To the north of Tórshavn, there is a sea cliff more than 40 meters above the sea, known locally as Hegareka Cliff, from which you can see the open water east of Strammer and north of Knoll Island, and when the weather is good, you can see not only the East Island, but also the coastline of Borroy Island. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the past few days, Xia Shu has been bumpy on the sea, and now that the sun is shining, the whole person feels a lot more relaxed.

"Your Royal Highness, from what I have seen and heard in my life here, the Faroese are as passionate, hardworking and resilient as most of the Nordic peoples, but they are not aggressive or adventurous, and they are accustomed to living freely and unfettered, even if they are relatively poor in material conditions. In addition, their sense of sovereignty and nationality is not particularly strong, as long as they respect their habits of life and give them political, cultural, and economic autonomy, they do not care too much whether Denmark, Germany, or Britain rule them. ”

The young man who was talking to Natsuki pressed his hat to his chest with his right hand, leaning forward slightly, his eyes full of awe. He was one of only two German spies in Tórshavn when the Battle of the Faroe Islands broke out, and it was through him that information about the British fleet was sent in time. In recognition of his outstanding contributions, the German government decided to award him the Medal of Merit, and entrusted Natsuki, a member of the royal family, to award it in a low-key manner - although Germany had taken over military control of the Faroe Islands, the spies stationed here had to continue to lurk, observe everything that happened in the open and dark from a hidden perspective, help the German occupation forces dig up enemy spies, and suppress any malicious attempts.

"Mr. Müller, what you have said is very positive for us to live in peace with the Faroese people. In fact, if it weren't for the war between us and the British, there would be nothing that attracted us here. If you look at the land, which is barren, dry, barren, and cannot grow food, and the fishery resources in this vicinity are not as rich as those in the Norwegian seas, sightseeing may be the only reason for us to come here. When Natsuki said this, there was not much contempt in his eyes, because he knew that the value of things could not be measured by the superficial imagination in front of him, and that there were actually rich oil and gas resources under the endless sea, although the exploitation of these submarine oil fields was restricted by many factors such as technology and cost, but sooner or later they would have to replace the traditional energy output areas and become a treasure land of great economic strategic value.

"Your Highness is right, in the past few days, the local residents of Tórshafen have been mainly curious and wary of the arrival of the German army, but seeing that the German soldiers are not as vicious and brutal as the newspapers say, they feel less afraid, but hope that the German government will pay for the repair of the port facilities here, and turn the port into a living seaport, so that everyone can find a satisfactory job." Lotta-Müller, who was originally German, and had no need to be overly flattering to the occupiers, paused and, seeing that the young Prussian prince was not in a hurry to talk, continued:

"However, the shelling of the British fleet the night before had changed the atmosphere in the harbor greatly, and although the shells that destroyed houses and killed civilians were fired from British warships, they were inevitably related to the arrival of the German army, and people complained behind their backs, thinking that it was the German army that brought the war to this land that had been quiet for thousands of years."

What Müller said was true, and Natsuki was not angry at all, standing on this sea cliff and looking south, the originally beautiful and peaceful harbor was devastated by the shelling of the British fleet, more than 100 people were killed or injured in the shelling, and nearly half of the residents were displaced. Although the German troops stationed there provided the local population with timely medical treatment, food provisions, and military clothing, most of them were temporarily sheltered in neighborhoods or public buildings, and Natsuki had submitted a report to the Admiralty requesting special compensation for the damage to these properties and persons. As long as the German government deliberately does this, it will not be long before this seaport city of 2,000 people will be completely renewed, but the wounds of the city are easy to repair, and the mental wounds left by the war are difficult to erase with any material compensation.

"At first, I saw the Faroe Islands as a strategic stepping stone for our smooth access to the Atlantic during the war, and when we won the war, the German occupation of Shetland and the Onnik Islands would be part of the armistice, and the return of the Faroe Islands to Denmark would be an ideal proof of the credibility of the German Government. But as things stand, it is much harder to force the British to submit than I think. Natsuki said with emotion, it didn't seem wise to reveal this in front of a spy, but some things don't really have much to do with whether they say it or not, as long as they are a little reasoning.

