Italy has bad intentions towards Malta, and the Maltese garrison who is its target is not unaware of it. After all, it is necessary to prepare for war, so pre-war preparation of personnel and materials, as well as intelligence reconnaissance, logistics support and other tasks
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Therefore, it is not easy to fight a war, and it is even more difficult to conceal strategic intentions.
"Enemy airship!"
A British soldier shouted, and other soldiers immediately scattered to find shelter.
However, there are few trees on the island of Malta, and most of them are small bushes. The earthy color of the earth makes them a little conspicuous in their green military uniforms.
But what pleased them was that the airship did not come towards them, but slowly rushed towards Valletta in the sky.
"Looks like we're going to Valletta."
The British soldiers who escaped the disaster breathed a sigh of relief.
The British soldiers didn't actually feel anything about the Italian airships at first. It wasn't until half a month ago that an airship launched an attack on a troop marching on foot. After machine gun bullets fell from the sky and caused heavy casualties, they avoided the airship.
It became an essential training subject for the defenders.
After a while, the sound of gunfire was heard in Valletta, which was to drive away the airship in the sky.
"Let's keep digging trenches."
The leading officer tidied up his messy clothes and ordered the soldiers to continue working.
Although the soldiers could ignore the situation, Major General Behrens, as the commander of the Malta garrison, could not ignore it.
Although Italian airships are just dangling overhead every day, this is an obvious signal that the Italians are about to take action against Malta.
As the commander of a strategic location, Major General Behrens is definitely not bad among the British army, and of course he knows his situation.
If there is a Mediterranean Fleet to contain it, then Malta cannot be said to be impregnable, but at least it can be considered a solid fortress. Because it was the station of the Mediterranean Fleet before, there is no shortage of various defense facilities here.
But without the restraint of the Mediterranean Fleet, no matter how strong the fortress is, it will be breached without reinforcements.
Major General Behrens, who understood this truth well, even sent a report to London and Alexandria stating the situation facing Malta.
This is also smart. Asking for help directly will give people a feeling of panic, but stating the situation faced by Malta and leaving the choice to superiors can allow the big shots to make decisions.
Major General Behrens's telegram was transmitted to London and Alexandria via radio waves.
Alexandria is the home of the Mediterranean Fleet, where a large fleet is stationed. Yes, this is the Mediterranean Fleet, one of the pillars of the British Empire. As one of the two major British fleets, the Mediterranean Fleet is in its heyday.
Many new warships are densely packed in the port.
As the commander of the fleet, Admiral Sackville Cardon is also busy in his headquarters.
"Report."
"Come in."
"Admiral, this is a telegram from Malta."
The communications officer placed a telegram on the admiral's desk.
Admiral Cardon glanced at him. "Invite the chief of staff."
"yes."
After the officer went out, the originally capable general showed signs of fatigue. This period of time had exhausted him, and the reason was Major General Behrens's telegram.
As the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, Admiral Sackville Cardon seemed to others to have great power. But only sitting in his position would know how uncomfortable this was.
As the former governor of Malta, he certainly has feelings for the island of Malta, and since he can become the commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, he also knows the importance of the island of Malta.
Therefore, after receiving intelligence from Major General Behrens that Italy was preparing to attack the island of Malta, he specially asked his staff to conduct tactical deductions. However, the results were not optimistic. Whether it was an all-out rescue or a diversionary operation, the winning rate of the Mediterranean Fleet was not high.
The reason for all this is very simple, that is, the Mediterranean fleet is at a disadvantage, and with its inferior force and the opponent's home field advantage, even if the derivation staff wants to win with their own fleet, there is no good way.
It was precisely because of the unsatisfactory results of the staff deduction that General Jean Kaden dared not send a telegram to Major General Behrens.
"Commander, look for me."
After a while, Vice Admiral Roback, the fleet chief of staff, arrived.
"Robeck, this is a telegram from Malta."
Facing his deputy, Carden directly took out the telegram from Major General Behrens.
"I think it must be the news that Italy has launched another investigation into Malta."
As soon as he heard the admiral's words, Lieutenant General Roback basically guessed the content.
"That's right. My successor was very smart and sent me another telegram to report what happened in Malta."
"So you plan to continue not replying to him?"
Facing the chief of staff's inquiry, Kaden raised his eyebrows and said, "How do you want me to reply? Should I tell him to stay and wait for help or should I do my duty for the kingdom?"
Having said this, Admiral Cardon continued angrily. "Our Mediterranean fleet is far inferior to the Italian fleet. They have 12 battleships and 5 battle cruisers, while we only have 10 battleships and 3 battle cruisers. In terms of strength, we
Just lower than the other party. Previously, I proposed to let the French warships join us, but the French directly rejected us on the grounds that these warships need to defend their Mediterranean coastline.
I don’t know how their four battleships protected the coastline when facing the Italian-Austrian fleet. Are they hiding under the protection of shore guns? We applied to London to mobilize battleships to reinforce us, but in the end they gave us a bunch of useless pre-dreadnoughts.
Give a usable dreadnought. These damn bureaucrats, they all know how to defend the homeland. The Mediterranean Sea is cut off. Do all the personnel and materials in Asia want to go to the Cape of Good Hope?"
