After Romania was annexed, coupled with the occupation of Serbia and Bulgaria joined the Allies to join the war, the transportation line to Turkey was opened, which greatly alleviated the dilemma of lack of ammunition faced by the Ottoman army. Although it won the Battle of Gallipoli, it faced a former collapse in other parts of the Ottoman Empire.

With the support of the British, the Arabs in the entire Hanzhi rebelled against Turkey, quickly swept across the entire Asia Minor Peninsula. The British and French forces landed in Beirut and used primitive methods to erode the Turkish territory bit by bit. In Mesopotamia, the British expeditionary force made rapid progress. After capturing Baghdad in early September, they occupied the important oil-producing area Mosul in October. All the Turkish oil fields fell into the hands of the British.

Lee Haydn felt it was necessary to give the British a "New Year's gift" to vent his anger after returning from Berlin.

He had already set his sights on Malta.

The Island of Malta is guarded in the center of the Mediterranean Sea and is less than 60 nautical miles away from Sicily, Italy. It consists of the Island of Malta, Gozo and three uninhabited islands, with a total area of ​​about 316 square kilometers. Among them, the main island of Malta Island is about 35 kilometers long and 16 kilometers wide, with a population of about 160,000 people.

Since the British occupied this Mediterranean island during the Napoleonic War in 1801, Malta has always existed as an important British military base and transit supply port in the Mediterranean. Now there are about 60,000 British troops stationed on the island. However, due to their absolute confidence in the power of the Royal Navy, the British army has no permanent fortifications in other areas of the island except for building solid permanent fortifications in the Port of Valletta.

If Lee Hayden wants to take action in North Africa, he must take it down first.

Since the three "Istrian Grand Duke" class battleships were put into service, the Austro-Hungarian Navy has gained an absolute advantage in the Mediterranean unless the British transfer half of their local fleet to the Mediterranean.

Yankel received a combat order issued by Lieutenant General Meyer Sea on the 16th day after taking over as captain of the "Emperor Maximilian". During this period, they only conducted three training sessions on the sea, and the new crew members were still familiar with the operations on the ship, which made Yankel feel a little nervous.

On December 11, 1915, it was drizzling in the sky, and Lee Haydn once again led his fleet to set off.

This is perhaps the largest fleet in the history of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The first battleship led by three "Istrian Grand Duke" class battleships opened the way in the front. In the middle is a 36 transport ships transporting all 24,000 personnel and equipment of the 3rd Marines' 3rd Division, as well as an escort formation composed of four armored ships, six cruisers and twelve destroyers. Behind it is a second cruiser formation composed of two battleships, "Cryni" and "Queen Teresa". Then, the third battleships commanded by General Holty, consisting of four "Austrian" class battleships. These battleships are still in the test stage, and their real combat effectiveness is still doubtful.

In addition, four "United Force" class battleships commanded by General Negovan and the German battle fleet commanded by Lieutenant General Mauf will set out from the port of Taranto. They not only have to escort the fleet of the 1st Marine Division, but also protect the flanks of the entire landing fleet.

While the Negovan fleet was dispatched, the Austro-Hungarian 7th Army, as the main attack force, had all assembled in Taranto and was ready to board the ship at any time.

During the storm, the "Istria Grand Duke" with a full load displacement of 34,200 tons still seemed very stable during its driving, which was undoubtedly a very stable maritime shooting platform for the ship's gunners. As the first large-scale landing operation by the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Li Haidn also solemnly left Major General St. General St. St. Navy commander on the flagship, constantly studying the details of the landing operations.

Although after reconnaissance, the British had poor defense facilities on the island of Malta, and the British's confidence in their naval forces them to build some permanent and solid fortifications in the Valletta area, Li Haidn, who was used to the bloody landing battle scenes in later generations, was still not relieved.

However, this time he obviously was over-thinking.

In order to take care of the speed of the transport ship, the entire formation was sailing at a speed of 12 knots, and it took more than two days to arrive near the island of Malta. After a day and one night of sailing, at around 6 a.m. on the third day, the entire fleet had arrived at the entrance of the Otranto Strait.

After the Austro-Hungarian army occupied the entire Italy, the British and French fleets had abandoned the blockade of the Otranto Strait, but the fleet must be careful if there are still uncleared mines.

Everything went smoothly, and there was no underwater danger such as British submarines on the road. On the afternoon of December 12, the main fleet had already arrived in the waters around Malta.

Before the main fleet arrived, General Negovan led a battleship fleet from Italy to expel a British cruiser squad here.

As the most important strategic location in the central Mediterranean for thousands of years, Malta is not only an important merchant ship transit station in the Mediterranean, but also a strong sea fortress. Since the Battle of Trafalgar, the British have firmly occupied it. Due to the powerful maritime power of the British Empire, no one has dared to make an idea for it for a hundred years.

Starting from the afternoon of December 12, the attack on Malta began. The Austro-Hungarian Navy, together with the German Navy, a total of 13 battleships, began to shell the fortifications of the island's scheduled landing point. Four Austrian-class battleships led by Admiral Holti also joined the ranks of artillery attacks. Their main target was Valletta, which was considered to be live-fire training.

The British did not realize that they would be attacked after the war began, but after Italy was defeated, they realized that the danger had actually approached them, and then they began to build fortifications in the mudflat areas on the island where they could land. However, the development of modern industrial technology actually made any defense facilities possible to be destroyed. The Germans could use artillery to destroy the strong Liege Fortress, and the defense facilities on the island of Malta were temporarily built with wood and rocks.

Under the bombardment of large caliber naval guns, most of the fortifications built along the coast were soon destroyed, and a large number of casualties were caused by the defenders. The focus of the shelling was Meliha Bay, and when the 3rd Austrian Marine Division began to land on this beach on December 14, the resistance encountered was very slight.

In just one hour, the Austrian landing forces stood firm on the beachheads near Meliha and St. Paul's Bay City, and began to advance in depth with the support of naval guns. Although the British organized a counterattack, they were soon defeated under the attack of heavy naval guns at sea.
Chapter completed!