"I don't remember giving you the task of landing and seizing Jan Mayen......" Hoffmann in the Admiralty in Berlin was furious, "what are you thinking?" The whole program of action has been changed again and again, does anyone still remember what the real essence of the Straits plan was? ”

"Führer." Raeder opened his mouth with difficulty, "In the afternoon, the artillery bombardment formation and the aircraft carrier formation rejoined, and the position was about 100 nautical miles southeast of Jan Mayen Island, because it was besieged by the British all morning, the fleet commander was afraid of continuing to be attacked by air attacks from the island, and decided to attack first, but it turned out that there were only a small number of aircraft and personnel on the island, and a few merchant ships that had been evading us, so they immediately sent the Europa and Scharnhorst as the core, The fast fleet, which included two destroyers and more than 10 torpedo boats, attacked together. In only four hours we took control of the whole island, cleared all the enemy and captured the ships, and we lost nothing, not even a single wounded. ”

"But you wasted four hours! The last time you wasted 5 hours chasing down the enemy's cruiser, it didn't work out as planned, and now it's ......."

"There is a peculiarity this time...... "Raeder patiently explained, "the weather conditions were enough to make a sortie that afternoon, so the fleet could not continue further south - it was in the Icelandic air defense patrol circle, but from tomorrow the weather in the Danish Strait will turn bad, and we will have enough time to cross the strait." In addition, the control of Jan Mayen Island is not for nothing, the replenishment of gasoline, fuel oil and captured ships on the island's stockpiles provides us with a lot of convenience, and the fleet is undergoing large-scale replenishment. The fleet decided to send 2 destroyers and 15 torpedo boats to escort the captured ships back to China, and to bring back the British officers and men captured in the battle and the supplies that had been intended to be transported to the Russians. According to incomplete statistics, the ship was loaded with at least 5,000 tons of armored steel, 6,000 tons of aluminum ingots, more than 1,000 vehicles of various types, canned meat and many military supplies......"

Hearing that there was such a huge profit, Hoffman's face looked a lot better, but he still asked uneasily: "In this way, we have clearly told the British where they are at present, and also hinted that the fleet will pass through the Danish Strait, and the enemy will definitely wait for us where it must pass...... This island is so close to Iceland that once the navy withdraws, it will definitely not be able to hold it, and it will not matter how many land forces are left. ”

"Jan Mayen is about 600 kilometers from Iceland and about 1,000 kilometers from Norway, and the Royal Navy is now in a hurry to deal with us and has no hands to deal with Jan Mayen. The fleet also does not plan to leave many people on the island, at most 4-5 tanks, about 50-60 army units, as for the planes to be transferred from Norway after the weather improves, it will not affect the follow-up operation. "But the island is of great value, and if it can be controlled in our hands, it will not only provide a foothold for future access to the Atlantic, but also have a strong deterrent effect on the Arctic route, and can play a value similar to that of the Azores -- in terms of cutting off the route and providing early warning, I think Jan Mayen and the Azores have the same status." ”

There is one thing he did not say: if the naval forces of the Third Reich were withdrawn, even if the army occupied the Azores, it would not necessarily hold out for long.

Hoffman was silent, he thought carefully about Raeder's words, and after thinking for a long time, he thought that the explanation and analogy of the Admiral made sense, and nodded: "Okay, you have convinced me, what are you going to do next?" ”

Raeder and Frick were visibly relieved, they had been prepared to be trained for changing their plans without permission, but now that the Führer was so reasonable, their mood relaxed at once, and the old marshal waved his fist: "The fleet begins to pass through the Danish Strait tonight!" If there is an interception from the enemy, do not hesitate to destroy them! ”

I don't know if it was because of the lightning strike tactics that emboldened Mashal last night, or if it was because of the sinking of two battleships, but now the German fleet is starting to grow bolder, and they judge that the Royal Navy will not intercept more than three capital ships of the North Sea Fleet in the Danish Strait -- the North Sea Fleet now has the strength to fight, and it is a big deal to retreat with speed and repeat the day's actions today.

"I heard you like those torpedoes and S-boats now?" Hoffman asked.

"The fleet is very useful and powerful from top to bottom, how can I say it......" Frick said, "even Tirpitz is not sure to survive Article 4." ”

"If I'm not mistaken, there are 2 heavy mine-mounted cruisers in the Japanese fleet, and now they are both in Italy, you can go and inspect them, and if you like it, contact General Horiyoshi, and we can just buy them, anyway, the Japanese don't need them now, and it's very suitable to use them to break the relationship."

"Heavy thunder suit?" Frick felt inexplicable, "What a heavy ......"

