The Rise of the Third Reich

Of course, Mussolini could not completely trust anyone, but when he was desperate, he still issued an order for the Italian navy, army and air force to obey the German-Italian Allied Forces Headquarters. At the same time, Hersman's candidates for deputy commander-in-chief, chief of staff and deputy chief of staff were also approved.

The deputy commander-in-chief of the coalition forces is General Hugo Caballero, who replaced Badoglio as chief of staff of the armed forces. The chief of staff of the coalition is Admiral Caffniari, chief of staff of the Italian Navy. The deputy chief of staff is German Aviation General Jeshunek, who is also the commander of the Mediterranean Air Force Joint Command.

After establishing the command team, Hessman immediately began to exercise command authority. On the last day of 1940, the first coalition operations meeting was held.

The meeting started with a lecture.

Hessmann was in a room arranged as a combat command room. Facing a group of Italian generals wearing fancy military uniforms, who were older and more likely to be confused, he began to speak in a very serious tone.

"Everyone, before the meeting begins, let me explain the situation. The Italian army has just suffered two terrible defeats, one in North Africa and one in Greece. The Italian army, which has a large number of people and is well-equipped, was defeated by far fewer people. Their enemies are defeated.

About three divisions of British troops invaded Libya, captured the Italian troops that were being organized, and seized countless weapons, ammunition, and supplies. The Greeks invaded the mountains of southern Albania and stopped their attack due to the terrain and cold climate, but before that they also gained a lot and captured many advanced weapons that they could not afford. "

Hessman's cold gaze slowly swept across the war room, taking in everyone's expressions. The Italians were very calm, and no one showed shame or anger, as if they did not understand the English spoken by Hessmann (Italian senior generals rarely understood German, but their English skills were very good, so Hessmann could only speak to them. English). Obviously they all have good "cultivation". Maybe they have been accustomed to failure because of frequent failures.

Hersman continued: "The consequences of these two defeats are very serious. Now our two countries may face the terrible fate of losing the war! If we cannot work hard to save the situation, then we will become the sinners of the country!"

Hearing Hessmann mention "failure", the fascist generals in the room were still unmoved. They probably thought Hessmann was bluffing - even though Italy couldn't fight, didn't it still have Germany as its backer?

"Now I will propose a few ways to save the situation." Hessman also knew that the Italian generals were thick-skinned and were not even ashamed to surrender, so he stopped saying useless words.

"First of all, all Italian troops stationed in Albania will be placed under the command of the German Southeast Front Headquarters. Greece and Yugoslavia, which may fall to the United Kingdom, will mainly be handled by the German troops on the Southeast Front. As for Greece, our Mediterranean theater only needs to be responsible for Kerry Te Island and its surrounding islands.

Secondly, Benghazi will be the base for our counterattack in North Africa and must be defended with all our strength. Ground operations in North Africa will revolve around the defense of Benghazi. The Italian Army is mainly responsible for defending Benghazi. They should hold on to Benghazi until the German Afrika Korps arrived.

Third, the key to determining the outcome of the Mediterranean battlefield is the battle for sea power. Only by defeating British naval power in the Mediterranean can we achieve final victory. To achieve this goal, the full cooperation of the Italian Air Force, Italian Navy and German air power is required. Therefore, I now appoint Admiral Hans Jeshunek as commander-in-chief of all air forces in the Mediterranean Theater except carrier-based aircraft and seaplanes.

Fourth, the Greek island of Crete is the juncture of the Balkan battlefield and the Mediterranean battlefield, and its geographical location is very critical. When we launch offensive operations in the Balkans, we must capture it. The main naval operations in the Mediterranean will therefore be centered around Crete, with fleet, sea and air battles expected.

Fifth, before the battles of Benghazi and Crete begin, we must remove the nail that the British planted in Italy's feet - Malta! We must pull out this nail as soon as possible, otherwise our every move will be under the surveillance of the British. "

malta! Hersmann had asked the Italians to seize as much as possible a few months ago, and also provided a not insignificant amount of aid for this purpose. But the Italians who had received aid kept delaying, and after their disastrous defeat in Greece, this never happened again.

So until now, Malta is still in British hands. Moreover, the British also deployed radar stations there to monitor German aircraft taking off from Sicily, and also deployed Short "Sunderland" seaplanes equipped with airborne radar systems. These seaplanes hover outside Taranto Bay every day, and at night they fly into the sky less than 30 kilometers away from the Taranto military port to scan the military port with radar.

