Major General Ma Jintang had already arrived at the site where the battle had just broken out, inspecting the trophies that had just been captured by the reconnaissance battalion: 12 Matilda II tanks, three of which were destroyed. To avoid aerial bombardment, a retreating squad of Byzantine tanks hid in the red willow forest, ready to move until dark.

Unexpectedly, they were caught up by the vanguard of the Tang armored forces that acted quickly.

In a skirmish of tanks, the Byzantines had to bite the bullet as Matilda's tank had a speed of less than 15 kilometers per hour. The Byzantine tanks were armed with 57 mm anti-tank guns that could not penetrate the armor of the Tang tanks, and the 52 times caliber 75 mm tank guns equipped on the "Shepherds" of the Tang tank companies could not penetrate the 119 mm thick frontal armor of Matilda most of the time.

However, the Tang tanks were more than a star and a half stronger than the Byzantine tanks in terms of mobility, and after going around behind the Byzantine tanks, Matilda's rear armor was only 20 mm thick, and after being destroyed three tanks in succession, the Byzantines shamelessly raised the white flag.

As a tank expert, Major General Ma Jintang felt that this was a very important issue, and he was ready to submit a report to the Supreme High Command and the Army Armament Committee after returning that the tanks in active service in the empire needed to be strengthened again.

"Report, General, High Command Urgent!" At this time, Major Walter, the combat staff officer, ran over.

"What's the matter?" Ma Jintang turned around.

"The Byzantines are attacking the Kurdish Empire in full force, and the High Command orders us to quickly occupy the Mosul oil fields! Also, let's keep King Lubenno safe as much as possible and stop the Byzantine army from going south! ”

……

While the Battle of the Two Rivers was underway, the Imperial High Command was now focusing on the North Atlantic.

In the war room of the High Command, three huge maps of the regions hung side by side on the walls, namely the North Atlantic Theater, the Middle East Theater and the North African Theater.

Now that Foch has been re-elected Prime Minister of West Francia, it is clear that the enemy will step up its aid to the two rebel zones in the Americas. According to the Emperor's order, we must cut off the European Union's aid channels, and first solve the problem here......" Marshal Xu Yongjiang, the chief of naval operations, stood in front of the map, landed on the position of Iceland with a whip, and talked eloquently to the senior generals of the empire who were seated, "If we seize this place, we will be able to effectively prevent Europe from interfering in the affairs of the northern part of the Americas and the aid channel." If we deploy an aviation division in Iceland with more than 360 combat aircraft of various types, then the European Combined Fleet needs to dispatch more than six aircraft carriers to ensure air superiority, which is also all the carrier-based aviation strength of their navy at present. If we deploy two aviation divisions there, then the Europeans simply simply cannot afford to recapture there in a short time. From North America through the North Atlantic through Iceland to the British Isles, this is the lifeline of the North American rebels and the noose around their necks. In the future North Atlantic theater, our battles with the European Navy will revolve around this! ”

"Why don't you choose to land in England?" Senior General Lu Yongqi, deputy chief of the army's general staff, said that if he chose to fight in Iceland, there would basically be nothing to do with the army, and the army would at most send two or three divisions to Iceland for defense.

"General, the landing operation on the British Isles is very difficult, at least if we are unable to achieve air superiority." Xu Yongjiang turned the current direction to Air Force Operations Chief Ren Yongcheng.

"That's right, the Europeans are currently focused on indigenous air defense, they produce and equip no less fighters than we do, and we need to put them into the various theaters. Judging from the current situation, the number of fighters of various types equipped by the European Union Ming Air Force has exceeded 42,000, and it is difficult for us to gain an advantage over them in combat. And due to the huge losses of pilots, the Prime Minister has ordered the suspension of bombing missions on the East Francian mainland. Ren Yongcheng explained that the West Francians are currently working hard to produce the Rafale and the Gaudron fighters, especially the latest Rafale fighter, which is no less powerful than the three main fighters currently equipped by the Empire. Unable to gain air supremacy, the emperor even ordered the air force to stop its strategic bombing mission during the day, and now there is no possibility of landing at all.

Therefore, the decision of the Supreme High Command was to establish an operational plan for the use of naval blockade operations to gradually weaken the European Union and slowly destroy the enemy's war potential.

And in order to completely blockade European resources, submarine forces alone will not work at all, and the main fleet must be dispatched - not a broken fleet consisting of a battleship plus an aircraft carrier and a cruiser, but a complete blockade of the European coast with all the capital ships of the North Atlantic Fleet!

Of course, this also requires a favorable geographical location, and Iceland is a key location.

After spending more than half a month in the so-called "North Atlantic Joint Operations Command," Admiral Tang Jinchao, who was not very sociable, returned to the port of New Yuzhou (Charleston) and stood on the bridge of his flagship ship again.

By this time, all of Eastern Europe was under the control of the newly renamed East Franconian Empire. In North America, however, the rebellious independent government was in a difficult position, surrounded on three sides by powerful empires, and stubbornly fought against the empire with supplies transported from the North Atlantic route.

Now that the resources of the "North American Federation" are nearly exhausted, and the will to survive is being tested to the fullest, the Empire is ready to strike another blow to its lifeline.

In this winter, although the West Francian Navy had three "Louis III" class battleships and two "Glorious" class aircraft carriers in service, this increase in strength was a drop in the bucket compared to the development speed of the Tang Empire's naval equipment. In this winter, the Tang Imperial Navy added six new fleet aircraft carriers and three modified aircraft carriers, and the number of battleships equipped by the North Atlantic Fleet has reached the same level as that of the West Frankish fleet, and the number of aircraft carriers has also reached an unprecedented 10, and the strength has surpassed the European Combined Naval Fleet in this area.

Admiral Chen Shiying's flagship "Qilianshan" has a standard displacement of 45,000 tons, a full load displacement of more than 55,000 tons, and is equipped with 10 410-mm main guns, making it the most modern and powerful battleship in the world. Compared with the two "Kyushu" class aircraft carriers that are the core of the fleet, this battleship and its sister ship "Great Caucasus Mountain" are even more famous.

Although they have entered the era of aircraft carriers, fleet commanders are still accustomed to using battleships as their flagships and commanding operations on them......

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