He patted his chest many times and assured the superior officials who came to inspect:

"My Taranto is impregnable! Firepower, lighting, and blocking are all networked, and no plane will want to get in!"

Cunningham's decision to surprise Taranto with carrier-based air forces required a certain amount of courage. The British carrier-based aircraft were mainly "Sailfish" torpedo aircraft, which were old aircraft with a speed of only 138 knots.

The distance between the barrage balloons set up by the Italian army was about 270 meters, and during the day the planes could still fly between the tethered steel cables, but at night, the steel cables could not be seen by the moonlight alone. In this regard, the British army quickly modified 30 torpedo planes to make the endurance fully meet the operational needs, and several of them were hung with flares and bombs, so that they could drop flares on the east coast of the port to illuminate the target, and then bomb the port facilities, and let the torpedo "Sailfish" planes directly attack from the southwest and northwest.

In addition, a group of experienced pilots were carefully selected by Lieutenants Williamson and Hale of the British Navy to conduct intensive night ultra-low-altitude attack training. They also activated the magnetic torpedo, which had just been developed, and rendered the anti-mine nets carefully set up by the Italian army useless.

At noon on January 9, 1940, General Cunningham led an aircraft carrier group from Alexandria and marched westward. In order to conceal the combat attempt, the British escort fleet, in addition to maintaining normal strength and cruising routes, also made frequent movements in the Strait of Gibraltar, far from the theater of operations, to distract the attention of the Italian troops. At this time, General Riccardy knew nothing about the actions of the British army.

It's not that he doesn't want to know, but there is no way, because he doesn't have a single plane in his hands that can be used. According to the regulations of his superiors, he was only responsible for the defense of the bases, and the air force was responsible for reconnaissance of the far seas. And Mussolini, the supreme commander of the Italian army, once asserted that the Italian Navy does not need its own aircraft, and it is enough to coordinate the sea and air when it starts a war. But he forgot a very important point, that is, no matter how good coordination on the battlefield is, it cannot replace unified command.

On the 10th, the Italian naval command received reconnaissance reports from the air force: the British aircraft carrier fleet had left Alexandria and was heading west. General Campuoni immediately informed the fleet stationed at the port of Taranto to prepare for battle, but aerial reconnaissance in the early morning of the next day denied the report. For several days, the war room was filled with a jumble of contradictory information, making it difficult to distinguish between the real and the fake.

At 20:30 on the 11th, the British aircraft carrier group quietly appeared in waters about 170 nautical miles southeast of the Italian coast. At the sound of an order, Major Williamson led 12 fighters off the ship and launched the first wave of attacks. Uninvited guests from afar soon shattered the tranquility of Taranto. A sound listening station reports: Hears the sound of an airplane. Ricardi immediately ordered the alarm. The port of Taranto suddenly became dark, people hurried into the bomb shelter, and the ships in the harbor hurriedly prepared to lift anchor and evacuate.

The anti-aircraft guns on the eastern hill of the harbor may have lost control due to the gunner's nervousness, and a string of tracer projectiles was fired into the night sky. But soon, everything calmed down. After 10 minutes, the alarm is lifted. Soon the sirens sounded again, and later calm returned. At about 10 p.m., residents and soldiers who had just fallen asleep were woken up by the third alarm.

While the people were still cursing the prank after prank, the sound of the plane's engines had grown louder and louder, and the group soon flew over Taranto. Italian anti-aircraft guns hurriedly fired. Two British planes dropped flares outside the barrier to stop the balloons. The flares are suspended high in the air by small parachutes, reflecting the entire military port as bright as day. It was also the signal to order the Sailfish aircraft to carry out a dive attack. Under the light of strong flares, British planes shuttled flexibly between the tethered steel cables that blocked the balloons, and the bombs were accurately dropped on the targets.

Braving the dense anti-aircraft fire of the Italian army, British Captain Williamson flew swiftly between two blocking balloons, swept over the breakwater at low altitude, and dropped torpedoes on the Italian battleship "Cavour". A large hole was blown open on the side of the ship, and sea water poured in. Williamson was hit by anti-aircraft fire as he withdrew from the attack and plunged headlong into the sea. But the two planes that followed arrived in time and finally blew up and sank the "Cavour". At this time, the port of Taranto was full of skyrocketing fires and violent explosions, like a hornet's nest that had been stabbed.

Italy did not expect that a storm last week destroyed more than 60 of the 90 balloons, let alone that British pilots would be able to shuttle freely between steel cables. Although all 21 anti-aircraft artillery batteries of the Italian army opened fire, most of the soldiers were not trained in night combat and could not even catch their targets. What made Ricardi even more angry was that after the first wave of British planes left, the anti-aircraft guns were still firing aimlessly, as if to bid farewell to the triumphant enemy. Thinking that the attack had passed, Ricardi picked up the phone and prepared to report the situation to the naval command. He didn't expect the alarm to sound for the fourth time.

The second wave of the British attack began. It was only then that the Italian officers and men became a little smarter, and the battleships, cruisers, and anti-aircraft artillery groups on land no longer fought on their own, but coordinated with each other to form a dense network of anti-aircraft fire. When 19 British Sailfish aircraft attacked, 1 was shot down. But the British pilots were well trained, and the remaining 18 planes nimbly navigated through a dense barrage of barrage and billowing smoke, skillfully evaded maneuvers, launched successive attacks, and again inflicted heavy damage on the Italian naval fleet, destroying the shipyard and other facilities in the harbor, and then returned safely.

The carrier-based aviation unit of the Mediterranean Fleet of the British Navy made a surprise attack on the Italian naval base of Taranto and achieved a major victory. This campaign was the first large-scale attack on ships in the harbor since the advent of aircraft carrier-based aircraft, which highlighted the tremendous assault power of carrier-based aviation, enabled aircraft carriers to replace battleships as the main types of naval vessels, ushered in a new period of integrated naval and air operations on the sea, and made the naval battle mode of "giant ships and cannons, fleet decisive battles" a historical relic and occupied an important position in the history of world naval warfare.

In the surprise attack on Taranto, the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet dispatched only 40 planes, and at the cost of losing 2 planes and consuming 38 torpedoes and a small number of bombs, it sank 3 Italian battleships, 6 cruisers, and 12 destroyers in just 65 minutes. Taranto became the graveyard of the Italian Navy's main fleet. However, the Italian Navy, which was originally in an advantageous position, suffered a disastrous defeat and suffered heavy losses, and its lessons are worth discussing.

This battle shows that pre-war preparations must be carried out with great caution. A battle cannot be fought without preparation, and it is difficult to win a battle without careful preparation. Judging from the pre-war preparations for this campaign, it should be said that the Italian army still attached great importance to defense, and anti-aircraft guns, searchlights, and blocking balloons were all available, constituting a complete air defense system, which seemed to be "impregnable."

But by no means invulnerable, in the storm of early January 1940, two-thirds of the blocking balloons that Ricardi considered a "killer weapon" were destroyed, and only 27 were still functional. In the face of such huge losses, it was not able to replenish the repair in time. In particular, the quality of the Italian army's personnel was poor, the intelligence gathering personnel could not distinguish between the true and the false, the antiaircraft artillery units lacked the ability to fight at night, and in addition they were not psychologically prepared, so defeat was inevitable.

…… (To be continued......)

PS: I ask the brother who has a monthly pass to continue, and give away the one that pulls evenly, and this is also an urgent need for assistance.