By 3 p.m., the Second Detachment of the British Home Fleet, under the command of Vice Admiral Smith, had sailed out of the port of Calais, and the main guns of the six armored battleships, four cruisers, and some small battleships had all turned to Calais, and the German Army soldiers in Calais were watching nervously from behind the gun emplacements.

*********

1 hour ago, London, British Admiralty.

"Your Excellency, the current situation is very unfavorable for us!" Admiral Betty hurried in from outside, the military hat still habitually slanted over her head.

"Mr. Admiral, what do you think?" Churchill replied with a blank face, as if the whole world owed him a lot of money.

"We have concentrated our fleet at the mouth of the Thames, and now not only have we not been able to engage the German fleet head-on, but we have also been bombed by German planes without being able to fight back, which is very detrimental to the preservation of the Imperial Navy! Those two detachments can't catch up, so let's just go out and attack the German fleet! Betty propped her hands on Churchill's desk and sounded depressed, "Or, hide the fleet than stay here and get beaten!" ”

"Hidden? Then the Germans will be able to shell London with a swagger, what does that mean, you think? ”

Churchill seemed very helpless, he had thought about this question many times before, and dispersed his fleet to the ports in the western part of the British Isles, and at the same time harassed the German shipping routes in the North Sea. If the Germans dared to land on British soil, they would attack with all their might to fight the German fleet, which was of course a good way to preserve strength, but the German fleet was now shelling and bombarding British ports along the British coast, and several major ports and shipyards on the east coast of England were severely damaged throughout the day, not only the British people were panicked, the country's potential for naval war was damaged, and the royal family strictly ordered the navy to defend the capital with all its might. It was inevitable that London would be bombed by the Germans, but if it was directly shelled by the German fleet, then the morale of the British people would fall to the brink of collapse, and there was even a possibility of ****; Even if London were abandoned, it was entirely possible that the German fleet would continue to attack Britain's other ports and shipyards, without which Britain's hopes of reviving the navy would have been dashed.

"Tirpitz, Heydrich, you guys are so ruthless!" Churchill clenched his fists hard.

Betty sat down weakly in her chair and took off her hat, "Alas! We just have to wait here for the Germans to slowly wipe us out little by little! ”

"Originally, I had planned to wait for the arrival of the combined Anglo-French fleet from the Mediterranean before counterattacking, but now it seems that we have no time! There's really nothing I can do right now, so let's strike! The order to attack was so weak at this time that Churchill's heart was filled with sadness.

"What? Sortie? Betty almost jumped out of her chair, "But without those two detachments, the disparity in strength between us and the German fleet would be even greater!" ”

Churchill glanced at him and said nonchalantly: "If nothing else, the German battlefleet has now broken away from their aircraft carrier formation to meet John Joe's detachment alone, as long as John Joe leads the German battlefleet away, we have the hope of destroying the German sea aviation forces, then the German navy will be much less of a threat to us!" ”

"Oh God! This is our chance to win! Churchill, you are truly an angel of the British Navy! Betty suddenly became excited, but Churchill was not at all so quiet because of his coldness, it was just a move he had come up with out of desperation.

"But Mr. Admiral, we are not very sure of success, even if we can destroy the German aircraft carriers, the German battlefleet may come back in time to annihilate our fleet! What's more, the Germans were supposed to leave a couple of battleships to protect the aircraft carriers. Either way, this is our last chance! ”

Betty lowered her head and pondered for a moment, then slowly spoke:

"Nagalai's fleet ......"

"They shouldn't be met with too much resistance, and it would be best if they could destroy the German planes there, and if they couldn't, they would probably be the last naval force to defend their homeland!" For those who were impulsive, Churchill also seemed helpless.

While Churchill and Betty were talking, planes from German aircraft carriers flew into London again.

This time, there was no previous explosion in the city of London, and all German planes dropped ****** over military targets, and the barracks, shipyards, and factories were suddenly in a sea of fire, and some urban areas were inevitably affected, and it seemed that the entire city was full of skyrocketing fires. The fire brigade has been extremely busy, and many citizens have also spontaneously gone to the fire site to help extinguish the fire.

On the ships outside the mouth of the Thames, the British sailors watched the German planes return with red eyes, and they began to regret that they had not gone out with the two detachments. Seeing smoke billowing from all over London, many even shed tears of sadness.

When Betty's flagship, the Ajax, raised the signal to attack, the entire British fleet was almost boiling, and the sailors rushed to their positions as fast as they could, vowing to fight the German fleet to the end.

At 3 p.m., the last British home fleet, consisting of 2 Dreadnought-class battleships, 10 armored battleships, 27 cruisers of various types, and 18 destroyers, set sail.

