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Text Chapter 1069 Attack, Veneto!

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    Just after the Chinese New Year, the world¡¯s attention turns from Singapore to Tš¹rkiye.  After Hitler issued a final warning to Turkey, China, the United States and Britain also issued an ultimatum to the Vichy government in France.  Roosevelt changed his previous policy of being tolerant towards Vichy France. In his speech to Congress, he stated for the first time that Vichy France was becoming an accomplice of the Nazis. At the same time, he made it clear that he must be careful of the "pan-European socialist" alliance!  At the end, he sternly demanded that French Syria and all French overseas colonies lay down their arms and accept the jurisdiction of the Allies, and once again emphasized that he would do his best to ensure the neutrality of the Turkish government. Any aggression against Turkey would be regarded as an attack on the Allies!

    It must be admitted that with the developed media culture in Europe and the United States, Roosevelt's voice was obviously louder than Yang Qiu, so the term "pan-European socialism" suddenly became the new favorite of the media in various countries, and the target was directed at Germany and the Soviet Union.  Under Roosevelt's instruction, American newspapers began to report extensively on the Soviet Union's export of oil, steel and other important materials to Germany.  As soon as the news came out, it immediately caused an uproar. In the eyes of angry Americans, Moscow seemed to have become the biggest accomplice in killing their soldiers.

    At this time, the news that the Soviet Black Sea Fleet's whereabouts were unknown after leaving port suddenly turned the Black Sea upside down.

    As the second largest military force on the Black Sea coast, the Ottoman Empire has long since withered. The battlecruiser "Severe" (formerly the German Goeben) and the cruiser "Abdullah Hamid II" (made in the United Kingdom in 1903) have both  It is a classic ship from thirty years ago. The latest two "Adatepe" class destroyers are also small warships built in Italy in 1931. Even the four I-class destroyers ordered from the United Kingdom were seized and requisitioned by the Royal Navy.  Looking at the rival Soviet Black Sea Fleet, although the battleship is also the "Paris Commune" left over from the last war, it has five cruisers, namely the "Red Caucasus" heavy cruiser, the "Voroshilov" heavy cruiser, and the "  The heavy cruiser "Molotov", the light cruiser "Red Crimea" and the light cruiser "Red Ukraine", in addition to 16 destroyers and dozens of submarines, the strength gap is really too big.

    Fortunately, although the navy is in decline.  However, Kemal, who worked hard to govern, finally left Turkey with a good army, equipped with Mauser rifles, French Snyder artillery, Maxim machine guns and many other weapons.  Kemal also used the country's rich chromium ore resources to exchange for 66 naval "Li Feng" fighter jets, 18 H-6 bombers, and 216 export-oriented Type 31t (Turkish version) from China, which was actively expanding trade at the time.  Tanks and 500 40mm anti-aircraft guns and other weapons, making the Turkish army the country with the most Chinese tanks after Saudi Arabia and North Korea.  After the turmoil in Iraq, Turkey once again purchased 500 85mm anti-tank guns and 422 half-track armored vehicles from China to strengthen its defense capabilities.  Moreover, although Turkey declared neutrality before the war, it has been actively adjusting its armaments due to the impact of the war. As of now, it has 1.1 million troops, of which 900,000 are army troops.

    February 21st was Yang Qiu¡¯s first day after returning to Beijing.  Major news came from Turkey. Inonu, who has firmly established himself as president, ordered the navy to block the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits and began to lay mines in the two straits.  At the same time, he will also transfer the elite 3rd Armored Division of the Army equipped with Chinese 31 tanks from Ankara to Istanbul!  This move immediately triggered a commotion in Turkey. Pro-German forces took to the streets to protest against the blockade of the strait, believing that it violated the neutrality law.  But Inonu was unmoved and sent special envoys to China and the United States in the hope of receiving more assistance. In the end, he also ordered the entire country to be over 18 years old.  Men under the age of 35 must be prepared to defend the country, and it was announced that the first national mobilization exercise in more than 20 years would be held in early March.

    "Reckless Ankara" made Hitler very angry and immediately called Ribbentrop.  He was required to immediately complete negotiations with the Soviet Union so that the German army could board the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and bypass the strait to attack the Turkish rear. Then he asked Marshal von Kluge to replace Lister, who was still recovering from illness, as the commander-in-chief of the Southeastern Front.  and began to deploy additional troops to the Greek-Turkish border.  Finally, he secretly sent Guderian, who was doing nothing in Spain, to Romania to lead Army Group B stationed in Yugoslavia to prepare for the attack.  Even Mussolini also transferred 2 armies and 400 aircraft from Albania to join Kruger's troops.

    In just a few days, the situation in the Black Sea became tense.  1.5 million German and Italian troops are heading towards Istanbul!  In view of the tense situation, McNerney, commander of the US military's Middle East theater, immediately assembled five divisions to launch a general offensive against Baghdad. He also ordered 500,000 US troops stationed in Cyprus to immediately move from Jordan to Iraq so that Turkey could provide more rapid support if something happened.

