The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Marshal Redel once again hid his face behind the desk lamp and smoked quietly. He seemed to be thinking about what Qin Chuan said and how to use Qin Chuan to defeat the Army's prestige.

To be honest, Qin Chuan still felt a little unsure, because after all, the other party was a marshal, and he was only a lieutenant. If Redel wanted to accuse him... the only one who could save Qin Chuan was Rommel, because Rommel He was Hitler's favorite, but Raeder was a has-been marshal, so Raeder may have a higher military rank than Rommel, but in fact his words did not carry as much weight as Rommel's.

Then Qinchuan reassured himself: Redel would not do anything to him, because everyone knew that it was the "Legendary Sergeant" of the German army who captured the Toulon fleet, even the German Navy. If Redel is detrimental to Qinchuan... it will first be detrimental to the morale of the navy, and it will also mean a complete break between the army and the navy.

Just like Qin Chuan said before, if Redel came here to win a victory and turn the German Navy over, then he would not let this happen.

Qin Chuan was right, and sure enough, after a while Leidel raised his head towards the staff officer. The staff officer understood and brought a chair to Qin Chuan.

Qin Chuan looked at the chair, stood up and said, "I'm sorry that I dare not obey my order, sir!"

"Any questions?" Reidel asked.

"There is no place for me in front of the colonel and major general!" Qin Chuan replied.

Qinchuan knew very well that he was a member of the army, so he would rather offend the navy marshal Raeder than act arrogantly in front of Colonel Slaine and Major General Oxster.

It's even possible...that's exactly what Redl hoped for.

Redel smiled and asked the staff to move two chairs respectively.

After Major General Oxster and Colonel Slaike sat down, Qin Chuan sat down at Colonel Slaine's signal.

"Lieutenant!" Reidel said, "Do you think we can really withstand the British attack according to your plan?"

"We just have to give it a try, right?" Qin Chuan replied.

"I know you!" Reidel said: "I also know this battlefield. You know...Before this, the Navy had nothing else to do except cooperate with the engineers at home to dismantle warships. So I would rather know more The situation in some North African battlefields.”

With that said, Redel poked his face under the desk lamp, looked at Qin Chuan and said, "I think the reason why you made this defense plan is because you know that the African Corps cannot resist the attack of the Sherman tank!"

One sentence hits the point, and it can be seen that Redl really understands the war situation in Africa.

When Qin Chuan didn't answer, Redel continued: "Tell me, Lieutenant, what is our weakest point in your defense plan?"

"Air force!" Qin Chuan replied.

Germany had only one air wing, and because the war on the Eastern Front was in full swing, it was impossible to mobilize any fighters.

"How are you going to deal with it?" Reidel said: "You know, the most important thing in naval warfare is air supremacy. Without air supremacy... our warships are just targets for enemy fighter planes!"

After a pause, Redel continued: "Perhaps you will say that we also have the Italian Air Force and naval gun air defense. We can even deploy a large amount of anti-aircraft firepower on both sides of the Tunisian Strait to compete. The air power of the British...but do you know, Lieutenant, these are impractical!"

Qin Chuan couldn't help being stunned when he heard this, because he really thought so.

Worse still, he didn't know why the idea was impractical.

"Huh?" Looking at Qin Chuan's expression, Leidel said, "You still don't know what the problem is, do you?"

"Yes, sir!" Qin Chuan had to admit this.

"You did capture a fleet from the French!" Redl said, "This is admirable, but you know nothing about French warships!"

"The problem is on the French warship?" Qin Chuan somewhat understood what Redl meant.

"The French haven't fought for too long!" Redl continued: "In other words, they thought the war would be like the last war, so they built a Maginot Line of Defense, and on the warships... they The air defense capabilities are very weak, because they think that the war at sea will still be warships against warships!”

Qin Chuan couldn't help but be so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth for a long time... Modern people don't have any advantages when they return to history. For example, Qin Chuan never expected that a French warship would make this mistake, which was simply against common sense.

"So... French warships don't have air defense capabilities?" Colonel Slain asked.

"Not at all!" Redl replied: "Take the latest model of 'Dunkirk' as an example. It is equipped with Model 1 high-level dual-purpose secondary gun and Model 1 anti-aircraft gun. The former cannot raise the muzzle above 75 degrees, and the latter The rate of fire is only 32 to 40 rounds. You know the rate of fire of the Bofors anti-aircraft gun used by all countries now!”

Of course Qin Chuan and others knew that the Bofors anti-aircraft gun, known as the "barrier of air defense of all nations", not only has a caliber of 40MM, but also has a theoretical rate of fire of 140 rounds per minute... However, because it is limited by the reloading speed, Therefore, the actual rate of fire is only 80 rounds per minute, but this is fully twice that of French warship anti-aircraft guns.

Redl continued: "Before coming here, I also hoped that the French would make some progress in this area, but the result disappointed me... The first thing we did when we got here was to send people to take a look at the warships. , and found that most of them are these backward naval guns. The French are like us. They first develop the army. Most of the equipment on the warships are small-caliber weapons from the army, and they cannot design equipment independently according to the needs of the navy! "

Then Redl leaned back in his chair and said, "Now, Lieutenant, do you still think your defense plan will work?"

Redl's words hit home.

If the air defense of French warships is not good and the German air power is far behind the British army, then even sea and air cooperation cannot withstand the British air power... In this way, air supremacy will soon fall to the British army. Then the warship will become the target of British fighter planes. Blocking the Tunisian Strait can only be said to be a fantasy.

"We need at least two air wings!" Redl said: "One air wing in Sicily and one air wing in Tunisia or Algeria. Only in this way can it be possible to compete with the enemy for air supremacy over the Tunisia Strait. Otherwise... "

There is no need to say more about what follows.

"It's almost impossible for the head of state to mobilize an aviation wing!" Major General Oxter said: "Almost all of our planes are on the Eastern Front!"

"That's the problem!" said Redl.