"Lieutenant!" Marshal Raeder asked Qin Chuan loudly from a distance of a few meters: "How did you talk to the French general?" ”

"Oh!" Qin Chuan replied: "You know, there is nothing else to talk to the French except for surrender!" ”

There was another burst of laughter in the command headquarters.

While the German warships were rushing to the Tunis Strait at full speed, the British A Fleet was sweeping mines with all its might.

In the meantime, Major General Fischer, commander of the German 27th Air Wing, took the initiative to contact Marshal Raeder.

"Your Excellency, Marshal!" Rear Admiral Fischer reported: "We have found the enemy's minesweeping fleet in the Tunis Strait, and there are many more warships to follow, the exact number of which needs further reconnaissance, what is your plan, do you need us to stop them from clearing mines?" ”

"No, Major General!" Raeder replied, "Let them clear the mines, we'll be there in half an hour!" ”

"Yes, Marshal!"

Raeder's decision was of course correct, because the distance from Tunisia to the Channel minefield was about the same as that of Malta, which meant that when the Luftwaffe in Tunisia took off to bomb the British minesweepers, the British aircraft would also take off from Malta to fight.

In this way, Germany only had an air force, while the British had a navy and an air force to fight together, and it was clear that the Luftwaffe would suffer.

The Luftwaffe was not numerically superior, so it was wise to wait for the arrival of the navy.

"And!" Raeder said to Major General Fischer: "I think we should change our tactics a little bit!" ”

"What?" Fischer didn't understand what Raeder meant.

"You must have heard of our battle in the Tyrrhenian Sea!" Raeder said.

"Yes!" Fischer replied: "What a beautiful battle, marshal! ”

"So......" said Raeder, "you don't have to rush to provide air cover for the navy, understand?" I think the British still don't know what the problem is, and they will try to preempt them with planes as before, so that we can teach them another lesson! ”

Now Fischer understood, and he nodded in response: "Yes, Marshal!" ”

Because there was no interference from German fighters and warships, the demining of the British A fleet went smoothly.

Of course, minesweepers always sweep their mines as clean as possible, so as to provide their fleet with as wide and favorable operational waters as possible.

So, 8 minesweepers drove back and forth in the Tunis Strait under the cover of cruisers and destroyers......

Minesweepers differ from minehunters on the principle of minesweeping.

A minehunter is a ship equipped with detection equipment, which can detect whether there are mines under the water and then target minesweeping...... However, it is conceivable that although minehunters are more accurate, their work efficiency is relatively low, and they need to spend more time clearing mines.

Minesweepers, on the other hand, have no detection equipment, and their hulls have undergone special treatments, such as the construction of hulls with non-magnetic or less magnetic materials, and the installation of degaussing devices, so that magnetic mines will not be detonated; Another example is that the ship is equipped with various noise reduction devices so that it will not detonate acoustic mines.

In short, minesweepers are largely invisible to mines.

Then, the minesweeper tows a floating minesweeper cable in the rear, around which a magnetic field is generated...... Magnetic mines will be detonated one by one. Acoustic mines are fired into the water by firing sonic booms.

An ordinary mine is an anchor mine with a slac...... Only by anchoring and sling at a certain point will the mines not be swept away with the current.

It is easier to deal with this kind of mine, the tonnage of the minesweeper is shallow, and this kind of mine is generally not triggered, and the minesweeper cable that sinks to the bottom of the sea at the rear is equipped with a cutter, and when it passes through the mine, the mine will be cut, and then the mine will surface, and then it can be detonated with a gun or a gun.

The eight British minesweepers were all new-type minesweepers, and each ship had several different minesweepers at the same time, so the mines were almost cleared in less than half an hour.

"General!" After receiving the telegram, the staff officer reported to Lieutenant General Tovey: "You can pass it! ”

Vice Admiral Tovey, who was looking at the map, couldn't help but be stunned, and then asked: "Where is the German fleet?" ”

"We're still 20 nautical miles away!"

"What about the Italian fleet?"

"All the time in the port of Palermo and the port of Messina!" The staff officer replied.

The ports of Palermo and Messina were on the other side of the strait, and the port of Messina had to pass through the narrow Strait of Messina, which could easily be blocked by the British air force, which almost meant that Italy had no intention of entering the war.

In fact, Raeder did send a request to Garibal, hoping that Italy would also send a fleet to fight alongside the German navy.

But the Italian naval commander chose to avoid it when he heard that the British Mediterranean Fleet was in full swing.

"It will be difficult for our warships to break through the air blockade of the British and join the battle through the Strait of Messina!" Admiral Angelo replied to Garibal: "And we do not have good communication with the Germans and identification of friend and foe, and our entry into the war may cause unnecessary confusion!" ”

Raeder couldn't help but curse when he heard this explanation: "The Italians actually say that they don't recognize French warships?!" ”

Raeder was right, the Germans used French warships, and Italy was next to France, and the French fleet had always been Italy's main opponent, how could it be "impossible to mistakenly distinguish".

But Raeder didn't have any hope for the Italians either, and he didn't care if they came or not, especially after repelling a sneak attack by the British Air Force.

Vice Admiral Tovey hesitated, believing that the German Navy must have something to rely on to meet the enemy as it was now...... Or, perhaps the German Navy was not at all like what the Air Force reported, with two battleships heavily damaged.

At this point, Montgomery's call came to Lieutenant General Tovey's headquarters.

"So, what are you waiting for?" Montgomery said: "Pass through the Tunis Strait so that you can spread fire and not be blocked by the enemy in the strait!" ”

The Tunis Strait is not narrow, it is about 200 kilometers wide, which is enough for two navies to fight, but there is also the possibility of uncleared mines in the strait, which will make warships have some scruples.

On the other hand, the concentration of the fleet in the strait is easy to be bombed by enemy fighters.

Therefore, the correct approach should be to cross the minefield and the narrowest part of the Tunis Strait (148 km) as soon as possible and enter the area around the port of Bizerte to fight the German navy.

"General!" Vice Admiral Tovey said: "I don't think they had two battleships hit hard as we guessed......"

"Anyway, Lieutenant General!" Montgomery said: "Don't be intimidated by the Germans, we still have the advantage of air power, we have more warships and more combat effectiveness than them, and we even have an aircraft carrier!" ”