Chapter 798 Consequences of the Battle of Cape Tunis
The outcome of the Battle of Tunisia did not surprise many people. The British fleet suddenly joined the battlefield and seriously injured the Italian fleet.
Although the Italian fleet fought very tenaciously, after the British battleships joined, they still continued to bombard the British and French warships. However, the air strikes from four British and French aircraft carriers made the commander of the Italian fleet, Compioni, aware of the battle.
Fell behind.
Especially after the Veneto was hit by several torpedoes dropped by incoming carrier-based aircraft, Compioni knew he had to retreat.
However, if he wanted to retreat without leaving anything behind, the British and French fleets would not agree. Therefore, he could only make a difficult choice to make the Veneto, whose speed was greatly reduced after being hit by a torpedo, and the Veneto, which had been severely damaged in the previous shelling.
After the two ships of the Empire were broken, he withdrew from the battlefield with other warships.
Faced with the results that Italy was unwilling to leave behind, Darlan and Cunningham, who were good at calculations, decided to leave the battle as soon as possible. After getting the results of the Veneto and the Empire, they also left the battlefield.
Of course, they were not without damage. Just the decoy formation released earlier was eaten by the Italian fleet, including the heavy cruiser Duplex and the Duquesne. A subsequent artillery battle caused damage to all ships, especially
It was an Italian 406-caliber cannon, and it was even more powerful. The Strasbourg was hit by a 406-caliber cannon and was damaged.
In addition, Jean Bart and Dunkirk were damaged, and basically every battleship in the British and French fleets was damaged. However, the most unlucky among them was the HMS Warrior of the British fleet. This battleship was on the line as soon as it came online.
Unfortunately, a 380mm shell from the Littorio shattered its rudder. This caused the Warrior, which could not turn, to leave the formation and veer towards the Italian fleet.
Needless to say, the consequences of deviating from the course during artillery battles are to attract more artillery fire.
If carrier-based aircraft had not attacked and caused chaos in the Italian formation, the Warrior would most likely have been sunk first. However, even if the Warrior was saved, its condition is worrying, mainly because the rudder was broken.
.Unable to turn, and considering the danger here, Cunningham had no choice but to order the crew to evacuate and then sink it.
In the end, this naval battle cost Britain and France the loss of 1 battleship, 2 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers and more than ten other ships, but they succeeded in sinking 2 Italian battleships, 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, and 10 other ships.
The results of several other ships.
Although it seems that in this naval battle, Italy lost only one more battleship than Britain and France. But in fact, even if it was one for one, Italy would still lose. He lost a new battleship, but replaced it with an old battleship, which was still one for two.
.More importantly, the Italian fleet will need two or three months of repair work after fighting this battle.
Although the French fleet did the same, it also allowed France to achieve its goal, breaking Italy's land and sea blockade on Tunisia, allowing France to seize the time to withdraw the troops trapped in Tunisia.
At the same time, such results were enough for Britain and France to publicize. In France, various newspapers published the news of the French fleet's victory over the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean. This was crucial to boosting French people's morale and morale. At the same time, Darlan was even more
Everyone in France boasted that he was the first man in the French navy since the 18th century.
Across the sea, the United Kingdom was doing the same thing, except that the object of the bragging was changed to leading the fleet to support Cunningham, saying that the timing of his support was just right, which dealt a heavy blow to the Italian fleet. At the same time, Cunningham also
An described as a model of shame and courage after the Alexandria raid.
However, according to rumors, some people within the government were worried about Cunningham's luck, because the Warrior was lost in this sortie. Although the subsequent combat report also showed that there was no problem with its command, the Warrior became the center of the naval battle.
, the only Allied battleship sunk, had to be considered from a metaphysical point of view. However, in the end, it was Prime Minister Churchill who overcame all opinions and suppressed all the strange voices.
The main reason for Churchill to do this is that the British army currently needs a victory to inspire them. Since the war began, Britain has not received any good news, but only terrible bad news. What ally, Poland, was defeated
, Allied Greece was defeated, the Mediterranean fleet was severely damaged, and the Romanians landed in the Middle East. Take a closer look at which news gave Britain peace of mind.
If we continue to get more bad news, it will have a huge impact on people's confidence. Although Churchill is also a master of propaganda, he must at least have a bright spot. It is impossible to do it with the selfless help of the British army.
The Greek royal family and government successfully evacuated to London, and even fools with such propaganda cannot deceive them.
Therefore, the UK has not received much good news since the war began, and none worth writing about.
However, no matter how you look at it this time, it is good news that deserves to be vigorously publicized. People are most concerned about the news about the navy, so there is no reason to let it go.
Compared with the British and French reports of their victory, Italy, as the defeated party, was somewhat disgraced. After the fleet docked, the angry Mussolini immediately dismissed Admiral Compioni, who was commanding the battle.
Needless to say the reason is that the defeat of this naval battle caused Italy to lose two battleships and give up its advantage. This reason is enough to remove him.
In fact, everyone knows that this incident is not his responsibility alone. The intelligence department and the air force reconnaissance failed to discover the British fleet that followed, which is also one of the reasons. But now someone must stand up and bear the responsibility.
There is no better candidate to calm the anger in the hearts of the people than Fleet Commander Compioni, so if he doesn't take the blame, who will take the blame?
Moreover, the result of this naval battle also caused Italy to change from an advantage to a disadvantage in the Western Mediterranean, which also increased the difficulty for it to capture Algeria.
It can even be said that it has become very difficult for Italy to seize Tunisia, because Algeria is mostly mountainous and the access roads are mainly flat land near the sea. And without the Italian navy having an advantage, the possibility of having the army invest in the battle has been
Far reduced.
Because at least the French troops in Tunisia can now evacuate from the sea, which has strengthened Algeria's military strength.
Moreover, this naval battle affected far more than just Italy. Germany and Romania, which were allies among them, also did not escape.
Both countries also had huge complaints about Italy's bad naval battle.
