Imperial Overlord

Rommel left, first went to Brausich to report, and then came to Li Le in a proper manner.

Li Le didn't care about these details. What he cared about was whether Rommel could bring him the victory, not an obedient watchdog.

When Rommel left, it was not the dazzling marshal's scepter that Hitler had given him, but the troops he was more willing to ask for.

With the exception of the 46th SS Infantry Division, which had already reached Africa, he received personal assurances from the Führer that the 10th Mechanized Infantry Division would soon arrive in Africa.

As the commander of the Afrika Korps, he certainly knew what kind of support his operations in Africa would receive with the support of Mussolini and Hitler.

In particular, his attack became the only battlefield on land when neither the "Sea Lion Plan" of the invasion of Britain nor the "Barbarossa Plan" of the invasion of the Soviet Union were implemented.

On this battlefield, the German Army invested the 15th Armored Division, two regular armored divisions of the 21st Armored Division, and two infantry divisions of the 90th Infantry Division and the 46th Waffen SS Infantry Division.

Including the 10th Mechanized Infantry Division, which was being forcibly transported to Africa, Rommel's Afrika Korps had enough troops to sweep across Africa.

This time he went back to Africa, with the strength of 5 divisions, and the head of state personally issued the order to march into Cairo and seize the Suez Canal!

"No matter what, winning the Suez Canal will set the tone for victory in the African War." Li Le said to himself behind the window, watching Rommel drive away in a car.

The bombing of Britain for almost two months has destroyed more than half of the power plants and steel mills in southeastern England.

Including some precision machining factories, the British local industry will not be able to revive in a short time.

This also strengthened Churchill's determination to stumble the Germans in other directions. The two directions he carefully chose are both important directions that can hit Germany!

One is to use the last little time of the Mediterranean Fleet to cause trouble for the Italian Navy, so that the other party can no longer be able to contain the British H fleet in Gibraltar.

The other method is much simpler and cruder. The British bomber force intends to set off from the Balkans and bomb the oil fields in Romania!

Can not find the exact location of Libya's oil fields, British spies are helpless. After all, the oil field is in the desert, the land is vast and the people are scarce, and it is not easy to detect.

However, the Romanian bombing mission is supposed to be undertaken by the Air Force, but recently the Air Force is being suspected of being a spy.

Therefore, the naval offensive plan was almost completely determined in this way. The target of the attack was Taranto, Pearl Harbor, Italy.

General Cunningham finally lost his temper because of his brother General Cunningham's capture, and because of the constant urging of the Prime Minister.

The Mediterranean Fleet he led is actually quite large. At present, it has two aircraft carriers, the Eagle and the Radiance. This lineup can be said to be enough to challenge the Italian fleet head-on.

The two aircraft carriers can carry a total of more than 30 Swordfish attack aircraft. In fact, in the real history, the British only used 24 Swordfish to kill a battleship of the Italian Navy fleet.

Cunningham's basic plan for the fleet was to use the night to pick up Taranto, then attack the Italian fleet there, killing part of the Italian naval fleet.

Then his fleet would have to turn around, stand by at sea, and then break through the Maltese blockade and force its way to Gibraltar!

Due to its age and disrepair, the current navigable capacity of the Suez Canal cannot be used by warships of tens of thousands of tons.

In this case, the main battleships of the British Mediterranean Fleet are actually unable to retreat to the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal.

So Cunningham had to venture out of the sea off Malta, after striking the Italian fleet, to forcibly pass to join the H fleet at Gibraltar.

However, this choice is similar to Operation Cerberus, the historical German action to force through the English Channel.

In the real history, the German Navy forced its way through the English Channel under the threat of the British Navy; and at this time and space, the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet was going to forcibly test the garrison on the island of Malta.

The original Battle of Taranto actually broke out in November 1940, but it is just the end of September, so there is a reason for it to be so early.

After all, the British Navy in history did not face the unfavorable situation of Alexandria being occupied by the Germans, and the mainland was not bombed by German bombers to what it is now.

And in the real historical time and space, the British Navy has to shoulder the task of escorting the Mediterranean route because Malta is still in control.

As the battle for the island of Malta ended with the victory of the German paratroopers, the British Mediterranean Fleet also lost the task of escorting, and there was no containment and restraint.

On the other hand, the advance of the action is also due to the butterfly effect caused by the change of the battle situation.

