The Rise of the Third Reich

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

Under the bright moonlight, the British Mediterranean Fleet B, consisting of 2 aircraft carriers, 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers and 6 destroyers, formed a column and quickly headed north. Behind them, the dull roar of depth charge explosions could be heard from time to time.

The attack on possible Italian submarines has lasted for several hours. It is hard to say whether the Italian submarine was sunk or not, but it made a lot of noise.

"If there are Italian submarines nearby, they must be deep under the sea now and dare not move." Captain Boyd, the captain of the aircraft carrier Glorious and the chief of staff of Fleet B, walked to the platform outside the bridge. Behind Rear Admiral Ramli Lister, Commander of Fleet B, "looking at the scenery".

"That's the best. We can arrive at point ”

Major General Lister frowned slightly as he spoke, obviously not confident enough about victory.

"General, as long as we can seize the opportunity to attack, we are still very sure of victory. After all, the two Italian aircraft carriers are converted from cruise ships and cannot withstand attacks." Colonel Boyd said, "Once we sink With these two aircraft carriers, Marshal Hessmann will become the defeated enemy of our Royal Navy."

Although it has the long-range shore-based Fokker Zero, if the Italian fleet really wants to attack the Benghazi-Crete line, it will still be difficult to leave the protection of the aircraft carrier.

Because the distance between the Benghazi-Crete line and the airport on Sicily is more than 700 kilometers. It would take more than an hour for the Fokker Zero to arrive. Therefore, it was too late to dispatch the Fokker Zero after the Italian fleet discovered the enemy aircraft. They had to send direct cover aircraft in advance to follow them all the way. Doing so is a great test for the pilots' physical strength - they have to go back and forth on the road for at least three hours, and they also have to hover over the fleet for two hours.

And if one day is calculated as 12 hours, there must be 6 batches of Fokker Zero aircraft taking turns (twice a day, flying for 11-12 hours, even the German Superman will collapse from exhaustion), that is to say, Germany The Fokker Zero aircraft deployed in the Mediterranean Sea can only exert one-sixth of its combat power.

If the battlefield moves further east, it will be even more difficult for those Fokker Zeros to work!

"It's hard to say," Major General Lister paused and expressed his worries. "In the Mediterranean, what the Germans lack are aircraft carriers, and what we lack are pilots and aircraft! Last time we lost carrier-based aircraft and The pilots were not replenished until October, and...the level of the new pilots was obviously not as good as before. If our losses this time are the same as last time, then the Mediterranean fleet will be short of carrier-based aircraft and aircraft within a few months. Pilot. In this way, even if we sink the enemy's aircraft carrier, the value of victory will be greatly reduced."

Since the Battle of Britain did not occur, both Britain and Germany now have a large shortage of pilots. But there is no shortage of ordinary shore-based aircraft pilots, not veterans who can fly carrier-based aircraft - because they had aircraft carriers very early, the quality of British carrier-based aircraft pilots was extremely high before the war broke out. . This is also the reason why they can carry out the night attack on Toulon. Not to mention Germany, which has just started to play with aircraft carriers, even the carrier-based aircraft pilots of the two aircraft carrier powers, the United States and Japan, cannot do such an operation.

However, due to the poor performance of carrier-based aircraft, the elite pilots of the generation before the outbreak of the war were basically exhausted by early 1941, and the quality of the pilots who were supplemented were not as good as before.

If the carrier-based aircraft pilots still suffered heavy casualties in this "Judgment" operation, then Lister is very worried that the aircraft carrier force of the Mediterranean Fleet will not be able to attack again in the next few months.

…

Heissmann Jr.'s boss at the beginning of the Western Front campaign, Heinz Baer, ​​is now the captain of the 9th Carrier Aircraft Group. During the Western Front campaign, he was detained for a few days because he parachuted into the Netherlands and was released at the end of May. Then he went to the carrier-based aircraft flight school in Wilhelmshaven to learn to fly the Fokker 99 carrier-based bomber.

This is a necessary course for him to become the captain of the carrier-based aircraft group, because the carrier-based aircraft group is a mixed group, with both fighters and bombers and sometimes torpedo bombers. As a group leader, you must be an all-rounder (just like Germany It’s like putting a workshop director in a factory).

After completing six months of devilish training, Heinz Barr was promoted to captain and was sent to the Italian aircraft carrier "Eagle" as the carrier-based aircraft group captain and squadron leader of the 3rd bomber squadron. He became the boss of little Hersman and Novotny again.

"Now let's set out the tasks for tomorrow," Heinz Bahr said during dinner with his three squadron commanders, Hessmann Jr., Nowotny and Lieutenant Hans Ulrich Rudel (he was The squadron commander of the 4th Squadron, also flying Fokker 99) gathered together and assigned them tasks for the next day.

