Bismarck

What is particularly shameful is that you British have blocked our doorsteps and even laid mines, yet now you say we have to listen to them. And look outside now, haha, the guns are all pointing here.

This is a betrayal!! It is a naked threat, not a negotiation!!

All the generals in the conference room had angry expressions on their faces. If it weren't for the sake of dignity, some of them would have just masturbated and beaten the guy.

Lieutenant General Sur said to the British representative with an expressionless face.

"The French fleet will not surrender to the Axis powers, but it will not yield to your ultimatum either! We will always remain neutral... I have seen a lot of despicable and shameless people, but I have never seen anyone as despicable and shameless as you British people!"

"You can leave now, otherwise I can't guarantee your safety here."

Soon, the British envoy was sent back.

At the same time, the British fleet also received a report from the Admiralty: "According to the code decryption, the reinforcement fleets from other French Mediterranean ports have already set out, so immediately eliminate the French battleship fleet in Mers El-Kébir!!"

"General, what should we do now?" the chief of staff asked worriedly.

"Has the telegram for help been sent?" he asked.

"It has been dispatched. The fleets from other ports have promised to leave immediately and are heading our way."

"Very good." Vice Admiral Sur nodded. "All warships are put on high alert and all obstacles in the port are removed immediately."

“Do you need to fire up the boiler?”

"Let me think about this... Forget it, don't do it for now." Lieutenant General Sur pondered for a while, then shook his head. "I have already expressed my neutral attitude to those damn British. It is considered as the last expression of sincerity. But if they open fire, immediately fight back and then move the ship!"

"Yes!" The chief of staff answered seriously, then hurried down to give orders.

However, when the British had already decided to do this, no matter how much Sur explained, it was useless. If you want to accuse someone of a crime, you can always find a pretext.

At 7:3 on the afternoon of July 17, under the guidance of seaplanes, the Hood began to bombard the port of Mers El-Kebir - this was the first time that Britain had opened fire on the French army since the Battle of Waterloo.

A sad naval battle began...

ps: As I said, I will update twice today and once in the evening, with 4,000 to 5,000 words left! Is this considered an explosion? Come on, come on, give me your monthly votes!!!

Chapter 191: Mirs-Kebir (Part 2)

It was almost dusk, the port area was relatively narrow, and there was anti-aircraft fire from the base on the shore, which was not conducive to the aircraft carriers to play a role. Therefore, Samoville let the Renown, which had inferior defense, drag behind, on one hand to protect the two aircraft carriers in the rear, and on the other hand to serve as a reserve. The two battleships, Hood and Warrior, formed a battle line in front, with sixteen sturdy large-caliber guns pointing directly at the port that was about to be ravaged by the war.

What was even more advantageous to the British was that, for some unknown reason, perhaps in order to "express sincerity for peace" and delay time as much as possible, the French fleet at Mers el-Kebir was busy opening the torpedo nets and obstacles on the alternative route, but did not start the boilers immediately.

This turned out to be a very stupid decision.

The gun barrel with a cold glow was slowly raised in silence.

The sea breeze blew gently, and the sunset scenery was so beautiful...

At 7:3 on the afternoon of July 17, following an order from Samoville, the flagship Hood fired the first sinister shot at the French, who were still allies half a month ago.

Because the boilers were not fully heated before, when the British bombardment began, the French warships had just started to move and were caught off guard.

Although they were already on full alert, when the bombardment really started, the narrow Mirs el-Kebir Bay was in chaos...

After all, the British live in a vast area and can move more freely.

The Hood's aerial calibration shooting was very accurate, especially since the French fleet had not yet had time to start its main engine and was basically stationary. To the British battleships with excellent sighting and observation systems, this was a fixed target.

Just one minute after the battle started, the rear main turret of the Bretagne-class battleship Provence was hit by a 15-inch armor-piercing shell. Thick smoke immediately rose up and a big hole was torn open at the place where it was hit.

Although she was lucky enough not to explode, this was not the end. In the fading light of dusk, the smoke-filled Provence was an easy target to identify. Such an obvious target - soon, the unfortunate battleship was hit by several shells again. The French soldiers in the entire port could only watch helplessly as the operation of the entire battleship quickly got out of control.

The unfortunate battleship zigzagged and zigzagged for a short distance before it ran into a shallow beach, ran aground and capsized, and withdrew from the battle after losing its combat capability - in just three minutes! !

"British Aerial Observation Shooting!!"

