The Rise of the Third Reich

"God! We've lost the Royal Oak!"

In the officer's lounge of the battleship "Nelson", Lord Admiral Winston Churchill, whose head and face were covered with blood, was so anxious that he almost shed tears.

He had only been Lord of the Admiralty for four days when he suffered the most disastrous defeat in the history of the British Navy. Although it was caused by the enemy's shameless sneak attack, a disastrous defeat was a disastrous defeat after all!

First, two precious aircraft carriers were burned into floating torches, then the training ship "Iron Duke" battleship (had been abandoned and was sinking), and now the "Royal Oak" battleship was sunk! The battlecruiser "Repulse" seemed to have suffered heavy damage. The hull sank and the bow of the ship was still smoking. I wonder what was ignited by the torpedo explosion? The "Nelson" and the "Rodney" also suffered several torpedoes each, and sinking was impossible. But if it is hit by a thunderstorm, it must be repaired, and it is inevitable to lie in the dock for a few months.

In other words, in the next few months, the three battleships "Nelson", "Rodney" and "Repulse" will not be available (not to mention the "Royal Oak"). The Royal Navy's power in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean will be greatly reduced!

Rumble...

There was another loud noise, and Churchill felt the floor beneath his feet shake a few times. He hurriedly asked Sir Pound, "What's the matter?"

"It's the 'Glorious'..." Sir replied in a sad tone, "We are going to lose it, no, we have already lost it!"

After the "Fury" and "Valiant" were burned into floating torches, the "Glorious" aircraft carrier did not escape its fate. It was also dive-bombed by an entire squadron of Ju.88 bombers! Moreover, the German Air Force Captain Friedrich Voss who directed this bombing took a risky dive at a large angle (greater than 60 degrees). 15 Ju.88s rushed down from an altitude of 4,000 meters one after another, killing 30 SC-500 bombs. Seven of them were sent into the body of the "Glorious" aircraft carrier.

7 500kg bombs! And all of them penetrated the deck and exploded in the "belly" of the aircraft carrier. One of them hit the ammunition depot unbiased...

"Minister, we only have 'Hood', 'Reputation' and 'Ark Royal' available now." Sir Pound sat down on the floor, his whole body sluggish.

He is an expert in the navy and knows what the German "Scharnhurst" class and "Seidlitz" class are used for. With the current strength of the German navy, even if the fleet in Scapa Flow is completely wiped out, it will still be impossible. It is impossible to land in England.

The three battlecruisers and battleships "Hood", "Revenge", and "Resolve" alone are not something that two "Shane" class ships can deal with. Moreover, the USS Warrior battleship, which is being refitted at the shipyard, is almost completed and will be delivered to the Navy in October. Therefore, it is not something that the German fleet can do in a decisive battle to seize control of the English Channel. They can only use their speed to suddenly attack the British sea lines of communication in the Atlantic Ocean!

Therefore, Pound decided to concentrate the home fleet in Scapa Flow in order to intercept the German break-up fleet that was trying to break into the Atlantic as soon as possible.

And now, Britain has lost three fast "fleet aircraft carriers." Among the remaining four aircraft carriers, the "Eagle", "Hundred-Eyed Giant" and "Sports God" can be ignored, because their speed is too slow and cannot keep up with the German break-up fleet. Only one "Eagle" is left. Ark Royal was able to cover the sorties of Hood and Reputation.

However, the German side has two "Scharnhurst" classes and two "Seidlitz" classes. Although it may not be able to fight the British Royal Navy in a decisive battle, it is very difficult to catch it as it circles the Atlantic Ocean at high speed.

Churchill shook his head and said: "No, we still have two Dunkirk-class ships available, and perhaps the Count Cavour."

The "Dunkirk" class battlecruiser is the treasure of the French Navy, there are two in total, and the "Count of Cavour" is an Italian battleship. The former is a new ship, completed in 1937 or 1938. The latter is an old ship that has been reborn after modern modifications. The speed of these three ships is not slow, and they can barely be used to intercept and pursue the German break-up fleet.

"But Italy is still a neutral country!" Sir Pound reminded.

"No, they will not remain neutral forever!" Churchill said, "This world war will be a reshuffle of power around the world, and no ambitious country can truly stay out of it. Mussolini is ambitious, and this Everyone knows it, so he will definitely join, the only question is whose side he will side with!”

…

"Enemy plane! Enemy plane found!" Lieutenant General Gramm, who was counting the results at an altitude of 5,000 meters, suddenly heard a scream from his earphones. "It looks like a Hurricane fighter! Lieutenant General, we have to lower our altitude and let the Fokker Zero come to the rescue..."

Lieutenant General Graham was shocked. The Fw-200C he was riding in was a reconnaissance aircraft converted from a passenger aircraft, and it was not very durable. Just as he gasped for air, the plane began to accelerate and dive. At the same time, the captain also sent a distress signal to the Zero hovering at medium and low altitudes.

