When Eder opened the Cyprus battle plan, he immediately saw that it was a joint production of the navy, army and air force.

As soon as Eder opened it, he was shocked by the military's bold plan. Because the main force of this operation was neither the Marine Corps nor the Army of the Navy, but the paratroopers of the Air Force.

Eder was right, the main force of this operation was the paratroopers. Speaking of it, it is all related to time, the hurried battle of Crete, the preparation of a small half of the materials consumed, and the key is that the professional landing force marines, in the previous battles suffered too many losses and urgently needed to rest (the previous seizure of the island and Crete landing battles suffered too many casualties).

However, the island of Cyprus is in the battle plan, and it needs to be carried out immediately after the capture of Crete, and the main reason is also to prepare for the next landing in the Middle East. If you open the map, you can see that the island of Cyprus is just over 100 kilometers from Turkey and less than 200 kilometers from Syria, and it is large enough (the third largest island in the Mediterranean) to amass enough troops to peek into the British and French colonies in the Middle East.

The British side also attached great importance to the island, deploying 48,000 troops and more than 200 aircraft as a northern barrier to protect the British and French colonies.

It was obvious that if the island was not taken, it would not be possible to make a direct landing on the Middle East, so this also became a prelude to the Romanian attack on the Middle East. However, it is not easy to attack the island, because the island is 400 kilometers away from the nearest Italian island of Rhodes, which will make many aircraft of the Romanian Air Force unable to reach the island of Cyprus. (Crete is more than 500 kilometers away)

For example, Romania's current main fighter, the R20 Peregrine Fighter, needs to return immediately when it flies to Cyprus, and there is no time to fight at all.

So this also worried those combat staff officers, and the only choice in the end was the HF201 fighter, but fortunately, during this time, Romania was very satisfied with the effect of the aircraft, and the production efficiency was also greatly improved, and it was able to achieve the maximum maximum production of 120 aircraft per month (mainly due to the effect of Alexander's air raids), so that the aircraft would not be as large as before with only more than 200 aircraft.

However, although there are currently more than 500 planes, only more than 300 have formed combat effectiveness, of which more than 100 are assigned to the Air Force, which is just the size of a wing. It is certainly not enough for the Air Force to escort its own fighters, so it is necessary to find a way for the Navy.

Therefore, in this plan, it is necessary for the naval and air forces to jointly send fighter formations to carry out air strikes on the island of Cyprus as the first move, destroy the enemy's air power, and open up the situation for the next battle.

And after the destruction of the enemy's air power, the paratroopers were airdropped near the airfield on the island of Cyprus by means of airborne. After the seizure of its airfield, the air force from Romania will bring in other troops and equipment by air. Of course, airborne landing alone will not solve the battle, and the Romanian Navy will also be responsible for supporting the operation by landing at that time.

The entire plan required a small number of troops, only 54,000, three divisions and one brigade. It's just that the navy and air force used more, all five aircraft carriers participated in the battle, plus 2 battleships, 3 heavy cruisers, and other small warships and various transport ships.

As for the Air Force, there are more aircraft, 283 R20 fighters (escort), 167 HF201 fighters, 228 RU28 bombers, 186 RU18 dive bombers, 48 RU80 four-engine bombers.

And, of course, the most important of all, the 386 RY58 transport aircraft. The transport aircraft is 19.2 meters long and 4.93 meters high. The empty weight of the whole aircraft is 7300KG, the maximum take-off weight is 12800KG, and the load is 5.5 tons, which can carry 24 fully armed soldiers and 1 ton of supplies.

Airborne missions were carried out by the 1st Parachute Division, which consisted of two paratrooper regiments and an airborne regiment, as well as an airborne artillery regiment (equipped with two 75-mm light artillery battalions, a 37-mm anti-tank battalion, and an anti-aircraft battalion). In addition, there are reconnaissance battalions, engineer battalions, medical battalions, etc., and the total number of officers and men in the division has reached 11,871.

