On February 1, 1943, in the bitter cold wind, the escort formation led by Colonel Robert St. Vincent Sherbrooke of the British Royal Navy was slowly moving from west to east, the escort warships consisted of 7 destroyers, 2 small frigates, 2 minesweepers and 3 armed trawlers, and the destroyer Anslow served as the flagship, they escorted the first wave of ships since the introduction of the JW number - a total of 17 transport ships, carrying 140 tanks, 3176 military vehicles, 104 fighters, Forty-nine bombers, 30,000 tons of aluminum ingots, 20,000 tons of armor steel, and about 60,000 tons of various supplies, including canned Spam meat, went to Murmansk in the Soviet Union.

Historically, the fleet set sail on December 22, 1942, but due to the changing situation and the British Empire's own urgent need for supplies, it was not until January 26 that it departed from Iceland. In addition to increasing the size of the convoy, the Royal Navy deployed three cruisers and two destroyers under the command of Rear Admiral Robert Lindsey Burnett to the Barents Sea for standby, including the heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland (Kent class, 10,000 tons of displacement), the light cruisers Sheffield (Southampton class, 9,700 tons) and the Jamaica class (Fiji class, 8,500 tons), and the destroyers Actis and Minothound. To support the operation, the Royal Navy even used the German submarine U-570, which had been captured earlier, as a flank reconnaissance.

The size of the entire transport formation was slightly larger than the historical one (originally 14 ships), and the material composition changed significantly: the number of tanks was reduced, and the models were replaced by mostly obsolete M3 Stuart or General Grant; All of these fuels will be cancelled because the UK is now very tight on its own fuel reserves; But the Soviet Union desperately needed more ingots, armor steel, and supplies than it had historically. The whole force was numbered JW-51A, and there was also the JW-51B transport fleet, and the two fleets together constituted a complete JW-51 fleet, but because the supplies of the 51B fleet had not yet been arranged, they set off at a later date - another reason was that the British side was not confident in the Arctic route, and for fear that JW-51 would repeat the mistakes of the PQ-17 fleet, so they preferred to divide into two fleets.

No one including Hoffman knew that the historical JW-51A fleet arrived in the Soviet Union completely without incident, and it was the 51B fleet that experienced the Battle of the Barents Sea, but this time the escort warships were not much different from the Battle of the Barents Sea, but the fleet that was found was replaced by the 51A.

The fear of defeat in the Battle of the Barents Sea had always weighed on Hoffmann's mind - the German surface ships, including the Hippers and the Lützov, had been completely defeated by the British naval formation, and when he heard the name of Vice Admiral Kumetz, he only felt the hairs on his back stand on end, otherwise it would be difficult to understand that he had just said that he was going on vacation, and only one night later he ran back to Berlin in a hurry.

There was only a limit to what he could do, he could not have removed Kumetz inexplicably, not to mention that the German Navy did not have too many fleet commanders who could assume the responsibility of commanding naval battles, at least Kumetz did not expose the problem now, and he also knew an important reason for the abnormal performance of the Navy in the Battle of the Barents Sea - the overly cautious naval command issued an order to protect the ship, and the more cautious Kumetz carried out this order to the extreme. That's why he desperately asked Keitel to order that the naval command was not allowed to give instructions at will, and now it seems that Keitel carried out his intentions well, and I don't know what Raeder was thinking.

In addition to encouraging and decompressing the challenge, he put on the trump card - he asked the Tirpitts, which has a displacement of up to 42,000 tons and was nicknamed the "North House", to go out together, and then let the front-line commander attack decisively, not afraid of losses! He did his best, and if he failed again, there was really nothing to say.

The Battle of the Barents Sea must be fought, and it is never a good way to dodge and act as a presence fleet! Regardless of the importance of cutting off the Arctic route, the German Navy must dare to confront the Royal Navy if it wants to break the blockade, especially when the latter has suffered repeated setbacks and important capital ships are far away in the Far East.

On the train back to Berlin, Hoffmann, who had been suffering from gains and losses, finally calmed down, and he thought that he had a more favorable factor than Hitler - time! Historically, the Battle of the Barents Sea took place on New Year's Day in 1943, which was almost the longest time of the polar night, with only a little light for four hours from 10 a.m. to 14 p.m., and now it is February, so it is common sense to assume that the light conditions should be better. This suspicion was quickly confirmed by the adjutant of the Navy - the hours of light in Norwegian waters now extend from 9 a.m. to 15 p.m., two hours more, and the brightness at noon will be increased by one level.

