Bismarck

If the blue mother civilization had a soul, she should be crying for the hatred and killing among her children...

As an old maritime empire, the British Empire is extremely sensitive to any fortress that controls the shipping line. The Mediterranean is now firmly controlled by the British: Gibraltar Fortress, Malta Fortress, Crete Island, and Egypt's Suez Canal. Similarly, Mussolini, the Italian "leader" who is ambitious but incompetent but is obsessed with reviving the glory of the ancient Roman Empire, is also overestimating his own strength. Without any confidence in the country's strength and war preparations, he rashly launched a foreign war against the British colony of Egypt...

But... the Italians' ambition and strength are totally disproportionate...

Although there are 400,000 troops led by 14,000 officers, they are short of equipment, have poor weapons, low morale, and insufficient training. When they invaded Ethiopia five years ago, they were chased around by the extremely backward black army of Ethiopia, and many people were even chased by the black army with spears. Even now, this army is not equipped with many tanks, armored vehicles, artillery, and machine guns. Even most of the troops can only march in the desert under the scorching sun with their own two shoes... And their opponent, the British army, has basically achieved motorization...

In the endless desert, the mobility of mechanized troops is totally incomparable to two big leather shoes, not to mention the British army - even just the colonial garrison that the British pulled from India, no matter in which aspect, they are better than the Italian noodles...

Maybe Italians would think that noodles are much better than war.

The scene of people abandoning their weapons and armor along the way was truly spectacular.

Although Britain was exhausted in the early stage of the war and had to draw troops everywhere to strengthen its homeland defense in order to defend its homeland, the North African forces were extremely empty, and there was no way to draw reinforcements in a short period of time. But even so, after reaching Egypt, the Italian army stopped advancing on the grounds of "poor supply and no good food and fun things", and refused to move forward... Then, in December 1940, these lazy Italians were directly defeated by the fierce counterattack of the British mechanized forces that had been well-rested. By the end of February 12, the British counterattack had reached Sirte, only 1941 miles away from Tripoli, the capital of Italian Libya and the last major city. At this time, in the city of Tripoli, except for a group of remnants whose morale had completely collapsed, there was only a circle of hastily built inferior fortifications on the sandy land...

Seeing that Tripoli was like a "ripe peach" that could fall into the hands of the British at any time, Mussolini had no choice but to beg Germany to send reinforcements. However, at this time, the British made a fatal mistake - in order to establish a "Balkan Anti-German Alliance" including Greece (which was at war with Italy), Yugoslavia (where the British established a pro-British and anti-German royal regime through a coup), and Turkey (which was wavering between two sides), Churchill instructed that a large number of main forces and logistical supplies be transferred to Greece, instead of taking advantage of this great opportunity to capture Tobruk in one go and completely occupy Italy's colonies in North Africa. In addition to the bureaucratic problems of the British logistics department, the report said that the North African front was "too far away to be supplied with supplies", so Admiral Archibald Weaver, the commander of the British Middle East Theater, had to dispatch a group of newly formed third-rate troops and colonial troops to the Sirte front to "level up and gain experience", and a large number of elite main forces were either transferred back to Egypt for rest or shipped to the Balkans... Although both Admiral Weaver and the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Cunningham, believed that this would also delay the normal operations of the entire North African-Mediterranean theater, and were forced to withdraw a large number of troops and energy to ensure the smooth battle situation and routes between Egypt and Greece, they had no choice under the strict order of the Prime Minister...

As a result, due to the British's negligence, in mid-March, Rommel's first unit, a part of the Fifth Tank Regiment, with 3 Type 60 and Type tanks, finally landed on the beach of Tripoli by sneaking under the British nose. In the Balkans, the British troops in four divisions only drew away the strength of two German divisions...

Although for Rommel, 60 tanks of half an armored regiment were not enough, even with the 80 "Carlo Amato" M series "medium tanks" of the Italian Blackshirts' Ariot Armored Division (total weight of only 14 tons, equipped with a 47mm 32-fold howitzer, riveted armor 25-37mm, 105-125 horsepower diesel engine, 33km/h on the road and only 12km/h off-road), this amount of troops was far from enough...

