The Rise of the Third Reich

At 12:30, a dozen light spots appeared on the display screen of the 279 air-to-sea search radar on the battleship "Warspite".

"The one flying from the southeast should be the Italian G.50!" Major General Crutchley immediately told Admiral Cunningham after receiving the report, "This is the first attack wave, and there should be two more waves behind it. In addition, , there is probably an Italian aircraft carrier to our northwest, and it will also launch three waves of attacks."

"There's nothing to worry about. These G.50s can't break through the Spitfire's defenses at all." Canning paused and asked, "By the way, the German Fokker Zero is still hanging around behind our butts?"

He is not worried about the G.50. The range of this aircraft is too short, so it cannot form a large formation. It takes at least 40-50 minutes for an Italian aircraft carrier to release 36 to 48 aircraft. With the G.50 range, by the time the last one takes off, the first one is almost out of fuel.

Therefore, each attack wave has a maximum of 12 aircraft, which cannot break through the defense of 9 Spitfires. Even if a few G.50s break through the Spitfire's defense, it won't matter. The G.50 is not a dive bomber and has a limited bomb load. If only two or three break through, it will not pose much of a threat to the fleet.

But the German Fokker Zero worried him, because an hour and a half ago, a Walrus reconnaissance aircraft sent to monitor the Fw-200C and Fokker Zero reported that the German aircraft had changed its secondary defense. Four new Fokker Zeros and one new Fw-200C replaced the original aircraft.

This shows that there are more than 4 Fokker Zeros deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean, and it is likely that they are a squadron of 16 aircraft!

If 16 Fokker Zeros come together, there will be big trouble.

"Admiral, there is no change," a staff officer immediately replied, "They are just following from a distance."

"That's good!" Cunningham smiled easily and said to Major General Crutchley, the chief of staff beside him, "If they are just Italians, then there is nothing to worry about. They can't compare with the Germans at all. If they have Germany With half the people, no, as long as we have one-third the fighting ability of the Germans, we would have been unable to gain a foothold in the Mediterranean. "

…

"Rudolf, little William, Prince, Doctor, the break is over!"

Before 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Little Hersman's boss, Lieutenant Walter Nowotny, suddenly broke into the pilot lounge of Taranto Naval Airport and yelled at four people who were playing poker.

"What? We just came back not long ago!" Rudolf Hessmann immediately shouted.

"This is an order!" Lieutenant Nowotny shrugged helplessly, "It is an order from the Italian Navy... We are all under their control now. All 12 Fokker Zeros must be dispatched to fly over the British fleet. Let's hang around and see if we can shoot down a few Spitfires."

"What happened?" Little Hersman asked while putting away the playing cards. "Did the Italian G.50 get badly hit by the Spitfire?"

"That must be the case!" Lieutenant Nowotny smiled bitterly and shook his head. "If the Italians could give us their two aircraft carriers, the war in the Mediterranean would have ended long ago."

"And the S.M.79," a pilot nicknamed "Doctor" who went to Munich University before the war, interjected, "They are very good bombers. I have seen them trained. They can fly horizontally at low altitudes and low speeds, and they have a long range. If the Italians had used them well, the British Mediterranean fleet would have been doomed."

"Then let Rudolf write a report," Lieutenant Nowotny smiled at little Hersman, "Your father will definitely be interested in them, right?"

Rudolf Herschmann shrugged, "God knows what the people above are thinking? Anyway, no one seems to care about it here in the Italian Sea."

What he said was a bit absolute. In fact, the Italians are not that careless. At least the Italian Navy behaved relatively professionally. In fact, the Italian Air Force is not too bad, but the Italian navy and air force have been at war for twenty years. It became twisted and there was no cooperation at all. Therefore, the Italian Navy had no functional aviation, and the Italian Air Force pilots had no anti-ship training. So there is no way to exert its power with 79...

Just as Hersman Jr. and others were preparing to fly the Fokker Zero into battle, on the Mediterranean Sea about 210 nautical miles east of Sicily, 9 G.50 fighter jets of the Royal Italian Navy were chasing 12 towards the Italian fleet. The Great Gull aircraft overhead was firing fiercely!

These G.50s were left by General Compioni to serve as direct cover planes. They were not equipped with bombs, and the passenger seat was empty. Therefore, the total combat weight has also been reduced by more than 300 kilograms, so the top speed has returned to 450 kilometers/hour, which is 90 kilometers/hour faster than the 360 ​​kilometers/hour of the Great Ou fighter-bomber. Therefore, he was able to show his prowess and shot down 5 Daiou in less than 10 minutes. The remaining 7 Daiou also lost their bombs and fled.

