The news brought by Lei Shaoqing from the Navy Headquarters also made Tan Renhao make a new judgment on the development of the future war situation. For the next few days, Tan Renhao had been at the fortress headquarters and had not returned to the fleet. By the time of March 29, the inspection of the damaged battleship had been completed. At that time, most of the warships in need of maintenance were part of the 3rd Task Force. In particular, all five battleships were identified as in need of repair, and fortunately, the ground battleships of Task Force 3 were not badly damaged in the artillery battle and could all be repaired by engineering maintenance vessels at the fort of Gibraltar.

The relevant maintenance work was personally arranged by Lei Shaoqing, and the most seriously damaged "Guiyang" and "Nanchang" were repaired first, and the two battleships were repaired by two engineering maintenance ships at the same time. On the 29th, the engineers produced a maintenance assessment report and determined that the two battleships would take about ten days to repair. This is a relatively short repair time, and if you need to return to the Empire, it will take only two months to sail. Other ship maintenance work was quickly arranged.

Task Force 6 left the port of Santander on 30 March, and with the exception of the severely damaged "Fuzhou", which had to stay in the port of Santander for a few more days to plug the holes below the waterline before returning to the fortress of Gibraltar, all other warships departed in the early morning of the 30th. The fleet arrived at the Gibraltar fortress on the evening of April 2 and was immediately fully inspected by engineering maintenance personnel.

The exact opposite is true of Task Force 3. Except that the "Nanjing" did not suffer combat damage, and only a few parts that had failed or had hidden dangers of failure had to be replaced." Neither the "Hefei" nor the "Songjiang" could have been completely restored at the Gibraltar Fort." The damage to the Matsue site was severe, and many repairs required large cranes, which were not available on the engineering maintenance vessels, so they had to be returned to the empire." The "Hefei" was more unlucky, the battleship only received one shell. However, the shell landed right in front of the turret and shattered the hydraulic rotation mechanism underneath the turret, causing a crack in an oversized part. While it is possible to repair other parts to keep the turret in use, to be on the safe side, the cracked part must be replaced, and the turret must be hoisted in its entirety. Two 600 cranes are required, while the maintenance crane can only lift up to 250 objects. Therefore, the "Hefei" also had to return to the imperial mainland for repairs.

The other task forces are faring much better. A catapult on the aircraft carrier "Qiandao Lake" of the Fifth Task Force failed, and it could be temporarily used after emergency repairs while the battle was going on, and then the fleet returned to the fortress of Gibraltar, and after inspection, it was finally necessary to replace a new catapult. Thankfully, there were several complete sets of catapults on the engineering maintenance ship at that time, and the replacement was not a hassle. It is only necessary to remove the flight deck of the aircraft carrier's head and it will be able to carry out repairs. Only two cruisers of the 2nd Task Force had a minor malfunction in the ground power system. There is no need for engineering maintenance ships at all, only some spare parts are needed. It can be fixed in a matter of days. Task Force 1 is in the best condition, not a single battleship needs to be repaired, only normal maintenance is required.

At the same time as the battleship was being repaired, the officers and men of the fleet also took turns to go ashore to rest. Then. Three Marine Divisions had already arrived at the Gibraltar Fortress, at least 5,000 engineers were busy in the fortress, and several Marine Divisions had to stay in the ports of Ceuta and Tangier. There was simply not enough space in the fortress for the officers and men of the fleet, so Lei Shaoqing had to come forward to contact the commander of the Persian occupation army in Lalinea. The Persian occupation forces opened Lalinea to the Imperial Navy so that the officers and men of the fleet could go to Lalinea for vacation.

There are still many details that must be dealt with in a timely manner. For example, thousands of British officers and soldiers captured in the battle had to be returned to the Empire prisoner of war camps in a timely manner, and these prisoners of war were placed on ships returning to the Empire before the April equinox arrived, and the Marines were responsible for escorting them. In addition, the injured should be treated and cared for in a timely manner. The capacity of the forward hospitals in the fortified area of Gibraltar was quite limited, and most of the wounded were transferred to Ceuta and then by transport planes to Alexandria, where the lightly wounded were to be treated, while the seriously wounded were taken to Tehran for treatment by the Persian Imperial Military Hospital. The names of the fallen officers and men were also sent back to the Navy Command on 28 March, and the Navy Command was responsible for sending letters of condolence and pensions to the families of these officers and men.

