PS: Because the time can't be written clearly, so if you look awkward, please forgive me. Today's update of 12,000,These two chapters,Make up for 90 monthly passes plus more。

Although the gap with the previous monthly pass ranking is getting bigger and bigger, however, Gorgeous will never give up. Because there's still a long way to go!!

In other words, there is no pressure on code words anymore, because the monthly pass plus more has been made up. Guys, can you give a little more help? Seeing that the time for the double commuter pass is coming to an end.

Come on!!!

As China's war in Asia was about to spread to Australia, the war in the north also showed a one-sided decline.

Britain and the United States had a growing premonition of the importance of the Mediterranean theater and devised joint plans to make full use of the strategic position of the Mediterranean and keep it out of the hands of the Axis powers.

Because whether it is Germany or China, whether it is the Soviet Union, the United States, or Japan, it can be said that they are fighting on two fronts. In particular, the United States, although it has extremely good industrial strength at home, has to support Europe on the one hand, and the Pacific Ocean on the other, and now has a great Far East. This made the Americans also deeply feel that they were lacking in skills, and at this moment, quickly resolving one of the battles has become the best choice for the Allies.

And persimmon has to pick up the soft pinch, first solve the enemy with insufficient stamina, and then go to encircle a stronger opponent, this is the choice of the allies.

While the United States was carrying out Operation Ghost, the war in Europe also became tighter.

In the past, Britain has used the Mediterranean Sea as its lifeline to the Suez Canal and the Far East. France, on the other hand, sees it as a major route to Algeria, Tunisia and French Morocco. To a large extent. The security of trade and military installations between Britain and France depended on Italy's role in the war.

At that time, the British and French allies agreed that if Italy actively entered the war, the British navy would be responsible for the defense of the eastern Mediterranean, and the French navy would be responsible for the defense of the western Mediterranean. At the outbreak of the Great War, Britain had a powerful Mediterranean fleet. In addition to having a large base in Alexandria, the British also established auxiliary facilities in Malta and Gibraltar. The French Navy had 3 battleships, 11 cruisers, 33 destroyers and 45 submarines, all of which were located in Toulon, Oran, Mürskebir, Bizerta, Morocco and Dakar.

Since the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in the 35th of the twentieth century, the Italian Navy has been operating in a state of readiness for war. In April 39 of the twentieth century, Italy invaded Albania, which was completely unexpected by the British. They hurriedly concentrated the Mediterranean fleet on Alexandria. May. Hitler and Mussolini announced the conclusion of an "iron pact", in which the two sides agreed to assist each other in any military operation. Later, Mussolini sent Hitler a Carvalero memorandum amending the dramatic public statement. Mussolini noted in the memo. He could not prepare for war for three years. and demanded that Hitler postpone the war until the 42nd year of the twentieth century.

Although Hitler agreed in principle. But on 11 August, the German Foreign Minister informed the Italian Foreign Minister that Germany was about to attack Poland. Mussolini realized that he should fulfill his obligations under the Iron Pact. A long list of manifests was set up for the supply of raw materials from Germany to Italy. Hitler rejected these requested items and told Mussolini that he did not need Italy to enter the war. So, when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 39 of the twentieth century, Mussolini announced that Italy would not enter the war.

In this unexpected situation, in view of the urgent need for ships in other theaters, Britain had to deploy some remaining forces in the Mediterranean. Britain transferred most of the ships of the Mediterranean Fleet to other places. They relied on the French to maintain order in the area and to assist the small number of British ships left behind in enforcing joint shipping control measures. At the same time, Britain focused all its efforts on strengthening their position in the Middle East. In Egypt, in addition to the naval base in Alexandria, they also had a unit there and a British Royal Air Force command under the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 36 years of the twentieth century. Since the Egyptian government did not pay attention to the development of the armed forces and the construction of military facilities, Britain spent a great deal of energy to compensate for this deficiency from the winter of the 39th century to the beginning of the 40th of the 20th century.

