The first target of the "most powerful fleet in the world" was not Sicily, which was best suited for landing in the Apennines.

No matter how arrogant he was, Cunningham was not so arrogant as to think that he could attack the Apennines with his navy. One of the main starting points of the "Bright" plan was to rescue the Eighth Army in Benghazi.

Therefore, Cunningham chose Bantarella, which was controlled by the Italians at the eastern end of the Tunis Channel, as the flag of the Allied fleet.

On 28 September, the aircraft carriers HMS Eagle, HMS Glory, and a group of British carrier-based bombers from the light aircraft carrier HMS Cyclops launched an air raid on Italian positions on the island of Bantarella. Subsequently, the British artillery fleet consisting of the cruisers "Orion" and "Penelo" and the destroyers "Siege Mine" and "Chivalry" and the Greek Navy's "Vasilisa Orga" carried out a heavy bombardment of the island's positions and destroyed most of the fortifications, communications and communications facilities on the island of Bantarella.

The various support points on the island were cut off, and it was difficult for the defenders to replenish them. Because of the advance of the British and American fleets, the seasick battlefleet outside the Gulf of Sirte voluntarily retreated and broke away from the attack range of the enemy's aircraft carriers, which made the Italian defenders on the island of Bantarella fall into a hard battle without backup.

But just when the combat effectiveness of the defenders was gradually exhausted, the commander of the island, Rear Admiral Pavesi of the Italian Navy, unexpectedly received a top-secret telegram from the General Command of the Mediterranean Theater: Hold out for 72 hours, and there are troops to support you.

Subsequently, the Italian high command in Rome sent another telegram with the same content as the order of the General Command of the Mediterranean Theater. Presumably, Jiang Yunzhi was worried that Pavesi was not resolute enough to carry out the order, so he directly contacted Mussolini.

When it got dark, Pavesi finally waited for the legendary reinforcements, two demon-class conventionally powered transport submarines, and quietly passed through the blockade of the Allied fleet and approached the dilapidated small port of Banterella.

Major General Pavesi was disappointed that there were only about sixty reinforcements that had been waiting for a day. Although it seems that these Han soldiers are very strong, the equipment is even more ...... The Italian rear admiral rolled his eyes, "This Nima is really armed to the teeth." ”

That's right, the tactical team wearing marine camouflage uniforms sent by the Demon Wind-class transport submarine is none other than the Royal Navy's special SEAL soldiers. This tactical team is part of the Navy SEALs' 2nd Special Operations Group, and their mission is to guide the Italian army in laying out the defensive line to block a possible landing of the multinational force.

When you hear this, you will be fooled!

It's not that the Italian army doesn't have commanders, and it's not that it won't ambush, although ...... I didn't play well enough before.

The SEALs' tactical squads are there to assist in the defense, but they are not there to enter trenches and fortifications and use their accurate marksmanship to shoot at the enemy.

Instead, they use the individual communication system they carry to send information such as their coordinates back to the relay communication station on Sicily, so that this information can enter the data link of the "Beidou" system and be used to guide the routes and bombing targets of the strategic bomber units.

Compared with the YB-35B jet fly-wing aircraft being developed by the United States and the German Ho-229A fly-wing bomber that had just appeared on the battlefield of the Soviet Union, the BH-41 Qiulong jet wing-wing bomber, which had successfully shown its skills in the bombing operation of the West Coast of the United States, was more famous, larger in size, and of course larger in number.

Also, "the cost is higher, too!" ”

The cost of a dragon worthy of half a cruiser has always been a pain in His Majesty's heart. But Qiu Long's record is also enough to wear this super high status.

The effect of the no-man's land on the West Coast of the United States should be due in large part to the dragon. Before the advent of the Triangular Javelin, the United States did not even have a fighter plane that could catch up with the Dragon at such a height. The pilots of the dragon are generally quite laid-back when dropping bombs. Even after the appearance of the Triangle Javelin, the success rate of intercepting the dragon is quite low. In the bombing campaign in the past six months, Qiu Long was only shot down a total of 4, and the more successful triangular javelin was the H-40 Helleye.

But it was the four downed Dragons, one of which crashed near Long Beach, south of Los Angeles, and the wreckage was obtained by the U.S. military, which started the development of the American flying wing YB-35B.

This time, on the island of Bantarella, the British and American fleets made a big move, which made Guan Canghai look very cautious. Even though he got a large number of D-15 "Eagles", Commander Guan still did not choose to rush into a decisive battle. The concession in the center of the Mediterranean allowed the British and American fleets to easily regain control of the Tunis Strait and launch an attack on the island of Benerella.

In Guan Canghai's view, the Tunis Strait is not a good place for a decisive battle. "It's too close to Tunisia and Libya."

Since it is a battle for the Royal Navy, it is always necessary to choose a place where no one disturbs and fight. If the Air Force is allowed to get involved, it will not be exquisite.

To put it bluntly, Guan Canghai is suspected that in Libya and Tunisia, the multinational forces still have land-based airfields at their disposal, which will put the Northern Fleet in a desperate situation.

The place where Commander Guan is in the picture is the Ionian Sea. However, the place was located between Italy and Greece, and was definitely under the control of the Allied air forces, so Cunningham must not be so stupid.

