Bismarck

Apart from these, there are only four security brigades in Rashid, Port Said, Cairo, and Suez, with a total of nearly 20,000 people.

But the main purpose of this group of guards is to suppress the anti-British activities of the Egyptians! If they rely on the existing fortifications in the garrison, they can barely struggle for a few minutes, but if they are asked to go out and fight the African Corps in the field? How much combat effectiveness this kind of police force can have, Auchinleck has no idea at all...

"Forget it. Now the troops are badly injured... Let's do this. You should also prepare for a defensive battle. Don't attack for now. At least wait until our reinforcements arrive. I will report to the Prime Minister..."

Auchinleck made his decision, stood up and spoke.

However, halfway through the conversation, the door of the conference room tent was opened!

There were several people wearing bright red wide-brimmed hats, blue-black military uniforms, and armbands on their right arms that were the same bright red as their hats, with two capital black letters MP on them. In a room full of soldiers in yellow-green uniforms, this group of people stood out particularly.

However, even though the room was full of generals, no one dared to speak to these aggressive uninvited guests.

"General Auchinleck? We are the British Royal Military Police!" The leader of the group opened a folder and took out a document. He read it to Auchinleck and the headquarters tent with a stern face: "According to the order of the British Empire War Cabinet, I am ordered to arrest Admiral Auchinleck and bring him back to the country for trial! In addition, I am conveying the instructions of the War Cabinet: the overall command of the British Empire's North African theater will be commanded by Lieutenant General Neil Methuen Ritchie! And the War Cabinet orders that the North African theater must retake Alexandria within five days! There must be no mistakes! - Order issued by: Prime Minister of the British Empire War Cabinet, Winston Churchill!"

The captain of the gendarmes read out the order with a stern face, while the four gendarmes behind him stepped forward and stood on both sides of Auchinleck:

"General Auchinleck, we are following orders, please cooperate! Follow us to the airport and return home immediately!"

At this point, Auchinleck and other British generals could only look at each other, but what else could they say...

Watching Auchinleck being taken away by the military police, the generals in the conference room looked at the order documents on the table, and then thought about the battlefield predictions before Auchinleck was captured. They looked at each other...

For a moment, no one knew whether to continue attacking the port of Alexandria or to concentrate the reserve troops for defense.

"Well - let's talk about it, what should we do now?"

The newly appointed General Litchi obviously lacked the ability to see the overall situation like Auchinleck, and was somewhat at a loss when faced with the map and orders. However, when the bewildered Litchi looked around, he found that everyone was as confused as he was...

"Forget it. A higher-ranking official can crush a person. Let's just do as the higher-ups say..."

Looking at the speechless meeting, Li Teqi was helpless and could only utter this one order in the end...

Chapter 481: A History of Chaos: The United States Declares War

In the night sky of the Nile Delta, a group of more than 40 handsome fighter planes, carrying torpedoes and heavy bombs, flew across the sky of Alexandria, which was still in the midst of war, like night owls under the moonlight...

"Captain, headquarters has reported that the Royal Navy cruiser HMS Aurora and a fleet of six destroyers have also approached the Gulf of El Alamein. Their contact channel is XXX.XX. We are required to keep in touch with them and be careful of accidental injuries! In addition, the Navy has also reported that the Bismarck is seriously injured and cannot run fast, and the Tirpitz and the Italian fleet have no anti-aircraft ammunition!"

In the cockpit of the captain's plane, the communications director in the back seat was reporting the latest information from his superiors to the captain in the front seat.

"Humph! They've been bombed by us all day, so they should have run out of ammunition!" The British captain snorted disdainfully: "Inform all crews of the navy's notice. Also... the Gulf of Alamein is ahead! Everyone prepare for battle! I'll start the radar search first, and everyone else warm up and be ready to start at any time!"

"Yes!" The communications director turned around and grabbed the radio. However, before he could convey the order, a very puzzled voice came from his captain in front of him:

"Hmm? There seems to be a plane five kilometers ahead..."

At first, the British did not take this plane seriously. They had a whole fleet of fighter planes, and it was like a steel torrent rushing across the earth. Nothing could stop their advance.

"Go two and kill it!"

---------Five minutes later--------

"Help! Help... (Zizi-zizi, zizi...)"

"Captain! Bladelock is dead!"

"Damn it! These damn Germans, where did they get these single-engine night fighters?!"

"...Wait a minute! Captain... do you think... could it be... the legendary naval aviation..."

"...Okay! You're such a badass, you're really the Edelweiss Witch... Damn it! She bit me at six! (Dududududu)... Damn it! Both of my engines are on fire!"

"Captain! Parachute! Parachute quickly!"

The captain opened the cockpit without being urged by his subordinates, and then struggled to jump out. Fortunately, both engines were destroyed, so there was no need to worry about being smashed by the propeller if he jumped out.

Listening to the chaotic noise coming from the radio, Zeppelin, who heard from the British that he had shot down the enemy's leader, glanced at the handsome warrior who had fallen.

With her perception ability, she could naturally see the two umbrella flowers that had just bloomed in the sky.

But that was all. She wasn't very interested in watching them, nor was she free to strafe the pilots.

