"I'm beginning to admire the courage of the British - they actually let a formation dominated by aircraft carriers sail alone in the North Atlantic! But...... Could it be that they have already mastered our plan of action from the very beginning? This deployment is very targeted, and now they have an obvious advantage! ”

When German Rear Admiral Louis Riccello made this speculation with mixed emotions, a group of 33 attack aircraft of various types of carrier-based aircraft was urgently taking off from the only aircraft carrier in the German fleet that could fight normally, the "Pieter Strassel", and could not even wait for the formation over the fleet, and the BF9T covered a group of J-87 bombers to fly to the northeast. ，

"Anything is possible!" Schubert turned his head and said to him, "After so many defeats, it is impossible for the British not to learn from them." Moreover, their combat operations outside their homeland are many disadvantages, but their innate superiority in intelligence will not be lost in a short time! I'm not speaking to some people in the intelligence service, but at the moment our intelligence work is really not in place, and the enemy always has access to our fairly confidential information through various channels, and we know very little about the enemy's deployment! If this gap is not changed as soon as possible, we will definitely suffer! ”

"That's right!" Riccello sighed in agreement.

At this time, Zhang Hainuo, who was holding a telescope in his hand, said: "Gentlemen, this time we may already be at a loss!" ”

"Oh?" Rechero was puzzled that there was no trace of the enemy's attack aircraft in his line of sight, and the radar had not yet given a corresponding warning.

"We have fewer enemies, and we have not been able to take the lead in information! At the moment, the fleet of British bombers, which is much more numerous than us, is probably already halfway there! Gentlemen, that's not three escort carriers, and if our pilots hadn't misjudged, we would have met the main British aircraft carrier formation! Zhang Hainuo's worrying explanation (.2.) Say.

"In terms of aviation operations, we still have some advantages at the moment!" As if to cheer himself up, Riccello said, "Whether it's for the Americans or for the British!" ”

Li Ming didn't speak, but at this time he felt that he had become a three-book fifty-six - before the Battle of Midway, the commander of the Japanese Combined Fleet was also confidently embarking on the journey, but the defeat of the intelligence war eventually led to the defeat of the fleet, and the turning point of the entire Pacific War appeared. Now, if the German fleet had suffered a defeat in the icy North Atlantic, the consequences would have been even more severe.

It is said that what people are worried about can always become a reality, and as soon as the hasty figure of the attack aircraft group left sight, the communications officer brought a not-so-good news:

"Report, the Prinz Eugen came with an urgent telegram, they had just been attacked by a group of British bombers for the second time, the ship was directly hit by three **, the bridge caught fire, and the No. 3 turret was seriously damaged. Due to the damage caused by the near miss, there are many leaks in the bottom compartment, the No. 4 boiler has lost its function, and the highest voyage can only last about 24 knots, and there are many personnel on the D ship, and the overall situation is not optimistic! General Storm decided that the Prinz Eugen was no longer fit to continue the task of decoying the enemy, and asked us to send fighter planes to cover their retreat! ”

Li Ming and Schubert briefly exchanged views, and the two were quite unanimous: good luck will eventually run out, and we must not let such a large warship full of combat honors as the Prince Eugen be lost in the period of power change in China. In terms of the overall combat plan of the fleet, the two also coincided.

"Telegraph to General Stonen and ask him to lead the Prinz Eugen out of battle alone! In addition, by passing my order, the fleet turned to the south and prepared to disengage from contact with the enemy! Li Ming made a categorical decision.

After a while, Captain Hoffman ran onto the bridge and asked very puzzledly: "Marshal, you ordered a retreat?" ”

"Yes, after weighing the gains and losses that can be expected, I feel like ending this fight early!" Zhang Hainuo did not shy away from correcting his previous erroneous views, and asserted: "We have no advantage at all, and keeping these warships has become our most important task at the moment!" ”

"This is not your style, Marshal!" Hoffman said bluntly.

"Style doesn't matter, we are all soldiers, we must follow our mission" Zhang Hainuo pointed to the naval officers and men on the deck wearing steel helmets and preparing for battle, and said: "Everyone here should be able to return to Germany safely!" ”

Hoffman looked at his commander for a few seconds, and finally gave up, but before leaving, he said regretfully: "Marshal, not far ahead is a fleet full of supplies, munitions and combat personnel, we have the ability to inflict heavy damage on this fleet, and perhaps change the attitude of Britain and the United States towards this war!" However, we have chosen a safe retreat in the face of great risks, and we can save these warships and experienced sailors, and it will not be long before the supplies and soldiers that that fleet transported to Britain may be used directly against our 6th Army, Air Force, Navy, and even to slaughter our civilians, I hope that at that time, we will not feel sorry for our actions today! ”

Li Ming couldn't reply, and silently blew the wind on the bridge. It's not that he can't think about something, it's just that behind every decision in war is a trade-off—it's not the decision that is really difficult, it's the letting go of what might be lost because of it.

