My Italy

Italy has bad intentions towards Malta, and the Maltese defenders who are its targets are not unaware of it. After all, it is necessary to prepare for war, so pre-war preparation of personnel and materials, as well as intelligence reconnaissance, logistics support and other tasks.

Therefore, it is not easy to fight a war, and it is even more difficult to conceal strategic intentions.

"Enemy airship!"

shouted a British soldier, and other soldiers immediately scattered for cover.

However, there are few trees on Malta Island, and most of them are small bushes. The earthy color of the earth makes them a little conspicuous in their green military uniforms.

But what pleased them was that the airship did not come towards them, but slowly rushed towards Valletta in the sky.

"Looks like we're going to Valletta."

The British soldiers who escaped the disaster breathed a sigh of relief.

The British soldiers actually didn't feel much about the Italian airships at first, until half a month ago, an airship launched an attack on a troop marching on foot. After machine gun bullets fell from the sky and caused heavy casualties, avoiding airships became an essential training subject for the defenders.

After a while, the sound of gunfire was heard in Valletta, which was driving away the airship in the sky.

"Everybody keep digging trenches."

After the leading officer tidied up his messy clothes to avoid them, he ordered the soldiers to continue working.

Although the soldiers could ignore the situation, Major General Behrens, as the commander of the Malta garrison, could not ignore it.

Even though the Italian airships are just dangling overhead every day, this is an obvious signal that the Italians are about to attack Malta.

As the commander of a strategic location, Major General Behrens is definitely not bad among the British army, and of course he knows his situation.

If it is restrained by the Mediterranean Fleet, then Malta cannot be said to be impregnable, at least it can be regarded as a solid fortress. Because it was the station of the Mediterranean Fleet before, there is no shortage of various defense facilities here.

But without the restraint of the Mediterranean Fleet, no matter how strong the fortress is, it will be breached without reinforcements.

Major General Behrens, who understood this truth well, even sent a report to London and Alexandria stating the situation facing Malta.

This is also smart. Asking for help directly will give people a feeling of panic, but stating the situation faced by Malta and handing the choice to superiors will allow the big shots to make decisions.

Major General Behrens's telegram was transmitted to London and Alexandria via radio waves.

Alexandria is the home of the Mediterranean Fleet, where a large fleet is stationed. Yes, this is the Mediterranean Fleet, one of the pillars of the British Empire. As one of the two largest fleets in the UK, the Mediterranean Fleet is in its heyday, with many new warships densely filling the port.

As the commander of the fleet, Admiral Sackville Cardon is also busy in his headquarters.

"Report."

"Come in."

"Admiral, this is a telegram from Malta."

The communications officer placed a telegram on the admiral's desk.

Admiral Cardon glanced. "Send in the Chief of Staff."

"yes."

After the officer went out, the originally capable general showed signs of fatigue. He was exhausted during this period, and the reason was Major General Behrens's telegram.

As commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Sackville Cardon was viewed by others as wielding great power. But only when you sit in his position do you know how uncomfortable this is.

As the former governor of Malta, he certainly has feelings for the island of Malta, and he can become the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet and he also knows the importance of the island of Malta.

Therefore, after receiving intelligence from Major General Behrens that Italy was preparing to attack the island of Malta, he specifically asked his staff to conduct tactical deductions. However, the results are not optimistic. Whether it is an all-out rescue or a diversionary operation, the Mediterranean Fleet's winning rate is not high.

The reason for all this is very simple, that is, the Mediterranean Fleet is at a disadvantage. With its inferior force and the opponent's home field advantage, even if the derivation staff wants to win with their own fleet, there is no good way.

It was precisely because of the unsatisfactory results of the staff deduction that General Kaden dared not send a telegram to Major General Behrens.

"Commander, look for me."

After a while, Lieutenant General Roback, the chief of staff of the fleet, arrived.

"Robeck, this is a telegram from Malta."

Facing his deputy, Carden directly took out the telegram from Major General Behrens.

"I think it must be the news of another Italian spying on Malta."

As soon as he heard the admiral's words, Lieutenant General Robek basically guessed the content.

"That's right. My successor was very smart and sent me another telegram to report what happened in Malta."

"So you plan to continue not replying to him?"

Facing the chief of staff's inquiry, Kaden raised his eyebrows. "How do you want me to reply? Should I tell him to wait for help or should he do his duty for the kingdom?"

Having said this, General Cardon continued angrily. "The strength of our Mediterranean fleet is far inferior to that of Italy and Austria. They have 12 battleships and 5 battle cruisers, while we only have 10 battleships and 3 battle cruisers. In terms of strength, we are lower than the opponent. I previously proposed to use the French battleships Join us, only to have the French reject us outright on the grounds that these warships need to defend their Mediterranean coastline.

