An xf-k8 twin engine airliner from Port Said arrived in Rome under the combat escort of a squadron.In the Italian capital, the senior military delegation headed by Zhang Tingfu, the commander in chief of the North African theater of operations of the Republican Army, received an unexpected warm welcome. It is not hard for discerning people to see that such a high standard of courtesy is naturally related to the great victory of the Republican Army in the battlefield.
On the day of the delegation's arrival, King Emanuele III of Italy personally attended the welcome dinner specially prepared by the Italian government.Mussolini made an impassioned speech at the party in praise of the "traditional friendship" between China and Italy. The Italian leader did not hesitate to praise the republican army, and claimed that the unbreakable iron and steel alliance between China and Italy would continue forever.
The Chinese handed over control of British Egypt and Sudan from the British to the Italians. In addition to British Somaliland and French Somaliland on the Red Sea coast, the Sinai Peninsula was incorporated into South Jordan, but China was allowed to maintain troops in the Sinai Peninsula.The Suez Canal Zone was jointly managed by China and Italy, which made the Germans look back on their Italian allies with envy and jealousy.
After joining the war, the Italians gained great benefits, but after the United States announced its participation in the war, the senior generals of the Italian military were full of doubts about the future of the war.
It has been confirmed that the 2nd Army, consisting of three mechanized infantry divisions and armored divisions, has set out from Norfolk Harbor and will cross the Atlantic Ocean and land in West Africa or Morocco.The Italian side will face the American attack directly.
Zhang Tingfu and his party went to Rome to coordinate the military operations of the coalition forces on the Mediterranean front.
Although military cooperation between the two armies began before the war.However, the Italians are still poorly prepared for the war: although they claim to have 2 million troops, most of them are a kind of garrison similar to the local security forces. Their equipment and quality of soldiers are even inferior to the domestic reserve militia, and they lack sufficient training, so they are not competent to carry out combat tasks in modern wars.
This can be seen from the East African Italian army which is being reorganized. Among the nearly 300000 East African Italian army, there are only two regular divisions. The number of troops who can really fight is less than 25000.That is to say, the actual combat capability of the Italian army, which is known as 2 million people, can only be calculated by more than 200000 people before it is re equipped and trained.
The Italian army is seriously short of tanks, armoured vehicles and transport trucks that are suitable for combat tasks.The whole Italian army was equipped with less than 400 p3875 medium-sized tanks manufactured by Ansaldo. Mussolini formed an armored army with 3000 tanks, but most of them were "iron coffins" that could be penetrated by machine guns, and they could not cope with the backward Crusader tanks of the British.
Most of the artillery equipped by the Italian army has excellent performance, but lacks transport vehicles. The so-called mechanized infantry division of the Italian army is only equipped with more than 120 cars, which even makes it difficult to transport supplies.
Their navy is just so so. Four old battleships during World War I have been modernized and refitted. They also have two aircraft ships refitted with merchant ships but with good operational performance.Two new main battleships, Veneto and Litorio, are undergoing the final outfitting and are expected to enter service at the end of the year.
However, the two latest aircraft warships designed and built based on the "Jiangsu class" aircraft warships have just been launched.At the rate of Italian construction, it will never be completed without a year.
Fortunately, the Mediterranean Sea is not big, and the combat aircraft taking off from the airports in North Africa and southern Italy can completely control the sea power.
Only relying on the Italians is unable to stop the American attack. After consultation with the Italian side, the Italian army chief of staff Petro.Field Marshal Badoglio and Senior General Zhang Tingfu signed an agreement on the joint establishment of the North African Union Army between the two countries. The Republican Army will send three army groups and a marine division to Libya, and will re equip and train the Italian North African Army.
After signing the cooperation agreement between the two sides, Zhang Tingfu and his party visited the shipyards of La Spezia and Genoa, and the Italians salvaged the French warship sunk by the British in Port Orlan.They were towed back to the two shipyards for repair and refitting.
The unreasonable Mussolini plundered these French warships to Italy without hesitation.
The Italian navy, which had four battleships and two Fuxi class heavy cruisers added at once, suddenly became stronger from the paper.
The actual situation is the same. The Italian navy is better than expected.
The Marine Corps was praised by Mussolini for its heroic performance in capturing Port Orlan. The Navy Brigade was allowed by the Prime Minister to expand to the size of a division. In addition, the leader promised to provide more aircraft for the Navy because of the brilliant naval aviation in the Orlan Bay Naval Battle.Although this makes Itano, the commander of the Italian air force?Marshal Barber was very upset.
Although the surface fleet only attacked the British fleet once in Orlan Bay, the Italian submarine forces have been active in the Mediterranean region. During the Egyptian campaign, Italian submarines sank 11 British transport ships, including the cruiser "Calisop" and three destroyers.There were also two troop carriers, but most British soldiers were rescued by other ships.
However, Senior General Zhang Tingfu still saw a kind of courage to challenge the British and aggressive side in the Italian navy. The Italian submarines and mine laying ships carried out mine laying operations in the Strait of Gibraltar very efficiently at night, and the mine array laid by the Italians on the enemy's channel caused great trouble to the British navy.
"In order to ensure the control of the Mediterranean area, the Republic Navy will send three naval volunteer aviation teams to join the Italian navy to strengthen your strength." Senior General Zhang Tingfu brought good news to Admiral Kavliani who accompanied them to visit, which is undoubtedly a timely help to the Italian navy, which is suffering from the shortage of combat aircraft.
"That would be great. We are preparing to capture the island of Malta, which will play a vital role in the battle we are planning. In that case, we can not only drive the British out of the Mediterranean, but also threaten the defense of Gibraltar." Admiral Kavliani was very excited. If we can add 500 more combat aircraft,The Italian navy will no longer be afraid to fight the British.