The Rise of the Third Reich

The night of March 25, 1942, Faroe Islands.

At a distance of 25,000 meters, at the narrow Weigel Airport, the 406mm high-explosive shell shook the earth. When a shell hit, it immediately created a pit of more than ten meters, and the dust stirred up could be tens of meters high! Groups of orange-red fireballs continued to rise, making the small island seem to be submerged in a sea of ​​fire.

Several coastal defense batteries equipped with 10-inch (254mm) cannons and 8-inch (203mm) cannons opened fire bravely. Soon there was a counterattack from 4 naval guns. Since there were Ar-196 seaplanes in the sky, they only fired a few rounds, and the shells fell on these temporary shore defense batteries.

Hundreds of kilograms or even thousands of kilograms of high-explosive artillery shells fell from the sky, followed by an explosion that shook the earth. The British soldiers on the fort didn't even have time to cry out for help before they were blown into minced meat!

Shrill sirens rang over the British barracks across the island, and heavily armed soldiers rushed out of the camp like a tide, rushing towards preset positions one after another. The British commander on the island also got into the strong bunker and calmly ordered all ministries to hold on while sending emergency telegrams to London and the battleship King George V in the North Atlantic.

…

On King Charles Street, inside the headquarters of the British War Cabinet, there was a constant flow of people. The soldiers and officials of the Empire, known for their elegance and stability, had become a little restless.

"Mr. Prime Minister, the Faroe Islands have been severely bombarded! At least 4 German battleships are shelling there..."

The person who was reporting the latest war situation to Churchill was Sir Dudley Pound, the First Sea Lord. High-level officials from the British military, including the First Sea Lord, the Imperial Chief of Staff, the Air Force Chief of Staff, the Navy Minister, and the Air Force Minister, have all gathered at the War Cabinet Command. Because the ongoing decisive battle at sea is directly related to the survival of the British Empire.

Churchill puffed on his cigar, "Sir Cunningham still thinks the Germans are feinting?"

Sir Pound nodded helplessly, "Yes, Mr. Prime Minister."

He felt helpless not because of the confusing war situation, but because Prime Minister Churchill always interfered with the command of the army. Although Churchill was born in the military (he graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst), he did not fight any serious battles. During his short military career, he was busy writing novels and guest-starring as a military reporter.

Since 1899, Churchill has been ups and downs in the political arena, and his involvement in the military has been limited to serving as Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of the Air Force and Prime Minister. Moreover, Churchill's involvement in military activities as a politician often ended badly.

Looking at the Prime Minister who sat in the War Cabinet Headquarters and gave random orders every day, Dudley Pound was a little envious of his German opponent. It is said that German Chancellor Adolf Hitler rarely intervened in the military. The General Staff that directs operations in Germany, although the people in charge of the General Staff are army officers, they are also the best soldiers in the world. The commander-in-chief of the German Navy can at least discuss naval strategic issues with them.

“On December 8 last year, Americans also believed that the Japanese would not capture Hawaii,” Churchill said. “But now, the Hawaiian Islands are filled with Japanese flags!”

When P.108 bombers and Ameo 357 bombers conducted high-altitude bombing on the Faroe Islands this morning, Churchill still firmly believed that the German attack on the Faroe Islands was just a feint attack. But now when four German battleships began to bombard the Faroe Islands, Churchill began to doubt that Germany was really going to capture the Faroe Islands.

"But Prime Minister," Dudley Pound shook his head, "The Faroe Islands are within the combat radius of the German shore-based aviation. Even their Fw-190 can operate over the Faroe Islands after adding auxiliary fuel tanks. The Fw-190 and With the cooperation of the Fokker Zero, even the P51 will be difficult to fight against. If our P51 fleet suffers heavy losses over the Faroe Islands, it will be difficult for us to deal with the German fleet once it advances towards the Denmark Strait..."

According to the plan drawn up by Cunningham, the hundreds of P51s deployed by the British Coast Air Force in northern Scotland are the key to victory. If these aircraft are completely consumed by Fw-190s and Fokker Zeros over the Faroe Islands, the ensuing battle will be very difficult. Although the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy have tens of thousands of commonly used aircraft in total, they are no less than Germany in absolute numbers. However, the training level of pilots and the number of ace pilots are far inferior to those of their opponents.

