Iron Cross

"Colonel Hartmann reported: Since there is currently only one warship, the Hipper, and cannot pursue two targets at the same time, he has decided to let go of the British destroyer that was hit hard and deal with the British cruiser that was hit hard. He said he will do his best! "

The sky was getting dark, and the Hipper wasted too much time in dealing with the destroyers. Hartmann could not guarantee that the British would be found soon, but the telegram couldn't say that - he knew that the Führer was also paying attention to the telegram. , he wants to be more positive and optimistic.

After receiving this ridiculous report, Hoffman sat there silently angry without saying a word.

Faced with this result, Redel felt uneasy. Putting aside the results of the air force, the surface ship force's results today were mediocre - they only sank 2 British destroyers and severely damaged 1, but they also paid the price for 2 of them being hit. The price of Shen was barely considered a victory in tactics, but it was an outright failure in strategy - how many destroyers did the British have? How many talents are there in Germany? Not to mention 2 for 3, 2 for 5 are not worth it.

Frick didn't know how to explain it to Hoffman, so he could only sit quietly and wait for the Führer to take action. He was quite puzzled - how could a situation where he clearly had a huge advantage end up like this?

After a long time, Hoffman spoke: "It seems that I have to replenish you with destroyers. If they are consumed at this rate, replenishing two destroyers is not enough. At least three must be replenished."

Upon hearing this, all the heads of the surrounding senior officials drooped, and Redel reluctantly spoke: "Z36 will be put into service next month, and then Z35 and Z39 will be put into service within half a year. The others...will 1938 be put into service?" The other two ships in the A-type program are restored?”

The 1938 Type A was a plan drawn up before the war started. It was originally planned to build three ships, numbered Z40-Z42. It was a super large destroyer equipped with three 150mm twin turrets. It was later developed into a long-range reconnaissance cruiser (SP1) used to break up engagements. -SP3), with a displacement of up to 4500 tons. The ship is equipped with a combined diesel-steam power plant with a total power of 92,000 horsepower. In the Navy's original vision, they mainly accompanied the main battleships in and out of the Atlantic Ocean to cut off the Allied maritime transportation lines. In 1942, one ship of this type was started, but it has just been launched and outfitting has not yet begun.

"It's time to consider restoring..." Hoffman sighed, and said with a sigh, "Modify the design and replace those outdated 150mm naval guns with four twin-mounted 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns. , then minimize the torpedo tubes and install the Phalanx - don't waste 4,500 tons of displacement. The designers told me yesterday that after intense drawing work, they found that the 3,200-ton displacement of the Hedgehog class was probably not enough. , it will be increased to more than 3,600 tons, and the budget and construction period will be increased a little. Speer has initially agreed, and he hopes to lay the first keel before the end of March.”

Although increasing tonnage and adding warships are good for the navy no matter how you look at it, it feels terrible to talk about it in this situation. The top brass of the navy are all crying.

Redel hesitated for a long time and spoke: "Führer, I'm sorry for the loss of two destroyers. We..."

"Forget it, don't think too much. If it sinks, it sinks. There are always losses in war, right?" Hoffman waved his hand and said through gritted teeth, "Let the Tirpitz and Hipper sink as much as possible." Kill the transport ship, and you don’t want the army to watch the joke, right?”

When he said this, Marshal Keitel smiled helplessly and told Redel that he had no such intention.

In the evening, the belatedly arrived battleship Tirpitz, escorted by the destroyer Richard Bernz (Z4), finally gathered with Hipper. It was already 5:18 pm, and the sky was completely dark. It was dark, and the Lützow and three other destroyers from further away were rushing in desperately, and they were expected to rendezvous around 10 o'clock at night. Things turned out just as Hartman expected. He could not find the badly damaged British cruiser, nor could he find the British destroyer that had just escaped. As for the transport fleet, there was no whereabouts at all, and the sea was covered with It was all black, and there was nothing visible on the radar—something was probably wrong.

Lieutenant General Kumets has learned what happened here in the afternoon through telegrams. While reminding his men to be careful of torpedoes, he is also deploying tomorrow's schedule - carefully searching the British fleet, finding and destroying them.

Just when such a fierce war broke out near Bear Island, a relevant meeting was being held in London to discuss the next step in the war. The first topic was Malta.

The situation in Malta is now precarious. After the Eastern Mediterranean is completely controlled by Germany, the Axis Air Force, especially the Italian Air Force, can finally be free to deal with Malta. After Mussolini received a large number of Bf-109 and Ju-87 from Germany, every day If nothing happened, he set off from Sicily to bomb the skies over Malta, and then simply sealed the Tunisia Strait. Out of the agreement of the axis, Italy stopped developing in the army field and added all its strength to In terms of navy and air force, after receiving a large number of equipment replaced by Germany, the size of the Italian Air Force reached its heyday since the beginning of the war.

