On 8, 9 and 10 July 1940, the invincible British Empire had to admit the fact that air supremacy in the Mediterranean did not belong to the British Royal Air Force, but to the Fascist Air Force of Italy!

Although over the past 2 months, the powerful fascist Air Force has not made such an appearance, very politely and gracefully allowing the planes and fleet of the British to sail freely over the Mediterranean. But now the fascist leader spoke to teach the British a lesson, so the powerful Italian fascist air force immediately went into action.

From the afternoon of 8 July until the morning of 10 July, the entire sky of the Eastern Mediterranean was filled with "hunchbacked aircraft" (S.M.79 medium bombers) with bombs or torpedoes, chasing ships passing on the sea, seriously affecting the freedom of navigation in the Eastern Mediterranean......

The British Royal Air Force and the British Royal Navy had no choice but to pick up their tails and flee with their tails between their legs.

At around 9 a.m. on July 10, Admiral Cunningham was writing in his cabin a report on the Battle of Calabria. Battle of Stylo) when the phone rang and interrupted him. Picking up the earpiece, I immediately heard the voice of Major General Krachley.

"Radar detected enemy aircraft, more than 10 of them!"

"Damn it!" Cunningham scolded, "These Italians have no end to hunchback planes?" ”

He was a little impatient with the bombing, and in the past less than 2 days, he has learned the power of the fascist air force!

Had it not been for their bomb-dropping "hunchback" bombers, his fleet would have sunk the Italian battleship that had been slowed down by a bullet in the naval battle of July 8.

However, the subsequent "protracted" air raids by the Italian "hunchback" planes made him really afraid to fight, and he had to give up the results that were almost in hand.

For most of the afternoon of 8 July, groups of 10 or 8 "hunchback" bombers flew non-stop. They also don't play dive bombing like the Germans, most of them are high-altitude horizontal bombing, and a very small number of torpedoes are thrown from a distance. Although such bombardment was not accurate, Cunningham even found that many bombs fell around the Italians' own warships.

But the British fleet also had to defend itself, even if those bombs were not accurate, but the S-shaped evasion had to be done, and the anti-aircraft shells had to be fired without spending money. It's just one or two times, and eight times out of ten, who can stand it?

Moreover, there are 12 German Fokker Zeros and Sea-Spitfires in the sky with fuel consumption, and from time to time a few G.50s will come to play shallow dive bombs. In addition, there are two Veneto-class battleships that are no less powerful than the Hood, and it is not known when they will arrive.

So after the 11th air raid by the Italians (11 air raids plus only 109 planes came together), Cunningham finally lost the courage to dwell on it and ordered the destroyers to release smoke and cover the evacuation of battleships and aircraft carriers from the battlefield.

But the damned fascist air force was unforgiving, and on the afternoon of July 8, July 9 (even at night it was bombed twice), and now (on the morning of July 10) the fleet is almost in Alexandria, and the Italians are bombing every hour or two. If we take into account the bombing of Fleet A, there are always three or four hundred sorties of planes that have dropped bombs on the head of the British fleet.

Although these Italian hunchbacks did not deliver bombs accurately, they achieved very little success, only severely damaging one light cruiser (Gloucester of Fleet A) and making a large hole in the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Eagle. A number of other high-explosive shells landed on the decks of the Brilliant, Warwey, and Sovereign, but did not cause much damage.

However, such frequent bombing showed that the Italian Air Force had the strength to inflict heavy damage on the British Mediterranean Fleet, but the Italian style of casualness made it impossible for them to use this strength correctly for the time being.

But as soon as the Italians get serious, these "hunchback planes" with a large range and a fairly fast flight will drive Cunningham's fleet out of the Mediterranean!

Thus, in his report to the Admiralty in London, Admiral Cunningham told his superior, Admiral Pound: "The battle was grossly unsatisfactory to us, and we were almost defeated by the Italians. ”

At the same time, he also asked the Admiralty to give one battleship, several heavy cruisers, one armored aircraft carrier, one air defense cruiser and several other smaller warships. In addition, Cunningham demanded that London immediately provide at least 60 Sea Spitfires, 120 Spitfires or Hurricanes, and 180 heavy fighters with large ranges......

……

"Marshal, the Italians have won at sea!"

On the evening of 10 July, just as Marshal Hersmann had returned to Tsosen's estate and was about to make out Chloe, he received a long-distance telephone call from General Halder from Rome.

