My Italian: Chapter 615 Malta

"Ladies and gentlemen, what we are currently seeing 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, not only as a roadblock between my country and Libya, It is also the central point of the Mediterranean. Currently, Malta is occupied by the British army and has become a strategic point restricting us. Therefore, our country needs to remove this point as soon as possible and make it the cornerstone of our country’s **** of the Mediterranean.”

Inside the General Staff, an officer briefs Carlo and Prime Minister Cruz on the importance of Malta.

If you are attentive, you will find that the officer who acts as the narrator is wearing a naval uniform. Yes, today's military briefing to Carlo and the government was led by the Navy.

For historical reasons, the General Staff is dominated by army officers, so in order to better state the plan, the Navy Department selected officers with clear articulation and sharp thinking to act as narrators.

How could Carlo and Cruz not know the importance of Malta. In just over a month since the outbreak of the war, the import volume of oil and iron ore in Libya has dropped significantly compared with previous years. Not only that, the British army on the island of Malta sent small warships to harass, resulting in the sinking or capture of nine merchant ships and the loss of tens of thousands of tons of petroleum and iron ore.

To this end, the navy, on the one hand, organized merchant fleets to sail, and also sent warships to **** them. In addition, the navy also used airships to increase patrols in the waters around Malta. Under multiple measures, the attack was restrained.

One more thing to say here, the world's first air battle also broke out over the waters around Malta.

The V-5 airship belonging to the Italian Navy and the British airship Dandelion met unexpectedly. The two sides fired a wave of friendly passion with boat-mounted machine guns, causing damage to the two airships to varying degrees, and also causing damage to the British airship. Three soldiers were killed and six wounded, and one Italian army was killed and three wounded.

Of course, the casualties between the two sides are different. In addition to the larger tonnage of the Italian airship, there is also the reason that the Italian airship has one more machine gun than the British.

Of course, this also led to the British and Italian parties starting to install more machine guns on airships, and even the Navy considered moving a 37mm gun on it.

Of course, for the Italian Navy, the above measures are nothing but a cure. The best way is to occupy the island of Malta and remove this nail.

That's why Carlo and the Prime Minister came here. The occupation of Malta by the British army will make Italy unable to perform at all. This nail must be removed before it can talk about dominating the Mediterranean.

"So what's your plan?"

Facing the officer's narration, Carlo asked.

In the face of Carlo's question, the officer opened the mouth at the gesture of Admiral Yagier.

"Your Majesty, our navy plans to organize forces to seize the island. According to our navy's plan, our navy intends to use the cover of warships to let the marines **** Malta. According to the exact information we have obtained, the British army has more than 9,000 people in Malta. More than 4,000 of them were the original defenders of the island of Malta. In the three days before the outbreak of the war, the British army reinforced nearly 5,000 people, resulting in the island's current strength of 9,000. Among them, more than 8,000 were guarding the island of Malta. , and nearly 1,000 people are guarding the island of Gozo. At present, the Maltese defenders are equipped with hundreds of artillery pieces of various calibers. Among them, the port of Valletta, as the main port, is the focus of its defense, and the port is very tightly defended. , so we intend to use unconventional means.”

Hearing the officer's words, Carlo became interested. "What means?"

"First of all, our navy is ready to use the sea and air joint operations."

Good guy, this time Carlo really has enough interest. Joint naval and air operations are really about to happen. This is a first-of-its-kind combat system.

And this also shows that the navy's use of new technologies is now becoming more and more pure.

"First of all, we will assemble more than 60 airships and give priority to air suppression. Second, we will dispatch the reserve fleet to bombard the island, and then the infantry will land on it and gradually sweep away the defenders of the island. In addition, I will tell you in detail, The specific combat situation..."

It may sound like nothing new, but landing operations like this are pretty new in this day and age. You must know that the current landing battle is still very primitive. Basically, the soldiers are sent up with wooden boats. During this process, the power of the boats is basically dependent on the soldiers rowing their own oars.

