The decisive battle against the Third Reich

After a burst of "boom boom" artillery fire, dense shells poured towards the British warships.

Similar to the British firing at the Germans, shells exploded around the British fleet, creating a series of water columns that soared into the sky. The difference was that three destroyers and one cruiser were hit in the first place, including the cruiser "Gloucester", which was the flagship of the A-group fleet. Commander Rear Admiral Weber was seriously injured on the spot.

A shell exploded near the bridge of the cruiser "Gloucester", and the shrapnel from the explosion knocked down Rear Admiral Weber, who was fighting near the bridge. It was later discovered that it was the vibration of the shell that caused fatal injuries to Rear Admiral Weber's internal organs.

A naval captain and a restaurant waiter found Rear Admiral Weber in the ruins of the bridge, but they did not dare to turn him over easily because there was no stretcher. They hurriedly found a pharmacist to treat Rear Admiral Weber's wounds, relieve his pain, and answer Rear Admiral Weber's questions about the battle. After a few minutes, Rear Admiral Weber could no longer speak.

The British fleet then fired shells at the German ships again, but as you can imagine, without the help of the aerial reconnaissance aircraft and with many German fighter planes strafing and bombing them in the air, the number of shells they fired was small and scattered, and none of them could hit the German warships that were maneuvering rapidly.

Then the German warships fired shells again.

This time, the battleship "Maria" was hit. The shell was a 130MM shell, which was not very destructive in itself, but it detonated the shells piled up in the anti-aircraft gun turrets of the British army.

The smoke caused by the explosion of the shells was sucked into the engine room, and as a result, 4 of the 8 boilers stopped working, and the speed of the battleship "Maria" dropped from 21 knots to 10 knots in 2 minutes. At the same time, the power supply on the ship was also suspended for 30 seconds... This is a common problem for battleships left over from World War I. The aging of its equipment will lead to many unexpected failures, and these failures are often fatal on the battlefield. For example, the speed of the "Maria" decreased and the power was suspended, which almost meant that the battleship stood in front of the enemy like a target.

Fortunately, the battleship "Maria" was rushed to reinforce the battle by the C fleet. It was located a few kilometers behind the main fleet. Everyone focused their attention on the British warships in front and did not pursue the victory and concentrate fire on the "Maria". Otherwise, the "Maria" would have been eliminated in this battle.

Then, a bomb accurately hit the bow of the "Sovereign" battleship. The bomb blew a big hole in its deck and caused its No. 1 turret to malfunction and could not aim. A fighter plane swooped down and accurately shot the bullet into the bridge. Fortunately, the commanders lay down in time to survive, but the communication was damaged and could not be effectively commanded.

The "Warspite" on which Vice Admiral Tovey was also in danger. German fighters and bombers were flying around, and shells were hitting a position two hundred meters away, causing a column of water to rise into the sky... In a naval battle, if the explosion point of the shells fell at such a close position, it meant that the enemy had accurately grasped the distance of the warship, which was very dangerous for the warship.

So Vice Admiral Tovey realized that this battle could not be fought, and immediately ordered all warships to release smoke and leave the battle.

Raeder ordered the fleet to chase after them... Only then did the German Navy discover the benefits of French warships putting all their main guns on the bow, and they could use all their main guns to bombard the enemy when chasing enemy warships.

I'm afraid this is how the French warships positioned themselves. They had almost no rivals in the Mediterranean, so it was basically impossible for them to run away after losing. Most of them were chasing the enemy, so they boldly put all their naval guns on the bow.

However, the French were still too arrogant. The French fleet in history did have no rivals, but it was not because they were too powerful, but because they lost too quickly, and as a result, the entire fleet sank before it could play a role.

Due to the guidance of reconnaissance aircraft in the air, the French warships hit several warships during the pursuit, but it was not clear which warships were hit in the smoke. Only balls of fire were seen in the haze... In naval battles, only when warships are hit will there be fire, otherwise it will be a stream of water.

After chasing for a while, Raeder stopped the team.

On the one hand, the smoke released by the British fleet had seriously affected the vision, and Raeder was worried that continuing to pursue would cause accidental damage to his own warships.

On the other hand, the air force's ammunition was almost used up, and continuing to pursue would not have much effect, but might be ambushed.

More importantly, the flagship "Dunkirk" was hit by a torpedo and took on water, and the speed could only barely reach 20 knots. If it continued to chase, the "Dunkirk" would probably be left alone and attacked by enemy submarines.

So, the fleet left the battlefield amid the cheers of the navy soldiers.

"Lieutenant, Colonel!" Although Raeder was a little disheveled and even had a wound on his head, he still walked up to Qin Chuan and Colonel Slaine with great spirits and said, "Sorry, I originally came here to ask you to participate in the exercise! I didn't expect..."

"This is much more interesting than the exercise!" Colonel Slaine said, "You fought very well, Marshal, so it is the right choice to hand over the warship to you!"

Raeder couldn't help but smile with shame on his face and replied, "Colonel, if it weren't for the lieutenant here, I'm afraid the 'Dunkirk' would have sunk to the bottom of the sea now!"

"No, Marshal!" Qin Chuan said, "If I tell these tactics to the Italian fleet, I believe it will not have any effect!"

Leidel couldn't help but nodded proudly after hearing this.

At this time, a staff officer reported to Marshal Redel with a telegram: "Marshal, this is a telegram from General Garibald. The Italian fleet has left port to reinforce us!"

"Oh, thank you so much!" Redel said sarcastically: "I think they dared to go out to reinforce us only after they knew we had won the battle!"

Redel's guess was correct. How could the Italians give up this opportunity? You must know that this is the empire on which the sun never sets, claiming to have the world's largest navy... How could the great Roman Empire defeat the British fleet in this thousand-year battle? It did not play any role in the great war that will remain unnamed in history.

As a result, the Italian fleets left port and rushed to the battlefield, and even the air force appeared in the skies over the relevant sea areas with old-fashioned aircraft.

It is conceivable that when they return, they can make a big deal about how many fighter planes they destroyed and how many warships they sunk in this battle. Then, these news will cause a sensation and carnival in Italy.