After dealing with the affairs of the fleet and the officers and men, it is necessary to prepare war materials for the next operation of the fleet. Also because the fortress of Gibraltar has not fully restored its function as a fortress, most of the combat materials needed by the fleet are stored in Ceuta and Tangier, and they are only sent by transport ships when they are needed, which adds a lot of trouble and makes Lei Shaoqing have to contact the commander of the port of the Persian Empire frequently. to make sure that the supplies have been sent out in time.

Comparatively speaking, Tan Renhao has had relatively few things in the past few days. Zhu Rongzhe was responsible for handling the internal affairs of the fleet, while Lei Shaoqing was responsible for the logistics support work and the maintenance of the battleships. He was only busy for a day on the 28th and sent the list of fallen officers and men back to the Navy Command. And then there's nothing to do. Of course, Tan Renhao didn't take it easy. He has been closely following the situation, particularly the surrender of the British and the question of whether to attack the Maltese island. However, at that time, the Navy Command did not send relevant news, and perhaps even Gan Yongxing did not know much about the negotiation work in Rio de Janeiro.

The news that Lei Shaoqing brought made Tan Renhao realize that the fleet would soon leave the fortress of Gibraltar and go to the Xindi battlefield. Britain's defeat was a given, and with the Third Fleet's operations across the Caribbean progressing, it was unlikely that the United States would continue to take care of Britain at this time, even if the First Fleet did not move to cut off the ground routes between Britain and the United States. In order to avoid a direct attack on the homeland and greater war losses, the British had no choice but to surrender. But until now. There are still two points that Tan Renhao can't be sure. One is when Britain will surrender, and the other is whether Germany will cross the English Channel and land on the island of Great Britain before Britain surrenders to the Tang Empire.

Because the Gibraltar Fortress was the only military fortress in the European Theater under the direct control of the Tang Empire at that time, and most of the local information in Europe would be transferred by the Gibraltar Fortress Command, Tan Renhao was not ignorant of the development of the situation. On March 30, the day the damaged warships of the First and Second Fleets began to be repaired. Tan Renhao received an extremely important piece of information. Deployed in western Germany, the two armies in the Rhine region were rapidly moving in the direction of Calais, France, and at the same time, the German fleet in the port of Kiel also left the port on the same day and entered the North Sea!

This information immediately caught Tan Renhao's attention, as well as the attention of others. Obviously, the German army and navy were very unusual, but this alone is not very credible to judge that the Germans will land on British soil in the near future. First of all, the Luftwaffe did not at the same time strengthen the bombing force of British soil. Secondly, the German naval convoy with the landing fleet did not leave the port. Most importantly, the RAF has not lost its local air supremacy, and the British Navy still has many ground cruisers and destroyers, and has not completely lost the air supremacy of the English Channel. The German navy was not strong enough to seize sea supremacy. Under these circumstances, it would be quite difficult for the Germans to land on British soil, and they would even suffer a crushing defeat!

Just when Tan Renhao believed that the German army was not capable of landing on British soil, the naval command made a quick response to the abnormal movement of German troops. April 1. The Navy Command sent a telegram asking Lei Shaoqing to quickly prepare for the Marine Corps to leave, and at the same time, the First Fleet sent a task force back to the Bay of Biscay. Closely monitor German naval operations. At the same time put pressure on the British . It was clear that the naval command was not going to watch the Germans land on British soil, and if the Germans were really ready to attack, then the Reich Navy would attack Britain before the Germans. But in Tan Renhao's view, this was actually putting pressure on the representatives of the British government at the negotiating table, and the Reich and Germany had already had a showdown, and if Britain did not surrender immediately, the German army would fight to the British mainland. In order to avoid Britain being occupied by Germany, the Tang Empire will inevitably launch an attack in advance, and at that time, the British mainland will be completely destroyed by the war, and after the war, Britain will inevitably be divided. And it is impossible to maintain unity and integrity!

