The Rise of the Third Reich

One hour before the British Mediterranean Fleet began shelling Benghazi, 250 kg German bombs had already landed on the radar station and airport on the island of Malta.

Because they had bombed Malta many times before, the German and Italian air forces were very familiar with the situation on the island, and the attackers were veterans who took off from aircraft carriers, and they could drop bombs on the target almost with their eyes closed.

The "Sea Spitfire" fighters on the island had suffered heavy losses in the past few months of combat. On January 15, only 6 "Sea Spitfires" took off to fight. As soon as they took off, they were besieged by 12 Fokker Zeros and 24 MC.200 fighters from Sicily. No matter how superior the performance of the 6 "Sea Spitfires" was, they could not withstand the enemy aircraft that was 6 times their own, and they were all shot down in less than 10 minutes. The loss of the German and Italian sides was only 2 MC.200 fighters.

At the same time, 120 Fiat CR.42 Eagle fighters also flew from Sicily and began to attack targets in several ports on the island of Malta.

Although this biplane looks a bit old-fashioned, it is actually a new aircraft that was only tested in early 1939. Although it adopts a biplane aerodynamic layout, its air combat performance is not satisfactory. However, its flexibility at low altitude is very excellent (basically all biplanes that appeared in the 1930s are like this). After strengthening its firepower (installing 4 12.7mm caliber machine guns) and carrying 200 kg of bombs, this aircraft has become a very good attack aircraft, almost comparable to the Hs123.

Therefore, they quickly eliminated the torpedo boats and gunboats that might cause trouble to the landing Italian troops in the four harbors of Valletta, Birzebbuga, St. Paul's Bay and Mellieha, and blew up several exposed anti-aircraft artillery positions. Their own losses were only 6 aircraft shot down.

At 7:15, the first wave of air strikes on Malta ended. Admiral Compioni, commander of the Italian fleet, who was in charge of the "Veneto" ship, received the report of the air raid and said to the fleet chief of staff, Major General Baroni, with a smile: "The planes have done their job, and now it's our battleships' turn. Bombard for a few hours, and then send the Blackshirts to land. We can finally take it down, right?"

The two regiments of the newly formed 3rd Division of the Blackshirts were responsible for the landing. Hessman originally wanted to mobilize the Marine Brigade from Germany to carry out the landing operation, but Mussolini was very enthusiastic to send a Blackshirt division to Hessman (he may have thought it was a bit difficult for the Germans to hand over Malta, which they had won with blood and sweat, to Italy), so Hessman followed Mussolini's wishes.

"Sir," just when Major General Baroni was about to say something to suit the situation, the fleet's communications staff suddenly reported, "Urgent telegram from Benghazi, at least 8 British battleships appeared off the coast of Benghazi, and the port of Benghazi was heavily bombarded! Marshal Graziani asked us to send a fleet to rescue immediately..." "8 British battleships are bombarding Benghazi?" Admiral Compionni knew that the British fleet had left Alexandria, but he did not expect them to really bombard Benghazi. "They don't want Malta?" he asked uncertainly. "Should they give up Malta?" Major General Baroni thought, "The results of the first wave of air strikes show that the British resistance in Malta is weaker than we expected. There are only 6 fighters that took off to resist, and the ground anti-aircraft firepower is not fierce, which means that there are not many planes on the island, and the anti-aircraft guns may not have much ammunition." Since the German Air Force on Sicily is not a vegetarian, it became very difficult for the British to reinforce Malta. They dared not act at all during the day, and could only use destroyers to bring in some supplies at night, and sometimes even use submarines for supplies (Italy also used the same method to supply Tobruk). However, only 6 fighters could be launched to resist, which was beyond the Italians' expectations.

This shows that the island of Malta, which has troubled them for more than half a year, is likely to be a discarded pawn! And if the island of Malta is a discarded pawn, it will be difficult to use it to attract the British fleet that is bombarding Benghazi to come to reinforce...

...

"Are the British aircraft carriers also in the waters near Benghazi?"

In the Villa Medici in Rome, Marshal Hessmann, who had just gotten up and finished breakfast, also received a battle report from the front line.

"Because of the obstruction of the 'Sea Spitfire', our Fw-200C cannot get close." Admiral Jeschonnek reported with a frown.

"There is at least one aircraft carrier," Hessmann said, "Can it be reached?"

"The distance is a bit far," Jeschonnek said, "The nearest airport is about 680-700 kilometers away from there."

The "nearest airport" he said certainly does not include the airport in North Africa. There are no torpedo bombers deployed there now. All S.M.79 aircraft in North Africa are horizontal bombers, used to support ground operations.

