Iron Cross

"Hit!" the bomber shouted happily. Captain Uber immediately retracted the flaps and began to accelerate and climb - he had lowered the altitude just now to ensure observation, and then another Hs-293 ​​was quickly activated, and he prepared Let's do it again - at best, one Hs-293 ​​is equivalent to a 500 kilogram aerial bomb. If it does not hit a particularly important location, just one Hs-293 ​​cannot destroy the battleship.

After Captain Uber pulled up, other bombs also exploded respectively, with loud "boom" and "boom" sounds. There were three huge explosions in total. The slower Rodney, Nelson, Lorraine Each ship received one Hs-293, and only the fastest Reputation escaped the disaster by virtue of the captain's last-minute dexterity.

At 15:26, a bomb hit the starboard stern of the Rodney again. This time the damage was more serious than the last time. The bomb penetrated the armor and exploded on the bottom of the ship, destroying the starboard main engine. The speed dropped to 13 knots, and the entire warship was swallowed up. More than 3,000 tons of seawater tilted 9° to the right. However, the Nelson took one piece each on the left and starboard sides, and was torn open with a 2-meter-wide hole. The seawater surged towards the old ship. The most pitiable thing is the Lorraine. Its defensive capabilities are not as good as the Rodney and Nelson. The second Hs-293 ​​hit the position between the turret and the bridge, not only penetrating the armor but also causing a fire. In the end It caused a violent explosion in the ammunition depot, and the entire warship burst into the sky like a lit torch. Five minutes later, the French Britannia-class battleship struggled to sink into the sea. Only 73 sailors on the whole ship escaped with their lives. .

The Renown once again became a lucky ship. When the second remote-controlled bomb fell, the heavy cruiser Argo next to it blocked it. The Renown remained unscathed, but the Argo was capsized on the spot and struggled. sink into the water.

7 out of 8 bombs. Faced with such a terrifying hit rate, Harwood, Andrew and others turned pale with fright. At this time, it was at least 9 minutes before the arrival of the second batch of support aircraft. When the third round of Hs-293 ​​hit, everyone was so numb that they didn't know what to do. They could only dodge mechanically and cross themselves repeatedly to pray for God's blessing. Maybe God heard their voices, or maybe the officers and soldiers They began to gain experience in dealing with remote-controlled bombs. This round, only the Rodney was hit again, while the Reputation suffered a near-miss. The flying shrapnel instantly killed dozens of sailors operating anti-aircraft guns on the port side.

After the fourth round of salvos came down, the Mediterranean Fleet's cover aircraft group finally appeared again. After observing the enemy's reinforcement aircraft group coming up, the four He-177 bombers hastily called it a day and retreated. Without the precise guidance of the bombers, all the bombs were finally empty. , achieving the sky-high water column.

What came this time was not a P-40, but a Hurricane with auxiliary fuel tanks mounted on it. It seemed that General Alexander was already in a hurry. He grabbed the fleet of aircraft and stuffed them into the fleet, but the problem still came a step too late. Faced with the tragic scene on the sea, everyone was on the verge of tears: the Rodney could not hold on at first, the overall temperature had reached 17 degrees, and the speed was reduced to only 7 knots. Although some balance was restored after water injection, the overall The tilt was still 13 degrees, the speed was reduced to only 5 knots, only one-third of the boilers were still functioning, and the rest were submerged in the cold seawater. Due to the large amount of water inflow, the overall draft of the warship has increased, and the bow of the warship is almost flush with the sea surface, as if a wave can crush the warship.

Harwood could only order them to abandon the ship, and then let the destroyers use torpedoes to send the old ship to the bottom of the sea.

"Sir, are we still going to intercept the German landing fleet?" Andrew asked with a sad face. Two of the four battleships were sunk, two heavy cruisers were sunk, and one was sunk. The Nelson was still seriously injured, even if the air power was not taken into account. In contrast, the remaining strength may not be able to defeat the German landing fleet - the opponent also has 1 battleship and 3 heavy cruisers.

"Moving forward...even if outnumbered, the Royal Navy has no reason to retreat."

"But..." Andrew hesitated, not sure whether he should say the following words.

"I have received intelligence that the Italian main fleet has dispatched... They will be able to arrive at the battle waters at noon tomorrow at the earliest. If we don't intercept the landing fleet today, there will be no such opportunity tomorrow." Harwood was in a very emotional mood. Depressed, "If we go back, where else can we go? Should we wait for surrender in Alexandria or escape through the Suez Canal now?"

Obviously, the latter two options are also ones that Andrew is unwilling to choose.

"It is better to sink gloriously than to retreat in shame! At least, we fought until the last breath!" Harwood's expression became more serious, "Raise the battle flag! Today we will fight the Germans to the death! Although the British Empire has declined, but it has Our sea power and majesty still do not allow anyone to provoke! It is our tradition to fight when we see the enemy. There are Royal Navy who die in battle, but there is no Royal Navy who survives!"

