The Rise of the Third Reich
Chapter 471 46 million people died in glory?
Amazingly powerful suicide weapon!
Listening to Churchill's words, the ministers and senior generals guarding the cabinet wartime headquarters all had an unreal feeling. This is the British Empire. The British Empire fights a "gentleman's war." Who has ever seen a gentleman carrying a bag of explosives and dying with the enemy?
Moreover...the Germans did not put forward too harsh requirements. In the secret negotiations, the Germans only demanded that Princess Elizabeth find a husband named Hohenzollern, that the British Empire join the European Customs Union at the same time, and then hand over South Africa, which is rich in gold, and then recognize the territory that Germany and Italy had already acquired. and the sphere of influence can end the war.
If the Home Fleet is really defeated, what is unacceptable about such peace conditions? Is it worth risking your life for South Africa’s gold?
Everyone has a bit of this compromise mentality, except Winston Churchill. What if Churchill was not the prime minister now, but someone else was leading the empire. It is estimated that if they cannot win this battle now, they will sue for peace and admit defeat.
But the current Prime Minister is an uncompromising Churchill! Moreover, as the British Empire sank deeper and deeper into the quagmire of war, and when it was about to face annihilation, the empire's prime minister, Churchill, gained more and more power.
As a result of the passage of the Defense Act, the British Prime Minister and Cabinet have been given almost dictatorial powers to requisition British territory in the name of maintaining public safety, defending the homeland, maintaining public order, or effectively conducting any war in which His Majesty may be involved. Any personnel, supplies and industrial and mining enterprises!
As Prime Minister, Churchill could rely on this act to intervene in any work that he thought was beneficial to the war. He could also order the police to arrest anyone he considered dangerous. He could requisition land, factories, mines, and materials at will, and he could mobilize funds and requisition personnel at will. . Churchill also had full personnel power and could promote any soldier or civil servant he thought would be useful to winning the war.
The power that Churchill now possesses is theoretically greater than that of Hitler and Hessmann in Germany combined! Probably only the Red Tsar in Moscow was more powerful in the whole world.
And such a powerful British Prime Minister happened to be a person who seemed to have an sworn enemy with the German Empire. Except for the false peace talks he approved, anyone who dared to propose peace opinions would be ruthlessly suppressed by him.
Therefore, no one now dares to object to Churchill's proposal to pretend to develop suicide weapons.
"The suicide weapons that need to be developed now are mainly anti-ship weapons!" Churchill said thoughtfully, "We can't let the damn Germans land on the mainland, so we must develop weapons that can scare the Germans. I want manned torpedoes and rocket-propelled bombs are both feasible... We should vigorously promote it to convince the Germans that we are equipping these two weapons in large quantities!"
Manned torpedoes and rocket-propelled bombs? Isn't this too cruel? Several British ministers and senior generals took a breath. Just when I was wondering how the Germans would be frightened by these two weapons, news came that another German fleet was discovered.
"The reconnaissance plane discovered three more German battleships!?" Churchill asked while smoking a cigar, "Are they the kind of light battlecruisers with more than 20,000 tons?"
"Apparently the Bismarck, the Tirpitz, and the Gneisenau."
Churchill asked: "What? So what's with those two German aircraft carriers?"
"They should be two heavy cruisers," a Royal Navy rear admiral on duty at the War Cabinet Command replied. "The German heavy cruisers and battleships have very similar appearances and can only be identified by their size. But at sea due to lack of reference, so it’s easy to misidentify.”
"Then how did the reconnaissance plane determine that they were three German battleships and not a heavy cruiser?" Churchill asked strangely.
"Because they discovered the battleship Gneisenno. This battleship only had three main gun turrets, which was relatively easy to identify. Then using the battleship Gneisenno as a reference, they could recognize that the other two were battleships rather than heavyweights. Cruiser."
"So that's it." Churchill nodded and ordered, "Then let the Home Fleet and Coastal Air Defense Command deal with it. It is best to sink the remaining German aircraft carrier and these three battleships!"
…
"How's it going? Can we still take off and land planes?"
"There is no problem now. It may need to be repaired when we go back. Sir."
"Really? But it looks scary when it explodes!"
"Yes, we were lucky. The bomb was not dropped, but was hung on the plane and hit the deck together. Because the plane's head area is relatively large and it does not have an armor-piercing warhead, its penetrability cannot be compared with armor-piercing warheads. Compared with the bomb, it did not penetrate the armored deck, otherwise we would be in big trouble..."
Lieutenant General Helmut Heyer was standing on the charred armored deck amidships of the "Seidlitz" talking to the aircraft carrier's damage control captain.
