For the first bomber pilots, the aircraft carrier that can maneuver quickly may not be much different from other large warships, but for the pilots of dive bombers, the wide and eye-catching flight deck of the aircraft carrier and the strategic value of the aircraft carrier itself, they are simply the target of the world!

"Hey, man, look that look that, we hit that British aircraft carrier! Ha ha! Now the British are guilty! See how good we are! Alack! ”

In the lower cabin of the British destroyer, the German naval sergeant and bomber pilot Tobias Speter was ecstatic, and through the small porthole, he saw the flames and smoke rising from an aircraft carrier in the distance, and he couldn't help but shout.

Despite the leg injury, Oswald reached the porthole as fast as he could, and despite the fact that a Junkers bomber had crashed into the nearby sea, the young sergeant waved his fist with great excitement, "Long live Germany!" ”

Perhaps because the fighting was still raging, no one came in with sticks outside the locked hatch, and in fact, few people here understood German. The sound of the ship's guns firing can still be clearly heard in the cabin, some from the 12-pounder single-barreled high-level dual-purpose guns, some are multi-barreled 2-pounder bangbang guns, and 20 mm Erlikon cannons, these British or American-made weapons are the backbone of the surface air defense of the two navies at present.

When the two men boarded the ship, they both noticed that this British destroyer had a strong American style -- the 50 old destroyers exchanged for valuable overseas military bases had been modified to a certain extent before and after they were handed over to the British army to make them more suitable for escort operations in the Atlantic. When the agreement was first signed, many British experts felt that the destroyers provided by the Americans were old and ineffective, while the bases in the West Indies and Bermuda were of unparalleled strategic value. In 1941 alone, 50 city-class destroyers delivered to the British Navy undertook a large number of escort missions, and successively sank and damaged 19 German submarines, escorted at least 10,000 tons of merchant ships to Britain safely, so that their German opponents had to admit that without these destroyers, Britain would probably not survive 1946 and be forced to withdraw from the war!

After surviving the most difficult winter, the British were still fighting for a distant victory. Through the small portholes, two German pilots witnessed a fierce and wonderful battle in the air and sea. Inspired by the invisible spirit, the German naval pilots who flew the bombers attacked again and again with amazing courage, and in the midst of a piercing scream, the naval Stuka swooped down under extremely dense artillery fire, and a moment later, another ** hit the previously damaged British aircraft carrier, and soon sailors jumped into the sea from the ship's side position - perhaps a precursor to the abandonment of the ship, perhaps this small group of people was simply forced to jump into the sea to escape due to the terrible situation on the flight deck, but no matter what, The smoke that rushed into the sky greatly encouraged the bomber pilots behind.

Only a minute later, three seemingly clumsy F7s actually passed through layers of fire blockade, approached at a low altitude less than 1,500 meters away from the British aircraft carrier group, and fired**. Although one of the carriers was torn to pieces by ferocious artillery fire after throwing **, the ** they dropped was very powerful, if it were not for the most critical moment, a light cruiser responsible for escorting the escort stepped forward to block the side of their own aircraft carrier, the British aircraft carrier formation was likely to suffer nightmarish losses. Even so, this earth-shattering loud bang was like a heavy punch to the hearts of the British officers and soldiers, and many people could not help but recall the dismal experience of fighting the German fleet several times before......

"Oh no, my God!"

In the armored command room of the German fleet flagship "Bismarck", General Riccello was stunned by the scene outside, his eyes widened and he couldn't close his mouth, and ten seconds ago, a heavy aviation ** landed on the flight deck of the "Pietrosser", which was also the second heavy blow suffered by the Zeppelin-class No. 2 ship in just one hour.

The flames set off during the explosion were far beyond the end of the aircraft carrier island bridge, and the black smoke swallowed up the carrier-based aircraft on the deck that had just stopped for less than 5 minutes, and many ground crews were even blown into the sea like leaves by the attack wave generated by the explosion, and the anti-aircraft firepower originally gathered on the ship was suddenly weakened by half.

Some were lamenting bad luck, others were thinking about how to avoid greater losses, and Schubert said loudly to Li Ming:

"Marshal, quickly order the nearby ships to concentrate their anti-aircraft fire to the south of Strassel, most of the British bombers are at the 4th position for dive bombing!"

