493 shelling Margate

A hundred years of navy, the British Empire has not had the habit of not being beaten back since the time of Nelson. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Although the info was doomed, the two battleships of the British naval fleet were still desperately firing back.

This time, because of the range, they once again aimed their artillery at an inconsequential place, but it was bound to be of concern: Margate.

Originally, this was not the place where the British Navy wanted to hit the shelling, but because of the range, the battleship Prince of Wales began to pour its ammunition here.

At the same time, another battleship, the Sovereign, which could not escape, also began to fire here. Shell after shell fell, turning Margate into ruins.

"I don't know...... I really don't know what you're talking about...... But I'll make sure, so please keep in touch! An officer of the British High Command in London put down the phone in his hand and looked up in confusion.

He stood up, walked behind his commander, and coughed softly before he opened his mouth to report the latest information he had heard: "Sir, our warship seems to be shelling Margate......"

"Margate? Are you kidding? Although the Germans occupied it, there was no port there, how could the madmen of the Navy think of shelling it? The general, who hadn't had a good night's sleep since last night, frowned and asked rhetorically.

After asking rhetorically, he couldn't figure out why the navy's warships would suddenly attack unplanned targets, and they had chosen such a sensitive place.

Margate is not a village or a small town, it is a big city. It is inhabited by many British civilians, and if they are attacked, the consequences are quite serious.

The fact that the army was incompetent, unable to defend itself from the borders of the country, and that, after a rout, turned back to shell its own civilians - this is in any case an inexplicable scandal.

Therefore, the major general threw away the cigarette butt in his hand, crushed it vigorously with the soles of his feet, straightened his military uniform, and walked to the side Prime Minister Churchill, who was discussing a night counterattack with Deere.

"Mr. Prime Minister...... Hope nothing bothers you. The major general was still very discerning, and only spoke to his commander when Churchill stopped to drink water.

"What's the matter?" Churchill did not have much impression of the major general in front of him, obviously compared to the army commander, there were also senior generals, this major general in charge of chores, rarely had the opportunity to talk to him directly.

However, the rear admiral's subsequent words made Churchill realize the seriousness of the problem: "Sir, it seems that our naval warships have stopped shelling the German-occupied areas, but just now, the contact point lurking in the Margate area has received news that the navy is shelling there. ”

"Navy? Shelling Margate? Are you kidding? When Churchill heard the news, he knew he might be the most famous prime minister in British history.

Ordering the Navy to shell its own people is simply the same as Hitler, who started the war, an executioner, a demon who is going to the gallows.

Churchill, who had also not slept all night, cheered up and watched the rear admiral open his mouth and ordered: "It is impossible for the navy to shell Margate, you go and find a way to confirm whether the news is accurate...... And also! Don't make a noise! ”

After ordering the major general, after the other party left, he called Charles, who was pale. Before he could ask Charles, Charles told him what had happened.

He said to his prime minister in frustration: "Sir, the attack of the Navy has been stopped by the enemy, the battleship forces have suffered heavy losses, and we have lost the ability to continue to control the strait. ”

Churchill was obviously more concerned about the heavy naval losses than the bombardment of Margate. He immediately forgot about Margate's damn little city and asked Charles, "What's going on?" Another battleship was sunk? ”

"Nope." Before Churchill could rejoice in this answer, Charles said the following words: "The two battleships were badly wounded and suffered heavy casualties, and although they did not sink, they would have been sunk before dawn." ”

In fact, at the same time that Charles said this to Churchill, the damage crew on the battleship Prince of Wales had begun to despair in the face of the flood of water.

One by one, the compartments were flooded by the sea, and the bombs dropped by the German planes were very accurate - after all, a flame in the night still looked very conspicuous and eye-catching.

Every time an explosion causes a shock, the damage management has done all the work it has done before. Coupled with the inexperience of the damage management troops, the battleship Prince of Wales was now so badly tilted that it could no longer use its own artillery to rain its shells into the German-occupied territory.

Although the captain had not yet given the order to abandon the ship, the deck of the battleship was still full of young soldiers. These officers and men all came from the Navy's military academies and were the precious future of the British Navy.

