London

There was a fierce quarrel within the British government, and the world war was now going on, and the supply of supplies to the British Isles was no longer guaranteed.

Submarines operating in the Indian, Atlantic, and Pacific Oceans, as well as planes over the British Isles, seriously threatened their material shipments.

Home Secretary Compleis was the first to complain: "Since May, the enemy's warplanes have become more and more rampant, and on average there have been no less than 1,500 sorties of enemy planes over us every day.

The enemy had just launched another massive raid on Berlin, causing tens of thousands of casualties and millions more homeless, and even the German government had to go into hiding.

What do we do if this happens in London? When will the Air Force be able to keep our heads safe? ”

Other problems can be put aside first, the enemy planes overhead are the real killers, and now they go to and from work, and they all feel like they are working with their heads in their hands.

Since the fall of the Strait of Gibraltar, the British Isles have not been safe, not only as a threat from the sky, but also as rumors of a landing operation by Bulgaria.

It doesn't matter if it's true or not, anyway, they have to prepare for it as real, otherwise if the enemy suddenly hits, won't it cost lives?

The English Channel is too narrow to guarantee the security of the British Empire, and as long as they do not get air supremacy for a day, they are in a dangerous state for a day.

"I'm sorry sir, I can't answer this question, the Royal Air Force has limited strength and can't shoulder this heavy responsibility!" Air Force Commander-in-Chief Hugh Carswall Dowding said indifferently

He was supposed to retire as early as 1938, but his retirement application was postponed indefinitely due to practical needs.

It is precisely because of the long time in this position that General Dowding really understands the strength of the British Air Force, and if he wants to rely on the strength of the Air Force to protect their heavenly security, it is better to expect God to bless.

Since the Battle of Britain began, the RAF has lost 2,648 aircraft, 3,876 pilots, and many more logisticians.

This is not only the loss of the homeland, but the loss of the air force deployed overseas is even more severe, the air force of Sicily and Egypt has been completely wiped out, and the pilots of the Dominion of South Africa have refused to take off.

As the saying goes, dead pigs are not afraid of boiling water, and now Hugh Carswall Dowding doesn't matter, anyway, whoever comes is the same, and now where is the Royal Air Force's family fund.

"General Dowding, do you know what you're talking about? The people fed you with money, and at this time you told me that you are not capable of guarding the airspace of the British Empire, what are you going to eat? Comples asked sharply

"Enough is enough, Mr. Compleis, don't be an official here! How much is the military budget allocated to our Air Force each year?

Do you think it's still World War I? Any plane can go to the sky to fight? Hugh Carswall Dowding said with a sneer

Are the British short of planes?

There is no shortage of it!

Ordinary planes with backward performance are everywhere, although they are not as good as Bulgaria, but if you casually gather seven or eight thousand planes, there is no problem at all.

But there are not so many aircraft that can fight in the sky, and at the beginning of the Battle of Britain, the Royal Air Force automatically retired half of its fighters.

There is no way, these fighters with average performance are completely giving the enemy a record of battle, which is a waste of the pilot's life.

Pilots are also a valuable resource, especially fighter pilots, and in order to guarantee the number of pilots, now the British have to repeatedly reduce the training time of pilots.

For the sake of safety, the training base of the Royal Air Force is no longer in the British Isles, otherwise these rookie pilots will have to hit the streets on the way to training.

Now Bulgarian fighters have to cruise over the British Isles every day, and if they happen to encounter it, it will be meat buns and dogs.

"You ......"

Before Comples could finish speaking, Churchill stopped the two from arguing.

"Enough, today I let you discuss countermeasures, not listen to your quarrel! What we need now is to be in the same boat and find a way to get through this together.

The enemy has already hit our doorstep, the English Channel can no longer defend our security, and once the enemy lands, what can we do to stop them? ”

This is the most realistic problem, entering the era of aircraft carriers, now the Royal Navy no longer has the strength to dominate the world, continuous bombing, the British no longer have the arrogance of the past.

Now that they have lost air supremacy, if Bulgaria wants to land in the British Isles, it is theoretically no longer a problem.

