Battle of the Third Reich

At 11:30pm on May 24, 1940. Dover Strait.

Tony the British Royal Navy. Ralph stood on the bow and smoked, and it was his turn to watch on the bow tonight.

Although it has entered the summer, the humid air at sea at night makes people feel a little cool. Tony flicked his cigarette butts into the sea, and set up the collar of his short trench coat.

He was shining back and forth on the water with the searchlight on the bow. There was fog on the sea tonight, and even the glare of the searchlight could only reach a range of more than ten meters around. Tony stared at the foggy waters around him, fearing that any anomalies would be missed.

This is the English Channel, the most important barrier of the British Empire. Now that the war has begun again, can it stop the enemy’s invasion again? In Tony’s mind, the answer is yes, the Royal Navy will be able to stop any enemy’s attack here.

Tony carefully observed the sea surface with the searchlights illuminated. I heard that German submarines were very active in the Dover Strait in the past two days. Maybe the Germans are planning any major military operations. Tony hopes he will be lucky enough to find him a German submarine or two, so he can take care of these **** Germans. But he also knows that his wish is more difficult to realize. German submarines have never dared to surface casually in the English Channel. Unless they are lucky enough to run into a boat to ventilate, otherwise this searchlight alone will never think about it. Find the shadow of the German submarine.

The ship began to turn again. Tony looked back at the bridge. Is it Thomson's turn or Aite's helm tonight? He couldn't seem to remember it, hopefully it wasn't that confused Atter, that guy would deviate from the course one or two degrees every time. I really don't know why the captain would let him be the helmsman. However, I heard that the Navy has recruited experienced sailors into the first-line fleet. There are not many good players left in the Coast Guard fleet. The helmsman like Ait is already a good one. But Tony always thought that if he knew a few words and learned to steer, he would be better than that stupid.

Tony sighed long and turned his gaze to the oak retaining wall beneath the bridge, where there was a copper sign bearing the name of the ship, the "Devil". The name sounds very impressive, people who don't know think it is a huge battleship, at least Tony's neighbors think so. This makes Tony feel very face-saving, so he has been reluctant to tell his neighbor the truth.

In fact, this is just an offshore trawler with a displacement of more than 90 tons. However, after being requisitioned by the Navy, a simple modification was made. The navy fitted her with a passive sonar that she did not know from which decommissioned patrol boat, and often failed. That radio station is new, but the radio operator assigned to that station by the Navy is just as new. The kid is not yet 18 years old. Looking at his messy appearance on the radio station, even a regular patrol report has to be resent two or three times. Tony suspects that the guy might even send sos in the event of an emergency. .

This ship has been thirty years old, which is older than Tony's age. The original mainframe was about to be scrapped, and the Navy didn't know where to get two used diesel engines to install her. It turned out that the horsepower was not as big as the original one. Now the maximum speed of this ship is only **** seventeen knots, and even some high-speed freighters cannot catch up, but it should be enough to deal with the German submarine.

The only worthy armament of this ship was a 40mm machine gun mounted on the simple platform behind him. I heard that it was removed from the Navy’s retired destroyer and had participated in the "Jutland" naval battle. It should be reliable. Right. The rest are the twenty deep-water bombs piled up on the rear deck. At that time, Tony had already exhausted them half to death in order to install them on the release chute. I believe that such a heavy thing should sink one. German submarine.

Even when Tony was thinking about it there, he didn’t forget to swing the searchlight back and forth. It was too dangerous here. In addition to the possibility of hitting a German submarine, it might also hit a mine. Not only the Germans, but also his own. A large minefield was set up here. Tony once saw an anti-submarine trawler like his own crash into a mine. At that time, the entire bow was blown up and the crew had no time to wear their life jackets. As the boat sank to the bottom of the sea, it was only a minute. From then on, as long as he was on duty at the bow, he was very careful about the situation on the surface of the water, and was very afraid to follow the footsteps of that boat.

