Expecting the Italian Navy and the British H Fleet to fight to the death, even Li Le felt that this was an impossible thing. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

He felt that the Italian navy was able to do it if it was going well, and it was estimated that it would be able to bully the H fleet, which had already been defeated.

But let them take the fleet to fight with a British H fleet with complete combat effectiveness, then it is really difficult to say who will win and who will lose.

It was not possible to add another victory to the British in addition to the French detachment - when the allies lost more fleets, Li Le's life would not be easy.

Therefore, Li Le still has to add advantages to himself in a superior battle.

In the end, he persuaded Mussolini to let the Italian Navy submarine ambush in the predetermined sea area, and even the ambush site was very cleverly chosen.

Note that the submarines used here were not German submarines as the British Navy thought, but submarine forces belonging to the Italian Navy.

In fact, if you calculate the battle record, the submarine force of the Italian Navy can be regarded as one of the few units that can be regarded as a strong army in Italy, the axis of World War II.

Comparatively speaking, this unit dares to fight tough battles and executes tactics well. Therefore, it is also the biggest reason why Li Le is relieved to let this submarine force ambush the British fleet.

This time, Li Leke used his own blood, did not hesitate to fool in all kinds of ways, and even ignored the suspicion that others suspected that this was a trap, which contributed to the operation of the Italian Navy.

And just in case, 20 Italian submarines were scattered around the sea area, waiting for the battle to start before looking for opportunities to attack separately.

After all, the German wolf pack tactics of the Italians could not be played, and their submarines fought separately, so there was a situation where some submarines attacked in advance, while some submarines were still looking for positions at a distance.

But even so, the attack was good, because the small battleships of the British were around the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, so the battleship was exposed to the submarines.

This exposure directly buried the poor battleship Determination, making Somerville, who was standing on the bridge of the battleship Warrior, almost collapse.

The battleship Resolve exploded and caught fire, the entire battleship was already flipped sideways, and the captain of the battleship Resolve reported that the battleship had lost at least half of its power.

"Let the two destroyers go over to help, drive away the other party's submarines, and the battleship will maintain an S-shaped maneuver and get out of this sea area!" Once again, Somerville emphasized maneuvering maneuvers to dodge torpedoes.

"Port side! Torpedo spotted! "The lookout post of the battleship Warrior spotted the incoming torpedo track and was so frightened that they hurried to report it to their own headquarters.

At 18:07, the British battleship Warrior began to evade the torpedo turn, and two torpedoes grazed the stern of the Warrior and swept past the massive battleship.

In the case of preparation, the probability of the faster battleship avoiding the torpedo is still very high, and the soldiers on the British battleship are well-trained and naturally avoid this attack.

The Italians did not work in concert, so the torpedoes were fired in different directions and not intensively.

The British naval fleet quickly spotted a large number of torpedoes and avoided the vast majority of torpedo attacks.

Only one cruiser was torpedoed, and the same billowing smoke came out. Unlike the thick-skinned battleships, this cruiser suffered even more heavy losses and soon stopped at sea.

"It's an ambush! The Germans have known for a long time that we are coming! Intelligence has been leaked! Damn it! Somerville screamed as he pounded the chart table in front of him.

If he didn't see that this was a trap that the Axis had prepared a long time ago, then he wouldn't have to be a fleet commander.

Intelligence leaks were the first thing that came to Summerville's mind, because the enemy's deployment was so calm and thoughtful.

Now, as he could imagine with his ass, the vanished Italian fleet was rapidly approaching here, annihilating his fleet in this damn place.

"Bastard! Keep the fleet accelerating! The carrier-based aircraft on the aircraft carrier Ark Royal immediately returned to the sea, leaving the French fleet alone! Prepare to take on the Italian Navy! When he realized that it was not good, he immediately responded with his own actions.

As soon as he finished speaking, a telegram from the aircraft carrier Ark Royal arrived, and an officer hurried over and reported to Somerville: "General! The reconnaissance plane on the Ark Royal has found the Italian fleet! ”

"Where?" The commander of the Royal Navy's H-Fleet asked.

"About 40 nautical miles from us, in this direction!" The officer pointed at the chart and then stopped talking.

"What? So close? Turn the rudder and let the Warrior be behind, and the fleet wants to retreat from Gibraltar! "Somerville didn't have the heart to keep going.

