"Found it, the Bora and Sicily appeared off the coast of my East African colony. Not only did they plunder several of our merchant ships, but they also sank the Rhine. Lindemann sent a telegram to Raeder. It is written in great detail, not only the ins and outs of the whole matter, but also the evaluation of the German officers and soldiers who participated in the war on this incident. Although the Bora was eventually evacuated before the Rhine could be sunk, the ship never made it back to port, but a large number of German troops were captured, so the information they provided was very detailed.

"In terms of tactical literacy, the technical and tactical level of the Bora is higher than that of Austria-Hungary, and slightly worse than that of the German first-line fleet. The naval aviation is very good, both in terms of tactical coordination and the pilots themselves, and the seven bombers dropped bombs in two hits and one in close range is already quite good. The suppression of lightly protected anti-aircraft gun emplacements by fighters is very well placed, and many exercises should have been conducted. While attacking the fleet, the air vigilance was still not relaxed, and there was still spare energy to cover the fleet's withdrawal. It can be seen that the commanders of this fleet are not leaky, and although they are not enterprising, it is difficult to find any obvious flaws. ”

"In this operation, our fleet also exposed some problems, the seaplanes on the Rhine could not carry bombs like the other side's seaplanes, which was a direct reason for the final defeat of the Rhine. If the seaplanes on the Rhine could have attacked the Bora first, then the Rhine would have a chance to escape from the other side's pursuit, but unfortunately, our seaplanes only have radios and machine guns, and they are weak in attacking the sea. At the same time, anti-aircraft fire was insufficient. THE RATE OF FIRE OF THE 37MM GUN WAS TOO SLOW. THE 20MM RAPID-FIRE GUN IS ON THE LOW SIDE AND HAS A CURVED TRAJECTORY. AT THE SAME TIME, THE GUN POSITION IS NOT PROTECTED ENOUGH, AND IT NEEDS TO BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND AT LEAST 12.7MM DIRECT ATTACK. After reading the analysis of the battle report that followed, Raeder put this article away. And now he needs to think about the question, what will the Italians do next? What will happen to the East African detachment, and what will happen to the main forces of the Italian fleet?

"It looks like we're on our own. The Turks are afraid that they will not be able to count on it. Half-loud, Raeder muttered to himself helplessly after careful deduction. Off the coast of German East Africa, there was simply no sea power to counterbalance the actions of the Italian detachment, if not for external intervention. The other side can hold out until the self-sustaining power is insufficient, of course, if the supply ships arranged by the Entente or the Italian Navy in advance are to be considered. Then this time is very likely to last for half a year, and the German Navy will not allow such a detachment of only 2 cruisers to trap its largest colony overseas, both economically and politically! The main fleet was not ready, and it was too late. What's more, the Chinese and British fleets blocked in the North Sea would not let the Germans come out like this. The military power of the Mediterranean is not superior in itself. Then the only thing that can be mobilized is the Turkish fleet.

"An aircraft carrier and an aviation cruiser don't seem to be enough!" Raeder then began to consider the Turks' next move. Will it continue to wander in the Indian Ocean or will it go south to seek the enemy for a decisive battle? Anyway, though. Raeder doesn't feel enough, just this point Dongdong wants to catch a small fleet of only 2 cruisers in the entire Indian Ocean? It's a little bit harder. Moreover, the other side also has a certain air defense capability, and even if it encounters it, it may not be able to bite. And if it goes south, then what about the alert tasks of the oil transportation lines? No one can guarantee that the other party will not kill a carbine!

At this time, after several consultations between the German Navy and the Turkish Navy, a joint action plan involving the Turkish fleet and land-based aviation was released. The main forces of the Turkish fleet will go south in search of opponents. And the work of covering important maritime supplies was entrusted to the Turkish battleship Salim Sultan and shore-based aviation. In order to enhance the maritime reconnaissance capability, the Germans deliberately sent one of the only four wings in the country equipped with four large bombers to the Mediterranean region. This formation was the Heavy Bomber Wing later known as the Vultures, and it was accompanied by several twin-engine fighter groups.

"If the other party dares to come to the Indian Ocean, then there will be a net waiting for them!" Admiral Ali looked at the information on the desktop about the cruiser Sicily and sneered. At this time, Iyakino did not expect that the Germans and Turks would set up such a big battle to wait for him. After hijacking a ship full of tungsten sand and tin ore, Iyakino left several soldiers to escort it to India. Preparations are already being made to shrink the fleet to the North Indian Ocean oil routes. In this regard, Iyakino was still very covert, all the battleships were given orders after entering the intended rendezvous point of the supply ships, and there was almost no long-wave radio communication between all the warships, so the possibility of radio leaks was almost eliminated, and after several hours of replenishment, except for one destroyer who could not continue to follow the fleet north due to a malfunction problem, to India, the remaining 2 heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser and 2 destroyers began to embark on the road to the north.

