On July 8, 9 and 10, 194o, the arrogant British Empire had to admit the fact that air supremacy in the Mediterranean did not belong to the Royal Air Force, but to the fascist Air Force in Italy!

Although the powerful fascist air force has not shown this way in the past two months, and has very polite and gracefulness to allow British planes and fleets to sail freely in the Mediterranean. [But now the fascist leader wants to teach the British a lesson, so the powerful Italian fascist air force takes action immediately.

From the afternoon of July 8th to the morning of July 1oth, the sky of the entire Eastern Mediterranean was covered with "hunchback aircraft" (s.m.79 medium bomber) with bombs or torpedoes, chasing ships passing through the sea everywhere, seriously affecting the freedom of navigation in the Eastern Mediterranean...

The Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy had no choice but to escapist the Italian planes, and they could only snatch their tails and escape in shame.

At around 9 a.m. on July 1, Admiral Cunningham was writing a report on the situation of the Battle of Calabria (known as the Battle of Ponta Stillo by Italians), and the phone ringing interrupted him. He picked up the earpiece and immediately heard Major General Krachley's voice.

"The radar has more than 10 enemy aircraft!"

"Damn!" Cunningham cursed, "Are these Italians' hunchbacked planes still over?"

He was a little impatient by the bombing. In the past two days, he had learned the power of the fascist air force!

If it weren't for their "hunchback" bomber that littered bombs, his fleet would have been able to sink the Italian battleship with reduced bombs in the Battle of July 8.

However, the "persistent" air strikes of the Italian "hunchback" plane made him dare not fight, so he had to give up the results that he was almost about to get.

For most of the afternoon of July 8, 1O or 8 groups of "hunchback" bombers kept flying over. They did not play dive bombing like the Germans. Most of them were horizontal bombing at high altitudes, and very few would throw a few torpedoes from a distance. Although such bombing was not accurate, Cunningham even had many bombs landing around the Italians' own warships.

But the British fleet must not be air defense. Even if the bombs are not accurate, they still have to do S-shaped evasion, and anti-aircraft shells have to be fired out without any money. It would be fine once or twice, but who can bear it if it comes ten or eight times?

Moreover, there were 12 German Folk Zero and Sea Fire Spitfire in the sky, and from time to time, there were also several G.5o to play shallow dive bombs. In addition, there were two Venetto-class battleships that were no less powerful than the Hood. I don’t know when they would arrive.

Therefore, after the Italians' 11th air strike (11 air strikes plus only 1o9 aircraft came), Cunningham finally lost the courage to continue to entangle and ordered the destroyers to release smoke and cover the battleships and aircraft carriers to evacuate the battlefield.

But these damn fascist air forces were unreasonable. On the afternoon of July 8, and on the whole day of July 9 (even were bombed twice in the evening), until now (the morning of July 10), the fleet has almost arrived in Alexandria, and the Italian planes are still bombing every one or two hours. If we consider the bombing of Fleet A, there are always three or four hundred aircraft coming to the British fleet to throw bombs on the head.

Although these Italian humpback aircraft had no accurate results, they had only severely damaged one light patrol (Gloucester of Fleet A) and made a big hole in the flight deck of the Eagle aircraft carrier. In addition, some high-explosion bombs landed on the deck of the Glory, War War and the King's Power, but did not cause much damage.

However, such frequent bombings showed that the Italian Air Force had the strength to severely damage the British Mediterranean Fleet, but the Italian casual style made them unable to use such strength correctly for the time being.

However, once the Italians get serious, these "hunchback planes" with large ranges and fast flights will drive Cunningham's fleet out of the Mediterranean!

Therefore, in a report to the Admiral Cunningham told his superiors Admiral Pound: "The battle was extremely unsatisfactory to us, and we were almost defeated by the Italians."

At the same time, he also asked the Admiralty to give 1 battleship, several heavy cruisers, an armored aircraft carrier, an air defense cruiser and several other smaller warships in the report. In addition, Cunningham also asked London to immediately provide at least 6o sea spitfires, 12o spitfire or hurricane fighters and 18o heavy fighters with large ranges...

...

"Marson, the Italians won at sea!"

