Of course, Mussolini could not trust anyone completely, but at the end of his life, he still issued an order to make the Italian Navy and Air Force obey the German-Italy General Command. ({[[[[[[[[[[?]]]] At the same time, he also approved the candidates for the deputy commander-in-chief, chief of staff and deputy chief of staff proposed by Hessman.

The deputy commander-in-chief of the coalition was General Ugo Cavalero, who replaced Bardoglio as the chief of the general staff of the arbitrary army. The chief of the coalition was General Kavnary, the chief of the Italian Navy. The deputy chief of the staff was General Yeshunnek of the German Air Force, who was also the commander of the Joint Mediterranean Air Force Command.

After the command team was established, Hessman immediately began to exercise command power. On the last day of 194o, the first coalition combat meeting was held.

The meeting begins with a lecture.

In a room arranged as a combat command room, Hessman faced a group of elderly and mostly confused Italian generals wearing fancy uniforms. Hessman began to speak in a very serious tone.

"Everyone, let me explain the situation before the meeting begins. The Italian army had just fought two terrible defeats, one in North Africa and the other in Greece. The Italian army, with a large number and well-equipped one, was defeated by enemies with far fewer numbers than theirs.

About three divisions of British troops attacked Libya, captured Italian troops in an established manner, and seized countless weapons, ammunition and supplies. The Greeks attacked the mountains of southern Albania and stopped their attacks due to the terrain and cold climate. Before that, they also gained a lot and seized many advanced weapons that they could not afford."

Hessman slowly glanced over the war room, bringing everyone's expression into his eyes. The Italians were very calm, and none of them showed shame or anger, as if they did not understand the English spoken by Hessman (the senior Italian generals rarely understand German, but their English proficiency was very good, so Hessman could only speak English to them). Obviously, they all had good "cultivation", and perhaps because they often encountered failures, they had been used to it.

Hessman continued: "The consequences of these two failures are very serious. Now our two countries may face the terrible fate of the failure of war! If we cannot strive to save the situation, then we will become the sinners of the country!"

When they heard Hessman mention "failure", the fascist generals in the room were still not moved. They probably thought Hessman was scaring people, although Italy could not fight, wouldn't he still have the backer of Germany?

"Now I will propose a few ways to save the situation." Hessman also knew that the Italian generals were thick-skinned and did not even feel ashamed of surrender, so he stopped saying useless words.

"First, all the Italian troops stationed in Albania were assigned to the command of the German Southeast Front Headquarters. Greece and Yugoslavia, which may turn to Britain, will be mainly dealt with by the German troops on the Southeast Front. In Greece, our Mediterranean theater is only responsible for Crete and its surrounding islands.

Secondly, Benghazi will be the stronghold for us to launch a counterattack in North Africa and we must defend with all our strength. The ground combat in North Africa will revolve around defending Benghazi. The Italian 6th Army is mainly responsible for defending Benghazi. They should defend Benghazi until the German African army arrives.

Third, the key to determining the victory or defeat of the Mediterranean battlefield is the dispute over sea power. Only by defeating Britain's maritime power in the Mediterranean can we achieve the final victory. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to fully cooperate with the Italian Air Force, the Italian Navy and the German air force. Therefore, I now appoint Admiral Hans Jeshunnek as the commander-in-chief of all air forces in the Mediterranean theater except for ship-based aircraft and seaplanes.

Fourth, Crete in Greece is the junction of the Balkan battlefield and the Mediterranean battlefield, and its geographical location is very critical. When launching offensive operations on the Balkan side, we must seize them. Therefore, the main sea operations in the Mediterranean will revolve around Crete, and there is a fleet and a decisive battle between sea and air.

Fifth, before the Battle of Benghazi and the Battle of Crete begin, we must remove the nail that the British were inserted at the feet of Italy. Malta! We must remove the nail as soon as possible, otherwise our every move will be under the surveillance of the British."

Malta! Hessmann asked the Italians to seize as much as possible a few months ago, and provided a small amount of assistance. However, the Italians who received the assistance continued to delay, and after their defeat in Greece, this happened again.

So until now, Malta is still in the hands of the UK. The British also deployed radar stations there to monitor German aircraft taking off from Sicily, and also deployed Short "Sunderland" seaplanes equipped with airborne radar systems. These seaplanes wander outside Taranto Bay every day, and at night they would fly into the sky less than a kilometers away from Taranto Military Port, and use radar to scan the military port.