The French fleet's flagship, Dunkerque, soon discovered the secret of the British's accurate artillery fire and quickly mobilized its 130mm secondary guns at the rear to prepare for air fire. However, Dunkerque's design had too many blind spots. All 130mm secondary guns were installed at the rear, and only two turrets with four guns could fire to the side. The most helpless thing was that she had only just started, and if she wanted to break through, she had to face the British with her bow, and the poor secondary guns had no shooting angle at all!

Soon, the British pilots and bombardment observers on the seaplanes discovered that Dunkirk's anti-aircraft firepower was really weak. They simply ignored Dunkirk's embarrassing anti-aircraft firepower and the British seaplanes continued to swagger in the air and leisurely report the firing coordinates...

After the Provence was seriously damaged and ran aground, the British fleet quickly changed its target. The next target was the Bretagne. Although this battleship was the first to heat up its boiler and start, due to the narrow channel, the Bretagne's maximum speed was only 20 knots. Seeing that the Provence was paralyzed on the side in just three minutes, Vice Admiral Soul was not sure that he could rush out of the channel before she was sunk by the British... In order not to block the channel, the Bretagne had to sacrifice itself. It was required to stay at the berth and wait for the two Dunkerque-class ships to leave before it could leave the port.

But in this case, it will be a dead target in front of the British aerial observation shooting...

It's really a dilemma.

In just two minutes, the Brittany was hit by four 381MM shells, one of which detonated the entire secondary gun ammunition depot, and the violent explosion created large gaps and blazing flames. Another 15-inch armor-piercing shell that hit the engine room caused this veteran of World War I to lose most of its power, and there was no way to guarantee the power needed for damage control... After just three minutes of shelling, the Brittany lost its combat effectiveness, and the hull began to tilt and sink... Only ten minutes later, the old battleship Brittany fell headfirst into the harbor amid blazing flames, billowing smoke, and violent explosions...

The rising and falling whistling of water vapor and high-pressure air was like its final wail.

Lieutenant General Jeansour on the flagship Dunkerque saw this scene and gritted his teeth as he gave the order: "This is too disadvantageous! Raise the flag immediately and order all warships to break out at full speed!!"

While the British were attacking two old super-dreadnought battleships, the Strasbourg battlecruiser and some destroyers had already run at a speed of about 15 knots and drove to the backup channel. Seeing that the Strasbourg had a chance to escape, and looking at the fierce firepower of the opposite side, the Hood that sank and paralyzed many warships in succession, Soul gritted his teeth and issued another order: "Also, Dunkirk, fire! Cover Strasbourg and the others to evacuate! Target Hood!! Fire!!! Only by overwhelming Hood can we escape!!!..."

Under the roar of the fleet commander and the pressure of fighting for survival, the Dunkirk fired at a very high level. In just two minutes, the Dunkirk fired five salvos at the Hood, and they were quite accurate.

The Hood was caught in a dense column of water by the barrage of gunfire, and was hit by two shells from the Dunkerque! However, although the 330MM main gun of the Dunkerque actually had a penetration and charge comparable to that of the 356MM gun, the two shells that hit the Hood did not cause any significant damage to the Hood, but only injured two unlucky sailors, that's all (this is the historical fact, not to mention that this was the Hood after the major changes)...

The Hood adjusted its position and then began to shift its firepower to the French flagship. The Hood (after major modifications) could match the penetration of the 406 gun, and the 27-inch CRH15 armor-piercing shells with a charge of 8KG, the Dunkerque's mere 230mm armor could not withstand it anyway... Soon, the Dunkerque was hit by four or five shells in a row. One shell accurately hit the right side of the Dunkerque's No. main turret, and both guns were completely destroyed.

Although the two 330MM guns on the left side continued to fire thanks to the unique French-designed isolation armor in the middle of the turret, two shells soon hit the engine room and ventilation duct of the Dunkerque respectively, another shell hit the bridge of the Dunkerque, and another shell hit the tail of the Dunkerque... This poor French flagship lost most of its power on the spot, paralyzed on the sea, and could no longer struggle with all its strength.

The director and steering gear were also unusable due to lack of power. Under the command of Jeansour, the Dunkerque trembled like a staggering old man, and with the last bit of power, it rushed to a shallow beach at the entrance of the alternate channel. Even so, her remaining six 330mm main guns still stubbornly fired at the Hood! Although the 240mm shore guns on the shore were not very powerful and had a low range, they also kept firing at the British fleet.

Under the desperate cover of the Dunkirk and the French artillery, Hood was indeed forced to give up a little position before. The battlecruiser Strasbourg and six destroyers sailed out of the alternate channel to the west of the port with the help of the cover of the Dunkirk and the dim afterglow on the horizon and the smoke-filled port. Although one of the destroyers was destroyed by the Warrior's 6 naval gun, the Strasbourg and the remaining five destroyers finally rushed out successfully!

