My Italy

The warm Aegean Sea has always had traces of human activities since ancient times. From the early Phoenicians to the ancient Greeks and then the Romans, people of all ages appeared in the Aegean Sea.

Today, a huge fleet passed through the Aegean Islands and sailed towards the north.

The scale of this fleet was so large that many passing merchant ships quickly avoided it. Because there are a large number of warships in this fleet, the flag above shows its identity, Italy.

Vice Admiral Yagier was on his flagship Turin, looking at the mighty fleet under his command with complacency.

The fleet has assembled the most elite battleships in the navy, five Durio and its improved class battleships, three Turin class, two Venetian improved class battleships, plus a dozen other battleships. This fleet is in this fleet. The sea is the absolute overlord.

Being able to stand out from other competitors, how could he not let Lieutenant General Yagir vent his inner joy.

On one side of the mighty warship, dozens of conscripted merchant ships sailed hard under the protection of the warship. They were fully loaded with various supplies and officers and soldiers for landing operations.

Yes, the Hurricane Plan is a landing war, but this time it is no longer a landing on an island, but also in conjunction with ally Bulgaria's attack on Saloniga.

Although the Bulgarian First Army captured the key city of Komodini in Western Thrace, this did not liberate Bulgarian forces. However, the Second Bulgarian Army, which attacked Adrianople and was responsible for containing the enemies in the direction of Istanbul, had sent several emergency telegrams one after another.

More and more enemies came across the sea from Istanbul, and they were almost overwhelmed.

Therefore, the First Army after capturing Komodini could only go to reinforce the Second Army. As for the Third Army, which had just captured Kilkis, it also did not have enough strength.

On the one hand, they needed to withstand the counterattack of the Ottoman army in Macedonia, and on the other hand, they wanted to balance the somewhat inadequate power of the Salonica offensive, so Bulgaria turned to Italy.

The Italian Navy originally had a plan to land in the Balkans, but it was not far ahead. According to the plan formulated by the Italian Navy, after seizing the island of Crete, they prepared to compete for many Ottoman islands in the Aegean Sea, and then landed on the Balkan Peninsula at the right time to cooperate with the frontal army forces.

Judging from the navy's arrangements, landing on the Balkan Peninsula comes after the islands.

In addition, the Ottoman territories in North Africa have never been included in the scope of landing operations by the navy. Because the area was not strategically located, it was of little use in defeating the Ottomans.

In addition, the current domestic perception of the region is that it is a desert wasteland. Except for a few nomadic tribes, it cannot benefit Italy at all. It is more of an addition to the Albanian region. Didn't you see that the Ottomans only deployed less than 5,000 troops in the area? The local population of more than 300,000 could only support so many troops.

But as the saying goes, plans cannot keep up with changes. Who would have thought that the Bulgarians were so fierce that they completed blocking the land connection between the Ottoman mainland and Macedonia in just one week. Coupled with Bulgaria's request for help, the navy had to advance its plan to land on the Balkan Peninsula.

Fortunately, before that, the navy had basically completed the preparations for seizing the Aegean Islands. It only needed to change the target to Salonica.

Therefore, this operation allowed the navy to play a leading role, and Lieutenant General Yagir was certainly very happy about this. Finally getting rid of unknown small tasks such as bombarding Ottoman ports and escorting, he could lead the navy to show its capabilities.

Just as Lieutenant General Yagir was secretly happy, a staff officer ran over. "Reporting to your Excellency, Commander, our fleet is currently approaching Skyros Island."

As a senior navy officer, Lieutenant General Yagier certainly knew the location of Skyros Island. This island was about 240 nautical miles away from the Salonica Peninsula where they needed to reach. That's all in a day's work.

"Order the fleet to continue to maintain a speed of 10 knots, and also have the First Cruiser Fleet speed up so that they can arrive in advance to lay a good front position for us."

"As you command, Your Majesty Commander."

Following Lieutenant General Yagier's order, the first cruiser formation, which was upgraded from two Venices as the core, immediately increased its speed, and they gradually distanced themselves from the large formation. Although the two Venice upgrades did not reach the maximum speed in order to allow other cruisers to keep up, the speed of sixteen knots was still much faster than the slow-moving fleet of ten knots. After two or three hours, the people in the Grand Fleet could no longer see his figure.

At this time, I am afraid that Major General Levi, who is in charge of leading the cruiser formation, is probably still thinking about trying to encounter the aging Ottoman navy.

Vice Admiral Yagir looked at the slow fleet he commanded, feeling a little uncomfortable in his heart. But who needs to take care of the transport ships in the formation? These guys are considered high speed if they can run ten knots.

These transport ships carry nearly 40,000 officers and soldiers and their equipment. They are the entire 1st Marine Division, the 1st Brigade of the 2nd Marine Division, and most of the Guards, which are affiliated to the Navy. We will not go into detail about the 1st Marine Division and the Guards. We can also talk about the 2nd Division.

At present, the Second Marine Division is not full. Although it has the name of the Second Division, only one brigade of the Second Division currently has combat effectiveness. As for the Second Brigade, although it is fully staffed, its training has not been completed. Currently being left on the island of Crete by the navy, it is still capable of quelling the defeated Ottoman troops huddled in the mountains in the center of the island.

On one of the transport ships, Major Haldane Cosentz, the commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Marine Division, 1st Brigade, 2nd Regiment, was writing and drawing in his room. He was summarizing the previous battle in Crete.

Because his battalion landed late, it suffered little loss in the brutal street fighting. Therefore, without any rest time, it was sent together with other follow-up troops to chase down the defeated Ottoman troops. Only two days ago, they received orders to come out of the mountains and then boarded the transport ship to prepare for the next war.

Taking advantage of this free time, Cosenz certainly needed to summarize the previous battles, which he had been strongly requested to do when he was in the Guards.

"During street fighting, the morale of the Ottoman officers and soldiers was obviously lower than that of the officers. Of course, this may be because the officers were trying to protect their rich property. However, the combat skills of the Ottoman soldiers were obviously much worse than ours. It even happened once in our battalion. During the offensive battle, an Ottoman soldier fired at our soldiers ten meters away and missed. This is really unimaginable.

In addition, their soldiers also have poor maintenance of their guns. This can be seen from the enemy's guns that we captured. The bolts are almost stuck..."

While Cosentz was engrossed in writing, there was a knock on the door.

Cosentz's thoughts were interrupted and he had to get up to open the door.

"Hello, Major Cosentz, do you have time to have a drink with me?"

Cosentz recognized the person. He was another major on the same transport ship as him, Major Bandy Irvine. He was a battalion commander of the Second Marine Division. He had already invited him for drinks twice, just because he wanted to gain battlefield command experience from him.

Cosenz, who originally wanted to refuse. After seeing the wine in the other person's hand, he swallowed and let the other person in.

"Please take a seat, Major Erwin."

It has been a long time since he saw the Golf wine from his hometown. When he saw this wine, he thought of the beautiful and charming daughter of the winery owner. Maybe you can ask someone to find out if Miss Courtney is married.

Although Cosentz was thinking far ahead, he still drank happily with Major Erwin. After finally sending Major Erwin away feeling dizzy, he glanced at the notepad put away on the table and made some calculations. Let’s write again.

Mantou knows that updates have been slow these days. Please rest assured that the normal two chapters will be restored tomorrow.