Don't blame Admiral Cardon for being angry, because long before he took office, he had told London that the Mediterranean fleet was not strong enough to deter Italy, its main target. And Admiralty Churchill agreed to his request, saying that he would
Reinforcements of no less than four battleships were sent to the Mediterranean Fleet. Faced with the young Churchill's assurance, Carton then readily took office.
But what he didn't expect was what the young Lord of the Navy would do next.
After he took office, the Navy Ministry immediately announced that 8 battleships and more than 20 small and medium-sized battleships would be transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet. Look, this is twice as high as promised. Isn’t it interesting? But we will see you when the card is boarded.
After arriving at these eight battleships, he became furious.
Because the ones transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet are not the dreadnought or super-dreadnought battleships he needs at all, but are some old pre-dreadnought battleships. We can't talk about being old, because these battleships have only been in service for more than ten years and are still in good condition.
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However, seeing these eight pre-dreadnoughts, Cardon would rather give them a discount and get two dreadnoughts.
Because these warships are not strengthening the Mediterranean fleet, it would be good if they do not hold them back.
Of course, the fire is getting worse, and Admiral Cardon can only admit that he made a mistake and let the young Lord of the Admiralty fool him.
After making a fuss, Carden looked at his chief of staff and said, "Now we jointly draft a telegram requesting the mainland to deploy battleships for support. There must be at least two battleships, and no pre-dreadnoughts are required."
"No problem, let's draft it together."
Vice Admiral Roback, who was well aware of the situation of the Mediterranean Fleet, immediately agreed with the commander. As for whether London was satisfied or dissatisfied, he could not control it now. But he knew that if the Italians seized control of the sea in the Mediterranean, neither he nor Carden would be well.
Eat the fruit. As long as the Italians are prevented from seizing control of the sea, some outrageous actions will be forgiven, because the winner will not be condemned.
Subsequently, a telegram jointly drafted by the Commander of the Mediterranean Fleet and the Chief of Staff was sent to London.
Carden and Roback's telegram requesting dreadnought reinforcements put London in a difficult position. The reason was simple. Although the British Empire had many warships, it had to protect its homeland from the threat of the German High Seas Fleet and suppress Italy and Austria in the Mediterranean.
The navy is simply not enough.
According to the calculations of senior admiralty generals, the British Navy can currently only guarantee one direction. Considering the safety of the homeland, London can only guarantee the homeland fleet first.
But after seeing the telegrams from Carden and Roebuck, Churchill, as Lord of the Admiralty, hesitated.
So he went to Fisher to discuss it.
"Marshal, this is a telegram from Carden."
In front of the prestigious Fisher, even the young and energetic Churchill behaved himself.
After receiving the telegram, Fisher looked at it carefully.
The content of the telegram was actually very brief. In view of Italy's eyeing on Malta, Carden wanted to receive reinforcements from at least two battleships.
However, although the content of the telegram was brief, Fisher read it very slowly. After reading it, he looked at Churchill and said, "So what do you think?"
"I don't want to lose Malta to the Italians, I want to send reinforcements to General Cardon."
If Churchill's words were heard on other occasions in London, they would definitely cause an uproar. Regardless of the safety of the homeland and insisting on weakening the home fleet, this would not make his position as Lord of the Admiralty unstable.
But Fisher knew that the person in front of him was not that simple, and then he asked, "What is your specific plan?"
Seeing the old marshal asking, Churchill said, "My plan is this: secretly transfer four battleships from the Home Fleet, let them go out day and night, sneak into the Mediterranean, and then join up with the Mediterranean Fleet to catch the Italians by surprise.
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Although Churchill said it was very simple, Fisher knew that it was not simple to achieve. It required at least enough cooperation, careful planning, and a little bit of good luck.
After listening to Churchill's words, Fisher did not answer immediately, but calculated its feasibility in his mind.
First of all, the cooperation of the home fleet is needed, and secondly, the time must be just right. It won't work if you go too early, because this will reduce the strength of the home fleet, and the Germans will definitely rush out if they know about it. It won't work if you go too late, because that will cause the Mediterranean fleet to not get it.
Encountered the Italian fleet under the premise of requiring reinforcements.
After a long time, Marshal Fisher said, "The risk is not small."
Hearing this, Churchill showed a bitter expression. "I know it too, but the British Empire cannot afford to lose its responsibility for sea control in the Mediterranean. It's all because of Parliament's unwillingness to provide more budget. Let our navy focus on one thing and the other at the expense of others."
There’s no way to take care of both directions.”
At this time, Churchill had completely forgotten that a few years ago, when he was business secretary, he blocked the passage of the navy budget.
Regarding Churchill's words, Fisher could not directly express his position now. "Well, I will ask the naval officers to first formulate a plan to quietly deploy four battleships to fight in the Mediterranean. Let's see if it is feasible."
Since Fisher said so, Churchill certainly knew that this matter could not be rushed. If it was self-defeating and the plan failed, he would become the sinner of the Navy.
But one thing he knew was that Fisher was tempted, otherwise he would not have said that the risk was not small. Remember the URL of this website for easy reading next time, or enter " " in Baidu to enter this website