However, the Italian Navy did not have control of the sea, and the United Kingdom had the Malta base to blockade almost the entire Sicily-Libya Sea. Although Germany sent the Tenth Air Force led by Admiral Geissler to Italy to participate in the war, the Tenth Air Force had a heavy task. It was responsible for the Greek direction, bombing British troops in Libya, suppressing the island of Malta, and even blocking a large area of ​​sea near Malta... How to transport the next batch of main reinforcements... It is a big problem!

Fortunately, the Italians soon intercepted a piece of intelligence:

"The next British supply convoy to Greece is about to set sail, and the Mediterranean Fleet will fully escort it... The largest escort force that the British army can deploy is expected to include only one old battleship and several cruisers... The convoy is expected to bypass the western end of Crete on March 1 and head to Greece via the waters near Cape Matapan..."

---------

In Egypt, the morning at the Alexandria naval port is shrouded in morning light. Even though it is early spring, other places are still cold, but on this side close to the equator, the weather is still relatively comfortable.

In the senior officers' dormitory area, a high-end military car was parked at the door of an independent villa. The adjutant was standing at the door, greeting the owner of the villa, Admiral Andrew Cunningham.

"Commander, the fleet is about to set off, let's set off too." The adjutant shouted inside.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." With a calm and slightly cynical voice, a fifty-year-old man who was still putting on the admiral's uniform, the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, and had a slightly Mediterranean hairstyle, walked out of the room with a smile. Next to him, a blonde woman who looked to be in her forties, but looked younger, followed him and helped him straighten his tie and straighten the tilted hat on his head.

"Look at what you're wearing." The lady complained, then noticed a thread sticking out of Cunningham's sleeve, and naturally grabbed it and pulled it out.

"Okay, okay, I was wrong," Cunningham laughed.

"You'll be bringing shame to the battleship HMS Warspite if you go out like this. It's the flagship after all." The woman glared at him in dissatisfaction, expressing her displeasure with her husband's slovenly appearance.

Hearing the name of the Warspite, his current flagship, Cunningham's smile deepened.

He secretly pinched his wife's nose when she wasn't paying attention.

"Don't worry, I will inspect the Warspite carefully when I return to the ship and will not let her down."

"You..." The woman was speechless for a moment, and when she looked up again, her cheeks were suspiciously red.

The loving old couple walked to the door. The woman picked up a suitcase from the door and handed it to Cunningham. She threw such a large suitcase to her husband so easily that the latter almost couldn't catch it.

It’s really heavy...

The adjutant beside him quickly took the commander's box.

"Well, do you have anything else to say?" Cunningham smiled. Although he knew they would meet soon, he still enjoyed this moment very much.

"...I won't say much more, just remember to come back early and have a safe journey!"

Come back early, and Cunningham will naturally know where to go.

"Yes, yes, my dear wife, I will be back to see you soon." The old sailor in the Mediterranean hugged his wife with a smile, then opened the car door and got in. He raised his left hand with a cynical smile and kissed the wedding ring on his ring finger, which had obviously seen many years.

This ring is not made of platinum, nor is it 99k pure gold. There is no diamond on it. It is just ordinary steel. However, the admiral treasures this ring as a treasure. It is a testimony to their marriage and love.

"My dear wife Belli dura despicio, see you later!" As the car drove away, the smiling Mediterranean head and waving hand that stretched out from the car window became farther and farther away in Mrs. Belli's eyes...

"What an old jerk..." Mrs. Bailey spat, walked into her home and closed the door.

There are no servants or housekeepers in this simple home. She takes care of everything, so she is not afraid of being seen by anyone.

However, the moment the door closed, Mrs. Bailey's temperament suddenly seemed to become much younger!

The wrinkles on her face quickly disappeared, her skin became white, and a small crown appeared on her head as decoration, like a princess walking out of a painting.

Not only that, but she also exudes a powerful aura that only an experienced veteran soldier has, namely bravery, perseverance, dedication to duty and diligence!

"Cunningham, you old fool, when you get on the boat, I'll twist your ears into pig ears!"

With a chuckle that was a bit annoyed, Bailey Dura Despicio turned transparent and gradually disappeared in the room...

-----

At the same time, in a grove not far from the Warspite, a girl suddenly appeared.

