Bismarck

Zeppelin now has 87 JU-190s, 109 FW-109s and 190 BF-s. On the flight deck, BF-s and FWs are neatly arranged. On the bridge, Bonte looked at the flight deck below, where pilots ran out of the mission room and climbed onto their ready-made vehicles, which were loaded with auxiliary fuel tanks and bombs.

Bangtai looked at these people with the same look as Zeppelin, solemn and sighing...

However, this is the fate of a soldier!

"Heading 300! Rudder to center!" "Heading 300, rudder to center, over! Speed ​​ knots! Deck wind speed knots! Clear to attack, Captain, request to attack!!"

Hearing Zeppelin's request to attack, Bontai hardened his heart, tilted his head slightly, and responded through gritted teeth: "Attack!!"

Fighter planes flew one after another towards the sky that was already showing the light of the morning glow...

---

at the same time...

"Torpedo boats reporting! They were bombarded by the Bismarck and Italian cruisers! Casualties have occurred! The First Torpedo Boat Squadron requests to turn and torpedo the Bismarck battleship!!" An adjutant walked into the Warspite's headquarters and reported to Cunningham.

"Tell them that the Bismarck is being held back by the Warspite, and the torpedo boats don't care about the Bismarck, just try to avoid it! We must concentrate on dealing with the Tirpitz that is assisting the German troops on the shore! - The Tirpitz is difficult to deal with, we can't be distracted!!" With the war imminent, Cunningham no longer had the usual carefree smile on his face. He just spoke calmly and calmly.

The width of the Gulf of Alamein is suitable for the battleship Tirpitz to move around. It is neither wide nor narrow, at least more than ten kilometers - at least enough for the hamster to avoid!

Therefore, the torpedo boats must attack the Tirpitz battleship with all their strength from the beginning! Not to mention, there are minefields at the entrance and exit here!

However, for the British, especially for torpedo boats, there are reserved passages in the minefield here. Although both Warspite and Cunningham knew that Grape could see the distribution of these mines. But...what if it was a combined attack of mines and torpedoes?

Some things can't be avoided just by seeing them.

An analysis of the previous Battle of Gibraltar shows that Bismarck was the output of firepower, and although Grapes was constantly interfering, his firepower output was basically nonexistent!

The Warspite had also conducted simulation experiments herself. Even for a battle-hardened ship like her, it would be overwhelmed to handle multiple tasks at the same time, such as torpedoes, mines, and calculation of data on shelling from the opposite shore.

and...

Warspite, who had eavesdropped on the communications between the German ship girls, had just told him that at five o'clock at most, the Tirpitz would turn to bombard the Borg el-Arab airfield. Coincidentally, another mine belt that the British had used to blockade the Gulf of El Alamein was near the expected bombardment position of the Tirpitz - the Borg el-Arab airfield was about thirty kilometers away from the shoal, so the Tirpitz could only bombard from a position extremely close to the coast!

Of course, she didn't have to bombard the airport... Anyway, the alert had been forwarded to the Allied Middle East Air Force Command, and I believed that Air Force General Arthur William Tedder would definitely find a way to deal with it.

Watching the adjutant go down, Cunningham moved closer to the fire control observation position on the bridge. Warspite was now on the fire control instrument, using his own fire control equipment, staring intently at the southwest direction through the scope, the dark sea surface under the backdrop of the continuous artillery fire on the shore. The darkness of the night was no obstacle at all for the ship girl!

"War-weary, are you sure?"

"Are you sure there's no problem? Also, don't call me War-weary. I have my own name."

Cunningham was innocently given a cold stare by his wife, and even kicked...

The marriage ship is quite arrogant, and Cunningham is both happy and sad.

but...

"Commander! Torpedo Boat Squadron 1 has already turned after sending the telegram and is launching a torpedo attack on the Bismarck!"

The adjutant who had just gone down to deliver the message ran back in a hurry.

After hearing the adjutant's report, Cunningham, who was flirting, and War-weary, who was worried about their admiral's shamelessness, both turned their heads with their eyes wide open. Even what they wanted to say was clearly written on their expressions:

"Who allowed them to change the combat orders!"

Cunningham finally shouted out, angry at those below for disobeying orders.

Chapter 452: Resurrection

"Commander! Urgent report from the Italians! The Littorio Armored Division has been completely wiped out! There are less than 300 men left, and they are about to collapse!"

The signalman brought some very bad news, which made Fox's heart sink.

“…Damn it! Can you really not take it anymore?”

Looking at the sky which was becoming brighter and brighter, and then at the 21st Armored Division which was still gathering up the stragglers and reorganizing its combat effectiveness, Rommel clenched his fists tightly, somewhat unwillingly.

The troops I have are still too few...

