Captain Hassler, the commander of the U-107 submarine, felt that he was running out of his brains - he could not understand what the commander of the huge Anglo-American combined fleet was thinking.

As an ace submarine captain who hunts merchant ships off the coast of Africa, he was given a secret mission more than a month ago - to track the huge Allied naval fleet until it can no longer hold on, and only needs to report the location of the Allied fleet once a day, but it is strictly forbidden to attack! The words "strictly forbidden to attack" were repeated several times by the superiors -- for fear that he would not be able to hold back and take action. He was also given the same task as another IXD submarine with the U-178 broadside.

Hasler understands the commander's good intentions, not only because the two submarines are familiar with the situation off the coast of Africa, but also because only this class of submarines has the ability to maintain combat capability for such a long time - the theoretical endurance of the IX class is as high as 13,000 nautical miles. Before the XXI-class submarines, which were larger-tonnage, more technologically advanced, quieter and faster underwater, were put into service (Dönitz and the Führer demanded that construction begin by June 1943), the IX class was the finest of the seawolves. In order to ensure that they can effectively complete the long-term tracking mission, the Atlantic Submarine Command also specially sent them an XIV-class supply submarine, which is usually affectionately called "cow" by the officers and men of the submarine force.

He had been following the fleet since the beginning of Operation Torchlight in early November, silently witnessing the attacks of his companions on the huge fleet off the coast of Morocco, and then seeing the entire fleet scurrying like a swarm of headless flies, until two days later it switched to a southward voyage. The fleet sailed slowly. It was even less than 10 knots per hour - and he later learned that there were a large number of American Liberty ships in the fleet, and that such transports had a maximum speed of only 11 knots, and that it was easy to break down if they sailed at 11 knots all the time. In addition, the fleet has to take the Z-shaped route in order to counter the submarine, and the overall speed is even slower, so his tracking work becomes very easy, during the day he lurks far in the water without moving, and from dusk he rises to the surface to sail, using the submarine's maximum speed of 18.3 knots, he can easily hang behind the fleet. At the same time, the relevant position and orientation are filmed out. He was happier on days when the weather was bad and stormy, which meant that during the day the submarine could sneak up to the surface and follow at an unhurried pace - it was really fuel-intensive to pursue at top speed.

Taking advantage of the 10 days that the British and American fleets were resting and replenishing in South Africa, he not only bypassed the Cape of Good Hope in advance and waited in the distant seas. He also received supplies from "cows", and on certain days when the wind and rain were rainy, the visibility was low, and the planes could not be dispatched, he even dared to get out of the water to breathe fresh air, and by the way, he went fishing with his companions - fishing is much easier than hunting merchant ships! Although the whole body is often soaked with rain. But everybody likes the feeling of being out of the go.

After the fleet departed from South Africa, he began to repeat his work day after day. It wasn't until Admiral Cunningham led a fast column that he could never keep up with, but there were not many transports of this speed, and he estimated that it was only one-fifth less than a fifth of the entire fleet, and most of the remaining ships could only move slowly. Every day U-107 finds ships that have been left behind by engine failures, which used to be the best prey, but this time Hasler decided to let them go. As for the enemy fleet's actions of conducting anti-submarine drills and taking Z-shaped anti-submarine routes from time to time, he always ridiculed them -- even if they made a Z-shape at such a slow speed, it would be useless, and there was no one else in the area except his own two submarines. The Allies were really too cautious.

In the early morning of December 21, he sent a new location message, and he actually wanted to ask the headquarters what the meaning of his own action was. In the end, he held back, and it was not until the truth finally came out on the 22nd that the submarine radio station was flooded with explosive messages, and the telegraph operator stood up ecstatically to inform the whole ship, and he realized that the combined fleet of the Japanese Navy had unwittingly blended into the Indian Ocean and had wiped out the fast column that had disappeared ten days earlier in only one day. There was only one word that summed up how he was feeling right now - joy!

The officers and men were genuinely happy at the victory and proud of their work - it was the U-107 and U-178 that provided accurate information about the victory, and Hasler made an exception to open the only bottle of champagne on board to congratulate him, and of course, the tracking of the slow column had to continue.

However, something even more unbelievable happened to him. The next evening the submarine poked its head out and prepared to rise to the surface again as before, but found that there was no need to make any more effort, for in the afternoon the convoy began to turn around in a haphazard manner, and returned to the place where they had stayed in the early morning, and from this posture it was expected to return to South Africa; At dusk on the third day, the submarine resurfaced to the astonishment of the enemy fleet to find that it was still in its old position, but this time it had changed direction again - because the fleet had turned around again at Washington's order, and had returned to its position the day before.

