A scorching red sun rises from the eastern sea level, and the morning glow dances, shining brightly.

On the undulating sea, more than 20 warships flying the swastika flag on a red background were sailing rapidly northward through the waves. The brilliant morning sun shone on the starboard side of the battleship, covering them with a splendid veil. The bow of each ship rushed out a large white spray, like a waterfall falling, a thousand blows of snow; The wake at the back of the boat is straight and long, and it looks particularly bright and pleasant in the dark blue tone, which is pleasing to the eye.

"General, we're out of the North Sea!" In the navigation room of the battleship Bismarck, Fang Yan could not hide his joy and reported to Commander Bomei. After a night of high-speed galloping, the fleet was completely away from Jutland, where Denmark was located, and went straight to the southern edge of the Norwegian Sea. Under the cover of night and dense fog, the own fleet, which had radar, was confident and bold to sail in a straight line during the previous voyage; This undoubtedly greatly reduced the time consumption on the way, making the chances of the fleet's movements being detected by the British almost imperceptible!

"In 15 hours and 420 nautical miles, we should have set a new record for the speed of continuous navigation of the main fleets of various countries!" Bo Mei smiled, and his words were equally full of joy and amazement. His eyes flickered, and his expression gradually revealed a little regret and emotion, and he muttered: "If the high seas fleet in the past could have this speed, how could the British Grand Fleet trap us in the North Sea?" ”

The corners of Fang Yan's mouth hooked, and he said: "The development of industrial science and technology has brought about a smaller and shorter distance between the world. Today, we can sail out of the North Sea in more than a dozen hours, and we still maintain abundant combat effectiveness, relying on the warship fuel revolution that replaces coal with heavy oil, and the rapid improvement of electromagnetic wave technology. At the time of the last war, the technological level of the times was not enough for us to jump out of the shackles of the North Sea, which doomed us to defeat on the sea. Today, however, the geographical advantage of the United Kingdom. With the advancement of technology, it is no longer as obvious as it was at the beginning; We are perfectly capable of leaving the pond of the North Sea, and Britain will no longer be able to maintain their sea power. ”

Lindeman's eyes were shining brightly, and he only felt that Fang Yan's insights were extremely incisive and profound, and in just a few words, he had already pointed out the core of the situation in the past and the present Anglo-German maritime game. Even after serving in the navy for more than 20 years, he still has a sense of clarity and enlightenment. It seems that the other party can become a lieutenant colonel at the age of standing, and he really has a lofty talent!

"Now our dangerous period has passed. There are not many ships in the Norwegian Sea, and even if there is no cover of fog and no carrier-based aircraft are sent to conduct reconnaissance, as long as we rely on the radar warning on the warships, we have a considerable degree of certainty to avoid the passing ships. Fang Yan said with a smile. The current fleet is progressing as expected. In half a day, your fleet will be able to enter the almost absolutely safe icy sea.

The wind howled, the waves danced, and the German fleet of 24 warships began to change rapidly after entering the Norwegian Sea. 5 aircraft carriers slowly slowed down and were in the center of the queue under the protection of 3 heavy cruisers; The flagship Bismarck, on the other hand, led three miniature combat cruisers to the front of the line, side by side in a fan-shaped arc, and used their large detection radar to enforce alert. Twelve destroyers spread out around the carrier, using sonar to guard against possible uninvited guests in the water. Occasionally, there are bright spots on the radar. All of them were safely avoided by the German fleet, which was maneuvering at high speed, at sight distance.

On the evening of 22 August, Bomay ordered the fleet to slow down to 16 knots at the normal cruising level in order to save fuel. At this time, the German fleet was already more than a thousand kilometers in a straight line from Wilhelmshaven. Not only did they enter the inaccessible waters of Norway, but the night would provide them with ideal cover. In this case, the German fleet no longer needed to rush as desperately as it had done in the previous 24 hours. The power output of each ship was reduced to less than 10% of the rated load, and the technicians also took advantage of the opportunity. A thorough inspection of the mechanical components was carried out.

While the fleet strictly practiced radio silence during the voyage to avoid revealing its position, the Bismarck's telegraph room was always on standby. In order to receive a command signal from Wilhelmshaven at any time. At this time, the major European countries were engaged in an intricate diplomatic struggle, and it was not clear whether a major war would break out between Britain and Germany because of Poland, and all the officers and men of the fleet, including Fang Yan, could only wait. However, Fang Yan had a war clock in his heart, and now there were less than ten days left before the war broke out.

