Iron Cross

On February 1, 1943, in the bitter cold wind, the escort fleet led by British Royal Navy Captain Robert St. Vincent Shelbrooke was slowly moving from west to east. The escort warships consisted of 7 destroyers, 2 small frigates, 2 minesweepers and 3 armed trawlers. The destroyer Onslow served as the flagship. They escorted the first wave of fleets since the JW number was put into use - a total of 17 transport ships, carrying 140 tanks, 3,176 military vehicles, 104 fighters, 49 bombers, 30,000 tons of aluminum ingots, 20,000 tons of armored steel and about 60,000 tons of various supplies including Spam canned meat to Murmansk, the Soviet Union.

Historically, the fleet set sail on December 22, 1942, but due to changes in the situation and the urgent need for supplies by the British Empire itself, it was delayed until January 26 to depart from Iceland. In addition to increasing the size of the escort fleet, the Royal Navy dispatched an additional 3 cruisers and 2 destroyers to the Barents Sea under the command of Rear Admiral Robert Lindsay Burnett, including the heavy cruiser Cumberland (Kent class, displacement 10,000 tons), the light cruiser Sheffield (Southampton class, displacement 9,700 tons) and Jamaica (Fiji class, displacement 8,500 tons), and the destroyers Achtis and Bulldog to provide cover at a long distance. To ensure this operation, the Royal Navy even used the German submarine U-570, which was captured earlier, for flank reconnaissance.

The scale of the entire transport formation is slightly larger than in history (originally 14 ships), and the material composition has also changed greatly: the number of tanks has been reduced, and the models have been replaced by mostly outdated M3 Stuart or Grant General; all fuel has been cancelled because Britain's own fuel reserves are now very tight; but the aluminum ingots, armored steel and supplies urgently needed by the Soviet Union are much more than in history. The entire force was numbered JW-51A, and there was also a JW-51B transport fleet. The two fleets together formed the complete JW-51 fleet, but because the supplies of the 51B fleet had not been properly arranged, it set off later - another reason was that the British side lacked confidence in the Arctic route and was afraid that the JW-51 would repeat the mistakes of the PQ-17 fleet, so they would rather divide it into two fleets.

No one, including Hoffman, knew that the historical JW-51A fleet arrived in the Soviet Union completely smoothly. It was the 51B fleet that experienced the Battle of the Barents Sea, but this time the escort warships were not much different from the Battle of the Barents Sea, but the fleet that was discovered was replaced by the 51A.

The fear of failure in the Battle of the Barents Sea has always weighed on Hoffman's mind - German surface ships including the Hipper and the Lützow were completely defeated by the British naval formation. When he heard the name of Vice Admiral Kumets, he felt the hair on his back stand up. Otherwise, it would be hard for people to understand why he just said he was going on vacation, but he rushed back to Berlin after only one night.

He could not do much. He could not replace Kumets inexplicably. Not to mention that the German Navy did not have many fleet commanders who could take on the responsibility of commanding naval battles. At least Kumets did not expose any problems now, and he also knew the important reason why the Navy performed poorly in the Battle of the Barents Sea - the overly cautious naval headquarters issued an order to save the ship, and the more cautious Kumets executed this order to the extreme. So he desperately asked Keitel to order the naval headquarters not to issue instructions at will. Now it seems that Keitel has implemented his intentions well, and I don't know what Raeder thinks.

In addition to encouragement and stress relief, he also played a trump card to meet the challenge - he asked the Tirpitz, which has a displacement of up to 42,000 tons and is nicknamed "North House", to go out together, and then let the front-line commander attack decisively, and not be afraid of losses! He tried his best. If he failed again, there would be nothing to say.

The Battle of the Barents Sea must be fought. Avoiding and acting as a fleet is definitely not a good way! Regardless of how important it is to cut off the Arctic route, the German Navy must dare to face the Royal Navy if it wants to break the blockade, especially when the latter has been frustrated and important battleships are far away in the Far East. The German Navy must seize this God-given opportunity to challenge - he is mentally prepared to lose the ship, and it won't be worse than history anyway?

On the train back to Berlin, Hoffman, who had been worried about gains and losses, finally calmed down gradually. He thought of a more favorable factor than Hitler - time! Historically, the Battle of the Barents Sea broke out on New Year's Day in 1943, which was almost the longest time of the polar night. There was only a little light for 4 hours from 10 am to 2 pm. Now it is February, and according to common sense, the lighting conditions should be better. This guess was soon confirmed by the adjutant of the navy - the lighting time in the Norwegian waters now lasts from 9 am to 3 pm, 2 hours longer, and the brightness at noon will be increased by one level.

Hoffman waved his fist excitedly, as if he saw the dawn of victory.