If it weren't for the strong sense of discipline of the German soldiers, he would have been eager to throw out all the torpedoes on it and reward this foolish commander - what a chance! It was quite certain that he would sink a battleship or an aircraft carrier, and in the back and forth of the slow fleet, he had commanded the submarine into three excellent ambush positions, and each time he was sure to form a lore.

On the fourth day, something even more surprising happened, the fleet began to divide into two groups, one to the north and the other to the southeast, and after consulting with the captain of the U-178, it was decided that the U-107 would be in charge of the southeast direction, and the larger northbound column would be in charge of the U-178, and then the information was sent out, and the order to reply to him was simple: "Agree to the request, and still report the direction until the new order." ”

However, the chief engineer was embarrassed to tell him that because the southeast direction was far from the original supply point, the U-107 could only be chased out for a maximum of 10 days, and after 10 days, it would have to turn around anyway, otherwise it would have to sink in the southern Indian Ocean.

Hasler shrugged helplessly: "Okay, then report truthfully, the whole ship is as economical as possible, and it is good to extend it for one more day." ”

Within an hour, the call came back again, and the content was very simple: "10 days is enough!" Keep an eye out for the latest instructions. ”

Hasler didn't understand how the determination to "10 days is enough" came about, but he was still determined to get on the road - maybe there was a backhand at headquarters?

Just when Roosevelt made the decision to divide the troops, as if he had a heart in his heart, Horikichi first divided the fleet: Vice Admiral Tsukahara 243 led the two main aircraft carriers Zuizuru and Shozuru to go west under the escort of two battleships of Ise and Hyuga, 4 Takao-class heavy cruisers and 8 destroyers of the 4th Sentai Squadron, and the aircraft carrier first used the two oil tankers captured by Takagi Takeo to fully replenish, and then carried out fleet marshalling and reorganized the first guerrilla detachment, saying that it was regrouped, but in fact it only strengthened the two aircraft carriers to the original first guerrilla detachment, The other warships that came to escort the aircraft carrier took over Takeo Takagi's original job of rescuing the transport ship.

The number of warships of the newly formed 1st Guerrilla Detachment was much smaller than that of the mobile fleet, including only 2 aircraft carriers, 4 Kongo-class, 4 heavy cruisers (4 of the highest rank of the 7th Sentai Detachment), and 8 destroyers. Although Takagi Takeo and Tsukahara 243 were both vice admirals, Tsukahara was the 36th phase of the navy, and Takagi was only the 39th period, so Tsukahara had full authority to command the first guerrilla detachment.

After getting 2 oil tankers and a large number of U.S. supplies, Horiyoshi finally stopped calculating the fleet's supplies and fuel supplies, and re-energized his fighting spirit, preparing for the first guerrilla detachment to form a fast force to attack the slow column south.

However, by the night of the 25th, the news sent by the German side about the division of troops in the slow column sparked another controversy.

Cao Lu asked, "Has the enemy divided his troops...... The northbound force was slightly larger and closer to the guerrilla detachment, so was it a priority to attack the column? ”

"No...... Don't go and fight them, go south, go and fight the southeast column. ”

"But in this way, the northbound column was let go...... In terms of time, it was completely timely to attack the northbound column first and then the southeastern column. ”

Hori Yiji thought twice and slowly shook his head: "Two birds in the forest are better than one bird in hand. He then explained to the confidential staff officers the reasons for the decision:

First of all, the escort force of the southeast column after the division of troops was weaker, with only 2 escort aircraft carriers and a few old cruisers and destroyers, so it was more certain to defeat a weak enemy;

Secondly, the southeast column was heading in a southeasterly direction, and although it was impossible to guess its intentions, his intuition told Hori that the column was going to Australia, which would add new variables to the Nanyang campaign;

Last but not least, the northbound column was advancing along the coast, and after the two sides entered the circle of engagement, the entire First Guerrilla Detachment would face not only the threat of the other side's own aircraft carriers, but also land-based aircraft from the direction of Kenya and Somalia, and based on the lessons of Midway, he did not want to expose the mobile fleet to the threat of land-based aircraft for a long time, but he did not have this concern about dealing with the southeastern column - in three days, the southeastern column would be out of the land-based defense circle of Madagascar.

"As for the ...... of the northbound column," Horiyoshi smiled meaningfully, "we still have a way to deal with him, don't worry, we're going to stay in the Indian Ocean for a long time, remember what I publicly called?" ”

"Remember, the British and American allied warships will be destroyed as soon as they are discovered!"

"General Tsukahara will tell them that we are here for real, and this is not a joke!" (To be continued.) )