Marshal Hessmann just returned to Tsoson's estate on the evening of July 10. When he was about to have a flirting with Chloe, he received a long-distance call from General Halder from Rome.

"Winning?" Hessman asked skeptically, "Are you sure?"

He doesn't remember what great victory the Italian Navy won in the Mediterranean in July 194o.

"Very sure!" Halder reported, "It was Mussolini who told me personally. The Italian Air Force Chief of Staff General Pricolo also provided photos. At least two British aircraft carriers were severely damaged, and two other battleships were severely damaged... It is obvious that the British Mediterranean fleet has lost at least half of its strength. Now the sea control power in the Mediterranean has been firmly controlled by the Italian Navy!"

Is this true?

Hessman couldn't believe it, and he asked again: "How is the loss of the Italians?"

"The Caesar battleship, and there are also a light cruiser and two destroyers injured by the Italian Air Force's accidental bombing."

"Missive bomb?" Hessman was stunned. He didn't know that in the Battle of Ponta Stillo, the Italian Air Force was not able to distinguish the enemy and us, which caused many accidental bombings. However, because their bomb drops were not accurate, they did not cause much loss.

"This is normal," Halde said. "According to statistics, the Italian Air Force dispatched a total of 60 aircraft to bomb the British fleet on the 8th, 9th and today. There are inevitable mistakes in this process."

There are all kinds of accidental bombing and injury. The Luftwaffe did a lot of such things in the Battle of the Western Front. So Hessmann did not ask much, but asked about the preparations for the Battle of Malta.

General Halde on the phone told him that on July 8, 12 British transport ships arrived in Malta, so the island of Malta might have increased its military strength.

Moreover, the Italian battleship Caesar may take 3 months to repair (actually it was repaired in a day), so the Malta battle will not be carried out until January at the fastest.

"Marson," Halder assured on the phone, "you can be completely relieved that the Italian Air Force will launch air strikes on Malta and Alexandria, ensuring that these two strategic points can be paralyzed and will not affect the progress of the North African campaign."

Can the Italians' guarantees be reliable? Hessman was very suspicious when he hung up the phone. However, he could not question Italian allies without evidence. Fortunately, he, the chief of staff, is now in great power. Sending a senior delegation to investigate the situation of the Battle of Ponta Stillo is just a matter of one sentence.

...

When Halder hung up the phone, one of his adjutants pushed the door and walked in: "God General, the car is ready and you can go to the Palace of Venice at any time."

The Palace of Venice will have a reception to entertain the heroes of the fascist air force tonight. Although Marshal Hessman doubted the victory achieved by the Italians, Italian leader Mussolini firmly believed in it. Just this evening, he announced the news of the victory in his speech to the whole country.

According to him, the Italian Navy and Air Force have achieved decisive victory in the past three days of combat! Two British aircraft carriers and two British battleships were sunk, and the Italian Navy's losses were nothing more than a battleship's minor injuries.

"...Obviously, we have won and will continue to win, which is unstoppable. The great Roman Empire will be revived in the hands of our generation, and we will be the rebuilders of Rome. When the Romans mentioned the fascist heroes who fought bravely in the Mediterranean, North Africa and East Africa, they will use an extremely respectful tone! They will shout: Long live the fascist hero! Long live the fascist Rome! Long live the fascist Italy!"

Mussolini, the Italian leader who was speaking at the Palace of Venice, really believes that his invincible air force just hit the British Mediterranean Fleet with a heavy blow. There is no need to doubt that the Italian Air Force has more than 6oo "hunchback" aircraft that can run rampant in the Mediterranean Sea. This is twice as many German aircraft that bombed Spaca Bay on September 3, 2019. And each "hunchback" aircraft can carry 2 5oo kilogram bombs. 6oo multiple aircraft can drop 12oo-1o 5oo kilogram bombs at a time. How could the British Mediterranean Fleet fight against such air force?

Therefore, the destruction of the British Mediterranean Fleet is inevitable. Without the Mediterranean Fleet, how could the small British army in Egypt defeat the powerful Italian 6th Army?

It has been the past few months since Italy won the war, and then the Roman Empire will be revived!
Chapter completed!