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 two remaining aircraft squadrons had about 70 aircraft. Facing the siege of hundreds of British and French aircraft, the outcome was naturally needless to say.

After desperately hitting several British and French aircraft, these more than 70 Italian aircraft were quickly destroyed by the British and French Air Forces.

Looking at the figure of the Italian Air Force going away, the British Air Force commander issued a very bold order, which was to continue the pursuit.

In fact, the British and French Air Forces had already occupied an absolute advantage at this time.

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

If they cannot return to the country in time, even if they can get rid of the pursuit of British and French aircraft, they will eventually have to crash because of running out of fuel.

Britain and France naturally understood this. Based on the principle of hitting the dog when it is down, they would naturally try to hurt the Italians as much as possible.

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

Although the Italian air raid was not successful, it effectively destroyed the British air defense positions on Malta and caused certain casualties to the British army.

As the world's first superpower, the British Empire must retaliate, and now is a good opportunity.

Sicily is only more than 90 kilometers away from Malta. At full speed, it only takes more than 20 minutes to arrive.

The purpose of the British and French air forces is also very clear, that is, to strike Sicily as much as possible under the premise of chasing Italian aircraft and regain some face.

Of course, chasing Italian aircraft must be the first priority. But if you can't catch up with the Italian Air Force, you can only take out your anger on the important facilities and troops on Sicily.

Anyway, there are many military airports in Sicily. Attacking these military airports may accidentally blow up some Italian fighters.

From Valletta in Malta, they chased all the way to Syracuse in Sicily, then Catania, Messina, and finally even to Reggio in Calabria.

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.

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

This air raid on Italy was a heavy loss. A total of nearly 200 aircraft were lost, and many cities in Sicily were also attacked by British and French air forces.

What's more terrible is that the 2,000 paratroopers previously deployed to Malta faced a whole division of British troops plus a large number of British and French aircraft, and the outcome was already doomed.

On the other hand, the losses of Britain and France were only over 100 destroyed aircraft, and a considerable number of them were forced to sacrifice in order to evacuate when they were at a numerical disadvantage.

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

Although the British Air Force also fought back, it would take at least half a month to repair the military facilities on Malta.

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

After this air strike, Britain and France both stepped up their offensive against Libya, and Italy had no way to deal with it.

More than 1 million troops attacked the Italian colonial army of only 600,000, and the advantage was naturally on the side of Britain, France and Australia.

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

It has to be admitted that the navy, army and air force have their own roles in the war, and none of them can be missing.

In this small battlefield in Libya, Britain, France and Australia have achieved a comprehensive crushing of the navy, army and air force, which actually doomed the outcome of this war. Italy is definitely the losing party.

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

This battle also made Britain and France see the combat effectiveness of the Italian army thoroughly. If both sides fight with all their might, perhaps the combat effectiveness of the Italian army is not weak.

But unfortunately, the will of the Italian Army is not so tenacious, and their desire for victory in the war is not so intense.

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

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

But at this time, there was also a thorny problem waiting for the British to solve, that is, how to deal with these more than 100,000 Italian prisoners.

After all, both sides are great powers, and the most basic Geneva Convention must be observed.

In the end, the British decided to transport these more than 100,000 Italian prisoners to the eastern port of Matruh and hand them over to the Egyptians for inspection.

After guaranteeing that the Italian prisoners would be treated as required by the Geneva Convention, the Italian soldiers agreed to go to Mersa Matruh without any objection, which surprised the British army.

This was the first time the British had seen prisoners at the mercy of others. During the First World War, prisoners from Germany and Austria often rebelled, which gave the British a headache for a long time.

After the capture of Tobruk, eastern Libya became a blank area. The British army recklessly advanced deeper into the country, and the Italian colonial troops were all frightened and either defeated or surrendered.

On the other hand, the French offensive also achieved good results.

Although the Italian regular army was stationed in Tripoli, the combat effectiveness of the Italian regular army was not very good, at least it was not as good as the French army.

Especially after realizing that they could no longer get any assistance from the country, the Italian army seemed to have let it go and was not obsessed with resisting the French offensive.

The Italian army, which could barely stop the French attack, seemed to have changed its appearance overnight and turned into a native army with worse combat effectiveness.

It was also because of this that France successfully conquered Tripoli after besieging the city for more than ten days.

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

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

There were 150,000 Italian regular troops and 200,000 colonial troops here. The Italian troops captured by the French alone added up to nearly 250,000 people.

Compared with the British decision to relocate prisoners and guard them, the French method was simpler and more brutal, that is, to guard them on the spot and dispatch more than 100,000 troops to maintain order.

Like the British, the French gradually let go after finding that the Italian prisoners did not resist, and the treatment of Italian prisoners was not too harsh.

The successive capture of two important cities also means that Italy's Libyan colonies are in danger.

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

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

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

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

Italy is a country with obvious differences between the north and the south. Northern Italy has stronger industry and a relatively more developed economy. Southern Italy has stronger agriculture, but it is slightly behind the north in industry and economy.

Precisely because of the huge gap between the north and the south, there is discrimination between northern and southern Italy, and it is still quite fierce discrimination.

You should know that the history of Italy's unification is not long, and it has only been more than 60 years.

Italy is a merger of two major countries in the north and south, the Kingdom of Sardinia and Piedmont and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and also annexed other Italian countries on the peninsula.

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

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

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

If the pressure on the French cannot be relieved elsewhere, Paris will be broken by Germany sooner or later.

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

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

At present, Italy has suffered certain setbacks and lost more than 800,000 troops. If the Balkan countries help, the Italian army can be basically delayed and the pressure on France in the south can be relieved.

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

First update of 3000 words, please vote for the monthly ticket, please support!

3/10 day, 3000/10000 have been updated today, please vote for the monthly ticket, please support!