ”

REDDER WAS RIGHT, ONLY 130MM SHELLS WERE ENOUGH, BECAUSE THERE WERE MORE 130MM CALIBER HIGH-FLAT DUAL-PURPOSE GUNS ON WARSHIPS...... For example, the battleship "Dunkirk" had 12 quadruple guns and 4 double-mounted secondary guns.