"In just one encounter, the other side has found our weak point, and after being heavily damaged, it is possible to concentrate such a large number of troops to fight an air campaign, if my estimate is correct, the air power in the entire southern part of the Italian peninsula must maintain at least 80% of the attendance rate to make up so many fighters, but we all know that this kind of attendance is close to mythology in a long battle, one or two squadrons are still possible, but it is too difficult for the entire theater of operations to be like this." Richthofen said with a frown as he looked at the markings on the map.

"We are ignoring a force. It is possible that he was involved in this battle! Kesselring pointed to Sicily. It is possible that the opposing side drew the air forces of Sicily to carry out this campaign. We can arrange another exploratory bombing, and if the defense in the direction of Sicily is not strong, then I am right in my judgment. The reverse is incorrect. ”

"There will be no difference in land-based air forces, and our estimation of the opponent's air force has always been very accurate, and a large-scale air force presence cannot be concealed at all. At least in Italy, the blackshirts didn't do anything else, but the eyes they left behind were still very useful. Richthofen shook his head. Then he opened a new text, and after looking at it a few times, his face suddenly changed!

"Damn, Tycho plugged this hole with naval aviation! He's quite active! With a snap, Richthofen closed the text and immediately picked up the slide rule and began to measure the distance. Tycho must have sent the fleet to the area west of Naples and then used sea-based aviation to support the land-based! The guys from the Navy huddled in Crete all day. If they had half the initiative of Tycho, why would we have dragged on the war for so long?! The sea-based air force on Crete has several brigades on the scale, but it has never done anything big, and it knows all day long that it is guarding this base, and everything is required of our air force! Richthofen felt a surge of anger erupt from his chest. The huge losses and the inaction of the navy made him very angry. Now he was thinking about how to go to the Kaiser and sue the navy once.

"Marshal, we have only one detachment in Crete, and the main force of the navy is the Austrians, and even if General Raeder wants to act, without the support of the Austrians, it will be difficult to speak alone. And let's not forget that part of our aviation fuel in Egypt is also supplied from our base in Crete. It's not good to do that. Kesselring whispered. It is true that the German Navy cannot be blamed entirely for this incident.

"Well, anyway, the battle is over. The war would enter a new phase, and if the Italians had used even Sicily's forces, their aviation reserves would have been exhausted, with the addition of the wing previously sent to East Africa. "Come to think of it. Richthofen was finally in a better mood. "There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this battle. It is not possible to rely solely on brute force and opponents of similar strength. ”

In fact, from beginning to end, the large-scale air operations of the two sides are not classified to the other side, and both sides have a large number of spies deployed in each other's territory. The Central Powers had the Blackshirts as an internal line in Italy, and the repressive policies of Austria-Hungary and Germany after the occupation of the Balkans naturally created a group of leading party in the service of the Allies. Moreover, the distance between the two sides is very close, and it is not difficult to rely on high-speed reconnaissance planes to conduct reconnaissance. Coupled with radio listening and decipherment, both sides have a general idea of the direction of the other's actions. It turns out that at any time the attacker's intentions are known to the other side and prepared for it. Then the result of the attacker is generally very sad. Therefore, Richthofen believed that the role of strategic bombing was overwhelming, but it needed to be arranged in more detail in terms of strategy and tactics.

For the failure of this strategic bombing. The Kaiser was also tolerant, after all, this was the first large-scale strategic bombing and achieved quite brilliant results, and the second strategic bombing was appreciated when the other side knew the direction of the main attack and was still able to accomplish the intended goal after a long period of preparation. (Well, Grim mixed some water in his report on the results.) Therefore, he believed that this mistake was only a mistake in tactics and intelligence, and that the general direction was still correct, and said that in order to make the strategic bombing more smooth in the future, it could be moderately tilted in terms of equipment and allocation. At the same time, however, he warned Richthofen that the Luftwaffe would have to take responsibility for the next phase of the landing campaign, partly because of the Army's need for cover across the Adriatic Sea, and partly because of Germany's distrust of the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

On the whole, at this stage of the war, although the Luftwaffe paid a certain price, it also emptied almost all the funds of the Italian Air Force, and even the losses of the Allied air force were close to the bottom line borne by all countries. Large-scale aid may not be available either. The balance of war had inevitably shifted in favor of the Central Powers, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the Italians had won a Pinoan victory. The reserve strength of the Air Force has been almost entirely used, while the mobile force has also been greatly reduced. In the eyes of the Germans, it was good that the remaining air power of Italy would be able to guarantee the deployment of various points. The task of the Germans in the next stage became how to deal with the Italian navy and the landing operation.

