My Italy

Benghazi in North Africa is an ancient historical city. The Greeks built the city here as early as the 5th century BC. It was also called Bilinchi at that time.

It was later occupied by the Egyptians, Romans, Vandals, and Byzantines, and was ruled by the Turks for 300 years starting in the 16th century. This has been a caravan trading town leading to the interior of Africa since ancient times. A large number of merchants passed through the Sahara Desert to trade with southern Africa.

Benghazi is currently the second largest city in the Libyan province (with a smaller population than the capital Tripoli) and the second largest port in Libya (with less port volume than Sirte).

Although Benghazi is an ancient city, it will take a few years for Benghazi to truly enter the fast lane of development. As Libya has successively discovered oil and developed it in places such as Harigai and Qawat, Benghazi, as the nearest port city, has also entered the fast lane of development.

Moreover, Benghazi is different from other cities in North Africa. There are few buildings in the city that reflect the Arab style, and they are basically Italian style. The reason is also Italy's previous population relocation plan for the area.

In fact, this is not only true in Benghazi, but also in other cities in the Libyan province, and even in the provinces of Albania and Kosovo. The local indigenous people were forcibly relocated by Italy. Now the people living there are Italian residents, so the customs, language and culture of the area are also mainly local.

All this is due to the forced relocation plan. Although it will temporarily cause chaos in the local area and increase a huge amount of public security funds, the effect is very good. It has changed the local customs in a short period of time and also increased the number of people. The centripetal force of the place towards Rome.

This is the current situation in Benghazi. The city is basically filled with Italians, and the folk customs are no different from those in the Apennine Peninsula. As the second largest city in Libya, it has a population of 130,000 people, of which 30,000 are engaged in oil-related industries. Some of them work directly in oil companies, some are responsible for transportation, and some are responsible for pipeline maintenance or port work. Including his family, there are eight levels of Benghazi's population living off oil.

The prosperous scene in Benghazi also makes the newly-appointed Mayor Trish very ambitious. As one of the first officials to set foot in Libya with Governor George, Trish could be considered a Libyan expert. Over the years, he has worked his way from an ordinary government worker to the mayor of the second largest city in Benghazi. Looking at his face, which is already covered with hair and slightly weathered, you can tell that the hardships involved are not what outsiders can appreciate.

Of course, being able to become the mayor of Benghazi from an ordinary government employee is enough to illustrate this person's ability.

And Mayor Trish also knows Benghazi very well.

No, at the expansion terminal of Benghazi Port, Mayor Trish came with government officials to inspect it.

"Mr. Mayor, the area you are seeing now will be Benghazi's main oil transportation terminal in the future. In the future, through oil pipelines, Benghazi can transport oil to up to five transport ships at the same time every day, and the maximum daily transportation volume will reach Fifty thousand tons.”

The project leader enthusiastically introduced the importance of the terminal to Benghazi to the new mayor.

Trish also listened very seriously and asked questions from time to time.

On one side of the pier, there are more than a dozen tall and giant oil storage tanks, each with a volume of tens of thousands of square meters, and the largest can reach 100,000 cubic meters. These oil storage tanks are connected to oil pipelines, and the crude oil extracted from the oil fields flows continuously through the oil pipelines and then flows into these giant oil storage tanks through pressurization valves. These oil storage facilities are the oil storage bases of Italian oil companies in Benghazi and can store up to 300,000 tons of crude oil.

In addition to this oil storage base, there is also a small refinery in Benghazi, and the refined oil is supplied to various parts of Libyan province.

One more thing to say here: Currently, the country with the highest usage rate of internal combustion engines is the province of Libya, which produces a large amount of crude oil. Libyan Province has the highest per capita car ownership and a variety of internal combustion engines. Even a small amount of arable land is cultivated using tractors produced by the Naples Machinery Factory.

It can be said that it is precisely because of the flood of oil that Libya, a newly established province, is far ahead of other provinces in the use of internal combustion engines.

Of course, in addition to internal combustion engines, in terms of local fiscal revenue, the Libyan province, which has two major incomes, iron ore and oil, is also ranked high among Italian provinces. If it weren't for the poor environment in Libya and the lack of available arable land, the population would definitely be more than the current 800,000.

Of course, if you count the per capita gross national product, then Libya definitely ranks first. The sparse population and good income also allow many Italians to cross the ocean to make a living.

In addition, the rate of electrification and public facilities penetration in Libyan provinces is also very high. Based on sufficient local finance and the large-scale use of fuel-fired generating units, even the more remote desert towns in Libya can have access to electricity. And if electricity is available, then electrified infrastructure such as electric lights and telegraphs.

When Mayor Trish was inspecting the construction work of the pier, there was also a group of people busy on the high slope on the side of the pier. However, compared with the docks, which are basically ordinary construction workers, these people are engineers in military uniforms.

They are building military installations, coastal defense batteries in Benghazi.

As Italy's main oil export port, Benghazi's importance has been further enhanced. Given the importance of Benghazi, protecting the Port of Benghazi has become one of the important tasks of the Italian military. For land protection, an Army infantry regiment and cavalry battalion are stationed on the outskirts of Benghazi.

As for the main threat at sea, in addition to naval warships, coastal defense forts are also necessary, so the coastal defense forts in Benghazi must be there.

In fact, the Benghazi coastal defense fort existed after Italy occupied Libya. However, Benghazi was not important at that time, so only two 152mm coastal defense guns were installed. As Benghazi became more and more important, more and more coastal defense guns were installed. In addition to 152mm, 254mm coastal defense guns were also installed.

As for now, the Naval Engineer Corps is installing the 305mm coastal defense gun, the medium-caliber and most powerful one currently available. The prototype of this coastal defense gun is a slightly improved version of the 305 mm 45 times caliber naval gun currently equipped on the dreadnought ship.

It has a maximum range of 21 kilometers, which is enough to make enemy ships that want to enter the waters of Benghazi Port think twice. After all, unlike naval guns, shore defense guns have a more relaxed environment, and their stability, accuracy and range are not comparable to naval guns.

This time the Navy plans to install two 305mm coastal defense guns in Benghazi for coastal defense. Even though there are only two doors, it is enough to suppress a squadron (3-4 ships) of battleships.

Benghazi is also the second city outside the Apennine Peninsula to install this gun (the first is Pontianak), which also shows how much the navy attaches importance to it.

It’s okay not to pay attention to it. As the Italian Navy promotes the coal-to-oil plan, the demand for oil is becoming increasingly serious. Protecting one’s own oil is very important to the navy.

It was also driven by the navy that Benghazi became the second city in North Africa to be equipped with a new 305mm coastal defense gun (the first was Alexandria).