Bismarck

"Now I will report on behalf of our Greater German Air Force... Our Air Force will do its utmost to give the greatest support to Army Group South! In addition to the three French wings and the Second Air Fleet (Luftflotte in German, Air Fleet in English) in the Mediterranean and the carrier-based aircraft units to ensure the Battle of El Alamein-Alexandria, all other available forces will be used to ensure the offensive on the southern front! In fact, even if the Second Air Fleet is withdrawn, we can still concentrate the forces of the two air fleets on the southern front!" The fat imperial marshal laughed and added.

Moreover, when talking about combat readiness, Goering also patted his chest and began to report on behalf of the Air Force: "... Our fighter production has been increasing, and performance has also required various contractors to make improvements! According to Speer's suggestion, some old models and redundant models with low production and no special functions will be replaced, and efforts will be concentrated on developing a few promising new models that are compatible with substitute materials and save resources, especially jet aircraft! - Although the ME262 verification aircraft has achieved great success, due to the need to use two jet engines that consume precious tungsten reserves, this aircraft will not be put into production. Among the new single-engine fighters currently planned for bidding, the more promising ones are the TA-183 fighter designed by Dr. Tank and the Heinkel HS-162 fighter using a pulse engine. The performance potential of the former can be said to be beyond the times, while the latter can save precious..."

"…In addition, I also want to report one thing about the reserve potential of the German Air Force. According to the Fuehrer's prediction, we will be engaged in a long-term war, so as early as half a year ago, I greatly improved pilot training based on the advice of a very talented female ace pilot. Improve the training efficiency by increasing the number and quality of training subjects in each flight, and reducing some subjects that do not meet the needs of actual combat! Mainly including basic flight, formation tactics, aerial shooting, instrument flight, and even one or two night flight training. Now our pilot training can compress the training time to about 150 hours without lowering the training standards much! In this way, the number of pilots trained per year can be increased from less than to more than , and in the future it should be able to increase to nearly ! Even if the United States really wants to try to open a second battlefield, the number of pilots trained in our Air Force will be sufficient to meet the needs!"

As Goering spoke, he was also wondering in his heart why the extremely talented and brilliant female pilot was so unwilling to leave the Zeppelin aircraft carrier.

The Führer didn't understand the Air Force, but that didn't stop him from hearing that this was a good thing.

While Goering was reporting and expressing his feelings, he also glanced smugly at Raeder, who was standing aside with a sullen face.

Why did Raeder's face turn livid? No need to think about it! After all, the number of female pilots in Germany can be counted on one hand. As for the Queen card, even if he didn't mention the name, Raeder knew who the fat man was talking about and who he was satirizing!

It seems that Lütjens has completely sided with the Air Force! Raeder's face was livid.

Don't think you're the only one with a ship girl! He also has the Prinz Eugen! He'll definitely make a big news out of the Arctic Fleet as well.

"Well, very good!" The mustache nodded with satisfaction: "The next one is the navy. The main pressure for the United States to join the war is now the navy. Raeder, do you have a judgment on the United States' participation in the war?"

"The assessment is complete, my Führer!" Raeder, who was furious, suppressed his anger and began to report to Hitler respectfully: "... Based on the relevant information collected from various sources, we estimate that although the United States is rapidly expanding its military, it is not yet ready to participate in the war. According to the worst possible estimate, they will not pose a threat to our country until the end of 42 at the earliest."

"Moreover, according to the theory of sea power, it is very irrational to cross the Atlantic and directly attack the European mainland. So they may need to find a foothold in Europe. At present, the most likely place to settle down is Britain, followed by North Africa. In addition, we are now attacking Egypt. If we consider the need to stabilize and maintain the maritime connection between Britain and India, they will have to allocate a considerable part of their transportation capacity to the Indian Ocean! Or in the most ideal situation, they will have to bear the additional burden of Britain's material supply... In this way, they need a huge shipping capacity, and our submarines are now sinking their merchant ships!... According to General Dönitz's estimate of the construction speed of the entire British and American merchant ships, their maximum shipbuilding capacity 44 years ago was about 60 to 70 tons per month. As long as the sinking rate of our submarines exceeds this number, their shipping will gradually dry up! Just like we almost did in World War I!"