"Rudolph, your people are responsible for direct cover of the fleet. They must ensure that there are four aircraft in the sky at all times." Captain Barr said, "We must focus on protecting the aircraft carrier and be especially careful of the British torpedo attack aircraft."

There are currently no usable torpedo bombers on the German and Italian aircraft carriers, and there are no usable dive bombers on the British aircraft carriers (British shore-based aircraft also do not have bombers), but the German dive bombers and the British torpedo bombers But they are all powerful. At the same time, the mine protection capabilities of Italy's two aircraft carriers and four old battleships are extremely weak, and they may sink even if they take one aviation torpedo.

Therefore, the commander of the Italian aircraft carrier force, Admiral Anzu Aquino, and the commander-in-chief of the fleet, Admiral Igoni Compioni, both focused the fleet's air defense on British torpedo bombers.

"Don't worry," Rudolf Hessmann said, "those slow biplanes will never be able to get close to the aircraft carrier."

Captain Barr said to Novotny again: "Walter, your task is to cover the 3rd and 4th Squadrons to bomb Malta."

"Bombing Malta?" Before Nowotny could speak, Lieutenant Rudel, who was sitting next to him, had already shouted, "Why not the British aircraft carrier? Who will bomb the British aircraft carrier?"

"The aircraft carrier will be bombed by shore-based aircraft!" Captain Barr frowned and said, "They have 30 squadrons, and there is no shortage of 4 squadrons on the aircraft carrier."

"But there is not a single real dive bomber among those 30 squadrons!" Lieutenant Rudel shook his head repeatedly.

The Ju88 is a dive bomber and can only perform shallow dives. Compared with the Ju87 and Fokker 99, there is still a gap in bomb delivery accuracy. There is no problem in dealing with ships anchored in the port, but it is not easy to deal with aircraft carriers that are evading at a high speed of 30 knots.

"And there are still 6 battleships in the Italian fleet!" Little Hersman also interjected, "Can't 6 battleships deal with the British fortress on the island of Malta?"

"Okay, okay." Heinz Bahr waved his hand vigorously, "Stop talking nonsense, Rudolf, let your people rest after dinner, they will be busy all day tomorrow. Walter, Ulrich, call all of you to the pilot lounge for a meeting after dinner. I have to arrange the bombing mission tomorrow morning!"

…

The time has arrived at 4:10 a.m. on January 15, 1941. When the sky was dim and bright, Admiral Cunningham had already ended his short sleep and returned to the command tower of the Warspite.

Major General Crutchley, who stayed here all night, reported to him: "Admiral, no telegrams have been received from Fleet B. They are obviously still in radio silence."

Fleet B is used to set up ambushes, and according to the plan, radio silence will be maintained before launching an attack. Once the silence is broken in advance, it means that Fleet B has been discovered by the enemy. The news that there is no B fleet now is actually good news.

"Very good." Cunningham took his breakfast from the adjutant, took a bite of an egg sandwich, and asked, "Is there any news about the Italian fleet?"

"According to the seaplane report sent by Malta, the Italian fleet sailed southwest after leaving the Bay of Taranto. The target should be Malta. It is estimated that bombing and shelling will begin this morning."

"Increase the speed to 20 knots and move the entire fleet towards Benghazi..." Cunningham thought for a moment and then ordered, "We cannot let the enemy's Fw-200 get close today. We must make the enemy mistake Ark Royal and Glory Still with us.”

Major General Crutchley smiled and said: "Admiral, the Spitfire on the Eagle is enough to complete the task of driving away the Fw-200, and maybe it can shoot down a few more."

"When can we get near Benghazi?" Cunningham asked again.

"Another three hours," Major General Crutchley said.

"Very good, prepare for the bombardment. First destroy the forts in the port. Then use the grid method to cover and shoot the entire Benghazi port area and urban area. All the main guns of the eight battleships will participate in the firing, firing out 50% of the high-explosive bombs. "Cunningham said with a sneer, "As long as the Italians in Benghazi are hurt, the main force of the Italian fleet will definitely come to fight us. As long as they come, we can destroy them!"

Although Benghazi is a large Italian stronghold in North Africa, it is not an impregnable fortress. The coastal forts have only been repaired in a haphazard manner and cannot withstand the bombardment of eight battleships. Moreover, there are still a lot of ammunition and supplies shipped from mainland Italy piled up in Benghazi City. Many troops who have just withdrawn from the North African front line are also resting in Benghazi City. If they are bombarded by battleships, they will definitely suffer heavy losses. !