At this time, the 18 Swordfish torpedo bombers known for their "slowness" were still hovering around the Italian fleet that had already set up an air defense formation, and they had not even entered the low-altitude penetration position yet!

…

"Admiral, our first attack wave also failed!"

At 1:35 p.m., Rear Admiral Crutchley, Chief of Staff of the British Mediterranean Fleet, held the battle report he had just received and frowned as he said to Cunningham, "We lost 5 Great Gulls and 8 Swordfish, and the Italians lost at most 2 G.50s, and their fleet was intact... It seems that both of these aircraft are outdated and can only be used for sneak attacks."

Cunningham was also a little surprised by this result, because not long ago he had severely damaged the French fleet with Swordfish aircraft, which performed well in night attacks. He did not expect it to be so useless in daytime operations.

"It looks like we have to prepare for a fleet decisive battle!" Cunningham lowered his voice and said, "While they haven't joined forces with the two Veneto-class ships, we have a great chance to fight with the two Count of Cavour-class ships."

He paused and asked, "Has Vice Admiral Vito's Fleet A arrived in Malta?"

"It has arrived safely, Admiral." Rear Admiral Crutchley replied, "None of the 12 transport ships were damaged. Now the defense capability of the island of Malta can be greatly enhanced."

"What about Fleet H?" Cunningham asked again, "Is it still north of Algiers?"

"Yes." Rear Admiral Crutchley said.

"Let them sail eastward along the coastline after dark until the Seafires can take off from the aircraft carriers and reach Malta."

"Admiral, do you want to send 12 Seafires from Fleet H to Malta?"

"Yes," said Cunningham, "We will definitely defeat the Italians today, and then the Germans will intervene. At that time, their first target will definitely be Malta, so there will be a fierce battle in Malta soon!"

When Cunningham gave the order to Fleet H, the Mediterranean Fleet under his command and Admiral Compionni's Italian Fleet were still approaching each other.

When both sides launched the first assault wave, the distance between the two fleets was about 100 nautical miles, and when the assault waves sent by both sides were smashed in front of the opponent's direct-aircraft and air defense network, the distance between the two sides had narrowed to 40 nautical miles.

At 2:30 p.m., the British and Italian fleets began to adjust their formations almost at the same time. Since Fleet A (consisting of 5 light cruisers) was still in Malta at this time, Cunningham first adjusted the strength of Fleet B and Fleet C, and then led Fleet B (consisting of the battleships HMS Warspite, HMS Malaya and 10 destroyers) as the vanguard, and Fleet C (consisting of 1 battleship, 2 aircraft carriers and 5 destroyers) was located not far behind Fleet B.

The two British fleets had a total of 3 battleships, 1 aircraft carrier and 15 destroyers. Their opponents had a much larger lineup, with 2 battleships, 7 heavy cruisers, 8 light cruisers and 32 destroyers! In addition, 2 Veneto-class battleships were also coming at full speed and were expected to be put into combat at night.

Admiral Compionni, who had an advantage in manpower, knew that his weakness was that he had one less battleship and his firepower and armor were not as good as the opponent. The two Count Cavours had only 20 320mm guns in total, while the three British battleships had 24 381mm (15-inch) guns.

At the same time, he also knew that his strengths were in cruisers. He had 7 heavy cruisers and 8 light cruisers, while the opponent had none, and the number of destroyer units was twice that of the opponent.

Therefore, Admiral Compionni divided his fleet into the battle fleet, the first cruiser fleet, the second cruiser fleet and the aircraft carrier fleet. The battle fleet included two Count Cavour-class ships and 16 destroyers, responsible for attracting the opponent's firepower from the front. Since the speed of the Count Cavour and the Caesar was increased from 21.5 knots to 28 knots after the major changes, they could use the speed advantage to deal with the opponent.

The two cruiser fleets, each consisting of 3 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers and 7 destroyers, were waiting for an opportunity to outflank - their mission was to find opportunities to attack the British aircraft carriers and destroyers. As long as one of the two British aircraft carriers was damaged, there would be a chance to delay the entire British fleet. Waiting for the arrival of two Veneto-class ships, there is a possibility of sinking the British battleships!

The aircraft carrier fleet consists of one aircraft carrier, one heavy cruiser and two destroyers, which are arranged at the rear of the fleet, ready to withdraw to Benghazi at any time.

At the same time, under the personal supervision of Mussolini (he knew the news that the fleet would fight a decisive battle this morning), the Italian Air Force, which had originally had a negative attitude, was forced to take action and prepare to send more S.M.79 bombers to participate in the battle.