Malta amphibious assault plan

  Zhou Tianlei left the fleet when the German Ocean Fleet arrived at the port of France and went to Berlin with the first amphibious three-dimensional combat plan in modern German warfare.

  After returning to Berlin by special plane, Zhou Tianlei handed over the plan to the Naval Command, who passed it on to Raeder for review, and then submitted it to the Supreme Command for discussion and decision. He himself got in his car and rushed back.

  Li Xia was reading "Dream of the Red Chamber" on the balcony of the villa, when she suddenly heard the sound of a car horn outside the gate. She looked up and saw Zhou Tianlei's special vehicle had returned and was passing through the gate, while the soldiers at the gate were saluting to those inside the car. Li Xia knew that Zhou Tianlei had come back, as his special vehicle had left early this morning.

  Li Xia hastily put away her book and entered the house from the balcony. She had to hurry up and touch up her makeup in order to welcome her husband.

  Zhou Tianlei entered the living room of his villa accompanied by his deputy, Lafen. Lafen took Zhou Tianlei's coat and hung it on the clothes rack. Lafen heard Zhou Tianlei ask why Li Xia was not in the house and replied: "General, Madam has not gone out today and has been in this villa all along." He then bowed to him and retreated.

  Zhou Tianlei plopped down on the sofa in the living room. He felt extremely tired. As soon as he leaned back against the sofa, his body involuntarily fell onto it, and his two eyes could no longer stay open, and he fell fast asleep.

  Li Xia fixed her makeup and hurried downstairs, as soon as she entered the living room, she saw Zhou Tianlei sleeping on the sofa. A sympathetic expression appeared on her face, she quietly walked to the coat rack where Zhou Tianlei had just hung his clothes, took down his naval officer uniform, and then quietly walked to Zhou Tianlei's side, gently covering him with the clothes.

  Li Xia sat beside Zhou Tianlei on the sofa, gazing at her husband with tender eyes as he slept like a little child. Saliva flowed from his mouth and wetted his own collar. Li Xia hurriedly ran to get some tissues and gently wiped away the saliva from Zhou Tianlei's mouth.

  Zhou Tianlei felt someone wiping his face in his sleep, he suddenly woke up and opened his eyes to see Li Xia. Li Xia was also startled by Zhou Tianlei's movement. "Did I hurt you somewhere, Tianlei?"

  Zhou Tianlei shook his head and laughed: "That's not it, this is just a soldier's instinctive reaction. If I wasn't sleeping like a dead pig, you probably wouldn't have been able to get close to me."

  Li Xia fanned her small hand in front of her nose and said, "Look at you, coming back without even taking a hot bath, your whole body reeks. But since you can sleep on the sofa, you must also be able to sleep in the bathtub. If you fall asleep in the bathtub and slip into the water, you'll drown. Just think about it, people will say that General Haijun drowned in his own bathtub at home, what a huge news!"

  Zhou Tianlei shook his head and stood up, saying to Li Xia: "You go help me prepare my underwear, I'll go to the bathroom to take a bath myself. (They had agreed when they got married that there would be no servants in the house, at most, a few of Zhou Tianlei's subordinates would come to help clean the villa.)

  When Li Xia folded Zhou Tianlei's underwear and went downstairs to the bathroom door, the bathroom door was ajar. Li Xia pushed open the bathroom door and saw that the shower curtain had been pulled up. She called out Zhou Tianlei's name, heard his response, and then said: "Tianlei, I've put your clothes outside. You can come get them yourself after you're done washing." After hearing her words, Zhou Tianlei suddenly felt a mischievous urge to tease Li Xia, so he said: "Xia, my stomach hurts a bit, can you help me rub it?"

  Li Xia didn't expect Zhou Tianlei to suddenly come over, pull open the shower curtain, and see him soaking in a tub full of bubbles. She reached out to press his stomach, but didn't expect Zhou Tianlei to suddenly grab her and pull her into the bathtub. Li Xia was completely caught off guard and was frightened pale. Zhou Tianlei said to Li Xia, "Xia, let's take a husband-and-wife bath together," as he stripped off her already wet clothes and threw them outside the tub, then tightly hugged her in his arms, lowering his head to find her cherry lips.

  Li Xia struggled at first, but after Zhou Tianlei's tongue broke through her teeth, she was also intoxicated by her husband's kiss and couldn't help but stretch out her hand to tightly hug her husband. Zhou Tianlei pulled the shower curtain back up, and in an instant, it became a spring scene inside.

  When they came out, the two of them slipped quietly out of the bathroom and back into their bedroom like thieves. Zhou Tianlei looked at Li Xia's face, which still had a lingering flush, just as he was about to speak, the phone rang inopportunely. Zhou Tianlei picked up the phone, it was his deputy officer Lafen: "General, the Naval Command has informed you that there will be a meeting tomorrow afternoon at the Supreme Commander's Berlin Command Center to discuss your battle plan."

