Chapter 900 Annexation of Libya

The Italian Air Force's tail-cutting tactics were effective. The remaining air force effectively delayed the pursuit of the British and French air forces, buying enough time for the main force of the air force to retreat.

The remaining two aircraft squadrons have about 70 aircraft. Faced with the encirclement of hundreds of British and French aircraft, the outcome is naturally needless to say.

After desperately hitting several British and French aircraft, these more than 70 Italian aircraft were quickly wiped out by the British and French air forces.

Looking at the retreating figure of the Italian Air Force, the British Air Force commander issued a very bold order, that is, to continue the pursuit.

In fact, the British and French air forces had an absolute advantage at this time.

One thing that cannot be ignored is the fuel tank capacity of the fighter jet. After a long battle, the Italian Air Force not only used up all its ammunition reserves, but also consumed most of the fuel in the fuel tank.

What's even more terrible is that the 2,000 paratroopers who were previously dropped on Malta Island faced an entire division of British troops plus a large number of British and French aircraft, and the outcome was already doomed.

The plan chosen by the British to relieve the pressure on the French was to start with Italy, the weakest country in the German-Italian alliance.

This was the first time that the British had seen such captives being slaughtered by others. During World War I and the German-Austrian war, prisoners from these two countries often broke out in resistance, but this gave the British a headache for a long time.

The pursuit started from Valletta on the island of Malta to Siracusa in Sicily, then to Catania, Messina, and finally even to Reggio in Calabria.

At the new Allied Conference, the British formally proposed a plan to open the Balkan battlefield.

If the pressure on the French could not be relieved elsewhere, sooner or later Paris would be captured by the Germans.

As the largest city in the Libyan colony, Tripoli also has the largest number of Italian troops stationed.

Like the British, the French gradually relaxed after discovering that the Italian prisoners showed no resistance, and did not treat the Italian prisoners too harshly.

This air raid on Italy caused heavy losses. A total of nearly 200 aircraft were lost before and after, and many cities in Sicily were also attacked by British and French air raids.

With the advancement of armored forces, Britain and France finally fully occupied the Libyan colony before the end of September, and replaced all cities in the Libyan colony with their own flags.

Especially after understanding that they could no longer receive any domestic assistance, the Italian army seemed to look away and was not obsessed with resisting the French attack.

We have to admit that with the development of the war to this day, the three armed forces of the sea, land and air force have their own roles, and none of them can be missing.

Although the British Air Force also responded in kind, it will take at least half a month to repair the military facilities on Malta Island.

Precisely because of such a huge gap between the north and the south, there is also discrimination between north and south Italy, and the discrimination is quite intense.

But at this time, there was also a thorny problem waiting to be solved by the British, which was how to deal with the more than 100,000 Italian army prisoners. After all, both sides are major powers, and the most basic Geneva Conventions must still be observed.

The purpose of the British and French air forces is also very obvious, that is, on the premise of chasing Italian aircraft, they can air raid Sicily as much as possible to regain some face.

This battle also allowed Britain and France to fully see the combat effectiveness of the Italian army. If both sides fight with all their might, perhaps the Italian army's combat effectiveness is not weak.

Of course, there is another point, which is to retaliate against the Italians.

With an army of more than 1 million attacking the Italian colonial army of only 600,000, the advantage naturally lies with Britain, France and Australia.

Anyway, there are many military airports in Sicily. If you attack these military airports, you might be able to blow up some Italian fighter jets by chance.

But unfortunately, the Italian Army's will is not that tenacious, and their desire for victory in the war is not that intense.

The UK's biggest loss should be its ground facilities in Malta. Although Italy did not bomb the military airport in Malta, it also launched a large-scale bombing of the military base and naval base in Malta.

After losing the Libyan colony, Italy, a great power, became somewhat unworthy of its name.

After promising to provide these Italian prisoners with the prisoner treatment required by the Geneva Convention, these Italian soldiers did not have any objections and agreed to go to Matruh Port, which surprised the British army.

Compared with the British decision to move prisoners and keep them under custody, the French's method was simpler and more crude, that is, to keep them in place and dispatch more than 100,000 troops to maintain order.

The surrender of part of the Italian colonial army also affected the situation in Tobruk, and it finally took the British army only a week to capture the city.