Therefore, unless the nail in Malta is removed, every move of the Italian Navy will be under the eyes of the British. Ships transporting reinforcements and supplies to Benghazi would also be attacked by British submarines and British bombers from Crete because their whereabouts were exposed.

"Your Excellency, Marshal," a few minutes after Hessmann finished speaking, Admiral Cavignari, Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, asked a question, "How are we going to occupy Malta?"

"Landing!" Hersman said, "The British have been strengthening Malta in the past few months and have deployed a large number of radars and anti-aircraft guns there, so they can no longer rely on airborne landings to seize the island."

In fact, the German Air Force had long been studying how to interfere with and evade radars. The radar on the island of Malta was no problem for Hessmann. But if the paratroopers were used to deal with Malta, the British fleet would not come.

Admiral Cavgnari said slowly: "Marshal, if calculated by the sea voyage, the distance between Malta and Taranto is about 320 nautical miles. If part of the Z-shaped route is adopted, it will take at least 400-500 nautical miles. At a speed of 15 knots, it may take 30 hours.

As soon as our large fleet leaves the port of Taranto, the British reconnaissance aircraft or submarines will find it... and the British aircraft carriers will sail about 540 nautical miles from Alexandria to the attack position west of Crete. If part of the Z-shaped route is adopted, it will take at least 800 nautical miles. Considering the faster speed of the aircraft carriers, they can reach the attack position within 40 hours. And the landing operation will definitely not be over by then.

In addition, British aircraft deployed on the Greek island of Crete and the Peloponnese Peninsula may also be deployed in air strikes against our fleet."

Not bad, not bad! Hessmann nodded repeatedly in his heart. This Italian Navy Chief of Staff is a talent.

In fact, in history, the Italian Navy had wanted aircraft carriers for a long time, and they had formulated a plan to seize Malta during the war before the outbreak of the war, but Mussolini turned a deaf ear to all the correct suggestions.

Hessmann glanced at Jeschonnek, and the German Air Force General immediately said: "Our aircraft have obvious advantages in quantity and quality. If we fight in the waters west of Sicily, the exchange ratio will definitely be in our favor."

Jeschonnek is an air force general, and his thinking is of course air force-style. Fighting a war is a matter of the exchange ratio of fighter planes.

Among the Italian Air Force and German Air Force under his command, the fighter squadrons that can be used for air combat over the Mediterranean (excluding night fighters, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, fighters with insufficient range, and carrier-based aircraft under the command of the navy) include 6 German squadrons (3 of which are equipped with Fokker Zero and 3 with Fw-190) and 26 Italian squadrons (4 of which are equipped with Fokker Zero, 10 with CR.42, and 12 with MC.200), for a total of 32 squadrons.

In addition, there are 4 fighter squadrons equipped with Fokker Zero in the 9th and 10th German carrier-based aircraft squadrons under the command of the Italian Navy.

In total, there are 34 squadrons with 432 fighters - of which the 6 German shore-based fighter squadrons are all composed of 16 aircraft.

So Jeschonnek has a lot of capital in his hands and is not afraid of fighting a war of attrition with the Royal Air Force and the Royal Naval Air Force.

"Moreover, we have a significant advantage." Yeshunnek said, "We have Germany behind us, and the losses are very easy to make up. Now the German Air Force and Naval Aviation have 6,500 combat aircraft, which can withstand a war of attrition. The British troops in the Mediterranean are more than 20,000 kilometers away from the British mainland, and their losses are difficult to make up."

Hearing Yeshunnek's well-reasoned analysis, Admiral Cavgnari just smiled bitterly. The navy doesn't calculate accounts like this. The naval aviation is opportunistic. If they seize the opportunity to overturn a battleship, it is worth it even if they lose 100 aircraft.

And Cunningham is a master of naval aviation. Exposing the Italian fleet to Cunningham's carrier-based aircraft and shore-based aircraft is really risky!

"Admiral Cavgnari," Hessman said to the Italian Navy Chief of Staff at this time, "It is the air force that determines the ownership of the Mediterranean. Once the British Mediterranean Fleet loses air cover, we will win the war. So you don't have to worry about losing battleships, as long as the losses are valuable.

The battle plan will be jointly drawn up by you and Admiral Jeschonnek. The basic idea is to surround the point and attack the reinforcements, and the old-fashioned "Count Cavour" class and "Doria" class can be used as bait. However, the "Veneto" class battleships and two aircraft carriers should be preserved as much as possible.

In addition, the primary target of the torpedo aircraft unit and the dive bomber unit is the British aircraft carrier!"