  "Alright, I know. You come pick me up tomorrow afternoon." Zhou Tianlei replied before hanging up the phone.

  On the second day morning, Zhou Tianlei woke up on time and pushed awake Li Xia who was still lying in his arms and didn't want to wake up. The two quickly washed and dressed, and after eating breakfast, Lafen appeared. Zhou Tianlei put on his military uniform, and at this time Li Xia also put on a cheongsam, looking like she was going out. Zhou Tianlei asked her: "Where are you going?" "Yesterday I made an appointment with Rommel's wife to go to a place to have fun, she said that I haven't been there before, so take me to play." "You want to hitch a ride on my car, right?" "Uh-huh!" "Okay, get in the car, and you can tell me where to drop you off," Zhou Tianlei said.

  After dropping off Li Xia, Zhou Tianlei's car quickly turned around and headed towards the command center.

  After entering the Supreme Command Headquarters in Berlin, Zhou Tianlei was led to the conference room. The conference room had already been attended by some German generals. Zhou Tianlei exchanged pleasantries with them, and after a while, a staff officer from the Supreme Command Headquarters came in and said: "The Führer has arrived, the meeting is about to begin."

  When Hitler entered the conference room, everyone stood up, and only after Hitler sat down did they sit down.

  Xitler said to Zhou Tianlei: "Gao Te, tell me about your plan."

  Everyone, look at the map of Malta in the central Mediterranean. It is located at the intersection of the east-west route from Gibraltar to the Suez Canal and the north-south route from Italy to North Africa. The distance from Sicily, Italy is only 93 kilometers. The terrain is a limestone hill country, with high terrain in the southwest and low terrain in the northeast. The highest point in the southwest has an elevation of 253 meters. The southern and southwestern coastlines are steep, with many caves. The northern and eastern coastlines are flat, with winding shorelines and hidden bays. The soil is thin and rocky, with few trees, mostly small shrubs. It belongs to a typical Mediterranean climate, with hot and dry summers, mild and humid winters, and sufficient sunshine throughout the year. The annual rainfall is about 530 mm. Autumn and winter are often hit by storms.

  The British garrison on the island now comprises Army and Royal Air Force (RAF) units, with three airfields built on the island at Hal Far, Luqa and Ta Kali, a seaplane base and radar station at Kalafarana. The fighter aircraft are one squadron of 12 Hurricanes, No. 261 Squadron RAF. Eight of the previous twelve Sea Gladiators remain, five Swordfish torpedo bombers and one reconnaissance plane. The British Army garrison is composed of:

  1. Royal Corps of Signals Malta Signal Troop

  26th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, comprising 15th, 40th, 48th and 71st Anti-Tank Batteries

  3. 7th HAA Regiment, Royal Artillery, comprising 5th HAA Battery, Royal Malta Artillery

  Royal Malta Artillery 6th Light Anti-Aircraft Battery; Royal Malta Artillery

  The 7th Searchlight Regiment; (less Royal Artillery 10th and 13th Anti-Aircraft Batteries);

  16th Fortress Company, Royal Engineers; 24th Fortress Company, Royal Engineers

  5. 1st Battalion, The Royal Malta Artillery

  6. Royal Malta Artillery, comprising 1st Heavy Battery and 2nd Heavy Battery

  Company, 3rd Heavy Battery Company

  7. Malta, with the 2nd Battalion of the Deutsches Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles (less the 2nd Battalion of the Queen's Own West Kent Regiment).

  "We have already occupied the Strait of Gibraltar through Spain, your navy has controlled the traffic between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, it can also be said that you have controlled the Mediterranean, why do you still want to mobilize troops for continued combat."

  Chow Tianlei took a look, it was General Halder of the Army, (G?ring had already done his work on that side, so what G?ring originally opposed became silent).

  "Zhou Tianlei asked Harde: 'Now that we have occupied the Western European continent, which country is our next step?'"

  Harold said without hesitation: "It is England, we will conquer it."

  "So, isn't the Mediterranean now largely within Britain's sphere of influence? Isn't it still within their striking range? Although we have occupied the Strait of Gibraltar, this doesn't mean we have gained control over the entire Mediterranean. We can only say that we have gained control over the western part of the Mediterranean. In the central and eastern parts of the Mediterranean, they are still under the control of the British Mediterranean Fleet. Therefore, our control over the Mediterranean region is not solid, and the British could take it back from us at any time through some actions."

  "There is another reason, if Britain does not surrender, we need to land on the British mainland. I ask, now that our navy and air force have taken control of the skies and seas, can the army land on the British mainland at a relatively small cost? So by fighting this battle in Malta, we can gain a lot of amphibious warfare experience."

