Reborn South Africa as a police officer

Chapter 2213 Dig a hole for the Spaniards
While the "Bismarck" sank the "Hood", it was also damaged by the "Prince of Wales".

Along with the "Prince of Wales" and "Hood" to encircle and suppress the "Bismarck", there are three cruisers. Among them, the "Suffolk" cruiser is equipped with an advanced sea search system, and has been trailing not far from the "Bismarck". Keep informed of the location of the "Bismarck".

Considering the combat effectiveness of the "Bismarck", the "Prince of Wales" did not take the initiative to attack the "Bismarck". At this time, the failure of the "Prince of Wales" has not been repaired.

In the previous naval battle, the "Bismarck" was also severely damaged. It had been leaking oil during its voyage, leaving a significant mark on the channel.

At this time, the "Bismarck" did not even turn around and return, but continued to head south. Therefore, the southern African military determined that the purpose of the "Bismarck" was to threaten the waterway between southern Africa and the United Kingdom.

On June 6, the number of warships encircling and suppressing the "Bismarck" increased to 1, including the aircraft carrier "Victory" that had just entered service.

After the outbreak of the European War, the United Kingdom increased its emphasis on aircraft carriers. In just one year, four aircraft carriers entered service successively, and the strength of the Royal Navy greatly increased.

However, the British carrier-based aircraft pilots are not skilled enough, they cannot even be dispatched at night, and the performance of the carrier-based aircraft is not good enough.

For all their flaws, British pilots were brave.

On the afternoon of the 1st, the "Victory" braved the heavy rain and dispatched nine "Swordfish" torpedo planes to launch an air strike on the "Bismarck".

There are many anti-aircraft artillery on the "Bismarck", and nine "Swordfish" were shot down, and only three "Swordfish" successfully fired torpedoes at the "Bismarck". The other three lost their course in the heavy rain and were not found. Bismarck".

Two more of the three torpedoes were shot in the air, and only one hit the "Bismarck".

The "Bismarck" had the strongest protection capability at the time and was still able to sail after being hit by a torpedo.

However, this also made the commander of the "Bismarck" realize that even if he escaped the encirclement and suppression of the Royal Navy, the "Bismarck" would not be able to complete the mission, so on the night of the 1st, the "Bismarck" turned around and tried to return to the port of Brest.

This was beyond the Royal Navy's expectations.

On the night of the 1st, it was very windy and rainy, and the heavy raindrops made people unable to open their eyes. The "Bismarck" suddenly disappeared from the "Suffolk" radar, which made everyone terrified.

Regardless of the serious injury of "Bismarck", if it encounters any British warship alone, including the latest "King George V" class battleship, there is no certainty of defeating "Bismarck".

What's more, the "Victory" is an aircraft carrier that will definitely be sunk as long as it is close to the "Bismarck".

When the "Bismarck" disappeared, the British warships stopped the search and capture operation because of bad weather and the aircraft could not take off, which had a huge impact on the search and capture the next day.

On the 2nd, more warships joined the search for the "Bismarck", including the "Basutoland" belonging to the Southern African Atlantic Fleet, and the "Madagascar" that rushed from Halifax.

So far, the number of Allied warships rounding up the "Bismarck" has increased to 27.

"The Bismarck was severely damaged in the previous battle, and the speed dropped to less than 20 knots. We have sent a reconnaissance plane to search the surrounding waters around the missing dot of the Bismarck." Inside the Madagascar bridge, First Officer Anthony Kit frowned, what he was most worried about now was the sudden appearance of "Bismarck" near the "Madagascar".

Although "Madagascar" was protected by six cruisers of the Atlantic Fleet, Anthony did not feel the slightest sense of security in his heart.

The fighting power of "Bismarck" is too terrifying.

As an aircraft carrier, "Madagascar" never considered the issue of protection when it was built.

Even the "Hood", which had more than 1 tons of protective armor, was sunk by the "Bismarck". The fragile protection of "Madagascar" was useless to the "Bismarck".

Of course, as long as the distance is widened, "Bismarck" has no chance of attacking "Madagascar".

The fastest speed of "Bismarck" is only 30 knots.

The maximum speed of "Madagascar" can reach 32 knots.

As long as the distance is widened, "Madagascar" can kill "Bismarck" with kite tactics.

