armyinform Third Reich Episode 427
Third Reich Episode 427
After giving the order to counterattack, Rommel easily picked up a kettle on the table and drank the water in a relaxed manner.
Water is also a scarce resource in Africa.As the forces of the Allied Forces of the Three Kingdoms continue to grow, the pressure on the supply of drinking water is also increasing.
Now, even Rommel, the commander-in-chief of the German-Italian African Army, has limited drinking water every day.Each time, Rommel turned on the kettle to drink water and relax at the end of a meeting.
Rommel drank water immediately after giving the counterattack order, which actually meant that he thought the combat meeting could be over, and there was nothing more to say.
He is confident enough in his counterattack plan!
Chapter 643 It's the Italian Army's Turn to Capture the British Army
Wavell has been in too much trouble recently, which is completely different from what he envisioned when he first started Operation Tomahawk.
Just after all his three-way offensives were disintegrated, Wavell received news that the new Italian Prime Minister Rossi ordered the navy to attack and occupy the island of Malta, removing the last big nail left by the British on the Allies in the Mediterranean.
In fact, the Maltese archipelago is located between Sicily, Italy and Libya, North Africa. It consists of 5 islands, the largest of which is Malta.
Although even the largest island of Malta is insignificant in size, it has great strategic value.The island is located in the converging waters of the two routes of Italy-Libya and Egypt-Gibraltar. It is the shipping center of the Mediterranean Sea and is known as the "heart of the Mediterranean Sea".Moreover, on this island, the British army has a naval and air force base to ensure the smooth flow of the Mediterranean route.In addition, the narrow sea area in this area is conducive to the activities of the British Air Force. The British Air Force uses this as a base and serves as a nail to support its own operations in North Africa.
Originally, at the very beginning, the weapons and ammunition, food and salaries, and reinforcements of both sides in the North African war were basically transported from the Mediterranean Sea.In this way, the British army undoubtedly has a unique advantage in occupying the island of Malta.
However, due to the joint efforts of the Italian Navy and the German Navy, the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, which had just attacked the French Navy in Operation Ballista, was severely damaged.
As a result, the strategic value of the island of Malta was initially weakened.
Without the navy, the air base on the island of Malta would have no targets to cover.The small naval supply port on the island of Malta also lost its effect as a transfer station.
Although the air force on the island of Malta can still attack the Mediterranean routes of the Allies.However, since the Italian Navy, which was in charge of transportation, no longer worried about the maritime threat of the British Mediterranean Fleet, it proudly turned to air defense.On the one hand, the Italian Navy used the captured HMS Ark Royal aircraft carrier to have a mobile maritime air force airport, which further strengthened the Italian Navy's air-to-air air defense force.
In this way, the threat of the British Air Force on the island of Malta to the Allies was once again reduced.
Originally, there were not many British air forces deployed on the island of Malta. At the peak, the total number of fighters did not exceed 20.Moreover, due to the heavy losses of the British Mediterranean Fleet, no destroyer fleet could be allocated to defend the island of Malta.Even the army, because Wavell in North Africa urgently needed a large number of troops to launch Operation Tomahawk, was drawn up as a large number of supplementary troops, and in the end only one company of infantry was garrisoned on the island of Malta.
When the Italian Navy attacked the island of Malta according to Rossi's order, the British combatants on duty at that time had at most one reinforced platoon, and the other soldiers were still on rotation.
It stands to reason that for the sake of ease and convenience, the Italian navy chose to launch an attack at 10 am in broad daylight.This time period is not critical. Compared with midnight or early morning, the British army can already spare enough manpower for defense.
However, after all, there are only one company of infantry on the island of Malta.In addition, people are not made of iron, and many of the infantry in this company are on night shift and need to rest during the day.It is also impossible for other personnel to reach the combat positions without missing a single one.
Various factors caused the Italian army to face only a reinforced platoon of British troops when they attacked.With this little manpower, it is not even as powerful as the sailors with guns on the Italian Navy warships.
In addition, the Italian Navy also has a large number of naval guns as fire support.Just for this small-scale landing battle, the Italian Navy, under the command of its Admiral Lefer, used 2 cruisers and 5 destroyers to jointly carry out artillery suppression.
For the British soldiers on the island of Malta, who had drawn most of their troops due to the North African campaign, had all their heavy artillery taken away, and lacked coastal defense artillery, the naval artillery firepower provided by the Italian Navy can be said to be hell-level suppression.
Sure enough, the entire shelling process lasted less than 30 minutes, and the British army on the island of Malta couldn't wait to surrender.Fearing that the Italian side could not see the white flag of surrender signaled by their own side, many British soldiers even dropped their weapons and ran to the periphery to kneel down to convey the message of surrender.
At this time, the Italian navy hadn't even sent sailors to land with weapons. They just cautiously used naval guns on the periphery to try to weaken the British army on the island, but they actually directly surrendered on the opposite side.
In fact, the British on the island of Malta had no other choice but to surrender.
Although as early as the end of 1939, the British National Defense Committee approved the establishment of three airports on the island of Malta, Halfar, Lucca and Takali, and the establishment of a seaplane base and a radar station in Cala Flana. A plan to deploy 4 fighter squadrons and 172 antiaircraft guns.
But apart from three airfields and a simple radar station that were built in the first few months, none of the defenses called for in the plan were in place.
