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"Captain, Vice Admiral Shepar has sent a telegram!"

By the time Dönitz received the telegram from the communications officer, his U-039 had been drifting on the surface of the sea for a whole day. Having lost enough of an adversary to threaten them, the German submarines in the Atlantic Ocean spent more and more time on the surface, and only when they found their targets and launched an attack did they quickly dive into the water and become a real "submarine".

Unfortunately, after December, there were fewer and fewer targets on the sea that could be used for direct attacks by German submarines, and the main task of intercepting and searching for neutral ships had been entrusted to the German raiding fleet, and the role of these submarines was more of a "blockade of existence". Looking at the dwindling results in the record book, the German captains on the submarines seemed helpless, and now there were no more than 10 British and Commonwealth ships in the Atlantic Ocean in a month, and most of the British ships that could float obediently stayed in the harbor, or more between the British colonies in Asia and Oceania.

On the other hand, the German navy's blockade of the British Isles was quite successful.

After calculating the position of the British fleet indicated in the telegram, Dönitz found that the Churchill fleet was still a considerable distance away from the German alert submarines at the forefront.

"The British fleet is still more than 200 nautical miles from us, and if they do not change course, they will contact us tomorrow afternoon! Now what worries me is that the British will suddenly change course and change to other routes! ”

On the other side of the sea, Canadian sailors armed with rifles rushed aboard the German freighter "Tower", and the Germans, who were far inferior in numbers and weapons, did not resist, but cooperated with the group of Canadians to inspect them.

In the command room of the Utah, the flagship of the British varietic fleet, Churchill was smoking a cigar bitterly.

"Report, Lieutenant Colonel Reeser sent a signal that it was a purely German freighter, carrying textiles destined for the United States. There were 28 German sailors, a small number of rifles and pistols, and a transmitter on board! Lieutenant Colonel Reeser asks you what to do with that German freighter! ”

Looking at the communications officer who reported to him with a serious face, Churchill really smiled bitterly, and the performance of the group of Canadians made him feel deeply helpless, whether it was the quality of sailors or officers, they could not compare with the pure officers and sailors of the British Imperial Navy. Unfortunately, most of the British navy's most valuable asset, the well-trained and skilled sailors, disappeared with their warships in the depths of the ocean, or spent the rest of the war in German prisoner-of-war camps.

"For God's sake, make those Canadians smarter! Communications officer, let them contain the Germans on that ship, and sink that ship! Churchill frowned bitterly, needless to say, the German sailors had already sent the information back to Germany via the transmitter.

"Yes!"

Churchill had wanted to be anxious for the officers of the fleet to meet and discuss, but considering that there would be only endless arguments at such meetings, he decided to make up his mind on his own.

"Pass my orders, and the fleet will turn north!"

"But......" The other generals in the command room looked puzzled, and were heading north to Iceland, which was really where the British fleet was going in the telegram that had deceived the Germans. If the Germans believed it, they would have taken targeted action.

"Execute the order! Let's go to Iceland first! ”

In this way, the huge British special fleet, still more than 200 nautical miles from the German submarine and raid fleet, suddenly turned in the direction of Iceland. More than 200 nautical miles southwest of the fleet, German submarines and raid fleets were waiting for the British fleet, which was to arrive along the New York-Liverpool route.

Near midnight, the German reconnaissance cruisers "Munich" and "Will", arriving from the North Sea, joined the Hipper raiding fleet. At this time, Hillaire's warships included the King-class battleship "Elector" and the Ostfriedland-class battleship "Oldenburg", as well as three reconnaissance cruisers converted from light cruisers and six water reconnaissance aircraft.

"What a beautiful star!"

Just after midnight, two sailors on duty on the back deck of the "Elector" were chatting softly while stomping their feet.

"Yes! The stars on the sea always look clearer than on land, and the stars are so bright today that tomorrow will be a sunny day! Soldier A seemed to be more knowledgeable about the weather, and the cold weather made him constantly rub his frozen red face with the thick gloves he was wearing.

"Then you can bask in the sun tomorrow!" Soldier B seemed to be choking on the cold wind at sea.

"Looks like we're going to have a firefight with the British Navy these days!" As he spoke, Soldier A looked at the three cruisers behind the "Elector", all five of which were slowly heading east at cruising speed.

"Nonsense! Where do the British still have warships! Could they have fished warships from the bottom of the sea? Soldier B looked incredulous.

"Really! The two cruisers that have just come to our aid are the best proof of this, and the officers have been very busy these days! Soldier A said as he tightened the strap of his rifle on his back, "Look! We have another chance to repair the arrogant British! ”

Soldier B said no more, but looked expectantly at the dark sea in the distance.

The starlit Normandy region was exceptionally quiet, and most of the more than 200,000 German soldiers of the 8th Army had fallen asleep, except for the vigilant sentries still walking back and forth. The aroma of coffee wafted out of a brightly lit room again, where Tatsuten and his generals were still making the final arrangements.

