"A decisive battle? You want to fight a decisive battle at sea with the British? ”

The news of the British Mediterranean Fleet and the H Fleet also reached the Naval Headquarters on Cassion Avenue in Rome as soon as possible. When Halder and Jeshunek arrived, Admiral Cavgnari, Chief of Staff, and Admiral Sanmigli, Deputy Chief of Staff, who held the power of the Italian Naval Headquarters, were performing a diagram deduction in the naval headquarters' war room. The Chief of the General Staff of Italy, Marshal Badogri, was also there, holding his arms and watching the two admirals fiddle with war games.

Hearing the decisive battle plan proposed by Admiral Halder, the two Italian admirals were stunned. Admiral Sanmigli said to the two Germans in English: "It is not very advantageous for us to have a decisive battle now, it is better to wait until October." By that time, three of your aviation regiments have been transferred to Sicily, and our battleships are ready. ”

"But now it's the British Mediterranean Fleet, which is a great threat to your shipping lines!"

Halder frowned and said, "If you don't fight now, what about the logistics line of the 250,000-strong army in North Africa?" Was it all the time exposed under the guns of the British? And they will advance to Egypt in September, and will they still use Benghazi as a logistics transit point at that time? ”

Admiral Halder's thinking is, of course, Army-style, and in his view, the Navy is ultimately for the Army. Italy now has at least 250,000 troops deployed in North Africa, and even more troops in East Africa, even more than 280,000 (the East African army has many indigenous officers and soldiers, and the number is increasing all the time). The survival of these more than 500,000 troops is crucial to the current Mediterranean theater. And their survival was all tied to a sea transport line exposed to the guns of the British Mediterranean Fleet.

It is now difficult enough to get supplies and ammunition to Benghazi, which is more than 1,000 kilometers away from Alexandria and is sparsely populated desert along the way. More than 200,000 troops dragged 1,000 kilometers through the desert logistics line to fight, which in Halder's opinion was simply crazy!

Even more insane is that the level of motorization of the Italian army is poor, and there are not enough trucks at their disposal. And even with enough trucks, the fuel consumption of the trucks for 2,000 kilometers (1,000 kilometers is just one way) will make the officers in charge of logistics want to die.

Therefore, in the opinion of General Halder, there were only two ways for the Italian army to win in North Africa. One was to take the British by surprise when Italy had just entered the war in May; The second is to obtain sea control in the eastern Mediterranean and resupply by sea -- even if there is no port, it is better to resupply by beachhead than to travel 2,000 kilometers by truck or other vehicle.

The Chief of the Italian General Staff, Marshal Badoglio, nodded repeatedly, his thoughts were obviously similar to Halder's. He knew that the Italian army was low in combat effectiveness and was completely different from the German army. If the Germans were to be used in North Africa, in the face of 2 or 3 British divisions, 1 armored division plus 1 motorized rifle division would be enough for a maximum of 40,000 people. In this way, the logistical pressure will be greatly reduced, and there will be enough fuel for the various vehicles of the two divisions to run a one-way trip (from Benghazi to the Suez Canal). can be replaced by the Italian army, there are 250,000 are not insured, and even if they can win the British army, it is impossible to win quickly, at least for several months. It's a nightmare of nightmares for logistics.

Now that the 250,000-strong army has not yet started, the problem of logistics support has already made him anxious. If the army really drove into the desert of Egypt, the logistics would probably be in serious trouble...... Unless the navy can take sea supremacy.

Moreover, Mussolini is also planning to invade Greece in October, and then the logistical pressure will be even greater!

"Maybe we can fight," Marshal Badoglio thought for a while, and had already made up his mind, "if the Luftwaffe (naval aviation) in Ronaya can stop the British H Fleet in Gibraltar from advancing eastward." Then it would be better for the Navy to use 4 battleships and 2 aircraft carriers to compete with the British fleet coming from Alexandria. If we can win, the problems of the Mediterranean and North Africa will be solved. ”

He only said half of what he said, and the other half was that if the navy was defeated, then the Libyan forces would not have to risk marching on Egypt, and the plan to invade Greece would most likely be canceled......

The Italian Naval Command was under the control of the General Staff, who in turn was Mussolini's chief military staff, and Admiral Cavgnari was naturally obedient to orders.

And he is not completely unconfident in fighting a war, because now the Italian Navy not only has 4 powerful battleships, but also 2 aircraft carriers, and Germany has also deployed a very powerful reconnaissance aircraft in the Mediterranean Sea - Fw-200C!

This is a reconnaissance plane that makes the Italian Navy drool! More than 3,500 kilometers of range is enough to cover from Taranto to Alexandria. And the maximum speed of 360 kilometers per hour is twice as fast as those old reconnaissance aircraft of the Italian Navy!

