"Long live Italy, long live victory! Target the British fleet, salvo!" Admiral Cortan shouted. With the shouts of Admiral Cortan, it was marked that Italy declared war with Britain in this battle in the Mediterranean.
Boom..., the British navy that was chasing the battlecruiser "Strasbourg" was immediately bombarded by the Italian navy that had just arrived. Mussolini, who was watching Germany's rapid victory over the British and French forces, wanted to see Italy very much. The army could also achieve such a victory, but the weakness of the Italian army left Mussolini helpless. This time, Mussolini pinned his hopes on the Italian navy. So Mussolini offered Admiral Cortan almost everything Italy had to offer, hoping only to win a victory.
The burden on Admiral Cortan is not unbearable, especially after the war began. Compared with Germany's lightning victory, Italy's victory in Africa was simply insignificant. Although the whole of Italy was extremely happy because of the victory of the Axis powers, but However, it is difficult to conceal Italy's embarrassing position. Admiral Coltan also wanted to lead the navy to a victory, but the British power in the Mediterranean prevented him from acting rashly. Although the Italian navy was stronger than the British in the Mediterranean, the hasty start of the war made Coltan The Tanzanian admiral was still skeptical about whether he could win. In June, the British Royal Navy withdrew most of its battleships from the Mediterranean due to the Battle of Dunkirk. The news that followed made Admiral Coltan ecstatic. The powerful British Royal Navy was severely damaged by the German Navy. , Admiral Kortan’s heart for war suddenly became hot.
So this time when Mussolini summoned Admiral Cortan for discussion, Admiral Cortan agreed without even thinking. Admiral Cortan's decision made Italy a key force in the victory or defeat at the critical moment of the Battle of Mirskbil.
The Italian Navy had a good start. Under the salvo of several battleships, the British destroyer "Gladiator" was sunk without any suspense. The good start also increased Admiral Cortan's confidence in victory: "France The fleet is still under siege, we have to rescue them!" Admiral Kortan said in a savior's tone.
Although Admiral Cortan was a little arrogant, it was undeniable that the Italian fleet did speed up because of his order. A few nautical miles passed in a blink of an eye, and the Italian Navy could already hear the rumbling sound of artillery and the thick smoke rising into the sky ahead. At this time, General Somerville, commander of the British Royal Navy fleet, also discovered this group of uninvited guests. Seeing the Italian Navy, which was at peace with the French Navy, General Somerville immediately knew that this action was no longer advisable. In order to save the British With the current strength of the navy, General Somerville had to issue a painful order: "Cancel this operation and retreat!"
"General, how can the Royal Navy leave without a fight?" The person next to him immediately expressed his objection.
General Somerville certainly knows the current situation in Britain. War is no longer the time to pay attention to gentlemanly manners. Moreover, Britain is now at a disadvantage, not the Axis Powers. Only the strong can show their magnanimity. Unfortunately, Britain is now the weak one. Therefore, General Somerville doesn't care about the honor of the Royal Navy at all. Honor can only be enjoyed while he is alive. If the British Navy is gone, it will be useless to have honor.
"Listen to my order, what Britain needs now is not unnecessary sacrifices, but the navy to protect Britain's security!" General Somerville shouted. Perhaps it was General Somerville's shouting that woke these people up. In short, no one had any objection to Somerville's presence, and the order to retreat was passed on completely.
The "Strasbourg" battlecruiser formation that left the port realized that it had been rescued, and immediately followed the Italian navy back to rescue the Dunkirk battleship that was still trapped in the port. Due to the discovery of a British submarine, the two larger battleships The old super destroyers "Tiger" and "Lynx" stayed behind to deal with the submarines to eliminate the threat to the "Dunkirk" that might escape; at the same time, the "Kelsan" and the "Terrible" were at ultra-long range. Fired a salvo of torpedoes at the pursuing "Barham".
Admiral Kortan realized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The British Royal Navy fleet in front of him only had two battleships, while he had four, and two new Veneto-class battleships, which were the same as the German Bismarck-class battleships. Although the battleships of the same era do not have as strong a protective capability as the Bismarck-class battleships, they still have a great advantage against these battleships with more than 20 years of age. After weighing the strength comparison between the two sides, the Kortan Navy The admiral immediately discovered that once the British fleet in front of him was eliminated, the Mediterranean would no longer be able to compete with the Italian navy.
The British fleet composed of Barham and Warrior had just shown its intention to escape and was immediately discovered by Admiral Cortan. If the British escape, I don't know if I will find such a good opportunity to annihilate the British fleet in the future, so the anxious Admiral Kortan immediately shouted, "We can't let the British escape, destroy them, let the Mediterranean Become Italy's inner lake!" These words that Mussolini often said immediately lifted the spirit of Italy. Restoring the glory of ancient Rome sounds so exciting. Although the army's performance was very incompetent, the Italian navy officers, who thought they were much better than the army's trash, were ready to win a big victory for Italy.