After flipping through the pamphlet in his hand for the 108th time, Chen Tian said to everyone, "Tomorrow morning we will send the officers of all ranks the topographical map of the beach where we are going to land and related materials, and they will use the only day they have to familiarize themselves with the situation there!" ”

"Yes!" Hoffman took the order very seriously.

"Have preparations been completed for 30 temporary airfields and 5 temporary bases for airships near Cherbourg?"

In the Normandy area, Cherbourg is the closest point to the British coast, with a distance of more than 100 kilometers within the range of all the planes participating in the airdrop, which is even more so for an airship.

Hoffman flipped through the notebook in his hand, "Yes, the runways, ground crew, fuel, and ammunition of each airport are all ready. Today, 529 aircraft and 133 airships have arrived in transit, and another 331 aircraft and 48 airships participating in the airborne operation will all arrive by noon tomorrow. ”

"Excellent! The 3 airborne regiments participating in the first wave of airdrops must arrive at their respective airports with all their equipment by 6 p.m. tomorrow, and they will spend the night at the airport! ”

When Chentian gave the order, General François, General Olge, Colonel Guderian and other generals above the division level listened silently, and their eyes were mostly fixed on the sand table. The sand table here in Chentian is smaller than that in Falkenhein, but because it is only in the central and southern part of England, this sand table is more detailed than that of Falkenhein.

"Alright, now it's up to the details of our landing! Colonel Guderian, you lead a mixed armored division on a landing ship as the first wave of troops to land on the beach. I repeat, your task is to occupy and consolidate the beach positions in Area A, and then organize the armored assault forces to attack the British artillery positions behind the beaches in order to cover the second wave of General François's infantry landing force. Whether this landing operation was successfully completed or not, Colonel Guderian, the performance of your mixed armored division is very critical! ”

The mixed armored division mentioned by Chen Tian is to draw some tanks, armored vehicles, and infantry from Guderian's 2nd Tank Division, Colonel Fleming's 2nd Panzer Division, and Colonel Maras's 1st Mechanized Division to form a new division.

"Yes, Your Highness! We won't let you down! ”

Guderian replied confidently that the armored assault group tactics of the mixed armored division were really his proud work. This tactic is to form a small assault group of about 10 tanks and armored vehicles plus two companies of infantry, and several or a dozen assault groups are divided into groups to make a quick breakthrough of the artillery positions hidden behind the beach, which should be very useful in front of the British positions with machine guns and fortress guns. While infantry units were practicing a landing offensive for the world on the beaches of Calais, these armoured assault groups were practicing infantry and tandem offensive tactics in the interior of France.

"General François, your infantry units are still landing in Sector A after the landing of the mixed armored division as planned! Your infantry will be the backbone of the fortified beach position, it is important to build a short trestle and carry field artillery to the beach as soon as possible! Since you are on small and medium-sized freighters, many of you need to wade through the cold waters to land, so be prepared for it! Have the extra blankets already been handed out to the soldiers? ”

"Yes, each soldier has already been given an extra blanket! Your Highness, rest assured, all my soldiers are good! François's words Chen Tian naturally did not have to doubt, what kind of generals brought out most of the soldiers, if it wasn't for Chen Tian's repeated requests, this fierce general brother even wanted to land on the beach with the vanguard.

"General Olg!" Chen Tian turned to his old classmate, he didn't have any outstanding talents, but he was calm and calm, he had no obvious weaknesses in all aspects, and he was a very decent and excellent commander. He and Chentian don't have the brotherhood of Olg or Thomas, but they are definitely a trustworthy comrade-in-arms.

"Don't worry!" Olge calmly stretched out his right hand and clasped it tightly with Chen Tianyang's palm in mid-air.

"I'll leave Area B to you, the terrain there is a bit complicated!"

From the sand table, Area B is a beach with a smaller width and depth than Area A, between Area A and Area B is the estuary of a river, Area B is very close to the Isle of Wight, and a harbor town called Krisza is located in front of the beach in Area B, and the light artillery deployed in that town can control the entire beach in Area B.

"I'll bring those precious armoured units to British soil safely, but I think Colonel Guderian will be under more pressure than my troops, and if the landing is successfully completed, the Colonel's mixed armoured division will be the first to do so!" Olg humbly replied that it was true, that after the mixed panzer division landed, the landing ships would return to the fleet and load Olg's armored forces to Sector B, before which Guderian's troops would have to hold up in Sector A alone for at least four hours.

Guderian was not greedy for merit, "The real heroes should be those airborne troops who went deep behind enemy lines!" ”

"We, the Airborne Forces, are meant to be surrounded!"

Since Chen Tian said this, the commander of the Airborne Division, Colonel Rohrer, has deeply liked this classic sentence and regarded it as the iconic slogan of the 1st Airborne Division.

