The Rise of the Third Reich

"Decisive battle? Do you want to have a decisive battle at sea with the British?"

The news that the British Mediterranean Fleet and Fleet H were deployed in full force also reached the Naval Headquarters on Cassion Avenue in Rome at the first time. When Halder and Jeshunek arrived, Admiral Cavniari, the Chief of Staff and Admiral Sanmigli, the Deputy Chief of Staff, who held the power of the Italian Navy Headquarters, were conducting planning in the operations room of the Naval Headquarters. Deduction. Marshal Badogli, the Italian Chief of General Staff, was also there, folding his arms and watching the two admirals playing war games.

Upon hearing the decisive battle plan proposed by General Halder, the two Italian admirals were stunned. Admiral Sanmigli said to the two Germans in English: "It is not very beneficial for us to have a decisive battle now. It is better to wait until October. By then, your three aviation groups have already transferred to Sicily, and our battleships It’s ready too.”

"But now it is the British Mediterranean Fleet that poses a great threat to your transportation lines!"

Halder frowned and said: "If you don't fight now, what will happen to the logistics line of the 250,000-strong North African army? Are they always exposed to the British cannons? And they will advance to Egypt in September. By then, Are you still using Benghazi as a logistics transit point?”

General Halder's thinking is of course army-style. In his view, the navy ultimately serves the army. Now Italy has deployed at least 250,000 troops in North Africa, and even more troops in East Africa, even more than 280,000 (the army in East Africa has many indigenous officers and soldiers, and the number has been increasing). The survival of these more than 500,000 troops is crucial to the current Mediterranean battlefield. Their survival is all tied to a maritime transportation line exposed to the guns of the British Mediterranean Fleet.

Now it is already difficult to just deliver supplies and ammunition to Benghazi. The distance from Benghazi to Alexandria is more than 1,000 kilometers, and there are sparsely populated deserts along the way. More than 200,000 troops dragged a 1,000-kilometer logistics line through the desert to fight. This seemed to Halder simply crazy!

What’s even crazier is that the Italian army was poorly motorized and didn’t have enough trucks to use. And even if there are enough trucks, the fuel consumption of trucks traveling 2,000 kilometers (1,000 kilometers is just one way) will make the officers in charge of logistics want to die.

Therefore, in General Halder's view, there are only two ways for the Italian army to win in North Africa. The first is to catch the British by surprise when Italy first entered the war in May; the second is to gain control of the sea in the Eastern Mediterranean and supply supplies by sea - even if there is no port, the method of supplying on the beach is better than using trucks or other vehicles. It’s better to run 2,000 kilometers.

Marshal Badoglio, Chief of the Italian General Staff, nodded repeatedly. His thoughts were obviously similar to Halder's. He knew that the Italian army's combat effectiveness was low and completely different from the German army. If the German army is used to fight in North Africa, facing 2 or 3 British divisions, 1 armored division and 1 motorized infantry division with a maximum of 40,000 people will be enough. In this way, the logistical pressure will be greatly reduced, and there will be enough fuel for the various vehicles of these two divisions to run one way (from Benghazi to the Suez Canal). But if you switch to the Italian army, 250,000 soldiers are not safe, and even if they can defeat the British army, they cannot win quickly. The battle will last for several months at least. This is a logistical nightmare within a nightmare.

Now that the 250,000-strong army has not yet started, he is already troubled by logistical support problems. If the army really marches into the Egyptian desert, there will probably be a big logistical problem... unless the navy can gain control of the sea.

Moreover, Mussolini also plans to invade Greece in October, which will put even greater pressure on logistics!

"Perhaps we can have a fight," Marshal Badoglio thought for a while and had already made up his mind. "If the Luftwaffe (naval aviation) in Rana can prevent the British Fleet H in Gibraltar from advancing eastward. Then the navy will use 4 It would be better if we could use two battleships and two aircraft carriers to compete with the British fleet coming from Alexandria. If we can win, the problems in the Mediterranean and North Africa will be easy to solve.”

He only said half of what he said, and the other half was that if the navy was defeated, then the Libyan troops would not have to risk marching into Egypt, and the plan to invade Greece would probably be cancelled...

The General Headquarters of the Italian Navy was controlled by the General Staff, and the Chief of the General Staff was Mussolini's chief military staff. Admiral Cavignari naturally had to obey orders.

And he is not completely confident in fighting a war, because now the Italian Navy not only has 4 powerful battleships, but also 2 aircraft carriers. In addition, Germany has also deployed a very powerful reconnaissance aircraft in the Mediterranean Sea-Fw-200C !

