The Rise of the Third Reich

June 8, 1941, 3 o'clock in the morning.

Several regiment-level airports near the port of Brest were already bustling with people, and the aprons and runways of each airport were illuminated by high-mounted searchlights. The ground crew used trolleys or towed bomb carriers to drag the 1,000-kilogram aerial bombs or 500-kilogram aerial torpedoes under the belly of the aircraft, then raised them and fixed them on the pylons of the aircraft's bomb bay, and finally The safety pin on the bomb or torpedo was removed and the fuse was installed.

In this era, night flying is still a bit dangerous. Fortunately, most of the pilots of the 2nd Hainan Division in Brest are experienced veterans, and as long as they fly north for an hour, the sky will gradually begin to lighten up. When the sky is almost bright, they will form an attack formation over the Atlantic Ocean - because they take off at night, it is difficult to form a formation. They can only designate a rendezvous coordinate and wait for daybreak to form the formation.

The commander-in-chief of the first assault wave today is Major Johannes Steinhoff, captain of the 1st Group of the 3rd HNA Bombing Aviation Regiment. He is one of the few officers with naval background in the naval aviation force. He joined the naval aviation force as early as 1934 and has been flying for seven or eight years now. At the beginning, he flew seaplanes, and later flew fighter jets. He shot down more than 25 enemy planes in the Polish and Western Front campaigns, and won the Blue Max Medal. After the Western Front campaign, he switched to flying Ju88 due to the expansion of the bomber force.

However, after switching to flying Ju88 and becoming a group leader, Major Johannes Steinhoff's luck seemed to have come to an end. From the beginning of 1941 to the present, the Ju88 bomber he piloted has made dozens of sorties, but has not achieved any results.

"Brothers," Steinhoff said loudly to his crew members when the plane was about to take off, "we are the first to drop bombs today! We are going to sink an aircraft carrier with one bomb!"

"Yes! Sink the aircraft carrier!"

"Yes, let the British eat one of our 1,000 kilogram bombs!"

Amidst the cheers of the crew members, the order for the plane to take off sounded in Steinhoff's earphones.

On the runways of the five regiment-level airports around the port of Brest (one of which was stationed with division headquarters and reconnaissance aircraft), a plane roared at the same time, and then suddenly shot into the sky.

Then, one after another, one after another, and soon the air in Brest was filled with fighters!

However, what the German flying elites did not expect was that as soon as they took off, the British Home Fleet flagship "Nelson" received relevant reports.

Because at this moment, a British "Tribal" class destroyer that had just been installed with 279 radar was cruising in the English Channel less than 120 kilometers away from the port of Brest. And that 279 radar is shining directly over the port of Brest!

The main reason why this happened is that the German aircraft deployed at the Port of Brest were too terrifying. They might go to the Port of Liverpool (now the largest trading port in the UK) and the anchorage of the Home Fleet at Clyde at any time. Bay was bombarded indiscriminately. Therefore, the British acquired some destroyers equipped with radars, approached the port of Brest from the sea whenever possible, and then used radars for detection. It is hoped that an early warning can be issued when German planes take off in large numbers.

"A large-scale dispatch of German aircraft from Brest?" Vice Admiral John Colonen Tovey (wartime admiral), commander of the Home Fleet, immediately became nervous when he heard the news, and immediately asked: "How many? Flying in which direction?"

"At least 100, the flight direction is not yet known, they are forming a formation."

John Cronin Tovey thought for a moment and then said in a solemn tone: "The Germans must have discovered Fleet E or Fleet C. These damn planes are going for air strikes."

He took a sharp breath: "Immediately give an order to Fleet E to disband the formation immediately! Then order Fleet C to speed up and head north. It must be fast, otherwise our plan will be in vain.

In addition, the Air Force is requested to immediately send fighter jets to cover Fleet E and Fleet C! "

The War Cabinet Command in London also received reports of a large-scale dispatch of the German fleet at Brest at this time. Admiral Dill, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff who stayed here (although Churchill had a room in the underground headquarters of the War Cabinet, he never lived there) did not dare to take it lightly and immediately called Admiral Hugh Dowding of Fighter Command. An order was given to dispatch all P-51s, P-40s and Hurricane aircraft that could reach the battlefield to reinforce.

Soon, alarms were sounded over airports in Northern Ireland, Wales and southwest England. The pilots were awakened from their sleep, hurriedly put on their flight suits, and then hurried to the tarmac.

A bloody air battle is about to break out over the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Ireland!

