The Rise of the Third Reich

The "big liar" Hersman, who was actually commanding a battle for the first time, wanted to use the offensive and defensive battle on the island of Malta to set up a situation, targeting the three British aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean.

The troops he has on hand are enough to achieve this combat goal, but the problem is that he does not have any naval generals who can really play with aircraft carriers. Neither Germany nor Italy has such talent. So what he can really count on is the shore-based aviation of Germany and Italy.

However, Hessman's opponent, Commander Cunningham of the British Mediterranean Fleet, was a naval commander who was good at using aircraft carriers. After several actual combats, Cunningham not only fully realized the importance of aircraft carriers, but also knew how to conduct naval battles centered on aircraft carriers.

After Fleet H arrived in Alexandria, Cunningham immediately ordered the maintenance of the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal" to be completed in the shortest possible time. Then, with Ark Royal and Glory as the core, a fast aircraft carrier strike formation-Force B was formed.

Force B has the aircraft carrier Illustrious as its flagship, and also includes the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the heavy cruiser HMS York, the light cruiser HMS Liverpool, the light cruiser HMS Sydney and 6 destroyers.

Since there are no slow-moving battleships and the USS Eagle aircraft carrier (this aircraft carrier is responsible for the air defense of the main fleet), Fleet B can maneuver at a high speed of more than 30 knots.

Fleet B, which has only 1 heavy cruiser and 2 light cruisers, will not consider using main guns to fight the enemy fleet, so its strike force is carrier-based aircraft.

In order to increase the aircraft carrier's attack capability, Cunningham adopted the method of expanding the number of deck moorings to increase the aircraft carrier's carrier-based aircraft. Among them, the aircraft carrier Ark Royal is equipped with 92 carrier-based aircraft (20 are deck-tethered), while the Glory has 45 aircraft carriers (12 are deck-tethered).

After deducting the 12 reserve aircraft of Ark Royal and the 5 reserve aircraft of Glory, there are a total of 120 carrier-based aircraft that can actually be put into combat, and they are organized into 11 squadrons.

Ark Royal has 7 squadrons, including 1 "Sea Spitfire" fighter squadron, 2 "Filmnose" fighter squadrons (one squadron only has 8 aircraft), and 3 "Mackerel" torpedo bomber squadrons. The Illustrious has 4 squadrons, 1 "Sea Spitfire" squadron (8 aircraft), 1 "Fallen" squadron (8 aircraft), and 2 "Mackerel" squadrons (both 12 aircraft).

The three types of combat aircraft carried on Ark Royal and Glory also have different missions. Among them, the "Sea Spitfire" with strong air combat capabilities is responsible for fleet air defense, and the "Film-nosed" fighter jet with a larger range is responsible for escorting the attacking troops. The successor aircraft of the "Swordfish", the "Macker" torpedo bombers, are responsible for attacking and searching for enemies. The 60 torpedo bombers of the 5 "Macker" squadrons are the most advantageous weapons of the entire B fleet.

This "Big Mackerel" torpedo bomber and the "Flans" fighter jets that escort it (can also carry two 113-kg bombs) both have a maximum range of nearly 1,500 kilometers. This allows them to launch carrier-based aircraft air strikes 500 kilometers away, greatly enhancing the aircraft carrier's strike capabilities.

If the air strike target is located near the island of Malta, then the most ideal attack position of Fleet B is 300 kilometers west of Crete, and the P39 "Flying Snake" fighter jets taking off from Crete can completely provide the fleet and attack aircraft with Provides additional air superiority.

"Everyone, the Italian fleet is dispatched, all of it!"

On the morning of January 13, 1941, in the conference room of the battleship "Warspite", Cunningham announced that he had just received important information. He glanced at everyone with bright eyes and said slowly: "This is a good opportunity for the Royal Navy to carry out a annihilating strike against the Italian fleet. Therefore, I decided to mobilize all warships near Alexandria, including those undergoing maintenance, to attack Advance into the waters near Crete and Benghazi to implement the "Judgment Plan" and seek a decisive battle against the Italian fleet."

The plan for the decisive battle had been drawn up before Fleet H arrived, codenamed 'Judgment'.

According to the "Judgment" plan, the entire Mediterranean Fleet will be divided into two squadrons, A and B.

Among them, Fleet A is the main fleet, including all battleships and the USS Eagle aircraft carrier. It will be personally commanded by Admiral Cunningham. The attack position is point Y, which is the waters near Benghazi.

Fleet A has two tasks. One is to act as a decoy to attract the Italian fleet to approach, creating opportunities for Fleet B and British fighter planes on Crete to conduct air assaults.

The second mission is to engage in a decisive battle with the Italian surface fleet. In order to ensure a sufficient chance of victory in the fleet battle, Cunningham incorporated all eight battleships into Fleet A.