"The 151st one... But I don't care about these boring records. I should think about how to command and train them after the night combat radars arrive..."

With a casual pull of the joystick, the Edelweiss fighter drew a graceful arc and continued to dominate the night sky. The witch in the cockpit had her eyes fixed on her 152nd victory record...

Fighting alone against a British fleet, this is likely to create another legend, the goddess over the Mediterranean.

------

Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean...

Looking at the embarrassed British ships in the distance fleeing in a hurry with smoke and fire, Lütjens, in a good mood, put down the eyepiece of the optical instrument in front of him, stood up, walked back to the captain's exclusive chair, and sipped his coffee leisurely.

There are not many people in the captain's command post now - they have all been sent to various posts for duty and supervision.

Although Lütjens himself felt that the reason for sending them out was somewhat suspicious - in the command room of a warship that had just been able to move, there was only the commander.

But he was in a really good mood now. Even though Bismarck was beaten badly, at least he had escaped now. In addition, a certain missing secretary ship lady came back. How could he not be happy?

Maybe I haven’t been this happy for a long time.

The empty coffee cup was gently placed on the table. The next second, a coffee pot automatically flew up from the heater and poured a full cup of freshly brewed hot coffee for Lütjens...

This masterpiece of the magical world is of course the work of Bismarck.

Since waking up, her recovery speed has accelerated. Of course, it is impossible to be the same as if she had never been injured. She was just having fun with this kind of thing.

After experiencing the feeling of near-death, Bismarck is probably more open-minded and faces her own heart more directly. She knows that she now completely belongs to this era and can no longer leave, even though this era is so dark and cruel.

The captain glanced at the coffee pot that flew up automatically, and said to the seemingly empty command post in a slightly speechless tone:

"Bismarck, your injury is only temporarily controlled, not fully healed...won't you take a rest?"

"I'm fine, Captain." A soft female voice suddenly echoed in the captain's command post: "Come to think of it, Captain, you should go take a rest, right? I remember you haven't slept for a long time."

The cup was handed to Lütjens, and as soon as he took it, the force on the cup disappeared.

"Aren't I resting now?" Lütjens looked at the still empty cabin, but smiled without any surprise, raising his eyebrows.

"Excuse me, Captain, you are no longer a young man. It is not good for your health to be sleepless for such a long time."

Does this count as disdaining his age? Lütjens smiled awkwardly.

"It's okay, I'm used to it. Just drink some coffee." He took a sip to cover up, but he never thought that the coffee was still very hot.

"Puff" it sprayed out directly.

"Captain, it's very hot..." she said helplessly.

Lütjens seemed to be able to feel that his own battleship was laughing.

"I didn't think of it for a moment." He wiped it and put the cup down. "It's not time to rest now. We can rest when we are completely out of the encirclement."

"It would be nice if Hyde were here." Bismarck muttered, so that the two of them could take shifts. Of course, Lütjens wouldn't hear it.

There was no light on in the quiet captain's room, but both of them could feel a warm feeling spreading.

The sound of waves splashes as the sea shakes and rocks during sailing.

Although, Bismarck has to save his energy now and cannot show his projection...

-----

A BF-109 fighter jet painted with edelweiss flew over the top of the battleship Bismarck, whizzing past the mast. Everyone on the deck could feel the whistling sound. In Bismarck's perception, Zeppelin maliciously shook his wings in the fighter jet as it flew past, and then pushed the throttle and flew away.

"Zeppelin! You wait!" Bismarck shouted secretly in his heart.

What responded to her was the smiling face of Zeppelin in the WIFI - just like a cat that stole fish from the kitchen, smiling smugly!

Even if it was a huge iceberg that had been there for ten thousand years, it would be very happy to see Bismarck wake up, not to mention that he had just witnessed the exchange between Bismarck and her captain.

"I just helped you fight off a wave of attacks. I'll keep this in mind and settle with you later." Zeppelin paused, "I won't bother you and the commander anymore."

The latter sentence made Bismarck blush a little.

"what happened?"

Lütjens' voice came from Bismarck's cabin. Bismarck was startled when he heard his captain's voice, and quickly turned around to regain consciousness.

"Was that Zeppelin that just flew over?"

"Yes, Zeppelin just walked by and she said she fought off a British air raid."

"Is that so?" Lütjens nodded. "I was right. The British will definitely catch up with us. We have no anti-aircraft firepower at all. We can only rely on aviation."

"Tell Zeppelin that your air defense depends on her."

"Yes···"

"By the way, how are Zeppelin and Tirpitz doing?" Since Zeppelin was mentioned, Lütjens felt it necessary to ask about the specific situation of those two.

After all, as the fleet commander, he must understand the situation of the entire fleet, and the current situation of the German fleet is also very bad.

This time, the escort for Bismarck was provided by the Grape and the Italian Seventh Squadron of Dazzara. In addition, the Zeppelin, which had almost run out of aircraft, also had to go back to replenish its carrier-based aircraft.

Although he had already asked them for the report in advance, Lütjens felt it was necessary to ask again.

After all, there are only a few shells and carrier-based aircraft left, right?