Vice Admiral John Joe, commander of the First Fleet, had already received a telegram from Betty, and he had calmed down from his initial impulse. After studying and figuring out the strategic intent of the order, John Joe silently put the telegram in his pocket. German planes had already begun to circle over their heads, presumably the German battlefleet was not far from them.

********

Port of Calais.

Private Bowman, a gunner belonging to Army Group Kluk, lay on his bunker and looked at the British fleet in the distance. Baumann was born in Prussia into a working-class family, the eldest of three brothers, and the family hoped that he would become a good skilled worker like his father, and then find a hard-working girl and live happily together as a family. At the outbreak of the war, Bowman had just served for one year, and his two older brothers had also been transferred directly from the reserve to active duty, and all three brothers were fighting on the front line of the Western Front at this time.

The British battleships lined up in two columns outside the harbor, and soon after, the rumbling of cannon began to reverberate across the sea, like the beating of war drums before a duel. The entire British fleet could fire 24 280-mm or 300-mm main gun shells in a single salvo, as well as dozens of 120-mm shells and other shells, which were not a small deterrent to the German soldiers, and the flames and smoke of explosions rose again and again on the fortresses and beaches of Calais.

Bowman retracted his head into the bunker and sat on the ground with the other soldiers looking at the 120mm howitzer behind him. Their battalion arrived in Calais a week earlier and spent three days building a concealed artillery position in the woods behind the beach west of Calais, where the battalion's 18 howitzers were concentrated.

"I didn't expect the British to really come! Bowman, we made a bet that you won, woo! A soldier next to him pulled a coin out of his pocket and gently tossed it in front of Bowman.

"Wiese, what's wrong, you don't seem to be happy! It's only 1 mark, and when you get to Paris I'll invite you to a tavern for a drink! Bowman picked up the coin, blew the dust off it, and stuffed it into his coat pocket. At the mention of Paris, the eyes of others began to light up, and it seemed to them that entering Paris marked the end of the war.

The one named Wiese smiled wryly, "Forget it! I'm not unhappy about the money, I'm worried about the British fleet outside. Didn't our fleet annihilate the main British fleet at Pascalflo and in the North Sea? How come the British still have so many warships? ”

"Whatever they do! Our main fleet shelled the ports of the British a few days ago, but they did not dare to fight our high seas fleet, and now they have to come here to vent their anger on our army! Speaking of the navy, our Admiral and Commander of the High Seas Fleet are really good, at the beginning of the war I thought that our Navy was going to have a hard battle with the British, but I didn't expect to win so easily! Now our planes are still able to bomb London, which is really undreamable! A soldier smoking a cigarette next to him echoed, and his words were echoed by a large crowd. At this time, the other soldier lowered his voice and said mysteriously:

"I heard that we beat the British with something called an aircraft carrier, which is said to have been made by the Prince of East Prussia!"

The soldiers were even more excited when they heard the Prince of East Prussia, "I heard that he is only in his early 30s this year, and he can lead 200,000 soldiers of the East Prussian Army to annihilate millions of Russian troops, which is really amazing!" ”

"Oh...... There are so many! The other soldiers opened their mouths in a large O-shape.

"I also heard that yesterday the crown prince went to London with a mission to persuade the British to surrender, and the British actually attacked him with bombs, but fortunately the crown prince is fine!"

When the soldiers heard this, they all scolded the British, "What a despicable British! "That's it, it's time to bomb them!" "In the future, we will go to England and arrest the British king to apologize!"

The German soldiers were discussing enthusiastically, seemingly forgetting that there were still a large number of British warships outside, but the British shells did not fall near them, nor did they disturb their chat.

When Bowman climbed to the bunker again, the British battleship was slowly sailing through the harbor, and the original French fortresses on both sides of the harbor were almost in ruins, and the German soldiers inside seemed to have long since withdrawn. Only in the later fortifications of the shore defenses, the few large-caliber fortress guns were still fighting back alone, and sporadic shells fell near the British fleet, forcing the British to continue to wander outside the harbor.

Suddenly, two high columns of water rose from one of the British ships facing away from the harbor, and soon the same appeared on the other ship.

"Look!" Bowman beckoned the soldiers in the bunker to come to his side, "Two British warships have exploded!" ”

In the distance, the two British battleships had begun to tilt, and many sailors were abandoning their ships and jumping into the water, and the British fleet, which had been lined up in two columns, was also scattered.

"Is it our fortress cannon? Or our planes? As soon as Wiese finished speaking, everyone looked up overhead, and a group of German planes had just flown into the port.

Bowman shook his head, "Our plane just appeared, and I didn't see any shells hitting those two warships just now, it must be our submarine!" ”

"Oh! Those guys who hide under the water every day are good! Everyone else was amazed.