"We've already landed on the beach. Now we're transferring all the remaining power to the generator! We're going to attack with all our might and cover them. Hopefully, they can get away!"

On the scarred Dunkerque, covered in blood, Lieutenant Admiral Jeansur, who was almost lying on the porthole of the conning tower, saw the Strasbourg disappear into the dim night in the east. He couldn't help but smile: the last seeds of the French Navy were Strasbourg and Richelieu. Strasbourg was slightly faster than the Hood, and the Hood was forced to turn east under its own bombardment, and the exit of the alternate channel was due west... Given the distance, as long as they escaped, they should be out of reach, right?

In history, the Strasbourg did escape in this way, but... since the Resolution that was originally participating in the battle had been sunk, the Renown was replaced this time... and the Renown has been cruising and on alert outside...

Soon, the radio came with the Strasbourg's desperate call - it was intercepted.

The sudden call made Sur's face, which originally had a hint of relief, turn into shock in an instant, and then into anger and unwillingness in an instant - he even had no time to put down his smile before it turned into despair.

"Why...why do you want to kill them all!! You bastards!!!" The desperate Lieutenant General Sur could only curse angrily...

"Reporting to the commander, the Hood sent a signal, saying that we should surrender... and also saying that if we surrender and join them, we can still be comrades... Bastard!" The signalman, who was also in a mess, stumbled into the already tilted bridge command post and reported to the commander with gritted teeth.

"Hood?! How dare such a treacherous bastard say such things?!" Lieutenant General Sur, whose nose was crooked with anger, roared with furious curses over the entire port of Mers-el-Kebir.

"When you write back to me, tell me that I cursed Hood to death! --Also, Dunkirk, keep shooting!!!"

"Yes!!" The signalman saluted with gritted teeth and then retreated. At the same time, the roar of the 330MM main gun continued outside the porthole.

The Frenchman's angry roar soon caused the Hood to be hit by another shell. A 330MM shell hit the anti-fish layer and blew a large hole one or two meters below the waterline of the Hood. Samoville, with a gloomy face, stood up with the help of the chart table, and angrily ordered his men: "Dunkirk is still capable of fighting... Fire flares and continue shelling! Also, send the planes on the aircraft carrier out and send them to see God!!"

The British fleet continued to fire at the Dunkerque, which was still resisting in Mers El-Kerbil, and soon, the Renown, which had sunk the Strasbourg, also returned to join the evil battle. The 22 381mm heavy guns of the three battleships fired round after round of evil flames at the tenacious Dunkerque. At the same time, a team of Jaguar dive bombers loaded with bombs took off from the decks of the Furious and the Ark Royal...

With a detonation of the ammunition depot, Vice-Admiral Marcel Bruno Gensoul, commander of the 6st Assault Squadron of the French Atlantic Fleet, and his flagship, the battlecruiser Dunkerque, were killed by the shameless shells of the British... Moreover, the British flares also discovered the seaplane carrier Commander Teste hidden deep in the harbor (thus escaping the disaster in history). After the fragile carrier was discovered, it was sent to the bottom of the sea by the Hood with only two salvos without any suspense... At this time, it was only 13:5, and only 56 minutes had passed since the British declared war without declaration at 17:...

(PS: Historically, the Hood chased the Strasbourg and gave up on further attacking the stranded Dunkirk, allowing the seriously injured Dunkirk to be successfully transferred to a safe place and stranded. He lived until his death in 1973. However, since it was the Renown that was chasing the Strasbourg, so...)

The British fleet retreated towards Gibraltar, leaving with excitement and pride, leaving only a lonely crescent moon in the sky silently watching the broken harbor... as if it was mourning for four warships, a water aircraft carrier, nearly 2000 officers and soldiers who died, and the main fleet of the French Navy...

The loss of the British Royal Navy, which had been a scourge for thousands of years, was only three shells hit the Hood, and five aircraft were lost, with two pilots killed...

At this point, the main fleet of the French Navy had been completely destroyed, except for the Richelieu, which was alone guarding Dakar, and the Jean Bart, which was anchored in Casablanca in an unfinished state and had no combat capability...

In the conference room of the headquarters of the Provisional Government of France in Vichy, a small town in central France, a large group of Vichy government officials stared at two telegrams placed on the table in the conference room - one from the "Peacekeeping Committee" of the German occupation forces - and the other from the Mers El-Kébir base.

