Bismarck

The only possibility is that the Germans intend to completely occupy Gibraltar.

However, after occupying such a large fortress, how can his evil spirit fleet transport supplies for you with four battleships, one missile cruiser, two aircraft carriers, and nearly 30,000 officers and soldiers?

Air transport capacity was limited in this era, and even larger spare parts were difficult to transport, so it was definitely impossible to rely on this to maintain the business. As for land transport, Spain's railway tracks were meter gauge and wide gauge, which was inconsistent with the standard gauge of Germany and France, and there was no railway in the Spanish area near Gibraltar - the nearest train station was in the port of Malaga, 100 kilometers away from the fortress, and it was only a tourist port, without a large cargo terminal to provide transshipment.

So... could it be shipped by sea? But I'm here, and Tovey is monitoring the Bay of Biscay, so it's impossible to ship via the Atlantic Ocean!

…Wait! The Mediterranean Sea!!

Cunningham's pupils suddenly contracted, and cold sweat broke out all over his body, soaking even the marshal's uniform - he finally knew what Lütjens's confidence was! It was the three ports of Marseille, Toulon, and Nantes in southern France! And the merchant ships piled up in these three ports - these were all the merchant ships that the Germans had looted in the Mediterranean!

The distance from southern France to Gibraltar is less than 1,500 kilometers, and a warship can travel one way in just 24 hours at full speed. Even if a merchant ship travels at a slower speed, it will never take more than two or three days to travel one way!

What's more terrible is that this route is close to the Spanish peninsula, and two-thirds of the route is within the combat radius of the southern French airport and the Gibraltar Fortress Air Force! Even if there is no air cover for hundreds of kilometers across the Oran area (western Algeria), the Germans still have two aircraft carriers!

To put it bluntly, considering the style of that old man Lütjens and the distance to the Algerian coastal airports, it is most likely a daily routine for aircraft carriers to cooperate with the German Air Force bombers to sweep the coastal airports!

In addition, thinking of this, Cunningham also instantly figured out another problem: the straight-line distance from the Gibraltar Fortress Airport to the south of France is only 900 kilometers! Under the cover of Zeppelin and Gneisenau, a batch of jets transferred from the south of France can directly gain a foothold! Then the transport planes will burst out in a short period of time to transport a batch of fuel, ammunition and personnel. Under the cover of the ship girl, they may soon be able to gain a foothold here!

Even in this case, even the flight path of the transport planes is behind Gibraltar! Not to mention the protection of the fortress airport, just sending fighter jets to fight in Spanish airspace is blatantly pushing Franco towards Hitler!

Spain was a neutral country after all. After the European continent was occupied by Hitler, many civilian exchanges between the Allies and the Axis Powers actually passed through Spain as a transit point. With such a transportation hub, you can imagine how many planes were in the sky! This kind of long-range interception could not defeat the German jets. If one was hit by the wrong plane, the diplomacy of the entire Allied Powers would be passive!

Moreover, the other side has the Ship Girls! - Not to mention that Warspite and Vanguard are by his side, so he can't teleport directly to the Gibraltar Fortress, and the German shipmen have already gained air superiority in the airspace near the fortress and can't airdrop the Ship Girls. Even if he can really throw two of his own Ship Girls over, it's just a projection of a cricket - even if he can lift up a tank and smash it, it's impossible to beat the opponent's body bonus and naval gun bombardment! Not to mention, the opponent still has four Ship Girls!

As long as the enemy can occupy Gibraltar, the logistics of hundreds of thousands of allied troops in North Africa will have to go through the Suez Canal! At least three months in between is enough for Hitler to adjust his defense on the southern front!

I have read the war reports from the Mediterranean. Even with the help of the Mafia and the betrayal of the nobles, and the capture of Mussolini, the 400,000 British and American troops in the Mediterranean theater had the upper hand and a 4:1 advantage in manpower, but they still had a hard time. It was extremely difficult to attack a tiny place like Monte Cassino! Even with the tacit approval of the Vatican, the Mediterranean Air Force bombed its own 1,700-year-old monastery and killed a large number of refugees, but there was no progress!