"——We call this strategy: tonnage war!"

"A tonnage war? Sounds good! But submarines alone may not be enough. Let's let our surface fleet go out to disrupt the commerce! The German Navy's submarines and surface warships are both great! I think we can give it a try!" After hearing Raeder's report, the man with a mustache nodded with satisfaction. His mood seemed to have improved a lot, and he returned to his usual amiable expression.

"…In addition, in order to deal with Japan's declaration of war on Britain and the United States, the Australians and New Zealanders in North Africa are now planning to withdraw from the battlefield. Except for the three divisions that have already arrived in the Indian Ocean, all their reinforcements will go to Southeast Asia!"

Speaking of maritime strategy, Raeder thought of another thing.

"That is to say, the British army's manpower in Egypt is unprecedentedly empty, which is unprecedentedly favorable to our situation. In addition, the Italian ally leader Mussolini is also very enthusiastic about opening up the Mediterranean. He said that his greatest lifelong wish is to restore the glory of the Roman Empire, and he believes that the best way to restore the glory of the Roman Empire is to break through the Suez Canal. Therefore, now the Italian ally has put all the main naval forces, including the battleships Veneto and Littorio, on it, and even mobilized the Marine Brigade that they originally planned to use to capture the island of Malta. The Italian ally sent a contact, saying that after asking us to replenish the carrier-based aircraft for the Zeppelin aircraft carrier, we requested to make a big news together with the 164th Infantry Division that we were originally preparing to reinforce North Africa... If successful, we can let the Mediterranean Fleet enter the Indian Ocean, completely disperse the transportation capacity of the United States, and even merge with the Japanese ally..."

"No problem!" The mustache man agreed with satisfaction: "Then, Speer will report on the adjustment of military production capacity next!"

Raeder retreated quickly. He must have known the terrifying industrial strength of the United States.

"Declare war with the United States? I'll leave this kind of thing beyond your capabilities to you, Lütjens!"

(PS: The Greer incident occurred on September 1941, 9. Although President Roosevelt did not declare war on Germany because of this, he issued an order that American warships had the right to directly fire at German warships, aircraft and submarines.)

(PS2: Regarding yesterday’s declaration of war, have you heard of the “Gulf of Tonkin Incident”, the fuse that triggered the United States’ full involvement in the Vietnam War?)

Chapter 484: The next action

"…Here it is, tugboat, stop, Bismarck, drop anchor!"

The anchor chain fell cleanly from the bow of the ship all the way to the bottom of the sea, firmly grasping the seabed.

Under the captain's command to dock, the damaged and crooked Bismarck battleship finally landed safely at the anchorage in Souda Bay on Crete.

"Huh... we finally got back..."

Seeing his own battleship docked steadily at the dock, Lütjens couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. He walked back to the captain's position from the bridge platform and sat down on his seat.

Beside Lütjens, Bismarck, who had recovered, also came over, picked up the coffee pot, and made a cup of coffee for his captain.

"Yeah." Lütjens looked at his Bismarck and nodded.

Bismarck looked out the window. The sailors had already begun to gather on the deck, and the sailors at the base had also towed pontoons one after another with tugboats and arranged them on both sides of the ship - these were equipment used to raise the ship's hull for maintenance.

After all, the Alamein-Alexandria area is still in the midst of war. We cannot rest now and must hurry up to carry out further repairs!

Even the Tirpitz and Zeppelin, which had returned with him, were now rushing to repair themselves.

Tirpitz was hit by fifteen or sixteen bombs, including armor-piercing bombs and water-floating bombs. Not only was the superstructure blown to pieces, but it also took in more than five thousand tons of water! Although the Zeppelin itself was not damaged, the carrier-based aircraft wing was reduced to only thirty or so aircraft...

Although the new pilots and the new batch of carrier-based aircraft have begun to transfer, they have transferred both the pilots and the aircraft to join the GR-186 wing. However, these newly trained carrier-based aircraft pilots are rookies after all. Although they have passed all the training and assessments, they lack actual combat experience. I really don’t know how they will perform in actual combat.