Although they repelled the British 1st Armored Division in the north and the British 7th Armored Division in the center, and they also allocated two additional bases of their less than ten days of ammunition, one part was used to blast holes as temporary shelters, and the other part was buried in the ground as mines to barely set up a position. However, the Littrio Armored Division on the southern wing could no longer hold on...

Even with the German supervision team and the thirty guns of the Grati Heavy Artillery Regiment firing desperately, the Littrio Armored Division was too few! ! The "division" of 800 people was really pitiful. Under the siege and encirclement of more than 11,000 Australian 6th Division, it could not hold out at all...

The number of people in the two divisions is really too different.

All 40 light tanks had been lost, and even the anti-tank artillery battalion that had been sent out from the 21st Armored Division to pin down the most dangerous right wing of the Littorio Armored Division had all been killed...

At this time, the German 1200st Armored Division, which had just defeated the British st Armored Division and had only men and more than tanks left, was still gathering its troops and had no way of turning around to attack...

Besides, the sound of engines can be heard from time to time in the sky. Once the sun rises, we won’t be able to fight under air raids and artillery bombardments…

It's too late.

"Is it...going to collapse..."

Rommel lowered his head, and his clenched fists began to loosen powerlessly...

"Order... load all the supplies that can be loaded onto the trucks, we..." But before he could start speaking, he was interrupted by another "report".

As expected, the fox was not destined to die. The news in such a short period of time made his mood fluctuate constantly. However, if the commander was in good health, he would probably have collapsed if he had a heart disease.

"Corps Commander! Chief of Staff reporting! We have contacted the 15th Armored Division! The 15th Armored Division is now launching an attack on the British left wing! The Australian 6th Division seems to have begun to retreat!"

Rommel's head suddenly lifted up! Even in the dark night, the signalman seemed to see the sudden light in his corps commander's eyes!

It seems... the African Legion can still be saved...

The fox cheered up and soon figured it out.

Anyway, the battle has come to this point. Attacking means a high risk of death, and retreating means a high risk of death! So, my choice... is...

Second Battalion Commander, pull up my Italian cannon and fire it at him!

At the same time, in the west-northwest, probably behind the Alamein and Alanhafa Mountains, flashes of light illuminated the night sky, and soon after, rumbling sounds of artillery were heard!

Although in order to save the scarce high-explosive bombs, Tizi used armor-piercing shells to shoot at the town of Alamein, which had relatively strong fortifications - the armor-piercing shells had a charge of 18 kilograms anyway, which was much stronger than the German Army's grenades with a charge of less than 4 kilograms.

Not to mention, there are 150 guns in the process! The power of the naval guns is more than one Wallace stronger than the army's howitzers of the same caliber!

And the defenders are Indians...

It is a common practice to slander Indians in every world.

Soon, the battle report from the 90th Light Division came: the British had only half a battalion of troops left in several core bunkers in Alamein, but the Indian th Division in the front field had already begun to retreat under the bombardment of dozens of field guns and the battleship Tirpitz!

Listening to the battle situation reported by the signalmen, and with the weak light of the flashlight covered with red cloth, the revived Fox flipped through the staff battle plan documents and battle maps in his hand. Soon, the Desert Fox shouted to his subordinates:

"Pass the order to me! After the 90th Armored Division defeats the th Australian Division, gather the troops as soon as possible and bring them closer to me! The scattered soldiers of the Littorio Armored Division who can still move, drag them to help the Grati Heavy Artillery Regiment and the logistics troops! Finally, call the th Light Division, as well as the Trento Division and the Trieste Division! Tell them to rush into the town of Alamein while they have artillery support! Drive away the th Indian Division for me!! As long as they are driven away and unable to stand on the road between Mount Aranhafa and the seaside due to the bombardment of battleships, we can move closer to the seaside, and then rely on Mount Aranhafa and the lagoon formed by the sea enclosure to make a last gamble! ”

"Tell all the troops! Now, our only option is to fight to the death!"

"Yes!!"

-----

The Bismarck at 150 knots and the British torpedo boat at 105 knots were heading towards each other, and the closing rate of meters per minute was terrifying! At this ultra-high closing rate, the Bismarck and the British torpedo boat quickly closed the distance to only kilometers in a few minutes - at this distance, not to mention the Bismarck's mm secondary guns, even the mm anti-aircraft guns could reach the weak bodies of the torpedo boats!

And unlike the 150mm guns, which are safe but have a slow firing rate and are more likely to over-penetrate, and are in fact not good for attacking torpedo boats, the 105mm anti-aircraft guns, which have a higher firing rate and are easier to detonate, use proximity fuze high-explosive shells to attack torpedo boats, and the effect is simply insane...