If we delay it for another three months...I'm afraid the opportunity will be lost!

Moreover, the supplies from India had to go around the Cape of Good Hope to reach the British mainland. The transportation line was several times longer, and the escort force and merchant ship tonnage occupied also increased exponentially. In addition, there was no way to effectively deal with the "deep sea sniper" so far... If something really happened to the Gibraltar Fortress, I, the Sea Lord, would definitely be dismissed on the spot and investigated, and reported directly to the military court, right?

But now Ted was defeated and killed, and he was also obstructed by submarines. At the latest in three hours, Lütjens should take action!

Cunningham became more and more confused the more he thought about it, and he slumped down in his chair - this was simply... life was suddenly unbearable!

Chapter 891

"Prime Minister, urgent military report from the front!"

Under the dim light of Number 10 Downing Street, which was tightly covered by a camouflage net, a senior secretary of state holding a telegram knocked on the tightly wrapped door of Churchill's office, accompanied by hurried but quiet footsteps.

Then, Churchill's eyes jumped. He just took the telegram bag and opened the seal, and saw a piece of news that made his heart beat instantly - the Mediterranean theater of aviation was defeated, Marshal Arthur Tedder and Admiral Carl Spaatz were killed. The evil king of evil spirits, Lütjens, and his demon fleet were only three hours away from the Gibraltar Fortress, requesting urgent tactical guidance...

The Sichuan Opera of the pig changing its face with green and red flashes lasted for several minutes, and the fat pig's paws made the telegram in his hand creak. The secretary beside him saw that his prime minister looked a little strange and immediately opened the bottle of nitroglycerin on the table and stuffed a pill into the prime minister. After a while, Churchill, who had stabilized his emotions and blood pressure, finally relaxed his expression and let out a deep breath.

"Where's Cunningham?!" Churchill asked with a gloomy face, staring at the secretary beside him.

"He was held up by a submarine, Your Excellency the Prime Minister—but even if he wasn't held up, he still couldn't defeat the jets of the evil fleet."

The secretary, with a stern face and expressionless face, answered in the most orthodox "serious" posture of a secretary in London's upper-class society.

Although he also felt that the situation was not good...

"... Tell me, how long can the Gibraltar Fortress hold out?" After hesitating for a while, Churchill asked again with some worry.

The secretary did not answer directly, and even his expression did not change. He just glanced at the prime minister inadvertently. The state secretary, who had been in politics for many years and was also an experienced person, knew very well that the prime minister should have made a judgment in his heart, but he needed an excuse to convince others to give up Gibraltar - or to convince himself first.

After all, two years ago, at the same Gibraltar fortress, Lütjens broke through the "Yokozuna" who was in perfect condition and was said to be unbreakable in just thirty minutes.

As for what happened afterwards, it was even more obvious - whether it was relying on artillery cover to force the African Corps into Alexandria, or seizing the Cape of Good Hope Fortress, the headquarters of the South Atlantic Garrison, and the Bermuda Fortress, the headquarters of the West Atlantic Garrison, after the breakout, it can be said that they had a long criminal record that is too numerous to list.

What about their own side? Although the Gibraltar Fortress had been destroyed for two years, after losing North Africa, they had to prepare for defensive counterattacks in the Middle East and India, deal with the evil fleet, and maintain the Atlantic shipping line... The British Empire, which was stretched to its limits, had no money to strengthen the defense here except to repair the Gibraltar Fortress and make do with it.

Last time, Lütjens was able to break through this place in half an hour. This time, he should be able to break through it quickly as well, right?

As for conquering...

Churchill, with a gloomy face, obviously thought the same thing as his secretary. Seeing the secretary's hesitation, he knew what the secretary was thinking. In a depressed mood, his face seemed to be even gloomier.