After repeated games, waiting, and testing, on August 23, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union finally signed the 10-year "Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact" on the basis of the previous trade agreement. In addition to the normal contents of the treaty, which are made public, the treaty contains a very secret by-law.

The detailed rules stipulate that in the event of "some political change" in the countries of Eastern Europe, Germany and the Soviet Union will re-establish their respective divisions of power in Eastern Europe. Finland, Latvia, and Estonia were assigned to the Soviet Union, while Lithuania was assigned to Germany. In addition, Germany would support the Soviet Union's territorial claims to Bessarabia in northwestern Romania, and draw a demarcation line with the Soviet Union for the partition of Poland. This demarcation line is 50 to 150 kilometers west of the Soviet-Polish border proposed by British War Secretary Curzon in 1920.

There is no doubt that this was an unprecedented division of power in favor of the Soviet Union. In order to draw the Soviet Union into his camp, to undermine the morale and fighting resolve of Britain and France, and to avoid a possible two-front war, Hitler had to spend most of the benefits of the partition of Eastern Europe to Moscow's dictator Stalin. Considering that the Germans could not be resented too much, Stalin also gave the other side some sweetness: for example, the Soviet Union would send supply ships to support the German navy's cruising operations in the Atlantic, and at the same time open the port of Murmansk to the German side as a submarine base. It won't be long before these commitments will do their job.

However, to Hitler's anger, despite the fact that he had to pay so much to keep the Soviets at such a high cost that they would make it clear that they would not be their enemies in the impending German-Polish War, Britain remained resolute and did not flinch from the loss of an Eastern power as an ally.

The day after the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, Britain issued a strongly worded statement to Berlin: "It is evident in some quarters in Berlin that the possibility of Great Britain intervening in the interests of Poland no longer needs to be considered as soon as the German-Soviet agreement is declared." This is a huge mistake. Whatever the nature of the German-Soviet agreement might be, it must not alter the obligations of Great Britain towards Poland. The statement concluded: "In the event of a manifest threat to the independence and national interests of Poland, His Majesty's Government will be determined, and ready to use, without delay all forces at its disposal." "It was obvious that Chamberlain would never again tolerate Hitler's expansion.

Although the French government is weak and chaotic, this time they finally showed a firm stance on the eve of the rain. On 25 August, the French ambassador similarly informed Hitler of Paris' attitude: France would give its full support to Poland in the event of an attack. In response to the increasingly urgent Danzig crisis, and at the same time to put pressure on Berlin, France announced the conscription of 360,000 reservists on the same day, and at the same time, the entire army entered the second level of combat readiness.

This series of British and French thunderous warnings to Hitler first scared Mussolini, who was far away in southern Europe.

Seeing that a new European war was imminent, and that he was far from ready for war with Britain and France, an anxious Mussolini resolved to withdraw Italy from the German-Italian Iron Pact, even with the infamy of treachery, so as not to harm himself because of Hitler's adventures in Poland.

On 26 August, Mussolini convened a war meeting of the heads of Italy's three armies, which immediately presented Germany with a list of the minimum support it needed from Germany for 12 months of the war. In the words of Ziano Jr., who participated in the preparation of the list, the list was "enough to infuriate a cow, if the cow could read the words."

In addition to oil self-sufficiency, the Italians have made lists of 6 million tonnes of coal, 2 million tonnes of steel, 1 million tonnes of timber and a long list of other items, all the way up to 600 tonnes of molybdenum, 400 tonnes of titanium and 20 tonnes of zirconium. In addition, Mussolini needed 150 anti-aircraft guns to protect the industrial zone in northern Italy, which was only a few minutes away from the French air base. Obviously, the significance of this list is not in itself: Mussolini, the discouraged fascist leader, was determined to get rid of his obligations to the Third Reich.

However, despite the unprecedented toughness of Britain and France, and the timidity of his ally Mussolini, Hitler, who was already determined to destroy Poland, did not change his strategy of waging war. On August 30, Hitler instructed Himmler to initiate the "Canned Goods" operation; As a loyal eagle dog, Himmler understood himself, and immediately asked the head of the secret police, Heinrich? Müller gave the order.

Late on the night of 31 August, a Polish detachment, posed as SS death row inmates, attacked the Grewitz radio station on the German border and broadcast a provocative declaration in Polish on the radio. Because the incident was so small, few Germans knew about its existence that night. However, it was on this that Hitler used as an excuse to bring the German people into a war that they themselves wanted to avoid. (To be continued.) )