Although the Italian regular army is stationed in Tripoli, the combat effectiveness of the Italian regular army is not very good, at least now it cannot compare with the French army.

Because in Europe, Germany's attack on Paris continues. Although with the help of British and Australasian troops, the French temporarily resisted the German attack, this was only temporary after all.

The capture of two important cities in succession also meant that Italy's Libyan colony was in danger.

At present, Italy has suffered certain setbacks and lost more than 800,000 troops. With the help of the Balkan countries, it can basically hold back the Italian army and reduce the pressure on France in the south.

On the small battlefield in Libya, Britain, France and Australia have completely crushed the land, sea and air forces. This actually determines the outcome of this war. Italy is definitely the loser.

You know, the history of the unification of Italy is not long, and even full calculation only lasted more than 60 years.

Although the Italian air strike was unsuccessful, it effectively destroyed the British air defense positions on Malta Island and caused certain casualties to the British army.

The Italian army, which could barely block the French attack, seemed to have changed overnight and turned into an indigenous army with even worse combat effectiveness.

If they cannot return home in time, even if they can escape the pursuit of British and French aircraft, they will eventually have to crash because they run out of fuel.

Especially after the failure of the Italian Air Force, Britain and France have gradually gained control of Libya's air superiority, which has played a decisive role in the Libyan offensive.

There are 150,000 Italian regular troops and 200,000 colonial troops here. The Italian troops captured by the French alone total close to 250,000.

After this air strike, Britain and France both stepped up their attacks on Libya, and Italy was helpless.

These two colonies in Africa are Italy's only colonies. After losing them all, it also means that Italy has become a great power country like Germany, which only has its own homeland.

This also means that Italy is not as stable as it appears. After losing two colonies in succession, the local problems will become more serious, and Italy's strength will become weaker and weaker.

More importantly, on the way back, the British and French air forces jointly bombed many cities in Sicily, including Mosina, Cataria, Syracuse and Palermo.

However, the results of this air strike are good news for Britain and France. After the Italian Air Force suffered heavy losses, it completely eliminated their hope of supporting Libya.

Sicily is only more than 90 kilometers away from Malta. With the plane traveling at full speed, it only takes more than 20 minutes to arrive.

Italy was formed by the merger of two main countries in the north and south, the Kingdom of Sardinia, Piedmont and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and also annexed other Italian countries on the peninsula.

In the attack on Tobruk, most of the Italian troops always resisted symbolically for a period of time. After several parties suffered heavy casualties, they basically surrendered decisively.

As the world's most powerful country, the British Empire will definitely want to take revenge, and now is a good opportunity.

Of course, chasing the Italian plane must be the first priority. But if they can't catch up with the Italian Air Force, they can only vent their anger on the important facilities and troops on Sicily.

In the end, the British decided to transport more than 100,000 Italian prisoners to the eastern port of Matruh and show them to the Egyptians.

After the capture of Tobruk, eastern Libya became a blank space. The British army marched unscrupulously deeper, and the Italian colonial armies wherever they passed were frightened and either routed or surrendered.

But Germany's mainland is already very strong, but Italy's mainland is not as strong as imagined.

After occupying Libya, Britain and France did not stop their actions.

Italy is a country with obvious differences between north and south. Northern Italy's industry is relatively strong and its economy is relatively more developed. Southern Italy has strong agriculture, but is slightly behind in industry and economy compared to the north.

On the other side, the French offense also achieved good results.

Looking back at the losses on the British and French side, only a little over 100 aircraft were destroyed, and a considerable number of them were forced to sacrifice for evacuation when they were previously at a numerical disadvantage.

Because of this, France successfully captured Tripoli after more than ten days of siege.

Although the Italian air force was not completely wiped out, the pursuit along the way still allowed Britain and France to destroy at least hundreds of Italian aircraft.

The British and French naturally understood this, and based on the principle of beating the drowned dog, they would naturally hit the Italians as hard as they could inflict any trauma on the Italian Air Force.

With the help of the Australasian army, the British army captured Tobruk in eastern Libya in just one week and captured more than 100,000 Italian troops.

Of course, the French naturally have to face the same problem as the British, and that is how to deal with Italian prisoners.

Even if Italy loses ground in the Balkan battlefield, in order to protect its allies, the Germans will definitely send troops to help Italy, which will naturally ease the pressure on the French.

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