Tony lit another cigarette and took a deep breath. Even if the boat is painted twice, it still can’t hide the strong fishy smell. This is the case with the wooden boat. She can penetrate her history deeply into the body, no matter how to change her, forever Unable to completely erase the traces of her past. She will always be a fishing boat, even if it is filled with artillery, she will not let her breath out of the warship.

Thinking of the battleship, Tony thought of the captain of the ship. He heard that he used to be the captain of a torpedo boat, and he was on the cruiser "Unyielding". On one occasion, he was drunk the night before his voyage, and also beat another officer, so he was locked in the confinement room of the naval base. As a result, he could only watch his warship sail through the bars, and that was the last time he saw the "Unyielding". On that day, the "Unyielding" took part in the "Jutland" naval battle, the ammunition depot exploded, and none of the ships returned. Now think about that old guy is really lucky, I hope his good luck is still useful now.

At this time Tony felt that someone was approaching the bow.

"Who?"

"it's me!"

Tony took a closer look, it turned out to be Hopkins, the ship's first officer.

"Good sir!" Tony quickly saluted.

The first officer was a good man, strong, courageous and approachable, and he knew all about sailing. Sometimes Tony even regretted him. An officer as good as him should command a battleship instead of a modified fishing boat.

Hopkins walked in front of Tony and returned a salute.

"Senior soldier, is there anything?"

"Report to the sir! Nothing happened. sir!"

"Really, do you have any smoke? I'm done smoking."

"Yes, sir!" Tony answered loudly, then quickly took out his cigarette and handed it to the first officer.

"Thank you!" Hopkins took the cigarette, drew a stick in his mouth, and returned the pack of cigarettes to Tony.

"No need to thank you, keep it. I still have several bags. Sir."

"Haha, then I will accept it, and I will return it to you when I return to Hong Kong."

"It's okay. Sir!"

Hopkins took a smart lighter from his pocket and lit the cigarette. He saw Tony's eyes fixed on the lighter. The first officer threw the lighter in his hand and said with a smile.

"This was handed over to me by my father. It was a gift given to him by a US official when he won the war in 18 years. At that time he was the captain of a troop carrier. My father hoped this thing would bring me good Luck is indeed very good, do you want to take a look." The first officer handed the lighter to Tony.

Tony took the lighter in a hurry, and he was a little fond of the delicate little thing, but he gave it to the first officer in desperation. The first officer took it with a smile. The two stood on the bow of the boat and began to smoke silently.

"Tony, I remember you called Tony." The first officer asked.

"Yes, sir!"

"Oh!" The first officer didn't continue, he stared at the fog around him.

"Sir, I have a question." Tony thought the two men stood awkwardly in awkward looks.

"Oh, what's the problem." The first mate awakened from his thoughts, and he was a little embarrassed to go away.

"Who is at the helm today. Sir." Tony wanted to say something, he stopped cao's searchlight and turned his head to look at the first officer.

"It's Ait, what are you doing?"

"It's nothing. I'm just a little worried about this. Today's fog is too thick, and our route is close to our minefield. I'm afraid that Aite will deviate from the route like last time. Sir."

"Aite is an old helmsman, he knows what to do. The last thing was purely accidental, that compass..." Hopkins stopped suddenly, and he turned to look in the starboard direction.

Tony also felt something, as if a low, strange sound came from there, and he quickly turned the searchlight in that direction.

"Have you heard? Superior soldier." The first officer asked

"Yes, sir, I heard it."

"What do you think?"

"I don't know, sir, it sounds like an engine, but it doesn't seem to be."

The first officer leaned out to discern this strange sound carefully.

"In that direction!" The first officer pointed to the starboard direction thirty degrees. Tony quickly turned the searchlight over. But nothing can be seen except for a white fog.

"This fog is too thick, first-class soldier, you continue to observe here, I will go to the cab."

"Observe, sir! Could it be our own boat?" Tony felt a little nervous.

"No, now only our ship is patrolling here, and the rest have returned to the port. The changing ship can't get here yet. Moreover, the sound is not from the engine on the ship."

"That's the enemy?"

