The blue sky is clear and white clouds are like jade. The brilliant sun rises slowly from the junction of the eastern sea and sky. The air is filled with the unique atmosphere of the Mediterranean climate.

In the wave-filled Taranto military port, light white painted warships are neatly anchored in an area. It is the owner of this port - a fleet flying the Italian Royal Navy flag. Two Earl Cafre-class battleships equipped with 3 triple-mounted 305mm L46 main guns, and the Dante battleship equipped with 4 triple-mounted main guns of the same type are in the middle, showing the world the heritage of this traditional Mediterranean naval power.

and majesty. Next to them are 4 Queen Elena, 2 Queen Margaret, 2 Di Saint-Bo, and 3 older Umberto-class battleships, like stars lying around the moon. Plus 2 Saint-Boge, 2 Pisa II, 3 Garibal, 2 Pisa I armored cruisers, and a large number of protective cruisers and torpedo boats. The Italian fleet is like a majestic scene of the Mediterranean powerhouse.

In the berth more than a thousand meters away, a gray-black fleet faced the Italian fleet: on the thick mast of the towering motorcycle clouds, the red and white crown flags were flying in the sea breeze. The core fleet of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including one Joint Force class and three Radec class, also appeared in the Taranto military port in almost all its lineups. Although the number of auxiliary warships was a bit shabby than the Italian fleet, there were only 6 Habsburg-class former fearless ships, 5 old armored ships and 6 light cruisers of different new and old; but with this group of dreadnoughts, second only to France in the Mediterranean, the Austrians also had full ambitions and confidence and capital to look forward to the future.

On August 3, all the front-line ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy set sail from the Bola Naval Base and passed through the Otranto Strait to arrive at the Taranto Military Port located at the bottom of the Italian Peninsula. This is the only consensus reached by the Italian and Austro-Austria naval base on the formation of a joint fleet after more than a dozen joint naval meetings. Compared with the Austro-Hungarian Naval Base Bola, which is deeply closed, facing the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, the Italian Taranto, which can attack and retreat and defend, is obviously more suitable for the joint fleet to operate.

However, when it comes to the issue of the ownership of fleet command, the two sides do not have such a good tacit understanding.

In the eyes of the Italians, the command of the fleet is undoubtedly only one of them. The Italian Navy, which has an active fleet of nearly 500,000 tons, is more worthy of this leader than the Austro-Hungarian Navy, which has only 320,000 tons of naval. In addition, the Italians also expressed their superiority that their fleet has been patrolling the Mediterranean for many years and is well aware of the climate and hydrological conditions of this ocean; while the Austro-Hungarian fleet is just huddled in the pond of the Adriatic Sea, with a strong green water atmosphere and shallow naval qualifications, and does not have any qualifications to command the Italian fleet.

Facing the confidence and clamor of the Italians, the Austrians who were not willing to be outdone immediately refuted. They mercilessly found out the Battle of Lissa nearly half a century ago and the Ethiopian War at the end of the last century. In the red eyes of the senior Italian officers who were almost willing to kill, they proved with a firm word that the other party was really strong on the outside and was only suitable for studying food and ramen and were not good at war at all. The Austrians clearly stated that although they were in the fleet.

The tonnage is not as good as Italy, but it is far better than that in the field of battleships that form combat effectiveness; today when the dreadnought determines the victory or defeat of the sea, the simple and refined Austro-Hungarian fleet is obviously more dynamic than the bloated Italian navy. Therefore, the commander of the Combined Fleet should only be the commander of the Austro-Hungarian Fleet, General Anton House, and the flagship should only be equipped with 8 350mm L42.4 heavy artillery.

In the next three days, Austro-Hungary and Italy each had their own opinions. They did not give in. The repeated boring quarrels made the soldiers guarding the gate of the venue drowsy. Then, the Turkish Rear Admiral Raov, who led the battleship Reading and four torpedo boats to join the alliance, could not tolerate the negotiation farce of these two allies who had been fighting for half a century. Since the threat of the Russian Black Sea Fleet had not been completely eliminated, the Turks who had just completed 100 days and had to be completed, had long lost any ambitions. When Italy and Austro-Hungary were quarreling, Raov chose to catch fish in the port of Taranto.

However, within a few days, the quarrel between Austro-Hungary and Italy that seemed to last for a century had a fundamental turning point in an instant.