Pétain, Darlan...all of them had terribly gloomy faces. The atmosphere in the dull meeting room was heavy and no one spoke. Only the voice of a smug British gentleman could be heard faintly through the crack in the door, playing on a radio outside the meeting room, surrounded by several stenographers.

"...Ladies and gentlemen, today is a good day. Please allow me to announce to you with great sadness a tragedy...The French naval fleet that threatens our country's security has sunk. As the British Prime Minister, I express my regret and believe that the damn Hitler should be held responsible for this incident...Mr. Charles de Gaulle has arrived in the UK with his team. The 'Free France' they organized will join us in fighting against the barbaric gangsters from the Black Forest in Central Europe..."

Along with this mocking and "sad" voice, there were also cheers from all around that person...

This smug voice did not hide its smugness at all, and it was so loud that even the people in the silent conference room could hear it clearly - in fact, many of them could understand it without translation. On the table in front of them, a telegram marked from the German occupation authorities read: "Out of humanitarianism and to reduce the loss of your country's interests, Germany allows the French fleet to surrender to Britain to resist the unjust and shameful aggression launched by other countries... (Historical Facts)"

"The Germans still allowed us to keep our fleet and still considered us... What about the British?! That fleet was the result of decades of hard work! It is the pride of France! Churchill is a bastard, and that guy named Charles de Gaulle actually cooperated with the British!..."

Finally, Admiral Darlan, with a livid face, could no longer suppress his anger. He slammed the table with his hands, jumped up, turned around, walked to the door, and kicked the door of the conference room hard, making a loud "bang!" sound. Then the French Navy Minister seemed to be still unsatisfied, and he turned the doorknob hard and locked the door.

"Everyone, I suggest that this news be announced to the whole country! In addition, that Charles de Gaulle... We hate the Germans, but now I hate the British even more!!... And that Free France, hum! What freedom? It's clearly a British puppet!!... The British, and that Free France, I swear in the name of my grandfather who died in Trafalgar, I will never coexist with you!!!"

The other Vichy French high-ranking officials nodded vigorously and in unison.

(PS: Historically, from August to October 1940, Charles de Gaulle’s forces in France were basically wiped out by the Gestapo. Moreover, during the entire World War II, the Vichy French government and the vast majority of the people showed little resistance. To the extent that the Gestapo had to hire a lawyer to prove that they had not persecuted or tortured the suspects before arresting them in France, so as not to provoke resistance from the French...)

Okay, both updates are completed, close to 9000 words, please support me with your monthly votes.

Chapter 192: Meet Again

Britain's sneak attack on the French fleet shocked the world, but strangely, except for France and Germany, everyone remained silent. Even the exiled French government of Charles de Gaulle deliberately ignored this matter - Britain was attacking a neutral country.

As the victim, the Vichy government naturally expressed strong protest. At the same time, the German government also spoke out strongly, confirming that France was attacked by the British fleet without declaration of war while it was in a neutral state.

"This is a shameful sneak attack, an act of war against a neutral country for a so-called reason. The peace-loving German government will not sit idly by, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will inevitably pay a huge price for this!"

Regardless of whether the definition of peace-loving is correct, in this dog-eat-dog era, everyone understands the meaning of a fig leaf. After Germany's quick and tough statement, the most important consequence is that Vichy France has been tied to the German chariot with one foot - all countries tacitly acknowledge the ambiguous relationship between France and Germany when looking at France.

It doesn't matter. Why would Hitler stand up for you?

Although it was still a neutral government on the surface, who knew about the deals behind the scenes? The Vichy government was basically unable to defend itself.

For Germany, these bland harsh words did not cause any loss. Anyway, it was already at war with Britain, so it was normal to say some harsh words. Now that Germany had just conquered France, it would definitely want to attack the British mainland. The whole of Britain was in a state of total war, and they were ready for the huge price.

In fact, on various occasions, the mustache has not concealed his military intentions against Britain. According to the internal information sent by Berlin to the captain, the mustache has decided to use the air force as the main force to attack the British mainland. If the attack is effective, the invincible German army will take advantage of the British military shortage to solve this number one old rogue in Europe for 500 years once and for all.

The German Navy will also participate in this plan. In the documents of the German Navy Ministry, in addition to requiring Lütjens to search for ships in France and the Netherlands to facilitate the loading of landing troops, it also mentioned that the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, which is about to be put into service, should seize the time to undergo special training and will also participate in the strike against Britain.

Project Sea Lion is the code name for this grand plan.

However, behind the scenes, only a few people in the German top brass knew that this so-called speech that would make the British pay a huge price and the military action to attack the island were actually just a smokescreen.