Although if it was a normal warship, it would be doomed to be besieged by a large number of torpedo boats in the dark night. Even if it was Tirpitz, if it had to fire at the opposite shore, the powerful muzzle wind of the main gun would directly cause internal injuries to the exposed 105 anti-aircraft gunners, and it would be difficult to escape with the pitiful firing rate of the 150 gun alone.

But… Unlike Tirpitz, which had to keep firing at the other side throughout the battle and could not fire the 105mm anti-aircraft guns that posed the greatest threat to the torpedo boats, Bismarck had no pressure of artillery battle for at least five minutes! There was no need to worry about the powerful muzzle wind of the main guns affecting the lives of the secondary gunners! Because the distance from the Warspite was now 36000 meters away, because the Bismarck turned to approach the torpedo boats, and because the Warspite was too slow!

Even those who are tired of war can only stare blankly at this distance.

In order to prevent the British torpedo boats from escaping, Bismarck's 105 secondary guns fired directly at the farthest torpedo boats at the maximum range of 17700 meters - within the Bismarck's firing range, there were at least three torpedo boat squadrons with twelve torpedo boats!

Although the torpedo boat with more than 105 knots was "gliding" on the water, its fragile hull was hit by the high-explosive bomb with a proximity fuse of a rod-shaped fragment. Once it was hit, it would definitely be a large hole! Then the seawater that poured in quickly turned the torpedo boat, which weighed only a few dozen tons, into a dead salted fish that was spitting bubbles and sinking! Under the command of the KanColle brand fire control system, the anti-aircraft guns could fire a round every five seconds on average, and soon the MTB torpedo boat, which weighed only tons, had no armor at all, and had very ordinary hull protection, was covered with wounds!

In less than two minutes, four torpedo boats either sank with bubbles or staggered back with honeycomb-like holes in their bodies...

The First Torpedo Boat Squadron could no longer contain its anger at being unilaterally beaten, and turned towards the direction of Bismarck - with a closing rate of one nautical mile per minute, it was still very easy to get close to the maximum range of the torpedo.

As for the mine array? There must be a reserved entrance and exit~

After all, Alexandria is the main base of the United Kingdom, and the minefield cannot block all the main access channels...

“…How can we let this damn German battleship run so rampant! Even if it’s really a demon from hell crawling out, so what! At worst, let us kick this guy down again!” Watching another torpedo boat under his command turning into a ball of fire and dissipating over the Mediterranean Sea at night, the captain of the First Torpedo Boat Squadron spoke viciously to his subordinates into the radio microphone to encourage them.

"Wait a minute! Commander of the First Torpedo Boat Squadron!" A slightly angry female voice suddenly sounded over the radio, "This is the battleship Warspite! In the name of the Mediterranean Fleet Command, I ask you to turn around and attack the battleship Tirpitz!"

However, this time, War-weary was directly rejected. In the echo of the radio with the roar of artillery fire, there was only a captain who rejected him directly without saying a word: "Sorry, ma'am, I refuse! Because I can't do it!"

"…What do you mean!" Having been turned away, War-weary's mood instantly became very bad, and his words were also filled with a hint of anger. However, soon, the response from the radio station made War-weary no longer able to vent his temper...

"It's nothing, but now we have lost six... no, seven torpedo boats! If we really ignore Bismarck, her secondary guns will kill at least half of our ships! So I'd better choose to attack! It's up to you to help me get revenge... Boom! Hiss... Hiss..." The captain of the torpedo boat squadron on the radio was only halfway through his words when it turned into a roar of explosion...

Hearing this roar and the hissing sound from the radio, even someone as stubborn and strong as War-weary had to bow her head. Moreover, she actually knew that what the captain of the torpedo boat squadron did was actually not wrong...

Indeed... I missed this point... The Bismarck would rather attack the torpedo boats even if it was close to the mine belt...

At least when Bismarck was forced to turn its guns to deal with these four torpedo boats under the assault of the first torpedo boat squadron, the other sixteen torpedo boats had already reached a full speed of 105 knots and desperately escaped from the range of Bismarck's anti-aircraft guns.

"This is a hero, forget it... turn left one compass point! Get closer to suppress the Bismarck!" Cunningham saw the gnashing teeth of his own ship, sighed softly, grabbed the hand of the war-weary, and patted it twice in comfort. And his usual funny face couldn't help but frown a little...

War-weary saw Cunningham's expression and didn't say anything, but just nodded slightly.

But... although one-third of the torpedo boats were lost, the remaining sixteen torpedo boats seem to be insufficient... Can they deal with Tirpitz even if it is firing on the ground...?

But, there is no time to think about these things...

After the turn, the distance between the two sides, with Bismarck and Warspite fighting each other to the death, approached 31168 meters at the end of the next five minutes.

Forget it, let's just provide artillery support... Let's send Bismarck to accompany Hood first! !