"Zeppelin, are you sure about the new pilot's ability?"

Bismarck asked after finding Zeppelin on WIFI.

"I don't know either. After all, some things are different between simulation and actual combat..." The usually cold Zeppelin also sighed slightly.

"…The only thing we can guarantee now is that they won't be defeated so easily…"

"Eh?! There is a difference between training quality and actual combat... and it won't be that easy to be killed... how do you mean?" Bismarck was a little confused.

Looking at Bismarck, who was full of question marks, Zeppelin said seriously:

"Oh, that's right. When I wrote a report on carrier-based aircraft training to the Imperial Marshal, I suggested that when training new pilots, the instructors should fly fighter jets to abuse the recruits flying advanced training aircraft - only those who live long enough can become aces. So after these recruits have been abused by the instructors eight or ten times, they should at least have some experience in how to survive in brutal air battles. Besides, that's how I trained those pilots."

Looking at Zeppelin who turned evil as he spoke, Bismarck felt himself breaking out in a cold sweat.

However, the captain looked at Bismarck, who was "wandering in the sky", and then looked at the Tirpitz behind Bismarck, which was also surrounded by a pile of pontoons, and the Zeppelin, which was approaching the shore and began to load various aerial ammunition. The expression on his face was not optimistic at all...

The losses of Bismarck and Tirpitz in this attack were not light at all...

Especially his own warship, which was almost sunk and his consciousness was almost lost!

Moreover...the battle in Alexandria is far from over...

Previously, Bismarck had only undergone a simple temporary repair in Alexandria. Although Bismarck had slightly reinforced it on the way back after recovering, the main turret and armor could not be repaired so easily.

Although Athens has better repair conditions than here, the resistance organization in Athens is too chaotic. After all, no one can guarantee that they will not be blown up by explosions...

In addition, although Italy is the only country in the Eastern Mediterranean that has a large dock that can repair the Bismarck, many materials, including armor and spare main guns, still need to be transported from the country.

but……

On the way back, Lütjens and Bismarck received a report from their superiors that the entire transport capacity from Germany to Italy and the Balkans had suddenly become extremely busy because of the need to consolidate the occupation of Alexandria...

Row after row of reinforcements and supplies are filling up several transport lines!

And for the same reason, military operations at sea were also extremely tense. There were no extra ships to escort the Bismarck to Italy... Although Bismarck was capable of protecting himself, he was always prepared for the worst...

So, let's do some simple repairs here in Souda Bay. After all, although Crete is remote, sometimes remoteness also means safety...

The only thing to be thankful for is that the Zeppelin can be deployed again in a short time as long as it is replenished with fighter jets... ?

But we have to hurry...

The fighting is still going on, and now, even the United States has openly joined the war!

According to the latest situation report, the Allied forces in the Atlantic now have at least four or five fast aircraft carriers and at least four fast battleships available for use - USS Ranger, USS Wasp, USS Glorious, USS Formidable, USS North Carolina, USS Washington, USS King George V, USS Prince of Wales, as well as the USS Hornet aircraft carrier and the battleship HMS Duke of York, which may be launched and put into service at any time!

Even though the United States seemed to have joined the war hastily; even though there were a large number of air bases in Sicily-Pantelleria in the Mediterranean that could defend against attacks on the Eastern Front; even though the Suez Canal, which seemed to be within reach, seemed to have aroused the fighting spirit of the Italian allies who had always been sluggish; even though the Führer had begun to urgently organize the Mediterranean theater and had sent Marshal Albert Kesselring of the Air Force to lead the powerful Second Air Fleet to reinforce...

but……

After the United States joined the war, if the powerful British-American joint fleet was determined to force its way into Sicily, would the Sicily base be able to hold its ground under the protection of the Malta base?

The land war on the Eastern Front seemed to have little to do with their navy, but in less than three months after the start of that brutal war, the number of casualties had exceeded one million. How much percentage of the country's resources would be mobilized?

Not to mention, according to the situation report Rommel gave him before, within half a month at the latest, at least three divisions of British reinforcements could arrive...