But the Prime Minister is the Prime Minister after all, far superior to the Secretary. Churchill rolled his eyes and came up with an idea. He waved his hand to the Secretary and said, "Go, tell Mountbatten to transfer him in and out first. Then let Cunningham wait outside, and transfer Tovey to me as well. Finally, tell the fortress to hold out as long as possible. Even if it can't be defended, blow up as many as possible."

secretary:……

"Wait, I don't understand, Prime Minister, what you mean is..."

"Doesn't Lütjens want to occupy this place? Let him occupy it! Even if he occupies Gibraltar, it will take time to consolidate the defense. He can only hold on here. Once we have him trapped, we will let the navy and the North African Air Force come together to attack him!"

"Yes!" The secretary's eyes lit up when he received the instructions, and he copied down the Prime Minister's instructions without saying a word. After Churchill checked that they were correct, he quickly walked out of Churchill's office and ran towards the confidential telegraph room.

"This method... seems to be able to really kill Lütjens!"

The Secretary of State, who was not well versed in military affairs but was filled with hatred for the evil fleet, walked with a smile on his face as if he was floating on the ground.

but……

"Wait, come back!"

The secretary had just walked out of the door and had only taken two steps when a voice with a cigar-scented smell grabbed the back of her neck.

"Hey... Prime Minister, do you have any other instructions?" The confused secretary stood at attention and turned back reflexively, sticking his head and half of his upper body back into the crack of Churchill's office. But what he saw was a solemn old face.

"The Gibraltar Fortress can be strengthened, but what about Tangier?"

"This..." The secretary was also stunned.

As a senior secretary of state, he knew that the relationship between Britain, the United States and Spain was very complicated. It was even more complicated than the relationship between Spain and Germany.

Although Franco was a fence-sitter, it takes more than money to buy him and his Spain.

Take Tangier for example. It was originally a French colony. After World War I, in order to maintain the balance of power among European powers, it became a multinational co-managed area called the "International Free City". However, due to France's defeat in World War II, the opportunistic Franco saw an opportunity and took advantage of the fact that both Britain and the United States wanted to stabilize Spain. He not only sent troops to occupy this important port city, but also made Britain and the United States obediently send millions of pounds and dollars in aid every year to maintain Spain's neutrality. Franco was indeed a world-class fence-sitter, standing firm on stilts for a long time in the civil war between the Allies and the Axis powers.

It can be said that he is very good at gaining benefits for himself, and at the same time he is also good at finding a way out!

Even after the Allied landing in North Africa, he generously agreed to hand over the Tangier airport to the Allies for use - although by this time Mussolini had already fallen.

But the problem is... the Germans are far from falling!

however……

Although there were Allied combat troops stationed at Tangier Airport, its defense was not even weak because it was located in the rear area and nominally an "international neutral zone" controlled by Spain. However, the powerful German evil fleet was less than three hours outside the port!

As for bombing the airport here... Churchill was used to being ruthless, so he was willing to pay this price. But the problem was that the troops stationed in Tangier were American troops! Even if he wanted to bomb it, he had to contact the Americans through Mountbatten and Cunningham first - and whether the Americans bombed it or not, he, the Prime Minister of the British Empire, had no say!

Besides, the defenders of Tangier are quite weak. What if Germany tries to win over Franco by threatening to capture Gibraltar? Tangier Airport is less than ten kilometers away from the city. If the garrison comes to stop it, will you still bomb it?

"...Issue the order to put Gibraltar on level one alert and be ready to clear the countryside at any time. Also contact Mountbatten and Cunningham - oh, and (Chief of the General Staff) Marshal Alan Brooke, and ask them to contact the Americans immediately, explain the matter to them, and suggest that the Americans blow up the airport immediately! As for Spain, I will call Franco personally..."

After a short pause, he hardened his heart. Although he was full of bad intentions, he was still a decisive and ruthless prime minister. He waved his hand to send the secretary of state to send a telegram quickly, and picked up the red dedicated telephone on the table.

The secretary did not dare to be negligent and quickly bowed and turned away.

The heavy wooden door closed, blocking out the setting sun, casting its last twilight and afterglow on 10 Downing Street.

.............................................

