"The U-99 submarine found the main force of the British Home Fleet, including 4~6 battleships, 2~3 aircraft carriers, and 20~30 auxiliary ships of cruisers and below. The target of the www.biquge.info was 67 nautical miles at the southwestern tip of the Shetland Islands, heading east-northeast at a speed of 15 knots. The sea is calm but misty, and our boat is about to attack the target fleet! ”

At about 9 o'clock in the morning of January 17, the battleship Bismarck, which was sailing in the vast ocean, suddenly received this encrypted message. The communications officer did not dare to slack off in the slightest, and hurriedly rushed up from the lower bridge to deliver the translated message to the navigation command room. Surrounded by more than a dozen colonels and lieutenant-level staff adjutants, the burly and rugged Admiral Karls took the page handed by the communications officer, and only glanced at it hurriedly.

"The British fleet is coming so fast!" When Karls released the contents of the telegram to the public, the captain of the ship, Colonel Lindemann, could not help but exclaim. Calculating the time, it was only a little more than a day before the German attack on Norway, and the British home fleet with Port Ayr as its new base had already sailed into the North Sea, and there were only about 220 nautical miles left from the Norwegian mainland. There is no doubt that the fleet must have completed its pre-war preparations long ago, and immediately attacked as soon as the news of the attack on Norway was received, at least 12 hours ahead of the German Navy's expectations!

Kars exhaled, a little more glad in his heart. According to the "Weser River Exercise" plan, Dönitz's Seawolves were used as the first warning against the British Home Fleet: not only did the number of ships operating in the waters around Britain rise to a staggering 56, but they also clearly divided patrol areas for each team, and the monitoring of the target sea was far from comparable to that of normal diplomatic breaks. This time, U-99 was able to make some discoveries, thanks to this tight net. And the support fleet under his command also gained enough time to react to the unexpected situation that had arisen in the early stage of the British fleet.

"Raise the flag and let the commanders of each detachment come to the flagship to discuss countermeasures." Kars looked at the morning mist that hung over the sea, and said after a moment's silence. At this time, the British fleet was still 350 nautical miles away from its own side, not only was it outside the strike radius of the aircraft carrier's aircraft, but the current weather was not suitable for the warhawk attack. Instead of rushing into a decision, spend an hour brainstorming with your trusty subordinates.

Due to the need for personnel exchanges between the ships, even the destroyers had self-propelled dinghys, and after about ten minutes, several transport boats approached the tall and solid side of the Bismarck under the sudden sound of diesel engines. The commander of the air fleet, Hermann Bermay, and the commander of the destroyer fleet, Gunzé Lütjans, walked up to the bridge one after another and saluted Admiral Kars; When a handsome and handsome young man walked into the navigation command room, Rao is staff adjutant had already known each other, but when they saw the young man's solemn and honorable black and blue general's uniform, their eyes still couldn't help but reveal a complicated look of envy and jealousy.

"Ahh......h General Brom, do you see, my Bismarck has been completely repaired! After a brief salute, Colonel Lindemann hooked Fang Yan's shoulder with a happy face. Fang Yan followed the place of his finger and saw that the area where the Bismarck was hit by British bombers on September 3 last year had been completely renewed, and there was no trace of any damage.

Lindemann was in high spirits and introduced further to his former comrades: "Hey, you haven't noticed yet, have you? The warship has significantly increased its anti-aircraft firepower while entering the canal for repairs, and currently has a total of 56 40-mm anti-aircraft guns and 38 20-mm machine guns. If it were to encounter a situation like the last time, the Bismarck would be able to knock down all the British's planes, and the British wouldn't want to damage her steel plate again! ”

Fang Yan smiled slightly and said, "The Bismarck-class battleships are an important core of the German Second High Seas Fleet, and I have never had any doubts about this. Hopefully, you'll get what you want in this battle and prove her worth with the roar of a 450mm cannon. ”

Karls glared at Lindemann dissatisfied, the warning look in his gaze that made the latter excited, and immediately stopped the conversation with Fang Yan. The 54-year-old admiral did not have too many qualifications, and his rugged appearance was more like a brute wolf, but he was the commander of the German Navy's battle fleet from 1936 onwards, and was the third man in the navy after Field Marshal Raeder and Chief of General Staff Schniwenger. If the first two had a change of position during the war, Rolf Karls would be the most likely to go further, and even if Lindemann was proud to have been able to claim the Bismarck, he would still not be able to see enough in front of Kars.

Seeing Lindemann stop, Karls immediately entered the subject. Fang Yan and several old men who could be their fathers gathered together, listening to Kars's concise explanation of the current situation on the chart.

“…… That's all I have at the moment. The British fleet came so quickly that it posed a great threat to the subsequent transport ships of our army to the various ports of Norway, but we have no way of judging what the intentions of the British fleet were. They may concentrate their forces on a decisive battle with our forces, they may focus on attacking our follow-up transports, or they may disperse their fleets to attack our landing grounds. ”

Kars's eyebrows were faintly worried, and he said: "In addition to Oslo, which is located in the eastern part of the Skagerrak Strait, and it is unlikely that British ships will go deep, the five ports from Narvik to Kristiansand, which span more than 800 nautical miles from north to south, are all possible targets for the British fleet. Generals, what do you think is the most likely course of action for the British? ”

There was silence in the navigation room for a while, and all that could be heard was the howling sea breeze and the sound of rolling waves. Kars listed several possible actions for the British fleet, but the countermeasures for his own fleet were very different: for example, the protection of transport ships and the protection of landing sites were two completely different tasks, and it was clear that they could not do the same for each other. Once the judgment is wrong, it is difficult to remedy it.

You must know that although the British home fleet is at the lowest point of strength, it still retains a considerable number of cutting-edge warships. At this time, the favorable time and place were not suitable for the German fleet's most advantageous carrier-based aviation, and the German fleet's potential choice of division of forces was further limited. The short days and long nights in January, as well as the frequent occurrence of sea fog and clouds in the Norwegian Sea and the North Sea, even affected the support of German shore-based aviation to the naval fleet.

In fact, Kars's "full support" mission is a real chore, and it is not easy to rely on this fleet to fill all the gaps in the entire process of attacking, occupying, and consolidating six geographically spanning ports in "Exercise Weser". (To be continued.) )