She seemed not quite used to such sunlight and slightly shielded her eyes with her hands. When she walked out of the woods, the little crown hairpin on her head sparkled in the sunlight.

She smiled slightly and walked towards the meritorious warship.

There are a lot of people on the dock now, and various vehicles are transporting supplies back and forth, making final preparations for the fleet.

"Hello, Secretary Bailey." The armed officer on duty on the side of the ship saw a beautiful girl coming over, blushed, and quickly saluted.

"Is the commander here?" Bailey asked with a smile.

"Report to the secretary, the commander has not returned yet." The armed man answered louder.

"Okay, okay." Bailey looked as if she had expected it. "You asked the commander to come back and find me."

Wu Guan was even more stunned. Did he hear it right? Secretary Belle asked... asked the commander to go find her?

It seems that the rumors about the secretary's dominance are not wrong. The armed forces officer's face became even redder. People on the ship said that the commander was henpecked - both his wife and his secretary.

For a high-ranking officer like the commander, having a lover was not taken seriously by everyone, and was even treated as a romantic affair. However, it seemed that even the commander's wife knew about the existence of this secretary.

It's strange how the two women can get along so well - even though they have never appeared together.

"Ah? Yes!" Wu Zhan agreed quickly.

Hearing this answer, Miss Bailey nodded with satisfaction, then shook the bag in her hand and walked inside.

This old man's room has not been occupied for a long time, so it always needs cleaning.

As she was cleaning, Cunningham's sedan pulled up to the dock.

"Commander, the secretary asked you to go find her." The armed officer reported.

“··· ···I understand.” Cunningham sighed and walked towards his room resignedly.

ps: A new volume of the Mediterranean War has begun, comrades, please give me a razor blade~

Chapter 370: Cape Matapan

In order to cut off Britain's supply line to Greece, on the evening of March 3, the Italian Royal Navy fleet led by Admiral Andrea Iachino slowly sailed out of several military ports in Italy, including Naples, Brindisi and Taranto, under the cover of darkness, headed for the designated sea area for rendezvous, and then set off to the Cape Matapan-Gavdos Island area to intercept the British convoy.

Of course, for the Italians today, it is still a headache to rely on the navy to defeat the British. Even though the British fleet was badly beaten by the German Bismarck in the Atlantic, even the flagship was sunk, and various warships were also lost a lot. They would cry for their parents when they saw Bismarck, but if they want to beat the Italians... that's just a drop in the bucket.

After all, the Royal Navy has the foundation and quality, the German warships are also German, and it is common to slander Italy.

(Finally, God’s true intention is revealed.)

This huge fleet basically consists of all the battleships that the Italian Navy can mobilize.

In order to complete this task, a huge amount of money was spent, including the battleship Vittorio Veneto (Admiral Iachino's flagship); heavy cruisers "Zara", "Pola", "Fiume", "Trièse", "Taranto", and "Boldino"; light cruisers "Duke of Abruzzi" and "Garibaldi"; and 13 destroyers, although to some extent, VV is also a destroyer, so it should be counted as fourteen.

These warships were the last of Italy's elite and naturally had to be well protected. So in order to cover the air safety of the Italian fleet that was out in full force, on the day the Italian fleet arrived in the waters of Crete, the Italian Air Force's planes would bomb the airports on Crete at dawn and destroy the British air force. At the same time, they would conduct reconnaissance over the routes in the area, as well as the waterways from Alexandria to Crete, and cover the Italian fleet from the air until it reached Apollonia. Finally, the Italian Air Force guaranteed to escort and protect the Italian ships throughout the morning as they operated near Crete by taking off fighter planes from Rhodes.

The task is very heavy.

One combat plan after another was sent back and forth in the Italian General Staff, and the various arms coordinated with each other and began final preparations - of course, at this time, the fleet was already on the way.

The German 10th Air Force, which was stationed in Italy and cooperated with the allies in the war, also assured the Italian Naval Headquarters that on the first day of the operation it would conduct reconnaissance over Alexandria and the Mediterranean, bomb the island of Malta, and intercept all aircraft flying from Malta to the area where Italian warships were active.