So Guan Canghai had no choice but to retreat and choose Sirte Bay. It is also fair, the two sides draw a line in Benghazi, the west is the Allied controlled area, the east is just the territory of the allies, and the goal of the Allied fleet is Benghazi, thinking about it, both sides have no objection to this choice.

However, Commander Kwan did not plan to easily cede Banterella Island to the Multinational Force, as the southern gateway to Sicily, the island was strategically located, not only to cut off Malta from the Tunisian region, but also to serve as a springboard for counterattacks. His Majesty has a plan for landing in Tunisia, and Guan Canghai has never forgotten it.

To put the British and American fleets in, but also to keep the island of Bantarella, this is to choke on the shipwreck. Fortunately, the commander of the Air Force, Long Zhou, did not read the joke, and was bombed out of Sardinia and Sicily in a "pair" way, and the depressed Commander Long took the initiative to ask for help, and sent the Dragon troops to bomb the multinational forces besieging Bantarella Island, so that they had to give up the plan to seize the island.

And then...... Then there was the dispatch of two Demon Wind-class submarines, and the deployment of the SEAL tactical team was in place. Under the electronic guidance of the SEAL team, 12 BH-41A Hymdragon flying wing bombers that took off overnight on Israel's Sinai Peninsula flew over the Gulf of Sirte at an altitude of 14,000 meters along the Egyptian coastline, and arrived in the waters east of the Tunis Strait at 5 a.m.

The so-called blind drop is to carry out over-the-horizon bombing of fixed coordinates without reducing the altitude. To put it more simply, at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters, it is impossible for bombardiers to aim at an ant-like ship on the surface of the sea. The use of blind dropping and covering bombing in the coordinate area is completely like a blind cat hitting a dead mouse, and this bombing method is more of a strategic deterrent than a strike of actual significance.

This method was invented during the bombing of the West Coast of the United States, and it was the first time it was applied to naval operations!

But luck is really elusive, 12 dragons dropped more than 150 tons of small high-altitude bombs in the coordinate area, which is equivalent to a shower in the southwest sea of Banterelini, well, a rain of bombs. Even the shipwreck on the island was not spared, and N big kangs were made out by aerial bombs.

At an altitude of 14,000 meters, it is a bomb, and I am afraid that an egg can fall and kill people, right? The British cruiser "Aurora" and the gunboat "Afis" became the unlucky ones who were smashed, and the 200-kilogram bomb actually penetrated the armored deck of the "Aurora" and smashed directly into the boiler room, causing a violent explosion, although the "Goddess of Aurora" was not as tragic as the "Afis" gunboat, but after losing power, it still had to be towed back to Algiers and withdrew from the battle, and other multinational force warships involved in the shelling of Bantellellini Island were also damaged in the rain of bombs. But it didn't hurt the vital point, it was nothing more than a hole or something, and it didn't delay the continuation of the battle after the damage was managed.

Twelve Qiulong planes were dispatched for a long-distance attack, and more than 100 tons of ammunition were actually covered with only one cruiser and one worthless gunboat.

But the psychological blow that the Dragon bomber brought to the Americans has been infinitely magnified when it is on the West Coast. The Americans, who had no way to deal with the high-altitude bombing of the Qiulong, could not help but exaggerate the striking effect of this kind of flying wing aircraft.

In the eyes of the Americans, the battleship staying in a fixed area for a long time is undoubtedly the best bombing target for Qiulong. At their insistence, all warships were asked to stay away from the islands where the Allies were stationed, so as to avoid being spotted by the Allies in the berths of the warships, in order to attract the "big bats".

Cunningham had no choice but to abandon Banterellini, which had no resistance because there were no fortified guns and an airfield.

"It's like being in Edinburgh and passing by blondes."

The admiral's playful metaphor for the soldiers of the other countries in the multinational force is more desirable for the Scottish capital - the most famous red light district in Britain and even in all of Europe.

In fact, as Cunningham described, the multinational forces also overestimated the strategic role of Bantellelini, and did not have large-caliber fortress guns with a range of more than 10 kilometers, let alone an airfield that could take off fighters, and this small island was famous as the southern gate of Sicily, without any impact on the actions of the Allied fleet.

Well, as for now, it doesn't make any difference.

More than 200 warships of all kinds, including a large Vietnamese fleet of 23 aircraft carriers, six battleships and four battle cruisers, and dozens of transports following them, sailed out of the Tunis Strait, directly across the islands of Malta and Tripoli, and appeared outside the Gulf of Sirte.

This was somewhat unexpected by Guan Canghai, who did not expect that on the second day of the Qiulong strategic bomber operation, the British and American fleets would go out to the waters east of Malta. This is already the regular patrol range of Dongfeng-class submarines.

The size of the Entente's fleet was so large that it was difficult not to attract the attention of submarines. However, the sea wolves of the Han Royal Navy are also very knowledgeable, and they glanced at the periscope from a distance, and immediately dived and slipped away.

In such a large fleet, a strong anti-submarine force is also indispensable, and to provoke a fleet with the strength of a few submarines is undoubtedly self-defeating.

It is the best choice to send back information to the command ship of the fleet at the first time