Hoffman flailed his fists excitedly, as if he saw the dawn of victory.

At this moment, in Berlin, after receiving the report of the U-354, Raeder's first reaction was to be ecstatic, and the good days of surface ships had finally come. Six months ago, German submarines and air forces joined forces to sweep the PQ-17 transport fleet in Norwegian waters, sending 24 of the 35 transport ships to the bottom of the sea, and a total of 430 tanks, 210 aircraft and 100,000 tons of supplies were fed to fish and shrimp. The Führer's order that large ships should not go to sea hastily deprived the battleships and cruisers of a chance to perform, and Hans Hartmann, the captain of the heavy cruiser Hipper, complained about this. But this time it was different, as the Führer not only approved the "Rainbow" plan to hunt down the convoy, but also demanded that the Norwegian Navy go into battle, including the most formidable of all, the Tirpitts.

He pondered carefully about the enemy's situation and situation, weighed his words, and prepared to issue an order to Kumetz, who was commanding at the front, reminding him to pay attention to safety and not to fall into the lightning trap of the British. As soon as the order was prepared and ready to be issued, the adjutant reluctantly ran over to him and told him: "Chief Keitel has given instructions: the Führer has an order, and it is not to easily interfere with the decision-making of the front-line commanders, and any order must be approved by the Führer himself before it can be sent." ”

Raeder and Frick looked at each other in amazement, and they couldn't help but look at Keitel suspiciously, as if asking the Chief of the General Staff of the Supreme High Command to deprive the Navy Command of its command?

Keitel was embarrassed, and was about to explain a few words, although he did not understand why the Führer had given such a solemn account before his departure yesterday evening, and threatened to dismiss Raeder from his post - he did not dare to reveal the second half of the sentence, but Hoffmann's telegram soon arrived, which immediately relieved him, and he announced loudly: "The Führer has returned from the Berghof Villa from his early leave to direct the battle, and he has asked for a clear order to be sent to the commander of the front - 'Attack valiantly, and do not fear losses, I and the German people are watching you! ’”

Well, that's what the Führer meant, not Marshal Keitel in the fox fake tiger might! Both Reddell and Frick breathed a sigh of relief. But then he smiled bitterly - he was just about to remind Kumetz to be cautious, but he did not expect the Führer to say such a sentence now, and the two of them had to silently overturn their orders. But I was speculating in my heart, why did the Führer's attitude take a 180-degree turn? Could it be that the Führer is really full of confidence in Plan Z. Also, why did the Führer suddenly think of meddling in the command of the Navy, and did he, an army corporal, understand the Navy? -- However, the last half of the sentence is just thinking about it, after the Führer personally decided on the "Kungunir" plan, which was perfectly executed and swept across the Middle East, the prestige is even greater than before, and no picky person can say a "no."

While the big names in Berlin were on their minds, the sea in northern Norway was covered with snow and ice, and the ace submarine U-354 boldly floated on the surface of the water under the cover of bad weather, unhurriedly following the hazy transport fleet in the distance, and the captain, Captain Heinz Hebschleb, had just sent his men the exact location of the transport fleet: a total of 6 transports, 2 destroyers and 1 small frigate - but he did not expect that what he saw was only a part of the JW-51A fleet, A larger and more escort warship was still more than 100 nautical miles behind him.

At 9:15 a.m., Vice Admiral Oscar Kumetz, commander of the Norwegian cruiser's fleet, received a secret order to carry out the "Rainbow" operation, and immediately took up the battleship Tirpitz as planned, leading six destroyers, including the Hipper, the Lützov, and six destroyers, to attack from the Alta Fjord.

Although on the surface his own strength far surpassed that of the British convoy, and he was very eager to establish meritorious deeds by surface ships, the cautious Kumetz did not rush to attack, but aimed the route on the only path of the convoy, and tried to catch the enemy fleet and drive them south -- the weather forecast showed that the wind and snow would be suspended from tomorrow, and the planes could be dispatched in a big way, and now the JG5 Wing in Norway had joined the navy as a whole and became a naval force, and it was also a part of the navy, so he could not leave this advantage behind. Did he know that the new batch of He-218 dive bombers and Ju-98 attack planes of HNA were much more powerful than the previous ones?

More than an hour after the expulsion, Hoffmann's telegram arrived, asking him to march bravely—he could think of no other way to fulfill the Führer's instructions than to attack. (To be continued.) )