Far from the rough Atlantic Ocean, the burning fires of Benghazi, once an important port on the Mediterranean coast, have finally been extinguished. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The grizzled locals, and the grizzled Italian defenders, looked at the dilapidated port, and stood helplessly together in a daze.

"Extinguished?" Looking at the port building, which had been burned down by fire, only a piece of foundation remained, and an Italian officer could not believe his eyes.

When Benghazi was attacked by the British Air Force, he and his men were still stationed in positions outside the city. As a result, they were soon transferred to the city and began to participate in the work of extinguishing the fire.

Fortunately, the port terminal is close to the sea, and the pumping machine and other equipment have a good working environment, which is not easy, and the fire is controlled.

Because a large number of buildings in Benghazi are made of stone and dirt, and the port is separated from the surrounding buildings by a nice street, the fire did not spread throughout Benghazi.

Even so, the fire has continued to burn to the present day, destroying everything of value in this Italian port.

"There are 400 people missing, and I think some are destined to be missing." An Italian officer looked at the burnt port and sighed.

Many people were burned to ashes by the exploding oil drums and the detonated ammunition depot, and it was a miracle that bodies could still be found under such fires.

There were quite a few corpses of civilians around, as well as the corpses of many Italian soldiers...... Compared to the loss, the corpses were insignificant.

"To rebuild this place, you have to rely on Tobruk...... In this case, the slow progress of the project is inevitable. An Italian general said bitterly as he looked at the ruins of the dock with his hands behind his back.

The construction of Benghazi and its use as a port for oil transport was a plan of the Italians, and at the same time almost irreplaceable.

Although Tripoli has a strong loading and unloading capacity, it is too far away from the oil-producing area to borrow power. And another port close to the oil region, is Sirte by the Germans.

A little further east than Benghazi is Tobruk, which is also not close and the port conditions are even worse.

So, even if Benghazi is now completely scrapped, the Italians will have to pinch their nose and continue to rebuild it – because this is their only hope.

"If, I mean...... If we ask the Germans to borrow our Sirte, will we rebuild Benghazi faster? Beside the general, an Italian officer who followed suggested it.

"How could the Germans lend us the port...... They are responsible for the construction of the equipment for the Libyan oil fields, and they are also building port facilities...... In this case, when they move the dock to us, it is tantamount to delaying their progress. The Italian general shook his head helplessly.

"What about exchanging with them? For example, exchange ports like Tripoli for them, and we will take Sirte......" The young Italian officer felt that his idea was also somewhat feasible.

The Italian general sneered and looked at the young officer following behind him: "Do you think the Germans are stupid pigs?" ”

"Uh......" The young Italian officer also felt that Tripoli's bustling place was now less valuable than Libya's oil.

So the Germans couldn't stupidly exchange the vital Sirte for an inconsequential so-called large port of Tripoli.

What's more, Germany's oil pipelines are already connected to Sirte, and the strategic advantage there has become even more significant.

"The Germans wanted Benghazi back then...... We are reluctant to give...... As a result, Benghazi is now in ruins, and the German Sirte has fallen into a good place. Thinking about Ribbentrop's negotiations with the Italian side two months ago, the Italian general sighed helplessly.

In this situation, if you want to rebuild Benghazi, you have to rely on the small place of Tobruk...... For Italy, their path to Libyan oil shipments seemed destined to be difficult from the start.

"If the German Navy wants to rent destroyers and patrol boats, let's try to persuade the leader to agree...... Let the German Navy at least take on some of our tasks. As he spoke, the Italian general had reached a smoky foundation.

The structure and façade of the house that was originally built here can be faintly seen, but now only a rough outline remains.

Maybe there was furniture or something like that, but now all that's left is a charred patch of the ground and a few slightly raised ashes.

Everything seems to be starting all over again in Benghazi. Looking at the sea in the distance, the old general sighed and said, "It doesn't matter if it's leased, or if you sell some old destroyers and patrol boats...... The point is, we need money to rebuild Benghazi! ”

The German floating dock looks powerful and very useful, but it is a real steel welded box - this is an unchangeable fact.

