Iron Cross

"You said there are German planes coming towards us?" Major General Burnett looked in disbelief.

"Yes, Colonel Sherbrooke sent an urgent telegram. Two of his destroyer formations were sunk and are currently retreating to the southwest..."

"What a pity..." Before he could say the next half of the sentence, the alarm in the command tower suddenly sounded, "Enemy plane, air attack..."

Schroeder's caution and good eyesight brought good luck to the North Point Air Force. Eight minutes later, he saw the British cruiser formation floating on the sea. All the pilots became excited. The commander had just forced him on the radio. The momentum of the attack was stopped. Many people were confused and didn't understand what was going on. They only reacted when they saw these big guys below.

Looking at the dark enemy planes in the sky, Major General Burnett cursed angrily: "Damn it, how did you attract these flies?"

Now is the time of day when the sunshine is the best, which is very conducive for aircraft to identify targets. Schroeder did not rush to attack, but reported what he observed first: "A treaty-type heavy cruiser was found, suspected to be Kent-class ; Two light cruisers, suspected to be Fiji class or Southampton class; two destroyers. "

When this news was forwarded by the Hipper and poured into the naval headquarters in Berlin, everyone was dumbfounded - if the plane had not been dispatched today and the Hipper had foolishly rushed over, the three British cruisers would , under the siege of 7 destroyers, I'm afraid it will be a tragedy.

Hoffman, who had always kept his expression calm, said at this time: "Look, I said that the British will never have more than this number of troops."

Frick wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and felt frightened when he thought that he had almost handed over the Hipper to the Barents Sea just now because of the unknown enemy situation. Now he could only shout God bless Germany.

"Where's Tirpitz?"

Reidel looked at his watch: "It is now 13:17 in the afternoon, and Tirpitz will probably arrive around 4:30."

Hoffman nodded: "Look at the results of the aviation team. I hope Lieutenant General Kumetz will be able to share some scraps... Oh, no, I can't say scraps, it should be said to be a sumptuous meal - later There are also more than ten British transport ships." Even he couldn't help laughing after saying this.

A group of senior navy officers laughed along with them. Apparently they had imagined the scene of Tirpitz rushing into the transport fleet and killing everyone.

The Burnett formation, which was supported by three cruisers and had set up a circular air defense formation, was obviously more difficult to deal with than the destroyer formation. Schroeder carefully observed the sea surface and did not make an easy move. He knew that he only had one chance to attack today and must Take advantage of it - the weather forecast indicates that the weather conditions in the sea near Tomb Bear Island will deteriorate again, so the air force will not be able to dispatch.

He first asked the escorting Bf-219 to go down to "clean" the deck. The Bf-219 could have been equipped with small bombs, but because it had to carry out long-distance attacks, auxiliary fuel tanks were added, so now only the cannon is available. They penetrated the smoke released by the British ships. Under the fierce fire from the MG151/20mm aviation cannon, each ship was hit one after another, and blood flowed on the deck. In particular, the flagship Cumberland was "taken care of" by German aircraft the most. Three minutes later, seeing that the firepower on the deck had weakened, Schroeder immediately asked the two formations to dive down at the same time - he did not choose the Cumberland in the center, but focused on the Jamaica on the outer left wing, and separated from the front and rear decks. Rushed down.

Although the USS Jamaica was a cutting-edge warship that was completed and commissioned at the end of June 1942, equipped with two eight-mounted two-pound (40mm) "Bang Bang guns" and four 20mm machine guns, this amount of anti-aircraft firepower could not stop the speed of the ship. The fast He-218 was attacked by 6 aircraft and despite the ship's maneuvers, the main deck was still hit by two 500kg bombs one after another. After all, this was a treaty-type light ship built in accordance with the London Naval Treaty. The significant disadvantage of cruisers is their weak defense. Under the attack of two bombs, the 8,500-ton cruiser was dying and paralyzed on the water. After a while, it finally began to capsize due to too much water, and then sank rapidly.

After the Jamaica was eliminated, half of the 24 He-218 aircraft were left without bombs. Schroeder correctly assessed the current situation and did not rush to attack another cruiser. Instead, he allowed a three-plane formation to attack the outer destroyers. .

The unfortunate one that encountered this time was the Bulldog. The poor destroyer dodged left and right and tried its best to avoid it. Although it did not let a bomb fall on its deck, the He-218's dive attack capability was not limited, and all the people operating the aircraft were also involved. It was the elite of the Norwegian Air Force. The three bombs dropped all caused near-misses on the port side. The fragile underwater part of the destroyer could not withstand such continuous explosions. A gap was torn open by the impact force, and the sea water just poured in. Guan, the captain was finally forced to abandon the ship.