By the spring of the 40th century, Mussolini was greatly annoyed by the restrictions on joint shipping, and he could not wait to expand the territory and influence of Italy. For years, he wanted to rebuild a Roman empire in the Mediterranean. To achieve this, he conquered Ethiopia and Albania. Now, he dreams of building an empire even more illustrious than the Roman Empire founded by Julius Caesar. He tried in every possible way to remove the two stepping stones that hindered his ambitions, England and France.

In March 40 of the twentieth century, Mussolini promised to enter the war at the appropriate time at talks with Hitler at the Brenner Pass. Shortly thereafter, he announced his idea of "parallel wars" to the kings and military leaders of Italy. This idea advocated assisting Germany indirectly, but its main purpose was to further expand Italian interests. When he saw the successive victories of the German army in Norway and France, Mussolini was salivating and feared that it would be too late, so he hastily made a plan to enter the war. He claimed that "in order to participate in the cause of peace, people must go to war." ”

Britain began to perceive that Italy's position of not going to war would soon turn into an open one. Therefore, they reviewed the past policy of not offending Italy, and proposed a show of force against Italy. Mussolini, however, had already made up his mind. On 17 April, Mussolini did not publicly declare war only because Marshal Badoglio, commander-in-chief of the Italian armed forces, expressed his resolute opposition because he was not prepared for war. In this way he avoided a direct declaration of war.

Italy enters the war

Marshal Badogglio had told Mussolini that Italy was not ready for war, and he was right to the point. The Italian army was not fully mobilized and poorly trained. Although the Air Force appears to be powerful and equipped with a large number of advanced Chinese Warhawk-2 fighters, it actually has almost no combat experience. As for the Navy. In addition to the purchase of a super battleship and supporting ships from China, the adverse consequences of other ships have become increasingly apparent due to improper maintenance of the ships and the lack of timely renewal.

The Italian armed forces did not carry out an effective organization for conducting naval operations in the Mediterranean. The Army, Navy, and Air Force Commands are equal to each other and are subordinate to the Supreme Command. The officers of the Supreme Command tended to adopt the Army's view of land operations and the Air Force's idea of strategic bombing. Therefore, they hardly understand the difficulties of the Navy and know very little about the warplanes of the Navy.

Italy invades Greece

Despite the advice of his naval officers, Mussolini issued the order to invade Greece on October 15, 40, 40 in a meeting with the leaders of the army and government. He knew that Hitler would not agree, so his intention to attack Greece was kept secret from Hitler.

Long. Greece had always feared an Italian invasion. But it is determined to avoid any pretext for invasion by the Italian side. Therefore, they refused to allow Britain to provide support in advance, refused to allow Britain to send military advisers, and even refused to accept British defense strategy for Greece.

October 28, 40 of the twentieth century. When Italian troops crossed the Greek border. Britain, which was weak, was faced with a difficult choice. In order to stand with neutral countries in the Middle East. Britain had to support Greece in its struggle against the invasion. However, any force sent to Greece would have to be sent from Archibald, who was stationed in Egypt. Drawn from the Wavell Army. The issue of air support is no less difficult. As soon as Egypt's defenses weakened, Britain's entire position in the Middle East would be lost.

In view of the above considerations. The British wartime cabinet agreed to provide ammunition and funds to Greece and to send an air force to support it. In addition, in consultation with the Greek government, Britain decided to establish a naval refueling base in Crete. At that time, Greece did not need to send troops to support, because on 8 November the Italian army stopped advancing, and a few days later the Greek counteroffensive drove the invaders back into Albania. Mussolini's plot to promote military success, both during the North African adventure and in the invasion of Greece, failed because of Italy's ill-planned and inadequate guarantees. Instead of gaining personal fame, Mussolini left a laughing stock for the world.

