"600,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, 50 BF-109s, 50 Fokker Zeros, 50 Ju87s, 50 No. 3 tanks, 120 SA37 anti-tank guns (47mm anti-tank guns produced in France), 20 sets of sea beat radars and 50,000 tons of special steel are supplied at one time." At the meeting of the High Command on July 6, Adolf . Hitler frowned and asked, "Marshal, what do we get for giving so much?" ”

"Win the World War!" "We can also deploy an air base on the island of Malta and have no more than 3,000 ground troops." ”

In order to launch the Maltese campaign, Hersmann made a bloody decision to agree to all the conditions proposed by Mussolini - during the July 4 talks, Mussolini took the opportunity to make a higher demand after Hesmann offered the aid conditions, and Hersmann actually agreed (in fact, this was also to increase the strength of Italy).

"Take Malta and win the world war?" Adolph. Hitler laughed, "I thought I had to take London!" ”

"Chief, taking Malta would block the Strait of T. Nice," explained Admiral Raeder, "and that would make it necessary for Britain to communicate with the Middle East and India not by shortcuts to the Mediterranean, but by bypassing Africa, which would greatly increase the pressure on British sea lines." At the same time, in case ...... In the unlikely event that the Italians do suffer a crushing defeat in North Africa, mastering Malta will create favorable conditions for the next stage of the counteroffensive. ”

"Will the Italians lose miserably?" Adolph. Hitler giggled, as if hearing a big joke, "There are 500,000 of them!" How many Britons are there? ”

Hersman replied: "By September, the British will have arrived in North Africa and East Africa respectively, with a few scattered independent units. The British army in North and East Africa would have 150,000 troops by then. ”

"150,000 beats 500,000?" Adolph. Hitler shook his head repeatedly.

"Leader, Italy is in danger of failure." Field Marshal Schleicher, the Minister of Defense, said, "The 150,000 men of the British army are only what we have at the moment, and perhaps in September or October there will be more." The Italians, on the other hand, were so slow to move that they could have attacked in May, but they were said to have been unprepared until now...... I really don't know how long they will drag on before they can start attacking? ”

"There is also credible information that Mussolini is planning an attack on Greece." Hersmann then reported to Hitler a piece of information that had just been detected. "This will distract the Italians and add more problems to the logistics."

"What? Greece? Hearing the news of Hersmann's report, Hitler was immediately a little annoyed, "What does Mussolini want to do?" Does he not know that this is a critical juncture in our handling of Balkan affairs? He's messing with me! ”

During this time, the Balkans were undergoing drastic changes. First, the Soviet Union invaded without waiting for the start of the Bessarabian referendum, and the king of Romania, Carol II, did not dare to resist, so he had to give up the throne to his son, and then fled to Portugal with his mistress Elena with a large number of royal treasures. The power of Romania fell to the pro-German Jan. The hand of Antonescu. Yang. When Antonescu came to power, he announced that he would accept arbitration in Geneva, surrender half of Transylvania, and at the same time join the European Community and accept German protection.

The Yugoslav provinces of Croatia and Slovenia also declared independence. Subsequently, the Croatian parliament established a constitutional constitution for the monarchy and elected the Habsburg king of Hungary. Otto (Hungarian is the first surname) was King of Croatia and formed the United Kingdom of Croatia-Hungary.

The Slovenian parliament elected Kaiser Wilhelm as king of Slovenia, becoming Germany's rejuncy.

However, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia refused to recognize the independence of Croatia and Slovenia, refused to surrender half of Vojvodina, and clamed all day long about defending Belgrade.

Although this was only a means for Prince Paul to appease the national sentiment of the Serbs, the mood of the Serbs became even more agitated by his shouting. If the British army had been present in Greece during this period, it would have been difficult for Prince Paul to calm the situation.

"Field Marshal Hersmann, from a military point of view," Hitler shouted a few words, then calmed down, looked at Hersmann and asked, "are we going to stop Mussolini's presumptuousness?" ”

"No," said Hersman, shaking his head, "if Mussolini's adventure in Greece succeeds, the Balkan problem can be resolved once and for all, the Serbs will accept reality without any hope, and Bulgaria will fall to us." ”

"What if he fails?" Hitler said, "The British won't let go of their chances, will they?" ”

"This is our chance too!" "If the British army in the Middle East enters Greece in large numbers, we have a chance to annihilate them all...... As long as we can inflict heavy damage on the Mediterranean Fleet and seize sea supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean. ”

"What is the strength of the British Mediterranean fleet?" Hitler asked.