Moreover, this aircraft still belongs to the German naval aviation, and is a professional shore-based maritime reconnaissance and patrol aircraft.

"It's okay to fight," Admiral Kavnyari glanced at Admiral Jeshunek, who was wearing a Luftwaffe uniform, "Admiral, can you transfer a few of your Fw-200Cs to Taranto?" ”

It was impossible to deploy all 3 German aviation regiments to Taranto, but a small deployment of a few or a dozen was perfectly fine.

Admiral Jeshunek and Admiral Halder exchanged opinions in German in a low voice, and then nodded, "No problem, I will immediately transfer 3 Fw-200Cs and 12 Fokker Zeros responsible for escorting to Taranto, all under the command of the Italian Navy." ”

"Can we get our naval observers on the plane?" Admiral Sanmigli added another question.

"Yes." Jeshunek nodded.

"That's great!" Admiral Sanmigli laughed, "As long as you grasp the enemy's movements, you will be sure to fight!" ”

It's not that he has no reason to be blindly happy, but he really feels that he has a few more chances of winning! It's ironic to say that Italy has far more planes in the Mediterranean than the UK, and the quality is no worse. It has several shore-based long-range reconnaissance aircraft and shore-based twin-engine torpedo bombers with good performance, such as the Ca.309 reconnaissance aircraft and the SM.79 "Sparrowhawk" medium bomber/torpedo bomber. But these good planes belong to the Italian Air Force, which has only about 100 outdated seaplanes and about the same number of G.50 fighter-bombers at its disposal, and it is simply impossible to complete the necessary aerial reconnaissance missions.

Although the Air Force's reconnaissance planes can also be dispatched to conduct maritime reconnaissance, the Air Force's crew members have not been trained in maritime reconnaissance and often send back erroneous information, which is a great headache for the Navy. And the Navy wanted to send its own observers to the Air Force's planes, but it was not allowed.

Now that the Germans are allowing observers from the Italian Navy to board their planes, it is not good for the Italian Air Force to refuse the Navy to board their shore-based reconnaissance planes, right?

……

"Admiral, a telegram was sent from the seaplanes taking off from Malta that the Italian battleships Veneto and Litorio, as well as the aircraft carrier Sparrowhawk, had left the port of Taranto."

The flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, the battleship Warweary, was aboard the battleship Charles Brown. Major General Krachley reported the latest intelligence to Admiral Cunningham.

"The battleships Veneto and Litorio were also dispatched?" Admiral Cunningham said while calculating, "The two aircraft carriers of the Italians are useless, their G.50 fighters have long been outdated, and now they have been changed to fighter-bombers, which are useless at all."

Their Count Cavour class is also not worth mentioning, but with a standard displacement of more than 23,000 tons, it is almost 10,000 tons lighter than our Revenge class and Queen Elizabeth class! The 320mm cannon could not beat our 15-inch (381mm) cannon. However, the two Veneto-class ships are still a bit of a threat......"

"Charles," Cunningham looked at his chief of staff, "to fight or not to fight?" ”

"Admiral, my suggestion is to fight!" Rear Admiral Krachley said, "We have two aircraft carriers with 78 carrier-based aircraft on board, and this is our greatest capital. ”

The two aircraft carriers he was referring to were the Radiance and the Eagle, which could not carry 78 aircraft in the Atlantic. But in the calm Mediterranean, aircraft carriers can use the deck-tethered method to carry aircraft. As a result, the Tejas carried 45 aircraft, while the Eagle carried 33 aircraft, and none of them served as a backup.

And among these 78 aircraft there are also 18 Sea Spitfires!

"Our 18 SeaSpitfires will be able to wipe out all the Italian G.50s!" Rear Admiral Krachley said, "The remaining gulls and swordfish will surely be able to inflict heavy damage on the Italian fleet." ”

In addition to the 18 Sea Spitfires, 2 gulls and 24 Swordfish were carried on board 2 aircraft carriers. For the Italian fleet, which had only G.50 escorts, it was still very lethal.

"And," Rear Admiral Krachley continued, "the Italians departed from Taranto a day later with two Veneto-class and one aircraft carrier. We can do it before they join forces with the main fleet. ”

After listening to Major General Krachley's analysis, Admiral Cunningham's brows not only did not relax, but wrinkled even tighter. Because he knew that in the Mediterranean there were now not only Italian planes, but also hundreds of German planes with amazing attacking power.

"We went according to the original plan," Cunningham said, "first to send personnel and equipment to Malta, and then to see what happened." (To be continued.) )