After night fell on December 26, 1914, the prelude to the Anglo-German war was slowly begining.

On a country road in the south of England, a group of more than 100 people was silently marching, and they were only two hours away from their destination, but this did not ease the soldiers, because the road was full of British sentry posts and patrols. Of course, all this is the most direct consequence of their successful "robbery" of the British Royal Treasury No. 11 and generous distribution of wealth.

At the front of the line is still Captain Karen, who is known as the "acting spy", if it is in peacetime, this guy can be an acting actor, and maybe have the opportunity to compete for the highest honor of the film festival. Just before leaving, Karen didn't forget to show off.

A day earlier, the farm where the commandos had taken temporary shelter.

"There's enough food left here, we're going to tie the bomb to the basement door, and you don't try to open it from the inside, or the house will blow up into the sky." Also, shouting loudly may alarm the bomb's special fuse, so I'd advise you to wait until we get back! Cullen said as he flipped the bomb in his hand that was made up of a dozen detonators, and that there was a strange-looking "detonating device" on it. Seeing the frightened eyes of the farmer's family of six, he left the basement and closed the door with satisfaction.

"Guys, it's time for us to go!" Karen tied a thin line between the doorknob and the lock in the basement, and then ordered the commandos to pack their things and get ready to go.

As early as Christmas Day, Captain Xie Ding went to the secret junction site as planned and made contact with his superiors, who, in addition to explaining the time and place of the airborne troops, also asked him to bring a small transmitter back to the commando. Despite being a so-called "small transmitter", it was much larger than a normal backpack, and it took a lot of effort for Captain Xie to bring it back to the farmstead where the commandos were temporarily stationed.

"In addition to our new mission, I bring back good news and bad news!" Captain Xie Ding said as he carefully placed the transmitter on the table, and the commandos in the room gathered around.

"Let's have the bad news first!" It seems that Ensign Halim is a man who likes to save the good things for last.

"Second Lieutenant Tobias and some other commandos have been caught by the British, they have been convicted of espionage, and they will be executed tomorrow morning!" Captain Xie Ding said in a calm tone, as a spy, he can't have too many personal feelings.

Hearing this unfortunate news, several commandos slammed their fists on the table.

"The good news is that Second Lieutenant Siggett has managed to get out of the siege with some of the other blocking troops, and because of the large number of wounded, they are now recuperating in a safe place. Also, a third assault team is heading to the pick-up location, where we will meet them! "Captain Xie Ding and Karen's first and second commandos combined were originally more than two hundred people, but after many operations, there are now only a little more than a hundred people here, and the third commando team will undoubtedly bring them fresh blood.

"The third commando? How come we didn't hear anything from the British, if they wreaked havoc somewhere! Halim put away the grief and indignation on his face, sacrifice is the most normal fate for commandos, and most of them who are alive have been specially favored by God.

"That's because they only need to carry out one mission, that is, to receive the Airborne Forces! After all, no one can be sure that we will be able to complete all the previous tasks and make it to the pick-up location alive! ”

After handing over the transmitter to the commando communications officer, Captain Xie called Karen to a room on the second floor of the house, which had been temporarily set up as the commando's office. After letting the commandos leave for a while, Captain Xie Ding pulled out a map from his file bag.

"Wood Town? It's just over 40 miles away! Looks like we've really picked a good place! Captain Helen's first reaction when he knew where he was going was that it was very close to here, and that it would be a long way to get from this place to Dover or Plymouth.

Although there were only two people in this room, Helen and Captain Xie Ding, Captain Xie Ding still tried to keep his voice as low as possible, "Yes, but we can't tell the commandos about this location just yet, not even Ensign Halim, because no matter what happens, we can't let the British know about this airborne location in advance!" ”

"I understand! In this way, the landing site of the 8th Army is on this beach! Helen pointed to the beach called Bonemouth, which is a few dozen miles east of Southampton, and a little further east is Pusselmouth Harbour, one of Britain's most prosperous harbours. As soon as Southampton and Portsmouth were captured, the German army's follow-up troops and equipment and supplies would continue to be transported to the British mainland.

"I guess that's it! Tomorrow, the whole world will know the name of this beach, but for now it's an absolute secret! Alright, let's go after dark! Just let the commandos follow us, and no one will ask us where we're going! As he spoke, Captain Xie put away the map with only folded marks, and it was their spies' habit not to leave any marks on the map.

Karen's previous hunch was correct, and on the night of the 25th, the commandos were on the road all night. Through that "small and cute" transmitter, the commando team was able to know the British army's password that day, and was able to successfully mix with many British outposts, and the "square box" on the back of the signal soldier did not attract the attention of the British at night. By daylight on the 26th, the assault team found a safe woods to rest. After dark, the German commando, which was tasked with ascertaining the ground situation and giving directions to the airborne troops, set off again.

The German commandos were getting closer and closer to their targets, while the commander of the British Special Fleet, former British Admiral Winston Churchill, and the submarine he was aboard the Sea Thorn lost their purpose.

