In fact, in peacetime when there is no war. Malta is a small archipelago that is basically unremarkable. Because although it is located in the hub of the Mediterranean Sea, many routes do not go here. Most of the world's ships are docked in Sicily, Italy, and Corsica, France. Now, however, the obscure archipelago is the chokepoint of east-west traffic in the Mediterranean and the supply lifelines of Italy and Africa, according to the Imperial Security Service in 19405 September. The Malta-based British naval and air forces caused huge losses to the Italian fleet sailing to North Africa: in May 1940, when Malta was weak, the loss rate of Italian ships was only 2.2%, and in July 1940, the losses began to rise slowly. Reaching 16.7%, the figure jumped to 21.2 in September. At the same time, Ji Ming also had a loss record in his mind. According to his memory. When the Afrika Korps joined North Africa, Malta was suppressed by the Luftwaffe,Empty Glass Foundation Bottle, so the loss of the fleet was not large, only 5.6%, but by September 1941, when the Allies launched the Crusader attack, the Tenth Air Force moved to the Soviet Union. The British submarines on the island of Malta were once again active. In September 1941, the loss of Axis ships reached 16% again, 15.7% from January 1,Cosmetic Packaging Wholesale, 1942 to January 23, 1943, and 29.5% from November 11, 1942 to January 13, 1943. It can be said that, to a large extent, the North African campaign was won in a small sea area around Malta. Therefore, for Ji Ming, whether Malta can win is related to whether the battle in North Africa can proceed smoothly. (In fact, the historical reality was that Rommel, Mussolini, glass cream jars ,30ml Dropper Bottle, and Hitler's strategic plan for the North African theater was to stop the Afrika Korps before attacking Tobruk, waiting to be replenished, while using Marshal Catherine's 10th Air Force and Italy [u. He carried out airborne operations. The occupation of Malta solved the problem of logistics and transportation before attacking Tobruk. But Rommel, who did not understand strategy, was so excited when he saw the British army's crazy defeat that he thought Malta had air force to suppress it, so he might as well take advantage of the British army's defeat to continue attacking and forget himself. Then he persuaded Mussolini to take Tobruk first, and then continue to March on Egypt, and the plan to capture Malta came to nothing. This plan eventually led to the defeat of the German army. Therefore, as a prophet, Ji Ming has no reason to repeat Rommel's mistakes. So before he came here, he began to think about how to attack Malta. According to his plan, the attack on Malta should be carried out by the German army. And preparations must begin before the German Afrika Korps enter North Africa. And the role of those "lovely Italians" should be placed in a subordinate position. However, although the outline has been put forward. Ji Ming did not think of the follow-up plan. There are two main problems that troubled Ji Ming. First. The Italian attitude. Mussolini would not necessarily have agreed to the Germans acting alone. Although his army had repeatedly disappointed the fat dictator, and Mussolini did know that his only hope of victory was to rely on Germany, the self-esteem of the so-called great powers made him never rely on the Germans unless he had to. Mussolini would not have given up power even if he had relied on the Germans. Malta, in particular, is still in the hands of the British. But in Mussolini's eyes, it already belonged to the sphere of influence of the Roman Empire. Therefore, Mussolini would never let a foreign German take charge. What's more, the German is a young boy in his twenties. Secondly, there is a shortage of troops. This is not just about infantry, because if Malta is to be solved, it must be considered from two aspects. First of all, the former is easy to achieve by seizing the air and sea control of the Maltese region. Because the air force in Malta was not very strong, the aggressive German attack in Britain made the strength of the British air force in the Mediterranean very weak.
At the same time, the British were ambushed by the Germans during the Ballista program. The loss of the fleet is also relatively large. And relatively speaking. On the Axis side, the Italian air force, together with the Fourth Air Force (mainly Stuka bombers), which was recuperating in France, was much stronger than the RAF in the Mediterranean. At the same time, the Italian Navy, equipped with eight battleships (the Splendor is still in dry dock in Alexandria), was unable to attack Taranto in August 1940. The Italian Navy still had a strong battleship fleet) and a dozen German destroyers (which the Germans had taken over from the French by agreement) could easily control most of the Mediterranean for the time being. However, both air supremacy and local sea supremacy can be guaranteed. But the biggest problem is logistics. Now the German army is very strong, but although they are very strong, they are still unable to fight two wars in two different places. (In fact, even if the current superpower, the United States,Blue Bottle Serum, did not declare that it could fight wars in third-rate countries like Iraq and Afghanistan at the same time until 2002, it is still impossible for Americans to fight two large-scale wars in different places at the same time.) This is not because they are short of troops, but because of their fragile logistics. penghuangbottle.com