Among them, the first airborne mission will be composed of the 1st Parachute Regiment and the 2nd Parachute Regiment. Their mission is to seize the airfield, build a defensive line, and open up the situation for the next landing.

It should be mentioned here that there are currently four airports on the island of Cyprus, located in Paphos, Limassol, Larnaca, and Nicosia.

The paratrooper division needed to seize mainly the two airfields on the outskirts of Paphos and Nicosia, because according to intelligence, it was shown that it had few garrisons. As for Limassol and Larnaca, one is next to a naval base and the other is next to a concentration point of British troops, which is not conducive to capture and defend.

And after they seize the airport, the transport planes will bring reinforcements and equipment for them. Although they basically have light weapons in their hands, the support from the Air Force will be very timely, who makes them the sons of the Air Force.

Of course, there is also a lot of help from the navy, and the artillery fleet will approach the island to provide artillery support after emptying the opponent's air power.

Then rely on the landing force to open the situation, send heavy equipment and follow-up troops, and occupy the island of Cyprus.

Eder looked at this battle plan, how to see it was a bit like the battle plan of Crete, Germany in his previous life.

"Did you take into account the casualties in this way of fighting?"

"Your Majesty, we have already thought about it. We intend to take advantage of the fact that there is a parachute landing at night to minimize the damage suffered by paratroopers before landing. In addition, in order to cover the paratrooper airborne, Air Force bombers will also bomb it at night. Moreover, the landing force will also set out as soon as possible and approach the island as soon as possible to open up the situation for it. ”

Admiral Fereitt, who did not understand what Eder was referring to, spoke of the plan prepared by the military.

Because Germany has not yet taken action against Belgium, the power of the paratroopers is not yet known, and naturally the advantages and disadvantages of the paratroopers are also known. Although the exercise can simulate operations, it is not a substitute for the possibility of operations.

At present, the Romanian paratroopers have been slowly accumulated over the years, and Eder has some doubts about the airdrop of so many paratroopers to take the island of Cyprus at one time. The main thing is that paratroopers are too expensive, and not in general.

At present, the firepower of paratrooper equipment is the pinnacle of light infantry, and each soldier has pistols, compasses, grenades, gas masks, daggers, military blankets, sapper shovels, bandages, cigarettes, water bottles, etc., in addition to his own rifle or submachine gun. These add up to thirty or forty kilograms, and these are indispensable supplies for paratroopers. If you add parachutes and ammunition, it's basically one more person in weight.

In addition, the training time of paratroopers is long and expensive. Each paratrooper alone needs to experience at least five successful parachute dives, which can be expensive. So don't look at the light equipment that paratroopers use, but the formation cost is much more expensive than a standing infantry division, at least 1.5 times more.

Therefore, at present, Romania has only formed a paratrooper division and a half (the paratrooper independent brigade, which was originally going to form a unit of the second paratrooper division), and this time the military put it into battle, in addition to time reasons, it is also intended to test the role of paratroopers as a branch of the army.

Eder heard what Admiral Fereit said, thought about it and held back. Now that the military has decided to adopt the tactic of flowering in paratrooper centers, then what else is there to say about it. Could it be that if you tell them how to use the paratroopers, and whether Eder has trained them, it is impossible to give instructions on this.

"Alright then, now that you've decided, let's follow the plan."

After Eder finished speaking, he signed his name on the battle plan.

Although Eder had his own doubts about the use of paratrooper tactics to seize the island, he could only approve it. After all, in addition to the general direction, Eder can also decide, where does he understand the military battle plan? It's not the military that made it, and it was approved after looking at it yourself.

Who would have thought that shortly after sending off the Chief of the General Staff, the Foreign Secretary hurried up to him with a telegram.

Without waiting for Eder to receive the telegram, Kostel directly stated the contents of the telegram.

"Your Majesty, Italy is asking for help from our country!"

This sentence made Edel froze, and he didn't even catch the telegram with his outstretched hand.