"The torpedo unit is ready to attack at any time. Once the Bismarck is spotted, it will launch an attack immediately." Li Ao's eyes were filled with anger.

Last night, a southern African convoy was attacked and two transport ships were sunk.

The bad thing is, because of the bad weather last night, the escorting destroyer unexpectedly failed to find the German submarine that launched the attack, which made Li Ao feel very bad.

After Southern Africa joined the war, merchant ships from Southern Africa were also targeted by German submarines.

In order to avoid greater casualties, both Southern Africa and the United Kingdom adopted an escort system, sending destroyers and cruisers with strong anti-submarine capabilities to escort the transport ships. The effect was not bad, effectively reducing the loss of merchant ships.

The Germans will certainly not sit idly by. After southern Africa and the United Kingdom adopted the escort system, the "lone wolf" tactic of attacking by a single German submarine gradually lost its effect, so the Germans upgraded the "lone wolf" tactic to "wolves". Tactics, a coordinated attack by multiple submarines against southern African and British fleets.

The Atlantic Fleet and the Royal Navy stepped up their escort efforts again, and the intensity of the battle between the two sides continued to escalate.

"An American merchant ship sent a telegram, and they seem to have spotted the Bismarck—" the communications officer looked in disbelief when he took off his earphones.

Like the relationship between Russia and Germany, the relationship between the United States and Germany is equally complicated.

Merchant ships continued to be lost across the Atlantic, Southern Africa and Great Britain, and American merchant ships plying between Europe and the United States were never attacked by German U-boats.

This makes people very angry.

The key point is that many of these American merchant ships go directly to the European continent. Although the Americans no longer do business with Germany in name, the trade between the Americans and the Dutch, Norwegians, and even the French is beyond the control of southern Africa and the United Kingdom.

French--

Vichy France is now nominally neutral, but has attacked Britain after Operation Ballista.

Britain was concerned about pushing Vichy France further into Germany, so it did not make further attacks on Vichy France.

The latest news is that the French navy commander Darlan is negotiating with Germany on the Vichy French navy.

The Germans hoped that the Vichy French navy would join the Italian navy in attacking the British Mediterranean Fleet and the Southern African Cyprus Squadron.

Darlan hoped that the French navy would maintain a neutral position and preserve its strength as much as possible.

Darlan's position is very embarrassing now. He once said to the people around him: People from at least four forces now want him to die.

These four are well understood, the French, the Germans, the British, and the southern Africans.

In such a dangerous environment, it was not easy for Darlan to survive.

In another time and space, Darlan was assassinated in Algiers after he decided to join the Allied forces.

This time and space is hard to say, because Darlan has not yet made a final decision.

"Position!" Li Ao's spirit lifted.

The relationship between the Americans and the Germans is not good.

For gold's sake, Americans don't care if German expansion is evil or not, as long as there is money to be made, Americans can sell their souls to the devil.

The Germans still have gold now.

Americans are still profitable.

So the United States is not in a hurry to join the war.

If one day the Germans run out of gold, the Americans will end as quickly as possible.

Just like the last world war.

The communications officer quickly reported the location.

Not the English Channel.

Nor is it Brest, France.

Looking at the course, the destination of "Bismarck" should be a port in Spain.

Li Ao can now be sure that the "Bismarck" should be severely damaged, and it is impossible to return to Brest with his own strength, so he can only go to the nearest Spanish port.

When it comes to the relationship between Germany and Spain, there is no doubt that the mustache and fat bald head were put together by Franco.

During the Spanish Civil War, Germany and Italy gave great help to the Falange led by Franco, and the Falange was able to defeat the Spanish Popular Front supported by Russia and win the Spanish Civil War.

After the Spanish Civil War, in order to win the support of Franco, Germany and Italy once again gave the Spanish Falange economic assistance to help Spain restore its strength.

Unexpectedly, after the outbreak of the European War, Franco repeatedly rejected the demands of Germany and Italy. Not only did he not cooperate with Germany to attack France during the "Operation Sickle", but after France gave up resistance, Franco also refused to attack Gibraltar controlled by the United Kingdom. Make mustache very angry.

The reason why Franco rejected the mustache and fat bald head has a lot to do with the wooing of southern Africa and the United Kingdom.