  Harold was taken aback by Zhou Tianlei's sudden words and couldn't speak. "Now our army is landing on Malta to gain combat experience for possible future landings in the UK mainland." Zhou Tianlei continued.

  "The landing operation on Malta is the largest amphibious operation that my German Defense Forces will encounter, and preparations must also be made for a possible battle with the British Mediterranean Fleet. Therefore, in addition to mobilizing the High Seas Fleet and the Northern Fleet, it is expected that part of the Southern Fleet will also participate in providing gunfire support for the landing operation on Malta. My German High Seas Fleet will lie in wait northeast of the island to attack any British Mediterranean Fleet that may come out."

  "Except for the naval infantry of our Navy, (we already have frogmen troops on the island conducting preliminary reconnaissance) we also plan to mobilize General Studen's 11th Airborne Corps and the 2nd Aviation Army. Other forces will mostly be mobilized from our ally Italy, because if we mobilize our own forces, not only will it take too much time, but also the secrecy of the operation will be difficult to guarantee."

  Hitler said after listening to Zhou Tianlei's analysis: "My generals, let's go to the sand table model over there to analyze this battle specifically and then make a decision."

  "Marshal, I have an idea for a thorough elimination of British power in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Today, while everyone is here, let's discuss it together. However, personally, I think that if we want to implement it, we must wait until our battle on Malta ends."

  At that time, there was an idea in Germany that Britain was relying on the contributions of its overseas colonies to hold out in the war. If the British sea transportation lines were cut off, Britain would soon be unable to resist Germany due to a lack of supplies and would ultimately choose to surrender. This idea was correct, so the German Navy vigorously developed its submarine fleet and used large surface ships as raiders at sea. Of course, this was also because the German Navy had a short time to rebuild and could not restore the scale of its high seas fleet from World War I, but it was a necessary choice since the war had already begun. However, the impact on America was considered relatively minor, without fully estimating the enormous capacity that would be produced when America's powerful production capabilities were converted to wartime production. But no one is perfect, and there are times when mistakes are made. At that time, the US military ranking in the world was relatively low, especially its army, so it was reasonable for Nazi officials to underestimate American power. Zhou Tianlei wanted to change all of this.

  Hitler asked: "What idea? Speak up."

  "Our army can attack Yugoslavia and Greece, exerting our influence in the Balkans. After occupying Yugoslavia and Greece, our main force can turn east, crossing the Dardanelles to threaten Turkey. Although the current Turkish government was established by Britain and France after World War I, it has the precedents of Poland, Yugoslavia, and Greece before it. I believe that in the face of the threat from our German Wehrmacht, this Turkish government may join our Axis camp. After pacifying Turkey, the Anatolian land bridge will be under our control, and no country or organization can stop our powerful air force and army from advancing into the Middle East. We will appear as "liberators" in Iraq, Syria, and Iran, which are already estranged from Britain and France, and establish puppet regimes there. Then we can obtain our precious oil. Finally, our troops will turn south and, together with Italian allied forces in Libya, launch a pincer movement against British forces in North Africa. Of course, I don't think Italy has the strength to do this, so we need to send several armored divisions and mechanized infantry divisions to reinforce Italian forces there. In this way, the Middle East and North Africa will be under our control, and the Mediterranean will become an inland sea for our Axis powers, with all sea routes under the control of the German air force and navy. Britain will not be able to do anything there. With some other measures against Britain, it will definitely surrender. We can then turn east and focus on dealing with the Soviet Union. Since we have Turkey and the Middle East in hand, apart from launching an attack along the demarcation line in Poland, we can also launch a southern front from Turkey and the Middle East to Ukraine and the Caucasus, which is the 'soft underbelly' of the Soviet Union. The pincer movement will create more opportunities for our Wehrmacht to encircle and annihilate the Soviet army on a large scale. Of course, during this operation, we must maintain sufficient pressure on Britain. We also need to be vigilant about whether the Soviet Union will suddenly tear up the non-aggression pact with us and launch a large-scale strategic attack from our northern flank while our troops are advancing into North Africa through the Middle East. Especially after exposing its southern border, I think Stalin may have this motive. This is something we need to guard against when implementing this plan."

  Hitler took a deep breath after listening to Zhou Tianlei's idea, remained silent for a while and then said: "Guderian, I will carefully consider your idea, but first let's take a look at your amphibious landing operation in Malta."

  After a day of meetings, Zhou Tianlei walked out of the Supreme Command's gate, with the Navy's insistence and the Air Force's help. The Malta Amphibious Landing Operation plan was finally approved, ready to be implemented in the near future. And Zhou Tianlei was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Malta Amphibious Landing Operation.