The Rise of the Third Reich

10 Downing Street, Cabinet Room.

Winston Churchill walked slowly into the conference room with his cane while talking to War Secretary Eden. He had a cigar dangling from his mouth and his expression was not pretty. Obviously, Aydin's efforts to win over Türkiye have failed again. Although Italy suffered disastrous defeats in North Africa and Greece, Britain's defeat of Italy was not enough to make Turkey waver from its neutrality. Unless Britain can prove that it has the ability to defeat Germany!

Now, an opportunity stood before Churchill to prove the capabilities of the British Empire. The British intelligence service reported that Italian Prime Minister Mussolini had just visited Germany and asked for help. In the last public joint statement, he announced the establishment of a Mediterranean theater joint command!

Moreover, according to information obtained by the British intelligence agency from Italy, the commander-in-chief of the German-Italian Mediterranean Theater Joint Command will be concurrently served by Marshal Hessmann, Chief of General Staff of the German Defense Forces.

This is very bad news, indicating that the Germans attach great importance to the Mediterranean battlefield! And they also sent their chief of general staff to serve as commander-in-chief of the German-Italian coalition forces.

Considering that the Germans currently have no signs of attacking the British mainland or the Soviet Union, the Germans are likely to invest unprecedentedly large forces, both land and air, in the Mediterranean battlefield!

"The Germans at least have no way of sending their fleet to the Mediterranean," Churchill suddenly laughed after informing all the cabinet members of the bad news, "and we already have eight battleships and three aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean! Moreover, the three aircraft carriers are equipped with the latest Sea Spitfire fighter jets, which are aircraft very powerful enough to compete with the Fokker Zero. With their presence, our fleet will not be defeated by enemies from the air. ”

Recognizing the potential anti-ship capabilities of the Italian Air Force, the Royal Navy has rapidly adjusted its carrier-based aircraft configuration over the past few months. All Great Ou fighter-bombers and F2A carrier-based fighters were cancelled, replaced by the superior-performance Spitfire, and the proportion of carrier-based fighters was also increased.

In addition, the Mediterranean Fleet also replaced all the old-fashioned Swordfish aircraft on the aircraft carriers with relatively new "Mackerel" torpedo bombers. However, Cunningham no longer expects to use the "Big Mackerel" to deal with the Italian fleet.

After three German aviation regiments moved to Sicily in early October 1940 and radar stations were established in Sicily, Calabria and the port of Taranto, Cunningham canceled the planned attack on Taranto. A surprise attack on Port Togang.

"In addition to the increased maritime power in the Mediterranean, our army and air force there will also be further strengthened."

Churchill continued: "The 3rd Division and 1st Armored Division that have just been replenished will board the ship as soon as possible and go around Africa to Egypt. In addition, we will also deploy troops from India, Australia and New Zealand. We will strive to have the ground forces by the end of March next year. The number will increase to 250,000-300,000, and the number of tanks will exceed 1,000, and the number of various shore-based and seaplanes will exceed 1,500!"

250,000-300,000 ground troops, 1,000 tanks, 8 battleships, 3 aircraft carriers, and 1,500 shore-based and seaplanes. For the current British Empire, using such power is really costly.

Naturally, the purpose of spending money was to fight for a big fight. According to the plan of the British High Command, the British Mediterranean Fleet must defeat the Italian Navy before the two French super battleships Richelieu and Jean Bart are repaired and built! Because once the Richelieu and Jean Bart join the German-Italian coalition, the German-Italian coalition will have four brand-new super battleships in the Mediterranean, while the United Kingdom will not be able to bring even one in the Mediterranean.

In fact, the entire British Royal Navy could only produce two completed new super battleships "King George V" and "Prince of Wales" by March 1941. Coupled with the old and strong "HMS Hood" and the "Nelson" and "Rodney" with small ships and large guns, they are the real backbone of the British Royal Navy. However, not all of these battleships can be used in the Mediterranean, because in the direction of the North Sea and the English Channel, two powerful German battleships "Bismarck" and "Tirpitz" are eyeing them.

Once these two super battleships, accompanied by two aircraft carriers, forcefully break through the Denmark Strait, Britain's maritime lifeline will encounter an unprecedented crisis. Therefore, the British Royal Navy can only keep the "HMS Hood", "Nelson" and "King George V" in the Home Fleet, ready to use them to fight against the two "Bismarck" class penetrations.