Admiral Raeder replied: "At present the British Mediterranean Fleet is divided into two, and its main force is based in Alexandria, with the battleships Warweary, the Malaya, the Sovereign, and the Eagle aircraft carriers; The aircraft carrier Radiance and the battleship Lorraine, which was loyal to the French rebels (Free France), were also in Alexandria and were supposed to operate together with the main force of the British Mediterranean Fleet.

The other part of the ships of the Mediterranean Fleet formed the H Fleet, which included the battlecruiser HMS Hood, the battleship Determination, and the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, which was stationed in Gibraltar.

As far as we know, the main force of the British Mediterranean Fleet and the H Fleet now have Malta as the dividing line. To the east of Malta is the sphere of activity of the main forces of the Mediterranean Fleet, and to the west is to the H Fleet. If we were to seize Malta, there was a good chance that we would have a fierce naval and air war with them. ”

"There are five battleships, a battlecruiser and three aircraft carriers...... Hitler looked at Raeder, "can the Italian navy defeat them?" ”

"The Italians have 6 battleships and 2 aircraft carriers, of which the Veneto and the Litorio are both cutting-edge battleships that have just been commissioned this year, and their firepower and displacement are comparable to those of our Bismarck-class," said Marshal Raeder. ”

If you look at the strength of troops on paper, Britain's naval power in the Mediterranean is comparable to that of the Italian Navy, which has two more aircraft carriers in this time and space. However, the Italians should discount their data on paper......

"Our air and naval aviation will be deployed to Sicily." "According to the agreement I reached with Mussolini, the Italians will complete the expansion of several military airfields in Sicily in early September," Hersman said. Then our aviation will be stationed, and 1 regiment of combat aviation and 2 regiments of bombing aviation will go to Sicily. In addition, we will strive to mobilize the battleships of the French Navy volunteers to participate in the operation. ”

"The attack on the island of Malta will take place in September?" Hitler asked again.

"The current plan is for September," Hersman said after a moment's thought, "but the Italians are dragging their feet, maybe until October or November." ”

If it weren't for the procrastination of the Italians, there would have been no question of occupying Malta at all, and perhaps even the Suez Canal would have been knocked down by the Italians.

"But there's nothing to delay a little longer," Hersman said with a smile, "and it will make the Italians more prepared...... I hope that a decisive naval and air battle can be fought around Malta, which will require the Italian fleet to be combat-ready, and they should be given time to train and install radars. ”

Hitler thought for a moment, and finally nodded: "Well, let's carry out a joint operation to seize Malta...... Italians can give whatever they want. He glanced at the fat-headed, big-eared Goering, "Herman, there's no problem with the General Directorate of Armaments, right?" ”

"No problem, that's just a small amount." "Now that we have factories in Belgium and Luxembourg, we have increased the production capacity of weapons, aircraft and ships to a certain extent compared to before the campaign on the Western Front," Goering said. In addition, industrial production in France is also recovering, and we can hand over many orders to French factories to fulfill. ”

After the integration of German-controlled or pro-German European countries using the European Community, the European Customs Union, and the European Monetary Union, factories in many European countries began to serve German arms production.

Of course, the situation is not exactly the same from country to country. Factories and mines in Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia-Hungary, Galicia-Ukraine, Lithuania, Slovakia, Romania, Finland, Luxembourg (currently part of Germany) and Alsace-Lorraine (called the capital of the European Community, which is also in fact part of Germany) were directly integrated into the wartime management system of the German General Directorate of Armaments, with production and investment in expansion with the participation of German engineers and capital (Galicia-Ukraine and Romania would be the focus of investment).

France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden and Switzerland, two neutral countries that nominally do not join the European Customs Union, but which are in fact closely linked to the European Customs Union, will accept a large number of German military orders and Euromarks, as well as buy bonds issued by Germany, which is actually equivalent to partial integration into Germany's armaments industrial system. The German General Directorate of Armaments sent some of the less important production tasks, such as uniforms, tents, blankets, steel helmets, transport ships, landing ships and landing craft, rifles, locomotives, wagons, rails, steel bars, cement, etc., to the factories of these countries in order to alleviate the shortage of German labor. (To be continued.) )