The battleship Bismarck was seriously damaged and its current speed can only reach 26 knots, or kilometers per hour. The nearest safe repair area is in Souda Bay on Crete, a full thousand kilometers away!

In forty hours, anything could happen! The Bismarck's current speed and maneuverability are almost at the level of a merchant ship! The surface speed of a submarine is generally around 16 to 18 knots, and there are even 20 knots! In other words, even submarines can catch up with the Bismarck.

Although with the current level of technology, submarines can only launch torpedoes on the water surface or at periscope depth, which can easily be discovered by Bismarck or Tirpitz.

However, a thief can steal for a thousand days, but you can never be on guard against thieves for a thousand days!

In case of a mistake, Lütjens doesn't want to lose Bismarck again in the captain's command post. The panic and sadness of losing his own ship girl once is enough!

In this situation, if you are hit by a torpedo again, there is basically no way to save the situation.

Under the table, Lütjens secretly clenched his fists!

---

As the secretary, Bismarck sighed and began to report the situation...

Except that the projection cannot be shown for the time being, the relationship between the two people is exactly the same as before...

In fact, the situation was not complicated. Soon, Lütjens had a general idea of ​​the situation of the three warships...

The Bismarck was hit by nearly thirty shells and heavy bombs and almost sank. The battleship Tirpitz was hit by thirteen heavy bombs and water bombs and five suicide planes. The superstructure was scarred and it would take a long time to repair it. Even the Zeppelin only had thirty carrier-based aircraft left! Moreover, after several high-intensity battles, the fuel, ammunition and spare parts were basically exhausted, and it had to return to the country for repairs.

However, compared to the cat and mouse sisters who are about to be hospitalized together, Zeppelin is probably the one who doesn't have to worry about the least, right?

After all, there are still thirty planes, plus forty or fifty reserve pilots, which can provide sufficient training support for new pilots!

In addition, Goering still put in a lot of effort.

The naval aviation training ground at Goering's place can already provide batches of newly trained carrier-based aircraft pilots.

Although the entire German Navy currently has only one Zeppelin in service, Germany's aircraft carriers are battle-hardened after all, and their combat effectiveness is no worse than that of the two or three British aircraft carriers.

According to Zeppelin's reports on actual combat, the German Air Force had not only accumulated rich combat experience and concepts, but also had a full understanding of how to train carrier-based aircraft pilots.

Inspired by the combat record of the Zeppelin and Lütjens's proposal for the Air Force and the Navy to cooperate in the formation of a naval aviation force, Goering put his mind to it. General Ernst Udet, who was gradually losing his breath after the defeat in the Battle of Britain the year before, was transferred from the German Air Force headquarters RLM by Goering to become the director of the German naval aviation force because he was the first person in the Air Force to contact the Navy.

Being able to get rid of the tedious and nitpicking administrative work and make his own contribution to the front-line combat troops again, Udet accepted the new appointment with great joy. With his efforts, a naval aviation training base was quickly established. In addition, the wealthy Goering even converted an old coal-burning cargo ship, flattened the deck, and used low-speed training aircraft to make it a training ship for the German carrier-based aviation force!

According to the German tradition of seriousness, although these carrier-based pilots trained at the German Naval Aviation Training Base were only trained on simulation equipment and low-speed modified ships, the training quality was not a big problem. It was just that when they reported to the Zeppelin, they had to adapt to a few more days of actual landing training.

Since the training of carrier-based aircraft was the responsibility of the Air Force, Goering even wondered whether some coastal troops, especially those assigned to fight in sea areas, could also train a group of such pilots if conditions allowed, so that they could then rely on "mobile sea airports" to launch air offensives?

It sounds like this plan is still feasible...?

Although, many of Goering’s senior air force officers thought that this was just another brainwave of the Imperial Marshal—even more so, many of these people actually had something in common with Raeder…

These people...are they going to cause trouble again?

Bismarck didn't know. He looked at the captain and his expression was also like a toothache...

But the only good thing is that Zeppelin can quickly regain its combat effectiveness as long as it receives a batch of carrier-based aircraft...

--

The 40-hour flight was more or less safe...

I don't know why, maybe they were tired of war and had an overestimation of their own combat effectiveness? From the beginning to the end of the retreat, except for the first night attack, which could be said to be a tentative attack, the British did not even send a single submarine!

However, there were still many new things. At midnight on the day of the retreat, Bismarck, Tirpitz and Zeppelin, who were evacuating the battlefield, had not sailed far from the Gulf of Alamein when they were met by the reinforcements of the Dodecanese Squadron.

In Bismarck's perception, there were about 300 to 400 people on the decks of a light cruiser and three destroyers of the Seventh Squadron, and these people were holding a batch of construction tools in addition to weapons. If Bismarck was not mistaken, these people should be the port engineering battalion of the Italian Dodecanese Islands base! And judging from the situation, it seemed that they were pulled here by Mussolini as a whole, and he planned to let them sneak ashore at night?

Anyway, there are German Air Force fighter jets at Deba Airport. Even if the German army does not have absolute air superiority over Alexandria Port, they should still be able to defend it, right?