Moreover, according to the reconnaissance of the British intelligence department, at least two German battleships larger than the "Bismarck" class are currently being outfitted, and it is estimated that they will be commissioned before the end of 1941.

By then, the Royal Navy will only be able to get at most one more "King George V" class - in addition to the "King George V" class, the UK currently has two "Lion" class battleships under construction, but these two battleships Due to the tight supply of raw materials after the outbreak of World War II, construction was suspended for 10 months. It was not until the H-class was discovered that it was being outfitted that work was quickly resumed. However, the lost time cannot be recovered. The two "Lion" class ships originally scheduled to enter service in 1942 will not be able to enter service until 1943. This can only be achieved when the supply of raw materials is sufficient.

Therefore, the British Royal Navy had no choice but to plan to recall most of its battleships to the mainland before the end of 1941, and use its numerical advantage to fight against four or more German super battleships (and two O-class battlecruisers unknown to the British). "Barbarossa", "Symphony").

Therefore, the British Mediterranean Fleet must completely defeat the Italian Navy before the end of June 1941.

"James, I've been waiting for you!"

In Alexandria, on the battleship "Rodney", the flagship of Fleet H, Admiral Cunningham shook hands with Vice Admiral James Somerville, who had come from afar, and said with a smile: "How is it? The status of each ship is still good. Okay? How much time does it take to maintain?”

Because the German aircraft deployed on Sicily were too scary, Fleet H did not dare to forcefully enter the Strait of Nice and had to go around 11,000 nautical miles from Africa. After traveling such a long distance, the large and small warships of Fleet H naturally require a lot of maintenance.

"One month," Vice Admiral James Somerville replied with a smile. "After one month, I guarantee that all the warships will be like new."

"It's pretty much what I expected," Admiral Cunningham smiled with satisfaction. He and Vice Admiral Somerville walked into the command tower of the "Rodney" and stopped in front of the chart table. "I There is a plan to have a decisive battle with the Italian Navy in February next year, and the location will be in the waters between Benghazi and Crete.”

The sea area Cunningham chose is more than 600 kilometers away from Sicily, where German aircraft are stationed. Although it is still within the combat radius of the Fokker Zero, Ju88 and He-115, the distance of more than 600 kilometers will still limit their performance. .

In addition, the British army has currently deployed P-39 Viper fighter jets (American goods) with a larger range, Mosquito reconnaissance bombers and Blenheim torpedo bombers on Crete. They will be able to provide powerful air support to the British fleet when the two fleets are engaged.

"But why are the Italians fighting us there?" Vice Admiral James Somerville asked, "I think they should know very well that we (referring to Fleet H) have arrived."

"Because of Benghazi!" General Cunningham said, "The Army's 'Operation Compass' achieved an unexpected victory. Two divisions defeated 150,000 Italians and have now invaded Libya. According to my request, the Army They will drive the Italians to Benghazi, their most important stronghold in Libya, and then surround them. If the Italians want to rescue the troops in Benghazi, they can only send out the navy to fight me."

His plan is very simple, which is to "encircle the point and provide reinforcements." Use the army to encircle the point and the navy to reinforce it. Since the land communication line between Benghazi and Tripoli, another major port in Libya, is nearly 1,000 kilometers, once the main force of the Italian army is surrounded in Benghazi, the Italians can only dispatch the navy to rescue.

Cunningham continued: "I think they will definitely do this, because they now have 2 super battleships and 4 modernized old battleships, and they also have 2 aircraft carriers, which are as powerful as us."

Because the Battle of Taranto did not happen, the current Italian Navy can be said to be strong. Not only are 6 battleships and 2 aircraft carriers ready to fight at any time, but the German-assisted maritime beat radar is already in place. All battleships and heavy cruisers of the Italian Navy (13 in total) and 7 other light cruisers have been equipped with radars, giving them the ability to compete with the British fleet at night.

In addition, under repeated requests from the German Southern Front Headquarters, the Italian Air Force finally got the idea.

Beginning in October 1940, ten torpedo bomber squadrons were successively established, equipped with 120 S.M.79 torpedo bombers, and conducted fairly rigorous training under the supervision of German instructors. At the same time, the Italian Air Force also used 50 Fokker Zeros provided by Germany to form 4 "long-range fighter squadrons" specifically responsible for escorting S.M.79 torpedo bombers.

In short, as Cunningham said, today's Italian Navy can definitely fight a decisive battle with the strengthened British Mediterranean Fleet! However, the British Royal Navy is never afraid of evenly matched opponents!