Italian troops launched an offensive in Libya

On September 7, 40 of the twentieth century, Mussolini ordered the commander of the Italian army, Marshal Graziani, in Libya, to launch an attack on Egypt from land. On 14 September, the Italian army captured the Egyptian coastal town of Sidi Barani, but the Italian army could not continue its eastward advance as the British navy began to attack Benghazi, Selum, Bardia, and Sidi Barani to harass the Italian supply lines by sea. In this campaign, British submarines played little role, since Italian ships tried to navigate the shallow waters along the coast, and it was difficult for British submarines to carry out effective combat activities. In addition, Britain lacked sufficient air forces in Malta. As of December, Italy had sent 700,000 tons of supplies to Libya during the year. However, not a single ship on the Italian-Libyan transport line was sunk by British submarines or aircraft. The British did not have the strength to cut off this line of communication until Malta had built up sufficient defenses.

When the Italian Air Force was formed in the 23rd year of the twentieth century, the Navy was ordered to transfer all of its aviation to the Air Force. As a result, the Navy lost control over the aircraft that performed naval tasks. And the Italian Navy also does not have aircraft carriers, because both the High Command and Mussolini see Italy as a giant aircraft carrier. Due to the fact that the aircraft taking off from the Italian base can cover the Central Mediterranean. The Supreme Command believes that the Air Force can quite satisfactorily fulfill all the tasks entrusted to naval aviation.

However, the pilots of the Air Force were not trained in naval aviation. The Italian Air Force, like the Luftwaffe and all the other major powers of the Great War, sought to fight according to the strategic thinking of the Air Force. So, when the Navy asked to send aircraft to support naval operations, the planes were often sent elsewhere. All the Navy can control is a few maritime reconnaissance aircraft, and even these planes are flown by pilots of the Air Force.

Since the outbreak of the war, the Italian Navy has 6 battleships (one of which is a super battleship purchased from China, and one is a super battleship built by itself with a Chinese turret), 7 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers and about 50 destroyers. In addition to this, Italy has 108 submarines. Almost twice the total number of German submarines. Two old battleships "Durio" and "Doria" are undergoing modernization and will soon join the fleet. At the same time, there were 4 new fast battleships ("Litorio", "Vittorio. Veneto, Roma and Empire) were also put into service. Italy has a small fleet of seven destroyers and eight submarines stationed in Massawa on the Red Sea coast, which can pose a threat to British transports entering and exiting the Suez Canal. Compared to their counterparts in the Allied Navy, the ships of the Italian Navy were poorly armored, but fast. This high speed and small fuel charge significantly limited their combat radius.

Italy's main naval base is located in Taranto, with auxiliary bases in Naples, Brin's West, Augusta, Palermo in Sicily, Caliali in Sardinia, and Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya. The Italian Navy envisaged that its wartime strategy in the eastern and western Mediterranean would be defensive, while in the Central Mediterranean it would have to defend at all costs the sea transport from the mainland to its land forces in Libya. The operational principles of the Italian Navy were: Avoid the enemy's superior forces. Naval assaults and submarine and frogman raids were used to weaken the Allied fleet.

As May wore on, Britain recognized that France might be forced to withdraw from the war, and anticipated that Italy might wish to take part in the attack on France in order to share in the victor's feast. The British wartime cabinet understood. Great Britain, in addition to building a Mediterranean fleet. It must assume the defence of both the western and eastern Mediterraneans. Efforts should also be made to deploy a naval force in Gibraltar. Britain abolished the policy of not offending Italy, and on May 23 ordered that all Italian merchant ships should be banned from passing for the purpose of anti-smuggling at sea. June 6. Mussolini declared any waters within Italy's 12-nautical-mile territorial sea a zone of dangerous navigation. Because General Cunningham was well aware of the true meaning of Mussolini's statement, when Italy declared war on Britain and France after midnight on June 11, 40 of the twentieth century, General Cunningham had deployed most of the ships of the Mediterranean Fleet to the sea.

