The moon is bright and the lights are on, and the city of Berlin is lit up one after another, golden and gorgeous, and it looks particularly brilliant in the deep night. The neat and majestic apartment buildings and the magnificent theater buildings clearly demonstrate the grandeur, opulence and prosperity of the largest city in Central Europe.

In the naval headquarters building on Wilhelmstrasse in the heart of the city, Erich? Marshal Raeder was standing quietly in front of the square window of his office on the fourth floor; There was a bit of melancholy between his eyebrows, which was not eased by the gorgeous night scene in front of him. An evening breeze blew, blowing his crisp uniform into a hunting flight; The coolness that came to his face made Raeder think of many things in a daze.

At 11:20 a.m. this morning, Britain officially issued a declaration of war against Germany; Five hours later, the French government also announced war with Germany on a radio broadcast to the world. For the first time, the Führer had made a mistake in his political judgment, and the British and French statesmen whom he had contemptuously called "little maggots" after the Munich Conference were now desperate to oppose his expansion, and even if there was another brutal attrition like a world war, it would not change their firm will. Now, Germany's final settlement of Poland has led to a new European war; As the commander-in-chief of the German Navy, he can only do his best to fight to the death with the old rival of the British Royal Navy with the existing limited lineup!

Seeing the Brandenburg Gate in the distance, decorated with lights, like a glass god, Raeder couldn't help but sigh with emotion: 25 years ago, it was this simple and solemn city gate that witnessed the muddy bells and drums of His Majesty's declaration of war on the Entente. At that time, at the age of 38, he was still a major in the reconnaissance fleet, and in front of him stood Admiral Hipper, who was as strong and trustworthy as a mountain of copper. When I learned that the war had broken out, my heart was as excited and blazing as a flame. The streamer flies, and the years go by. A quarter of a century is fleeting; Now, the brand-new navy, which has been established by its own commander, is once again at the forefront of the duel with Britain across the sea.

"General Hipper, General Scheer, Field Marshal Tirpitz, please your noble souls in heaven to protect Erich and Germany on their victorious journey." Raeder raised his head to look up at the starry sky, then reverently drew a light cross on his chest and whispered.

The clocks are swaying, and the chandeliers are shining brightly. Breathing deeply, Raeder left the window. Returning to his desk, he saw a stack of tall papers piled up on the desk. At this time, the German Navy was in the midst of a transition from peacetime to war, and there were absolutely many things that required he, the commander-in-chief, to make a decision; Not to mention anything else, the eight major departments directly under the Navy Headquarters, such as the Ordnance Department, the Operations Department, and the Military Academy, all require Raeder to assign tasks and make specific decisions on some of the key points. The only thing that made Raeder feel fortunate was that he had the assistance of Schwinniger, the chief of the General Staff. His own deputy is thoughtful and thoughtful. His help has greatly reduced the total amount of work he has done.

At this time, what Raeder put in front of him to review was a naval wartime shipbuilding plan drawn up by Schwinigger. Since wartime resources will be fully tilted towards the Army and its subordinate air forces, the Navy's Plan Z formulated last year is bound to be unrealized. In order to better cope with the war with the British. Schwinnigg led a group of staff officers to work out this new plan for two days and two nights, starting from September 1, when the German army attacked Poland.

According to this plan, all H-class battleships with a standard displacement of 65,000 tons and nine 500-mm guns, which were to be started in 1940, would be eliminated in Plan Z. The three aircraft carriers of the Zeppelin-class fleet that have already started construction will also be cut down to save valuable steel. Raeder understands this very well.

Although steel, such as the hull. It is not worth much in itself, but in the special circumstances of war, the currency of "money" has largely lost its meaning for a country. What really matters is no longer money, production capacity is the core key. If a war-torn country has only green dollars but cannot produce real guns and ammunition, then its ultimate fate in the face of a fierce enemy can be imagined. The steel used to build one H-class battleship is enough to build 3,250 of the latest Snow Wolf tanks, and considering the huge gap between the two in terms of the length of time it will take effect, there will be no doubt what the Führer will choose!