"yes!"

Andrew felt that the blood all over his body was boiling, and the soldiers' originally low fighting spirit became excited!

But Harwood's struggle is doomed to be in vain!

At 4:49, the German naval aviation, which secretly transferred from the Black Sea to Crete, was dispatched. 48 Bf-219s (all HNA fighter jets had been replaced by this type of aircraft) covered 64 Ju-87Cs and swooped over. Although the 36 Hurricanes tried their best to resist, they were no match for the Bf-219, but they still shot down 7 Bf-21s.

At 5:27, the German Navy completed all attacks and sailed away. Major ships such as the battlecruiser Renown, battleship Nelson, and heavy cruiser Charybdis were all sunk. In addition, four destroyers were lost. , Lieutenant General Henry Harwood refused his subordinates' request to transfer, and eventually sank together with the flagship. Andrew returned to Alexandria in accordance with his final order. In the end, there were only 4 destroyers left in the fleet, 3 of which were still carrying tumbling ships. There was thick smoke, but their desperate counterattack also caused a lot of damage to the HNA fleet, and the fleet lost another 6 Bf-21s.

In the evening, in the Prime Minister's residence at No. 10 Downing Street, Winston Churchill received a farewell message from the Mediterranean Fleet: "This fleet fought to the last breath and sank with glory... God bless Britain!" The former First Lord of the Admiralty I couldn't help crying sadly. In just one day, the main force of the Mediterranean fleet with 4 battleships/battlecruisers became history. Although Rodney, Nelson, and Reputation were all old ships, and Lorraine was a capture ship. But it had never happened since the beginning of the war that a fleet was basically wiped out and the vice-admiral fleet commander died in battle. His eye sockets sunk deeply, as if he had aged 10 years in an instant.

A circle of people looked at him, and no one knew how to comfort him.

After a long silence, Churchill suppressed his grief and regained his perseverance. He asked British Chief of Staff Alan Brooke: "The Navy has also failed. What should we do now?"

"The top priority now is to protect Egypt. The rapid landing force has set off from South Africa. As long as it lasts for 10 days, the reinforcements will arrive. As long as it lasts for 20 days, the support of more than 100,000 landing troops and thousands of aircraft will be able to Quickly engage in the war against Germany, and only by preserving Egypt and the Suez Canal can the British Empire have a future." Brook gritted his teeth and said, "In order to preserve Egypt, we can only sacrifice the Eighth Army at the moment. We suggest Montgomery give up the attack on Tobruk. It is an unrealistic fantasy to immediately retreat with strong force and resist the German landing force in Matruh Port. If he cannot resist it, then temporarily make a detour and retreat to Alamein to set up a line of defense in order to provide Alexander with The general reorganized the Egyptian forces and defense lines to gain time. As for the other troops in the direction of Tobruk, they could only let them fight the Germans until the last breath. "

"Which unit will be transferred? The 10th Armored Division?"

Brooke shook his head: "This amount of troops is not enough. There must be at least 2 armored divisions and 1 infantry division, and they must be capable troops. In addition, I suggest that it is best for General Montgomery to select the troops himself. If possible, do not select all local troops. Troops - My suggestion is to choose the New Zealand Division and the Australian Division. Their defense areas are relatively advantageous and their combat effectiveness is relatively strong. "

Everyone understood Brooke's intention in an instant: not choosing the native troops does not mean that it does not trust them or that the British Empire is willing to sacrifice itself for the Dominion Army in exchange for a way out. On the contrary, when Great Britain faces the most critical situation, it must go all out to unite all parties. The power of the Dominion - If the Dominion is sacrificed every time, there is no guarantee that they will not complain.

Churchill struggled for a long time, and finally nodded slowly, agreeing with the suggestion—the current mood and situation were completely different from the Dunkirk evacuation.

"In addition..." Brooke hesitated and struggled to say the second sentence, "If possible, General Montgomery should be responsible for cutting off the rear and commanding the remaining troops to entangle Guderian."

"No!" Clement Attlee, leader of the Labor Party, Deputy Prime Minister of the War Cabinet and Minister of Dominion Affairs, was the first to jump up and object. "A vice-admiral of the navy has been sacrificed this afternoon, and we cannot allow another lieutenant-general of the army to be sacrificed. Or be captured, the British Empire doesn’t have that many lieutenant generals to waste.”

Churchill and Brooke both shook their heads slowly at Attlee's words. Churchill shook his head and Attlee was mentally prepared - the Prime Minister had been very unhappy with Montgomery recently and had been thinking about replacing him, but why would Brooke make such a suggestion? Could it be that the Prime Minister wanted to take the opportunity to purge Montgomery? We are facing a formidable enemy and the situation is extremely critical. Shouldn't we be more united?