It was simply impossible for the Royal Navy to hold the English Channel, and even at night, they did not dare to dock at all, and even at night they had to be cautious for fear of being discovered by the enemy.

Ever since the Bulgarian Air Force attacked the Italian Navy in World War I, they have recognized the importance of air defense.

Unfortunately, the British did not expect the situation to be so bad, having lost air supremacy at the very beginning of the war.

Secretary of State Will Lauren said worriedly: "Your Excellency, the enemy's attacks are showing signs of intensification, and our intelligence officers have found that airports are being built in Spain, France, North Africa and other regions.

If we don't take action, the number of warplanes that will appear in the skies over Great Britain in the future will not be as small as it is now, maybe 3,000, maybe 5,000.

With the strength of the Bulgarians, even if it is 10,000 or 20,000, it is just a number, and I dare not imagine what will happen to so many enemy planes overhead! ”

This terrible result is creepy to everyone just thinking about it.

With Bulgaria's industrial production capacity, it is not a problem to manufacture 70,000 or 80,000 aircraft per year, and it would not be surprising if France, Austria-Hungary and other allies are added to this production capacity of more than 100,000 aircraft.

Looking at the size of Bulgaria's air force, the number of Bulgarian air force has swelled to 1.27 million in just a few months after the outbreak of the war, and it is still growing.

The other member states of the Holy Alliance were not idle, and even the Netherlands and Belgium, which had already fallen, had put together hundreds of pilots.

Not to mention the big powers, perhaps no one has made hundreds of thousands of potential pilots like Bulgaria, but a few thousand can still be taken casually.

Considering the Holy Alliance's large population base, it is not a myth that as many pilots can be trained, and it is not a myth that tens of thousands of planes will be looting in the British Isles in a few months, covering the landing of enemy troops.

The pan-international front is not good, except for the two main forces of Britain and Germany, the other member states are all made up, almost zero in industry, and can only play soy sauce militarily.

"General Dowding, can the Air Force still go out to meet the enemy?" Churchill asked, frowning

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, we are accumulating strength, every day we are adding dozens of warplanes, and now the enemy wants us to fight hard with them to achieve the ambition of destroying the Royal Air Force!" Hugh Carswall Dowding thought for a moment and said

Churchill frowned and said: "But the enemy's warplanes are also increasing, and due to the enemy's bombing, our native factories have been forced to move and can only be produced secretly. In terms of numbers, we can't fight with them!

Now our local production capacity is negligible, most of it is produced in North America and then shipped to the local assembly area.

However, the enemy's submarines were not idle, and the main forces of the Bulgarian Navy had already gone out of the Mediterranean Sea and pinned down the Royal Navy.

We don't even have enough warships to escort the transport fleet, and the survival rate of the supply ships to the mainland is only 94.3 percent on a single route!

In addition to this, we must also consider the political implications, there are not many neutral countries now, and if they fall to the Holy Alliance, this war will be even harder! ”

Ninety-four .3 per cent sounds like a good number, but in fact it is very scary, which means that a trip to the UK will cost 5.7 per cent of the capacity.

One back and forth, the ship of the near floor sank in the ocean, such a rate of attrition, the ship can be quickly replenished, but the crew is consuming the heritage of the British Empire.

At this time, no one cares about the attitude of neutral countries, except for the Holy Alliance, which is the pan-international front, other countries can't hide, and at this time, don't you want to kill yourself by sending supplies to the British?

The submarines of Bulgaria and the submarines of the French are all in the Atlantic, and many times when they see a ship, it is directly a torpedo, and they don't even bother to look at the national flag.

At this time, the merchant ships of the Holy Alliance will not appear here, and the few remaining neutral countries in Europe dare not have an opinion.

For example, the tragic Portugal, in just a few months, was sunk by more than a dozen ocean-going merchant ships, didn't it swallow the bitter fruit itself?

They didn't even know who had sunk it, but there were submarines from six or seven countries in this area, so who did they go to?

In the end, they had no choice but to minimize maritime trade, and even if they had to go, they would take a detour to avoid being injured along the offshore industry.