Originally, the Italian fleet, which had only gone south to Taranto in November, moved to Taranto ahead of schedule as the war progressed.

The German **** operation in Matrouh, that is, covering the floating dock, finally lured Cunningham into the battle of El Alamein, which made the Italian fleet take Taranto as its base in advance.

This change has strengthened the British Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, which is also an adaptive change in history with various changes!

Originally, the aircraft carrier Eagle had to leave the Mediterranean Sea because of a near miss. At this time, it was still in Cunningham's hands because of a misunderstanding.

Cunningham, who was holding two aircraft carriers in his hand, finally stood up this time, and charged towards the Taranto military port with the momentum of breaking the boat.

"Sir! Report, the semaphore message of the Eagle aircraft carrier, and nothing abnormal was found directly ahead." A communications officer stood in front of Cunningham and reported the news of the safety ahead of the fleet.

In fact, Cunningham's fleet was about to enter the combat radius of the Italian Air Force at this time. What he relied on was that the Italians did not know the exact location of his fleet.

The sky had already darkened, and the script for Cunningham's air raid on Taranto had been drawn up long ago, which is also where this admiral is so powerful.

He had long anticipated such a day, so he had written the script and waited for everything to happen.

In the plan, the British fleet will use the night to approach a suitable attack position, and then take off aircraft to attack the Italian warships in the naval port of Taranto.

There is a very interesting place here, that is, the entire air raid was launched at 21 o'clock in the evening. This detail became famous for the Royal Navy's Swordfish attack aircraft, which can take off at night.

At the same time, the operation started at 23:00. The British aircraft attacking the Italian warships carried flares. The whole bombing process was carried out at night, which shows that the Royal Navy Air Force has the ability to attack at night!

In the end, this attacking force, after succeeding, returned to the British aircraft carrier Radiance and landed on the deck of the aircraft carrier!

These three details show that the aircraft carrier of World War II can use carrier-based aircraft to carry out night attack operations! Including take-off and landing aircraft and attack targets, it is possible to complete!

Of course, having said that, if the opponent's warship is moving at a high speed, it is unknown how likely and effective it is to rely on flares to support the attack.

Cunningham was on the bridge of the USS Radiance, staring at the calm Mediterranean waters in front of him, wondering what he was thinking.

The war situation in North Africa has eroded to a shocking level. The loss of Alexandria has made Britain lose the initiative in the North African war.

The German army can rely on this huge port to occupy Cairo south, and open up strategic channels to Ethiopia and Somalia.

Or you can go directly east, occupy the Suez Canal, and then advance to the Middle East to seize the Iraqi oil fields in the Middle East and cut off the British supply line!

Which one of these two paths to choose now is up to the Germans themselves, and they are both very feasible plans.

The United Kingdom could only withdraw from the competition in the Mediterranean, and withdraw the war to the Middle East. This was obviously a failure, because it exposed the extremely safe oil fields in the Middle East to the attack of the Axis powers.

It is entirely possible that the bombers taking off in Egypt will bomb Iraq directly, which makes the replenishment and scheduling of British national strategic resources very uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Europe still has a powder keg, the Balkans, which has not yet been conquered by the Axis powers. With this place, Britain still has a more or less strategic fulcrum in the Mediterranean.

And this strategic fulcrum~www.wuxiaspot.com~ can still threaten Romania's important fulcrum, which is worthy of the British continuing to persist in the Mediterranean and continue to fight back against Germany.

"Go ahead! Increase the speed! Get to the expected attack location before the planned time!" Looking at the sea, Cunningham gave his order.

As long as part of the Italian fleet is unknowingly killed, Britain can continue to hold on, this is Cunningham's insistence.

"Keep the course! Increase the speed! Keep the course! Increase the speed!" In each combat position, the officers who repeated the orders shouted loudly.

Under the moonlight, in the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, the sharp bow of the battleship cut through the sea water and quickly moved towards the destination of the fleet.

They are going to attack the Italian naval port and turn Taranto into a sea of ​​fire! The Italian Navy will pay a heavy price, and then be thrown away by the British fleet, watching the British fleet break through Malta, calmly return to Gibraltar, and continue to threaten the Axis route in the Mediterranean——

Dear readers, please forgive me, Long Ling is not in a state today, and the writing is a bit slow... Forgive me...