This is a reconnaissance plane that makes the Italian Navy drool with envy! A range of more than 3,500 kilometers is enough to cover from Taranto to Alexandria. The maximum speed of 360 kilometers per hour is twice as fast as those old reconnaissance aircraft of the Italian Navy!

Moreover, this aircraft still belongs to the German Naval Aviation and is a professional shore-based maritime reconnaissance and patrol aircraft.

"It's okay to fight," Admiral Kavniari glanced at Admiral Jeshunek, who was wearing a Luftwaffe uniform, "Admiral, can you transfer a few of your Fw-200Cs to Taranto?" ?”

It is impossible to deploy all three German aviation regiments to Taranto, but a small-scale deployment of a few or a dozen aircraft is completely fine.

General Jeshunek and General Halder exchanged opinions in a low voice in German, and then nodded, "No problem, I will immediately transfer 3 Fw-200C and 12 escort Fokker Zeros to Tallan Trust, they are all under the command of the Italian Navy."

"Can our naval observers be allowed on the plane?" Admiral Sanmigli added another question.

"Okay." Jeshunek nodded.

"That's great!" Admiral Sanmigli laughed, "As long as you know the enemy's movements, you will be sure to fight!"

It's not that he has no reason to be happy, but he really feels that he has a better chance of winning! It is ridiculous to say that Italy has far more aircraft in the Mediterranean than the UK, and the quality is not bad. It has several shore-based long-range reconnaissance aircraft and shore-based twin-engine torpedo bombers with good performance, such as the Ca.379 "Sparrowhawk" medium bomber/torpedo bomber. But such good aircraft all belong to the Italian Air Force. The Italian Navy only has about 100 outdated seaplanes and about the same number of G.50 fighter-bombers at its disposal, making it impossible to complete the necessary aerial reconnaissance missions.

Although the Air Force's reconnaissance aircraft will also be dispatched for maritime reconnaissance, the Air Force crew members have not received training in maritime reconnaissance and often send back wrong information, causing the Navy a great headache. The Navy wanted to send its observers onto Air Force aircraft but was not allowed to do so.

Now that the Germans allow observers from the Italian Navy to board their aircraft, can it be difficult for the Italian Air Force to refuse naval personnel to board their shore-based reconnaissance aircraft?

…

"Admiral, a telegram was sent from the seaplane taking off from Malta. The Italian battleships Veneto and Littorio, as well as the aircraft carrier Sparrowhawk, have all left the port of Taranto."

On the battleship Warspite, the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, Rear Admiral Charles Crutchley reported the latest intelligence to Admiral Cunningham.

"The battleships Veneto and Littorio are also dispatched?" Admiral Cunningham said while calculating, "The Italians' two aircraft carriers are of no use, and their G.50 fighter jets have long been outdated. Now it has been changed to a fighter-bomber, which is of no use at all.

Their Count of Cavour class is also not worth mentioning, but its standard displacement of more than 23,000 tons is nearly 10,000 tons lighter than our Revenge class and Queen Elizabeth class! The 320mm main gun cannot defeat our 15-inch (381mm) cannon. But the two Veneto-class ships are still a bit of a threat..."

"Charles," Cunningham looked at his chief of staff, "To fight or not to fight?"

"Admiral, my suggestion is to fight!" Major General Crutchley said, "We have two aircraft carriers carrying 78 carrier-based aircraft. This is our greatest capital."

The two aircraft carriers he mentioned are the Glorious and the Eagle. These two aircraft carriers cannot carry 78 aircraft in the Atlantic Ocean. But in the calm Mediterranean, aircraft carriers can carry aircraft using deck tethering methods. Therefore, the Illustrious carried 45 aircraft, while the Eagle carried 33 aircraft, none of which acted as a backup aircraft.

And among these 78 aircraft, there are 18 Spitfires!

"Our 18 Sea Spitfires can destroy all the Italian G.50s!" Major General Crutchley said, "The remaining Great Gulls and Swordfish will definitely severely damage the Italian fleet."

In addition to 18 Sea Spitfires, the two aircraft carriers also carried 24 Great Owls and 36 Swordfish. For the Italian fleet with only G.50 escort, it is still very lethal.

"Moreover," Major General Crutchley continued, "the Italians' two Veneto-class ships and one aircraft carrier still set off from Taranto one day late. We can definitely take action before they join the main fleet."

After listening to Major General Crutchley's analysis, Admiral Cunningham's brows not only did not relax, but frowned even more tightly. Because he knew that there were not only Italian planes in the Mediterranean, but also hundreds of German planes with amazing attack power.

"We're following our original plan," Cunningham said. "We're going to get people and equipment to Malta first and then we'll see what happens."