During the Second Global War, Malta was not an independent country, but it was called the heart of the Mediterranean. Malta is composed of five islands, of which Malta is the largest in size, with high terrain in the west and east, and its southeast and northeast are relatively flat, suitable for establishing military bases. The island's largest city, Port Valletta, is just east of the island.

Historically. Malta was controlled by the Phenicians, conquered by the Romans and the Normans, and became the most important military base of the Tang Expeditionary Force in the Mediterranean by the time of the Tang Empire's expedition to Europe. Can be due to the lack of fresh water resources. Therefore, the Tang Expeditionary Force did not use Malta as a military fortress in Europe. By the 19th century, when the Tang Empire had ended its colonization of Europe, Malta was occupied by the British, along with the fortress of Gibraltar. Subsequently, Britain and Italy became seriously divided and antagonized over the sovereignty of Malta, and even almost led Italy to form an alliance with Germany and go to war against Britain before the First Global War. After the outbreak of World War I, in order to win the support of Italy, Britain made concessions on the issue of sovereignty over the Maltese island, agreed to jointly administer Malta with Italy, and in this way stabilized Italy, and finally won the support of Italy. On the eve of the outbreak of the Second Global War, Italy made more claims to Malta, and Britain realized at this time that it would not be worth the loss if it turned against Italy because of the sovereignty of Malta. Therefore. At the beginning of the 21st, Britain signed the Treaty of Palermo with Italy. In the treaty, Britain recognized Italy's sovereignty over Malta, and at the same time, Italy also recognized the right of British troops to garrison Malta, and leased five military bases, including Port Valletta, to Britain at a price of £1 a year. The lease term is twenty years. It is this treaty. Eventually, Italy became an ally of Great Britain and shortly after Britain declared war on Germany. Italy also joined the war.

By the time the Imperial Marines went to attack Malta, there were about 1,500 British officers and soldiers stationed on the island, as well as about 3,000 Italian soldiers and police officers. At that time, the conflict with the 101st Marine Division was not with the British army, but with the Italian army and police forces. This was not expected by Tan Renhao and others, and Italy had already announced its unconditional surrender. Then the Italian army should surrender to any army in the Allies, not just to the Germans. Although the fighting in Valletta was not fierce, the resistance was quickly routed by the Italian forces, and the Marines quickly took control of the port, and by the evening the British and Italian forces on the island had surrendered. However, the battle also proved that Italy was already under German control. And the Italian army did not receive an order to surrender to the Don Empire. The next day those battles that took place in the upper part of Sicily also proved. The Italian army also did not receive an order to surrender to the Persian Empire!

The situation almost got out of control at this point. If there is no covert support from Germany. The Italian government did not dare to order the army to fight with the troops of the Tang Empire and the Persian Empire. And the Germans clearly wanted to occupy all of Italy. Keep the Tang Empire and the Persian Empire out of Italy. As a result, the Tang Empire marines, as well as the Persian Empire troops deployed in North Africa, were not slow to move and quickly entered Malta and Sicily. In the end Germany had to admit the facts. And quickly came forward to clarify. By the time of April 7, the Italian army in the upper part of Sicily had begun to surrender to the Persian legions, and the conflict had been resolved.

The skirmishes that took place in Malta and Sicily were not the most striking of these days. Rather, the German Airborne Forces attacked everywhere! Without this force, Germany would not have been able to take control of the Apennine Peninsula before the Tang and Persian Empires. It is even more unlikely to occupy Sardinia. During the entire war, the German airborne troops had many wonderful performances, and this operation made it the focus of the world's attention.