"Captain, the British should have guessed by now that our goal is to seize the port fortress, right? So, do you think they will rush to clear the city walls and blow up the airport themselves?"

As the brainchild of the Evil Spirit Fleet, the Persian cat, who also thought of a possibility, gently tugged at the sleeve of the captain next to him.

"Hmm?" Lütjens thought: "This is very possible! ... Bismarck, what do you think we should do?"

"That's easy~" The Persian cat narrowed his eyes and smiled proudly after receiving praise from his captain. "It's better to strike first, Captain. Should we let the helicopter commandos occupy their airport now?"

"Oh? That's a good idea." Lütjens twisted his chin and glanced at the secretary cat beside him with a smile: "But the helicopter can only drop a company of 120 people at a time, so which airport do you think we should occupy?"

"Of course it's Dan..." The Persian cat was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly noticed a hint of mockery in Lütjens' eyes. He instantly became unhappy: "Captain! You obviously thought about it, but you still do this? Do you have to catch me making fun of you?"

"Okay, okay, no more jokes." Seeing the angry secretary in front of him, Lütjens put away his smile and returned to his usual serious expression. "You mean Tangier? I've thought about this place too. Forty years ago, this place was a neutral zone, and there had been no war before, so their vigilance should be relatively relaxed."

"So... isn't it more likely that they will just go all out and blow up this place?" The Persian cat's soft tail stood up, forming a question mark.

"That's right." Lütjens nodded: "You are right, it is because the neutral zone was not well guarded before, so they are likely to blow up the airport directly!"

After all, this is not difficult to guess. After all, the Gibraltar Fortress is still a fortress. Even if it has been hit before, it is still a lean camel that is bigger than a horse. It still has some defensive capabilities. The supplies are also more abundant.

"So, Captain, you want to seize the airport in Tangier first as a 'bottom line income', and then attack Gibraltar - even if they really blow up the Gibraltar fortress, we can at least occupy a foothold! Then we will have a support for the next step. When Gibraltar is cleared, the two airports can also serve as backup for each other...right?"

The Persian cat showed his little paws with his eyes shining when he thought that his main (arm) cannon (arm) would soon have something to do.

"That's right." Lütjens continued to nod, then changed the subject: "Go, call Bonte, Zeppelin and Gneisenau, and tell them to get ready immediately. The commandos must be dispatched within half an hour at the latest - now is a race against time with Britain and the United States! If we can get out early and gain a foothold, we will have won half the battle!"

"Got it, I'll go call them now!"

................................................

Watching the Crows of Disaster forming a descending five-sided spiral in an orderly manner after a fierce battle and returning to their nests in groups, he carefully sensed the surrounding airspace and confirmed again and again that the patrol fighters that took off again were deployed and the surrounding airspace was temporarily safe. Then he followed the end of the landing group, lightly hooked the arresting cable, and slowly came to a steady stop on the angled deck.

Then she disappeared in an instant and appeared next to Captain Bangtai.

The ground crew below were already used to it and towed away the empty Edelweiss fighter plane.

"Is it safe?" he asked in a relaxed tone.

"It's safe." She answered calmly.

The partners who have worked together for many years looked at each other and of course knew each other's thoughts.

If it's not safe she won't come back.

If such a large-scale air strike was repelled, it seems that the Allies will not be able to launch a large-scale air strike of the same level for the time being.

"When you were not here just now, the Gneisenau had already compiled statistics on the situation there." Bontai raised the notebook in his hand and handed the place where the current situation of the Gneisenau carrier-based aircraft wing was recorded to Zeppelin: "But the commander just gave new instructions, asking us to prepare to land at Tangier Airport immediately. The Gneisenau commando must be dispatched within half an hour, and we must provide air cover... Time is urgent, and we must determine the key points of the operation now." As Bontai spoke, he glanced at the busy flight deck: "Gneisenau is already organizing a commando, and we have to shoulder both combat air patrols and ground strikes. However, we have just received the previous air defense fleet, and the dispatching task to be dispatched again will be very heavy. What do you think... How should we arrange our force ratio? In addition, how can we cooperate with the helicopter commando over there?"