After only half an hour in the small space of the submarine, Churchill felt dizzy, and he reluctantly squeezed his fat body out of the submarine passage, for he the cold sea breeze outside the submarine was so fresh at this time.

On the conning tower of the Sea Thorn, the captain of the ship, Lieutenant Rohr, was searching the sea with a telescope, but there was no shadow of any other ship on the sea under the bright starry sky except for the three British battleships that were still dying. The rumbling of the cannon had long since ceased, and the only sound of the oars of the British lifeboats scratching the water was now heard except for the wind and the waves.

"This ...... How is this possible! "Churchill, who had not long been bent on sinking one or two German battleships, found it incomprehensible that Hillport's fleet had left behind these British battleships, which were as defenseless as pigs on a board, and had left the battlefield.

When a few dark shadows appeared in front of the submarine, Lieutenant Rohr was still excited, but his mood quickly fell again, "There are a few small boats ahead, it seems that they are our lifeboats!" ”

"That's supposed to be the sailors of our cruiser fleet, and the price of 4 cruisers actually didn't sink even a single German cruiser!" Churchill's face elongated in frustration.

"Did the Germans really slip away like that?" Rohr was very disappointed, he originally thought that he would become famous, but now he can't even see where the goal is.

"Wait, I remember we had a cruiser that surrendered to the Germans after being wounded, and it seems to be the damned 'Knight', a group of Canadian-controlled warships!" Churchill tried his best to calm his messy brain, and the frustrations, failures, hopes, and frustrations almost made him lose his usual calm, "The Germans couldn't have driven it away so quickly!" Hurry up and ask the sailors on those lifeboats! ”

"Yes!" In order to show that he was thoughtful in front of Churchill, he also asked the crew to take out their rifles and put them on the deck to stand guard, and the rapid-fire gun on the foredeck of the submarine also aimed its guns at the lifeboats.

This frightened the people in the lifeboat, and until they could read the flag on the submarine, they naturally thought it was a German submarine.

"Hell! Just humiliated by a group of impudent German sailors, and ran into a German submarine again! This year is really unfavorable! The guy on the lifeboat scolded indignantly.

"We are the submarine forces of the special fleet of the British Imperial Navy, are you British or German?" Along with the questioning, the sound of a bolt pulling came from the submarine.

"Damn, it's the British! How can we be Germans, today the Germans have not lost even a single boat, how can they be adrift at sea like us! Hearing the shouting from the submarine, the very dissatisfied guy on the lifeboat just now muttered for a while before he shouted at the submarine:

"We are the crew of the cruiser 'Knight', and I am the captain of the ship, Lieutenant Commander Rieser!"

"Damn! It's this guy again! Churchill felt more and more that the Canadian was his nemesis.

"Sir......" Lieutenant Rohr looked at Churchill with an inquiring gaze, after all, it was Boss Qiu who had the final say.

"Let them come over here, I'm sure that guy is Lieutenant Colonel Reese, I can't be mistakenly wrong with that stupid tone!" Boss Qiu's tone sounded depressed.

It took a few minutes for the Canadians to climb aboard the Sea Thorn.

"Sir, it's you! I'm relieved to see that you're safe and sound! Reeser saw Churchill's iconic size from afar, and his dissatisfaction was thrown out of his mind, after all, after joining the British Special Fleet, he and his sailors were placed under the control of the former British Admiralty.

"Well, thank you so much for your concern!" Churchill replied very coldly, and Reeser's tone seemed to have paid a lot to protect himself, but these Canadians had the worst gunnery in the battle, and the only time the whole ship surrendered also happened on the ship under their control, and Churchill believed that the officer corps he sent to the "Knight" would not choose to surrender easily.

"Lieutenant Colonel, where's your ship?"

"The damned Germans boarded the ship and opened the submarine valve on our ship, and in less than 5 minutes my ship sank into the sea!" Reeser replied with an aggrieved expression.

"What were you and your sailors doing when the Germans opened the submarine valve? Won't you stop them? Churchill was almost speechless, but Richer still looked right.

"The Germans let me and my sailors all leave the ship in lifeboats, they had guns, so I and my men all did it!"

"God, it is a 'privilege' for the British Imperial Navy to fight alongside you Canadians!" Churchill huffed as he walked back and forth on the small deck of the submarine, "Where did the German warships go?" Were there any wounded battleships in there? ”

Reese pondered for a moment before pointing to the sea to the northeast and saying, "They're going that way!" By the time we left, none of the five German battleships, including two large battleships and three small cruisers, were on fire or smoking, but the one that had come to capture us looked like it had been slightly wounded! ”

"Captured? Lieutenant Colonel, I seem to see a white flag raised on your mast! Surrender in battle, think about how to explain it to the court-martial! ”

The Canadians wanted to explain something, and Churchill waved impatiently for the crew to send him back to the lifeboat, which, in the opinion of the Canadian, should have been floating on the surface for a few more days.

"Sir......" Rohr looked at Churchill with a frown on his brow with expectant eyes, and he seemed to see the hope of sinking the German battleship and becoming a British hero overnight.

