Chapter 643 It is the turn of the Italian army to capture the British army
Wavell has encountered too many troubles recently, which is completely different from what he expected when he first started Operation Tomahawk.
Just after his three-pronged attack was disintegrated, Wavell received news that Italy's new Prime Minister Rossi ordered the navy to attack and occupy the island of Malta, removing the last big nail left by Britain in the Mediterranean for the Allies.
In fact, the Maltese Islands are located between Sicily, Italy, and Libya, North Africa. They consist of 5 islands, the largest of which is Malta.
Although even the largest island of Malta is small and insignificant, it has great strategic value. The island is located in the intersection of Italy-Libya and Egypt-Gibraltar. It is the shipping center of the Mediterranean and is called the "Mediterranean Sea".
"Heart of". Moreover, on this island, the British army has naval and air force bases to ensure the smooth flow of Mediterranean routes. In addition, the sea area in this area is small, which is conducive to the activities of the British Air Force. The British Air Force uses this as a base to support its own operations in North Africa.
nail.
Originally, at the very beginning, weapons, ammunition, food and reinforcements for both sides in the North African war were basically transported from the Mediterranean. As a result, the British army undoubtedly had a unique advantage in occupying the Maltese island.
However, the Italian Navy and the German Navy joined forces and severely damaged the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, which had just attacked the French Navy in Operation Ballista.
As a result, the strategic value of the island of Malta was initially weakened.
Without the navy, the air force base on the island of Malta would not be able to find targets that need cover. And the small naval supply port on the island of Malta would also lose its role as a transit station.
Although the air force on the island of Malta can still attack the Mediterranean routes of the Allies. However, because the Italian Navy, which is responsible for transportation, no longer worries about the maritime threat of the British Mediterranean Fleet, it is proud to focus on air defense affairs. On the one hand, the Italian Navy used the captured HMS Ark Royal
The aircraft carrier has a mobile maritime airfield, further strengthening the Italian Navy's air-to-air defense capabilities.
As a result, the threat posed by the British Air Force on Malta to the Allies was reduced again.
Originally, the British air force deployed on the island of Malta was not much. At most, the total number of fighter planes did not exceed 20. Moreover, due to the heavy losses of the British Mediterranean Fleet, there was no destroyer fleet to be allocated to defend the island of Malta. Even
Because Wavell in North Africa urgently needed a large number of troops to launch Operation Tomahawk, the army was mobilized in large numbers as supplementary troops. In the end, only one company of infantry was left to garrison the island of Malta.
When the Italian Navy attacked the island of Malta in accordance with Rossi's order, there was at most one reinforced platoon of British combatants on duty at that time, and the other soldiers were still taking turns.
Logically speaking, for the sake of ease and convenience, the Italian Navy chose to launch the attack at 10 a.m. in broad daylight. This time period is not picky. Compared with midnight or early morning, the British army can already free up enough manpower for defense.
Already.
However, after all, there are only one company of infantry on the island of Malta. In addition, people are not made of iron. Many of the infantry in this company have been on night duty and need to rest during the day. It is impossible for other personnel as well.
Not bad, all arrived at the combat position.
Various factors led to the fact that when the Italian army attacked, they faced only a reinforced platoon of British troops. With this small number of manpower, they were not even as powerful as the guns and sailors on the Italian Navy warships.
In addition, the Italian Navy also has a large number of naval guns as fire support. Just for this small-scale landing battle, the Italian Navy, under the command of Admiral Leifer, used 2 cruisers and 5 destroyers.
Work together to suppress artillery fire.
For the British soldiers on the island of Malta, who had lost most of their troops due to the North African campaign, had all their heavy artillery removed, and lacked coastal defense artillery, the naval gun firepower provided by the Italian Navy could be described as hell-level suppression.
Sure enough, the entire bombardment lasted less than 30 minutes, and the British troops on the island of Malta couldn't wait to surrender. Fearing that the Italian side would not see the white flag surrender signal, many British soldiers even dropped their weapons.
, ran to the outside and knelt down to convey the message of surrender.
At this time, the Italian Navy had not even sent sailors to land with weapons. They only cautiously used naval guns on the periphery to try to weaken the British troops on the island. As a result, they actually directly attacked the opposite side and initiated a surrender.
In fact, the British on the island of Malta had no other choice but to surrender.
Although as early as the end of 1939, the British Defense Committee approved the establishment of three airports on the island of Malta: Halfar, Lucca and Tarkali, and the establishment of a seaplane base and radar station on the island of Calaflana.
Plan to deploy 4 fighter squadrons and 172 anti-aircraft guns.
But apart from the three airports and a simple radar station established in the first few months, none of the other defense deployments required in the plan were in place.
Let alone four fighter squadrons provided by the Air Force, even when the island of Malta had the largest number of fighters (including a large number of temporarily stationed fighters), it could barely reach the size of a fighter squadron.
As for the 172 anti-aircraft guns mentioned in the plan, not one of them remains on the island of Malta.
Just three months before Wavell launched Operation Tomahawk, the British North African Command took away the Malta Island. At that time, there were only 14 anti-aircraft guns left. As a result, the Malta Island has actually been in a state of insecurity for the past three months.
There was no embarrassing situation that an anti-aircraft gun could find.
As for the Air Force, there is only one shelf left.
The famous man next to Rossi, the Italian Admiral Angelo Taone di Leifer (whose full name is typed to distinguish the other Italian Leifer) who defeated the British Empire's Mediterranean Fleet, accepted the
After the highest-ranking British colonel on the island of Malta formally surrendered, he learned that the British air force on the island only had one reconnaissance plane and one fighter jet.
The two British aircraft did not even take off, and they became the trophies of the Italian Navy. Of course, the British pilots on the island also knew that if they took off the fighter planes, they and the aircraft would become a ball of fireworks in the sky.
Already.
This time the Italians are feeling proud. Thirty years have passed since Hedong and thirty years have passed by Hexi. Now it is finally their turn to form an organized captured British army.
Looking back, Leifer rephrased Wavell's original sentence of "captured the Italian officers of five acres of land" into "captured the entire British air force and army on the entire Maltese Islands." and proudly told it to the Italian reporter.