…

June 8, 5:20 in the morning.

On the battleship "Bismarck" anchored in the Port of Bergen, which is surrounded by hundreds of islands, a debate over more than one million European marks is taking place.

The cause of this controversy was the British Royal Navy's B Fleet which was discovered by a German submarine near the North Channel the evening before.

According to reports from submarines, this force consisted of the battlecruiser HMS Hood (the Germans already knew that the HMS Hood was in Fleet B because the ship was so famous and easily identifiable) and another battleship. The British fleet's course after sailing out of the North Channel was due north, heading towards the Little Minch Strait. Its destination was probably the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands.

In other words, this fleet is probably coming to fight the First High Seas Fleet!

After the news reached the "Bismarck" and "Seidlitz", Lieutenant General Helmut Heyer, Commander of the High Seas Fleet Aircraft Carrier Force, immediately reported to Fleet Commander Admiral Gunther Lütjens. A request was made to deploy four squadrons of Fokker 99s to two aircraft carriers respectively.

There is actually nothing wrong with transferring aircraft to the aircraft carrier. What really caused the dispute between Haye and Lütjens was that Haye did not intend to reduce the number of Fokker Zeros on the aircraft carrier to make room for the Fokker 99. He wanted to use the deck system Staying in France allowed 48 Fokker 99s to be parked on the decks of two aircraft carriers.

"Helmut, this is the North Sea!" Lütjens frowned and said, "Do you know what the climate and sea conditions are like in the North Sea? Can you put an airplane on the deck in the North Sea?"

The North Sea and the North Atlantic are not the Pacific and the Mediterranean. Encountering a storm here is a highly probable event. If the sea is calm for ten and a half days, it must be God's blessing.

Therefore, aircraft carriers operating in the North Atlantic and North Sea must adopt a full hangar accommodation method to carry fighter aircraft according to regulations. Deck tethering is not allowed - otherwise dozens of aircraft will be scrapped every time they go to sea. Isn't this a waste of money?

"In fact, it is theoretically possible," Helmut Haye replied. "After all, it is June with better weather."

"Theoretically?" Lütjens shook his head repeatedly, "As long as there is a storm, these 48 Fokker 99s will be destroyed. This is more than one million European marks!"

"Admiral, this is war time!" Helmut Haye said, "As long as we can win and severely damage the British 'Hood', more than one million marks is nothing."

"Severe damage to the Hood?" Lütjens asked, "Do you want to use carrier-based aircraft to attack?"

"I want to sink the 'Hood'!" Helmut Haye showed some helplessness, "But the 250 kilogram aerial bombs mounted on the Fokker 99 are not powerful enough, so we can only consider severely damaging the 'Hood'. To achieve the goal of heavy damage, I don't need to complete multiple attacks. As long as I complete one strike, with the Fokker 99's dive bomb hit rate, I can theoretically hit the Hood and another battleship hard. In this way, you can. The 'Bismarck' and 'Tirpitz' were able to catch up with the 'Hood' and then sink it with naval guns. "

In fact, after several major modifications, the "Hood" has increased a lot in weight, its top speed has dropped, and it cannot run as fast as the "Bismarck" and "Tirpitz". However, in this case, Germany People don't know.

"Moreover, this is the only way to destroy the 'Hood'!" Helmut Hayer paused and said, "Because it is impossible for the British to use two battleships and battlecruisers to deal with our three ships Battleships. There must be undiscovered British battleships heading north with the Hood, so it is very dangerous to attack with battleships from the beginning.

In addition, the British fleet will certainly not dare to easily enter the combat radius of the shore-based Ju88, S.M.79 and Fokker Zero. They will only wander outside the combat radius of our shore-based aircraft, waiting for bad weather to come to us for a decisive battle. "

This analysis somewhat impressed Lütjens. The German admiral thought for a while and said: "Perhaps we will encounter high sea conditions as soon as we go to sea. By then, your 48 Fokker 99s will be scrapped without a fight..."

This possibility exists. Although the weather forecast shows that the weather conditions in the North Sea will be acceptable in the next few days, the weather forecast is not 100% accurate, especially in a place like the North Sea.

Helmut Haye gritted his teeth, "Then let's get 48 more! If you want to dominate the world, you can't be willing to spend a small amount of money!"

"More than one million European marks is small money?" Lütjens rolled his eyes, "But it can really damage the 'Hood', so the money is not wasted... Then let's report the request to the naval headquarters. !”