The luck of the "Seidlitz" was unbelievable. It was hit by an SBD dive bomber carrying a 1,000-pound bomb, and it was not even seriously damaged. Although the steel plate was somewhat dented and burned black at the impact point, it was not penetrated after all.
And when the plane hit, there were no crew members or planes on the deck. Therefore, the explosion did not cause any casualties, but only damaged the radar on the aircraft carrier. The shock wave also shattered the glass of the command tower, causing many people to suffer minor injuries. Helmut Haye's head was also scratched by broken glass and bled a lot. He went down to the flight deck to inspect the damage just after being bandaged.
Now that the fierce battle in the air has ended, the results and loss statistics just reported show that the air attack launched by "British and American aircraft" seems to have ended in a disastrous failure. As many as 143 "British and American aircraft" were shot down, while the German side's losses were only 12 Fokker Zeros shot down, and the loss of only 6 pilots. In addition, the "Seidlitz" was hit by a plane, which was at best a "medium damage". The "Admiral Hipper" was hit by a torpedo, but it was not serious. There was also a light cruiser hit by a 1,000-pound near-miss bomb, and the "Sekt" aircraft carrier was hit by two 500-pound near-miss bombs, but the problems were not serious.
But Helmut Haye still frowned and returned to the bridge where there was no glass and air leakage everywhere.
"Sir, we have received a telegram from the Bismarck. Admiral Lütjens ordered us to enter the shore-based aircraft protection circle in Bergen as soon as possible."
Colonel Franz Hinze reported to Heyer with a copy of the telegram he had just received. He smiled bitterly and said: "In addition, the admiral ordered us not to launch air strikes against Iceland and the US fleet. However, we are allowed to shoot down approaching US aircraft!"
It turns out that the Germans still haven't figured out whether there are American planes in the fleet that just attacked them. Many pilots and lookouts reported seeing British concentric circles on the fuselages of SBD and TBD aircraft, while others reported seeing American round-bottomed five-pointed stars.
Haye immediately reported this information to the "Bismarck" after the "British and American Attack Group" retreated, and now he finally received the relevant instructions.
"Okay, let's retreat to the southeast." Helmut Haye sighed, then asked thoughtfully, "You didn't say you were going to cancel the combat operation, did you?"
"No." Colonel Hinze said, "I don't think the higher ups will cancel the operation, because they are attacking Gibraltar now. Even if the United States really joins the war, we have to take Gibraltar and close the door to the Mediterranean!"
"That's good!" Helmut Heyer nodded, "While retreating, send Fokker 99 for reconnaissance. If the SBD and TBD that just attacked us did not take off from the Faroe Islands, nor were they American aircraft. Then they It must have taken off from a British aircraft carrier! We have to find them and sink them."
…
"What a heavy loss!"
On the Ark Royal, Somerville was gasping for air while holding the loss statistics report handed to him by Colonel Scott.
90 SBDs and TBDs were sent out, but only 41 came back, a total loss of 49 aircraft!
"It's worth it!" Colonel Scott said, "We sank a German aircraft carrier. As long as we sink another one, they will not be able to compete with us before the two new 30,000-ton aircraft carriers are put into use. Control of the sea."
The "they" Colonel Scott mentioned were not just Germany, but also Italy and France. The number and quality of the battleships of Germany, Italy and France have exceeded that of the United Kingdom, but neither Italy nor France currently have aircraft carriers, and only Germany has two aircraft carriers. If the United Kingdom can sink these two aircraft carriers, then the fleets of Germany, Italy, and France will not be able to leave the protection of shore-based aviation for the time being.
"But it is still too dangerous to risk four aircraft carriers." Somerville shook his head. "We have lost 49 aircraft now, and there is no need for four aircraft carriers. First, concentrate all the aircraft on Ark Royal and Formidable "Get aboard, and then let the Victory and Indomitable retreat."
The four aircraft carriers of Fleet C originally had 150 regular aircraft and an additional 30 reserve aircraft. Ark Royal lost a Sea Spitfire before, and now it has lost 49 regular aircraft, leaving only 100 regular aircraft. These 100 aircraft can be carried on the Ark Royal and the Formidable.
This arrangement could prevent Victory and Indomitable from suffering losses in subsequent battles, but it also had a disadvantage, which was that it took nearly 2 hours to gather the aircraft.
Since the Catalina seaplane sent by the Americans to monitor the German aircraft carrier was shot down by the Germans, and the Faroe Islands were being bombed indiscriminately by German aircraft sent by Bergen, it was temporarily impossible to launch a second wave of attacks, and there was no way to send one. reconnaissance aircraft. Therefore, after Somerville spent more than an hour completing the concentration of aircraft, Fleet C had lost the exact position of the German aircraft carrier.
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