Time! Everything is a race against time!

"It seems that we only have one month to control the sea in the Eastern Mediterranean... I hope Marshal Kesselring can come sooner. Otherwise, even if only the Zeppelin can be dispatched, I'm afraid I will have to bite the bullet and take on the task..."

Holding several intelligence reports and telegrams sent from the Berlin headquarters and Italy, Lütjens was thinking about the next move...

Bismarck, who had been chatting with Zeppelin on WIFI for a while, just came back to his senses and saw his captain frowning and lost in thought.

"If the captain is still so worried even after returning to the port... it seems that the war situation is still not very optimistic..."

Bismarck did not disturb the captain's thoughts. He put away his hands and quietly made another cup of coffee for the captain. Then, without making a sound to disturb the captain's thoughts, he gently placed the coffee next to the captain's hand.

But soon, Bismarck sensed that in the corridor outside the command room, a communications staff officer was hurriedly coming with a telegram in his hand.

"Sure enough, things haven't settled down at all..."

Sighing softly, Bismarck tiptoed out of the command room and took the telegram before the communications staff officer knocked on the door to report.

I looked at the stamp on the seal on the telegram: Top Secret!

This was certainly not a problem for Bismarck. Without her, she could not see the secret. Not to mention that it had to go through her consciousness, even the secret had to go through her hands, which was also legally possible.

"Well... anyway, the captain has also said that as a secretary ship, I can browse these telegrams first... then let me see what the content is. If you are not in a hurry, don't disturb the captain." Bismarck, who was about to be killed by curiosity, grinned and tore open the seal of the telegram.

"…Marshal Kesselring and his Second Air Fleet have begun to move to bases in Sicily and Crete within three days. In addition, 64 carrier-based aircraft have been transferred to the airport in southern Austria and will be transferred to the Zeppelin aircraft carrier within two days… All forces are strengthening their preparations and plan to deploy all forces within seven to ten days. Please make relevant preparations… Also: Africa Corps, Mediterranean Fleet, notify your heads of department to come to Rome for a meeting at 3 pm on August 26 to report the details of this operation and discuss the next course of action - Marshal Albert Kesselring."

"August 26th is tomorrow...are we going to have another meeting..." Bismarck accidentally read out loud while looking at the telegram.

And in the next second...

Before Bismarck could cover his mouth, the captain, who was sitting in a chair in deep thought, spoke up:

"Bismarck, what's the meeting? Is there another telegram?"

"Uh... yes, Marshal Kesselring sent a telegram..." Bismarck, with his ears drooping, had no choice but to reach out and hand the telegram to Lütjens...

However, this time, Lütjens did not glare at his secretary ship as usual, but just reached out to take the telegram. Glancing at the telegram paper in his hand, Lütjens quickly read the contents of the telegram: "Bismarck, immediately notify Bonte, Lindemann and Heyer to come to a meeting now to discuss the summary report of this operation and draft the next plan."

"Yes! I'll go and inform them right away!" Seeing that the captain didn't glare at him this time, Bismarck responded half-confusedly and half-relievedly. He stuck out his tongue and quickly slipped out of the command room.

"This girl... forget it. If we need to finish the operational summary and next plan tonight, we old men can just do it ourselves..."

Looking at the back of the blond Bismarck slipping away, Lütjens shook his head, wiped his dry eyes, picked up the coffee and drank it all to refresh himself...

ps: A new volume has been opened, and the Mediterranean has come to an end

Chapter 485: Escort in the Arctic Ocean

Tromsø, a port city in northern Norway…

Originally a peaceful and tranquil town with only 60,000 people, this morning, a large number of uninvited guests suddenly arrived...

Outside the city of Trondheim, the North Atlantic warm current blows, and in the perennially unfrozen fjord, a large number of steel giant ships appear, reflecting the cold light under the low sun of the Arctic Circle! Even with their gun barrels hanging low, they exude a daunting aura, and slowly sail into the fjord in the surprised eyes of the residents.