Because the main structure is made of steel, it cannot be used on a large scale on the German side. After all, it needs steel to build, and every industrial sector in Germany is now worried about the lack of steel.

The problem has already been established, and the German side will not easily use such floating terminals to expand the port unless it is absolutely necessary, because the amount of steel consumed is too large.

Another fatal problem also plagues the floating dock, that is, the floating dock is a temporary device, even if it can be partially sunk, it is still a hollow device floating on the water!

Temporary installations have a time limit, and although in the Mediterranean, where the waves are smaller, such docks can be used for months or even a year or two, but after all, there is a time limit for this thing.

It can only save valuable time for users at the most critical time, but it cannot be used as a permanent construction.

Steel will rust, it will leak and sink...... Even if there is support and other aftermath treatment, it can only delay but not prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Therefore, the construction of the German wharf in Sirte is actually just a way to grab time, not a real infrastructure.

Under these circumstances, the most important thing that the German top brass wants to do now is to use the time gained by the floating dock to speed up the construction of Sirte itself.

That's why, with three floating docks, the focus of Sirte's construction has completely shifted to the construction of permanent docks.

It is precisely because Sirte itself cannot be replaced that Germany finally started to build a Mediterranean naval fleet after Sirte was attacked by the British Mediterranean Fleet.

The British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet bypassed the main fleet of the Italian Navy in a dashing manner, entered the Gulf of Sirte, and attacked Sirte, which deeply stimulated the German high-level.

General Cunningham commanded a surprise attack on Sirte's fleet, broke through the Maltese blockade with no one around, and arrived safely at the port of Gibraltar, leaving the Germans unbearable.

Not only were they worried that something would happen to Sirte, but Li Le and some of his generals were even worried that they would hear the news of the landing of the British fleet in Malta one morning.

As one of the most important islands in the Mediterranean, Li Le and many German generals believed that the island of Malta must be absolutely safe as much as possible!

The solution was actually quite numerous, the German navy intended to buy two destroyers from the French navy, and if possible to lease more, and was considering whether to salvage a French battleship sunk in Alexandria......

At the same time, the German Navy also sent a message to the Italian side, requesting the purchase or lease of as many ships as possible at sea.

Marshal Raeder's plans were ambitious, and he intended to create three separate destroyer fleets in the Mediterranean, around Malta and Sirte, as well as Alexandria.

In terms of strength, Malta's destroyer fleet was the most powerful and was responsible for facing the pressure of the British fleet from the Gibraltar side. The destroyer fleet near Sirte was responsible for responding to Malta.

The destroyer fleet in Alexandria Harbor is responsible for auxiliary tasks such as escort and demining, and its strength is relatively weak.

Raeder even once came up with the idea of the "Eagle" aircraft carrier under construction by the Italian Navy - of course, this radical idea was rejected by the Italian Navy.

However, the Italian Navy was still willing to sell or lease a few destroyer patrol boats to give the Germans a façade. After all, this is not a core interest, and it is definitely negotiable.

What the Italian general brought up was in fact an effort by Germany to seek to lease naval warships.

And in France, in the office building of the Vichy government, the French admiral, who was also the foreign minister of the French government, General Darland, met with a personal envoy from the Führer.

"General Darrang! Our country hopes to buy two second-hand destroyers from the French Navy in the form of purchases. As soon as they met, the German envoy, who had exchanged a few words of greeting, said what he meant.

Darlan had also heard of the defeat of the Axis powers in the Mediterranean, and he was shocked by the strength of the British navy while also seeing the strategic victory of the Axis powers.

As the second most powerful person in the French Vichy government, Darlan was certainly not a fool, he was able to maneuver between Hitler and Churchill, save the French Navy until the last moment, and of course he was a smart man.

So he knew that tactically the British Navy did have an advantage, but strategically, Germany, which blocked the Mediterranean side, was the winner of this battle for the Mediterranean.