After the advent of the aircraft, some people put forward the theory of airborne tactics, believing that by quickly delivering troops by aircraft, it is possible to avoid directly attacking the enemy's ground defense line on the ground, and to achieve victory by fighting in the enemy's rear. After the end of the first global war, the performance of aircraft and ground has been greatly improved, especially after the emergence of large transport aircraft, and the theory of airborne combat has been valued by many powerful countries. It was also during this period that the Airborne Forces were established in many countries in the interior, including the Tang Empire. And the theory of airborne warfare was studied in depth. Without exception. The ground-borne troops of all countries are elite units of the army, and those who can enter the airborne troops are also officers and soldiers with very outstanding capabilities. However, the problem is that during the two wars, there was no way to test the combat capability of the airborne forces, nor could it confirm whether the theory of airborne tactics was correct. At that time, some people pointed out that there were problems in the tactical theory of the airborne forces, and that the airborne troops themselves also had defects in their capabilities, asserting that it was impossible for the airborne troops to completely replace the ground troops, still less to become the main force of the ground forces. In the circumstances, these opposing voices did not attract much attention, after all, the attraction of a new thing is very great.

After the outbreak of the Second Global War. Airborne troops quickly appeared on the battlefield. At that time, the airborne troops were mainly concentrated in the continental theater, as well as the European theater, and in the Pacific theater, because the main force was the Tang Imperial Navy, and at that time, there was no airborne force in the Imperial Marine Corps, and there was a lack of sufficient airlift capabilities. So. The Airborne Forces did not show much performance in the Pacific theater, even when they attacked the Australian mainland. None of the Airborne Forces were used .

At the end of 21, in order to prevent the Nordic region from falling into British hands, Germany dispatched three airborne divisions to quickly occupy Norway and control the Nordic region before the British, which was of great significance in the later war. Prior to the defeat of France, the Norwegian Gulf became the main base for German submarines in the North Atlantic. In addition, the landing bombers deployed at airfields in northern Norway became one of the main forces to strangle the Arctic Ocean route. The German naval fleet also repeatedly entered and exited the North Sea along the Norwegian coastline. It was also this operation that made the German Army pay more attention to the airborne troops and strengthen the construction of airborne troops. As early as the beginning of 22, the German high command believed that it was possible to defeat France in the short term, and then attack Britain. Then. The German High Command was prepared to use ten airborne divisions to attack Britain directly, and the airborne divisions would directly seize a port in the southern part of England, rather than first strengthening the English Channel.

It is precisely because of the outstanding performance of the German airborne forces in Northern Europe that Britain and France have recognized the importance of the airborne forces. Before the war, France had two airborne divisions, which were expanded during the war, reaching ten divisions at its peak. The British paid more attention to dealing with airborne operations, mainly because the only way for Germany to attack British soil at that time was to use airborne troops, which led Britain to devote more war resources to home air defense. At the end of 22, that is, France made several serious mistakes on the Western Front. When they were almost defeated, the British government even issued a rifle to every family in the south, preparing to use the militia against the German airborne troops!

Relatively speaking, on the other side of the battlefield at that time, the Tang Empire and Russia had completely different ways of developing the airborne forces. Russia also attaches great importance to the construction of airborne troops, which can be constrained by its limited air transport capacity, and the Russian army attaches more importance to the application of airborne troops at the tactical level, that is, in the campaign, the use of airborne troops to disrupt the order behind enemy lines and destroy the enemy's logistics support line, so as to provide assistance and support for frontal offensives. The Tang Empire also invested a lot in the development of the airborne troops, and when the army aviation was established, a special transportation command was set up to be responsible for the delivery of the airborne troops. By the time the war broke out. The Imperial Army had formed five airborne divisions. It can be different from the Germans. The Imperial Army was very cautious in the use of the Airborne Forces, because there were many voices of opposition within the Imperial Army at that time, and the doubts about the true combat effectiveness of the Airborne Forces were quite serious. More importantly, at the outbreak of war, the Imperial Army still believed that a strong defensive line was impossible to break through, and its main idea of war was still to eventually drag down the enemy through a war of attrition in positions. And in this set of war ideas, the offensive part is very small. The main capability of the Airborne Forces is reflected in the offensive. As a result, the Imperial Army was not as flexible as the Germans in the use of airborne forces.