In order to surprise the ships of the Italian Navy, Cunningham launched the first unsuccessful attack on the enemy. The British cruiser "Calypso" was sunk by an Italian submarine. But in the first two days of the war, Italy lost 130,000 tons of merchant ships, some of which were captured, some were scuttled, and some were detained. On June 14, a French cruiser force shelled Genoa. France and England fought Italy for 15 days until France surrendered to Germany.

As a result of the French surrender, Britain was extremely worried about the fate of the French fleet. In just one month, the situation in the Mediterranean was suddenly reduced from absolute superiority to almost hopelessness. In the past, two powerful forces watched over a non-belligerent nation, but now Britain faced a hostile Italy and had to defend the entire Mediterranean on its own. It is likely that the powerful French fleet at this time was used against the British. In view of this situation, the British wartime cabinet ordered the commanders of the Mediterranean to act.

The British Admiralty, anticipating that they would have to take on combat duty in the western Mediterranean, had assembled a fleet codenamed "H" in Gibraltar. The fleet consisted of two old dreadnought-class battleships, one battle cruiser, two aircraft carriers, as well as two cruisers and 11 destroyers, and was commanded by Vice Admiral James Brown. Sir Somerville. He was instructed by the Wartime Cabinet to make the following recommendations to the commander of the French detachment at Mürskebiel (the naval anchorage of Oran):

1. Sail with us and continue to fight Germany and Italy until victory.

2. With a small crew, sail to British ports under our control.

3. Otherwise, if you think that in order not to break the armistice, it is necessary to ensure that French ships are not used against Germany and Italy, then, with a small crew, you can go with us to French ports in the West Indies, such as Martinique. There the ships could be disarmed at our request, or the ships could be entrusted to the United States in order to guarantee the safety of the ships until the end of the war, while the crews were repatriated to France.

If you reject the above just proposal, I will regret to ask you that the ship must be scuttled within 6 hours. Finally, if you reject all of the above measures, I am instructed by the British Government to use the necessary force to prevent your ships from falling into the hands of Germany or Italy.

Unlike in history, this time the British did not attack the French fleet, at the instigation of the French government-in-exile. This navy resorted to Mirskbir and joined the Allied fleet. As a result, the Royal Navy was greatly strengthened. But in this tragedy, Hitler also saw the strategic importance of the Mediterranean, and the German High Seas Fleet was dispatched in its entirety. After the naval battle of the century, the naval strength of Germany and the Allies will reach a freezing point. The Italian Navy suddenly became dominant in the Mediterranean and in all of Europe.

However, before Mussolini's excitement had passed, the United States intervened in the European theater, sending a large number of destroyers to Europe, and at the same time selling two battleships of the original Senseless class to Britain, as well as two Americans' own aircraft carriers. The sun never sets on the empire without a navy. Or is the sun never setting on the empire? It can only be said that it is a chicken that has been deflated. So. Britain took out many islands in the Atlantic, in order to restore a little face for the navy of a great power. These warships just cooperated with the Lion-class super battleships that the British launched later to form combat effectiveness.

Four years have passed, although the ground battlefield has been under constant artillery fire. The sky is also filled with all sorts of warplanes. But the Navy is a little busier except for submarines and destroyers. The capital ships did not make much movement. Four years of accumulation. It seems that it is for the final Armageddon.

The British Royal Fleet, which had been resting for four years, sailed through Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean. The flagship of the British fleet was the last of the British Lion-class superbattleships. It was named after the Queen Elizabeth, which was sunk in the Battle of the Atlantic. The fleet had two aircraft carriers, two old Senseless-class battleships, as well as cruisers and destroyers purchased from the United States.

The Italian fleet that carried out this engagement was led by the commander of the Italian fleet, Angelo. General Campioni was under direct command and had the forces of "Giulio. The super-battleships "Caesar" and "Cavour", 6 heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, as well as several destroyers. After completing its escort mission to the convoy bound for Benghazi, the fleet headed north to Italy. In order to prepare for an attack on the way back, Italy specially strengthened the fleet in advance.

