Port Sed, Egypt, December 14, 1940, early morning.

The snow-white searchlight pierced the night, and countless trucks were running between the warehouses and the docks. Indian soldiers wrapped in red cloth shouted from time to time, urging hundreds of Egyptian coolies to speed up loading and unloading goods. The frequency of the hanger on the docks swung back and forth more than usual.

Standing at the top of the bridge of the battleship "Rodney" and looking at the busy unloading scenes on the dock, Lieutenant General James Somerville, the commander of the H fleet, could not help but think of the lifeline maintained by blood and fire on the Atlantic Ocean.

Since the sea battle in July last year, although there has been no large-scale fleet decisive battles in the Atlantic and Mediterranean Seas, the British Empire has not yet escaped the situation of life hanging on the line.

The "submarine + aircraft" tactics used by the Germans once forced the British Empire to a point where their lifeline was almost cut off. It was not until someone came up with an idea to install aircraft catapults on large cargo ships to eject hurricane fighters into the sky that the losses were considered to be controlled. However, the losses of hurricane aircraft and pilots increased accordingly. These hurricane aircraft that were ejected into the sky suffered huge losses. They were either destroyed by Folk Zero or were forced to land at sea because of exhaustion of fuel and could not fly back to the UK. Most of them could not be recycled.

Fortunately, the Americans provided volunteer pilots and aircraft in time, which allowed Britain's lifeline to continue to maintain. But the losses were still huge. From July to the present, Britain has lost about 500,000 tons of merchant ships every month. In the past year, the British Empire has lost more than 8 million tons of cargo ships, and the total tonnage of newly built merchant ships is less than 3 million tons. Now the total tonnage of merchant ships in the British Empire has decreased from 15 million tons before the war to less than 13 million tons. It is not that Lieutenant General Somerville failed in mathematics, but that Britain has taken away many France at sea and in British and American ports, and the cargo ships from Belgium have supplemented the losses.

However, 500,000 tons of merchant ships are sunk every month, which can still cause a fatal blow to the British Empire. Because a considerable number of these merchant ships are full of goods and raw materials purchased from the United States or other parts of the world. They sank into the seabed together with merchant ships, which means that Britain's few gold reserves have sunk into the Atlantic Ocean!

As the rapid consumption was achieved, Britain's gold reserves were almost bottoming out in October. They had to pay special government bonds to the wealthy Indian kings to raise funds to maintain the situation so that the bankrupt British Empire would survive until the US Lease Act was passed by Congress.

However, the most deadly threat to the British Empire is not the above, but the crisis in the Mediterranean! This is also the reason why Lieutenant General Somerville and his H fleet will now appear in Port Sed at the entrance to the northern Suez River.

Since Germany deployed hundreds of aircraft on Sicily, the T-Nice Strait has now been completely blocked. The H-Fleet stationed in Gibraltar dared not go deep into the Mediterranean Sea at all. The Mediterranean Fleet, based on Alexandria, has to face the double pressure of German aircraft and Italian fleet.

Once the Mediterranean fleet is severely damaged and loses the Mediterranean sea power, no matter what victory the British Army wins in North Africa and East Africa, regardless of whether Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey will jump out to act as cannon fodder for Britain. The rule of North Africa and the Middle East will change hands in a very short time, and then Britain may even lose India...

Britain, which lost the Middle East and India, is probably no longer the British Empire that was once known as the sun never set. Germany, which has obtained the Middle East and India, will undoubtedly successfully integrate Europe and become a more powerful behemoth than the United States.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Somerville led the enhanced H fleet (including the battleship Rodney, the battleship Queen Elizabeth, the battleship Warriors and the Ark Royal aircraft carrier) from thousands of miles to bypass the African continent to join the Mediterranean fleet.

In addition to the warships and aircraft carriers that the main force of the Mediterranean Fleet originally owned, the Mediterranean Fleet now has eight battleships including the War Warfare, Malaya, Junquan, Rodney, Queen Elizabeth, Warrior, Lorraine, and three aircraft carriers including the Royal Ark, the Glory, and the Eagle. The strength can be said to be very strong and should be able to deal a devastating blow to the Italian Navy!

...

Salzburg, Berchtesgaden.

I don’t know if I want to relax Mussolini, the anxious "20th-century Caesar" Mussolini, but Hitler did not meet him in the serious Berlin, but chose to go to the beautiful Berchtesgaden.