At the same time, the fighter configuration of the "Eagle", the only aircraft carrier in the A fleet, has also been adjusted, canceling the bombers and torpedo aircraft, and all equipped with the "Sea Spitfire" with powerful air combat capabilities. After adopting the deck-tethered carrying method, the current "Eagle" (British) aircraft carrier can carry 33 carrier-based aircraft, of which 5 are in reserve, and the remaining 28 "Sea Spitfires" are organized into 2 squadrons ( 16 aircraft per squadron, 12 aircraft per squadron).

Fleet B, led by the famous general Lister who commanded the surprise attack on Toulon Port, advanced to the point

Also, to confuse the Italians. After leaving Alexandria, Fleet A and Fleet B will first form a large formation to sail westward, and then split into two after dark. Fleet A headed along the North African coastline to the waters near Benghazi, while Fleet B headed north toward point X.

…

"The entire Mediterranean fleet is sailing westward? Are they going to Benghazi?" Marshal Hersman, who was sitting at the Medici Villa, looked at the newly received intelligence and asked, "What does Cunningham want to do?"

"Maybe we want to bombard Benghazi to force our fleet to go to the decisive battle." Admiral Kavniari answered.

While the navy and air force are preparing for the "Battle of Malta", the Italian Army is also preparing for the defense of Benghazi, where several cutting-edge infantry divisions transferred from Tripoli are now concentrated, and it also houses many defeated troops retreating from the east. . If the port is bombarded, it will definitely severely dampen the morale of these Italians, which will be very detrimental to the decisive battle that is about to begin.

"Shelling Benghazi?" Hessmann glanced at Caffniari, and then said, "Tell Admiral Compioni (Commander of the Italian Fleet) that regardless of whether the British fleet shelled Benghazi or not, the fleet will proceed as planned. action."

The original plan was a combat plan code-named "Iron Hammer", which was led by Generals Kavniari and Jeshunek. What was implemented was Hessman's two major ideas of "encircling points for reinforcements" and "sinking enemy aircraft carriers".

However, unlike Cunningham's method of using aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft to play the leading role, neither Cavniari nor Jeshunek combined the two Italian aircraft carriers "Eagle" and "Sparrowhawk" with the eight German aircraft carriers above. Carrier-based aircraft squadrons serve as the main force in air strikes.

Therefore, in the "Iron Hammer" plan, there was no separate aircraft carrier strike force (they probably did not know that aircraft carriers could be used in this way), but the aircraft carriers and battleships were organized into a large fleet. The four Fokker Zero squadrons on the aircraft carrier were responsible for fleet air defense, while the other four Fokker 99 squadrons took on the task of bombing the island of Malta.

The reason for this arrangement is that Jeshunek does not have Ju87 dive bombers and Hs123 attack aircraft that can carry out precise strikes on ground targets. And Kavniari continued his inertial thinking of distrusting the Air Force and was unwilling to hand over the air support task of landing operations to the Air Force.

In addition, the shore-based bombing aviation in the hands of Jeshunek is very powerful. Germany's two bombing aviation regiments alone have 18 squadrons (each squadron has 12 aircraft), and the He-115 torpedo aircraft squadron and the Ju88 bomber squadron each have 9 squadrons. The Italians also provided 12 squadrons of S.M.79 torpedo bombers (2 more than at the end of 1940). There are a total of 30 shore-based bombing aviation squadrons at Jeshunek's disposal, so he does not believe that it is necessary to use the Fokker 99 squadrons on four aircraft carriers to deal with the British fleet.

So in the "Iron Hammer" plan, Jeshunek established two aviation commands. One is called the "Support Command", commanded by Italian Air Force Chief of Staff Pricolo. It has 26 Italian shore-based fighter squadrons and is responsible for air superiority on the battlefield near the island of Malta and providing direct cover for the Italian fleet.

The other is called "Attack Command", personally commanded by Jeshunek. It has 6 shore-based fighter squadrons and 18 shore-based bomber squadrons in Germany and 12 shore-based torpedo squadrons in Italy. It is responsible for attacking the British fleet.

In addition, in order to effectively implement the sea search mission, Hersman also mobilized more Fw-200C, Ar-196 seaplanes and He-115 seaplanes (not shore-based) from Germany. These aircraft were assigned to the Italian fleet (mainly Ar-196) and "Attack Command" (mainly Fw-200C and He-115). At the same time, the Italian Navy also sent a large number of submarines to lurk in the vast waters southeast of Crete until Alexandria, acting as the eyes and ears of the fleet and aviation.

"Admiral, the radio has detected an unknown radio signal. There may be an Italian submarine nearby."

At around 5 pm on January 14, 1941 (the British fleet set off on the morning of January 14), Rear Admiral Crutchley, Chief of Staff of the British Mediterranean Fleet, approached Cunningham, who was sitting in the conning tower of the battleship Warspite and smoking his pipe leisurely. the admiral reported.

"Should we send out destroyers?" Rear Admiral Crutchley suggested.

Cunningham raised his wrist and looked at the watch on his lower wrist. "Okay, it's almost time. Let the destroyers go anti-submarine... We must make sure that Fleet B is not discovered by Italian submarines when they leave north at night."