Boom..., the retreat of the British Navy further fueled the momentum of the Italian Navy. The Italian Navy, which was originally preparing to fight them off, saw that the British Royal Navy, which they thought was so heroic, only focused on escaping, and naturally the idea of annihilating the British Royal Navy appeared in their hearts. .
With the French fleet surrounded in the harbor and the battlecruiser "Strasbourg" rescued by the Italian Navy, the naval strength of the Axis powers at this time far exceeded the strength of the British Mediterranean Fleet. Moreover, the commander of the French fleet General Jeansur had been assured by the French Navy Commander that the entire French force in the Mediterranean would be reinforced here. General Jeansur, who had suffered such a big loss, certainly did not want the British to run away, and immediately ordered the injured "Dunkirk" to bombard the British, hoping to gain some opportunities.
At this time, the "Ark Royal" at the rear of the British fleet felt a huge threat. The powerful Strasbourg was so close. If the French ship turned to attack the Ark Royal, it would be another "glory" No. Tragedy! The "Ark Royal" immediately turned westward at full speed and retreated.
Strasbourg is the second Dunkirk-class battlecruiser. Compared with the first Dunkirk, Strasbourg has strengthened the defenses on the side, main gun turret and ammunition bay upper part. Armor.
Displacement: standard displacement 26,500 tons (Strasbourg is 27,300 tons), full load displacement 35,500 tons. The ship is 214 meters long, 33 meters wide, and has a draft of 8.6-9.6 meters: 8 quadruple 330 mm/50 caliber main guns; 12 quadruple mounts and 4 twin 130 mm/45 caliber secondary guns; 8 twin-mounted 37mm anti-aircraft guns and 8 quadruple-mounted 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns. Carrier-based aircraft: 3.
It can be said that the Dunkirk-class battlecruiser is the most powerful battlecruiser in the world besides the British battlecruiser HMS Hood and the German Scharnhorst-class battlecruiser. This is why the Italian Navy coveted the French Navy when France was just defeated.
There is no doubt that the battlecruiser Strasbourg has the ability to sink the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal". So the "Ark Royal", sensing something bad, immediately ran away at full speed. Thirty-one's high speed made it difficult for even a new warship like the Strasbourg battlecruiser to catch up. After pursuing it for a period of time, the Strasbourg battlecruiser had to give up the pursuit.
The aircraft carrier "Ark Royal" can escape at high speed, but the battleships Barham and Warrior, which have a speed of only 23 knots, cannot escape the Italian Navy's pursuit. Although the Italian Navy's warships do not have strong seaworthiness Power, but all Italian Navy warships have one thing, and that is superb speed, for the Mediterranean. The warships designed by the Italians were more suitable for fighting in the Mediterranean. The British battleships, which had good endurance but too slow speed, finally showed their weaknesses in this battle.
No matter how hard the battleships Barham and Warrior tried their best, they could not escape the pursuit of the Italian Navy and the French Navy who were fighting out of the port. They can only rely on strong firepower to prevent the Italians from pursuing too close. The pursuit of four Italian battleships and two French battlecruisers did not dare to let General Somerville stop even a step. In any case, even if the British Navy has superb qualities, it is impossible to win under such circumstances. What's more, the opponent's battleships are much more advanced than the two old British battleships. The British Navy also does not have the situation of Bismarck-class battleships with one enemy against many.
The British fleet kept running away, while the Italian and French fleets relied on their speed advantages to pursue them and kept picking up the lone British destroyers and light cruisers. In their view, even if they were afraid of the heavy artillery on the British battleships, they could not attack. It is also necessary for them to recover some interest.
The British fleet, under the command of General Somerville, kept running towards the Fortress of Gibraltar. Now in the Mediterranean, the Fortress of Gibraltar is a safe place for only a few British naval forces. At least there were countless fortress guns there to cover the few remaining battleships of the British Navy.
"Give power to Admiral Darlan (head of state), and the British navy flees to the Fortress of Gibraltar!" Admiral Coltan and General Jeansur issued orders from their flagships at almost the same time.
After a while, Mussolini and Darlan's telegrams were sent back, "Continue to pursue and trap them in the Gibraltar Fortress. The German army will launch the Battle of Gibraltar on land. At that time, you can cooperate with Germany's actions on the sea. Do your part for the Axis Powers!”
Admiral Cortan and General Gensur breathed a sigh of relief and ordered, "Commander Darlan (head of state) ordered to continue the pursuit and blockade the British navy in the Fortress of Gibraltar!" The next action was not dangerous, and he panicked and chose the road. The British fleet had taken runway to the Fortress of Gibraltar. The Italian and French navies arrived later and immediately surrounded the Fortress of Gibraltar.