Not only Portugal, but also Denmark, Norway, Sweden and other countries, all of which are now considering whether to renounce their neutrality and join the Holy Alliance.

Everyone is not stupid, the British will sink their ships, neutral ships exist, and they can also help transport supplies.

However, it was different for the Holy Alliance, these ships were dangling in the Atlantic, and God knows if they were delivering supplies to the British?

For the sake of safety, it is better to sink it first, anyway, there are many contradictions between European countries, such as the relationship between Spain and Portugal.

At this time, there is nothing surprising for the Yin Portuguese, anyway, even if they have the evidence, it is useless, and now the Holy Alliance is still forcing them to stand in line!

Switzerland, for example, couldn't bear it, and the Holy Alliance directly embargoed their supplies on the grounds that they were still trading with the Germans.

As a neutral country, what kind of neutral country is it if it does not trade with the Germans?

However, from the standpoint of the Holy Alliance, it was an indisputable fact that Switzerland traded with the Germans, increasing the war potential of the Germans.

Naturally, the Swiss are not stupid, they have long found out about this problem. Now that the Holy Alliance is blockading at this time, if you continue to trade with the Germans, then the next big trouble.

For example, in the case of food, Switzerland has limited local food production and has to import some of it from the outside world, and some industrial products also need to be exported and imported raw materials from the outside world.

These are not what the Germans can provide, at this time the Germans need the assistance of the British, and they can't meet their own needs, where is the surplus material to distribute to them?

The British also knew that if the situation on the battlefield continued to deteriorate, it would not be long before the major neutral countries in Europe would abandon their neutral positions and join the Holy Alliance.

As the enemy's strength grows, their lives will be even more difficult as the other's strengths increase.

Hugh Carswall Dowding said with a wry smile: "Your Excellency, Prime Minister, everyone is very clear about these issues, but the enemy's strength is strong, what should we fight?"

Since the start of the war, the pilots of the Royal Air Force have almost been replaced once, and new pilots are still being trained, and you must be aware that not all pilots are capable of flying fighters!

The enemy is now waiting for us to fight with them, and if the air force attacks now, we will fall for their tricks!

Don't forget that the Royal Air Force is the biggest threat to the enemy landing in the British Isles, and as long as our strength still exists, they will not dare to act recklessly! ”

Foreign Secretary Attlee frowned and said, "General Dowding, judging from the current situation, it won't be long before the Swiss will join the Holy Alliance, and how long will the remaining Denmark, Norway, and Sweden be able to hold out?"

Once all of these nations join the Holy Alliance, it will be hard for us to have a hard time and even harder to win this war! ”

These countries will fall to the Holy Alliance, and the first to suffer will not be the British, but the Germans, who are at the center of Europe.

One only has to look at the map to see that the Germans are already having a hard time now, and it is good that they can hold the line against the background of enemies on all sides.

If Switzerland enters, then the Germans' release line will be longer again, and the military pressure will increase further.

Don't look at the small size of the country, and it doesn't have much military strength, but this is probably the last straw that crushes the Germans.

This layer of window paper, everyone very tacitly did not pierce it. At this time, it was already difficult for the British to support the Germans.

Since the implementation of the Bulgarian bombing strategy, the British have been exhausted, and they have had to build a large army on their own soil.

This consumed a lot of supplies, and the aid that was expected to be given to the Germans had to be greatly reduced, and the situation was exacerbated by the wanton plundering of Holy Alliance submarines.

According to the current situation, it is not necessary for the Holy Alliance to attack with all its might, and if it continues like this, it will not take two or three years for the Germans to collapse on their own.

As the saying goes, friends of the dead do not die of poverty, and there are people in Britain who advocate the abandonment of the Germans, and at the same time use diplomatic means to provoke internal contradictions in the Holy Alliance and dismantle this anti-British group.

Of course, this kind of voice will not become the mainstream, and it will be less than the most pessimistic capitulation faction.

Regardless of how difficult this operation is, the most important thing is that even if the alliance is dismantled, they will not be able to win this war.