The Rise of the Third Reich

Toulon, France.

The flag of Admiral Jean de Laborde, commander of the French High Seas Fleet, was now hanging feebly on the battleship "Bretagne". Since the powerful "Richelieu" and "Jean Bart" have not yet been completed, the flagship of the French fleet is still the outdated "Bretagne".

This battleship built before the First World War and its sister ship "Provence" (the second ship of the "Bretagne" class, "Lorraine", has been detained by the British Royal Navy because of repairs in Alexandria), three "Courbet" class battleships, two "Dunkirk" class battleships completed in 1937 and 1938, and an old pre-dreadnought battleship "Condorcet", as well as the battleship "Richelieu" which has been completed by 95%, are now moored one by one in the deepest battleship berth in Toulon Port, waiting for the final decision.

"Can we just wait like this?" Lieutenant General Andre Mathews, the Toulon Maritime Commander (equivalent to the base commander), seemed unwilling to accept this. He stood on the bridge of the "Brittany" and looked at the battleships, cruisers and destroyers neatly arranged in the Toulon port.

"This is the fourth most powerful fleet in the world and the second most powerful fleet in Europe!" Lieutenant General Mathews said, "They have the power to destroy the German Navy, but they have never even been on the battlefield..."

Admiral Darlan, the commander-in-chief of the French Navy, is also on the "Brittany". According to the order of Marshal Pétain, he, Admiral Laborde and Lieutenant General Mathews jointly control the large fleet in the Toulon port.

Defense against enemy attacks is not the focus. What the French government is most worried about now is that the fleet will slip away from its hands or a sailor uprising will occur.

Admiral Darlan turned his head and looked at his subordinate Matthews, and smiled bitterly with some reluctance: "What else can we do? There is no strait between France and Germany. Now the army is defeated and Paris has been occupied by the Germans... What can the navy do?" "The fleet is now a bargaining chip, the only thing we can use to bargain with the Germans." Admiral Laborde is a follower of Marshal Pétain, and he has some anti-British plots - such people are not uncommon among French naval officers. After all, most of the combat operations in the history of the French Navy were beaten by the British Royal Navy. He glanced at Vice Admiral Matthews, "If the fleet falls into the hands of the 'De Gaullists', the French motherland will not only have nothing to exchange interests with Germany, but also this fleet built with the hard-earned money of the French people will be used to blockade France! Isn't this what the British are best at?" Matthews sighed, and what Admiral Laborde said was not wrong. From the perspective of short-term interests, helping Germany defeat Britain is obviously the best option - as long as Britain fails, the European Community will succeed and become the dominant force in the world. Grain from India, oil from the Middle East, spices from Southeast Asia, silk from China and Japan, beef from South America, and gold and diamonds from Africa can be shipped to Europe continuously. And the various industrial products produced by France will not have to worry about the lack of market.

There is no doubt that the French will have a prosperous and happy era because of the emergence and victory of the European Community.

But this also means that France will always live under the shadow of Germany!

The three French naval commanders all knew these truths and were speechless for a while. After a long time, Darlan said: "Let's go, go to my headquarters and sit down. I will treat you to a big meal... All we can do now is hold a knife and fork in our hands and wait for death!"

...

"We are here, major general!"

The leaders of the French Navy are eating and waiting to die, while everyone in the British Royal Navy is doing their duty and trying to save their empire. At 7:30 p.m. on May 12, the aircraft carriers Ark Royal and Glorious, escorted by the battleship Barham, four cruisers and four destroyers, finally arrived at position X, about 170 nautical miles south of Toulon.

"Okay, sound the battle alert!" Rear Admiral Lister, with Glorious as the flagship, gave the order, "Carrier-based aircraft are ready to go, the aircraft carrier is sailing against the wind, at a speed of 28 knots!"

A series of orders were issued, and the two aircraft carriers immediately began to turn, and soon accelerated to 28 knots, and a strong wind blew on the flight deck.

Lieutenant Commander Williamson, the captain of the carrier-based aircraft brigade on the Glorious, was the commander of the air strike group. His L4A Swordfish aircraft had been lifted onto the deck, and the whistling sea breeze rushed towards him, which immediately refreshed him.

The moonlight tonight was very bright, and the visibility was not too bad. It seemed to be a good day for attacking.

