Iron Cross

At about 5 o'clock in the morning on February 12, the huge German Navy's North Sea Fleet, led by the Tirpitz, headed northwest at a constant speed of 19 knots. The entire fleet was divided into two formations, the front and rear, about 25 nautical miles apart from each other. The front was the artillery formation with the Tirpitz as the core, and the rear was the aircraft carrier formation with the Zeppelin as the core. In more than an hour, the sky will start to light up, and at this time the fleet is about to enter the sea area between the Faroe Islands and the Shetland Islands. Although the fleet does not pass through this sea area, it is also trying to make the route clear. A little further north, but nevertheless, it's a dangerous zone. Whether it is an interception by the Royal Navy's surface fleet or aircraft taking off from the Faroe Islands and Mainland, it is possible to find traces of the fleet. If understood in this sense, this is the first key point for the fleet's advancement.

The rain and snow that have been covering the North Sea for the past few days seems to be showing signs of improvement. The weather forecast says that the rain and snow may stop completely in the afternoon. Of course, it may be earlier or delayed. After all, the climate in the North Sea has always been famous for its complexity and change.

The most nervous people now are the two groups of people: one is the professional non-commissioned officers in the radar room, and the other is the lookout posts who are braving the wind and snow - they are wearing winter clothes and thick coats, scarves, earmuffs and Leather gloves, only a pair of bony eyes exposed from all over the body, scanning the surrounding sea area with his eyes conscientiously.

Rear Admiral Bay, the captain of the Tirpitz and the captain of the Navy, Captain Friedrich Karl Top, stood side by side in the bridge, staring at the turbulent sea, trying to find some clues from the surrounding darkness. , half an hour ago, he had ordered to prepare for battle and prepare to deal with enemy ships that may appear at any time. The crew members received first-aid belts one after another and placed support boards on the ship. The gunners were all in place and quickly loaded the 800-kilogram armor-piercing projectile into the main gun breech. After experiencing the Barents Sea-Norwegian naval battle and the naval battle yesterday morning, the Tirpitz has now reached the highest level in terms of response level and shooting accuracy, which is completely comparable to the original level of the Bismarck.

The sunrise at sea was earlier than on land, and the white fish belly appeared in the east around 6:15. Facing the slightly improved weather, Major General Bei decisively ordered the Ar-272 to eject and take off. In addition to the Tirpitz carrying 4 reconnaissance aircraft, the bombardment Admiral Scheer and Lützow, which are traveling in the formation, can both carry three aircraft. Major General Bei, who was thick and thin, simply ejected them all. His idea was simple: these water reconnaissance planes have huge buoys, and they can make a temporary landing at sea if the weather gets bad later.

The focus of the investigation of the 10 reconnaissance aircraft is on the front hemisphere of the fleet. Each aircraft is responsible for the dispatch of a 15-degree angle and searches the 150-degree sector in front of the fleet. As for the reconnaissance in other directions, Major General Bei believes that Lieutenant General Kumetz will definitely find a way. Done.

One hour has passed, two hours have passed, the sky has cleared up, and the fleet has been safe and sound. Neither our own reconnaissance planes have reported the movement of enemy ships, nor have any enemy reconnaissance planes visited the fleet. All officers and soldiers were relieved. Tone - This section of the sea is the overlapping area of ​​the Faroe Islands and Mainland air defense patrol circles. Theoretically, the probability of being discovered is twice as high as usual.

But this good mood only lasted until 8:45. A Walrus seaplane appeared out of nowhere and flew over the fleet. The British pilot was shocked to find a formation heading northwest below. After a closer look, it didn't look like our own fleet. I quickly lowered my height and took a closer look. After a quick look, I saw the entire artillery formation in sight. The overjoyed telegraph operator on the same plane immediately sent out the message: "Enemy fleet discovered, battleship One, suspected to be the Tirpitz, two heavy cruisers, suspected to be the Deutschland class, and four destroyers, heading northwest, speed 18 knots, report, no aircraft carrier found, repeat, no aircraft carrier found. "

"Damn it! We've been discovered." Captain Top was furious as he faced the seaplanes circling overhead. Not long after, the communications staff reported that he had intercepted a telegram sent by the enemy.

"How can we get rid of these flies?"

"We can't rely on anti-aircraft guns, we can only rely on aircraft." Major General Bei said with a wry smile, "We are not the only ones who can use seaplanes, the British are also very skilled in using them."

"Can the carrier-based aircraft at the back take off?"

"I'm afraid it's enough."

But Machar’s call back quickly gave them comfort: “The commander told us not to be nervous and keep the current route unchanged. They will handle the plane.”

Seeing that the German fleet below had no special reaction other than using 88mm anti-aircraft guns to drive them away, the pilot of the Walrus aircraft became bolder and actually kept driving forward with the artillery formation. Even the warship below accelerated slightly without realizing it - in Within 5 minutes after receiving the call back, the formation speed had increased to 24 knots.

15 minutes later, Major General Bei understood what Machar meant by "processing". Two seaplanes also flew in from behind. Judging from the model, they were not Ar-272. He was wondering why seaplanes were arranged to come. , suddenly found that these seaplanes were rushing towards the Walrus fiercely. In just 3 minutes, the bold Walrus was shot down. Although the pilot successfully parachuted, Major General Bei did not even have the desire to rescue—— The fool wasted his time to go back to the rescue and let the British pilot soak in the cold water to wake up. Intelligence reconnaissance is not so easy to mess with.

Seeing the powerful performance of his own aircraft, he finally remembered what model it was - the navy had reported this new aircraft not long ago. This was the Ar-319 seaplane fighter modified by the Arado Company from the Bf-219. The corresponding number in the Japanese Navy was the Type 2 Sea Fighter (Zero Fighter seaplane version). Its firepower and maneuverability were both top-notch among seaplanes. Its maximum speed exceeded 450 km/h and its range could reach 1,200 km. It was of course at a disadvantage when used in a duel with carrier-based fighters, but it was easy to deal with seaplanes such as the Walrus and Catalina. It was also very helpful in dealing with the slow British torpedo planes. It was usually not seen on the Zeppelin, but its value was immediately seen in today's bad weather when carrier-based aircraft could not take off. Unfortunately, there were only 6 in total, which was really too few.

The British pilot who fell into the water never thought that because he failed to observe the German aircraft carrier formation behind him, the telegram he sent back caused confusion in the judgment of the Admiralty.