"Okay, you don't have to push each other! As long as the landing is successful, everyone is the biggest hero! General Olge, send a force inland as soon as possible after the capture of Area B, and be sure to join Colonel Rohrall's airborne troops before dark! Chen Tian once again told the key points in the landing details.

"Yes, Your Highness!"

"As for Area C, the battlefleet will clean it up with naval guns, and after the minesweepers have cleared the mines on the periphery of Area C, the 3rd Infantry Corps will land there directly!" The C area that Chen Tian refers to is a harbor town called Swenge on the west side of Area A, where the harbor is basically only civilian ships, but the British army has deployed a lot of mines there, and there is a certain number of garrisons in the port, and the German fleet needs a lot of time to clear the fortifications and the mines in the port, but after the successful landing in the AB two areas, the British should pay much less attention to that port.

"The entire landing operation is expected to end before dark, after which the convoy will return to ship our supplies. On the second day of landing, the fleet will bring us enough supplies, and then for the next three or four days our army will be fighting independently on the beaches of England. The navy will leave a detachment of detachments for artillery support, but we can't rely on them too much, those battleships can't climb ashore to bombard the British! Chen Tian looked at the generals firmly, "I will advance and retreat with everyone!" ”

"Thank you, Your Highness, for your trust!" Everyone said in unison.

"I hope our offensive will attract as many British troops as possible! As soon as General Hindenburg and the 5th Army successfully landed from Dover, the British defense system would be torn out of a gap! Then there would not be much suspense in the war! For such a plan, Chen Tian felt that it was completely comparable to the Normandy landings in another world, and the capacity of the German navy here was far inferior to that of the Allies who had thousands of ships in that world.

It wasn't until three o'clock in the morning that Chen Tian and his generals finished their final combat deployment. When everyone returned to their respective units to rest, the lights of the headquarters were still on all night, and Hoffman and his hard-working staff officers were still busy with more detailed arrangements.

As the reddish sunlight poured in through the porthole, Hillel suddenly woke up from her dream. He froze for several seconds before realizing what sunlight meant. After careful consideration, his officer on duty did not wake him up because the heavy snow had stopped, after all, the reconnaissance plane could not carry out effective reconnaissance in the dark night.

"It's clear!" As soon as he buttoned up his clothes, he couldn't wait to come to the command room, and from there, looking at the clear sea in front of him, his heart felt an indescribable lightness.

"General......" The adjutant looked at Xipel with some surprise, this veteran usually has a face as calm as a lake, but today the sun has made a few ripples.

"Let the reconnaissance plane take off immediately and conduct reconnaissance with the maximum range to the east, southeast and northeast!"

Although the six reconnaissance planes could not cover all sea areas, their reconnaissance range was much larger than that of warships and submarines, and the fine weather made the balance of victory tilt much in favor of the German Navy overnight.

Mr. Churchill, on the other hand, was stung in the eyes by the early morning sun. His fleet was like a woman stripped of her coat, and her miserable measurements suddenly appeared in front of everyone.

"The Icelandic port of Reykjavik is 30 nautical miles directly ahead of the fleet, have we informed the garrison there to be ready?" The adjutant apparently did not understand the thinking of the former British Admiralty.

"30 nautical miles ......," Churchill pondered cautiously as he walked to the chart, and now his every order was related to the fate of the entire fleet.

"On my order, the whole fleet turned 40 degrees east-south, and the four cruisers in charge of the guard went forward to 15 nautical miles in front of the fleet! All officers and men are on standby in their respective battle positions, and the whole fleet is ready to fight at any time! ”

The huge British special fleet turned again more than 100 nautical miles from the German raiding fleet and submarine formations, and from the nautical charts, the two turns of Churchill's fleet were just to avoid the German fleet that had set up an ambush on the New York-Liverpool route. However, neither side knew the exact location of the other at this time, and Churchill silently prayed that his decision would not allow the entire British fleet to crash into the muzzles of a large number of German submarines, while Hillper actively waited for the news from the reconnaissance plane.

At 11 a.m. on December 26, 1914, German planes taking off from various airports in Cherbourg carried out a large-scale bombing of Brighton Beach, more than 140 kilometers away, and more than 420 bombers of various types dropped a total of more than 180 tons of bombs. Leaving from this data alone, the carrying capacity of German bombers increased a lot compared to the beginning of the war, in which the "Owl" heavy bombers, with a bomb load of 1-3 tons, played a very important role.

Shortly before noon, the First Detachment of the German High Seas Fleet led by Prince Heydrich carried out a heavy bombardment of the Dover Fortress, repairing the Dover Fortress, which had not yet recovered from the previous bombardment.

According to the report of the "British Sleepers", in the afternoon of the same day, the British army sent a large number of reinforcements to these two places.