"Won?" Hersman asked, incredulously, "Are you sure?" ”

He doesn't remember the Italian navy's great victory in the Mediterranean in July 1940.

"Pretty sure!" Halder reported that "it was Mussolini himself who told me, and the Chief of Staff of the Italian Air Force, Admiral Pricolo, provided photographs of at least 2 British aircraft carriers and 2 battleships...... It is clear that the British Mediterranean Fleet lost at least half of its strength. Now the sea supremacy in the Mediterranean is firmly in the hands of the Italian Navy! ”

It's true?

Hersmann couldn't believe it, and he asked again: "What about the losses of the Italians?" ”

"The battleship Caesar was hit, and one other light cruiser and two destroyers were injured by the accidental bombing of the Italian Air Force."

"Bombed by mistake?" Hersman was stunned. He doesn't know about it in Ponta yet. In the Battle of Stylo, the Italian Air Force was not strong enough to distinguish between friend and foe, resulting in many incidents of accidental bombing. However, since their bombs were not accurate, they did not cause much damage.

"This is normal," said Halder, "and according to statistics, the Italian Air Force has made more than 600 sorties to bomb the British fleet during the day on the 8th, 9th and today, and it is inevitable that mistakes will be made in the process." ”

Accidental bombing and accidental injury are everywhere, and the Luftwaffe did not do such things in the Western Front campaign. So Hersman didn't ask much, but asked about the preparations for the Battle of Malta.

General Halder on the phone told him that 12 British transports had arrived in Malta on 8 July, and that the island might have strengthened its forces.

Moreover, the Italian battleship Caesar could take 3 months to repair (in fact, it was repaired in 30 days), so the Malta operation could not be carried out until October at the earliest.

"Marshal," Halder assured by telephone, "you can rest assured that the Italian Air Force will carry out air strikes on Malta and Alexandria, guaranteeing that these two strategic points will be paralyzed and will not affect the conduct of the North African campaign." ”

Can the guarantee of the Italian people be relied upon? Hersman hung up the phone with great suspicion. However, he could not question the Italian allies without evidence, but fortunately, he, the chief of the general staff, was now very powerful. Send a high-level delegation to investigate Ponta. The situation of the Battle of Stiro is a matter of one sentence.

……

When Halder hung up the phone, one of his lieutenants pushed the door and walked in: "Your Excellency, the car is ready to go to the Venetian Palace at any time." ”

There was a reception in the Palazzo Venezia tonight for the heroes of the fascist air force - although Marshal Hersmann was skeptical of the victory of the Italians, the Italian leader Mussolini was convinced of it. Just this evening, in a speech to the nation, he announced the news of the victory.

According to him, the Italian Navy and Air Force have achieved a decisive victory in the last 3 days of operations! 2 British aircraft carriers and 2 British battleships were sunk, while the losses of the Italian Navy were no more than minor damage to one battleship.

“…… It's clear that we've won, and we're going to continue to win, it's unstoppable. The great Roman Empire will be revived in the hands of our generation, and we will be the rebuilders of Rome. When the Romans a thousand years later spoke of the fascist heroes who fought valiantly against their enemies in the Mediterranean, North and East Africa, they would have spoken with great reverence! They will shout: Long live the fascist heroes! Long live fascist Rome! Long live fascist Italy! ”

Italian leader Benito Mussolini, who was giving a speech at the Palazzo Venezia, genuinely believed that his invincible air force had just dealt a heavy blow to the British Mediterranean Fleet - there was no doubt that the Italian Air Force had more than 600 "hunchback" aircraft capable of running rampant in the Mediterranean. This is twice as many as the German planes that bombed Sparka Bay on 3/09/39. And each "hunchback" aircraft is capable of carrying 2 bombs of 500 kg. More than 600 aircraft can drop 1200-1300 500-kilogram bombs at once, how could the British Mediterranean Fleet confront such air power?

So the destruction of the British Mediterranean Fleet was inevitable, and without the Mediterranean Fleet, how could the small British army in Egypt defeat the mighty Italian army?

It was only a few months after seeing Italy win the war, and then the Roman Empire would be revived!

Mussolini, who couldn't suppress the smile on his face, was already thinking about holding a grand military parade under the pyramids of Egypt at this time. This is even more remarkable than Octavian's conquest of Egypt 2,000 years ago, because this time it was not a Roman general and an Cleopatra that were defeated, but the British Empire! (To be continued.) )