Iron Cross

Captain Clark, the captain of the Sheffield, wanted to get rid of the Z4, which felt like a thorn in his back, but found that he could not do it no matter what. The only intact frigate with a speed comparable to the German destroyer was not strong enough, so he rushed forward. It was easy to be sunk, and the speed of the other two warships was not enough after being damaged. Once the distance was closed, the German destroyers would stay away. If they moved forward, the Germans would follow them hauntingly. After several "cat and mouse" actions, he decided to ignore it - he had been informed that the J fleet (short for JW-51B escort fleet) coming to meet him was only more than 200 nautical miles away from him, so he No longer paying attention to Z4's actions, just continue to rush towards the direction of Fleet J.

But the plan could never keep up with the changes, and Clark's good wishes were shattered by 14:00: Under the unremitting call of the Z4, the Hipper appeared in the sight of the British army with another destroyer, and it was almost Swooping over at the highest speed, it can close the distance to the Sheffield by 15 knots every hour. Considering that the JW-51A fleet is not far ahead, and it will take at least 10 hours for the J fleet to arrive at the scene, in order to ensure For the safety of the merchant ships, Clark made a painful decision after discussing with Sherbrooke on the Onslow: They would cover the retreat of the merchant ships at the cost of self-sacrifice-turn to the northwest and divert the German warships in the other direction.

"Evacuate to the northwest as soon as possible, we will cover you..." Clark sent a telegram to the Thorn, the only one in the formation that had normal speed and had a chance to escape the German pursuit.

The captain of the Thorn knew what the word "cover" meant today, and almost left the battlefield with tears in his eyes. All the sailors silently bowed their heads to salute their comrades who were still staying on the battlefield.

"Finally I caught you!" Captain Hartmann was so excited that he almost cried when he saw the prey he had been searching for for two days appearing in front of him - it was really not easy.

At 15:00 in the afternoon, the Hipper, full of excitement, cooperated with two destroyers to start a battle with the British warships. Since the two British ships had been severely damaged beforehand, they were obviously at a disadvantage during the artillery battle, and the German sailors after several Tianlai's live ammunition shooting was in a state of excitement at this time. Under the ebb and flow of one after another, the German fleet had a clear advantage.

At 15:14, Hipper achieved the first result. The secondary battery shot the British minesweeper into pieces; 2 minutes later, Sheffield was directly hit by a shell, and most of the bridge was destroyed; 16 minutes later Later, the destroyer Onslow followed in the footsteps of the minesweepers and was also hit by the Hipper. However, it was obvious that the destroyer's body, which was less than 2,000 tons, could not withstand the heavy blows from the 203mm shells. The whole ship began to sink. Colonel Sherbrooke refused. His subordinates dissuaded him and chose to sink with the ship. However, during the artillery battle, the destroyer Hans-Lodi (Z10), which tried to fire a torpedo at the Sheffield, received a 152mm shell from the opponent for taking credit, and two of its hulls were blown up. The turret, billowing smoke, was severely damaged, and Hartmann was so angry that he yelled that the captain was a pig-brained man.

In comparison, the destroyer Z4 seemed much smarter. It kept hiding behind the Hipper and fired cold shots. It hit the Sheffield several times. Although it was unable to cause fatal damage, it hit the opponent's rear deck. It was a mess.

At 15:35, Sheffield was hit several times by Hipper, billowing thick smoke, and the ship's hull once again received a large amount of water, and its speed had been reduced to only 11 knots. Although the sky had darkened at this time, the radar on the Hipper had returned to normal. In addition, the sparks on the Sheffield deck could not be extinguished in the night, giving the Germans a very reliable target. Relying on radar and visual observation, the Hipper kept a firm eye on the target and fired. In order to pursue a hit rate, Hartmann, who was getting more and more aggressive, commanded the ship to continue approaching. The 203mm naval gun fired from 14,000 meters to 7,500 meters. , finally sank the Sheffield after wasting more than 200 shells, and most of the British sailors failed to escape.

At 17:00, Hartmann, who had cleaned up the battlefield, proudly sent a victory report to the Berlin Naval Command, but he never expected that he would be less than 40 nautical miles away from the JW-51A transport fleet this afternoon. These British ships The warships diverted the German warships at their own expense, ensuring the safety of the transport fleet to the greatest extent.

After destroying two enemy ships that had been damaged in advance, Hartmann, who was still not satisfied, led the formation to continue the pursuit to the northwest. He subconsciously believed that since the British warships had been moving to the northwest, the last escaping warship would also move to the northwest. Come on, other ships of the British fleet should be there too.

At this time, the distance between the Hipper formation and the British transport fleet was once again more than 70 nautical miles, and it was getting bigger and bigger. It was not until 10 o'clock in the night that Colonel Hartmann, who had been recollecting the whole process of the naval battle, suddenly woke up. ——He was led astray by the British, and he quickly ordered to adjust the course to the southwest. At this time, the distance between them had reached more than 120 nautical miles, which was only slightly smaller than the distance between the J fleet and the JW-51A fleet. Of course, the Hipper formation has a speed advantage. Although the Z10 destroyer was damaged, its power was not greatly affected, and the average formation speed was still more than 10 knots faster than the J fleet.