Twenty minutes later, the radar of the cruiser that came out on alert detected the incoming British aircraft group, and the air raid sirens suddenly sounded in the ears. "Peterstrasset" urgently sent a squadron of carrier-based fighters, together with nine BF9Ts on regular alert duty over the fleet, to take the initiative to meet them. Under the command of the officers, they adjusted the large and small anti-aircraft guns to combat condition in accordance with the order of daily exercises, and the ships quickly formed a ring defensive formation in accordance with the instructions of the flagship—the battleships and aircraft carriers were in the center, the cruisers and destroyers were around, and the maneuvering distance between the ships was maintained at about half a nautical mile, and the navigation unity was increased to 28 knots.

A fierce air battle soon exploded in front, and in the telescope, the fighters of both sides chased each other, making various dazzling maneuvers from time to time, and the fighters of the two sides continued to drag the black smoke down, or simply disintegrate in the air. The stalemate in the air did not last long, and in less than 10 minutes, a group of British bombers with bombs in their abdomen attacked at low altitude - it can be seen from this situation that the British fleet was already outnumbered by the German fighters who tried to intercept it!

As the saying goes, the officers and men of the German fleet had no time to think too much, and in the direction of the enemy planes, the outermost light cruisers took the lead in firing. Except for a slight difference in steel types, this surface ship modeled after the Königsberg-class looks like a standard German warship - the lines are simple and smooth, the weapons are completely based on the products of German fire factories such as Krupp, and there is no innovation in the design, but compared with the Königsberg-class prototypes, they are praised for their overall combat performance because of their better electronics and more powerful anti-aircraft weapons.

The ship's medium and long-range air defense was handled by four 105-mm twin-mounted high-level guns, which were considered one of the most representative weapons of the German Navy. The Type 40 37mm gun, which uses semi-automatic loading and radar-optical coordinated control technology, was the "secret weapon" developed and produced by the German Navy in the late 30s.

The guns and shells shot out like rain ** soon bloomed into black fireworks in the air, because the wind on the sea surface was not strong, the black gunpowder smoke was quickly connected into pieces, and it seemed that a tight protective net had been formed from the sea surface, but those incoming British carrier-based aircraft still stubbornly appeared in sight through the artificial cloud layer. At a sufficiently close distance, someone on the German ship shouted:

"Big mackerel, it's a **bomber!"

In appearance, the Great Mackerel ** bomber, which has been equipped with the British Royal Navy since the beginning of 1940, is somewhat similar to the F7 of the German Navy - two-wing, two-seater, fixed landing gear, plus similar body size, if it is not sprayed with completely different camouflage uniforms, it is really difficult to distinguish a little farther away.

At this time, a group of six planes had been lowered to a height of only thirty or forty meters from the sea, and several German battleships nearby, together with the "Bismarck" a little farther away, quickly suppressed the anti-aircraft fire on the side of the sea, so that an extraordinarily dense barrage was formed on the sea surface about 2 meters away, so that many crew members felt that they should be able to block the attack of enemy planes, but several "big mackerel" wings shook, and they turned to fly towards the fleet position at a distance of several hundred meters from the barrage. While people were speculating about their intentions, there was a whistling sound of an airplane diving, and when they looked up, they saw a group of "skua gulls" diving. Due to the outdated design performance, unsatisfactory performance in a series of naval combat operations, and a large number of American-made equipment, this carrier-based aircraft with both fighter and dive bomber body has gradually fallen to the second line in the British Royal Navy, but as a design and production in the mid-to-late thirties, and the first carrier-based aircraft of the British Royal Navy to be equipped with all-metal wings, foldable wings, recyclable landing devices and variable pitch propellers, it is still a model with certain combat capabilities - as long as the opportunity is right, Even the aging "Swordfish" has a record of sinking enemy ships, let alone the more advanced "Skuua"?

Your support will give me more motivation。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。 I'm saying that I don't want your tips, I just want to subscribe。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。