The annexation of Romania, the occupation of Serbia and the entry of Bulgaria into the war by the Central Powers opened up transport routes to Turkey, which greatly alleviated the lack of ammunition faced by the Ottoman army. Despite the victory in the Battle of Gallipoli, the rest of the Ottoman Empire faced a former collapse.

With the support of the British, the Arabs of the entire Hejaz launched a great uprising against the Turks, which quickly swept the entire peninsula of Asia Minor, and the Anglo-French troops landed in Beirut, encroaching on the Turks' territory little by little with primitive methods. In Mesopotamia, however, the British expeditionary force made rapid progress, capturing Baghdad in early September, and then capturing Mosul, an important oil-producing region, in October, and the Turks' oil fields fell to the British.

Heldon felt compelled to give the British a "New Year's gift" to vent his anger after returning from Berlin.

He had already set his sights on Malta.

Nestled in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, less than 60 nautical miles from the Italian island of Sicily, Malta consists of Malta, Gozo and three small uninhabited islands, with a total area of about 316 square kilometers. The main island, Malta, is about 35 kilometers long and 16 kilometers wide, with a population of about 160,000 people.

Since 1801, when the British took possession of the Mediterranean island during the Napoleonic Wars, Malta has been an important British military base and transit port in the Mediterranean, and is now home to more than 60,000 British troops. However, due to absolute confidence in the strength of the Royal Navy, the British did not have any permanent fortifications in the rest of the island, except for the strong permanent fortifications built in Valletta Harbor.

If Lehydon wanted to make a move in North Africa, he had to take it first.

Since the commissioning of three battleships of the "Grand Duke of Istria", the Austro-Hungarian navy has absolute superiority in the Mediterranean, unless the British transfer half of their home fleet to the Mediterranean.

On the sixteenth day after taking over as captain of the "Emperor Maximilian", Yankel received an order for combat from Vice Admiral Meyer. During this time, they had only made three training trips to sea, and the new crew was still familiar with the ship's operations, which made Yankel feel a little apprehensive.

On December 11, 1915, it was drizzling in the sky, and Helton personally set off again with his fleet.

This was perhaps the largest fleet in the history of Austria-Hungary, with the First Battleflotilla led by three battleships of the "Grand Duke of Istria" class opening the way in front, in the middle of which were 36 transports transporting all 24,000 men and equipment of the 3rd Marine Division, and an escort formation of four armored ships, six cruisers and twelve destroyers, followed by a second cruiser formation consisting of two battlecruisers, "Zreny" and "Empress Teresa". Further on was the Third Battleship under the command of Admiral Horthy, consisting mainly of four battleships of the "Austrian" class, which were still at the testing stage, and their real combat effectiveness was still doubtful.

In addition, four battleships of the "Combined Forces" class under the command of Admiral Negovan and the German battlefleet under the command of Vice Admiral Maouf were to depart from the port of Taranto, where they were to escort not only the convoy transporting the 1 Marine Division, but also the flanks of the entire landing fleet.

At the same time as the Negovan fleet was dispatched, the Austro-Hungarian 7th Army, as the main force of the attack, had assembled in Taranto and was ready to board the ship at any time.

In the wind and rain, the "Grand Duke of Istria", with a full load displacement of 34,200 tons, still looked very stable during the ride, which was undoubtedly a very stable sea firing platform for the ship's gunners. As the first large-scale landing operation carried out by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Lee Hayton also solemnly left the commander of the 3rd Marine Division, Major General Stirnader, on the flagship and kept studying the details of the landing operation.

Although the British had poor defenses on Malta after reconnaissance, and the British confidence in their navy led them to build only some permanent fortifications around Valletta, LeHaydon, who was accustomed to seeing the bloody landing operations of later generations, was still not very reassured.

This time, though, he was clearly overthinking.

In order to take care of the speed of the transport ship, the entire formation traveled at a speed of 12 knots, and it took more than two days to reach the vicinity of the island of Malta. After a day and a night of sailing, by about 6 a.m. on the third day, the entire fleet had arrived at the entrance to the Strait of Otranto.

After the Austro-Hungarian army occupied all of Italy, the British and French fleets had abandoned the blockade of the Strait of Otranto, but the fleet had to be careful in case there were any uncleared mines.

On the afternoon of December 12, the main fleet had reached the waters around Malta.

Before the arrival of the main fleet, Admiral Negovan led a battlefleet from Italy to drive out a British detachment of cruisers here.

As the most important strategic point in the middle of the Mediterranean for thousands of years, Malta is not only an important transit point for merchant ships in the Mediterranean, but also a well-defended maritime fortress. Since the Battle of Trafalgar, the British have firmly occupied the area, and for a hundred years, no one dared to fight its idea due to the great maritime power of the British Empire.

From the afternoon of 12 December, the assault on Malta began, and the Austro-Hungarian Navy, together with the German Navy, a total of 13 battleships, began shelling the fortifications of the intended landing sites on the island. Four "Austrian" class battleships led by Admiral Horthy also joined the bombardment, and their main target was Valletta, which was only for live-fire training.

The British did not realize that they would be attacked after the start of the war, but after the defeat of Italy, they realized that danger was actually approaching them, and began to build fortifications on the tidal flats on the island where they could land. However, the development of modern industrial technology has made it possible for any defense to be destroyed, and the Germans were able to destroy the fortified fortress of Liège with artillery, and the British hastily constructed the fortifications of the island of Malta out of wood and rock.

Under the bombardment of large-caliber naval guns, most of these fortifications built along the coast were soon destroyed, and a large number of defenders were killed and wounded. The focus of the shelling was on Melliha Bay, and when the 3rd Austrian Marine Division began to land on this beach on 14 December, resistance was slight.

In just an hour's time, the Austrian landing force was gaining a foothold on the beachhead near Melliha and St. Paul's Bay, and began to advance in depth with the support of naval guns. The British, although they organized a counterattack, were quickly routed by heavy naval guns at sea.

In this era, people's understanding of anti-landing operations was still very rudimentary, and the bloody battle scene imagined by Helton Lee did not appear.

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