I don’t know how their four battleships protected the coastline when facing the Italian and Austrian fleet. Did they huddle under the protection of shore guns? We applied to London to mobilize battleships to reinforce us, but they gave us a bunch of useless pre-dreadnoughts, but not a single usable dreadnought. These damn bureaucrats know how to defend the homeland. The Mediterranean Sea has been cut off. Do all Asian personnel and materials want to go through the Cape of Good Hope? "

Don’t blame Admiral Cardon for being angry, because he had already told London before he took office that the Mediterranean fleet was not strong enough and could not achieve the purpose of deterring Italy, the main target. The Lord of the Admiralty, Churchill, agreed to his request and stated that he would send reinforcements of no less than four battleships to the Mediterranean Fleet. Faced with the young Churchill's assurances, Carden then readily took office.

But what he didn't expect was the young admiral's next move.

After he took office, the Navy Ministry immediately announced the transfer of 8 battleships and more than 20 small and medium-sized battleships to the Mediterranean Fleet. Look at this, it’s twice as much as promised. Isn’t that interesting? But it was only after Admiral Kaden saw these eight battleships that he became furious.

Because the ones transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet were not the dreadnoughts or super-dreadnoughts he needed at all, but some old pre-dreadnoughts. It cannot be said that they are old, because these warships have only been in service for more than ten years and are still in good condition.

However, seeing these eight Dreadnoughts, Cardon would rather give them a discount and get two Dreadnoughts.

Because these warships are not strengthening the Mediterranean fleet, it would be good if they do not hold back.

Of course, the anger was the result of the anger, and Admiral Cardon could only admit that he had made a mistake and let the young Lord of the Navy fool him.

After getting angry, Kaden looked at his chief of staff and said. "Now we jointly draft a telegram requesting the mainland to deploy battleships for support. There must be at least two battleships, and no pre-dreadnoughts are required."

"No problem, let's draft it together."

Lieutenant General Roback, who was well aware of the situation of the Mediterranean Fleet, immediately agreed with the commander's words. As for whether London is satisfied or not, he can't control it now. But he knew that if the Italians seized control of the Mediterranean, neither he nor Carden would suffer. As long as the Italians were prevented from seizing control of the sea, some outrageous actions would be forgiven, because the victor would not be blamed.

Then a telegram jointly drafted by the Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet and the Chief of Staff was sent to London.

London was embarrassed by the telegrams sent by Carden and Roebuck requesting dreadnought reinforcements. The reason is simple. Although the British Empire has many warships, it is simply not enough to protect its homeland from the threat of the German High Seas Fleet and to suppress the Italian and Austrian navy in the Mediterranean.

According to the calculations of senior admiralty generals, the British Navy can only ensure that it does not lose its direction in one direction. Considering the safety of the homeland, London can only guarantee the homeland fleet first.

But looking at the telegrams from Carden and Roback, Churchill, as Lord of the Admiralty, hesitated.

So he went to Fisher to discuss it.

"Marshal, this is a telegram from Carden."

In front of the prestigious Fisher, even the young and energetic Churchill behaved himself.

After receiving the telegram, Felscher looked at it carefully.

The content of the telegram was actually very brief. In view of Italy's eyeing on Malta, Carden wanted to receive reinforcements from at least two battleships.

However, although the content of the telegram was brief, Fisher read it very slowly. After reading it, he looked at Churchill and said. "So what's on your mind?"

"I don't want to lose Malta to the Italians, I want to send reinforcements to General Cardon."

Churchill's words would have caused an uproar on any other occasion in London. Regardless of the safety of his homeland, he insisted on weakening the homeland fleet, which did not make his position as Minister of the Navy unstable.

But Fisher knew that the person in front of him was not that simple, and then he asked. "What's your specific plan?"

Seeing the old marshal asking, Churchill spoke. "My plan is to secretly transfer four battleships from the Home Fleet, let them stay out day and night, sneak into the Mediterranean, and then join the Mediterranean Fleet to catch the Italians by surprise."

Although Churchill said it was very simple, Fisher knew that it was definitely not easy to achieve. It required at least sufficient cooperation, careful planning, and a little bit of good luck.

After listening to Churchill's words, Fisher did not answer immediately, but calculated its feasibility in his mind.

First of all, it requires the cooperation of the local fleet, and secondly, the time must be just right. It won't work if you go too early, because this will reduce the strength of the local fleet, and the Germans will definitely come out in force if they know about it. It's not good to go too late, as that would cause the Mediterranean Fleet to encounter the Italian Fleet without receiving reinforcements.

After a long time, Marshal Fisher spoke. "The risk is not small."

Hearing this, Churchill showed a bitter expression. "I know it too, but the British Empire cannot afford to lose control of the sea in the Mediterranean. It's all because of Parliament's unwillingness to provide more budget. Our navy is now focused on one thing and the other, and there is no way to take care of both directions."

At this time, Churchill had completely forgotten that he had blocked the passage of the navy budget a few years ago when he was business secretary.

Regarding Churchill's words, Fisher could not directly express his position now. "Let's do this. I'll ask the naval officers to formulate a plan to quietly deploy four battleships to fight in the Mediterranean. Let's see if it's feasible first."

Since Fisher said so, Churchill certainly knew that this matter could not be rushed. If the plan fails due to self-defeation, he will become the navy's sinner.

But one thing he knew was that Fisher was tempted, otherwise he wouldn't have said that the risk was not small.