"Colonel Hartmann's report: In view of the fact that there is only one warship at the moment, the Hippel, which cannot pursue two targets at the same time, has decided to let go of the British destroyer that has just been badly damaged and deal with the British cruiser that has been heavily damaged, and he said that he will do his best!"

It was getting dark, and the Hippers had wasted so much time in disposing of the destroyer, that Hartman could not now guarantee that he would find the Englishman soon, but that could not be said in the telegram—he knew that the Führer was also interested in the telegram, and he had to speak positively and optimistically.

Receiving this laughable report, Hoffman did not say a word, and sat there silently angry.

Faced with this result, Raeder was uneasy, and aside from the achievements of the air force, the surface ship forces had a lackluster result today - they only sank 2 British destroyers and severely damaged 1, but they also paid the price of 2 sunk themselves, and they were barely able to call it a victory tactically, but they failed strategically - how many destroyers did the British have? How many talented people are there in Germany? Don't say 2 for 3, 2 for 5 can't be drawn.

Frick didn't know how to explain to Hoffman, so he could only sit silently and wait for the Yuan starters to soar, and he wondered in his heart - how could a situation with a clear advantage finally turn out like this?

It took a long time for Hoffman to speak: "It seems that I have to replenish the destroyers for you, and at this rate, it is not enough to make up 2, at least 3." ”

As soon as he heard this, the heads of the surrounding high-level people all drooped, and Raeder reluctantly spoke: "Z36 will be in service next month, and then Z35 and Z39 will be in service in half a year, and the rest will ...... Is it to restore the other two ships in the 1938 Type A program? ”

In 1938, the Type A was drawn up before the start of the war, and it was originally planned to build three ships, numbered Z40-Z42, which were super-large destroyers equipped with three 150mm twin turrets, and later developed into long-range reconnaissance cruisers (SP1-SP3) for breaking engagements, with a displacement of up to 4,500 tons. The ship is equipped with a combined diesel-steam power plant with a total power of 92,000 horsepower. In the Navy's original concept, they mainly accompanied the main battleships in and out of the Atlantic Ocean to cut off the Allied sea transportation lines, and in 1942 the construction of one of this model was started, but it has only just been launched, and outfitting has not yet begun.

"It's time to think about restoring ......," Hoffman sighed, and said with hatred, "change the design, replace those obsolete 150mm naval guns with four twin 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns, and then minimize the torpedo tubes and install the phalanx for me - don't waste the displacement of 4,500 tons." The designers told me yesterday that after intense mapping work, they found that the displacement of 3,200 tons of the hedgehog class is likely to be insufficient, and it is necessary to increase it to more than 3,600 tons, and then the budget and construction period will be increased a little, and Speer has tentatively agreed, and he hopes to lay the first keel by the end of March. ”

Although increasing tonnage and Canadian warships is good for the navy, it feels very bad to talk about it on this occasion, and the top brass of the navy are crying and sad one by one.

Raeder hesitated for a long time and spoke: "Führer, I'm sorry for the loss of 2 destroyers, we ......"

"Forget it, don't think too much, if you sink, you will sink, there are always losses in war, right?" Hoffman waved his hand and gritted his teeth, "Let the Tirpitz and Hippel kill the transports as much as possible, and you don't want the Army to watch the joke from the sidelines, right?" ”

As he said this, Marshal Keitel, who was on the side, smiled helplessly and told Raeder that he had no such intention.

In the evening, the battleship Tirpitz, escorted by the destroyer Richard Beintz (Z4), finally gathered with Hippel, and at this moment it was 5:18 p.m., it was completely dark, and the Lützov and three other destroyers in the distance were desperately approaching, and it was expected to meet at about 10 o'clock in the evening. As Hartman had expected, he could not find the battered British cruiser, not even the British destroyer that had just slipped away, and the convoy was nowhere to be found, and the sea was covered in blackness, and nothing could be seen on the radar - something was wrong.

Vice Admiral Kumetz had learned by telegram what was happening here in the afternoon, and while reminding his men to be careful of torpedoes, he planned for tomorrow's itinerary - to search the British fleet carefully to find and destroy them.

At a time when such fierce fighting is breaking out near Bear Island, London is now holding relevant meetings to discuss the next course of the war, and the first topic is Malta.