These steel monsters completely blocked the empty fjord that was originally only used by small fishing boats of coastal residents! After dropping anchor, it seems that they are going to use this place as their base. In addition, some transport ships have also docked at the shore. Anti-aircraft guns and coastal defense guns have been dragged out by heavy-loaded trucks. With the engineering vehicles driven by the engineering troops paving the way, they are rushing to various key locations to station...

On the streets, a large number of fully armed German officers and soldiers appeared! Holding weapons, they went door to door, posting notices and handing out leaflets: "The German Military Control Commission in Norway notifies: This port is requisitioned by the German Navy as a forward base from now on. From now on, this port is under indefinite martial law! All citizens must unconditionally cooperate and unconditionally obey the conscription of the German Labor Organization! The German military and the Gestapo will continue to strictly prohibit "illegal organizations" such as the "Norwegian Fatherland Front", as well as any other forms of "hostile" behavior! Once discovered, they will be severely punished!"

Facing the black muzzles of the German soldiers who broke in like ferocious monsters, the Norwegian civilians trembling in the corner of the house dared not speak out.

On the bridge of the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, a man and a woman were standing by the fence on top of the bridge, speechlessly watching the German soldiers coming in and out of the dock like ferocious monsters, and this chaotic farce...

"Top, are we going to bully these civilians like this..."

Prince Eugen with blond twin ponytails used to have a happy smile on his face every day, but now he hardly smiles anymore. As a newly born battleship, she does not have the rich life experience of her sister Bismarck, nor the strong heart of Zeppelin, nor the care of two sisters like Tirby. Her view of good and evil mainly comes from her captain.

The navy's concept of chivalry is still deeply rooted in people's hearts, so Eugen also accepts this kind of thinking. However, her personality tends to be soft and cute, so when she encounters such things in the army, she will naturally not be in a good mood.

Looking at Eugen's somewhat angry expression, Top felt upset. He actually felt the same way. So he could only say that the navy was relatively simple in facing the enemy to a large extent. They just had to start fighting when they encountered a warship. The situation faced by the army was much more complicated.

Top didn't know what to say. Although this time there was no burning, killing or looting, it was also for military needs. However, the invading army was the invading army, and this could not be changed.

"We can't help it. This is war. None of us wants to involve these Norwegian civilians, but there is nothing we can do about it."

Toph explained to Eugen.

"Sometimes the enemy is hiding among the civilian population, and they need to find him as well."

This explanation is a little better. It is just a means of identification.

"Top, when do you think we can go out to sea?" Eugen decided not to think about it anymore.

Listening to the battle records of her sisters in the Mediterranean, she was really itching to try her luck. Unlike the history, Prince Eugen seldom went out to sea after the construction and sea trials because of Raeder's "protection" of her and the fear that she would be influenced by Bismarck and others. As a heavy cruiser designed for long-distance operations, she had hardly ever been out to the open sea.

Although the port scenery is nice, it’s very uncomfortable to look at it all day long. I’m really happy to have moved to Norway this time.

Of course Top thought so too. As a naval general, his idea was the same as the battleship's, but since his immediate superior was like this, he had no choice.

"Yes, we will be allowed to go out to sea." He said with a smile.

However, I don't know how much of the information is accurate. As a person caught in the struggle between Lütjens and Raeder, only he knows the helplessness he felt during that period.

But in front of his own warship, he always had to remain optimistic, and since he had arrived at the navy's forward base, Top had a hunch that there might really be a mission.

Whether this mission will be good or not is another matter. After all, this is just the new boss...

He is not yet able to command a fleet like Lütjens.

--

"Captain, the flagship has sent a communication, please come over for a meeting!"

The report from the signalman interrupted the conversation between the two people. Top quickly greeted Eugen and hurried away.

Watching Top's back disappear at the entrance of the corridor, Eugen felt very depressed, but apart from sighing, he couldn't tell what he was feeling.

She was lying on the railing, and in her field of vision, a transport boat was lowered from the side. Her captain, carrying a briefcase, hurriedly jumped onto the transport boat, and was hurriedly driven toward the flagship by the sailors. Standing at the top of the bridge, Eugen could only see Top, who was standing on the transport boat, looking in his direction.