    In the early morning of February 25, the Iraqi coalition forces stationed in Baghdad were defeated by the US military. Baghdad was lost, and tens of thousands of Iraqi remaining soldiers retreated to Kirkuk in the north.  Just an hour later, the Jordanian Legion, composed of 20,000 British soldiers, 10,000 Free French soldiers, 20,000 Greek soldiers who had retreated here, and 30,000 local tribal soldiers, under the cover of 300 bombers, attacked the French  Syria launched a surprise attack to seize the?Damascus.

    In the evening, the First Division of the U.S. Marine Corps, protected by 12 warships, quickly occupied the most important seaport in the West Bank.  Although the Vichy French government strongly condemned the invasion, the French Governor-General of Syria announced his surrender hours later, and two thousand French Foreign Legion soldiers stationed in Syria announced they would join the Allies and accept the leadership of Free French General Charles de Gaulle.

    On February 26, another good news came from Southeast Asia. Zhang Zizhong led 80,000 soldiers including the Borneo Autonomous Army. With the cooperation of the Second Fleet, after three days and three nights of fierce fighting, they successfully annihilated the troops stationed in Bandar Seri Begawan and Sangenda.  The Japanese 117th Division announced the liberation of Brunei and Sarawak, which had been occupied for 33 months.  At this point, except for a few areas such as Balikpapan in East Borneo, the rest of Borneo was liberated.  Upon hearing the news, King Ahmed Tanzudin of Brunei, who was staying in Beijing, burst into tears. He immediately bid farewell to Yang Qiu and boarded a light cruiser of the Chinese Navy to return home.

    But while the Allies continued to fight, the powerful German army, led by General Kleist and Rommel, commander-in-chief of the North African Army, had regrouped 12 divisions and held on to the British-Australian coalition for five months.  The final assault was launched on the Tobruk Fortress.

    On February 27, in order to seize the most important seaport fortress west of the Nile, Rommel, who commanded the front line, not only brought a large number of new aircraft including fw190, ju87 and ju88, but also two SS armored divisions that had just arrived in North Africa.  , and mobilized two K5 train guns at one go to cooperate.  The intention was to capture the fortress and cross the Nile in one go.  But this time he underestimated the Allied forces' rapidly growing naval and air power in the Eastern Mediterranean!  After learning that Tobruk was attacked, Auchinleck immediately ordered 50,000 soldiers to defend it!  Then he asked for help from Cunningham and the U.S. Sixth Task Force stationed on Cyprus Island, hoping to bombard the German armored forces with naval gunfire.

    The British Mediterranean Fleet, which suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Crete, has fully recovered its strength by purchasing 2 Anhai-class battleships and 2 escort aircraft carriers from China.  What's more, the U.S. Sixth Task Force stationed in Cyprus already has 8 escort aircraft carriers, including 2 Avengers and 6 Borgs, and 52 ships, including 11 cruisers.  Nearly a thousand B25 and B24 bombers are deployed in Cyprus, Alexandria, Cairo and other places, as well as 1,200 fighter jets of various types.  Therefore, on the second day of the offensive, Rommel was severely attacked by British and American naval and air forces. In just one afternoon, the Allies dispatched 972 various types of sea and air bombers.  Indiscriminate bombing of the North African Army.

    In order to rescue the army, on the morning of March 1, the German and Italian air forces stationed in Benghazi, Crete and other places joined the battle. More than 200 fighter jets, including 66 fw190s, launched a battle with the Allied forces over Tobruk.  Fight to the death.  Although the German pilots were still heroic, this time the fw190 fighter, which they called the "Butcher Bird", encountered two opponents.

    The first is the U.S. Army Air Forces P43 "Civet" fighter jet from Alexandria. This type of fighter jet was urgently imported from China at a high price in October 1940. The fighter jet resembles the F6F. Because the U.S. Navy refused to equip foreign aircraft, it was given to the urgently needed powerful fighter jets.  of the Army Air Corps and given the U.S. Army serial number P43.  Americans also named it after China¡¯s unique ¡°cihuamao¡±.  It was this fighter jet that was rejected by the Navy.  However, it has shown extremely strong combat capabilities, especially its thick armor and thick and strong body, which well protects inexperienced US military pilots.  The second type is the US Marine Corps' F4U "Pirate" fighter jet.  This kind of "junk" fighter jet was also considered unsuitable for aircraft carrier takeoff and landing by the U.S. Navy because of its "long nose" and was finally given to the Marine Corps. However, it shined together with the "Civet" in this battle.  During the entire half-month siege, 76 German aircraft were shot down, including 19 of the cutting-edge fw190s, but only 17 of them were shot down.