Not to mention the air force giving 4 fighter squadrons, even when the island of Malta had the most fighters (including a large number of temporarily stationed fighters), it barely reached the size of a fighter squadron.
As for the 172 anti-aircraft guns mentioned in the plan, none of them are left on the island of Malta.
Just 3 months before Wavell launched Operation Tomahawk, the British North African command took away the last 14 anti-aircraft guns left on the island of Malta. An embarrassing situation without a single anti-aircraft gun to find.
As for the Air Force, there is only one shelf left.
The popular man around Rossi, the Italian admiral Angelo Tauney di Lefer who had defeated the British Empire's Mediterranean Fleet (type out his full name to distinguish him from another Italian Lefer), after he accepted The British colonel with the highest military rank on the island of Malta did not know until after he formally surrendered that the British air force on the island had only one reconnaissance plane and one fighter jet left.
The two British aircraft, without even taking off, became the spoils of war for the Italian Navy.Of course, the British pilots on the island also knew that if they took off the fighter planes, they should become a cloud of fireworks in the sky together with the planes.
This time the Italians were proud. 30 years in Hedong and 30 years in Hexi, and now it is finally their turn to form a system to capture the British army.
Looking back, Lefer reprinted Wavell's original sentence "captured the Italian officer of five acres of land." into "captured all the British Air Force and Army on the entire Maltese Islands.", proudly told the Italian reporter report.
Text Chapter 644 Playing for Germany in Italy
Leifer's capture of the island of Malta not only became another great pain in Wavell's heart, but also became a great blessing for the new Italian Prime Minister Rossi.
Taking advantage of Mussolini's serious injury and death, Rossi took down other major forces in Italy in one go.The Italian King faction removed the influence of Foreign Minister Ciano, but the influence of Deputy Prime Minister Rossi has grown by leaps and bounds.
After the Italian King Emanuele III cleaned up Ciano's remnants, he was surprised to find that Rossi had already used this gap to integrate the previous officials and generals under Mussolini's command, almost inheriting Mussolini's Much of Rini's political legacy.
Since it was Ciano who murdered Mussolini, it had nothing to do with Rossi.Therefore, this man who endured humiliation and hated Mussolini the most in Italy has now taken over a large number of followers and forces left by Mussolini.
Some of these forces originally attached to Mussolini were loyal generals of the black shirt army, and some were bureaucrats and Italian capitalists whose interests were tied to Mussolini.They were either for Rossi's title of "Mussolini's first confidant", or to find another big man who could be relied on.
For various reasons, they came together under Rossi's command.
But that's not all.
In terms of the navy, Rossi established a deep friendship with the newly promoted Italian navy general Lefer before and after the previous Mediterranean naval battle, and thus received the support of almost the vast majority of naval commanders.
This is not all because of the popular man around Rossi, Angelo Tauney di Lefer, the Italian admiral who defeated the British Mediterranean Fleet and became a hero, famous enough to reach the To the extent that the entire Italian Navy was called upon.
The reason why Rossi was able to get the support of the vast majority of admirals through Leifer was largely due to the face of Old Lefer.
Yes, Angelo Tauney di Lefer, the newly promoted Italian naval admiral, is actually not a small person without background.It can even be said that the reason why he was able to become an Italian admiral all the way was because his father was named Paul Taonet di Lefer.
Speaking of it, the old Lefer also served as the Minister of the Italian Navy, and at the same time served as the chief military adviser to King Vittorio Emanuele III, and he has some connections with the King's faction.
And this is not the most important thing, the most important thing is that the old Leifer is the first admiral in the history of the Kingdom of Italy, and was awarded the title of duke.
In the Italian Navy, so far, they have only had a marshal like Old Leifer.Its influence is naturally extraordinary.
In short, with the help of Little Leifer and Old Lefer, Rossi can be said to have established a very superior relationship with the Italian Navy.
In addition, after Rossi inherited Mussolini's mantle, he controlled the Blackshirt Army, and then controlled the Army through various departments of the Blackshirt Army throughout the Army.The downfall of Ciano made the Italian Air Force, which was hesitant to try to cooperate with it before, turn to Rossi.
It is no exaggeration to say that the actions of Ciano, the son-in-law of Mussolini and the king of Italy, finally contributed to the development of Rossi's power. The dowry for others allowed Rossi to further firmly control the Italian navy, land and air forces .
The expansion of Rossi's power made him quickly become the "second Mussolini" of the Kingdom of Italy, and the royal family had to continue to recognize his leadership position, giving up the position of prime minister that originally belonged to Mussolini to the former The Deputy Prime Minister Rossi.
What is shocking is that after Leifer took the island of Malta, Rossi may have provided a good example and goal for the Italian navy, army and air force, or perhaps to show his authority to the king.
The fat deputy prime minister who had always had a submissive personal influence before now has great courage. Not long after he took the position of prime minister, when everyone thought he would consolidate power in a stable and low-key manner, he suddenly announced that he would personally give Admiral Lefer, who captured the island of Malta, was promoted to the second marshal of the Kingdom of Italy!
This news greatly cheered a group of people.
While lamenting the coincidence that the two admirals of the Italian navy had the same surname as Leifer, people also had a little admiration for the new prime minister.
Undoubtedly, the promotion of the marshal revived the Italian army, which had not been promoted to the marshal for a long time.