At this time, there were still 9 aircraft of the North Cape Air Force that had not dropped bombs. Since the He-218 had a built-in magazine, it would be impossible to tell whether the bombs were completed without looking carefully before dropping them. Therefore, other aircraft groups hovering in the air were constraining the ships on the sea. The pressure was so great that the remaining British warships opened fire as hard as they could, but their sparse anti-aircraft firepower was laughably weak in Schroeder's eyes.

Schroeder targeted the Cumberland, which was carrying the flagship emblem. He personally led 6 planes to rush down together - he was determined to sink the enemy ship. As a result, the area near the bridge of the ship was hit by 3 bombs in a row, and the entire bridge was completely blown away. Although the British also shot down a He-218, the fate of the Cumberland was irreversible. All members of the command, including Major General Burnett, died on the spot in the fierce explosion. The warship broke into two and began to sink rapidly.

In the end, there were 3 bombers left. Schroeder thought about it and asked them to try their best to throw bombs on the remaining cruiser. He knew that it might not sink, but as long as it could severely damage the enemy ship, when the Hipper arrived, they would definitely send them to the bottom of the sea. His strategy was successful. The 500-kilogram bomb successfully opened a big hole on the front deck of the Sheffield, and the two front turrets were blown off. The entire warship took on 2,500 tons of water, and the speed dropped to only 13 knots. Fortunately, it was well managed and still stubbornly floated on the water.

"Major Schroeder reports that the North Cape Air Force has ended today's air raid, losing two He-218s, sinking two British cruisers, three destroyers, and severely damaging one British cruiser. Now the entire fleet is returning..."

As soon as the voice of the enemy situation was reported, thunderous applause broke out in the naval headquarters.

"Major Schroeder did a good job and should be rewarded..." Hoffman glanced around and said with a smile, "Next, we are ready to hear good news from Hipper and Tirpitz?"

Just as Schroeder led the North Cape Air Force to launch a fierce attack, Hipper and three British destroyers exchanged fire again. Fortunately for the British, the long anchoring greatly reduced the shooting skills that Hipper was proud of. British destroyers often hid in the water curtain, causing German gunners to waste a lot of ammunition. Hartmann, who was eager for success, also made mistakes in tactical arrangements. When only the two main guns at the bow could fire, he also allocated a turret to deal with the Zhongshun, and later decided to concentrate firepower on the British flagship Onslow.

After a long bombardment, the German sailors finally made significant progress. A shell hit the Onslow, landing between the bridge and the funnel, tearing the funnel in half, completely destroying the radar control room nearby, causing the boiler to malfunction, and the power suddenly dropped to less than 20 knots. Two minutes later, the destroyer Z16, which was accompanying the battle, hit the Onslow with a shell. One of the shells hit the A turret, killing all the gunners inside, and the other hit the deck between the B turret and the bridge, killing most of the nearby sailors. A fire broke out in the non-commissioned officers' cabin under the bridge. The number of casualties on the ship exceeded 60, but the Onslow was still fighting back.

Colonel Shelbrooke's left face was severely injured by shrapnel, blood and flesh were blurred, and his left eye was out of the socket, but he calmly ordered to slow down to 15 knots to reduce the fire, and then retreated to the west under the cover of smoke, while handing over the fleet command to Lieutenant Colonel Kinlock, the captain of the Zhongshun. Sergeant Major Cook's legs were blown off and he was in critical condition. He crawled in the corridor dragging his injured legs while complaining that the infirmary only gave him "damn aspirin - I'd rather replace it with a daily ration of rum..." A few minutes later, he fainted due to excessive bleeding. .

Facing the Onslow that fled the battlefield, the Hipper did not chase it, but only changed the next target of concentrated fire to the Zhongshun. Hartmann had learned from the telegram about the impressive performance of the North Cape Air Force, and also knew that the Air Force had left him a severely damaged cruiser. He was eager to sink the opponent in front of him to deal with the British cruiser.

Faced with an unfavorable situation, the British destroyers were forced to play a cat-and-mouse game with the Germans, laying out smoke screens and pretending to launch torpedoes. Hipper remained unmoved and continued to concentrate firepower on the destroyer Zhongshun. Zhongshun was finally sunk under the concentrated fire of 203mm naval guns, but Orville, hiding behind the smoke, seized the opportunity to launch 4 torpedoes. Hipper was not affected by the torpedoes, but the first destroyer Z16 to engage in battle was no longer lucky this time and was hit by a torpedo. Captain Alfred Schemel had no choice but to order the ship to be abandoned.

Annoyed, Hartmann was furious and poured all his firepower on the head of Orville, sinking the opponent in less than 5 minutes, and then had no choice but to rescue the sailors of Z16 - now the sky bubble can't be rescued if it stays in the ice sea for more than 20 minutes.

At 14:47 in the afternoon, Hoffman received the latest report: Hipper severely damaged one destroyer and sank two destroyers, and then its own destroyer Z16 was hit by a torpedo and sank again, leaving Hipper alone on the sea.