Rudolph. Feng. Second Lieutenant Heinsberg-Hersmann and his friend and superior, Walter Hirschmann. Second Lieutenant Novotny walked side by side into the building where the General Headquarters of the Wehrmacht on the Southern Front in Rome was located. A captain and staff officer was waiting in the hall on the first floor, and when he saw two young men wearing the uniforms of the naval aviation, he immediately went up to inquire about them.

"Are you Ensign Novotny and Ensign Hersman?"

"Yes, I'm Second Lieutenant Hersman."

"I'm Second Lieutenant Novotny."

"Please follow me." The Captain's Staff Officer led the two into a large room on the second floor with a large map desk. Inside the room, Admiral Jeshunek was talking to a middle-aged man in a rear admiral's uniform. Both Hersman Jr. and Novotny knew the rear admiral, who was the first captain of the USS Seydlitz. Heyer.

"Ah, you're pilots in naval aviation, that's great, you must know a little bit about naval warfare, and that saves me a lot of trouble." Helmut. Haye laughed when he saw the two ensigns, "I'm Rear Admiral Haye, and I have a few questions for you. ”

Helmut. Rear Admiral Heyer is now not the captain of the Seydlitz, but the commander of the Wehrmacht Navy's aircraft carrier force. This time he came to Italy with the purpose of investigating Ponta. Battle of Stiro - Both Italy and England claimed victory, but Hersmann felt they were bragging. But he felt that this lively naval battle, with the participation of warships, aircraft carriers and shore-based aircraft, could be a good demonstration of the true strength of the Italian navy and air force. Finding out the situation will help in the next stage of "aiding Italy to resist the British."

So Hersmann sent Helmut. Major General Heyer led a team to Italy to investigate, and when he arrived in Rome, he found that some German pilots had also joined Ponta. Battle of Stylo. So he asked one of the officers to come to Rome for questioning, and he met Hersmann's son.

"Ponta. Who won the Battle of Stylo? "Helmut. Major General Heyer asked.

"British." Hesman Jr. replied, "The battleship Caesar was beaten by the British, and it must have been hit by a 15-inch shell, or at least a heavy wound." ”

"The Italians blew up a British mothership?"

"It's the British Eagle." Hersman Jr. said. As a carrier-based pilot in the German Naval Air Force, Hersmann Jr. was trained to identify enemy and his own fleet. Most of the capital ships of Germany, Britain, France, and Italy can be recognized.

"But the Italians threw 250 kg of high-explosive bombs, which would not have caused heavy damage to the Eagle." Second Lieutenant Novotny added.

"And what about the heavy damage of 2 battleships?"

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

Helmut. Major General Heyer asked again: "Did the Italians really send hundreds of planes to bomb?" “

"We don't know," Novotny said, "that the Italian Air Force did not organize large group assaults, but carried out multiple waves of attacks in squadrons, and each attack was carried out in the form of high-altitude horizontal bombardment, which did not pose much threat to surface ships." ”

"But the S.M.79 medium bomber they use is really good, fast, long-range, and not weak in self-defense firepower," Hersman Jr. said. A very good torpedo attack aircraft and medium horizontal bomber, and there are a lot of them!

If it can be put to good use, the Italians will be able to control the sea in the Mediterranean without our help. ”

Novotny added: "The fighters of the Italians are somewhat outdated, the range and speed are not enough...... This may have something to do with the fact that their engines are not good enough. Also, we are in Ponta. During the Battle of Stylo, carrier-based Spitfires were encountered, which were only slightly slower than the shore-based Spitfires, but were still difficult to deal with. ”

"The ship's Spitfire?" Helmut. Major General Heyer repeated in a low voice and nodded. "This really has to get our attention!"

Almost a year after the use of the Fokker Zero, the German naval aviation has actually discovered some problems. This small aircraft is not very sturdy, does not provide enough protection for pilots, and has little room for upgrades. Because it was too small and light, it was impossible to replace it with a more powerful engine – the high-horsepower, air-cooled engine of the BMW 801 series now equipped with the Fw-190 simply could not fit it.

The "small double-displacement air-cooled engine" that can be mounted on the Zero fuselage is limited by its size, and it can reach 1,200 hp without a supercharger or injection afterburner. And 1,200 hp is nowhere near the limit of piston engine performance.

It seems that this battle in the Mediterranean is the last chance for the German HNA to exert its "zero advantage...... If the Italians were willing to improve their air force, then at most one additional regiment of combat aviation equipped with the Fokker Zero would help the Italians to deal with the British Mediterranean Fleet in the first half of 1941.

