Lütjens thought too much about this is a tragic fact.

After a brief thought, he felt that the Allied fleet would retreat to the north, after all, that was the shortest way for their family. He felt that the opponent would directly adopt the most unlikely retreat route to confuse him. This was the best answer he thought about from the perspective of the enemy.

But who would have thought that the cunning Dudley Pound directly used the most childish retreat route to avoid the carefully arranged pursuit. After the fleet advanced and sent carrier-based aircraft to search, Lütjens found that he had nothing to find. At this time, a patrol aircraft of the German army reported the situation ahead that he wanted to know the most.

"We did not see an enemy fleet passing by, and there was not even a trace of passing. There were few British fleets passing by here, and if there were any, we would easily see it." The butcher reconnaissance plane returning to the flight reported their experiences in this way, so Lütjens knew that he was indeed fooled.

It is very difficult to find an enemy fleet on a vast ocean, especially Lütjens dared not leave the Strait of Gibraltar too far. His other task is to block the strait and deal with the Italian fleet that may appear. So after initially choosing the wrong direction, he was destined to throw away the Allied big fish.

He slapped the chart table with his palm in annoyance, and then reluctantly issued an order to return to Gibraltar: "Return! When you meet the Italian Navy, please give me a good breath! Damn, who is commanding this Allied fleet, isn't that old fox Dudley Pound?"

This time, the US military made a big mistake. In order to get rid of the slower transport fleet as soon as possible, they dragged tens of thousands of US troops to travel south along the coastline, and they didn't even go to their hometown. They had to be supplemented in South Africa or South America and then circled a large country.

The main force of the British fleet, which was faster, ran wildly towards the southwest. After they got rid of the German fleet, all the personnel really let out a long breath. At least they were not completely wiped out by the German army at sea, and this spark was finally preserved.

There are more than 27o Sherman tanks on the transport fleet, but unfortunately, the number of US troops is not as large as when it was planned. The US troops of the two divisions only have about 40,000 people, including some necessary logistics support personnel and a Canadian Light Infantry Division, which together is only a little more than 60,000.

After careful consideration, the more than 60,000 Allied troops will eventually be sent to India, and then we will study whether these troops will go to the Middle East or attack Japan in Southeast Asia. In short, these unlucky pitiful people will wander on the sea for a long time, and can only rely on the unreliable logistics supplies in Africa to support it.

However, compared with Italy's current situation, their luck is already very good. If the Germans were not busy putting as much of their Italian heritage into their own pockets as possible, they might have really pursued them and attacked this Allied Ocean Fleet.

Just when General Dudley Pound was sweating coldly and was dying of his tiger's mouth under the fangs of the German naval carrier-based aircraft, the main Italian Mediterranean fleet was about to reach the Strait of Gibraltar. This fleet is not a piece of cake, but a real main Italian naval fleet!

The battleship Rome is now stationed in Alexandria due to various problems, so it is not in this fleet, but the remaining Italian battleships have been pulled out, including the Venetto, who was once partnered with the German army, and the Cafur.

The Italians drove out four battleships alone, which was much worse than the situation when they supported the German army. At first glance, if the heavy cruiser was added, the Italians could be said to have invested enough money this time, which could be considered a real battle.

If the German Gibraltar Fort was included, the heavy artillery that had been on the table pointed to the direction of blocking the strait. If the Italian Navy approached and used heavy artillery to raid fire, it would indeed cause great trouble to the Germans. At least after two rounds of artillery attacks, whether the German army could turn the guns and fight back was a question.

Just inside the turret of the Italian naval battleship Veneto, several loaders were looking at their gun captains with strange eyes. They had just received the order to load shells, and then someone ordered them to aim their muzzles at the Gibraltar Fortress. This order was too strange for them, so the atmosphere in the entire turret suddenly became heavy.

"What a joke? Bombing the Gibraltar Fortress? That's where the Germans were stationed! If we fire artillery now, aren't we attacking our own allies?" An Italian soldier who had already put on a life jacket looked at his commander, and then looked at the cannons that had been loaded with shells.