The outwardly weak spy thought for a moment, and responded to Natsuki's words: "No matter how tenacious a fighter is, there will be a moment when he falls, and what the British Navy is doing now may only be the last stubborn resistance supported by will." After all, you and the German Navy have already won four impressive victories, and the British Navy has been completely hollowed out. We're going to win. ”

"yes, we're going to win." Natsuki quietly watched the harbor, the minesweepers were still outside the harbor to clear the mines laid by the British at night, and on this morning, one of the minesweepers accidentally hit a mine and exploded, becoming the only ship lost by the German Navy in this sea area since the end of the Battle of the Faroe Islands. Until the passage in and out of Tórshavn was secured, the old battleship "Braunschweig" and the light cruiser "Cologne" could only remain in the harbor, and the German ships carrying marines and war supplies had to dock elsewhere.

Seeing off the dutiful young spy, Natsuki stood alone on the cliff for a while, and as soon as he turned back to the headquarters, he saw the officer in charge of communications hurrying over.

"Your Highness, the Vogue Island Operational Command has sent a telegram that we have expelled the British troops from the port of Søvog, and if the battle can be ended before dark, the remaining hundreds of British troops will definitely not be able to escape."

Natsuki didn't read the telegram.

"Those British troops must have retreated to the nameless peninsula southwest of Sewvog, right?"

The communications officer looked down at the telegram draft: "Uh...... Yes, Your Highness, you judged right, they did retreat there. ”

Don't look at the fact that Vogue Island covers an area of nearly 200 square kilometers, which is a very large territory in Europe, but in fact it is only a dozen kilometers from east to west, and only ten kilometers from north to south.

In terms of size and topographical complexity, Sood Island, the southernmost tip of the Faroe Islands, is obviously more qualified for guerrilla warfare, with a width of nearly 30 kilometers from north to south and a width of more than 10 kilometers from east to west. While Natsuki and his officers focused on Strammer and Vogue Island, the British continued to send additional troops to Sood Island, and the German troops on the island had not communicated with the Theater Command through radio stations since the day before yesterday.

"Send a telegram to Major Heller at once, and let our troops feign an attack, deliberately leaving these British troops a way to retreat." Natsuki commanded.

The Communications Officer quickly jotted down the contents.

Then, Natsuki continued: "Send a report to General Funk that the remnants of a British army on Vogue Island have been forced to the unnamed peninsula at the southwestern end, where the British battleship ran aground, and if nothing else, the British fleet will go to the rescue tonight and find a way to find the main force of the British fleet to annihilate it." I will draw six large torpedo boats from the escort force of the troop transport fleet to cooperate with the operation. ”

While the German Faroese Theater Command issued these two operational orders one after another, the German marines who had just recaptured the port of Sørvog were taking advantage of the situation to catch up with the retreating British troops, and under the guidance of water reconnaissance planes, the three German warships approaching the coast of Vogue Island -- the dreadnought "Thuringia" and the large torpedo boats S-164 and V-185 -- also carried out shelling from the sea only a few kilometers apart. Under such a land and sea attack, the British officers and men who had withdrawn from Sewvog were almost collapsed, and at a critical critical moment, the Collingwood Battalion, which was part of the British 1st Marine Brigade, stepped forward, and the soldiers, under the leadership of the acting battalion commander, Lieutenant Huls, desperately blocked the pursuers by relying on a natural ravine running north-south. In addition to the Enfield rifle, these British marines only have a French-made Hatch Chase M1909 light machine gun, which uses metal bullet plates to feed the automatic weapon can be regarded as a "souvenir" brought back from the French battlefield by the British 1st Marine Brigade, its biggest advantage is the weight, among the light machine guns in service, only the Danish-made Madsen machine gun is slightly lighter than it, both machine guns only need one soldier to carry, plus one or two bombers can operate, It was much more convenient than a heavy machine gun, which required at least four or five men to revolve around, and the British Marines valued the ability of this light automatic weapon to participate in the attack. However, the Hatch Chase equipped with the French army is 8 mm caliber, and the forced use of the British army's 7.7 mm rifle cartridges will cause a reduction in shooting efficiency, and there are specific security risks, and the British troops who have obtained this batch of gifts have to be additionally equipped with the Leber 8mm guns used by the French army, which naturally brings a lot of trouble to the logistics of the British army.

On Vogue Island, the British landing force was already in shambles, and before the second shipment of war supplies arrived urgently, the few Hatch Chase machine guns they used had to be made up of Mark 7Z 7.7mm ammunition from Vickers heavy machine guns. In several British attacks on the German line, the Hatch Chase machine gun did not get much opportunity to perform, and in the battle to block the German counterattack, the few Hatch Chase machine guns gave full play to the characteristics of light and easy to carry, like a scavenger everywhere to make up for leaks.

(End of chapter)