On August 6, the Italian army suffered a heavy defeat in the Western Alps again. When a main Italian army group consisting of three divisions launched a large-scale attack on the French border defenders, its scouts suddenly found another roundabout French army in the flanking mountains and forests. Out of heartfelt fear of this second largest continental power, the Italian army immediately believed that a large number of French troops were approaching and would encircle them soon. Without any reconnaissance confirmation, the panicked Italian army was ten times faster than they were

Du fled quickly, abandoning baggage, artillery and arms along the way, only to regret why his parents didn't give him two more legs. In fact, this French army was just a mountain camp composed of locals in the current 78th French Reserve Division; and the reason why they appeared on the flanks of the Italian army was entirely because the division commander Brit General Bris felt that there was no hope of resisting the Italian army head-on, so he wanted to use this temporary unit composed of locals to use the familiar terrain to attack the Italian army's supply line in the mountains and forests, so as to reduce the pressure of being better than nothing on the front line!

The Italian army's retreat made the French stunned, and then they were overjoyed. Brigadier General Bris immediately assembled his troops, less than 8,000, including civilian personnel, and rushed forward to kill. The French mountain camp bluffed and fired guns everywhere to stimulate and frighten the Italian army. The Italian army troops pursued by the French army in the rear were even more convinced of the speculation that a large number of French troops came to encircle. A large number of Italian troops fled in a panic, and even raised a "bobo" high rifle and took the initiative to surrender to them. A French first-class soldier with a damaged rifle, wielding a picked Italian pistol, captured 17 Italian soldiers in a single charge.

Two days later, the Italian army shrank from three divisions to less than three brigades; nearly 30,000 prisoners, 120 cannons and 90 machine guns became the trophies of the winners, and the French army's losses only came from the first few pursuit battles, and even slightly heavier flesh and blood injuries were not considered. Xia Fei, who was fighting fiercely with the German army in Paris, was as if he had won a treasure and immediately promoted the victory in the French-Italy border battle to the whole country, and called it "the greatest victory that France has won since 1792." Brigadier Brees became a contemporary Napoleon-like hero in the minds of the French, and the medal he received could be hung on his chest as a bulletproof vest!

The Italian Army's successive defeats undoubtedly greatly shocked all the Italian senior officials, including Prime Minister Gioliti. According to the war script they planned, the Italian Army drove straight into the heart of France, quickly swept France's wealthy southeastern province into their pockets, and then negotiated with them. The entire war process will not exceed two months.

However, the current situation is that the French rely on the border troops of several reserve divisions to defeat the main Italian army. If the French army had not had enough troops, it would have been difficult to cause any trouble on the border line of more than 200 kilometers, and the Italian army might have been counterattacked and entered its own homeland long ago! This situation scared the Italian top leaders. You must know that 60% of the coal used by Italy is from imports from Britain. The reason why they dared to declare war on France before was to take advantage of the army's advantage and take advantage of the opportunity to enter quickly and decide quickly to negotiate with the Allies. Once it is delayed for a long time, Italy will inevitably fall into a deep energy crisis. Although Germany has abundant coal reserves, its domestic consumption has surged in the current war, and the amount that can be used for export to Italy must be quite limited!

Under such circumstances, the Italian government undoubtedly urgently needs to make breakthroughs in other directions. The navy was not favored by the top leaders before, but was thrown out by the top government officials who were sick and seeking medical treatment. On August 7, when the front-line army was defeated, the Italian government ordered the navy to launch a major strike against the British and French fleets in a short time, in order to seize the sea control rights of the Mediterranean, block the ties between France and African colonies, and thus force the Allies to surrender to Italy. The Italian Navy, which received the order to take action as soon as possible, no longer had the confidence and mood to continue quarreling with the Austrians.

On August 7, amid the sad eyes of the Italians as if they were lost, and the deafening cheers of tens of thousands of Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers, a wide commander's flag slowly raised the towering mast of the United Strength. General Anton House, who was over 60 years old, burst into tears. For this Austro-Hungarian fleet commander, there is nothing more exciting and exciting and proud than bringing decades of old enemies under his command. And for Italy

For the Li people, this is undoubtedly another shameful day in the history of the naval history after the Battle of Lisa. The only thing that comforts them is that the Dante battleship did not join the battle line due to its speed of 23 knots, but was incorporated into the vanguard fleet as a patrol ship. This means that the decisive battle task undertaken by Dante will be greatly reduced, and most of the really difficult bones are shared with the Austro-Hungarian main fleet.
Chapter completed!