Iron Cross

After killing the escort fighters, the entire British fleet was completely defenseless to Schulte. The Active, which had a large flight deck and a slow speed, immediately became the most eye-catching target of attack.

"Aim at the light aircraft carrier, first and second teams attack!" With Schulte's order, 6 He-218s immediately dived at the fastest speed. Three 500-kilogram bombs whistled through the deck and exploded, and then detonated the bombs and fuel stored in the cabin. The violent explosion erupted like a volcano, instantly blowing the entire warship in two. The power was so great that even Schulte, who was commanding in the air, was dumbfounded. The British warships not far from the Active only felt a lot of debris attacking the ship.

Almost at the same time as the Active exploded, a Swordfish attack plane rushed over. The pilot could hardly believe his eyes. When he realized that he had to escape immediately, the Bf-219's fierce attack arrived, and this unlucky guy was shot down in the rough Norwegian Sea.

Major General Anderson was horrified as he watched the enemy planes flying in the sky. If it weren't for these German planes, he would have almost completed a perfect escort, but now he encountered insurmountable difficulties. He was so anxious that he shouted directly on the radio: "Air defense! Pay attention to air defense." In fact, he didn't need to give orders deliberately. The anti-aircraft firepower of the J fleet and all the JW-51A fleets were firing fiercely, trying to put pressure on the German pilots in this way.

Facing the firepower network below, Schulte didn't want to jump down and endure the torture. He saw the Lützow that had been engaged in artillery battles in the distance, and immediately had an idea to command the fleet to leave the most densely populated area of ​​enemy ships and prepare to start sweeping from the periphery.

Seeing the arrival of its own fleet, the Lützow cheered, morale increased, and the firepower was vented more fiercely.

Schulte saw three destroyers heading in the opposite direction of the merchant fleet. These were the escort warships that Anderson had reinforced to the merchant fleet overnight. They were now rushing to support their comrades who were shooting at the Lützow. Schulte calmly commanded his men to attack. With only six planes in one wave, the three old-fashioned V/W-class destroyers, Volunteer, Raider, and Prowler, were all hit and sunk.

After receiving strong reinforcements from the air force, Stanger became much bolder and commanded the Lützow to take the opportunity to approach the other two destroyers. All the main guns fired fiercely at the destroyer Achtis, which had been casting smoke screens. Perhaps the dozen rounds of shooting just now had made the Lützow feel good. First, two near misses exploded on the water near the enemy ship. The huge water column that soared into the sky mixed with ice and poured onto the bridge. Although the enemy also fought back desperately, its main gun shells of only 120mm caliber obviously could not pose enough threat to the Lützow.

Two minutes later, a shell accurately hit the Achtis. This old destroyer with a displacement of less than 2,000 tons seemed to be pressed into the water. When it surfaced again, it had broken into two and was sinking rapidly. Almost at the same time, the Z30 destroyer accompanying the Lützow hit the Grim. The splashing shrapnel cut off the steam pipes and related circuits. The ship immediately slowed down to 18 knots. Two minutes later, the Lützow, seizing the opportunity, immediately sent the Grim to the bottom of the sea with a 283mm shell.

Just as the Lützow sank the two destroyers, Schulte's command re-attacked. Six dive bombers used two batches to neatly sink the two auxiliary cruisers, the Canton with a displacement of 15,000 tons and the Carthage with a displacement of 14,000 tons. So far, the Trossum Air Force has not only sunk six warships, but also maintained a jaw-dropping record of being unscathed.

Schulte, who was commanding in the air, couldn't help but sigh that compared to the clumsy and slow Stuka, the elegant and fast He-218 was so easy to use. Almost no pilots who flew this kind of aircraft missed the original Stuka. Now he still had the last 6 planes in his hand without dropping bombs, and he had to find a suitable target as soon as possible.

Now the most eye-catching targets on the sea are two, one is the battleship Sovereign and the other is the heavy cruiser Glasgow, but the anti-aircraft firepower around the two ships is very fierce, and he doesn't want to go head-to-head with the British - he has seen Hipper and Tirpitz coming quickly, and his side has an absolute advantage in the comparison of power. The main force of the J fleet has plenty of people to deal with it. Now the focus of the battle can be placed on the transport ships. He decided to attack those merchant ships running around.

Anderson, looking pale, had decided to disband the fleet, giving the merchant ships a chance to flee. However, the transport ships were obviously not as fast as the planes. Schulte attacked at a frequency of two planes at a time, aiming at the merchant ships that were escaping the fastest. The first two attacks went very smoothly, sinking the merchant ships neatly. Only the last group was unlucky, and the transport ship hit by a 500-kilogram bomb was still floating on the sea. Schulte had no regrets and immediately flew back to replenish fuel and ammunition - he wanted to do it again today.