"That's right, this time I went to sea for no reason, but when I drove to the Strait of Gibraltar, I thought I was going to the Suez Canal to shell the Allies. Now I'm asking us to shell the Gibraltar Fortress again. Isn't it crazy that the fleet commander was crazy?" Another soldier also complained reluctantly. It was not that he was unwilling to execute the shelling order, but that this order was too weird.

The officer of Wei looked helpless, and he also thought this way when he received this order. Moreover, he thought further than his subordinates. His family was in northern Italy. If the Germans began to attack Italy in anger, then wouldn’t his hometown become a war zone?

"I said, it's wrong. The cannons of Turret No. 1 didn't sound either." A slightly clever soldier reacted. At this time, everyone found out and ordered it for a long time, but the other turret they were close to on the warship did not fire either.

"The order was cancelled! I am the deputy captain! Now I take over the command of the captain, he is crazy! He wants to die, but we don't want to be buried with him!" In the communication channel, the deputy captain's voice came over: "Cancel the order to open fire! My God! German plane!"

The order to open fire was not carried out by the Italians, and some warships were not even loaded. After seeing the German planes appear over the fleet, all of the Italian Navy warships were hung with white flags. Unfortunately, the German army did not cancel the bombing, but threw a bomb on the Italian warship that did not fire at all.

The unlucky one was the battleship Caesar. The chimney of the old battleship was blown away halfway, and the Germans saw the white sheets and flags hanging everywhere on the ship. The Italians were not angry because of the bombing. Instead, they sent clear telegrams over and over again, asking the Germans to board the warship.

"Quick! Send another message! My God! I saw the Caesar being hit! These idiots! Haven't you seen the white flag we hung on? Hell!" The current fleet commander, the deputy captain of the battleship of the Venetto, looked at the captain who had been tied to the chair: "It's all you bastard! The idiots trained by Mussolini!"

"It's too late! Everything is over! The Germans will sink you. If you fight back, there is still a chance of winning!" Mussolini, who was tied to a chair, shouted loudly. There was a hint of pride in his eyes, because he felt that his mission should have been completed. At least the Germans are attacking this fleet now. After a while, the Italian fleet will also fire and fight back to protect themselves. In this way, the whole situation will be out of control.

Unfortunately, at this moment, the German voice appeared on the radio station. They asked the entire fleet to leave immediately and return to the port in southern Italy, and then surrender to Marshal Garibaldi who was waiting for them. This request made the entire fleet feel relieved. They did not have to surrender humiliatingly to the German army, nor did they have to hand over the warships of their motherland to the German army. This is a cost-effective matter anyway, so the Italian fleet began to turn without delaying a minute.

Lütjens was unable to annihilate any fleet in Gibraltar. Because he went in the wrong direction, he eventually led to a great naval battle that turned into a multi-national naval parade. The naval forces of Britain, the United States, Germany and Italy almost launched the largest naval battle in human history here, but only dropped one bomb and ended hastily.

The Italian fleet, which ultimately did not implement Mussolini's crazy decision, then returned to the southern Italian seaport, where it was accepted for Garibaldi's inclusion. Two new battleships were directly allocated to the German Navy to form a new Mediterranean Axis Combined Fleet to be responsible for the Axis Navy operations throughout the Mediterranean War Zone.

Most of the remaining warships were eventually affiliated with this fleet, the difference was that about 10,000 German navys entered these warships, which completely controlled Italy's maritime power. Mussolini's influence on the Italian fleet was completely eliminated, and a new Axis maritime power was controlled by the German army.

If several warships of the French Navy were added and the maritime forces of the Axis powers seemed to have passed the hostile Allied Atlantic fleet. Without considering the difficulty of command, it might even change the offensive and defensive situation on the Atlantic.

And there is good news that will make the Axis excited. As long as Libya's oil production begins to rise, the oil shortage problem that has always plagued the Axis will be greatly alleviated. Those terrible butcher bombers and these fuel-consuming warships can finally be dispatched unscrupulously.
Chapter completed!