"Big guy!" Captain Carter of the 67th Fighter Squadron of the Royal Air Force shouted excitedly. He discovered a "four-engine heavy bomber."

Yes, he flew from high altitude! Because the reinforcement request sent by the Home Fleet did not clearly state what aircraft was attacked. Therefore, Captain Carter took it for granted that it was the German four-engine heavy bombers that attacked Scapa Flow - after all, Scapa Flow is thousands of kilometers away from the German mainland, and the Royal Air Force only had four-engine heavy bombers and twin-engine heavy fighters. Can get it.

Therefore, Captain Carter's squadron went straight to an altitude of 6,000 meters as soon as it took off in order to seize a high-altitude position, and then flew over Scapa Flow.

"Haha, it can't escape without fighter jet escort!"

"Woohoo, it's mine, I want to knock it down so that I can get a result!"

The cheers of his subordinates came from Captain Carter's earphones. He was in a good mood as well. He was able to achieve military success on the first day of the war, which was a good sign. However, he still reminded his subordinates, saying: "Pay attention to maintaining the formation and covering each other. The first detachment and the second detachment rush with me. The third detachment and the fourth detachment continue to search."

Because it did not participate in the Spanish War, the Royal Air Force lagged behind in air combat tactics and still used the traditional three-machine wedge formation. This formation method is mainly for aesthetic reasons, but it will encounter many problems in actual combat, such as it is easy for fighters to collide with their own people when they make emergency turns to dodge.

But for Captain Carter, the biggest mistake he made in today's battle was not the formation, but not thinking that the Germans had a long-range single-engine escort fighter!

Therefore, after seeing the Fw-200C dive to 4,000 meters, it began to level off. Captain Carter did not think much and led two detachments (6 Spitfires) to dive down and then leveled off and followed the Fw-200C. Seeing the huge Fw-200C getting closer and closer, it will soon enter the range of 8 machine guns. Suddenly someone shouted in his earphone: "Enemy plane! Enemy plane found, 300 meters below the left front, distance 2000, German fighter plane found!"

Captain Carter thought it was a twin-engine fighter like the BF-110 (which was very clumsy and couldn't defeat the Spitfire at all), so he didn't look at it and just shouted an order: "The second team will deal with the German fighters, and the first team will concentrate its firepower on their bombers!" "

As he spoke, the Naga Fw-200C had entered the effective range of Captain Carter's fighter plane. He immediately aimed at the tail of the opponent's aircraft, and then pressed the launch button. First, he fired a burst, and eight streaks of fire flew away. The bullets seemed to sweep away. Arrived at the Fw-200C. Captain Carter felt confident that he would hit the enemy plane and was about to open fire with all his strength when a horrified cry suddenly came from the earphones.

"I've been hit! I've been hit!"

"Oh God! What kind of plane is that? It went around behind me!"

"Too many, too many enemy planes, we are surrounded..."

what happened? Captain Carter could no longer concentrate. He lowered his head and looked to his left front and lower side, and saw a scene that made him unbelievable.

Four single-engine small fighter jets painted in light blue were chasing a Spitfire in a circle, while the other two Spitfires had disappeared. Those four small German planes were extremely nimble. No matter how they turned, the Spitfires were always bitten by the other side! Suddenly, two of the small German planes opened fire, a salvo of two machine guns and two 20mm cannons. The Spitfire was set on fire effortlessly. The plane plummeted into the sky with thick smoke, and no pilot bailed out.

What kind of plane is this? Where did they come from? Captain Carter broke out in a cold sweat. Before he could figure out these two questions, the four winning German planes raised their noses and began to climb, rushing towards Carter's position at extremely fast speeds.

"They want to grab high-altitude positions!" Carter suddenly shouted at the intercom, "Climb quickly, climb quickly!"

He and the other two wingmen no longer bothered to fight the Fw-200C, they all pulled up the aircraft and rushed to high altitude - in an air battle, being condescending has a great advantage, and you can use dive to accelerate the aircraft. Just look at the climbing speed and fighting agility of those small German planes and you will know that it is an excellent fighter with performance as good as the Spitfire! If they were allowed to compete at high altitudes, they would be in big trouble.

However, what surprised Captain Carter and the other two wingman pilots was that the German aircraft seemed to just want to drive them away from the Fw-200C. When the three Spitfire fighter jets rushed to an altitude of 6,000 meters, the four German aircraft and the Fw-200C were gone.

"Captain, the German plane is missing!" a wingman pilot's voice sounded in Carter's earphones.

"I know, I think they must have protected the Fw-200 and flew away!" Captain Carter said.

"Captain," the pilot of another wingman suddenly shouted, "look at Scapa Flow below! The Home Fleet seems to have suffered heavy damage!"