Romanian Eagle

Chapter 798 Consequences of the Battle of Cape Tunis

The results of the Tunisian naval battle made many people not expect that the British fleet that suddenly joined the battlefield caused the Italian fleet to be very injured.

Although the Italian fleet fought very tenaciously, after the British battleships joined, they still fought against the British and French battleships without losing their strength. But the air strikes of the four British and French aircraft carriers let the commander of the Italian fleet, Campionni, know that he had lost the battle.

Especially after the Veneto was hit by several torpedoes dropped by an incoming carrier aircraft, Campionni knew that he had to retreat.

However, if they wanted to retreat without leaving anything behind, the British and French fleets would not agree. Therefore, he could only make a difficult choice. After the Veneto, which was hit by a torpedo, its speed was greatly reduced, and the Empire, which was hit hard by the previous shelling, was broken, and he took other warships to withdraw from the battlefield.

Faced with the results that Italy was not willing to leave behind, Darran and Cunningham, who were proficient in calculation, decided to take it as soon as possible. After getting the results of the two ships, the Veneto and the Empire, they also left the battlefield.

Of course, they are not without damage. Just the decoy formation released before was eaten by the Italian fleet. The heavy cruisers Deplex and Duquena were devoured by the Italian fleet. The subsequent artillery battle caused damage to all ships, especially It is an Italian 406-caliber cannon, which is even more powerful. Strasbourg was hit by a 406 shell and was broken.

In addition, there were also damages to Jean Bart and the Dunkirk, and basically every battleship of the British and French fleets were damaged. However, the most unlucky among them was the British Fleet's Warrior. The battleship suffered misfortune as soon as it went online, and a 380mm shell from the Littorio smashed its rudder. This made the Warrior, which could not turn, straight out of the formation and steered towards the Italian fleet.

Not to mention the consequences of deviating from the course during the artillery battle, which attracted more artillery fire.

If the carrier-based aircraft did not come and cause confusion in the Italian formation, then the Warrior was likely to be the first to be sunk. However, even if the Warrior was saved, its condition was also worrying, mainly because the rudder was smashed. Unable to turn, and considering the danger here, the last resort had to be sunk after Cunningham ordered the crew to evacuate.

In the end, Britain and France lost 1 battleship, 2 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers, and more than a dozen other ships in this naval battle, and sunk 2 battleships, 1 heavy cruiser, 2 light cruisers, and 10 other ships that sank Italy. Results of multiple other ships.

Although it appears that this naval battle, the Italians lost only one more battleship than the British and French. But in fact, even if it is a one-for-one exchange, Italy is also at a loss. He can lose the new battleship and replace it with an old battleship, or one for two. More importantly, the Italian fleet needs two or three months of repair work after this battle.

Although the French fleet is the same, but it also allows France to achieve its goal,

Breaking Italy's land and sea blockade of Tunis City, France can seize the time to withdraw the troops trapped in Tunis City.

At the same time, this kind of victory is enough for Britain and France to publicize it. In France, various newspapers published the news of the French fleet's victory over the Italian fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, which was very important to inspire French people's morale and morale. At the same time, Darlan was boasted by the French, saying that he was the first man in the French navy since the 18th century.

The United Kingdom, which is separated by a sea, is doing the same thing, but the object of boasting has been replaced by leading a team to support Cunningham, saying that the timing of his support is just right, and it has dealt a heavy blow to the Italian fleet. He also described Cunningham as a model of shame and courage after the Alexandria raid.

However, according to the grapevine, there were concerns within the government about Cunningham's luck, as the sortie lost the Warrior. Although the post-event battle report also showed that there was no problem with its command at all, the Warrior became the only Allied battleship sunk in this naval battle, which had to be considered from a metaphysical point of view. But in the end, it was Prime Minister Churchill who overcame all the arguments and suppressed all the strange voices.

The main reason for Churchill to do this is that the British army needs a victory to be inspirational at the moment. Since the war, Britain has not received any good news, all bad news. What allied country Poland was defeated, allied country Greece was defeated, the Mediterranean fleet was severely damaged, and the Romanians logged in to the Middle East. Take a closer look at which news makes the United Kingdom feel at ease.

If we continue to get more bad news, the blow to people's confidence will be too great. Although Churchill is also a master of propaganda, at least there must be a bright spot. It is impossible that with the selfless help of the British army, the Greek royal family and government were successfully withdrawn to London, and such propaganda fools could not deceive.

Therefore, since the war began, Britain has received little good news, and none of the good news that deserves to be written about.

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

Compared with the British and French reports of their own victory, Italy, as the defeated side, has lost some face. An angry Mussolini immediately dismissed Admiral Campionni, who was in command of the battle, as soon as the fleet landed. Needless to say, he lost the naval battle and caused Italy to lose two battleships. , handed over the advantage, and this reason is enough to remove him from office.

In fact, everyone knew that this matter was not his responsibility alone, and that the intelligence department and air force reconnaissance failed to find the British fleet that followed, which was also one of the reasons. But now someone must stand up to take the responsibility and calm the anger in the hearts of the people. There is no better candidate than Campionni, the commander of the fleet, so he does not take the blame.

Moreover, the result of this naval battle also caused Italy to change from an advantage to a disadvantage in the Western Mediterranean, which also made it more difficult to capture Algeria.

It can even be said that it has become very difficult for Italy to seize Tunisia, because Algeria is mostly mountainous, and the roads are mainly flat by the sea. In the case where the Italian navy does not have an advantage, the possibility of the army being engaged in the competition for troops has been greatly reduced.

Because at least the French troops in the city of Tunisia can now be evacuated from the sea, which makes the Algerian troops thicker.

Moreover, this naval battle affected far more than just Italy, among which, Germany and Romania, which were allies, also did not run away.

The two countries also have huge complaints about the bad naval battle in Italy.

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