Chapter 798： The aftermath of the naval battle in Cape Tunis

The result of the Tunisia naval battle did not occur to many people. The British fleet that suddenly joined the battlefield wounded the Italian fleet.

Although the Italian fleet fought very stubbornly, after the British battleships joined, they were still fighting against the British and French battleships. However, the air strikes of the four British and French aircraft carriers let the commander of the Italian fleet, Campioni, know that the battle had fallen.

Especially in Veneto, after being hit by several torpedoes dropped by an incoming carrier-based aircraft, Compionni knew he had to retreat.

But if you want to retreat and leave nothing behind, the British and French fleets will not agree. Therefore, he could only make a difficult choice. After the Veneto, which was hit by a torpedo, had its speed greatly reduced, and after the two ships that suffered heavy damage in the previous shelling, he withdrew from the battlefield with other warships.

Faced with the results that Italy was unwilling to leave behind, Darren and Cunningham, who were savvy in calculations, decided to accept it when they met. After getting the results of the two ships Veneto and Empire, they also left the battlefield.

Of course, they were not without damage. The decoy formation just released before was eaten by the Italian fleet and the heavy cruisers Diprex and Diquena. The subsequent artillery battle caused damage to all ships, especially It is an Italian 406 caliber cannon, and it is even more powerful. The Strasbourg was broken by a 406 shell.

In addition, Jean Barr and Dunkirk were destroyed, and every battleship of the British and French fleet was damaged. However, the most unlucky one was the British fleet's Warrior. The battleship encountered misfortune as soon as it went online. A 380mm shell from the Littorio smashed its rudder. This made the Warrior, who could not steer, left the formation straightly and strayed towards the Italian fleet.

Needless to say, the consequences of deviating from the course during artillery battles have attracted more artillery fire.

If the carrier-based aircraft does not come and cause chaos in the Italian formation, the Warrior is likely to be the first to be sunk. But even if the Warrior was saved, its condition was also worrying, mainly because the rudder was broken. Unable to turn, and considering the dangers here, in the end, Cunningham ordered the crew to evacuate and sink it.

In the end, the naval battle cost Britain and France lost 1 battleship, 2 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers and more than a dozen other ships, and obtained 2 battleships, 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, and ten other ships that sunk Italy. The results of many other ships.

Although it seems that in this naval battle, Italy lost only one more battleship than Britain and France. But in fact, even if it is one for one, Italy is losing. He could lose a new battleship, exchange for an old battleship, or exchange one for two. More critically, the Italian fleet will need two or three months of repair work after this battle.

Although the French fleet was the same, it also allowed France to achieve its goal, breaking Italy's land and sea blockade of Tunisia, allowing France to seize the time to withdraw the troops trapped in Tunisia.

At the same time, the results of such a battle were enough for Britain and France to be well-publicized. In France, various newspapers published the news of the French fleet's victory over the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean, which was very important to boost the French national spirit and morale. At the same time, Darren was even boasted by France, saying that he was the first man in the French navy since the eighteenth century.

The United Kingdom, which is separated by a sea, was doing the same thing, except that the object of bragging was changed to lead the team to support Cunningham, saying that the timing of his support was just right, and it dealt a heavy blow to the Italian fleet. At the same time, Cunningham was described as a model of bravery after knowing shame after the Alexandria raid.

However, according to the gossip, some people within the government were worried about Cunningham’s luck because the attack lost the Warrior. Although the subsequent battle report also showed that there was no problem with its command at all, the Warrior became the only battleship of the Allied power that was sunk in this naval battle, and it had to be considered from a metaphysical perspective. But in the end, it was the Prime Minister Churchill who rejected all the opinions before suppressing all the strange voices.

The main reason for Churchill to do this is that the British army needs a victory too much to inspire people. Since the start of the war, the UK has not received any good news, it's all terrible bad news. What kind of ally Poland was defeated, ally Greece was defeated, the Mediterranean fleet was hit hard, and the Romanians logged into the Middle East. Take a closer look at which news made Britain worry.

If we continue to get more bad news, the blow to public confidence will be too great. Although Churchill is also a master of propaganda, at least there must be a bright spot. It is impossible for the Greek royal family and government to withdraw to London smoothly with the selfless help of the British army. Such propaganda fools can't deceive.

Therefore, there has not been much good news for Britain since the beginning of the war, and there is not a single piece of good news worthy of a big book.

However, no matter how you look at it this time, it is good news worthy of vigorous publicity. The people are most concerned about the news from the navy. There is no reason to let it go.

Compared with Britain and France reporting their own victory, Italy, as the defeated side, has a bit of a loss of face. After the furious Mussolini landed on the fleet, Admiral Compionni, who was in charge of the battle, was dismissed as soon as possible. Needless to say, the reason was that he lost the naval battle and caused Italy to lose two battleships. , Give up the advantage, such a reason is enough to remove him.

In fact, everyone knows that this incident is not his responsibility alone Among them, the intelligence department and air force reconnaissance failed to find the British fleet, which is also one of the reasons. But now someone must stand up to take the responsibility and calm the anger of the people. There is no better candidate than the commander of the fleet, Compionni, so he doesn't have the blame.

Moreover, the result of this naval battle also caused Italy to transform from an advantage to a disadvantage in the Western Mediterranean, which also increased the difficulty for it to seize Algeria.

It can even be said that it has become very difficult for Italy to capture Tunisia, because Algeria is mostly mountainous, and the access roads are mainly flat land by the sea. In the absence of the Italian navy's superiority, the possibility of the army entering the battle for strength has been far reduced.

Because at least the French army in Tunisia can now withdraw from the sea, which in turn makes Algerian troops stronger.

Moreover, the naval battle affected far more than Italy, and Germany and Romania, which are allies, also did not run.

The two countries also have huge complaints about this terrible naval battle in Italy.

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