(Regarding the contradiction between cost and production capacity, the German Leopard tank in the historical plane is the most typical embodiment.) The price of a 45-ton Black Panther is 118,000 marks, which is only 15,000 more expensive than the 25-ton No. 4 H model; however, the consumption of inherent resources such as iron and tin by the former is much greater than that of the latter due to its own weight, which makes Nazi Germany, which is already stretched thin in war resources, unable to make the Black Panther achieve mass production like a light tank. The Black Panther is undoubtedly a good car in peacetime, and the cost performance is the number four, but the appearance of Germany, which is blockaded on all sides during the war, can only be said to be a tragedy born at an inopportune time - the author presses. ）

In this case, light ships became the first choice for the expansion of the German navy in wartime. Schwinniger plans to start construction of 12 new armored superdrives, 70 Type VII standard submarines, and hundreds of minesweepers and S-type torpedo boats in the next one year. The first two were used to break diplomatic relations with Britain in the oceans, while the latter two were used in the English Channel and the North Sea to combat British ships in the near seas and merchant ships sailing in the North Sea.

At present, the Wilhelm shipyard, desperate to survive under the pressure of Brom-Foss, has introduced the excellent S-100 torpedo boat: the boat has a standard displacement of only 80 tons, but can achieve a terrifying speed of up to 43 knots under the impetus of three diesel engines of 2000 hp each. Such a galloping speed, combined with two 610 mm oxygen torpedo tubes, was enough to make it a nightmare that even British destroyers feared. And its range is also excellent, reaching 800 nautical miles / 30 knots, which allows it to even go forward to fight in the middle of the North Sea, and make any British warship that appears in front of it tremble!

After a deep sigh, Raeder felt that there was nothing left to change about the plan. He picked up the pen in his hand and prepared to give his approval to the document. At this moment, the sound of hurried and dense footsteps suddenly sounded outside the corridor, and it was getting closer and closer to his door; Raeder frowned slightly, who is this who is so ignorant of the rules that he is running around the Navy Headquarters building?

"Bang!" There was a loud bang, and the office door was slammed open. Raeder's pupils shrank suddenly, and he was about to open his mouth to shout, but he was stunned to find that it was none other than Admiral Schwinniger, the chief of staff who was currently second only to him in status and power in the navy. Raeder was stunned for a moment, and his mind didn't come back to his senses: "Winnie, can you tell me what's going on?" ”

"Your Excellency, we have made history!" Schwinniger, who had a square face, snapped and slapped a few telegraph pages in his hand on the desk. His lips trembled, and his expression was so excited that he could no longer see the slightest majestic and steady appearance on weekdays, and shouted in a trembling voice: "The news just came from Bomay, they have successfully attacked Scapa Bay at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, sinking more than 250,000 tons of British first-line ships, including 5 capital ships, 6 cruisers, and 2 aircraft carriers!" The capital ships of the British Home Fleet have lost nearly half of them, and they can no longer trap us in the cage of the North Sea! ”

"Bome's fleet is in action so soon?" Raeder was slightly surprised in his heart, because in the battle plan drawn up by Fang Yan, the target location and the weather conditions in the sea area where his fleet was located were both crucial. If one condition is not met, then your fleet will have to abandon the attack and wait for the weather to improve before making a comeback. Because of this, when his thoughts diverged in front of the window just now, he didn't think too much about the situation of the expeditionary fleet. Raeder nodded: "It seems that Bo Mei and their luck are good, they have encountered the weather suitable for attacking...... his voice suddenly lowered, and said in surprise: "You just said, how many British battleships have been sunk?" ”

Tears of joy were already flowing from the corners of Schwinigg's eyes, and he said, "Including the Counterattack and the Nelson, a total of 5 capital ships!" This tonnage is more than double the total number of victories we won at the Battle of Skagerrak (Jutland). And our losses were only 24 planes, and the Bismarck was slightly damaged by the bombing. At present, Bismarck is already returning at high speed under the cover of 2 destroyers, and by tomorrow morning they will be able to enter the cover radius of our shore-based aircraft. ”

In an instant, Raeder's mind was like spring thunder, and the words of the other party continued to reverberate in his ears. After being stunned for more than ten seconds, Raeder grabbed the telegram and began to read it quickly in front of the lamp. Gradually, his breathing became heavy, and the hand that grasped the message began to tremble slightly; When he finished reading the last line of the telegram, his heart was turbulent, and everything in front of him suddenly became a little blurry.

Twenty years on, from the day when all the elite of the High Seas Fleet collapsed in Scapa Bay, the German Navy has been living in the shadow of endless shame and contempt by the country. Even the revelations that illuminated the rise and fall of the High Seas Fleet in the past and the present and the future, and even the great development and construction after the Führer came to power, could not enable the German Navy to reverse this historical grievance and sorrow. Today, however, all the pain and negativity will be swept away with this hearty victory. The German Navy has been reborn: battle, glory, and victory will be the supreme pursuit of this group! (To be continued.) )