The occupation of the Azores was completely unexpected by the authorities in London, who thought that the German army had broken into the North Atlantic only to break diplomatic relations in a loitering way, and when the German fleet poured into Angra Sangra and occupied it overnight, even the most sluggish people knew that something was wrong.

At this time, no one cared about the attitude of the Portuguese - the Germans were there, and they could not be driven away without force. When the outline of the Lisbon Treaty concerning the lease of the Atlantic islands between Germany and Portugal was published, the authorities in London were even more in the throat, and anyone who knew anything about the situation in the Atlantic knew how the tide of the war would change after that, and Portugal's ambiguous attitude made it clear that its position was gradually slipping over the German side.

The Azores archipelago is about 1,600 kilometers away from Portugal and more than 2,300 kilometers away from France. The U-boat unit, which had to be based in France, was given the coveted supply base, which would not only speed up the pace of replenishment, extend the patrol time by at least 4,500 kilometers, but also receive dual support from the European continent and the Azores. Under the premise that the number is established and the sea area under control remains unchanged, the frequency of submarine sorties can be nearly doubled. And if German surface warships have the ideal port of Heroesshafen, they can stay in the Atlantic Ocean for a long time to break diplomatic relations, and the deterrent power of the increase will be more than doubled.

The person in the Navy who was most pleased with the successful capture of the Azores was neither Raeder nor Machar, but the commander-in-chief of the submarine forces, Dönitz, who finally understood why Hoffmann had asked him to temporarily reduce the production of the old model and concentrate on preparing for the mass production of new XXI-class submarines, and the Führer really fulfilled his promise to "greatly increase the density of submarines without increasing the number." This joy even surpassed the joy of being awarded the rank of Field Marshal - on February 22, 1943, Hoffmann issued an order to promote Admirals Dönitz and Richthofen to the rank of Admiral Dönitz and Richthofen for their long service and meritorious service.

The rest of the officers who participated in the "Tsunami" operation were also promoted or demerited: Machar was promoted to admiral, Major General Bei became Vice Admiral Bei, Lieutenant General Kumetz became general, and all officers and men of the Navy who had made the greatest meritorious service were promoted to the first rank.

The day after the news broke, more than 40 ace pilots (groups) submitted applications for transfer to the HNA Navy, and the Air Force Chief of Staff, Senior General Jeshunek, was so angry that he did not dare to make a public attack; in the end, it was Hoffmann who mediated and approved these applications in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Air Force, and then added 100 Italian pilots to the Air Force to calm the situation -- the Italian Air Force, like the Luftwaffe, was the basic base of the party. Mussolini, after his swaggering entry into Addis Ababa, decided to "contribute" more to the Axis cause, which his army Germans looked down on, but experienced Italian pilots were in high demand.

The Azores, together with the simultaneous leased islands of Madeira (900 km from Casablanca in North Africa) and Cape Verde (600 km from Dakar in West Africa) together with Spain's Canary Islands, formed the cornerstone of Germany's Atlantic seas, and were an increasingly intensifying blockade noose for Great Britain: Madeira, Cape Verde and Canary Islands together severed the traditional shipping link between the British mainland and South Africa. The Azores cut off the traditional shipping routes between the British mainland and South America, and seriously affected the Anglo-American and Anglo-Canadian routes.

In this we can see the decisiveness and ruthlessness of Salazar: Didn't the Germans want the Azores? I'll just hand over Madeira and Cape Verde to you, and see if Britain and the United States can sit still? Of course, he also had a deeper consideration: Germany set a precedent for seizing the Azores, and perhaps Britain and the United States would follow suit in seizing the Cape Verde Islands in a while.

Hoffman did not expect Salazar to be so unscrupulous, and could not help but look at the dictator a few times, even though he knew that the Portuguese were uneasy, he could not resist the temptation of these islands, and the High Command immediately issued an order to occupy and consolidate all the islands, the most important of which was the Azores. The island is also about 2,300 kilometers away from Britain, which means that unless Britain and the United States send their navy to carry out a landing war, aircraft alone cannot do anything about it, and now Britain lacks the most fleet, so Germany has a rare window period.

According to the calculation of the island's 600-kilometer defense circle, after the German aircraft and fleet are stationed on the island, all ships departing from the North American continent must turn to the northeast from the direction of Newfoundland in order to reach Britain safely, detour through the waters near Greenland and then turn to Great Britain to avoid this dangerous zone, and the overall voyage will be about 800-1000 nautical miles away. It is still a trivial matter to have a distant voyage, but with such a foothold in the middle of the Atlantic, the axis includes the submarine forces, the surface fleet, and the aviation forces, and the efficiency of breaking diplomatic relations will be doubled.