The Sea Lion Plan arranged by Mustache required the goal of making Britain surrender before the end of September, but it did not mention what to do next if the goal was not achieved by the end of September.

This was just a feint, and the real purpose of the mustache was hidden in a sneak attack that was brewing. If this battle plan succeeded, it would directly cause another continental power to suffer serious injuries!

The plan was top secret, and not only Lütjens, but even Raeder, German Army Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Brauchitsch, and German Chief of the General Staff General Halder, were unaware of it.

After all, this plan must not fail. The powerful country that is also frantically expanding its military and whose military expenditure ratio has reached 40% (Germany in 1940 was only 16%) is probably the real opponent of the Greater German Empire's rise in Europe!

The captain of the Persian Cat has been very busy in recent days. The French Navy, which used to treat him badly, is now contacting him openly or secretly. After all, their allies have betrayed them. If they want to hold on to their only remaining naval force, they have to ask for help from the representative of the German Navy. They have asked him to attend various meetings, keeping him busy.

"Captain, are you going out again?" Bismarck was lying on the bed, flipping through his comic books boredly, watching his captain put on formal clothes again. He had been running outside in recent days, and poor and bored Bismarck could only see him at night, let alone accompany him out.

"Yeah." Lütjens nodded, and looked back at the Persian cat in pajamas. Her head was slightly lowered, and her long, soft hair hung down due to gravity, covering most of her small face. Her attention was on the picture book on her knees, and her left hand was unconsciously pulling the ends of her hair to play. She leaned against the head of the bed, with one of her long, white legs stretched out and the other bent up to serve as a stand for the book. The large expanse of white skin exposed made this summer seem even hotter.

Lütjens shook his head helplessly, but then he laughed. July in Paris has entered the hot season. Even with the fan on, it is difficult to fall asleep at night. Among so many people, I probably sleep the most comfortably, because I have a secretary who always likes to get into my arms. When the weather is hot, she can even lower my body temperature. Hugging her is like sleeping with ice cubes, and I sleep soundly at night.

"I'm going out first. You just stay here and listen to me." Lütjens said before leaving.

"If those French guys had been obedient earlier, there wouldn't be so many troubles now. They must feel good about being beaten." She curled her lips.

"There's nothing we can do about it." Lütjens waved his hands. Things had already happened. What else could he say? He could only clean it up.

"Then I would like to go out and play later." Bismarck raised his head and said.

Lütjens thought about it and thought that apart from the 406 cannon, there seemed to be nothing in the world that could cause any serious damage to Bismarck. "Then you should be careful not to cause trouble and come back early."

Don't cause trouble, don't beat others, this is what Lütjens meant.

"Got it." Bismarck nodded and watched the captain leave.

The public security in Paris is now very good. Originally, the resistance in Paris was very weak. In addition, before Hitler came, the SS spent a lot of effort to crack down on the underground organization, leaving very few resistance members. Now the newspapers are publicizing the evil deeds of the British all day long, which invisibly pushes the insecure people towards the Germans. After all, after seeing these few days, the German army did not treat them ordinary people very badly.

The Germans had no major impact on their lives in the first place, so it would be very difficult for the middle class to risk their lives to become resistance fighters.

What is a country?

As long as changing the government does not interfere with their lives and making money, it probably doesn't matter.

Life goes on as usual.

The romantic French will not neglect this, especially since there are still a lot of handsome guys among the German soldiers - so the biggest change is that the probability of Parisian girls and young German soldiers appearing in pairs on the streets has suddenly increased.

Bismarck was walking on the street looking at the scenery along the way, and he was impressed by the openness of the Parisians. If his motherland was destroyed by the enemy, he would never be able to have a passionate love affair with the invaders. Bismarck felt inferior to him in this regard.

However, although he was a little uncomfortable with the Parisian style of doing things, Bismarck, like Hitler, expressed his appreciation for Paris's architecture and historical sites.

After all, the title of the City of Art is not given for nothing. I can never see enough of these beautiful buildings. It’s a pity that I will be returning to Germany soon, and I don’t know how I will be able to see them again.

Walking slowly along the way, I felt quite relaxed and at ease - if we ignore the French guys who often appear to court me...

"Hey, why does it look so familiar?" Bismarck glanced around and saw a little girl with a ponytail playing at the door.

She was just a little girl, as ordinary as could be, but Bismarck saw her Asian face at first glance, and then he saw the Chinese restaurant not far away.

"Chinese? I seem to have seen her somewhere?" Bismarck thought about it and felt that the girl's facial features did not seem unfamiliar.

I think I met a Chinese family when I was in Hamburg or Kiel...