"It's not clear yet. You will figure it out if you stick to your position." The first officer hurried towards the bridge. Tony quickly turned back and stared in that direction.

The sound was getting louder and louder, and Tony finally heard it. This sound was not one but a lot of the same sound, and he also recognized that sound.

"Airplane!" Tony exclaimed.

"Many planes!"

Just as Tony panicked and shouted, a sharp piercing sound rang out from the ship at the same time. The first officer also heard that voice. The sailors hurriedly ran out of the cabin and trained into their respective battle positions.

The only two Maxine machine guns on the ship turned in the direction the plane was coming from, but nothing could be seen except for the dense fog, and the sailors could only blindly look around the sound.

The captain was also awakened. He walked into the bridge, which assured the sailors a lot. The captain's good luck would bless the ship. At this moment, the small anti-submarine trawler began to turn and pointed the bow in the direction of the sound.

At this time, the engine sound of the aircraft became clearer. It sounded like there were at least hundreds of them, and the faces of the sailors became ugly. These weapons alone cannot fight hundreds of aircraft, and now they are beginning to hope that the thicker the fog, the better, so that they will not be discovered by those aircraft.

"Turn off all navigation lights!"

The captain seems to have the same idea. Although the Royal Navy has a tradition of never fearing any enemy, it is still a little bit different from the crazy death. At that time, the group of aircraft had passed the bow of Devil and flew towards the north.

"It's a bomber, it seems there are hundreds of them." The first officer said to the captain in the bridge.

"Yes, we haven't received any reports. These planes must be German. I don't know if those radar stations found them. It's weird. Although we can't see them, the sound of these planes is very low. The maximum is only one hundred and fifty feet to two hundred feet. Those Germans are really crazy, even flying close to the sea on a foggy day."

"Yeah, I can't figure out where they are going, there is only a sea in that direction." The first officer was also puzzled.

"Turn the rudder, let's keep up and see where the planes are going."

"Our ship's speed..."

"I said, keep up and move forward at full speed."

"Observe, sir."

The first officer felt that the captain might not have been awake, and even let a small fishing boat chase a huge fleet.

"Shall we first report our findings at Naval Command?"

"Don't report first, wait until we find out the situation, and now that those guys won't believe us, they will definitely say that we are all drunk and hear all hallucinations." The captain stubbornly dismissed the chief officer's opinion .

"We have crossed the center line of the strait and are now sailing along the French coast. Sir."

"Keep the original course! Look around, can you still hear the sound of the plane?"

"I still heard that they were right in front of us." The captain nodded in satisfaction.

"I think it should still be notified to the Naval Command, at least to allow them to notify the Army of Dunkerque Port to prepare for German air raids."

"No, they are definitely not going to air strike Dunker. They are flying a big arc along the coast, I think they have another purpose."

"Oh? What do you think is the purpose?"

"Mines!!"

A sullen scream sounded from the bow of the boat, and Tony saw that he was crawling towards the stern. In the thick fog directly in front of the bow, a group of black tentacles appeared.

"Left full rudder..." the captain shouted at the helmsman. But it was too late, and the fishing boat, which was moving at full speed, had no time to turn and hit the mine. The bow blew up to a height of more than a dozen meters. Before the sea water fell, the bow hit a second mine. The entire bow was smashed together with the 40mm gun, a splendid flower. The fireball rose from the front of the ship.

"Abandon the ship!" the captain yelled at the sailors in a mess below. At this time, the fishing boat had been tilted towards the sea and the stern had been lifted off the water.

The first officer was staring at everything in chaos. It was over and everything was late. He finally understood the mission of the German plane. They were in Bray. They wanted to block the Dover Strait with mines, but why did they do it? ? Before the first officer thought about the problem, the sea water had rushed into the bridge, and the heavy water pressure put the first officer and the people in the bridge against the wall behind him.

Five seconds later, the "Devil" anti-submarine trawler disappeared on the sea, leaving only a small vortex and some wooden debris on the scene. She was taking all her crew to the deep The bottom of the Atlantic sank.

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