Like Mustache and Fat Bald, Rock and Winston also hoped that Spain would join the Allied forces, at least not join the Axis powers. For this reason, after the outbreak of the European War, Southern Africa and the United Kingdom also gave Spain a lot of assistance.

This probably gave Franco an illusion that as long as he was dealing with the Allies and the Axis powers, Spain could continue to benefit.

For Franco, both ways.

Winston was in a bad mood.

Roque hated it.

So before Li Ao sent the torpedo plane to attack the "Bismarck", he was smart enough to send a telegram to Pretoria.

Soon, Pretoria replied: telegraphed the Spanish government that the "Bismarck" was not allowed to enter the Spanish port, let alone provide supplies for the "Bismarck".

If it were someone else, they would probably be at a loss for this order.

If you want to sink the "Bismarck", you don't need to be so troublesome at all. You only need to order "Madagascar" to send torpedo planes to launch a wave of attacks on the "Bismarck".

When the American merchant ship sent a telegram, the "Bismarck" was still nearly 200 kilometers away from the nearest Spanish port. With the current speed of the "Bismarck" less than 20 knots, even if the "Bismarck" had wings, it would not be able to escape.

Sending a telegram to the Spanish government created a problem for the Spaniards.

Do you want to let "Bismarck" into port?
If it is not allowed to enter the port, the "Bismarck" will definitely be sunk, which will lead to an overall deterioration of the relationship between Spain and Germany.

If it is allowed to enter the port, it will offend southern Africa and the United Kingdom.

Don't forget that Gibraltar also hosts an airborne division from Southern Africa.

There is also a powerful third army fishing in North Africa.

Franco was not optimistic about the prospects for war if relations between southern Africa and Spain deteriorated.

In fact, just two months ago, Franco had just sent Ribbentrop a telegram.

Ribbentrop wanted Spain to join the Axis powers.

Franco's reply was: If Ribbentrop can produce a piece of evidence that the Axis powers will win, then Spain will immediately join the Axis powers.

Ribbentrop's reply is that you wait.

Waiting means——

It's not that Germany wants revenge on Spain.

It was the Barbarossa plan.

With the dispatch of the telegram, the difficulty came to Spain.

The Spaniard is estimated to be very tangled now, in a dilemma.

But the Spaniards didn't have much time to think. The speed of 20 knots is not fast for a warship, but 200 kilometers is not far away. The commander of "Bismarck" didn't know what was going on.

The commander of the British warship was equally depressed.

"Bismarck" sank the "Hood" before, and all Royal Navy officers and soldiers vowed to sink the "Bismarck" to be buried with the "Hood".

Now "Bismarck" is not far away, and is sailing to the port of Spain with difficulty. It only needs to send a torpedo plane brigade to sink the "Bismarck".

However, in order to force the Spanish government to take a stand, the southern African military did not say anything about launching an attack on "Bismarck", and did not allow the Royal Navy to launch an operation, which made the generals of the Royal Navy very dissatisfied.

Admiral John Tovey, the new commander of the British Royal Navy's home fleet, who has already boarded the battleship "King George V" and personally commanded the hunting of "Bismarck", is even more dissatisfied.

"Never mind the machinations of the southern Africans, the military should not be involved in politics, our mission is to sink the 'Bismarck', avenge Lancelot Holland and the 'Hood', and everything else Put it on hold for now!" John Tovey had a tough character and insisted on ordering the "Victory" to send a torpedo plane to attack the "Bismarck".

"It is raining heavily where the Victory is located, and the weather is bad. It is very difficult for us to dispatch torpedo planes." Lieutenant Colonel Richards Burke, John Tovey's adjutant, was euphemistic. Soldiers don't get involved in politics?Don't be ridiculous, count how many fleet commanders have entered politics after leaving office.

"Storm and night are not our enemies, cowardice and incompetence are!" John Tovey sternly.

Speaking of last night, if the captain of the "Victory" ignored the night and the storm and insisted on sending a torpedo plane to attack the "Bismarck", then there would be no story today.

Of course, as for the pilot who took off from the "Victory" in the storm and night, whether he can return to the "Victory" after completing the mission is definitely not within John Tovey's consideration.

(End of this chapter)