Africa is inexhaustible in oil and minerals, but the premise is that the British are completely driven out of Africa, and then appear in front of the natives of Africa as liberators.

At this time, more than 90 percent of the countries in Africa were colonized, and as long as Rommel gave bread and work to these African natives, the African natives would regard Rommel as God.

(The suffering of the black Africans began in the Age of Discovery, all the colonizers did not treat the black man as a human being, as a talking animal, and the white man killed a black man, he was not guilty at all, and only needed a little money for compensation - none of these imperialisms were good.)

The reason why World War I and World War II broke out was because Britain had robbed most of the world's territory, and the emerging Germany had nothing to grab, so he had no choice but to wage war against Britain. ）

Germany used such a huge force to ensure the safety of its supply lines, and the war was fought with comprehensive national strength, and it was definitely not an empty word.

……

Immediately after Marshal Cunningham arrived in Alexandria, he ordered the Mediterranean Fleet to prepare for an attack, and Cunningham simply told the commanders of the Mediterranean Fleet that the fleet would go to Greece to aid the British there.

It was wartime, and it was not necessary for Cunningham to order, and all the ships of the British Mediterranean Fleet were in combat readiness and ready to strike at any time.

At ten o'clock in the morning of January 19, 1941, Cunningham set out with the entire Mediterranean fleet, and everyone in the fleet thought that they were going to Greece to reinforce the British troops there, but they could wait for the fleet to sail two hundred nautical miles out of Alexandria.

The Mediterranean Fleet suddenly split in two, and Field Marshal Cunningham personally led the aircraft carrier Radiance and six destroyers out of the fleet and quietly sailed towards the Italian port of Taranto.

Only now did everyone understand Cunningham's intentions, and the British navy, which was about to participate in the attack, was not at all frustrated, but passionate.

The last time the British Mediterranean Fleet suffered a humiliating defeat in the Battle of Gibraltar, it was a shame for everyone in the Mediterranean Fleet, and everyone was waiting to vent with a breath of revenge!

Now the opportunity has come, and all the officers and men who participated in this attack are all rejoicing, and the honor of the British Empire's centuries-old navy must be found, and the only way to recover the honor of the British Empire's navy is to achieve a great victory.

At 19:30, the "Brilliant" sailed to the X-position, which was 170 nautical miles from Taranto, and Rear Admiral Lister ordered the carrier-based aircraft to depart.

The "Brilliant" increased to 28 knots, sailed against the wind, and the first attack wave, 12 "Swordfish" planes, flew off the deck and disappeared into the vast night sky.

The 12 "Swordfish" planes, led by the commander Rear Admiral Williamson's L4A, formed four arrow-shaped squads and flew towards Taranto under the bright moonlight.

In the first wave of aircraft, 6 aircraft were equipped with 1 torpedo of 545 kg, 4 with 6 bombs of 112 kg each, and 2 with 2 bombs each with 2 less bombs and 16 flares. Due to the heavy attachments, the fleet reached a speed of just over 140 kilometers per hour.

At night, the moon was bright and the clouds were thin, and after one and a half hours of flight, the "Swordfish" flew over Taranto, and the Italian anti-aircraft guns had already spewed out tongues of fire, and the sky was covered with fire nets.

The attack was immediately launched, and 12 "Swordfish" rushed into the harbor from the direction of the ocean, and the pillars of the Italian searchlights kept turning, and the red and yellow tracer bullets resembled erupting volcanoes.

Two Swordfish planes dropped flares, which hung under small parachutes to make the harbor shine as bright as day, and the two Swordfish planes bombed the oil depot, which immediately caught fire and exposed the entire harbor to the fire.

The torpedo swarm swept through the cables blocking the balloon, and rushed towards the battleship in Port Grande in the face of blinding searchlights and a dense rain of bullets.

Major Williamson, who led a crew to attack first, dropped a torpedo that hit the "Cavour", but unfortunately he was shot and fell as he climbed to the right and exited, and the torpedoes of the other two planes were off target.

Two torpedoes dropped by another group hit the starboard and port side of the nose and tail of the Litorio, and four Swordfish aircraft attacked the warship and seaplane base in the port of Piquelo.

When the first wave withdrew from the battle, the anti-aircraft guns in the harbor were still roaring, the port of Taranto was in flames, and the Italian anti-aircraft fire was still firing indiscriminately into the air.

The nine "Swordfish" planes of the second strike wave took off from the aircraft carrier Radiance, but because the L5F plane crashed during takeoff, the L5Q plane returned to the aircraft carrier shortly after takeoff because the auxiliary fuel tank fell off, and the commander, Major Hale, could only lead seven planes to fly towards the target.

This time, the group flew inland and then turned to the port of Taranto, where the target was clearly visible due to the raging fire, and the two "Swordfish" planes dropped a total of 22 flares at 15-second intervals.

Five torpedo planes attacked the battleship group in succession, one torpedo hit the lower port side of the "Litorio", and one torpedo exploded between the ammunition depots No. 1 and No. 2 of the "Duirio". The E4H aircraft was shot down while dropping mines.

The L5F, which was damaged during takeoff, took 20 minutes to repair and then took off to join the battle, and it hit the cruiser "Taranto".

The air raid lasted more than one hour, and in the early morning of the 12th, the last "Swordfish" plane returned to the "Brilliant".

In the Battle of Taranto, the British Mediterranean Fleet achieved major results, and the carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier "Brilliant" spent more than an hour sinking one Italian battleship and two heavy losses, sinking two Italian cruisers and two auxiliary ships, and the British lost only two aircraft.

This battle changed the balance of naval power between Britain and Italy in the Mediterranean at the beginning of World War II, and enabled the British to gain a strategic advantage in the area around the Mediterranean.

The Battle of Gibraltar and the Battle of Taranto proved how vulnerable large surface ships are to the blows of superior naval and air forces.

To a certain extent, it changed the mode of operation of modern naval warfare and initially established the dominant position of aircraft carriers in modern naval warfare.

The raid organized by Cunningham was undoubtedly a success, half of Italy's most powerful battleships were wiped out, and the Italian Navy had 3 old battleships left.

And the British Mediterranean fleet, after being heavily damaged by Rommel, was still a little weaker than the Italian fleet after replenishment.

Immediately after the Battle of Taranto, the British gained strategic superiority over the Italian fleet, but the British overlooked one place.

The British air raid was an Italian battleship, and the transport ship did not suffer much damage, regardless of whether Rommel was attacking the island of Malta or landing in Africa, the transport ship was the most important.

What's more, the Italian fleet still has three old battleships, the rest of the ships more than a dozen, and more than a dozen submarines, and these naval forces are paving the air force, which is enough to guard the route from Italy to Tunis.

This British sneak attack was undoubtedly successful, but it had little impact on the situation of the war, and in the future, the Italian fleet would circle the area from Tuniss to Sicily, anyway, without leaving the combat radius of the German Stuka dive bombers.

Because the British army had aircraft carriers, and the Stuka dive bombers did not dare to attack the British fleet alone, the Italian fleet could only stay within the combat radius of the BF109, which was about 350 kilometers.

In addition, Rommel could also ask Hitler to send some U2 submarines to garrison Italy, and now that the Strait of Gibraltar is under German control, there is no difficulty for German submarines to enter the Mediterranean.

……

[The brothers' tips are so powerful, thank you for falling leaves...... Ask the local tyrant to reward the alliance leader. 】