For the Italian Navy, which has always been at the forefront of the world, this slow approach to landing is definitely not desirable. Taking into account the needs of Italy in the Mediterranean, the use of newer transportation methods to bring soldiers and heavy weapons ashore as soon as possible and more safely is a problem that must be solved.

After years of research and testing, the world's first professional landing craft has come out. This landing craft, named by the Navy as the Barracuda class, weighs 15.7 tons and adopts a flat-bottomed structure suitable for shallow water navigation. The landing hatch is opened directly in front, and the 12 mm thick steel plate can withstand the attack of light weapons, and the boat also Equipped with a Maxim machine gun as self-defense firepower.

In addition, the ship ran at a speed of 10.5 knots with 50 heavily armed soldiers and 3 tons of supplies. As a landing craft, it can run so fast thanks to a 180-horsepower diesel engine it is equipped with. Of course, in addition to transporting soldiers, the boat can also transport artillery, meet the heavy firepower requirements for landing, and alleviate the pain of the front-line landing troops lacking heavy firepower, of course, if there are enough landing sites.

In terms of performance, this landing craft already leads the world (because no other country has it), and the Italian Navy also built 150 of these landing craft before the war.

It is also because of the experience of using many new weapons that the Italian Navy could not wait to remove the nail of Malta after the war.

After listening to the officer's remarks, Carlo praised. "The explanation was very good, and it made me and the Prime Minister feel as if they were really experiencing it."

The praise from the king encouraged the navy present.

And Admiral Yagier, Minister of the Navy, took the opportunity to speak. "Our navy is determined to win this Malta, and there are still some small issues that need to be coordinated by the government."

Facing the words of Admiral Yagier, Carlo looked at Prime Minister Cruz, who immediately understood what the king meant.

"If you have any requirements from the Admiralty, you can mention it. As long as the nail in Malta can be removed and the transportation with Libya is guaranteed, as long as it is within the scope of my ability, I can agree."

Since the Prime Minister is so happy, Admiral Yagier also mentioned it. "Our navy hopes that the government will assist us to recruit another batch of merchant ships to use as transport ships."

Why did Admiral Yagier mention this, because not every merchant ship can be used as a naval transport ship. It has no low requirements for the speed of the ship, its use, and the type of use. This also leads to the fact that ships that can be recruited are generally not very cheap.

Although the navy can do it on its own, it varies with or without government assistance. With assistance, the navy can complete the draft faster, as well as the right amount of modification.

"No problem, our government will cooperate fully." His Excellency the Prime Minister responded immediately.

What followed was a happy scene. After Carlo and the Prime Minister listened to the Navy's plan, they highly praised the plan. Carlo even said, UU reading www.uukanshu. com and other words for awarding outstanding commanders after the fall of Malta.

Oh, right. I forgot to mention that the reserve fleet mentioned by the naval officer is 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 agree, and Vienna passively accepted the reserve fleet after the outbreak of the war. The tenth day was established.

The fleet is mainly composed of Italian and Austrian former dreadnoughts, of which three Italian Genoa-class and Austria-Hungary three Radetzky-class former dreadnoughts form the core of the reserve fleet. Coupled with a group of other former dreadnoughts that are not suitable for main battleships, as well as cruisers and destroyers, such a hodgepodge of battleships is the combined reserve fleet.

As for the commander of the fleet, Italy has fully listened to the opinion of the head of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Admiral von Haus, with Austro-Hungarian Vice Admiral Maximilian Negovan as the commander, and Italian Vice Admiral Hilma as the commander. As chief of staff, jointly command the fleet.

As for the mystery of who is the strongest pre-dreadnought battleship between Italy and Austria, it can only be known after the battlefield test. Of course, whether this battle can be achieved as expected depends on the efforts of the main combined fleet.

(End of this chapter)