Now concentrated at the airports in northern Scotland are the elite of the British Air Force fighter pilots (elite in British terms). If it is destroyed, even if the P51 piloted by a rookie pilot can be recruited from other places to participate in the war, it will probably not be able to defeat the Fokker Zero on the German aircraft carrier... There is no need to even fight, just fly the P51 from the airport in northern Scotland for two days. A three-hour trip to the sea near Iceland to fight would make most rookie pilots vomit blood from exhaustion. Only God knows whether they can fight when they get there.

Churchill stared at Dudley Pound, "Sir, but we must not lose the Faroe Islands, right?"

"Yes, we cannot lose the Faroe Islands." Dudley Pound glanced at the Imperial Chief of Staff, Viscount Brooke. Viscount Brooke quickly interjected: "Mr. Prime Minister, the army has complete defenses on the Faroe Islands."

"The U.S. Army has 2 divisions and 200 tanks on the Hawaiian Islands, but the Japanese still occupy Hawaii!"

Churchill shook his head and said: "If we lose the Faroe Islands, Britain will face the misfortune of being completely blocked. This is a very bad thing!" He took another puff of cigar, "I am not worried about the Germans in Dover now. Seoul's beach landing, because those GCists in Moscow will not just watch National Socialism destroy Britain. But if it is just a blockade... this means that the Germans' powerful army does not need to be put into battle at all, and the blockade of Britain does not need to be used. Armored divisions and motorized infantry divisions, and millions of German troops armed to the teeth, will still be waiting on the Barbarossa line of defense on the eastern front. In this case, Stalin will most likely not dare to invest his less powerful Red Army. ”

Churchill's layman's analysis cannot be wrong - members of the British war cabinet now knew that Stalin was preparing to stab Germany in the back when it invaded Britain.

But they all also saw the performance of the Soviet Red Army in Poland, Finland and Afghanistan (the guerrilla war in Afghanistan is still continuing). Weakness cannot be considered weak, but it is certainly far inferior to the German army. A sneak attack with a knife in the back has a chance of winning. If they were to attack in a grand formation, the Red Army would definitely suffer heavy losses.

Even Russian Czar Nicholas II would probably not fight such a losing battle, let alone someone as talented as Stalin.

Therefore, Britain is not afraid of a large-scale landing by Germany, but is afraid of being blocked by the Germans using aircraft and warships for a year and a half. Once resource reserves are exhausted and food supplies are severely insufficient, how many people in the UK will support the war?

…

"Leader, I think there will be a fierce air battle over the Faroe Islands tomorrow or the day after tomorrow."

In the Berlin Chancellery, Imperial Marshal Hersmann, Defense Minister Schleicher and Navy Commander-in-Chief Raeder were also briefing two laymen on the latest war situation. One of the two laymen is naturally Adolf Hitler, who "does not interfere in military command", while the other layman is Prince Friedrich, who is preparing to go to the Netherlands for a blind date with his cousin Princess Elisabeth.

This prince is a colonel of the German Air Force, but he is not a combatant, but an air force adjutant of his father, Emperor Wilhelm III. In fact, he is just a vase. Today he came to the Chancellery as a representative of Emperor William III to learn about the progress of the war.

In addition, he also expressed the Emperor's intention tactfully - His Majesty did not want his cousin and daughter-in-law Elizabeth to take over a ruined country in a few months or a year...

"What if the British are not fooled?" Adolf Hitler asked worriedly, "They know that the Faroe Islands are within the combat radius of the Fw-190, and their Spitfires and P-51s are not Fw-190s and Fokker Zeros at all. opponent."

"They will be fooled." Marshal Schleicher took over the question. He had already discussed it with Hersmann and Hitler and was preparing to temporarily hand over the position of Minister of Defense to Hersmann (the chief of general staff will be Kesselring). As marshal), he will be the commander-in-chief of the attack on Britain - as long as Britain is captured, his "office marshal" can be regarded as a truly great soldier.

Marshal Schleicher said: "We have plenty of time now. If the British are not fooled, then we will bomb and shell the Faroe Islands every day until they are razed to the ground... and the British must not lose it, if they If we lose the Faroe Islands, the Iceland-Scotland route will be completely cut off."

Hersman continued his words: "In fact, we have plans to capture the Faroe Islands or Shetland Islands. The current shelling and bombing of the Faroe Islands are actually part of the landing operation."

The landing on the Faroe Islands was part of the Irish campaign. According to the plan drawn up by the General Staff, the landing on the Faroe Islands would be carried out first to attract the attention of the British Home Fleet and the Royal Air Force. For this reason, Germany's three "missile cruisers" and several "amphibious landing ships" undergoing modification will no longer break into the Atlantic Ocean. They will become the main force in attacking the Faroe Islands.