Although the Germans were dissatisfied with Italy's combat capability, they were still their allies after all, so Hitler and Goering still showed a cooperative attitude. The Tenth Air Force also had to scout the area between Cyrenaica and Crete and fly over Italian ships to provide cover until two hours before sunset.

But...how many of these promises can be fulfilled in the end?

Moreover, the activity area is very close to Crete and Greece controlled by the British. Who can guarantee that their fleet will not be attacked by air?

The fleet, stretching for more than ten kilometers, was advancing rapidly in the cover of night. No one knew what the situation would be like tomorrow, what the outcome would be, and whether they could return home.

Up to now, it is probably the consensus of the navies of various countries that there can be no sea control without air superiority - of course, there are very few such "countries" in the world, and the term "navy" as a noble branch of the military is not a casual word. How many countries on earth can pull out a decent fleet?

This is still true even in the world decades later.

A strong navy means a strong country.

Japan in the Far East has sensed the coming of changes in naval warfare from several naval battles that broke out in Europe, and is vigorously building aircraft carriers, but looking at its own fleet - although it is even more ironic that the concept of air supremacy was proposed by the Italian Air Force itself...

Looking at the clear and cloudless night sky above his head, Admiral Iakino's heart was filled with worries...

--

After the Italian fleet put out to sea, according to the predetermined plan, the cruisers formed three formations and conducted searches separately, while the Veneto towed behind as a covering force and as the final weapon, ready to support any of the parties at any time to deal with the "old battleship that the British army was expected to deploy."

As the admiral had expected, for the entire day of the 27th, from sunrise to sunset, there was no sign of the "meticulous air support" promised by the German Air Force. He was so angry that he cursed Goering in his heart as a liar.

It turned out that outsiders were unreliable, even nominal allies - although he didn't know that this was also the case with the Germans' evaluation of Italy.

However, what surprised the admiral was that the Italian Air Force was actually quite proactive in cooperating this time. Of course, as I said, their attitude was quite proactive...

Although the troops are not strong, especially the long-range fighters that can fly to the combat sea area are only a few BF110s bought from Germany (PS: they have never been bought in history), and the coordination is also very messy, but at least this time the air force is still trying to change - although there is no Uzuki...

So on the 27th, without air cover, the fleet led by the Veneto flagship was running naked on the sea, telling the British, I am here, I am fragrant and delicious...

At noon, the Italian fleet was discovered by a British "Sunderland" reconnaissance plane...

The Admiral discovered this situation. From Veneto, he could even see the reconnaissance plane arrogantly flying around the fleet, but because they were beyond the anti-aircraft firepower, they had no way to stop it and could only watch it fly away.

The fleet immediately informed the naval headquarters of its exposure. However, due to certain political reasons between the alliance with Germany and the Italian naval headquarters, which believed that the Italian Air Force had begun to cooperate with them in the war and therefore had gained confidence, the Italian naval headquarters would not allow the Iachino fleet to retreat.

Although it is said that a general may not obey military orders when he is abroad, you cannot stay abroad forever. You have to go back eventually. If you don't obey, you will suffer when you return to Hong Kong...

After hesitating for a while, the admiral decided to continue the mission - of course, the air defense level must be strengthened.

----

However, it was not known whether the British had forgotten about this fleet or whether they really had their own air force fighting the British. For the whole afternoon, the Italian fleet did not encounter any air raids, and spent the day in fear but in peace. For safety, Iakino simply evacuated his fleet from Gavdos Island south of Crete to the waters near Crete and Kithira Island near Cape Matapan on the Greek mainland - the only way for the British transport fleet! Moreover, it is less than 350 nautical miles away from the Italian mainland.

After informing the Italian Air Force and the German Air Force (although it was estimated that they would not participate in the war) of his new position, Admiral Iachino began to fly the two seaplanes of the Veneto in the waters within the enemy's sphere of influence, and began a long wait...

---

Due to intelligence errors or some other unknown reasons, the entire Italian Navy got one thing wrong.

They thought that the British escort fleet consisted of only one battleship, that old woman at that. But in fact, the British strength was far more than that. There were three battleships, the Warspite, the Barham, and the Warrior, as well as the armored aircraft carrier Formidable, which had just been transferred to the Mediterranean for a shift change and was fully loaded with twenty-four F4F Wildcats/Swallows, eighteen SBDs, and fifteen TBDs!