In order to deal with this small fleet, the Allies have made overall considerations, and it is not to say that this fleet is really terrible. But the German top brass has finally realized the fragility of its own sea lines of communication! "Today, a fleet of only two cruisers can do whatever it takes in our back garden, and tomorrow we will face an even stronger adversary, in Madagascar, the French have already begun to build bases for aircraft carriers to anchor, our shape is even more severe, if we can't even destroy a weak opponent like today, then what eastward strategy do we talk about? I'm afraid that before India is defeated, its own transportation lines have been cut off! So, I hope that the Navy and Air Force will work closely together to get this damn bedbug out for me! Wilhelm II said angrily.

The Allies thus changed their original plan, and the Turkish fleet eventually went south instead of the Mediterranean, thus leading to the balance of power between the two navies in the Mediterranean, and if it was against the German fleet commanded by Hipper, Tycho might have been somewhat jealous, but look at the other generals, an admiral wearing a prince's hat and a rear admiral who had served as a staff officer. Tycho thinks that they can't afford to educate themselves in the Mediterranean! Moreover, from the perspective of the situation, with the arrival of the Imperial Air Force, the air force of the United States and France in northern Italy is under increasing pressure, and the addition of a large number of twin-engine aircraft has greatly reduced the home field advantage of the Entente side. "In a maximum of 3 weeks, our air defense line in the north will collapse, and in less than three weeks we have lost 300 aircraft of all kinds, as well as more than 240 crews. The accumulation in the early stage is rapidly depleting, and although the price paid by the other party is a little greater, our supply speed is far from keeping up with the supply speed of Germany and Austria. The result of this is that the other side will gain air supremacy and then cover the landing of the army on the Apennine Peninsula. Major General Li Mei, who was in charge of the operations of the U.S. and French air forces, said this in a telegram to Tycho.

"The Germans have a deep heritage." After reading the telegram, Tycho also had to admit that the difference in national strength between the two sides was too great, and that the construction of aviation was more expensive than that of the army and navy, and that the training of airport facilities, aircraft, and crew members was a bottomless pit. Tycho's hard-earned air force and the naval aviation at hand are not as strong as the strength of the German air force, and even with the assistance of the United States and France, it can only rely on the home advantage in the early stage to gain a slight advantage, and the serious Allies are indeed not something that Italy, which is now scattered, can resist.

Therefore, in order to advance the air pressure in the north, the Italian navy had to launch an attack in the south in order to attract German and Austrian air forces to the south. This was easier said than done, however, with the Italian navy retreating to Sicily and the southern coast of Italy, the Austro-Hungarian navy in Greece and the German Mediterranean fleet in Crete. The two sides are very close to each other, both are backed by land-based aviation, and there is a submarine blockade and an aviation cordon in the front, and once they are dispatched during the day, they will soon be discovered by the other side, and at night, they must be careful of the threat of submarines and mines. In this kind of closed sea area, which is almost transparent and can be encountered at the door, there seems to be no other way to conduct naval battles than hard fighting. Attacks during the day will turn into strong attacks, and it will be difficult for the attacking side to do anything against the defending sea-based and land-based forces, while the result of a night battle may be stealing chickens and rice. Aircraft carriers cannot be used at night, and gunboats that want to shell the enemy's ports must first rush through the submarine blockade and then cross the minefield.

What made Tycho even more depressed was that the German-Austrian navy did not seem to have the intention of taking the initiative at this stage, and in the German-Austrian strategy, it seemed that as long as the southern entrance to the Adriatic Sea was blocked, so that the Italian navy could not hinder the German-Austrian landing plan, the task would be completed. Anyway, the air force can slowly wear down the air force of the Entente and Italy, so there is no need to risk the precious warships. Therefore, the German and Austrian navies were very conservative, with the main warships protecting the cruise ships sailing from Alexandria to Greece under the cover of land-based aviation, and the light warships and minelayers going out to lay minefields. And the submarines formed a cordon. The entire defense line was so thick that the Italians did not dare to cross it lightly.

"Now which side of the opponent is the time, there are three battlefields: the air battle on the Italian mainland, the southern sea battlefield and the Indian Ocean battlefield, no matter which battlefield has a problem, it will collapse in full screen. And from the current point of view, the aviation battlefield in the north is the most prone to problems, and although the Indian Ocean theater will not have problems in a short time, the Allies have also left quite strong forces there, so they can't make any waves, so we can only look at us! Tycho thought for a moment and said.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976, the members of the dead group for their tips~~~, and the book friends techie81, fudantjbbt, xiaoyongplay's monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)