At present, the situation in Malta is precarious, after the Eastern Mediterranean is completely controlled by Germany, the Axis Air Force, especially the Italian Air Force, can finally free up their hands to deal with Malta, Mussolini got a large number of Bf-109 and Ju-87 from Germany, every day there is nothing to do in Sicily to bomb and play in the sky over Malta, and then simply sealed the Tunis-Sas Strait, out of the agreement of the Axis integration, Italy stopped the development of the army field, and added all its forces to the navy and air force, After receiving a large number of German replacement equipment, the Italian air force reached its peak since the start of the war.

The British troops on the island of Malta shot down a lot of Italian planes in air defense operations, but their own losses were also very large, the British pilots could be rescued after parachuting, but the planes were one less than one, by the end of January, a total of no more than 11 planes could take off for combat, including gasoline, food, and other material reserves also began to be urgent, fuel reserves did not exceed one month, and food could only last for three months at most, in the face of such a critical situation, the Maltese garrison frequently complained to London.

Gibraltar had sent transport troops to Malta with two escort aircraft carriers (both Tracer type) as the core, the Combatant and the Raider, but the entire fleet was sunk, and in the end only 17 Spitfires struggled to Malta, but this amount of troops was obviously a drop in the bucket to defend Malta, and it was exhausted in less than 5 days, and Italy seemed to have a steady stream of planes - in fact, the Italian leaders were also ruthless, and the Germans gave hundreds of Bf-109s or Ju-87s, Then Kesselring and the German officer corps took control of the navy and air force, and even the air base on the island of Pantelleria was restored, and he was afraid that he would attract criticism if he did not pull it out again.

Even so, the Italian SM-79 maritime patrol aircraft seized the opportunity to destroy two British submarines, including the Seraphim, which transported the American Clark to meet the French during Operation Torchlight.

Field Marshal Brooke, chief of the General Staff, gave an update on the enemy's situation: Spies in Italy sent a report today that the huge Japanese combined fleet had entered various Italian ports one after another, and with the exception of some warships that needed to be maintained and repaired (such as Zuizuru), the three Axis powers were preparing a general attack on Malta -- this time could be 10 days, or half a month, but it would not exceed the end of February.

Judgments about Malta's future status and coping strategies are divided into two diametrically opposed opinions.

"I think that the island of Malta is now surrounded on all sides of the axis, and in fact completely isolated, and the situation is worse than it was a year ago, and now all the military equipment and supplies on the island are dependent on external transports, and the British Empire is no longer able to maintain such a situation where the gains outweigh the losses, so ......," Brooke explained, "that supplies and warships are urgently needed on all sides, and that the shipping routes from the colonies to Britain have been cut off, and we cannot devote our precious resources to a small island of insignificance - after the end of the North African campaign." The strategic importance of the island of Malta has declined considerably. ”

"Despite the failure of the North African campaign and the temporary inability of Allied forces to enter the eastern Mediterranean, the existence of the island of Malta is still valuable - after all, it is easy to give up the island because it contains many Axis seas and air forces, but it will be too difficult to recover it in the future counteroffensive." Marshal Pound frowned and asked, "Assuming we want to give up, what about the existing garrison on the island?" ”

It is clear to everyone that the first opinion of Marshal Brooke's deputies is the mainstream, and Pound's opinion is not necessarily his own thoughts, but more likely to be Churchill's attitude, which is nothing more than Pound's mouth.

"When will the enemy's general offensive begin?"

"The exact timing is unknown, but it is expected that in 10 days, the Germans have already arrived in Sicily with an armored unit equipped with amphibious tanks."

"What about the Italians?"

"Italy will not send out the army, only the navy and air force, the army will be all Germans, and then the Japanese navy will cooperate in the operation - this is the general news that we have intercepted." "It is expected that the enemy will be able to come up with more than eight battleships and 500-600 aircraft to attack, and the army will be completely insignificant," Brooke said. ”

Churchill asked, "Can you hold it?" ”

Everyone, including Pound, shook their heads, Italy's power in the Mediterranean alone was already difficult to deal with, and the strength of the Japanese Navy was unimaginable, just because the main force of the Japanese Navy was in the Mediterranean, the Royal Navy did not even have the idea of sending a fleet for reinforcements - if it went, it would be sent to death. Sadly, now there are more than a dozen aircraft left on the island, and it is not known what to do against the huge Axis Navy and Air Force.

"What will happen if we don't send forces to the island?"

The crowd was silent, and the meaning seemed to be very clear - to resolutely resist and consume the enemy's living forces, and then when the tide had passed, there was only one way left to surrender honorably.

Churchill frowned, this was not the result he wanted, and in the midst of the stalemate, suddenly an even more shocking news came - the JW-51A fleet had met the German warship.

Everyone in the room was stunned. (To be continued.) )