"Northeast...... Oops! Churchill suddenly looked up at Lieutenant Rohr, "The Germans are going straight for our convoy!" ”

The two German submarines U-053 and U-062, which had discovered the British special fleet, were now less than 5 nautical miles behind the British convoy. They were able to move at 15 knots on the water to keep up with the British fleet, which was slowly moving at 10 knots, and the British fleet was constantly returning to the Shipper fleet from them. In what historians call the "Battle of the Hebrides", these two German submarines were the biggest contributors to the victory of the German navy.

It was the timely reports of U-053 and U-062 that led to the decision to temporarily abandon the British battleships, which had almost lost their ability to sail but still had some combat effectiveness, to pursue the British convoy at full speed. Although the German raiding fleet was a bit unreversible about the purpose of the interdiction at this time, they managed to avoid the conspiracy of Churchill and the British submarines. Although under the leadership of Tirpitz, the German warships were designed to pursue the ship's floating survivability in battle, and adopted measures such as thickening the protective armor, adopting small compartments, setting up watertight doors, setting up fuel tanks on both sides to provide a certain protective effect, and separating the ammunition in the turret to prevent a chain explosion after being shot, if it was hit by one or two torpedoes, Hipper's battleship would inevitably return to the military port for overhaul, and if it was a reconnaissance cruiser that was shot, it would inevitably carry out another fireworks display.

"Tomorrow is the scheduled landing date, and hopefully our battle today will allow the British to divert their attention here!"

When Sheppel said this to his generals, the German Atlantic Raiding Fleet, with the Elector as its flagship, was less than 30 nautical miles from the British Outer Hebrides, and according to reports from U-053 and U-062, the British convoy was sailing toward Lewis Island in that archipelago.

"General, if we continue the pursuit, I think it is very likely that the British fleet will be forced to take refuge in Rodel Harbor! It is the closest port to here, and it is also the home port of the Alert Patrol Fleet in the northeast of Scotland, although there are no large warships, but there should still be a lot of thunder ships and patrol boats, and the naval fortress in the port is of average size, and the British do not seem to have had time to completely transform it there after the war, and it is estimated that the firepower is very ordinary! ”

The speculative analysis of the movements of the British fleet was made by the commander of the cruiser detachment of the Hipper raid fleet, Erich Murphy. Lieutenant Colonel Raeder, he was only a very ordinary mid-level officer in the German Navy at this time, and he was probably the only one in this world who knew his potential better than himself.

In the Third Reich in another world, Nazi Germany's navy was weaker than the army and air force, and due to the narrow access to the sea and the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, the Nazi German navy was far from the strength of the British navy, and they did not have the ability to compete head-on with the British navy like the German navy in the time of Wilhelm II, but the German navy's performance in World War II was memorable, thanks in large part to its two organizers, Karl Brown. Dönitz and Erich. Raeder.

Like Dönitz, Raeder was a German admiral who supported unrestricted submarine warfare and surface sabotage warfare, but Raeder was more of a traditional German admiral than Dönitz's fanaticism for the Nazis, loyal to his country and the honor of his soldiers, supporting Hitler in building a strong Germany but disliking the policies of the Nazi Party. Zeckert's "immaculate" "100,000 Army" became the cornerstone of the German Army in World War II, while Raeder single-handedly built and led an entirely new German Navy from 1935.

Somewhat because of Dönitz's outstanding performance, Hippel attached great importance to this lieutenant colonel, who was specially recommended by Chentian, and Raeder's knowledge, demeanor and temperament were gradually recognized by everyone.

"If that fleet does not enter Port Raeder, we will sink them one by one on the surface of the sea; If they enter Port Raeder, we'll sink them inside! But in the dark, we have to watch out for the small British ships, their torpedoes are dangerous! Inform the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd submarine formations that they will come and join us as soon as possible and encircle and destroy that British fleet! Sheppel stared closely at the island of Lewis, a few dozen nautical miles from Scotland, on the charts, determined not to allow the British Movement to use the arms against the German landing force.

"General, according to our intelligence, there is still a small submarine force in the British special fleet, whether they have formed combat effectiveness in the hands of the British or not, we better be careful! After all, we don't have destroyers here specifically for submarines! Raeder's reminder was not particularly timely, but fortunately Sheppel was also alert to this, after encountering Churchill's fleet, those British submarines have not appeared, and if they are used by the British fleet to cut off, the threat to the raiding fleet is huge.

"Well, once again, the signal is sent to all ships to strictly enforce the control of lights! In this dark night we could not see the torpedo track, nor could the British accurately judge our position! ”

Hillard's fleet cautiously pursued the British convoy, while along the northern coast of France, the troops and equipment for the next day's landing were largely completed. The steamer moored in the harbor crouched slightly in the gentle waves, and the German soldiers inside had begun to rest. At the airfields in Cherbourg and other places, ground crews were still putting the finishing touches on German planes, and the soldiers of the Airborne Forces had already assembled at the airfields, where they would wait for the order to board the plane.

For the German generals and soldiers, the longest day was coming.