    The F6F "Hellcat" that was supposed to appear was destroyed by the Chinese "Civet Cat". The U.S. Navy, which was having a headache and no aircraft available, saw this and its eyes lit up.  It began to study the possibility of "Pirates" being put on the ship, and the U.S. Army Air Forces also requested an increase in orders due to the outstanding performance of the "Civet".  However, this move caused dissatisfaction from American aircraft manufacturers such as Republic and Grumman, because the former's P47 has begun mass production.  Grumman's F6F was thrown into the trash can by "Civet Cat" just after it was put on the drawing board. He was full of anger and had no place to vent his anger.  There are also criticisms within the military, because according to the agreement, every time a P43 is produced, it wants to pay thousands of dollars in patent fees to the Chinese Airbus Company.  In the end, Roosevelt came forward to coordinate and guaranteed not to cut P47 orders in exchange for increasing P43 production. In the end, a total of 8,323 P43 fighter jets were produced. Airbus companies of Bayuzao and Zhou Houkun earned 2,500 from this alone.  The huge profit of 10,000 US dollars laid a solid financial foundation for the more intense aviation competition after the war.

    Under the attack of the P43 "Civet" and the F4U "Pirate", the German and Italian Air Force encountered another head-on attack after the English Channel. Auchinleck was very happy when he learned about it, and urged Cunningham to strengthen the attack and mobilize troops to prepare for the use of air superiority.  The advantage gave Rommel a hard blow.  At this time, Rommel was a little bit too hard to get off the ground, and the entire seven-day offensive, facing the obviously superior Allied forces, he has lost nearly 30,000 troops, and the difficult-to-gnaw Tobruk seems to be getting farther and farther away from Germany.  At this time, Admiral Kleist, the commander-in-chief of the North African Army, was extremely determined. While asking Rommel to continue the offensive, he also sent a telegram to Berlin requesting the high command to allow the Italian Navy to dispatch the repaired battleship "Veneto" in the name of the headquarters.  and the battleship "Littorio" to harass Cunningham and divert the British and American fleets away.

    "Are the Germans crazy? There are ten aircraft carriers there!"

    On March 5, in the corridor of the Italian Navy headquarters studded with oil paintings, the cunning Campioni returned Redl¡¯s telegram to Fleet Commander Admiral Anzu Aquino.  To be honest, he had no interest in cooperating with the North African Army because he was well aware of the combat capabilities of the Allied aircraft carriers.  The British and American navies now have ten aircraft carriers in the Mediterranean. In the past few days, the "Jiangxi" aircraft carrier and two Anhai-class battleships of the Chinese Navy's Indian Fleet have returned to the Red Sea to rest and are ready to enter the Eastern Mediterranean for operations at any time.  11 aircraft carriers, more than 600 carrier-based aircraft, 4 battleships, 15 cruisers and nearly 40 destroyers Even the German and Italian air forces in Malta and Crete have more than 500 fighter planes, but still  Can't make him feel safe.

    "Go and reply to our hot-headed Prime Minister, Italy is not a stupid German, and should not put the 'Veneto' and the fleet in an unsafe environment!" Campagno said angrily: "God! Could it be?  Doesn¡¯t he understand how Bismarck ended up?¡±

    General Aquino was a confidant, so Campagno did not hide his dissatisfaction with Mussolini in front of him.  "Marshal, but we are allies. If the Germans fail in North Africa, we too will be under the enemy's wing."

    "Okay." Campagno stopped, sighed and picked up the telegram again.  Just when he was about to take a closer look, General Aquino pulled out another piece of paper from the bottom: "This was handed to me by the Germans. I hope it will be helpful to you."

    "This is God! When did they finish it?" The mysterious note made Campagno suddenly open his mouth with an expression of disbelief.  "Two days ago, the Germans were very strong in keeping secrets this time." General Aquino shrugged and said seriously: "The Germans deceived us and also deceived the world. I believe the enemy will be surprised! Maybe this  This is a good opportunity to kick Cunningham's ass once and for all!" Like all the Italian navy members, Admiral Aquino also hated this British guy who planned a sneak attack on Taranto and repeatedly took advantage of Italy's head.

    After hesitating for a long time, Campioni stuffed the note into his pocket: "Fill the fuel tank and ask Colonel Tarsinia to take his submarine and 'Pig' to Rhode Island immediately to standby. Anzu, protect our battleships."  .¡±

    "Okay, I will try my best." General Aquino nodded, saluted and turned to leave.  Six hours later, he led the newly restored battleships "Veneto" and "Littorio", protected by 5 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers and 17 destroyers, and left the harbor in a mighty manner.  .  A few hours before the fleet left port, an underwater fleet that appeared in the Mediterranean for the first time had quietly arrived at Rhodes Island in the south of the Asia Minor Peninsula.

    Almost at the same time that the Italian fleet left the port, the Chinese navy's transport fleet, consisting of 41 10,000-ton cargo ships and 37 wartime standard ships, set off from Guangzhou. Under the protection of more than ten warships, it sailed again after two years.  Sailing into the Strait of Hormuz

    (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature. The novels will be better and updated faster!
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