Therefore, without pulling out the nail in Malta, the Italian Navy's every move is under the eyes of the British. Ships that transport reinforcements and supplies to Benghazi will also be attacked by British submarines and British bombers taking off from Crete due to their whereabouts being exposed.

"His Marshal," said Hessmann about a few minutes after he said that, General Kafnari, chief of staff of the Italian Navy, asked the question, "How do we occupy Malta?"

"Come on 6!" said Hessman. "The British have been strengthening Malta over the past few months, and have deployed a large number of radars and anti-aircraft guns there, so they can't rely on airborne to capture the island."

In fact, the Luftwaffe has long been studying how to interfere with and avoid radars. The radar on Malta Island cannot defeat Hessman at all. However, if the British fleet uses paratroopers to solve Malta, the British fleet will not come.

Admiral Kafniali said slowly: "Marty, if calculated based on the sea voyage, the distance between Malta and Taranto is about 32 nautical miles. If part of the z-shaped route is adopted, it will take at least 4oo-5oo nautical miles. Based on the 15-degree flight, it may take an hour.

As soon as our large fleet drove out of the Port of Taranto, British reconnaissance planes or submarines would appear... The British aircraft carrier sailed from Alexandria to the attack position west of Crete and would take about 54 nautical miles, and some would take Z-shaped routes at least 8 o nautical miles. Considering that the aircraft carrier was fast, it would reach the attack position within 4 o hours. At that time, the battle of the Down 6 was definitely not over.

In addition, British aircraft deployed on Crete and the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece may also be involved in air strikes on our fleet.”

Not bad, not bad! Hessman nodded repeatedly in his heart. This Italian Navy Chief of Staff is a talent.

In fact, the Italian Navy had long required aircraft carriers in history, and before the war broke out, they had formulated a plan to seize Malta during wartime, but Mussolini took the correct suggestions as a warning.

Hessman glanced at Yeshunnek, and the Luftwaffe Admiral immediately said: "Our aircraft have obvious advantages in quantity and quality. If air combat is carried out in the waters west of Sicily, the exchange ratio will definitely be beneficial to us."

Yeshunnek is an Air Force general, and his thinking is of course an air force-like approach. Fighting war is a problem of fighter jet exchange ratio.

Among the Italian Air Force and German Aviation Forces under his command, fighter squadrons that can be used to conduct air combat over the Mediterranean (excluding night combat aircraft, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft, insufficient range fighter jets and carrier-based aircraft under the command of the Navy), there are 6 German squadrons (three equipped with Folk Zero, three equipped with F-19o) and 26 Italian squadrons (four equipped with Folk Zero, one equipped with R.42, and 12 equipped with M.2oo), and a total of one squadrons.

In addition, there are four Fighter Zero fighter squadrons equipped with Folk Zero under the command of the Italian Navy.

There are 34 squadrons in total, with 432 fighter jets, of which 6 shore-based fighter jet squadrons in Germany are all organized 16.

Therefore, Yeshunnek has a lot of capital in his hands and is not afraid of fighting attributable to the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy Air Force.

"And we have a significant advantage," said Yeshunnek. "Behind us is Germany, and the losses are very easy to supplement. Now the Luftwaffe and Navy Air Force have 65oo combat aircraft, which can withstand a war of attrition. The British army in the Mediterranean are more than 20,000 kilometers away from the British, so their losses are difficult to supplement."

Upon hearing Yeshunnek's well-informed analysis, General Kafniari just smiled bitterly. The Navy's accounts are not calculated like this. Navy aviation is all opportunists. They seized the opportunity to overturn a battleship, even if they lost 1oo aircraft, it would be worth it.

Moreover, Cunningham is a master of naval aviation. It is really a risk to expose the Italian fleet to the edge of Cunningham's carrier-based aircraft and shore-based aircraft!

"Admiral Kafniali," Hessman said to the Italian Navy Chief of Staff, "It is determined that the Mediterranean belongs to air force. Once the British Mediterranean fleet loses air cover, we will win the war. So you don't have to worry about losing battleships, as long as the loss is valuable.

The combat plan is jointly formulated by you and Admiral Yeshunnek. The basic idea is to surround the points and attack support, and the old-fashioned Count Cafur class and 'Doria' class can be used as bait. However, the 'Veneto' class battleship and the two aircraft carriers should be kept as much as possible.
Chapter completed!