The carrier-based aircraft on the British aircraft carrier had intended to attack the Italian battleship, but since they could not find the target, they fired torpedoes at the enemy cruiser, but to no avail. Judging by the course of the Italian warships, Cunningham believed that the Italian ships were covering the convoy heading for Libya. Therefore, Cunningham led the LinkedIn fleet to insert between the Italian fleet and the Taranto base.

In the afternoon of the same day, the British light cruiser met the Italian cruiser. The Italian cruisers were numerous, and their guns were long-ranged, and the British fought hard until the battleship Queen Elizabeth arrived to the rescue. Shortly thereafter, the Queen Elizabeth spotted two Italian battleships and engaged the enemy at a distance of 26,000 yards.

Although Britain's national strength is no longer what it used to be, the quality of British sailors is still the best in the world, and Italian sailors cannot compete with it at all.

As soon as the British ship fired a few shells, it hit the Italian flagship "Giulio. The bottom of the front chimney of the Caesar. Campioni then ordered the destroyer to carry out a torpedo attack, but he himself withdrew from the battle under the cover of a smoke screen and sailed for Messina. The British ships tried to cut off the retreat of the Italian fleet, as a result, a full-scale artillery bombardment was launched on both sides, and the battle became even more chaotic. The Italian fleet, due to its superiority in speed, managed to escape danger at 17 o'clock.

Cunningham, fearing a submarine ambush within 25 nautical miles of the Italian coast, halted the pursuit. While the Italian fleet was engaged in battle with the British fleet, two British convoys sailed from Malta to Alexandria. In this battle, Cunningham's fleet pinned down the enemy and defended the convoy's movements. Without the cover of the British fleet, these transport ships would have been attacked directly by enemy aircraft.

The naval battle near Calabria seemed to prove the viability of Cunningham's offensive approach. Compared with the British ships, the main guns on the Italian battleships were small in caliber, but more numerous. The two Italian battleships could have engaged the British flagship at close quarters while the two slow British battleships were still in battle. The cruisers in the Italian fleet were also much stronger than the British. However, Campioni did not take full advantage of these advantages. Despite the fact that two British aircraft carriers could carry out an attack on the Italian fleet, it did not work effectively.

On the other hand, the Italian shore-based aircraft did not cooperate closely. They arrived at the battlefield after the battle, and instead of attacking the British fleet, they attacked their own. Fortunately, the pilots were as inaccurate in dropping bombs as they were in their ability to distinguish friend from foe, and as a result, not a single Italian warship was damaged.

The Battle of Cape Spada on 19 February 44 of the twentieth century once again demonstrated that the guiding ideology of the Italian Navy was to avoid fighting an evenly matched British army. At that time, 3 British destroyers were conducting anti-submarine patrols northwest of Crete, as a result of which they encountered two Italian light cruisers. The British destroyers turned to the Australian light cruiser HMS Sydney and another destroyer to the north of them for help. At that time, the 6-inch guns on Italian warships had an advantage, only the small-caliber guns were slightly inferior. Despite this, the Italian ships spotted the Sydney and fled southwest. In the course of the pursuit, the Sydney sank the Italian cruiser Corleone, another Italian cruiser, Bender. The Neil was wounded, but finally managed to reach Tobruk.

After this series of battles, the British Admiralty and Cunningham redefined the tasks of the Mediterranean Fleet. In view of the many interests of Italy in the eastern Mediterranean, and in view of the need for frequent support from British forces in Egypt and the Middle East, Britain strengthened the forces of the Eastern Fleet, the Mediterranean Fleet, and stipulated that the Royal Fleet in Gibraltar would be an assault force under the control of the Admiralty, ready to fight in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. (To be continued......)