I don’t know if it was due to telepathy, but Yan Zhan and Cunningham looked at each other fiercely at the same time, but suddenly they looked at the person opposite them at the same time, and when they looked at each other, they actually laughed...

Sure enough, the person who has known me for many years understands me best, so...

Bismarck, it's time for you to get on the road too!

"Turn right two compass points and face the enemy sideways! Start attacking!!" Cunningham issued combat instructions.

"clear!!"

And on the bridge of the battleship Bismarck, thirty kilometers away...looking at the direction of the eight torpedo boats that were sunk or driven away, Bismarck also withdrew his gaze to the southwest.

"Tizi... I helped you get rid of eight torpedo boats. As for the rest... you better take care of them!"

The Persian cat turned its head and looked towards the powerful enemy thirty kilometers to the northeast that was turning right, with the same fixed gaze!

"Captain, thirty-one kilometers away, they turned right!"

"Did they turn right? Then let's turn left as well. Remember to keep a distance and be careful." Lutjens had walked to the side of the Persian cat without knowing when, and gently touched the Persian cat's hair.

"Tell the cruisers in the rear to turn in a column and keep a distance from us. Also, have the Italian destroyers follow behind us and prepare for torpedo attacks."

"Okay!" Bismarck nodded, his eyes staring straight in the direction of War-weariness.

On the bridge of the battleship Bismarck, a series of light signals flashed in the direction of the Italian cruisers and destroyers behind. While leading the Italian cruisers behind to turn left, the barrels of the main guns were raised high.

"War-weary, now it's our turn to settle the score!"

At 4:40 on August 23rd, under the gaze of the golden Morning Star hanging high in the pale sky, almost at the same time, the main guns of the battleships Warspite and Bismarck burst out with brilliant flames in the pre-dawn glimmer at each other!

The main gun, representing the roar and murderous aura of the great battleship, opened fire!

Chapter 453: Fighting in Two Places

Bismarck and the three war-weary sisters were fighting each other in the northeast corner of the battlefield, while the African Corps and the British Middle East Theater troops on the African continent were also fighting in full swing...

Just north of Mount Alanhafa, on the coastal road from El Alamein to the narrow shore of Alexandria, brilliant flames bloomed one after another in the last darkness before dawn, just like red spider lilies on the other side of the African continent.

The minesweeper HMS Hamster turned leisurely in the deep waters of the Gulf of El Alamein, where the water was more than ten to twenty meters deep. Although the eight 380mm main guns did not fire very frequently due to the insufficient number of high-explosive shells, even if one of the 150mm turrets on the port side was destroyed by the Warspite in the Battle of Zawiyat al-Zanzur a week ago after the turn, the remaining two twin 150mm turrets had enough "cleaning ability" to make more than British troops trapped in the -kilometer-long and to -kilometer-wide isthmus between the Alan Hafa Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea crouch down to protect themselves from the sun and bombing.

Although there were three battalions of Gurkhas and Sikhs in the division who were equipped with machetes and good at personal bravery, if it were not for the grassroots officers and military police from the British mainland who stopped the small-scale chaos that began to appear in the dark in the Indian 4th Division, no one knew when this army, which was strictly mercenary, would suddenly turn from rioting to retreat in the endless shelling.

Moreover, behind the British Indian troops in this area, there is an artillery battalion equipped with forty American 155 howitzers. The well-prepared British have dug a scattered artillery position composed of a circular earth breastwork in front of the coastal highway formed by the seawall, and are now counterattacking the battleship Tirpitz.

"Report! The British shore artillery's counterattack hit our ship's rear deck, and one sailor was slightly injured, but it will not affect the battle."

"Yeah." Lindman nodded, then reached out to the side of his seat and gently patted the shoulder of a pink hamster. The arrogant Grape rolled his eyes in disdain, and at the same time, the firing parameters of the 150-meter turret were slightly adjusted... Soon, the observer shouted excitedly:

"Hit the target! An enemy artillery position has been covered!"

"Well done! Keep it up!" Lindeman smiled and handed Grape a bag of soft candy. Grape didn't act arrogant this time, and took the candy and started chewing it. But after chewing it for a few times, Grape took the initiative to speak:

"Lindemann, it seems that planes have taken off from Borg el-Arab Airport and Alexandria Airport, and Sister Zeppelin's fleet seems to be heading towards Alexandria..."

"Huh? You mean the British are prepared?" Lindemann was a little stunned. Why did this lazy and cute otaku on the Hamster minesweeper take the initiative this time?

"Don't look at me like that, okay? I'm a battleship after all, not a child!" The hamster, who didn't even bother to look up, casually sensed the gaze of his captain Lindemann and snorted in annoyance: "I just don't like troublesome things, but I also don't like others to become more troublesome because of me or someone else!"