"Everyone, what we are seeing now is the military map of Malta. Malta is located 90 kilometers south of Sicily, 284 kilometers east of Tunisia, and 333 kilometers north of Libya. Its geographical location is very important. It is not only a roadblock for our country to connect with Libya, but also
It is also the central point of the Mediterranean. Currently, Malta is occupied by the British army and has become a strategic point that restricts us. Therefore, our country needs to remove this point as soon as possible and make it the cornerstone of our country's dominance of the Mediterranean."
Within the General Staff, an officer was introducing the importance of Malta to Carlo and Prime Minister Cruz.
If you are careful, you will find that the officer who is serving as the narrator is wearing a navy uniform. Yes, today's military briefing to Carlo and the government is led by the navy.
Due to historical reasons, the General Staff is mainly composed of army officers, so in order to better describe the plan, the Navy Department selected officers with clear articulation and sharp thinking to serve as narrators.
How could Carlo and Cruz not know the importance of Malta? In just over a month since the war broke out, Libya's oil and iron ore imports have dropped significantly compared to previous years. Not only
In this way, the British army on the island of Malta sent small warships to harass, causing nine merchant ships to be sunk or captured, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of tons of oil and iron ore.
To this end, the Navy organized merchant ship formations to sail, and also sent warships to escort. In addition, the Navy also used airships to increase patrols of the waters surrounding Malta. Through multiple measures, the attack was contained.
One more thing to mention here is that the world's first air battle also broke out over the waters surrounding Malta.
The V-5 airship belonging to the Italian Navy and the British airship Dandelion encountered each other unexpectedly. The two sides exchanged friendly fire with their ship-borne machine guns, causing varying degrees of damage to the two airships, and also causing the British
Three soldiers were killed and six were wounded, and the Italian army was killed and three wounded.
Of course, the casualties between the two sides were different. In addition to the larger tonnage of the Italian airship, there was also the reason that the Italian airship had one more machine gun than the British.
Of course, this also led the British and Italians to start installing more machine guns on the airships, and the navy even considered moving a 37mm cannon aboard.
Of course, for the Italian Navy, the above measures are just a permanent solution, not the root cause. The best way is to occupy the island of Malta and remove this nail.
This is also the reason why Carlo and the Prime Minister came. The occupation of Malta by the British army will make it impossible for Italy to exert its power. This nail must be removed before it can talk about dominating the Mediterranean.
"So what's your plan?"
Facing the officer's story, Carlo asked.
Facing Carlo's inquiry, the officer spoke at the signal of Admiral Yagir.
"Your Majesty, our navy plans to organize troops to seize the island. According to our navy's plan, our navy intends to use the cover of warships to allow the marines to seize the beach on Malta. According to the exact information we have received, there are more than 9,000 British troops in Malta.
More than 4,000 of them were the original defenders of the island of Malta. In the three days before the war broke out, the British army reinforced nearly 5,000
As a result, the island currently has 9,000 troops. Among them, more than 8,000 are guarding Malta Island, and nearly 1,000 are guarding Gozo Island. Currently, the Maltese defenders are equipped with hundreds of artillery pieces of various calibers.
, among which the Port of Valletta, as the main port, is the focus of its defense, and the port is very tightly defended, so we plan to use unconventional means."
Hearing the officer's words, Carlo became interested. "What method?"
"First of all, our navy is prepared to use joint sea and air operations."
Good guy, now Carlo is really interested enough. Joint sea and air operations are really going to happen. This is a pioneering combat system.
And this also shows that the Navy is becoming more and more proficient in the use of new technologies.
"First we will assemble more than 60 airships and give priority to air suppression. Secondly, we will dispatch the reserve fleet to bombard the island. Then we will launch infantry to land on it and gradually eliminate the island's defenders. Also, let me tell you in detail,
The specific combat situation..."
It sounds like there is nothing new, but in this era, such landing operations are very novel. You must know that the current landing operations are still very primitive. They basically use wooden boats to send soldiers up. In the process, the power of the ships basically depends on the soldiers themselves.
paddle.