After receiving this telegram. Tan Renhao immediately ordered Zhu Rongzhe to lead the First Task Force to leave Algeciras Bay. Tan Renhao judged that the real purpose of this operation was not to attack the British mainland, otherwise the dispatch would not be just a task force, but all ground fleets, in addition, Zhu Rongzhe already had the ability to command the task force alone, after Tan Renhao served as the commander of the First Fleet. Basically, Zhu Rongzhe was in command of the First Task Force Combat Ground alone. Therefore, Tan Renhao did not set off with the fleet, but stayed at the fortress of Gibraltar. Wait for the command of the Navy to order the new ground.

The situation is changing very quickly, and Tan Renhao is correct in some respects. At that time the German army really did not have the ability to cross the English Channel. On April 3, when Tan Renhao received news from Xindi. He judged and confirmed. Early in the morning, Italy officially announced its acceptance of unconditional surrender and officially announced its withdrawal from the war. Less than ten minutes after Italy's surrender was announced, German troops deployed in southeastern France entered Italian territory and entered the city of Turing at about ten o'clock in the morning. In the morning of the same day, three German mountain divisions also entered the mountains of northern Italy. In the afternoon of the same day, the Germans had already reached Trento. Most importantly. On that day, the Germans dispatched five airborne divisions. More than 2,000 transport planes were mobilized to parachute these troops into Milan, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Perugia, Rome, Nabulus and other places, and at lightning speed, they took control of the Apennine Peninsula before the Tang and Persian Empires could react. By the evening of the same day, with the exception of the southern part of the peninsula, Sicily, and Sardinia, the Germans had controlled more than seventy percent of Italy, and quickly occupied Italy.

Italy suddenly announced its surrender, and the rapid and decisive action of the German army shocked Tan Renhao and others. Gu Zhenyun and the others were all in the fortress headquarters waiting for news from Xindi and observing the changes in the situation. In the evening, the command of the Navy sent an order from Xindi, and the fleet immediately set off for the waters near Sicily to block the Strait of Messina, and in addition to the island of Malta! At 8 p.m., when the 2nd and 5th Task Forces were preparing to depart, the Navy Command issued a new order that the Marines must occupy Malta by 6 p.m. on 5 April and assist the Persian Empire in the capture of Sicily.

At this point, the Tang Empire and the Persian Empire had reached an agreement that the Tang Empire would occupy the island of Malta and the Persian Empire would occupy Sicily. That night, Task Force 2 and Task Force 5 left Algeciras Bay. In the evening of the same day, the landing fleet carrying the 101st Landing Division of the Landing Division also left the port of Ceuta to rendezvous with Task Force 5 before heading to occupy the island of Malta. The 2nd Task Force was to enter the Strait of Messina as fast as possible, blocking the German access to Sicily.

In other words, at this time, the Don Empire, the Persian Empire, and Germany were all vying for time to see who could finally control Italy. In order to slow down the German advance, in the early morning of 4 April, the Imperial Expeditionary Air Force deployed in North Africa and Spain was fully dispatched, circling over the Italian airfield where the Luftwaffe was deployed, to prevent the German transport planes from taking off. For this reason, there was a serious confrontation between the combat planes of the two sides, and if it were not for the fact that the pilots of both sides had received a clear order strictly to fire first to create friction, I am afraid that the expeditionary aviation of the Tang Empire would have had to fight with the Luftwaffe several times that day.

Although the heavy bombers of the Tang Expeditionary Air Force interfered with the operation of the German airfield, they were not able to stop the movement of the German ground forces. By the evening of the same day, the Germans had basically taken control of the entire Apennine Peninsula. On the same day, 2,000 German paratroopers were parachuted into Sardinia by a group of German transport planes from the French airport, and the Italian troops defending Sardinia did not put up any resistance and surrendered to the Germans.

At noon on 5 April, the landing fleet reached the vicinity of the island of Malta. Task Force 5 dispatched bombers to bomb the British camp that morning, and in the afternoon the 101st Marine Division landed on the main island of Malta and engaged in skirmishes with the Italian forces at Valletta. Hereunto. The Imperial Marines have officially entered the island of Malta!