……

"Admiral, what do you think? Is there any truth to the proposal made by the Germans? ”

In the Venetian Palace, Mussolini, dressed in a short-sleeved military uniform, asked Francesco, the chief of staff of the Italian Air Force, who was standing respectfully in front of him. Admiral Pricolo.

Just a day earlier, the Chief of Staff of the German Headquarters on the Southern Front, Colonel-General Jeshunek, had suddenly sent him a proposal - it was said that the Germans had studied Ponta. After the Battle of Stilo, improvements were proposed to the Italian Air Force.

"There is some truth in the advice of the Germans, leader," Francesco said. Admiral Pricolo said, "But the Italian Air Force is an independent air force, not naval aviation." We have many tasks to bear, not only to support the Navy in the Mediterranean...... According to the proposal made by the Germans, it seemed that with our Italian Air Force we would be able to defeat the British Mediterranean Fleet. What else does the Italian Navy want to do with this?

And if we convert all the S.M.79 medium bombers into torpedo bombers, then who will carry out the air support tasks for the operation in North Africa and Greece? ”

In Ponta. After the Battle of Stylo, the British Mediterranean Fleet became much more low-key, and the main force did not move again in Alexandria, but only sent submarines to break the relationship. The threat to Italy's maritime transport in the Eastern Mediterranean was greatly reduced, and as a result, the pace of Italian arms warfare in North Africa and Albania was greatly accelerated.

According to the plan of the Italian General Staff, the Italian army in North Africa will begin to march on Egypt in September, and the 200,000-strong army will be crushed over, and the British army in Egypt will be bulldozed in three months at most.

And the Greek campaign, which began in October, was a "garden walk" type military operation. An Italian army of 80,000 could defeat a Greek army of 30,000 in a few days at most, and then turn the small country into part of the Roman Empire.

At a time when this victory was about to reach, what was the need to improve the level of anti-ship operations of the Italian Air Force? Waiting for the Italian Army to take the Suez Canal, is it not the same that the British Mediterranean fleet will leave the Mediterranean in disgrace?

……

"The Italians are definitely a loser, and now the question is what we should do with their defeat!"

At a meeting of the German High Command on August 10, 1940, the Chief of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, Field Marshal Hersmann, began by cursing poor Mussolini with a crow's beak. Then the question was raised of how to take advantage of the defeat of the Italians and turn Italy into an integral part of the German tank.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I think of the Austro-Hungarian Empire from what is now Italy." Hersmann looked at Hitler, a former Austro-Hungarian citizen, and said, "It is clear that the Italian army is far inferior to the Austro-Hungarian of the past." In the Mediterranean, they clearly had the strength to defeat Britain, but they have dragged on until now, and they have never realized that destroying the Mediterranean Fleet is the only correct way to win the North African campaign. ”

War fights logistics, and logistics in North Africa can only rely on sea transportation! Whoever holds the control of the sea in the Eastern Mediterranean will win North Africa. Historically, North Africa remained untaken despite the fact that Germany sent the Afrika Korps. The reason for this was that the British Royal Navy had sea power in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In order to grasp the sea power in the eastern Mediterranean, it is not certain that the Italian Navy will fight a decisive battle of the fleet -- after all, the quality of the British Royal Navy is obvious, and even if the equipment is inferior to that of Italy, it is not difficult to fight it.

So the only way was to dominate the sea with the air and blow up the British navy with the Italian air force and the air force supported by Germany.

Since Germany now did not launch a massive air raid on Great Britain and had no plans to attack the USSR. Therefore, in any case, enough air forces can be scraped together to deal with the British Mediterranean fleet.

So Hersmann was not worried about not winning in the Mediterranean and North Africa, and what he was really struggling with now was how to use Mussolini's defeat to completely turn Italy into a part of the German chariot, rather than a burden that dragged its feet as it has historically.

"Marshal, what are you going to do?" Adolph. Hitler asked.

"We can't send troops to aid Italy unconditionally!" Hersmann had already calculated, "Italy must join the European Customs Union, and there must be a supreme joint command in the entire Mediterranean theater to command Germany, Italy, and perhaps the French naval volunteers." ”

The French referendum has ended, and 90% of the voting French voted to choose the surrender option, with 73% voting for France to "surrender by joining the European Customs Union, the Monetary Union and surrendering part of the fleet." With the banner of the referendum, the French naval volunteers have become a patriotic organization "in line with the will of the French people", and the Free France led by Charles de Gaulle is undoubtedly a traitor****.

Hersmann knew that if the Mediterranean could be successfully won, then the possibility of France becoming part of the German tank would be greatly increased. (To be continued.) )