"Has the commando's deployment been finalized?" Zeppelin asked, "especially how much heavy firepower do they plan to carry?"

"Gneisenau said that the commandos had a plan before: 32 helicopters were divided into four groups, three of which were commandos, two were assaulting the airport runway, and one was controlling the tower; the firepower group brought three heavy mortars to provide firepower support... But according to reconnaissance, although Tangier Airport has a small number of garrison troops, it has an anti-aircraft artillery battalion... This is very troublesome. In addition, the detailed information about their deployment is also very vague now..." Bontai said as he handed over a very sloppily taken photo - this was taken by the reconnaissance planes in the past, trying their best to get as close to Tangier Airport as possible under the pursuit of the enemy patrol fighters. The photos were so sloppily taken that even the special reconnaissance photo interpretation team could not tell what the airport's defense layout was like from them. Even Zeppelin, who took the photo, looked at it from left to right, and even took out the map and information of Tangier that she had collected in her database and looked at it for a long time, but could not see anything.

Bangtai, who was introducing the situation, looked even less happy - after all, he was under a lot of pressure now.

You know, as the deputy commander of the fleet and the commander-in-chief of the two aircraft carriers, he is responsible for both the aircraft carrier's aviation operations and helicopter assault arrangements.

However, how to deal with the unknown enemy situation? Especially before, the commander of the flagship said that Britain and the United States are likely to destroy the airport! If we don't act quickly, the consequence is that this operation may not even achieve the bottom line goal!

Fortunately, there are two aircraft carriers here! And the operational capacity of the flight deck is guaranteed - especially Zeppelin! After the modification, the operational capacity of her flight deck is a terrifying number: without occupying the angled deck, there are as many as 36 "start parking positions" on the side of the flight deck that can allow carrier-based aircraft to start the engine! And with the front deck filled with 32 accommodation aircraft, and the angled deck always empty, there are 24 or 25 aircraft on standby on the rear deck that can be dispatched at any time! The maximum capacity of carrier-based aircraft on the entire flight deck can even allow the aircraft carrier to maintain the dispatch and operation of the flight deck under the premise of maintaining the take-off and landing of fighters when it is filled with 56 to 64 aircraft!

In addition, three large elevators capable of lifting two Ta-183s at the same time, as well as three sets of ammunition elevators on the rear deck and a spare parts elevator on the front deck, are sufficient to ensure that thirty tons of ammunition can be lifted to the flight deck within ten minutes for mounting on carrier-based aircraft.

In addition, the Zeppelin's sixteen boilers could produce a full one hundred to one hundred and twenty tons of high-pressure steam in an hour. Even under extreme circumstances, it could continuously launch forty to forty-five aircraft for continuous combat!

In fact, if the Ta-183 Raven of Disaster had a range of only minutes without auxiliary fuel tanks, Zeppelin's combat power would at least double! Just being able to have two squadrons of aircraft conduct uninterrupted combat air patrols at any time, such "slashing capability" is almost unmatched in the world! If the standby aircraft are compressed to twelve aircraft in one squadron, theoretically her maximum carrier-based aircraft capacity can even reach fifty!

In other words, Zeppelin's real combat power is that it can dispatch 24 aircraft at any time, and a large fleet can dispatch 32 to 36 aircraft. The ultimate attack power can reach a wave of 50 aircraft!

On the other hand, although the operating efficiency of the flight deck of Gneisenau is not as good as that of Zeppelin due to the limitations of tonnage and length, it can still support the "horizontal attack" of twelve to sixteen aircraft, the dispatch of a large fleet of twenty-four to twenty-eight aircraft, and the maximum attack power of about thirty-six aircraft. If helicopters are used, she can also send out thirty-two "Hummingbirds" and all the above at one time, while ensuring that the twelve standby fighters can take off and fight at any time!