The British troops on the island of Malta shot down many Italian aircraft in air defense operations, but they also suffered heavy losses. The British pilots were able to rescue them after parachuting, but the number of aircraft hit was reduced by one. By late January, a total of There are no more than 11 aircraft that can take off for combat, and other material reserves including gasoline, food, etc. are also starting to run out. The fuel reserve does not exceed one month, and the food can only last for three months at most. Faced with such a critical situation, Malta The garrison frequently called London for help.

Gibraltar once sent a transport force with the two escort carriers Fighter and Raider (both Tracker type) as the core to transport aircraft to Malta. As a result, the entire fleet was bombed and sunk, and in the end only 17 Spitfires struggled. After arriving in Malta, this amount of troops was obviously of little use in defending Malta, and was used up in less than 5 days. Italy seemed to have a steady stream of aircraft - in fact, the Italian leader was also ruthless, and the Germans gave hundreds of Bf-109s Or Ju-87, then Kesselring and the German officer corps took control of the navy and air force, and even the air force base on Pantelleria Island was restored. If he didn't pull it out to fight, he would probably attract criticism.

Under strict defense of the axis, only the submarines departing from Gibraltar can now transport some supplies to Malta, but this transport capacity can only provide fuel and food at best, and is completely powerless for equipment transport. Even so, Italy's SM-79 maritime patrol The aircraft still seized the opportunity to destroy two British submarines, including the Seraph that transported the American Clark to meet the French during Operation Torch.

Marshal Brooke, Chief of the General Staff, reported the latest enemy situation: Spies in Italy sent reports today that the huge Japanese combined fleet has entered Italian ports one after another. In addition to some warships that need maintenance and repair (such as Zuikaku), the three Axis Powers are brewing. The general attack on Malta - this time may be ten days, or it may be half a month, but it will not exceed the end of February.

Judgments and response strategies on Malta's future status are divided into two completely opposite opinions.

"I believe that the island of Malta is now surrounded by the Axis from all sides and is in fact completely isolated. Its situation is worse than a year ago. All military equipment and supplies on the island currently rely on external transportation, and the British Empire is no longer able to maintain it. Such a situation is not worth the gain, so..." Brooke explained, "Now all aspects are in urgent need of supplies and warships, but the route from the colonies to Britain has been cut off. We cannot use precious resources on an insignificant small country. Island - After the North African campaign, the strategic significance of the island of Malta has declined significantly. "

"Although the North African campaign failed and the Allied forces are temporarily unable to enter the Eastern Mediterranean, the existence of the island of Malta is still valuable - after all, it has restrained many Axis naval and air forces. It is easy to abandon this island, but it will be too difficult to regain it in future counterattacks. It’s difficult.” Admiral Pound frowned and asked, “Suppose we want to give up, what will happen to the existing troops on the island?”

Everyone knows that the first opinion represented by Marshal Brooke is the mainstream. Pound's opinion is not necessarily his own idea, but more likely Churchill's attitude, which is just expressed through Pound's mouth.

"When will the enemy's general offensive begin?"

"The specific time is unknown. It is expected to be 10 days later. The Germans have dispatched an armored force equipped with amphibious tanks and have now arrived in Sicily."

"What about the Italians?"

"Italy does not have an army, only a navy and air force. The army is all German, and the Japanese navy will cooperate with the operation - this is the general news we intercepted." Brooke said, "It is expected that the enemy will bring out more than 8 battleships, 500-600 "If a plane launches an attack, the army will be completely insignificant."

Churchill asked: "Can it be defended?"

Everyone, including Pound, shook their heads. Italy's power in the Mediterranean alone was already difficult to deal with, and the power of the Japanese navy was simply unimaginable. Just because the main force of the Japanese navy was in the Mediterranean, the Royal Navy even sent a fleet for reinforcements. I have no idea - if I go, I will die. Sadly, there are now more than ten aircraft left on the island, and I don't know what to do with the huge Axis navy and air force.

"What will happen if we don't send force to the island?"

Everyone fell silent, and the meaning seemed to be very clear - to resist resolutely and consume the enemy's vitality, and then when the situation was over, the only way left was to surrender with honor.

Churchill frowned. This was not the result he wanted. When they were in a stalemate, suddenly an even more shocking news came - the JW-51A fleet encountered a German warship.

Everyone in the venue was shocked.