"Each cruiser can be paired with about 40 torpedoes."

Frick was taken aback and stammered, "Führer, I heard you right, right?" ”

"Of course, and 610mm caliber torpedo tubes." Hoffman laughed, "The Japanese are crazy, right?" ”

"I'll go to Italy tomorrow." Raeder hurriedly agreed, what are you kidding, if you put two of them together, there are 80 torpedoes, how many fleets can withstand this earth-shattering blow?

"What do you think of Iceland's defenses?" Caught off guard, another sentence came out of Hoffman's mouth.

"It won't be very strong, as long as there is a suitable army and navy force, it can be occupied by arms." Raeder became excited, "Führer, you want to fight Iceland?" ”

Hoffman nodded: "The Battle of Gibraltar will be launched soon, if it goes well, when the axis naval forces in the Mediterranean Sea enter the Atlantic, we will have a complete upper hand in naval power, it is not realistic to attack the east coast of the United States in the short term, and it is also very difficult to land on the British mainland for the time being, but I don't think it will be difficult to land in Iceland - at least the British did not spend much effort when they controlled Iceland in the first place." Actually, I don't even think it is necessary to land on British soil -- as long as we can cut off the British shipping lines and Japan occupy India, I see what Churchill, the fat man, will do to feed the 40 million starving Britons. ”

Frick hurriedly nodded: "The Navy General Staff will complete the formulation of the relevant plan as soon as possible." ”

At nightfall, after occupying Jan Mayen Island and seizing the relevant supplies and supplies, Machar led the fleet back on the road after resting and replenishing. Raeder was right in saying that the military significance of capturing Jan Mayen Island was still a matter of deceasement, but at least it gave the fleet great psychological satisfaction, especially the army units that had been bumpy and frightened all the way. Mashal originally thought that few people were willing to take on the task of staying on Jan Mayen Island, because no matter how you look at it, it was a situation of death and no life, but the result was much more than he expected, and nearly half of them were willing to sign up to stay behind. In the end, he picked 2 infantry platoons and 6 tanks to stay on it, and dismantled all the guns and anti-aircraft guns on the captured merchant ships for the defense troops.

While Hoffman was listening to the tsunami plan, Churchill was also in the Admiralty in London.

"The weather forecast says that the weather in the Danish Strait will not be very good tonight and tomorrow, cloudy with rain and snow, and the weather will be bad tomorrow morning, and it may stop in the afternoon close to evening, but there is uncertainty......"

Hearing such news, he did not hesitate to give instructions: "Let the E fleet go and intercept them, and the Germans cannot be allowed to rush into the Atlantic without such a smooth flow." ”

"But the Prime Minister." Tovey was embarrassed and said, "Fleet E is not strong, even weaker than Fleet W, and we can't fight the main force of the German fleet." ”

"No, they have a lot of potential! Because we can get the support of Icelandic air forces, as far as possible not to fight into surface ship artillery battles, we must be good at giving full play to our own advantages, especially those escort aircraft carriers must play their value, time is on our side. ”

Pound interjected: "Although we have repeatedly urged the US side to speed up the repair process, it will take another week for the Elizabeth and Indomitable to be fully repaired at the earliest......"

"There is no need for the Elizabeth, Indomitable, and Warrior to return home so soon, and it is recommended that they return with the George V-class battleships and the Tejour-class aircraft carriers returning from the Far East." Churchill said, "The biggest mistake we made in this battle was to divide our forces, and we should not have let the W and E fleets divide their forces to hold the relevant waterways, but should have joined forces to find the right time to intercept and contain the German fleet." These new support forces had to form a combined force to the maximum extent possible before dealing with the Germans. ”

"What about the Independence and the Pennsylvania?"

"What about the American ships......," Churchill thought for a moment, "and let them act as planned, and add some strength to the E fleet." ”

Tovey was silent, with only a wry smile on his face: the division of the fleet was approved and promoted by the Prime Minister, and now he said that the division of troops was wrong and reckless, as if he had seen that the hat of defeat would be on his head in the future—just as the hat was put on Admiral Alexander's head after the defeat of the war in North Africa, and the hat of the failed landing in Egypt was on Vice Admiral Cunningham's head.

At 10 o'clock in the morning of 14 February, after a 13-hour long journey, after marching more than 500 kilometers to the southwest route, Machar led the North Sea Fleet to swagger into Iceland's 200-nautical-mile air defense circle again.

At this time, the Danish Strait is the moment when the wind is angry and the white waves crash on the shore, and even the planes of the Europa are a little shaky, and the sea water is constantly beating up to wet these guys covered with tarpaulins.

So, the journey was uneventful. (To be continued.) )