At 11:04, the belatedly arrived Tirpitz finally appeared on the battlefield. Lieutenant General Kumetz, who was in command, also saw the battleship Sovereign. However, he was always cautious and did not rush over directly. Instead, he made a decisive move. Launched an attack on the nearest merchant ship. Due to smoke screen interference and long-term lack of live ammunition, the formidable Tirpitz only sank one merchant ship in more than a dozen rounds of shooting, and used near-misses to destroy the Northern Gem. The armed trawler was seriously injured and capsized. This result also set a German record. The Bismarck, which was the same class as the Tirpitz, was able to kill the Hood in just a few salvos. However, Kumetz, who was very patient, did not take it too seriously (voiceover: Beizhai is just warming up, why are you in a hurry).

Seeing such a behemoth appearing on the battlefield, the remaining British merchant ships were almost desperate. Several ships simply raised the white flag to express surrender. Kumetz immediately asked the nearest destroyer Z30 to accept it, while he led the Hipper Moving on, the Hipper felt very hot today. It only used 4 salvos to kill a transport ship with a displacement of more than 12,000 tons, and then used two salvos to paralyze a 9,000-ton transport ship. cargo ship, forcing the other party to raise a white flag and declare surrender. The main guns on the Lützow also opened again, sinking a 14,000-ton merchant ship.

The sight of German warships slaughtering merchant ships made Rear Admiral Anderson heartbroken. Since German planes appeared on the battlefield, he not only lost 8 escort warships, but also lost 7-8 merchant ships with continuous bombardment and air strikes. It was simply a disaster. As a result, the Germans were not chivalrous at all - Tirpitz, who had more than 40,000 tons and a 380mm naval gun, did not confront him head-on. Instead, he slaughtered slow-moving merchant ships that had no ability to resist. He only felt a burst of Hot blood surged to his head, and his teeth chattered loudly.

Now he faces two painful choices: one is to ignore these merchant ships and immediately speed up and escape while the Tirpitz is still some distance away from him, or even use the transport ship as a bait to let the Germans waste more time on it; the other is to be brave They rushed forward and used their lives to cover the retreat of the merchant ships like Burnett and Sherbrooke. If they could delay the retreat until dark, the battle might turn around. Rationally speaking, the first option is right, but Anderson cannot make this decision - he is a proud Royal Navy, and he must bravely face the challenge even if he is not as strong as his opponent. He can defeat the Germans, but he cannot defeat the Germans. Mentally lost to the Germans.

If he used the merchant ship as an abandoned son to cover his escape now, no matter whether the naval authorities would hold him accountable after the war, he felt that he would never be able to hold his head up and would always suffer from the torment of his conscience. After hesitating for a few seconds, he almost He roared and issued an order: "Target Tirpitz, attack with the entire army!"

Seeing HMS Sovereign, HMS Glasgow and three other British destroyers rushing towards him aggressively to fight for his life, Kumetz showed an imperceptible smile: It is the spirit of the Royal Navy to fight when the enemy is seen. This belief guarantees most of the time. Great Britain's position spans the world, but today this choice will become the British's epitaph - the epitaph that buries the overlord of the world!

Is this all he has? The British were too naive. The Narvik air force was not present. As for chivalry and other things, a navy whose entire mission is to break diplomatic relations really doesn't care. What's more, the battleship Warspite will be used in the battle of Narvik. Several German destroyers were blocked in the harbor and sunk one by one. How should this account be settled? Even in a head-to-head battle, he is not afraid of the British's current strength. From a pure comparison of forces in sea combat, his own strength has completely overwhelmed his opponent.

"36,700 yards!"

"Fire!" Anderson ordered the fire without waiting for the main gun to reach the optimal range. Although the Sovereign is a 30-year-old ship with a maximum speed of only 21 knots, it also has eight 381mm guns, but its performance is weaker than the Tirpitz's eight 380mm main guns. Gunfire from this distance would not be able to hit enemy ships, but it forced all German warships to divert their attention from the merchant ships and prepare to deal with the British attack.

45 seconds after the Sovereign opened fire, the Tirpitz also fired back, but the impact point was as far away as the British. The surviving British merchant ships immediately seized the opportunity to escape.

After four rounds of salvo fire exchanges, the distance between the two sides had shrunk to less than 30,000 meters, but except for the two battleships whose main guns opened fire, the other warships remained silent.

At 11:29, Lieutenant Colonel William, who knew that Trotham Air Force had launched an attack and achieved significant gains, finally led the Narvik Sea Attack Group to the battlefield. Along the way, he kept saying "Leave some for me, Leave some for me...", fearing that the battle was over, but now it seems that he arrived at the right time.