"Marshal!" Qin Chuan said: "The Italians have transferred all the elite troops to North Africa!" ”

"Hmm!" Raeder answered, and only reacted after a while, and looked up at Qin Chuan in surprise: "You mean...... The Italian army in North Africa is an elite unit? ”

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied.

"The ...... of the Italian army in Nasicily"

"Uh-huh!" Qin Chuan nodded.

To some extent, Raeder's strategic deployment was correct, the Luftwaffe in Tunisia covered the navy in the port of Bizerte from the west, the Italian air force in Sicily covered the navy in the Tyrrhenian Sea from the east, and the Italian army in Sicily also had a large number of anti-aircraft guns, in addition to the Italians also had a fleet, which could make Sicily a barrier between Malta and the Tyrrhenian Sea, so the German navy was safe.

But......

The Italian army was demoralized, and they did not believe that the British were in a position to land in Sicily, so they did not worry about their airspace at all...... You know, the Italian army had a way to make a gap tens of kilometers wide in its own defense line during the battle against Egypt without discovering it, so it is needless to say what the situation would be in Sicily.

There was even a ridiculous incident in the history of the Italian defenders around Sicily: a damaged Allied fighter plane was forced to land on a small island, and the pilot was ready to surrender to the Italian army on the island, but what he didn't expect was ...... The Italian army came in droves to surrender to him, and the pilot set a record for the largest number of prisoners, as well as the record for the capture of enemy land by a pilot.

Colonel Slein interjected: "Your Excellency, with our experience of cooperation with the Italian army, I don't think we can trust the Italians, especially the Italian army in Sicily is not yet in combat readiness, and we have not yet established a channel of communication with Sicily!" ”

"But the Admiral Garibal told me...... It is impossible for the British air power to penetrate the air defense of Sicily! ”

Colonel Slain shook his head and said, "Marshal, you should ask us more than the Italians!" ”

"Marshal!" At this time it was reported: "General Adrien reports that a British submarine has been discovered!" ”

The news made the conductor nervous for a moment, especially at this time.

"What are the British trying to do?" Raeder said unconsciously.

Qin Chuan understood what Raeder meant, anti-submarine means were very primitive in this era, which was one of the reasons why German submarines could blockade Britain.

Therefore, most of the British submarines that can be spotted are British submarines who take the initiative to surface to observe or track the German fleet.

Raeder asked for details, and sure enough, that was the case.

In this case, the problem seems to be somewhat serious, and the submarine tracking fleet is either looking for an opportunity to sneak attack, or it is to grasp the position of the enemy fleet for further and larger operations.

The former is okay, if it's the latter...... Qin Chuan's worries will soon appear.

"No!" Then Raeder shook his head and said: "In such weather, it is difficult for the British plane to find the target!" ”

Reddell was right, it was raining outside, and there was a gray patch everywhere with very little visibility.

Under such circumstances, even if the British army had mastered the position of the fleet and even had flown over the fleet, it was difficult for the pilots to drop bombs on the warships on the high-speed fighters.

However, at this moment, someone whispered: "Marshal, the rain seems to be light!" ”

Raeder looked out the window, and there was even a little sunlight in the sky.

"God!" Raeder could no longer be calm at this time, and he immediately ordered: "Immediately order General Adrien, move closer to us!" ”

After a pause, he ordered: "Immediately inform Garibal's general and let him strengthen the air defense of Sicily!" ”

But there is not much difference between saying and not saying this...... Garibal's did relay this to Lieutenant General Guzoni, commander of the 6th Army in Sicily, and Lieutenant General Guzoni also conveyed the order, but basically no one took it seriously by the time the divisions arrived.

This is because the army will think that this is the navy's business, and the navy will think that this should be the air force's business, and the air force will think that someone should give them intelligence fighters in advance before they can attack...... This was the consequence of the lack of coordination between the sea, land and air, and the serious lack of communication, and everyone thought that the flames of war would not reach Sicily so quickly, so they did whatever they had to do, and even later when the British fighter fleet crossed Sicily, the Italians thought that those were German planes.

Of course, this is also related to the quality of the Italian army, although the Italian 6th Army in Sicily is huge, with 9 divisions and two brigades, only 4 field divisions have a certain combat effectiveness, and the rest are basically militia in nature, which also determines that they cannot make effective interceptions of British aircraft groups.

Montgomery's plan was simple: to annihilate or inflict heavy damage on the German fleet in the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Originally, Montgomery was still worried about the German army, because the main force of the German navy was in the area of Algiers and the port of Bizerte.

Algiers is 300 kilometers from Malta, which is the critical combat radius of British fighters (note: the combat range of the Spitfire is 760 kilometers when equipped with equipment), and more importantly, ...... To bomb Algiers it was necessary to pass through Tunisia, where the German 27th Air Force was located.

Needless to say, the combat effectiveness of the German fighters, although the British army was overwhelmed on land during this time, it suffered heavy losses in the air, especially the German pilot named Marseilleu, who is said to have shot down more than 50 British fighters by himself, and this is a record set in a month...... This made the British pilots have a psychological shadow.

So, the same problem existed in the port of Bissetta, which was under the protection of the German 27th Air Force.

Montgomery suddenly found himself in his possession of more fighters and all the preparations, but somewhat too powerful.

"What are you hesitating about, Monty?" Eisenhower asked: "We can only attack the port of Bizerte, and it stands in our way!" ”

"But Ike!" Montgomery replied: "There is a guy among the German pilots who can shoot down 8 planes in 10 minutes and 17 in the same day...... And he's in Tunisia! ”

Eisenhower nodded: "I've heard of him, are you worried that our fighters will be attacked by the Luftwaffe when bombing the enemy fleet and suffer heavy losses?" ”

"Yes!" Montgomery nodded.

At this moment, a staff officer came in with a telegram and reported: "'L27' has discovered the German fleet in the Tyrrhenian Sea!" ”