Under the influence of the sound of artillery and explosions one after another, Zhang Hainuo shouted with deep sympathy: "Yes, we can't let more ** hit it again!" On my order, all ships concentrated their broadside guns and organized high-altitude and medium-altitude defenses behind the Strassel! ”

Since the British aircraft group attacked, the entire German fleet has been using anti-aircraft fire to build a dense air defense network, but in this era of propeller aircraft and ship-borne guns as air defense means, it is easy for the opposing bombers to find weak points in firepower and break through.

A few minutes later, the senior commanders of the German fleet watched as a small group of ** bombers flew low in front of the "Bismarck" and dropped ** on the sea more than 1,000 meters from the "Peterstras" -- a scene that bears a striking resemblance to the course of the battle 200 nautical miles away.

For the ** galloping on the sea, the Germans also had no better way, except to let the torch-like burning aircraft carriers avoid all, they could only use the small-caliber guns on the side of the ship to carry out interceptive fire, but such efforts still had little effect, at the last moment, the destroyer officers and men sailing nearby also tried to counteract with a high sense of responsibility and fearlessness, but the British obviously set the depth of their own aviation ** large ships, which made them go straight through the bottom of the German destroyer, Finally hit headfirst with the armor belt at the bottom of the port side of the "Peter Strasser"!

"Hell, we're going to lose the house!"

Watching the two huge water columns rise on the side of the ship, and continue to rise and spread around, Zhang Hainuo cried out, and at this moment, the thoughts in his brain did not stop, but ran much higher than usual. When the loss of the ship was inevitable, how to retain more experienced fighters for the future became a top priority, so when everyone was still shocked that the "Pietrostrassel" was hit, he was the first to shout:

"Signaling the Strassel, the following personnel immediately proceeded with the transfer: first, the pilots of the carrier-based aircraft; second, aviation combat command personnel; Thirdly, carrier-based aircraft maintenance and repair personnel! If the injury cannot be repaired, the rest of the personnel should be transferred immediately! ”

Immediately afterwards, Li Ming said: "Give a signal to other destroyers in the vicinity to fully assist in the evacuation of the personnel of the Petersstrasse!" ”

At this time, the other officers recovered from their great surprise, and General Riccello asked in frustration: "What about the sortie?" ”

Li Ming thought about it for a moment, "Before the fuel runs out, land on the East Berlin as much as possible, otherwise it will be forced to land at sea!" The accompanying ships should do everything to rescue the overboard pilots! ”

"Then the fleet is next"...... Hoffman asked with a worried expression, at this time, he obviously no longer had any hope of obtaining immortal merits.

Li Ming said a word that he rarely said: "Retreat!" ”

As the second of the East Berlin-class aircraft carriers, the waterline armor of the "Peter Strassel" even surpassed the "Graf Zeppelin", which also made it have better survivability than ordinary aircraft carriers, but the heavy cruiser-class armor was not enough to resist the attack of **, and the leak plugging and repair soon failed. Twenty minutes later, the captain of the ship, Colonel Rudmayes, announced the abandonment of the ship, and the officers and crews working in combat positions and in the lower compartments began to evacuate in an orderly manner.

At 3:20 p.m., the Pieter Strassel tilted 30 degrees to the left, by which time all the boilers had been turned off, and the whole battleship was floating calmly in the icy North Atlantic, looking like a melting iceberg from a distance. With the evacuation of the subsequent group of crew members, the accompanying destroyer "Wilheidkamp" aimed the firing tube at the trapped beast at sea, and it was an extremely painful thing to shoot ** at his capital ship, no one was willing to pull the firing rod, but the order had to be carried out after all. At the time of the ** discharge, the signalman raised a "goodbye" signal flag on the mast of the destroyer.

In the following time, the remaining ships of the German fleet in addition to rescuing those pilots who forced to land on the sea, but also tried their best to resist the follow-up attack from the British group, in another round of attacks by the British, "Graf Zeppelin" flight deck was bombed, resulting in the death of dozens of crews, and most of the planes that had landed were also damaged, but the heavy aircraft carrier still stubbornly persevered, at 4**04 pm, the mast of the "Bismarck" raised the signal flag of the whole south, The fleet left only two destroyers to continue the search and rescue of the overboard pilot, and the rest of the ships left the battlefield full of sad memories as quickly as possible.

A day later, despite being harassed by British submarines and long-range bombers, the German main fleet finally returned unharmed to the military port of Saint-Nazaire on the west coast of France.