When he received the report of the Battle of San Miguel, Natsuki was playing Chopin's tunes to the children in the "Forest Palace" in Limerick. www.biquge.info It had been more than a week since the main fleet of the Allies set off for the waters off the Azores, during which time the German General Staff had changed its original operational disposition, the plan to open a landing front in southwestern Scotland and northwestern England had been postponed, and a large number of German marines in northern France had been transferred to the Cohen Peninsula, and the air offensive had become the main theme of this phase -- the German and Irish air forces had joined forces to launch a large-scale bombardment with layers and depths. As a result, most of Britain was caught in the flames of war. From a strategic point of view, the new combat strategy promptly corrected the mistake of the German-Irish coalition forces that had been too aggressive before, and continued to increase the air force of the British mainland, creating more ideal conditions for the subsequent land operations. In order to prevent the coalition forces from penetrating deep into the heart of Britain, the British Commonwealth army amassed heavy forces in the difficult terrain of the Cumbrian Mountains, holding on to various passes, waiting for the American and British fleets to achieve a victory in the Atlantic that would turn the tide of the war.

The report transmitted by the German General Staff was dry and briefly described, and the reader had to rely on his own imagination to sketch a magnificent picture of the naval battle of San Miguel. In this heavyweight naval duel, the two sides directly invested hundreds of ships, and there are nearly 40 capital ships with a displacement of more than 30,000 tons, which is undoubtedly the pinnacle of the giant ship cannon era, and with the rise of aircraft carriers, it is likely to become the "Ragnarok" of giant ship cannon doctrine!

In Xia Shu's eyes, naval battles are like boxing matches, the more masters duel, the more fast, accurate, and ruthless, and the winner is determined within a few moves. In the Battle of Tsushima in 1905, the Japanese fleet completely knocked out the Russian fleet in less than a day, and the decisive battle was fought in four hours; In the Battle of Jutland in 1914, the British and German fleets fought from dusk to dawn, and the whole journey took only ten hours, and in the Battle of the Faroe Islands in the winter of that year, the two sides fought fiercely and decided the victory in one morning; The Battle of the Strait of Magellan in 1930 lasted less than two hours, from the time the Chilean fleet sounded the battle alarm to the ceasefire of German and Argentine warships......

The Battle of San Miguel, in the narrow sense of the word, began in the early morning of June 1 and ended the following evening and lasted about 35 hours. It can be roughly divided into three stages, the first stage is the long-distance artillery battle between the main ship groups of the two sides in the waters of San Miguel Island, the Allied fleet once occupied a slight advantage, but with the United States and Britain mobile fleets outflanked in place, the situation of the war changed abruptly, and the Allied fleet hastily retreated; In the second stage, the Allied fleet relied on the minefields around São Miguel Island and the land and air forces on the island to maneuver with the Allied fleet, and won the advantage of fighting more and less in some areas, and inflicted heavy damage on the British battleship group in one fell swoop, which dealt a heavy blow to the morale of the opponent. The third stage was the ultimate duel between the two sides, although the Allied fleet fought more with less, but it was able to get the support of coastal defense artillery fire and superior aviation, so the more the battle became more and more courageous, although the American and British officers and men also fought very tenaciously, they fell into the dilemma of being incomprehensible, and in order to avoid excessive losses, they took the initiative to withdraw from the battle before dusk came.

The Battle of San Miguel in a broad sense should be counted from 11 a.m. on 31 May when Allied carrier-based aircraft launched an air attack on the main fleet of the United States and Britain to the morning of 2 June when Allied carrier-based aircraft attacked the main fleet of the United States and Britain for the last time.

After reading the battle report several times, Natsuki said to himself, "It's a pity, this is not a strategic victory. ”

It wasn't long before Admiral Sean Purcell, commander of the Irish Navy, and Rear Admiral Eric Baker, chief of the Navy's General Staff, were summoned to Natsuki's office, and Natsuki said the same words to them again.

"Your Majesty, I beg your pardon for being stupid, why is this just a tactical victory?" Admiral Baker asked, puzzled, "Our Allied fleet defeated nineteen battleships and six battlecruisers of the allied fleet with seven battleships, three battlecruisers, and seven aircraft carriers, and our side lost only three battleships, one battlecruiser, and three aircraft carriers, while the enemy lost nine battleships, three battlecruisers, and five aircraft carriers. Of course, Your Majesty, the impact and decisiveness of the Battle of San Miguel cannot be compared with the Battle of Jutland in which you participated in the past......"

Natsuki waved his hand, signaling that Baker didn't have to compliment himself in this way, and then turned his gaze to Admiral Purcell.

Purcell's reaction to the contents of the battle report was completely different from Baker's, and he had been thinking about something with a cautious demeanor.

"Well, I very much agree with Your Majesty, this is a great tactical victory, but strategically we have a big problem - we have lost the island of Texel, which will be difficult to recapture with the forces and equipment we have, and we will have to defend the remaining islands at great cost in the future."