The meeting place between the two parties was the villa Eagle Nest, which was a villa of 1881 meters above sea level. This villa, which is a miracle in architectural history, was built by Emperor William in 1938 as a gift for Hitler's 50th birthday.

The German emperor originally planned to call Hitler the Earl of Berchtesgaden, but Hitler refused and just accepted the eagle's nest.

However, Mussolini has not yet gone to the Eagle's Nest, but is visiting Marshal Hesman's villa in the small town of Berchtesgaden at the foot of the mountain. Hessman is preparing to hold a heart-to-heart talk with the Italian leader before Mussolini and Hitler meet.

"Mr. Prime Minister," Hessman said to Mussolini with a smile, "General Halder has been on the phone with me several times, and he told me about the situation on the North African front... The situation is indeed not satisfactory, but it is not particularly bad."

Mussolini smiled reluctantly and said, "I have ordered Marshal Graziani to keep it at all costs... and keep it..."

He didn't know where to defend, because the Italian army completely collapsed on December 10. By December 17, the 10th Italian Army had lost seven artillery pieces, 70 tanks and about 38,300 soldiers. The British army followed the defeated Italian army and advanced west along the Victoria Highway, passing the Hafaya Pass, and attacked into Italian Libya.

"Preserve Benghazi," Hessman suggested kindly, "I think it is still possible to defend there. Maybe you can transport two divisions of the new forces from Italy to advance the defense in Benghazi."

"Ban...Benghazi?" Mussolini's face turned pale, "No, it's impossible!"

Hessman shrugged and smiled: "Prime Minister, whether the front will retreat to Benghazi actually depends on the victory or defeat of the maritime battle. The battle in North Africa is actually part of the Mediterranean war, and the key to the Mediterranean war is the battle of maritime power. As long as the Italian Navy can defeat the British Mediterranean fleet with the support of German air force. The failures on the land of North Africa are temporary, and the Italian army can eventually realize the ideal of leaping on the horse pyramid. But if we fail in the Mediterranean..." His tone suddenly became solemn, "Our two countries may even lose the war!"

The possibility of losing a war certainly exists! Although Hessman tried his best to suppress Hitler's idea of ​​attacking the Soviet Union, it is hard to say whether Stalin would be fooled by Britain and the United States to attack Germany.

As for the last ace of the atomic bomb, although Hessman said in front of Hitler that he could create it in two or three years, he was actually unsure.

Therefore, to ensure undefeated, the best route is to take over the Mediterranean! With the resources of North Africa and the Middle East, Germany really dares to say that it is invincible.

"Failed?" Mussolini looked at Hessman in surprise, "Marson, what are you talking about? How could we fail? Now Germany has almost conquered the entire Europe, and the Soviet Union is also a friend of Germany. In the East, Japan echoes us, and Britain is just fighting alone."

Mussolini was quite smart and had weighed it repeatedly before joining the war. Unfortunately, Hitler in history caused great trouble for the Soviet Union, and Japan gave the United States an excuse to participate in the war. As for Italy, he lost the war in the Mediterranean with a significant advantage in strength.

Hessman blinked at Mussolini. "The possibility of losing a war cannot be completely ruled out at present. But considering the serious consequences of the defeat, I suggest using an overwhelming maritime victory to completely rule it out! The victory of this naval battle will also make Italy the master of Egypt, Sudan and Syria."

According to Hessman's plan, oil-producing countries such as Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait must be protected by Germany. The Kingdom of Jordan will also be protected by Germany, while the State of Israel will be officially established on Palestinian land.

Therefore, the two territories that can be allocated to Italy around the Mediterranean are Egypt and Sudan. Considering the combat effectiveness shown by Italy, it would be good to be able to obtain the wealthy territories of Egypt, let alone to get a Sudan?

"What about Greece?" Mussolini still did not forget to teach him a lesson.

"Then add Greece," Hessmann knew that he still needed to catch Mussolini's appetite, so he nodded, "Greece can give it to Italy. But we must first defeat Britain. In order to achieve this goal, we should establish a unified joint headquarters of the Mediterranean theater. We must command all German, European and Italian troops in the Mediterranean."

"Unified command of all troops?" Mussolini asked.

"Yes," Hessman said, "including the Army, Navy and Air Force."

"So who will be the commander-in-chief of the Joint Command?" Mussolini asked again.
Chapter completed!