At this moment, in Berlin, after receiving the report of U-354, Redel's first reaction was to be ecstatic. The good days of surface ships have finally come. Six months ago, German submarines and the air force joined forces to sweep the PQ-17 transport fleet in Norwegian waters, sending 24 of the 35 transport ships to the bottom of the sea. A total of 430 tanks, 210 aircraft and 100,000 tons of supplies were fed. Fish and shrimp, unfortunately all the credit was taken away by submarines and air forces, and surface ships did nothing. At that time, the head of state explicitly ordered that large ships were not allowed to go to sea rashly, which caused the battleships and cruisers to lose their opportunity to perform. Hans Hartmann, the captain of the heavy cruiser Hipper, complained repeatedly about this. But this time it was different. The head of state not only approved the "Rainbow" plan to hunt and kill the transport fleet, but also asked the Norwegian Navy to deploy all its forces, including putting the most daunting Tirpitz into battle.

He carefully considered the enemy's situation and situation, carefully weighed his words, and prepared to issue an order to Kumets, who was commanding at the front line, reminding him to pay attention to safety and not to fall into the British lightning trap. Navy Chief of Staff Qut Frick, Lieutenant Commander The general is also preparing to issue a warning to Kumetz: "No matter what the combat order stipulates, if you are fighting an enemy of comparable strength, combat activities must be restrained and your battleships must not be exposed to great risks." The order has just been drafted. When he was about to send it out, the adjutant ran over helplessly and told him: "General Keitel gave an instruction: The head of state has an order and must not easily interfere with the decision-making of the frontline commander. Any order must be approved by the head of state himself before it can be sent."

Raeder and Frick looked at each other in astonishment. They couldn't help but cast suspicious eyes on Keitel, as if they were asking the Chief of General Staff of the Supreme Command to deprive the Naval Command of its command authority?

Keitel was so embarrassed that he was about to bite the bullet and explain a few words. Although he didn't understand why the head of state made such a solemn statement before leaving yesterday evening and threatened to remove Raeder from his post - he didn't dare to say the latter part. However, Hoffman's telegram arrived quickly, which immediately relieved him. He announced loudly: "The head of state rushed back from the Berghof Villa early from his vacation and directly commanded the operation. He requested that clear instructions be sent. To the frontline commanders - 'Attack bravely, don't be afraid of losses, I and the German people are watching you!'"

Well, this is what the head of state means, not Marshal Keitel who is pretending to be powerful! Redel and Frick both breathed a sigh of relief. But then they thought again and smiled bitterly - they were just about to remind Kumetz to act with caution, but they didn't expect that the head of state would say such a thing now, and the two had to silently overturn their orders. But I was wondering in my heart, why did the head of state's attitude make a 180-degree turn? Could it be that the head of state really has full confidence in Plan Z? Also, why did the head of state suddenly want to intervene in the command of the navy? Does he, an army corporal, understand the navy? ——But the last part of the sentence is just what I think in my heart. After the "Kungunir" plan personally decided by the head of state was perfectly executed and swept across the Middle East, its prestige is even better than before. No matter how picky you are, you can't say "no" Words come.

Just when the big guys in Berlin were thinking about their own thoughts, the sea in northern Norway was covered with ice and snow. The ace submarine U-354 took advantage of the cover of the bad weather to boldly float on the water, leisurely following the hazy transportation in the distance. As the fleet left, the captain, Captain Heinz-Herbschreib, had just asked his men to send the exact location of the transport fleet: a total of 6 transport ships, 2 destroyers and 1 small frigate - but he did not expect that he What he saw was only part of the JW-51A fleet, and a larger part and more escort warships were still more than 100 nautical miles behind him.

At 9:15, after receiving the secret order to execute Operation "Rainbow", the commander of the Norwegian Cruiser Fleet, Vice Admiral Oskar Kumetz, immediately sat on the battleship Tirpitz as scheduled and led the battleships including Hipper, Lützow and Six destroyers set out from the Alta Fjord, and all the German sailors cheered - they had been stuck in the ice and snow of Norway for more than half a year, and they finally had a good opportunity to show off their skills.

Although it was clear that his strength far exceeded that of the British transport fleet, and he was very eager to make achievements through surface ships, the cautious Kumets did not rush into the attack rashly, but kept the route aligned with the only way the transport fleet must pass, trying to catch it The enemy fleet drove them south - the weather forecast showed that the wind and snow will stop tomorrow, and aircraft can be dispatched in large numbers. Now the JG5 wing stationed in Norway has joined the navy as a whole and become a naval aviation force. It is also a part of the navy. He cannot Regardless of this advantage, he knew that Hainan Airlines' new batch of He-218 dive bombers and Ju-98 attack aircraft were much more powerful than the previous aircraft.

More than an hour after setting off, Hoffman's telegram came, asking him to march bravely - besides attacking, he could not think of any other way to fulfill the head of state's instructions.