However, even if the weather is good, it is still very difficult to complete the surprise attack on Toulon. Because in addition to the two difficulties of taking off and landing and sailing in the dark, the shallow water depth of Toulon Port is the third and biggest problem. The water depth of Toulon Port is only about 10 meters, which makes it easy for aerial torpedoes falling from the air to plunge into the seabed. In addition to slightly improving the torpedoes, the most critical solution is to lower the height of the bombing - the "Swordfish" torpedo planes participating in the attack must complete ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming flights and bombing at night!

In addition, the "Swordfish" aircraft usually has three crew members, namely the pilot, navigator/bombardier and transmitter/rear gunner. However, the "Swordfish" aircraft that flew this time had only two crew members. A 270-liter fuel tank was installed in the middle seat of the navigator/bombardier. This meant that the pilot had to serve as both navigator and bombardier.

Just an ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming flight is already difficult. Add it to the night, and there is one less person on the plane. Apart from the carrier-based aircraft pilots of the Royal Navy, there is probably no one else in the world who can complete such a task.

Thinking of this, Major Williamson suddenly felt proud and said loudly to Sergeant Larson, the transmitter/rear machine gunner sitting behind him: "Sergeant, we are making history! We are doing something that no one has ever done before. thing!”

"Yes, Major," Sergeant Larsen replied, "It would be better if the people we are attacking are not French!"

"That's the fault of the Germans," said Major Williamson. "They don't have a ship of their own, and they want to rob the French. They are simply a group of robbers!"

…

At 7:45, the carrier-based aircraft on the two aircraft carriers of Fleet L were all ready for launch.

The two aircraft carriers were galloping into the wind at a speed of 28 knots. The fierce deck wind made many sailors stagger. The deck flight officer at the front was holding a red flag and waiting for orders from the flight console.

"Ballista, fire!"

Suddenly, the code for the start of the operation sounded in the pilot's earphones. The pilot waved his arms violently. Under the illumination of the searchlight, the moment the red flag fell, the "Swordfish" torpedo bomber piloted by Major Williamson took the lead in rushing out of the deck. .

One after another, one after another!

All 36 Swordfish aircraft on the two aircraft carriers took off in the blink of an eye, and they will form the first assault wave. Among these 36 aircraft, 26 each carried a 545-kg aviation torpedo, 8 each carried 6 112-kg bombs, and 2 each carried 3 bombs and 12 flares.

The 36 Swordfish aircraft of the second assault wave will take off at 8:45 pm and fly to the French port of Toulon after midnight on May 13.

…

"Admiral, Italian submarines have discovered a British fleet east of the Balearic Islands and they are heading north."

At the German Southern Front Headquarters in Rome, General Halder received a piece of news that surprised him as soon as he returned from a boring but very sumptuous dinner.

"When was it discovered? How big was it?" he asked the chief of staff, Air Force Gen. Val T. Weaver.

"At 4 o'clock in the afternoon," Lieutenant General Hans Jeshunek replied, "there are at least 2 aircraft carriers, 1 battleship, several cruisers and destroyers."

"Two aircraft carriers and a battleship? Are they going to bomb Toulon?"

"I think so," Val T. Weaver nodded. "The target can only be the French fleet in Toulon. Admiral, I think it is possible for the British to launch a night attack tonight. Although this is difficult, but their kind Slow biplanes (referring to Swordfish) may be able to do it. We have several squadrons of night fighters equipped with BF-110s stationed in Rana, and they can be used to reinforce Toulon. "

General Val T. Weaver was the chief of staff of the German Air Force. Although he was not a flying expert, he was very familiar with the performance of various aircraft because he participated in the formation of the German Air Force. I know that the British "Swordfish" aircraft (not only in the UK, but also in the Netherlands) has very good low-altitude and low-speed performance.

"Has the news of the discovery of the British fleet been reported?" Halder did not make an immediate decision, but asked further.

"Yes," Weaver said, "Marshal Hersman should have gotten the message."

Although there are now communication channels between the German Southern Front Headquarters and the Italian Navy in Toulon, Val T. Weaver cannot contact the French without Halder's order, so he just reported the news to the General Staff department.

"Okay," Halder paused, "Then we will continue to wait...The Italians have destroyers operating outside the port of Toulon, right?"

"Yes, that's for spying on the French fleet."

Halder thought for a while and said, "Send another Fw-200 for reconnaissance. If we find that the French have been bombed, we will send BF-110... It is also a good thing to let the French attack the British-made bombs."