Of course, Mussolini could not have completely trusted anyone, but in desperation, he nevertheless ordered Italy's army, navy, and air forces to obey the orders of the German-Italian Commander-in-Chief. At the same time, the candidates proposed by Hersman as deputy commander-in-chief, chief of staff and deputy chief of staff were approved.

The deputy commander-in-chief of the coalition forces is Hugo, who replaced Badoglio as the chief of the general staff of the army. Admiral Caballero. The Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces was Admiral Cavgnari, Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy. The deputy chief of staff was German Air Force Admiral Jeshunek, who was also the commander of the Combined Command of the Mediterranean Air Force.

As soon as the command team was set up, Hersman began to exercise commanding power. On the last day of the 1940 year, the first operational meeting of the coalition forces was held.

The meeting begins with a lecture.

In a room that had been set up as an operational command room, Hersmann was confronted by a group of old, mostly confused Italian generals in fancy uniforms, and began to speak in a very serious tone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, before the meeting begins, I would like to explain the situation. The Italian army had just fought two terrible defeats, one in North Africa and one in Greece. The outnumbered and well-equipped Italian army was defeated by an enemy who was much outnumbered by them.

About three divisions of British troops entered Libya, captured Italian troops in formation, and captured countless weapons, ammunition, and supplies. The Greeks, on the other hand, invaded the mountains of southern Albania and halted their attacks due to the terrain and cold climate, but before that they had gained a lot of money, capturing many advanced weapons that they could not afford. ”

Hersman's cold gaze slowly swept through the war room, taking in everyone's expressions. The Italians were very calm, and none of them showed shame or anger, as if they did not understand the English spoken by Hersmann (few of the top Italian generals knew German, but their English was very good, so Hersmann could only speak English with them). Obviously, they all have good "cultivation", maybe they often encounter failures, and they have long been used to it.

Hersman went on to say: "The consequences of these two defeats are very serious, and now our two countries are in danger of facing the terrible fate of losing the war!" If we can't fight to save the situation, then we will be the sinners of the country! ”

Hearing Hersmann's mention of "defeat", a room full of fascist generals remained unmoved, and they probably thought that Hersmann was scaring people - although Italy could not fight, did it not have Germany as a backer?

"Now I'm going to suggest a couple of ways to save the day." Hersmann also knew that the Italian generals were thick-skinned and did not even surrender without shame, so he stopped saying useless words.

"First of all, the Italian troops in Albania were all placed under the command of the headquarters of the German Southeastern Front, and Greece and, possibly, Yugoslavia, which would fall to the British, would be dealt with mainly by the German forces on the Southeastern Front. On the Greek side, we in the Mediterranean theater are responsible only for Crete and its surrounding islands.

Secondly, Benghazi will be the stronghold of our counteroffensive in North Africa, and it will have to be defended with all its might. Ground operations in North Africa will revolve around the defense of Benghazi. It was mainly the Italian Army that was responsible for the defense of Benghazi. They were to hold out in Benghazi until the arrival of the German African Army.

Third, the key to determining victory or defeat in the Mediterranean theater is the struggle for sea power. Only by defeating British maritime power in the Mediterranean can we achieve a final victory. Achieving this goal will require the full cooperation of the Italian Air Force, the Italian Navy and the German air power. Therefore, I now appoint Hans. Admiral Jeshunek is the commander-in-chief of all air forces in the Mediterranean theater of operations, except for carrier-based aircraft and seaplanes.

Fourth, the Greek island of Crete is a combination of the Balkan and Mediterranean theaters, and its geographical location is very critical. When the offensive in the Balkans is launched, we must seize it. Therefore, the main naval operations in the Mediterranean will revolve around Crete, and a decisive battle between the fleet and the sea and air is expected.

Fifth, before the battles of Benghazi and Crete begin, we must remove the nail that the British have planted in the feet of Italy - Malta! We must pull this nail out as soon as possible, otherwise our every move will be under the watchful eye of the British. ”

Malta! Hersmann had asked the Italians a few months earlier to take as much as they could, and had provided a small amount of aid for this. But the Italians, who had received the aid, kept delaying, and after their crushing defeat in Greece, there was no such thing again.

So until now, Malta is still in British hands. Moreover, the British also deployed radar stations there to monitor German aircraft taking off from the direction of Sicily, as well as Schott "Sunderland" seaplanes with airborne radar systems. These seaplanes hover outside Taranto Bay every day, and at night they fly into the sky less than 30 kilometers from the military port of Taranto, scanning the military port with radar.

