The Italians are unfazed.
Italy scrambles all 3 of her level bomber squadrons, and they come right at the armada in port.
The initial exchange features fighter cover on both sides, with the Italians again getting the better of the dog fight. The Italian P 108 bombers, however, take flack from AA guns and the fleet below, and sustain heavy losses.
The next two runs are without fighters on either side, and again, the Regia Aeronotica takes heavy casualties for minimal losses in defending naval aircraft.
Undeterred, Italy sends her final formation, it again takes heavy casualties while doing little damage. The battle is a complete victory...until the last run.
One P 108, heedless of the losses suffered by its brothers in arms, gets in under the Super Marine Spitfires and AA flack, lines up on the RN Illustrious, and releases her torp. It runs straight and true and explodes amid ship, very nearly sinking the flat top(4 step hits).
Overall it's a win for the UK, but the Illustrious is out of action for the foreseeable future. She limps to Gibralter under rainy skies.
Full Canadian and English corps reach the Middle Eastern theater. England immediately invades Vichy Syria, and Damascus falls. The ports there must be secured against any Axis invasion.
Egypt is trickier, as it's hard to believe any offensive could succeed logistically. No major action is launched there.
It's a lighter losses in the BOA, as the wolf packs are resupplying. England simply cannot produce all that is needed between Egypt, Greece, Syria, the hope to revisit a Narvik invasion, the BOA, and the need for additional fighter cover. Canada will be asked to produce MM.
The answer to the German question is evolving. German formations are massing on the Yugoslavian border, as well as in Romania. Yugoslavia will likely be the spring target.