"680-700 kilometers can be reached," Hessman thought for a while and asked, "What about the two aircraft carriers? Can they move eastward?"

"They are responsible for bombing Malta," Admiral Jeshonek said, "It is better not to move the aircraft carriers first, let the shore-based aviation attack, if the effect is not good, let the aircraft carriers and part of the main fleet move east tonight, and launch an air strike tomorrow morning."

The "Hammer" plan naturally also has plans to use aircraft carriers to launch air strikes and even use the main fleet to fight artillery battles. However, that was only implemented after the strength of the British fleet was weakened by shore-based aircraft.

Hersman walked to a table covered with a large map of the Eastern Mediterranean, watched as the staff placed a model symbolizing the British fleet on the sea near Benghazi, and asked in a low voice: "So the shore-based aircraft took off?" Has the order been given?"

"The order was issued 20 minutes ago," Jeshunek said. "In 25 minutes at most, the first attack wave will complete the formation."

"Tell me about several attack waves."

"The first attack wave consists of our Ju88 and Italian S.M.79. The Ju88 has 4 squadrons with a total of 48 aircraft. The S.M.79 also has 4 squadrons with 48 aircraft. There are also 2 squadrons with a total of 32 Fokker Zeros. Escort. A total of 128 aircraft..."

Such a fleet was much smaller than the attack on Spaca Bay on September 3, 1939. This was because the aircraft participating in the air attack were dispersed along the coast of Sicily, the Calabrian Peninsula and the Gulf of Taranto. on multiple small and medium-sized military airports, rather than concentrated on a few large military airports. Therefore, it was time-consuming to gather all the aircraft together, so it was divided into 3 attack waves.

The second attack wave was composed of 5 squadrons of Ju88s and 8 squadrons of S.M.79s, with a total of 156 aircraft. It was organized one hour after the first attack wave was formed.

The third attack wave is composed of 9 squadrons of slower He-115s and 1 squadron of Fokker Zeros, with a total of 124 aircraft. The formation will be completed one hour after the formation of the second attack wave.

A total of 408 aircraft will be dispatched in the three attack waves, and the attack power is very powerful! However, there is also a fly in the ointment, which is Hessman's trump card. The three fighter squadrons equipped with Fw-190s cannot be dispatched because they cannot reach the range. Therefore, the escort force of the attack fleet seemed somewhat insufficient, and the second attack wave did not have fighter escort at all.

Hersman folded his arms and said to himself: "There are 408 aircraft in total, including 360 bombers and torpedo planes. They can finally severely damage the British fleet, right?"

…

"The enemy's bomber group must be on the way, right?"

Listening to the deafening sound of artillery coming from outside, Admiral Cunningham, commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, suddenly said to himself, "There will definitely be an attack of unprecedented scale...I'm afraid there will be hundreds of planes!"

"Admiral, do you want Fleet B to attack from point X?" Rear Admiral Crutchley asked.

Point X is a place that German Fw-200C reconnaissance aircraft rarely go to. It is located in the Aegean Sea north of Crete. Since the UK has deployed fighter jets on Crete and the Peloponnese Peninsula, as well as radar stations on Crete, it is very dangerous for the Fw-200C to fly into the Aegean Sea.

But Fleet B hiding there found it difficult to reach the Italian fleet near Malta. To launch an attack, one would have to head west through the Straits of Kythera and into the Mediterranean. But once it enters the Mediterranean, it is only a matter of time before Fleet B is exposed. If the Fw-200C discovers Fleet B, the powerful shore-based aviation of the Germans and Italians will launch an attack and sink the precious "Ark Royal" and "Glorious"!

Therefore, once Fleet B attacks from point X, it must release its aircraft in the shortest possible time, and then escape eastward to avoid the opponent's shore-based aviation.

Therefore, there is probably only one chance to attack! Moreover, these two aircraft carriers do not have carrier-based aircraft with superior performance such as the Fokker Zero and the Fokker 99, and can only rely on the combination of the "Fullen" and "Big Mackerel" to attack. Therefore, the Italian fleet must be lured away from the protection of German shore-based fighters, and a bunch of battleships that were bombed and covered in smoke are undoubtedly the most attractive bait for the Italian fleet!

"Fleet B continues to lurk!" Cunningham shook his head and said, "Because now is not the time... We have to lure the Italian fleet out as much as possible."

"Then," Major General Crutchley said, "we should stop the bombardment now, put up an anti-aircraft formation, and wait for the enemy's air attack."

"Okay, that's it." Cunningham smiled, "We will form an air defense formation off the coast of Benghazi. I would like to see how much better the German air strikes are than the Italians?"