At the same time, most of the German and French coalition forces had arrived outside the Fortress of Gibraltar. More than 60,000 German and French soldiers would engage in a bloody battle here, facing 8,000 British defenders and hundreds of artillery pieces.
On July 4, Wilhelm II announced that Germany would prepare for landing in Britain, and the Battle of Britain began. He also told the German people that France and Italy would also join the war to eliminate British power in the Mediterranean, and would send troops to participate in the campaign to land in England.
After William II announced the order to land in Britain, Propaganda Minister Goebbels immediately said, "Your Majesty has given the British a chance, but the British rejected our peace proposal. Churchill doubted Germany's power!" I saw it as I wished! In response to the angry looks on the faces of the MPs, Goebbels continued: "Now I hear only one voice from Britain: The war must go on! But this is not the voice of the people, but the voice of politicians. I don't know what these politicians think about this. Is there a correct concept of what the consequences will be if the war continues? They did announce that they would continue to fight, and said that even if Britain was destroyed, they would go to Canada to continue the war. I can't believe what they mean It means that the British people will also move to Canada. Probably only those gentlemen who are keen to continue fighting this war will move there. I am afraid that the people will have to stay in Britain, and... they will definitely use what they have in Canada. The so-called leaders look at this war from a different perspective. Please believe me, gentlemen, I am deeply disgusted with such shameless politicians who destroy the entire country. These people have already ruined the house and turned it upside down, but fate has arranged I am here to give the final blow. Every time I think about this, I feel very uncomfortable... Mr. Churchill... will undoubtedly go to Canada. The money and children of those who are particularly enthusiastic about the war have already arrived in Canada. But millions of people It will begin to suffer catastrophic disasters. Mr. Churchill may believe my prediction this time: a great empire - a great empire that I never wanted to destroy or even harm, will be destroyed... "
Shortly after Goebbels finished these words, he heard a German broadcast from the BBC in London. In less than an hour, Britain replied to Germany. The answer was a resolute "continue the war!" This was exactly what Wilhelm II wanted. It was now clear that Germany had extended an olive branch and the British had refused. The whole of Europe does not understand why the British are so stubborn and must continue to fight Germany. However, they do not understand that Britain, a descendant of the empire that has ruled the world for hundreds of years and the sun never sets, believes that Britain will definitely come back to life with its many colonies. , but they may have forgotten. If the mainland is lost, even if the British government establishes institutions in the colonies and continues the war, Britain, which has lost the last springboard in Europe, will not be able to land on the European continent.
"We will continue to fight the British!" Goebbels said erratically, "The British must pay the price for what they said today and occupy Britain!%..."
"Occupy Britain!" Goebbels' words received a flood of responses.
William II walked to the front desk and announced, "I declare that the Blue Plan is fully implemented!"
"Long live your majesty, long live victory, long live Germany!" Six hundred robots stood up in unison. For them, all they needed to do at this time was to show their agreement. Whether they were Juncker landlords or leading figures of the National Socialist Party, No one takes the hundreds of people in Congress raising their phones seriously.
There is no room for reconciliation between Germany and Britain. Either Germany will fall or Britain will fall. The unscrupulous William II ordered the full implementation of Plan Blue. Germany's military preparations for landing in Britain changed from behind the scenes to overboard. William II issued an order to clear the British mainland as a base for fighting against Germany and, if necessary, to capture it all.
In order to implement this directive, Germany must mobilize 168 transport ships, 1910 barges, 419 tugs and 1600 motorboats along the northern coast of Europe within a month. The Army also began to assemble 13 divisions along the strait, and began to conduct landing exercises under the command of Guderian.
The plan first depends on the action of the air force. Goering prepares the "Eagle Plan" for a large-scale air offensive against Britain. Its purpose is to expel the British Air Force from the air, thereby completing a necessary condition for launching an invasion. He was convinced that an all-out attack could destroy the British fighter defenses in southern England within four days, thus opening the way for invasion. It would take slightly longer to completely destroy the RAF: two to four weeks. In fact, Göring believed that air power alone could bring Britain to its knees, and that an army attack might not be necessary. If Lin Wei were here, he would definitely keep his mouth shut.
He had three large air groups at his disposal to achieve this gigantic goal: the 2nd Air Force, under General Kesselring, operating from the Low Countries and northern France; and the 3rd Air Force, under General Sbière. , based in northern France; the Fifth Air Force, under the command of General Stenff, is stationed in Norway and Denmark. The first two air forces have a total of 1,329 fighters, 875 bombers, and 816 dive bombers; the Fifth Air Force has 123 bombers and 134 twin-engine ME110 fighters.