While the Germans were plotting their next move, Italy and the Entente were not idle. However, compared to the Germans who had a good hand and a good hand and a good hand at the back, Tycho had struggled so far. In one day, the Allied Air Force lost hundreds of aircraft! Such losses are painful for these countries. And in the case of bad economic conditions, Britain and France cannot support greater investment. Moreover, there was little economic benefit to such a war, and although Tycho was trying to keep Italy's gold and precious metals reserves under its control, according to the treaty between China and the Entente, the gold reserves would not be used as a means of payment in the war. Rather, it was used as a means of reinstatement for the future Italian government-in-exile. In other words, Tycho would not give the Allies much economic benefit in this war, and the only way to return was to lead the remaining Italian fleet and other armed forces to fight against the Allies in the event of another war between the Allies and the Allies in the future.

Fortunately, the transfer of the Italian Navy has come to an end, and there is no need to hold out for too long. "Our air power is already weak, and in the future it is very likely that the other side will attack from two sides, on the one hand, across the Adriatic Sea and directly on the mainland, and on the other hand, from Egypt to Libya, and a land war will be inevitable. We need to make arrangements early. Lin Yongsheng reminded.

"Although the Air Force has suffered huge losses, the Army's equipment reserves are still fine, and as long as there are people, we can delay it for a while." Tycho didn't particularly care about this, as both the British and French empires, as colonial empires, had a large number of colonies. Large quantities of cannon fodder can be requisitioned from Africa and Asia at a very low cost. And most of Italy's domestic arms reserves also fell into the hands of the navy or forces sympathetic to the navy, and armed with a number of troops with these equipment, plus the elite forces of the Entente and the Italian navy itself, combined with the terrain of Italy itself, the ground war could still be delayed for a while.

What really made Tycho concerned was whether the Allied fleets in the Mediterranean would start moving. Just two days after the Battle of Naples, the German strategic bomber units deployed in southern Egypt attacked several airfields in Italian East Africa under the cover of long-range fighters. In order to avoid the next wave of strikes, Italy's East African Sword Wing began to move further south, which would inevitably reduce the blockade, while at the same time, Turkey began to deploy air forces in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula, which would inevitably further reduce the blockade efficiency.

As for Iyakino's fleet? Well, even Tycho doesn't know where this guy has pulled the fleet to, but judging from the information gathered, this guy seems to have broken away from the main route, and although he was not wiped out by the Turks, it may be difficult to use it to contain him. That is, there is a possibility that the Turkish fleet will enter the Mediterranean. Once you get reinforcements, I'm afraid the sea won't be calm anymore, right? Tycho thought to himself. There is even some hope that the two sides will have a battle at sea!

And once a war is to start in the bathtub of the Mediterranean, then the Italian Navy, whose land-based aviation forces have been severely weakened, naturally cannot wait for the other side to complete the deployment before starting, otherwise, when the other side's deployment in the Balkans and Egypt is completed, the aviation forces from these two places will completely suppress the Italian aviation forces in Sicily and Libya, and pose a huge threat to their own fleet, so the Italians decided, Attacking the ports of the Allies along the Egyptian coast began before the other side completed its deployment, and of course, it was impossible to send land-based air forces to bomb in broad daylight, and Italy did not have this strength, and in the end it could only rely on its own fleet.

"During the day in the Mediterranean, it is dangerous for a weak fleet to operate in the opponent's territory, and if we want to inflict some damage on the opponent, we must prepare for a night battle!" Lin Yongsheng said to Tycho.

"Night fight? It's a bit like gambling. Sometimes luck is the deciding factor, but I like it. Tycho frowned, then said firmly.

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976, hukaikaka for the tip~~~, and the book friend topdown for the monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)