For the Italian Navy, which has always been at the forefront of the world, this slow landing method is definitely not advisable. Considering Italy's needs in the Mediterranean, newer transportation methods are used to transport soldiers and heavy weapons ashore as quickly as possible and more safely.
It's a problem that must be solved.
After years of research and testing, the world's first professional landing craft was born. This landing craft, named the Barracuda class by the Navy, weighs 15.7 tons and adopts a flat-bottomed structure suitable for shallow water navigation. The landing hatch opens directly in front.
Moreover, the 12 mm thick steel plate can withstand small arms attacks, and the boat is also equipped with a Maxim machine gun as self-defense firepower.
In addition, the ship ran at a speed of 10.5 knots while carrying 50 fully armed soldiers and 3 tons of supplies. As a landing craft, it can run at such a fast speed thanks to its equipped 180-horsepower diesel engine. Of course, in addition to
In addition to transporting soldiers, the boat can also transport artillery to meet the heavy firepower requirements for landing and alleviate the lack of heavy firepower for front-line landing troops. Of course, this is only if there are enough landing sites.
In terms of performance, this landing craft has led the world (because no other country has it), and the Italian Navy also built 150 such landing craft before the war.
It was precisely because of its experience in using many new weapons that the Italian Navy began to eagerly prepare to remove the nail in Malta after the war began.
After listening to the officer's narration, Carlo praised, "The explanation was very good, and it made me and the Prime Minister feel like they were having a real experience."
The praise from the king greatly encouraged the navy present.
Admiral Yagier, the Minister of the Navy, took the opportunity to speak. "Our navy is determined to win Malta this time. There are also some minor issues that need to be coordinated by the government."
Facing Admiral Yagir's words, Carlo looked at Prime Minister Cruz, who immediately understood what the king meant.
"If you, the Navy Department, have any requests, just mention them. As long as we can remove the nail in Malta and ensure the safety of transportation with the Libyan Province, I can agree to it as long as it is within the scope of what I can do."
Since the Prime Minister was so happy, Admiral Yagir also mentioned it. "Our navy hopes that the government will assist us in recruiting a group of merchant ships to be used as transport ships."
Why does Admiral Yagir specifically mention this? Because not every merchant ship can be used as a naval transport ship. It has high requirements for the speed, usage, and type of use of the ship. This also results in the number of ships that can be recruited
, generally not that cheap.
Although the Navy can do it on its own, it makes a difference whether there is assistance from the government. With assistance, the Navy can complete the recruitment and appropriate modifications faster.
"No problem, our government will fully cooperate." The Prime Minister agreed immediately.
What followed was a scene where everyone was happy. After Carlo and the Prime Minister listened to the navy's plan, they highly praised the plan. Carlo even said that he would confer titles on outstanding commanders after he captured Malta.
Oh, by the way. I forgot to mention that the reserve fleet that the naval officer mentioned was also the product of the Italian-Austrian naval alliance. In order to increase the Allies' chances of winning in the Mediterranean, it was promoted by Italy, Germany chose to approve, and Vienna passively accepted the reserve fleet.
It was established on the tenth day after the war broke out.
The fleet is mainly composed of Italian and Austrian pre-dreadnoughts. Among them, Italy's three Genoa-class and Austria-Hungary's three Radetzky-class pre-dreadnoughts have become the core of the reserve fleet. In addition, there are a number of unsuitable main force.
The battleships, other pre-dreadnoughts, cruisers, and destroyers, such a hodgepodge of battleships, are the Combined Reserve Fleet.
As for the commander of the fleet, Italy fully listened to the opinions of Admiral von Haus, the head of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and appointed Austro-Hungarian Vice Admiral Maximilian Negovan as the commander, while Italian Vice Admiral Hilma
As chief of staff, jointly command this fleet.
As for the mystery of who is the strongest pre-dreadnought battleship between Italy and Austria, we can only know it after the battlefield test. Of course, whether this battle can be achieved as expected depends on the efforts of the main combined fleet.