At this point, Purcell paused, as if to prepare a wording, and then gushed into analysis: "From the moment of the fall of Angloporto Sanstri, we have lost a game strategically. At the Battle of San Miguel, General Bernke did his duty and won an inspiring victory, but behind this victory, we paid too heavy a price. In addition to the sunken ships that were temporarily incapacitated, we lost more than 400 carrier-based aircraft and more than 600 naval pilots, and the enemy succeeded in gaining a valuable foothold in the Azores in the isolated ocean, and if the Allied forces did not retake Tesel within three months, they would probably have to go on full defense in the Azores. In order to keep the remaining islands, it will be necessary to retain a large number of naval and air forces at any time to be on guard against enemy attacks, so that no matter what the outcome of the Battle of Britain is, the war will turn into a terrible war of attrition, and when both sides are exhausted, those powers that did not participate in the war will become the key forces affecting the outcome of the war. Considering that the land resources of Eastern Europe and the oil resources of West Asia are more tempting for Russia and Japan, the probability of these two countries joining the hostile camp is much greater than joining us! ”

Eric Baker is young and promising, but he is still inexperienced, and he is very surprised by the gloomy outlook that Admiral Purcell paints. In his view, the British mainland is the key battlefield of the war, and the Azores are at best a remote sea fortress, and it should be clear which is more important.

Purcell's exposition was obviously on the same line as Natsuki's thinking, and His Majesty the King immediately said in a slow tone: "Actually, what I am most worried about is that the Allied forces will abandon the Azores within half a year, in that case, the well-equipped American army will cross the Atlantic, find suitable landing sites in Europe and Africa, and strategically oppress and besiege us." By that time, even if Russia and Japan had not entered the war, there would have been a fatal split within the Allies. The reason why Italy and Austria-Hungary did not enter the war at the moment was ostensibly because the military agreement of the Central Powers was defensive in nature, and Germany did not need to share the benefits of occupying LinkedIn with them, but in fact because the ruling classes of Rome and Vienna were on guard, preferring their fleets and armies to do nothing rather than risk Berlin's strategy, and were more worried about being exploited by the other side. As for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the aging country had long been exhausted by all sorts of external and internal strife, the Sultan's army had recently suffered heavy losses in the suppression of the Revolutionary Party, and the seemingly formidable Ottoman navy had few warships able to sail out of port. ”

"In this way, only if one island is not lost and the American and British fleets are repulsed, can it be considered a strategic victory?" Baker asked.

Natsuki and Purcell's thinking had long since gone beyond the question, so Baker's question went unanswered.

"After the First Battle of San Miguel, only half of the ships sent to the Azores were still operational, the dockyard of Herosmo Sangra was lost, and the damaged large ships had to be returned to Europe for repairs, and then the German battleships and battlecruisers in the European waters had to take turns to go to the Azores waters, which was very detrimental to our attack on the British mainland."

Natsuki nodded: "Then we have to stay optimistic and prepare for the worst." ”

At the same time, in Brandenburg's German Imperial Palace, Sanssouci Palace, the white-haired but still energetic Wilhelm II dressed in military uniform, accompanied by a group of veterans such as Moltke Jr., Herringen, and Müller, greeted the arrival of distinguished guests, and luxury cars drove into the palace one after another, including the Bavarian King Ruprecht I, the Saxony King Georg VI, the Württemberg King Albert I and other state monarchs, as well as the Duke of Lefel from Italy, who served as the chief of staff of the Italian Navy. The Commander of the Navy and the Senator of the Admiralty, who has now stepped down, still influences the country's military and political affairs as chief military adviser to King Emanuele III of Italy.

The Battle of San Miguel, the German Navy only dispatched 60% of its forces, and then joined forces with the Irish Navy to defeat the huge American and British main fleet, there is no doubt that the whole German regarded this as a brilliant victory, as Jutland second, people only saw the glorious battle report, imagined the picture of the American and British fleets retreating in disarray, few people cared about the gains and losses of the island of Texel as the King of Ireland and the Commander of the Irish Navy. It was seen that the loss of Texel and the loss of tens of thousands of elite troops would be made up for by winning the naval battle, and it was even assumed that the Allied forces would be able to easily retake the island.

Under the gaze of everyone, the Duke of Lefeel walked up to Wilhelm II and bowed deeply: "Congratulations, great Your Majesty the Kaiser!" Congratulations to your Navy on its crucial victory in the Azores! ”

The German Emperor looked at each other with a smile: "To be exact, this is a great victory for Germany and Ireland hand in hand." From now on, the Allied navy is no longer invincible in the world, and we will usher in victory after victory, so good that the Italian navy, honorable duke, is not willing to share this glory? ”

The Duke of Lefel smiled in return, but never made a clear statement.

(End of chapter)