A British destroyer cruises alongside, which is responsible for rescuing people who have fallen overboard. Because it was night, the German planes did not waste their precious ammunition on it.

After all, there are still two huge battleships across the sea, and they are the real feats. Therefore, the German pilots were still trying again and again, dropping the bombs that would determine the fate of the two British battleships on their targets.

"You mean that the battleship Prince of Wales has lost its ability to move, and that it is this battleship that is firing at Margate?" Churchill's voice was a little hoarse, and it was obvious that he was in a very bad mental state.

It's not good for anyone, he hasn't slept since last night and tonight. At the same time, he had to deal with the chaos of the war, dealing with the related political and civil issues......

Ordinary people will feel big when they think about it, and the leaders of those countries seem to have infinite scenery, but the things on their shoulders are not something that can be summed up by a simple joke like "I can do it".

Looking at Churchill, who was in a very bad mental state, Charles hesitated to tell him something more disturbing, Churchill saw Charles's hesitation, and opened his mouth to squeeze out a word from between his teeth: "Say!" ”

Charles could only bite the bullet and continue to speak: "The battleship Sovereign was also wounded near the battleship Prince of Wales, or it could have been Margate who it opened fire on. ”

Two battleships, the British Navy will lose two battleships tonight, making the already worse battle of the Atlantic Sea another step in the direction of more favorable to Germany.

Now, even if the German Navy does not run and fights with the British home fleet in a dignified manner, the home fleet may not have a advantage to take advantage of......

If you think about it, it is impossible for Britain to send the home fleet to compete with the Germans at sea. Then in a battle of this scale with two or three battleships, the British army really did not have the certainty of killing the German fleet.

What's more, at this time, the battleship Prince of Wales, which the British Navy had high hopes and could barely keep up with the speed of the German Navy, was already about to be sunk by the Germans.

Of the 9 capital ships, only a pitiful 7 remain. If you count the Ramirez, which was wounded and could not run fast, then the next time the British army could fight, there were only 6 battleships left.

Excluding the old battleships that could not keep up with the speed of the fleet, the remaining battleships of the British Navy, and then going out to find trouble with the German naval fleet, maybe they will be bitten back.

British Navy Fleet Commander Tom on his way home? S? V. Phillips, at this moment, is as depressed as the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Charles.

Never in a hundred years has the British Navy's home fleet been so in decline, nor have they faced such a formidable challenge. Even in the last world war, Britain was never so embarrassed in the face of provocations by the High Seas Fleet.

"I am going to meet His Majesty the King and explain to him that the shelling of Margate was a last resort. If possible, prepare some information as soon as possible to prove that Margate was hiding German supplies. With that, Churchill walked out of the big commanding room.

It was the first time in 24 hours that he had stepped out of the room besides going to the bathroom, and by the time he got into his car and leaned back in his seat, he fell asleep.

The driver started the car cautiously, but heard Churchill, who had fallen asleep, speak in a daze, and said, "Go to see the emperor." ”

In another room, Dowding looked at the few remaining British fighter jet deployment markings on the wall, wondering whether he should continue to take off and go to the German-occupied zone to die.

In one day, he lost a full 240 fighters, and unlike before, only 32 of the 240 pilots who flew the planes returned to the team, and 28 of them could barely continue to fight.

This made it impossible for Dowding to replenish fighter pilots and thus to allow more planes to take off for combat. Originally, he didn't have many planes, but now because of the scarcity of pilots, the number of planes that can fight is even less.

At present, he only has more than 200 planes that can continue to fight, and the most that can take off at the same time is only 1780.

With such a rare plane, facing five times the number of German fighters - this is no different from sending him to death, not to mention that because of the German bombers, he had to deploy his own aircraft on the front line of Birmingham.

The take-off planes intercepted enemy planes, and the distance between German planes flying across the strait to the German landing sites was almost small, which also seriously restricted the British fighters from giving full play to their home advantage.

As time passed, the sky was about to dawn, and the two British battleships were still struggling, and the next day the pressure on the British troops was not reduced, but vaguely increased.