Rear Admiral Anderson, the commander of the J Fleet, who rushed to the rescue in a hurry, was already on edge. He received the farewell telegram from the Sheffield and knew that the JW-51A fleet now had only two destroyers left to escort it: one was the Grim under the original command of Shelbrooke, and the other was the Achtis in the Sheffield cruiser formation, and the Hipper was following behind - he didn't know that Burnett had successfully led Hartmann to the wrong route. He believed that the Germans could attack the transport fleet at any time, and he was at least 160 nautical miles away from the fleet. Tonight was the most dangerous moment for the transport fleet, and they could encounter the Germans chasing them from behind at any time.

But as long as they survive the dangerous period tonight, the J Fleet's vanguard will be able to reunite with the transport fleet in the early morning of February 6, and in turn teach the Germans a lesson. Just in case, he ordered three destroyers in the J Fleet to advance northeastward at the highest speed, striving to first strengthen the escort fleet to entangle the Hipper, and buy time for the main force of the J Fleet to arrive at the battlefield.

Luck was obviously not completely on the British side. Just as the Hipper turned its course and headed southwest again, the radar soldier on the Lützow suddenly found a bright spot in the corner of the screen. Judging from the position, it was obviously not a warship of our side - because at this moment the Hipper formation was more than 90 nautical miles north of the ship, and Tirpitz was 50 nautical miles southeast of the ship, but it was also likely to be a false alarm - the Lützow had suffered enough from endless radar false alarms in the past two days.

Chase? Or not?

Captain Stanger, the captain of the Lützow, was known for his prudence. He thought for three minutes and finally made a very important and critical choice: to catch up! However, he did not intend to report the intelligence to Vice Admiral Kumetz on Tirpitz before the evidence was conclusive, so as not to interfere with the other party's judgment - Vice Admiral Kumetz was more cautious than him.

The target discovered by the radar soldiers was the transport ship that lagged behind at the end of the JW-51A fleet. Although it was desperately rushing, it could only maintain a speed of 12-13 knots, while the Lützow could reach a speed of more than 25 knots at full speed. After an hour, Colonel Stanger became more and more certain that this was a ship - if it was a false alarm, after a period of time, either the target would disappear or the distance between it and the ship would be directly reduced. But the radar soldiers reported that although the target gap had narrowed, the reduced distance did not seem to be equal to the distance the ship had traveled.

"It's simple. It's a ship. It's moving and not very fast." Stanger smiled. "It can't run away!"

Nothing can be seen in the dark night, but thanks to the search of the sea radar and the efforts of the radar soldiers, the Lützow firmly locked the target. The bright spot of the British transport ship on the screen attracted Stanger to rush over like a torch, and the distance was shortened by 12 nautical miles every hour.

"Sir!" At 2:47 in the morning, the radar soldier suddenly screamed.

"What's the matter?" Stanger, who had been staying in the radar room and had just entered the stage of closing his eyes to rest, was startled. "The target is lost?"

"No, look!" The radar soldier pointed at the screen with a trembling hand.

Stanger looked at the screen and took a breath after a look - there were suddenly dense bright spots on the screen, more than a dozen.

"What is this?" He suddenly shouted excitedly, "This is the British transport ship! Yes, this must be their transport fleet!"

"Good boy, good boy, you have made a contribution!" He patted the shoulder of the radar soldier who was not yet 19 years old with joy, "After this battle is over, I will apply for a medal for you. How about the first-class Iron Cross?"

"This... I haven't even won the second class." The young radar soldier smiled shyly.

"It's okay, I have a way." Stanger waved his hand, "Go full speed ahead and beat the British into the seabed."

At 3:30, the Lützow, which had been tracking the bright spot for more than half an hour, not only did not lose the target, but found more bright spots. Stanger no longer doubted the authenticity of the fleet, and immediately informed Kumets and other warships of the news, and roughly estimated the scope of the sea area. All German warships that received the situation report rushed to the top speed.

On the morning of February 6, a large number of ships appeared in the northwest waters of the Norwegian Sea. On one side was the desperately fleeing JW-51A fleet, and on the other side was the Lützow chasing closely behind. After a night of pursuit, the distance between them had narrowed to less than 45 nautical miles. Moreover, as the latitude moved further south, the weather began to improve, and the wind weakened a lot. Not only did visibility greatly improve, but even aircraft could be used. Vice Admiral Kumets remembered the great role of the Nordkapp Air Force and immediately passed the information to the nearest Trossum base, requesting them to send aircraft to support as much as possible. In fact, the Navy Command had already issued this order to the Navy Air Force.

The day of reckoning has finally arrived...