Therefore, if the Maltese nail is not removed, every move of the Italian Navy will be under the noses of the British. Ships carrying reinforcements and supplies to Benghazi were also attacked by British submarines and British bombers taking off from Crete because their whereabouts were exposed.

"Your Excellency," said Admiral Cavgnari, Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, a few minutes after Hersmann's words, asked, "how are we going to occupy Malta?" ”

"Login!" "The British have been reinforcing Malta for the past few months and have deployed a lot of radar and anti-aircraft artillery there, so they can't rely on airborne seizures of the islands," Hersman said. ”

In fact, the Luftwaffe has long been studying how to jam and evade radar, and the radar on the island of Malta is not difficult for Hersmann at all. But to solve Malta with paratroopers, the British fleet will not come.

Admiral Kavgnari said slowly: "Marshal, if the range at sea is calculated, the distance between Malta and Taranto is about 320 nautical miles. If part of the route takes a Z-shape, it will take at least 400-500 nautical miles. At a speed of 15 knots, it can take 30 hours.

And as soon as our Grand Fleet sailed out of the port of Taranto, the British reconnaissance planes or submarines would have found out...... The British aircraft carriers sailed from Alexandria to the attack position west of Crete about 540 nautical miles, and some took a Z-shaped route at least 800 nautical miles, considering the speed of the aircraft carrier, it could reach the attack position in 40 hours. And at that time the landing operation was certainly not over.

In addition, British aircraft deployed on the Greek islands of Crete and the Peloponnese are also likely to be engaged in air strikes against our fleet. ”

Not bad, not bad! Hersman nodded again and again in his heart, this chief of staff of the Italian Navy is a talent.

In fact, the Italian Navy wanted aircraft carriers very early in history, and they had a plan to seize Malta in wartime before the outbreak of war, but Mussolini ignored the right advice.

Hersmann glanced at Jeshunek, and the Luftwaffe general immediately said: "Our aircraft have a clear superiority in quantity and quality, and in the event of an air battle in the waters west of Sicily, the exchange ratio will certainly be beneficial to us." ”

Yeshunek is a general of the Air Force, and of course his thinking is Air Force-style, and fighting a war is a matter of fighter plane exchange ratio.

Of the Italian Air Force and the German Air Force under his command, the fighter squadrons that could be used to conduct air battles over the Mediterranean Sea (excluding night fighters, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, fighters with insufficient range and carrier-based aircraft under the command of the Navy) had 6 German squadrons (3 equipped with Fokker Zeros and 3 equipped with Fw-190) and 26 Italian squadrons (4 equipped with Fokker Zeros, 10 with CR.42 and 12 with MC.200), for a total of 32 squadrons.

In addition, the German 9th and 10th carrier-based aircraft groups, which are under the command of the Italian Navy, also have four fighter squadrons equipped with the Fokker Zero.

This makes a total of 34 squadrons with 432 fighters -- of which the six German shore-based fighter squadrons are 16 in each.

Therefore, Jeshunek has a lot of money in his hands, and he is not afraid of a war of attrition with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Naval Aviation.

"And we have a significant advantage." "We have Germany behind us, and the losses are very easy to replenish. Now the Luftwaffe and naval aviation, with 6,500 combat aircraft, are capable of withstanding a war of attrition. The British army in the Mediterranean was more than 20,000 kilometers away from the British mainland, and their losses were difficult to replenish. ”

Hearing Yeshunek's analysis, Admiral Kavnyari only smiled bitterly. That's not how the Navy's accounts are calculated, naval aviation is opportunists, and it is worth it to lose even 100 aircraft if they seize the opportunity to overturn a battleship.

Moreover, Cunningham is a master of playing naval aviation, and the risk of exposing the Italian fleet to Cunningham's carrier-based aircraft and shore-based aircraft is really not small!

"Admiral Kavgnari," Hersman said to the Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy at this time, "it is the air power that determines the ownership of the Mediterranean, and once the British Mediterranean Fleet loses its air cover, we win the war." So you don't have to worry about losing battleships, as long as the losses are valuable.

The battle plan is drawn up by you and Admiral Jeshunek. The basic idea is to encircle the point and use the old-fashioned 'Count Cavour' and 'Doria' classes as bait. But the battleships of the 'Veneto' class and two aircraft carriers should be preserved as much as possible.

In addition, the primary target of the torpedo machine unit and the dive bomber unit was the British aircraft carrier! (To be continued.) )