After a brief period of glory in the early stages of the war, the Airborne Forces took a 180-degree turn on the battlefield. By the beginning of the 23rd, France had recovered its strength, and it was unlikely that they would defeat France in the short term, when the German high command proposed to take out Italy first. Then dozens of divisions originally deployed on the southern front were put into the battlefield on the western front, so as to solve the French situation. Therefore. The German Army at this time proposed to use the Airborne Forces to launch an offensive in the southern Alps, seize the southbound passage, and finally defeat Italy. Then, in the middle of '23, the German Army launched the campaign codenamed "Alpine Eagle", which ended in a crushing defeat. The three airborne divisions participating in combat operations lost more than 60 percent of their officers and men, and 300 transport planes were shot down under the fierce interception of the Italian Air Force and ground anti-aircraft guns. The Germans had to abandon the idea of defeating Italy first in July 23. The focus was placed on the Western Front from the beginning. It was also this battle that finally called into question the status and role of the Airborne Forces in the war.

In the years that followed. There has never been a large-scale campaign in the territory dominated by airborne troops. On the contrary, at a tactical level . The role of the Airborne Forces is highlighted. Especially on the mainland battlefield, the Russian, Tang Empire, and German ground airborne troops have repeatedly penetrated deep into the areas behind enemy lines with company-battalion level units to attack the enemy's ground logistics supply system, and have achieved many results. Through the tempering of the past few years, the armies of various countries have also summed up some key points in the use of airborne troops in actual combat. At the same time, the essence of the airborne forces was recognized.

In order for the Airborne Forces to exert sufficient combat effectiveness on the battlefield. There are three things that must be ensured. The first is a powerful airlift force. This not only refers to the delivery of airborne troops to the rear of the enemy's defensive lines, but also to provide logistical supplies for airborne troops in the following combat operations. The second is to ensure air supremacy. Only after gaining absolute air supremacy can the airborne troops attack smoothly, and if the enemy still has the ability to intercept in the air, then the transport aircraft will easily suffer heavy losses when carrying out airborne missions. Finally, and most crucially, the density of enemy forces in the area where airborne operations are carried out should not be too large, and the enemy's combat strength is relatively weak. Actual combat has proved that in ground combat, the airborne troops equipped with only light weapons are not armored troops at all, and they are not even ordinary infantry opponents, and if the enemy's defense density is too large and they have a lot of armored forces, then the airborne troops are going to die!

After figuring this out. The armies of various countries have found the correct way to use the airborne forces, and because of this, there have been no large-scale airborne campaigns in the middle and late stages of the war. Most of the time. The Airborne Forces perform all combat missions at the tactical level and have performed very well.

This time, the Germans dispatched several airborne divisions and completed the control of the Apennine Peninsula and Sardinia in two days. Although this was not a combat operation, the German Airborne Forces were only tasked with accepting the surrender of the Italian army. However, it was precisely this operation that made countries around the world pay more attention to the Airborne Forces again. It can be said that the German airborne forces reacted quickly and acted quickly, which other units did not have. And this is precisely the main advantage of the Airborne Forces, which can quickly reach the battlefield and control the situation at a speed that the ground forces cannot achieve!

Tan Renhao and other admirals are definitely laymen in airborne operations. The Navy has already aroused strong dissatisfaction among the Army, and if a separate Navy Airborne Force is established, the Army will definitely be in trouble. But in the same way, the rapid action of the German airborne forces also left a deep impression on Tan Renhao and others. Let's not turn those army generals to feel at this time. As far as the feelings of Tan Renhao and others at that time are concerned, if there was an Imperial Airborne Force operating on the European battlefield at that time, I am afraid that there would be no need for the fleet to rush out to seize control of Malta, and there would not even be a need to dispatch marines, as long as Britain announced its surrender. The Airborne Forces will be able to reach the British mainland in the first time!