The Italians were confidently heading towards the British fleet, thinking that they could defeat the Royal Navy with all their might, but they didn't know that their warships were only a pair of the British's. They were just sheep walking into the tiger's mouth...

Coupled with the quality issues of the sailors on both sides, this gap is even more despairing.

On the other hand, after receiving the information about the Italian fleet's location, Cunningham did not dare to neglect it and quickly issued various combat instructions. However, at around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the second reconnaissance plane went over to search for the Italian fleet's location again, it found that... the Italian fleet had disappeared!

This has really stirred up a hornet's nest!

It was impossible for a fleet to really disappear. The only explanation was that the fleet was hiding its whereabouts and trying to make a big news! It was already three o'clock in the afternoon, and there were only four hours left before dark... Cunningham, who was facing a great enemy, immediately ordered the Formidable and the shore-based airports - even the airport in Malta - to send out a large number of reconnaissance planes to search for the location of the Italians!

The situation was almost like the world where Bismarck was being hunted all over the world.

The reconnaissance operation took a whole afternoon, and the military situation ahead was urgent, so the transport fleet could not be delayed! The only good news for Cunningham was that he had previously arranged a squadron of four cruisers and four destroyers in this area, and this squadron was equipped with radar. With them scouting the way ahead, there was no need to worry about running into an Italian ambush...

However, the news brought back by the first reconnaissance plane was not useless. It roughly reported the size of the Italian fleet. Although there were many warships, the main warships were not as strong as their own. Moreover, the Italians must have dispersed their fleet to search in order to intercept them, while the British only needed to concentrate their forces.

Most importantly... the British sailors were not worried about Italy.

As for bypassing the vanguard fleet and attacking him directly... Cunningham only personally ordered the Warspite to be in the most dangerous left front position of the entire formation, using some mysterious reconnaissance range to ensure that the fleet would not be attacked...

Even so, Cunningham and the sailors of the entire fleet almost did not sleep all night, and before dawn the next morning they directly urged the Formidable to launch reconnaissance planes to continue reconnaissance... It was not until 8:30 the next morning that Cunningham finally received the intelligence: Iakino was near Kihira Island!

Cunningham's own position was exactly southeast of Cape Matapan, 200 nautical miles away!

-

God-given opportunity, we must not let the Italians get away this time! After a simple estimate of the time, Cunningham found that at a speed of 18 knots, they could reach Cape Matapan around 10 o'clock in the evening. As an old rival, Cunningham knew very well that Italian warships generally did not have radars, while his large warships basically had radars! In a night battle, it was like a man with eyesight bullying a blind man...

The only problem was that the Italian warships had a maximum speed of more than 30 knots, much faster than the three old warships on our side that could only travel at 24 knots. In order to prevent Iachino from escaping, another large-scale raid would be launched at dusk, in an effort to break the legs of the large Italian warships!

As for the Italian Air Force, which is a bunch of weaklings?

The European Yan fighter on the Formidable had been tested in their own country. Although it still couldn't beat the Spitfire - and probably couldn't beat the BF109 either, it had its own characteristics: compared with the BF109, the European Yan's speed and climb rate at low altitude were not much different; it had good maneuverability, was very stable, and had excellent rolling ability; it had excellent anti-attack ability; and its maneuverability was even better than that of the BF109! With this performance and the distance from the scheduled battlefield to the Italian mainland airport, the planes that came over were either the SM79 Sparrowhawk, which had no ability to fight back, or the heavy and slow BF110. As long as the patrol fighters were guided by the radar, they could "kill and silence" those reconnaissance planes at a long distance, wouldn't it?

Standing in front of the porthole of the battleship HMS Warspite, Cunningham gently stroked the wall that was twenty years old but still looked like a new ship. He whispered in a voice that only he could hear, as if talking to the battleship: "Veneto's firepower is very strong. I'm afraid we'll have to rely on you again in this night battle..."

Although no one or anything spoke, after years of knowing and understanding each other, Cunningham seemed to hear a voice, a gentle but firm and confident "hmm" in his mind or soul...