Lieutenant Rudolf von Heinsberg Hessman and his friend and superior Lieutenant Walter Nowotney walked side by side into the building where the headquarters of the southern line of the German Wehrmacht in Rome. A captain and staff were waiting in the hall on the first floor and saw two young men wearing naval aviation uniforms, and immediately went up to inquire.

"Are you Lieutenant Novotney and Lieutenant Hessman?"

"Yes, I'm Lieutenant Hessman."

"I, Lieutenant Novotney."

"Please come with me." The captain's staff officer brought the two into a large room on the second floor with a large map platform. In the room, General Yeshunnek was talking to a middle-aged man in a military uniform of a major general. Hessman and Novotney both knew the major general, Helmut Haye, the first captain of the USS Sedlitz aircraft carrier.

"Ah, you are pilots of the Naval Air Force. This is great. You must know some naval combat, which saves me a lot of trouble." Helmuthaye laughed when he saw the two lieutenants, "I am Rear Admiral Haye. I have a few questions to ask you."

Major General Helmut Haye is not the captain of the USS Cedlitz, but the commander of the German Wehrmacht Navy aircraft carrier force. This time he came to Italy to investigate the situation of the Pontastilo naval battle. Both Italy and Britain claimed to have won the battle, but Hessman felt that they were bragging. But he felt that this battle with warships, aircraft carriers and shore-based aircraft participated, and the lively naval battle could well show the true strength of the Italian Navy and Air Force. Understanding the situation will help the next stage of "assistance against Italy and the United Kingdom".

So Hessman sent Major General Helmut Haye to Italy to investigate. After Major General Haye arrived in Rome, he found that some German pilots also participated in the Battle of Pontastilo. So he found one of the officers to come to Rome for questions, and he met Hessman's son.

"Who won the Battle of Pontastilo?" asked Major General Helmut Haye.

"British." Hessman, the young man replied, "The Caesar battleship was beaten to fire by the British. It should have been a 15-inch shell, at least a heavy blow."

"The Italians blew up a British mothership?"

"It's the British Eagle," said Hessman. As a carrier-based pilot of the German Navy Air Force, Hessman was trained to identify enemy and his own fleets. He could recognize most of the main ships in Germany, Britain, France and Italy.

"But the Italians threw 250 kilograms of high explosive bombs, which would not cause serious damage to the Eagle," added Ensign Novotney.

"So what about the two battleships that were severely injured?"

"There were two battleships with minor injuries, and there was no loss of power and firepower," said Hessman Jr.

Major General Helmut Haye asked again: "The Italians really dispatched hundreds of planes to bomb?"

"We don't know this," Novotney said. "The Italian Air Force did not organize large cluster assaults, but carried out multiple waves of attacks in squadrons. Each attack was carried out by high-altitude horizontal bombing, which poses little threat to surface ships."

"But the 79 medium bomber they used is really good, with fast speed, large range, and weak self-defense firepower. It is a very good torpedo attack aircraft and medium-sized horizontal bomber, and there are many!

If it can be used well, the Italians can control the sea without our help."

Novotney added: "The Italian fighter jets are somewhat outdated, and the range and speed are not enough. This may be related to their lack of good engines. In addition, we encountered ship-based spitfires in the Battle of Pontastilo, which flew slightly slower than the shore-based spitfire, but it was still difficult to deal with."

"Ship-fire spitting on the ship?" Major General Helmut Haye repeated in a low voice and nodded. "This is indeed to attract our attention!"

Nearly a year after using the Folk Zero, the German Navy Air Force has actually discovered some problems. This small aircraft is not very strong, does not protect the pilot enough, and has almost no room for upgrades. Because it is too small and light, it is impossible to replace it with a more powerful engine. Now it is equipped with a high-power air-cooled engine of the 190s 801 series that cannot be installed at all.

The "small double-drain cold engine" that can be installed on the zero-type fuselage is limited by volume. Without the supercharger or injection and overloading device, it is almost over to reach 1,200 horsepower. The 1,200 horsepower is far from the limit of the performance of the piston engine.

It seems that this Mediterranean battle is the last opportunity for German HNA to exert its power. If the Italians are willing to improve their air force, at most a combat aviation regiment equipped with Folk Zero will be sent to help the Italians solve the British Mediterranean Fleet in the first half of 1941.

"Admiral, what do you think? Does the German suggestion make sense?"