What made the British even more mad was that after the signing of the German-Portuguese agreement, the French also came to join in the fun, and suddenly announced that they had reached an agreement with Germany on the Syrian issue, and that the Pétain government would resend troops into Syria. Although the specific content is unknown, the French internal eyeline told the British that as part of the exchange of interests, France would give both Richelieu class ships to the Germans: the No. 1 Richelieu was basically completed and stayed in Dakar, but it was injured and would immediately return to France for repairs; The second ship, Jean-Bar, is 77% complete, and the Germans are likely to rebuild it. In addition, the light cruiser de Grasse, which has been working at the Jolyon shipyard since November, will be delivered to the Germans for outfitting as soon as possible.

The British originally thought that this was the Petain regime to prepare to restore its naval strength, but they did not expect that this time it was given to the Germans, plus the transfer of the Toulon fleet reached between France and Germany, except for the warships that were sunk or requisitioned by the British before and after the "Ballista" operation, the Germans obtained almost all the remaining French warships, including the essence of the Richelieu class and the Dunkirk class. This made the British hate it to the teeth, but there was nothing they could do with the French. The French navy hated the British far more than the Germans, and when the Germans used their planes to take out the British Mediterranean fleet and occupy Egypt, the French sailors wept and laughed as if they had won the battle. After the Germans gave a hard lesson to the British fleet in the North Sea, French public opinion also applauded, believing that it was the retribution that the British had to pay for their treachery.

The seizure of the Azores immediately became the overriding priority of Britain, and it also immediately became the consensus of the military circles of Britain and the United States. On the day that the Germans appeared outside Angra Sangra Sansseemo, Britain and the United States received information that the TF27 (Task Force 27) led by Rear Admiral Brown of the United States Navy was less than 400 nautical miles from the Azores at that time, and the initial instruction to him was to quickly organize a military recapture, but after learning that the German fleet, including the Tirpitz, two German-class, two Hipper-class heavy cruisers and two aircraft carriers, and other capital ships were intact, he decisively gave up gnawing on this hard bone. With only one light aircraft carrier USS Independence and one battleship USS Pennsylvania, TF27 is clearly not an opponent in both aviation and traditional artillery battles.

In order to take the Azores, it is necessary to grasp the dynamics of the island, and now there is no way to send planes to reconnoitre, and the fleet will not dare to approach for a while, so it can only use the most traditional manual reconnaissance, but Germany immediately implemented military control after occupying the Azores, except for the German army's own ships, the port strictly implements the policy of allowing people to go out and not entering, and there is no way to send spies to infiltrate from the Portuguese direction, which can be very bad for Churchill and Pound.

After racking his brains, Menzies suddenly remembered the possibility of a sleeper agent, and MI6 finally found the "crow" by looking through the top-secret files with the mentality of trying it out, and Tom fell into London's sight. He immediately reported to Churchill and obtained the approval to activate the 25-year-old informant.

"Got in touch?"

Churchill was now anxious to go to the hospital, otherwise Menzies would not have used an ordinary telegraph liaison to activate a spy who had been lurking for a quarter of a century, which is very dangerous in the intelligence system, but now it is really impossible to take care of this.

"I got in touch, and he promised to continue working and gather as much intelligence as possible, and he had a radio station."

"Excellent! Very good! This brave intelligence agent will save countless lives in the future. Who was the superior who sent the 'crows' out to lurk? That gentleman made a very wise and far-sighted decision. Churchill asked.

"The Raven's superiors died of illness 25 years ago, and because of the sudden death of a direct contact and the end of the Great War, the Raven was in a forgotten corner and never received any orders."

So he waited 25 years in vain? Will he be resentful of us? Churchill was taken aback and suddenly became troubled, and asked uneasily, "Do you say that this man is still reliable?" ”

"This ......," Menzies couldn't say, but the prime minister was staring at him now, and he couldn't answer it, and he thought for a long time before he spoke, "to be honest, I don't know anything about him, I don't even know what kind of person he is." His photograph, his resume, and his personality are described in the archives, but 25 years have passed, and these things are completely unreliable. We can only rely on feelings now. Prime Minister, either we believe him unreservedly, or we don't read any messages from him, so as not to interfere with decision-making. (To be continued.) )