Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

Regarding the North African War, many military fans in later generations accused Rommel of having "no strategic vision." One of the very important reasons is that after taking Tobruk, they marched eastward without waiting for the German and Italian troops to capture Malta. As a result, the logistics supply could not be guaranteed and Alamein was lost. If Germany and Italy had successfully conquered Malta before taking action, wouldn't it be possible to defeat the British army and force Montgomery to surrender? Wouldn't it be wonderful?

However, those who discuss this issue seem to have forgotten, is Malta really that easy to fight?

The Malta Islands are located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea and consist of five islands. The main island covers an area of ​​245 square kilometers, accounting for 78% of the total area (total area 316 square kilometers). The coastline is 180 kilometers long and has many excellent harbors. The island has a population of approximately 280,000.

It looks like a little-known island, but it is bounded by Italy to the north and its colony Libya to the south, making it a transit point in the Mediterranean. Its strategic position is so important that it has always been a battleground for military strategists. It is called the "Heart of the Mediterranean" and even determines the fate of the North African battlefield to a certain extent.

Churchill mentioned in his autobiography: "Since Nelson's time, the island of Malta has been like a loyal British sentinel, guarding the narrow and important maritime corridor in the central Mediterranean. In the latest war, it played a strategic role in The importance of the island is greater than in the past." It was under his advice that by the outbreak of World War II, there were already three military airfields on the island, and three more were added later, thus forming three Royal Fighter Squadrons, and Three bomber squadrons and a garrison of 40,000 people are stationed, which can attack enemy transport fleets heading south or protect our own transport fleets.

In the early days of the North African War after the Germans arrived, the Luftwaffe under Marshal Catherine entered Italy. Together with the Italian naval and air forces, they bombed the Malta Island where the British troops were stationed, almost destroying all the people on the island. Military installations were blown to pieces.

Shortly afterwards, the German Navy's U-boats secretly sneaked into the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar, and at the end of 1941, they successively bombed and sank two large British Royal Navy battleships - the battleship "Barham" and the aircraft carrier "Ark Royal". Although the British sent reinforcements to Malta Island from time to time, the newly arrived warships and aircraft were immediately crushed by the German and Italian navy and air force. Therefore, throughout 41 years, the island of Malta was completely lifeless. When supplies were most difficult, Malta even had to implement a strict food rationing system.

The German and Italian armies even formulated Operation Hercules, preparing to carry out an amphibious landing on Malta and completely occupy the island.

But Mustache never approved the implementation of this operation. There are two main reasons: the development of the North African war situation in the first half of 1942 made him think that it was unnecessary to launch this risky operation. Rommel's African Corps captured the Tobruk Fortress in June and invaded Egypt. It seemed that it was only a matter of time before he drank the Nile. Secondly, the painful memory of the Battle of Crete had a profound impact on Mustache, and he was very worried. The airborne operations in Malta would cause another heavy blow to the paratroopers. Air Force Commander-in-Chief Göring also opposed the "Hercules" operation from the same point of view, which eventually led to the shelving of the "Hercules" operation.

In July 1942, due to the Battle of Stalingrad on the Eastern Front and the urgent need for combat aircraft on the front line, the German Air Force Wing stationed in Italy withdrew and flew to the Soviet Union to fight, which gave the British a chance to breathe. . Immediately afterwards, the island of Malta, which had regained its strength after receiving reinforcements, dispatched a large number of aircraft and ships to cooperate with the British fleet arriving from the Strait of Gibraltar, and launched the "Battle of the Pedestal".

During the entire combat operation, although most of the merchant ships of the British fleet were sunk by the German and Italian navy and air force, and the Royal Navy also lost a large aircraft carrier "Eagle"; a small number of merchant ships that arrived in North Africa were still brought to the British army under Montgomery's command. Lots of supplies. It laid a good foundation for the future turning battle of "Alamein" in North Africa.

The recovery of the British army's combat effectiveness on Malta Island was also amazing. They began to counterattack only two months later, sinking dozens of German and Italian transport ships and severely damaging the supplies of the Afrika Korps.

On October 23, 1942, the Battle of El Alamein broke out. Only 600 tons of the 10,000 tons of fuel requested by Rommel were delivered, and the rest were sunk in the Mediterranean Sea. The German army, which was short of fuel and ammunition, simply could not maintain its troops with sufficient food. The British army was completely defeated in just three months.

Immediately, the German army retreated all the way to the west. In order to save the situation, the Air Force launched multiple attacks to cover the transport fleet, and finally transported a batch of urgently needed supplies to the Afrika Korps. After resting and recuperating, Rommel immediately commanded the German army, which had regained some of its strength, to counterattack. The British army was severely damaged in the Battle of Kesselring Pass. However, this was the last moment for the African Corps to shine. At this time, its supply line was almost cut off by the British Royal Air Force on Malta Island!

On March 23, 1943 alone, 40,048 tonnage ships were sunk by the Royal Air Force in the Mediterranean Sea. On April 19, 1943, the Tunisian Campaign broke out. In order to prevent the Germans from receiving a bullet or a drop of oil, In principle, within about a month, the Royal Air Force sank more than 20 German and Italian transport ships, completely cutting off the supplies of the Afrika Korps, which was tantamount to a death sentence for the Afrika Korps.

On May 13, all 250,000 German and Italian African Legion soldiers surrendered, and the North African battlefield ended with a British victory!

Subsequently, the British and American Allied Forces used the island of Malta as a springboard. After full preparation, they launched the Sicilian Campaign and landed on the Italian mainland, forcing Italy to withdraw from the Fascist camp first.

To sum up, the importance of Malta Island to the North African battlefield is evident. However, the German-Italian coalition failed to completely conquer the island of Malta at that time, resulting in a resurgence. On the other hand, as for the Allies, although Britain suffered heavy losses in the early stages of the war, its reinforcements to Malta never stopped until victory came.

But now, after easily capturing Gibraltar, the "European Combined Fleet" did not stop and sailed toward Malta in a mighty manner.

This also made Yannick really proud, thinking that such a configuration is like using a laser knife to kill chickens. He even had the idea of ​​​​defeating Malta and going straight to Alexandria to completely wipe out the British Mediterranean Fleet, but in the end he gave up.

There was originally a garrison of 40,000 people stationed on the island of Malta, but Churchill seemed to have a premonition of something. A few days ago, he urgently sent 5,000 soldiers from Alexandria to support Malta.

At dawn the next morning, 40 Stuka bombers and 80 Mosquito bombers of the Luftwaffe visited the island in the Mediterranean under the cover of 50 BF-109s.

Because there was no radar warning and no depth, the British army's pitiful 20 old-fashioned aircraft were blown up cleanly on the ground before they could take off.

Stuka bombers then began searching for anti-aircraft positions on the ground and destroying them one by one, while Mosquito bombers carried out carpet bombing of important facilities. Before these mosquito bombers could throw away all their bombs, Italy sent another 100 bombers. Carry out more detailed destruction of the already desolate island.

As these bombers bombed Malta, one emergency message after another was sent to London.

"Malta is in danger, and the German bombing scale is getting bigger every time..."

"100 German bombers attacked Valletta, causing thousands of civilian casualties!"

These messages were like steel needles, stimulating the fragile hearts of British people. If Malta was lost, the German army would effectively split the Mediterranean in two.