He was now in a very unfavorable position, and if the French ships sailed out of the port and flanked the British fleet with the Italian navy, his H-fleet would soon be destroyed here.

This was a loss that he, or rather the British Navy, could not afford - a loss that would affect the defence of Gibraltar, if Gibraltar were to lose......

Well, if Gibraltar is lost, the British king and his Prime Minister Churchill will not have to play anymore, wipe their necks early.

The present situation, although the French detachment was not annihilated, and one more cruiser was lost, the losses were still acceptable.

The Resolve was only wounded, not yet to the point of sinking, and as long as he covered his fleet and fought and retreated, returning to the range of air force in Gibraltar, the Italians would have little to do.

The main reason for Summerway's judgment is that he is not personally responsible for the defeat - it is entirely the intelligence service's fault.

Thinking of this, Somerville hurriedly ordered: "The fleet returns and leaves the battlefield to the west!" Pay attention to the sea situation and watch out for enemy submarines! ”

18:11, inside the port of France.

General Soule finally realized that things might have taken a turn for the better. The shells that fell in the harbor disappeared, and the observation post by the sea brought back the good news.

The news said that the British battleship had exploded and began to maneuver violently, apparently being attacked by an unknown army on the other side.

Hearing this, General M?Jean Soul, of course, thought of the arrival of reinforcements from the Germans, and he realized that his fleet had been saved and the British were gone.

"Order the fleet to leave the port! Pursue like a British fleet! Seeing the victory and the head, M. Suhr realized what he had to do, at least to thank the German "allies".

He expressed his gratitude by pursuing the British fleet and demonstrating the determination of the French fleet not to surrender.

How determined are the French? Their resolve was dashed when a destroyer went out to sea and saw the trail of a torpedo on the surface.

Admiral Sur feared that his fleet would be accidentally damaged by German submarines, as the French fleet had never coordinated with the Axis navies.

It is obviously dangerous and unwise to rush into a decisive battle between the two fleets in such a state.

So he took the safest and most realistic approach, and he ordered his fleet to stay in the harbor of Kebir and wait until the battle was over, and then go out to sea to rescue the drowning men on both sides......

In the eyes of the French, they have not yet decided which side they want to be on, so preserving their strength is the choice they will inevitably make now.

Li Le, who was far away in Berlin, did not know that the naval battle he had carefully planned to flank the British H fleet was so simply bankrupt.

After all, he was not a professional naval commander, and it was impossible to speculate on the outcome of naval battles that had never appeared in history.

Because of this, after this naval battle broke out and the battleship Resolve was damaged, Li Le's prophetic golden finger was no longer useful.

The fleet of the M. Jean Sur in the port of Kebir did not participate in the battle, and on the other side, the main Italian fleet, which was rushing towards the H fleet of the British Navy, was very high in morale.

Just got the news that one of the British battleships was hit! Faced with the British fleet, whose combat strength had been drastically reduced and its formation was already in disarray, the Italian navy certainly did not mind stepping forward to reap the benefits.

"The Führer's intelligence is so accurate, this naval battle has been doomed since a few days ago." The commander of the Italian Navy said to the German officer next to him with a smile on his face.

The German officer, also encouraged by the good situation in front of him, smiled as if he were the decision-maker, and accepted the flattery of the Italian allies around him: "Thank you, our intelligence agencies have always been very good." ”

He was talking about his country's intelligence agency, but the expression on his face was as if he was showing off.

Now the battle seemed to be won, and the two new battleships of the Italian Navy took the lead, like a human head dog that saw a bloody enemy fleeing.

At this time, the tragic Royal Navy H Fleet was still maneuvering in a serpentine shape, asking for torpedoes fired by submarines scattered by the Italian Navy in this sea area.

At 18:18, at this relatively interesting point in time, the cruiser that the British Navy had previously hit sank.

Somerville was so depressed by this loss that his battleship Warrior and the faster battlecruiser Hood finally fired their own cannon for once.

At 18:19, a naval battle between the H fleet of the British Royal Navy and the main fleet of Italy officially broke out.

The British battleship Warrior and the battlecruiser Hood opened fire at the same time, and only one minute later, at 18:20, the Italian naval battleship Veneto fired back.

Subsequently, the battleship Litorio followed the flagship and opened fire, and the brand-new Battle of Orlan began.