So the problem now is not that the carrier-based aircraft are not capable of being deployed, but that the commandos are short of manpower, the enemy situation is not detailed, there is time pressure for rapid deployment, and how to find a balance between the allocation of combat air patrols and ground suppression forces...

(PS: The most efficient US aircraft carrier in World War II, the Dumpling class, maintained about eight to twelve combat air patrols on a daily basis! Even modern aircraft carriers such as the Nimitz class and Ford class can only support twelve to sixteen "flat cuts" on the flight deck... In addition to maintaining the ability to conduct combat air patrols, this indicator is also very important for the "flexible attack" mission of medium-sized and smaller aircraft groups)

But after all, Zeppelin is an expert in air combat, so he still has some solutions.

"The main problem right now is that the situation is unclear. Since the helicopters can be dispatched at any time, the key is on-site command. I will lead a team of fighters with rockets to suppress their airport first. Then we will prepare two squadrons of Calamity Crows to take turns to suppress their fortresses and fortifications with HS-293. Captain, you know that I can prepare aircraft at the same time. Finally, with the speed of the helicopters, we should be able to reach the airport in about half an hour after two or three rounds of suppression. Then we can command them to land and attack."

"...This is the only way. We still have Gneisenau for air cover. Even if they need to take off and land helicopters, they can have twelve aircraft on standby." Bonte hesitated for a moment, nodded, and approved of Zeppelin's idea. "Then let's do this. Contact the flagship and report our combat arrangements. Anyway, the operating efficiency of your and Gneisenau's flight decks is sufficient, and helicopters and commandos can take off at any time. Suppress their airport as soon as possible to avoid more trouble..."

"Okay." Zeppelin nodded, and as usual, used his perception to access the tactical WIFI and contacted the Persian cat not far away.

"Zeppelin aircraft carrier, Captain Bonte, ship mother Zeppelin, report to the flagship!..."

................................................

At Mania Airport on the Atlantic coast, nine kilometers southwest of Tangier, two groups of people were standing with their guns loaded and glaring at each other, with their eyes drawn, as the sun set over the horizon.

"No bombing! This is our Spanish airport!" A Spanish officer pointed at the dozen or so planes painted with the Spanish Air Force logo parked on the runway, his face furious and his teeth gnashed.

"This is clearly an internationally managed area. When did it become yours, Spain's?" The American officer opposite crossed his arms, looking angry.

"We have been here for 40 years, our planes are parked here, and this airport was built with our investment! So I won't stop you from transferring your planes, but you absolutely cannot blow up the airport!" The Spanish officer gritted his teeth and argued.

"Now we have to deal with the evil fleet. It is the intention of our entire alliance to blow up this airport!" The American officer refused to give an inch.

"Fuck your allies, we are a neutral country, what does your war have to do with us!" The Spaniard waved his hands and roared

"You mean that Spain is going to join the Axis powers and go to war with us? Can you represent Franco? Hmm?" The American sneered, "Don't forget, the money for your reconstruction after the civil war was loaned to you by our bank!"

"I..." The Spanish officer almost lost his words. However, he was quick-witted. Seeing the American sneer on the other side and about to pile up the bombs, he stepped forward and said, "Wait! This is my Spanish place after all. If I really want to blow up the airport, I have to wait for the order from my superiors! Before that, you can't blow up here!"

"Wait for the superior's order?" The American officer's face changed. The evil spirit fleet was only 150 kilometers away from here. With the speed of the evil spirit fleet, it would take less than three hours to occupy this place. If the airport cannot be blown up before they land, then even if the Gibraltar Fortress blows up the airport, it means that the Germans will completely control the air supremacy of this key waterway.

But... the problem now is that this airport is not owned by the United States, but by Spain! There are even Spanish troops stationed there! If we really talk about physics, the other side has more people and we are alone, so we will suffer in the end!

Moreover, if the Germans really had the possibility of occupying Gibraltar, what would it mean if this action forced Spain to join the Axis powers?

Except for the Portuguese coast, the entire coastline from the Bay of Biscay to the Canary Islands was under the control of the Axis powers! Even Portugal might fall!