In the Venetian Palace, Mussolini, wearing a short-sleeved military uniform, asked General Francescopricolo, the chief of staff of the Italian Air Force standing in front of him.

Just a day ago, General Jeshunnek, Chief of Staff at the German Southern Front Headquarters, suddenly sent him a proposal for improvements made by the Germans after the Battle of Pontastilo.

"The leader, the Germans' suggestions make sense," said Admiral Francescopricolo, "but the Italian Air Force is an air force, not a naval aviation force. We have a lot of tasks to bear, not only to support the navy in the Mediterranean Sea, according to the suggestions put forward by the Germans, it seems that relying on our Italian Air Force can defeat the British Mediterranean Fleet. What else does the Italian Navy do?

And if we convert all the 79 medium bombers into torpedo bombers, who will complete the air support missions for North Africa and Greece?"

After the Battle of Pontastilo, the British Mediterranean Fleet became much lower-key, and the main force stayed in Alexandria and did not move again. It just sent submarines to break the trade. The threat to Italy's maritime transportation in the Eastern Mediterranean was greatly reduced, so the speed of preparations for the Italian army in North Africa and Albania was greatly accelerated.

According to the plan of the Italian General Staff, the Italian troops in North Africa will begin to march towards Egypt in September, and 200,000 troops will be crushed, and the British troops in Egypt will be able to beat at most three months.

The Greek battle that began in October was a "garden walk" military operation. 8,000 Italian troops could defeat 30,000 Greek troops in a few days, and then turn this small country into a part of the Roman Empire.

When this victory is about to be won, what is the need to improve the Italian Air Force's anti-ship combat level? Wait until the Italian Army takes over the Suez Canal, will the British Mediterranean fleet leave the Mediterranean in shame?

"The Italians are definitely a loser. The question now is how we should take advantage of their failures!"

At the German Command meeting on August 10, 1940, Marshal Hesman, Chief of Staff of the National Wehrmacht, cursed the poor Mussolini with his crow's mouth at the beginning. Then he raised the question of how to use the failure of the Italians to turn Italy into an integral part of a German chariot.

"Everyone, from now on Italy, I think of the Austro-Hungarian Empire." Hessman looked at Hitler, a former Austro-Hungarian citizen, and said, "It is obvious that the performance of the Italian army is far inferior to that of Austro-Hungarian in the past. In the Mediterranean, they clearly had the strength to defeat Britain, but they delayed it until now, and they never realized that eliminating the Mediterranean fleet was the only correct way to win the battle of North Africa."

When fighting, the logistics of North Africa can only be transported by sea! Whoever controls the sea power in the Eastern Mediterranean will win North Africa. Historically, North Africa has not yet won the sea power in Germany when Germany sent African troops. The reason is that the British Royal Navy controlled the sea power in the Eastern Mediterranean.

It is not certain to rely on the Italian Navy to fight the fleet to fight the decisive battle. After all, the quality of the British Royal Navy is obvious. Even if the equipment is not as good as Italy, it is not difficult to beat it.

Therefore, the only way is to use air to control the sea and use the Italian Air Force and the German-supported air force to bomb the British navy.

Since Germany has not launched a large-scale air strike on Britain and has no plans to attack the Soviet Union, it is possible to gather enough air force to solve the British Mediterranean fleet in any case.

So Hessman was not worried that the Mediterranean and North Africa would not win. What he really was troubled by now was how to use Mussolini's failure to completely turn Italy into a part of the German chariot, rather than becoming a burden to drag one's back as in history.

"Marson, what are you going to do?" Adolf Hitler asked.

"We cannot send troops to aid Italy unconditionally!" Hessman had already made plans, "Italy must join the European Customs Alliance, and the entire Mediterranean theater must have a highest joint command to command Germany, and Italy may also have French naval volunteers."

The French referendum has ended, and 90 French people with voting rights participated in the vote to choose the surrender plan. Among them, 73 votes allowed France to surrender by "joining the European Customs Union, currency alliance and handing over some fleets". With the banner of referendum, the French naval volunteers became patriotic organizations that "conform to the will of the French people", and the free France led by Charles de Gaulle is undoubtedly a traitor.

Hessman knew that if the Mediterranean battlefield could be successfully won, the possibility of France becoming part of the German tank would be greatly increased. To be continued.
Chapter completed!