"I saw a group of submarine sailors in the tavern yesterday, maybe they did it!"

More and more German submarines have recently entered the port of Calais for recuperation, and Calais has become the closest submarine supply point to the British, so soldiers can often see submarine sailors.

The German planes flying over the harbor soon began to attack the British warships on the sea, and the mood of the German artillerymen fluctuated as the bombs fell.

"Alas! I didn't hit it again! Stupid! ”

"That bomb seems to have damaged the British warship, and that warship has slowed down!"

"Oh! That's great! ”

"Look, those two British ships are starting to escape!"

The soldiers stood in their bunkers like children watching the fierce battle on the sea, and although the British battleships fought back, the German planes sacrificed accuracy to drop bombs at a safe height, as they did in the bombing of London, and the British fleet was scattered to avoid the bombs.

"There's a British battleship coming this way!" A sharp-eyed soldier shouted, and their gunner, throwing the cigarette in his hand to the ground and stomping it out, then ordered:

"Quick! Everybody on the gun position! Shooting should start soon! ”

The soldiers stopped chatting and ran back to their positions, the rangefinder began to report the firing data one by one, and the muzzles of the cannons moved rapidly. Soon, the entire battalion received an order to prepare for shooting.

Approaching them was a British armored battleship with a displacement of 13,000 tons, the muzzles of the two twin 300-mm guns on the ship were aimed at the harbor, and white gunpowder smoke followed the shells that spewed out from the thick muzzles from time to time.

"The target is 7,000 yards away and 33 degrees north-east in azimuth...... Shoot! ”

The gun commander shouted as he looked at the flag in the hand of the signalman not far away, and Bowman eagerly pulled the cannon rope while the others covered their ears tightly.

The cannon shook violently, and the familiar smell of gunsmoke filled the air, and the soldiers pulled the cannon as fast as they could, pulled the shell casing, and stuffed another shell into the chamber while waiting for the gun commander to deliver the signal soldier's command.

"The impact point was remote, the shells fell 50 yards behind the British battleship, and the guns adjusted the firing distance. The target distance is 6500 yards! The bearing is 34 degrees north-east! Three rapid fires! ”

As soon as the cannon commander's words fell, the soldiers adjusted one after another, and after the muzzle of the cannon was lowered slightly, Bowman pulled the cannon rope again.

After exiting the shells, loading, resetting, firing, and so on, the soldiers stopped for a moment, and the people in charge of carrying the shells began to sweat, and everyone anxiously awaited the observers' reports.

"The enemy ship was hit by 4 shots, the front main gun was damaged, and the bridge caught fire! Enemy ships are turning! ”

"Oh!" The soldiers high-fived each other excitedly.

When the observer was calculating the next firing data, the British battleship had already turned its hull sideways, and the two black holes of the stern main gun were quickly aimed at the artillery position on this side.

Boom!

Two 300-mm shells landed almost simultaneously not far in front of the German artillery position, and the huge shock wave of the explosion knocked many German artillery to the ground.

"Quick! Get ready to shoot! The gun commander got up from the ground, and before he had time to pat off the dust on his body, he beckoned everyone to continue shooting.

More than ten seconds later, the rangefinder reported the firing again, and the artillery on the German artillery position immediately let out a roar, and more than a dozen shells splashed high columns of water around the British battleship. However, before the water could fully fall, the muzzle of the British's cannon once again erupted with orange-red fire.

The sound of the cannonballs whizzing closer and closer, and the gun commander seemed to be shouting something, and suddenly, Bowman noticed that the whole world vibrated violently, and then he lost consciousness in front of his eyes.

When Bowman woke up again, he found himself lying in the field hospital, and on the bed next to him, Wiese was leaning on a pillow and smoking.

"How did I end up here?" Bowman suddenly felt a pain in his head, but he reached out and felt the thick bandage on his head.

"God has taken care of us! The British's shells actually hit our bunker right now, and I heard that these British sailors had a very poor crosshair, but they didn't expect to hit us! The gun commander died, and the others on our gun emplacements also hung up, and only the two of us survived! But my right hand ...... too," Wiese said, gesturing to the empty sleeve.

"My hands ......" Bowman looked nervously at his hands, both complete, "my legs ......"

"Don't look at it, your limbs are still alive, the cannon has removed all the shrapnel for you, you just hit your head on a shell, and then you were in a coma for a long time! Alas! I can't go to Paris with you, and if you have the chance, you must go to the taverns on the streets of Paris and drink for me the glass of wine you were going to drink! Weese coughed as he spoke, and the nurse not far away came over with a smile on her face, snatched the cigarette butt from his hand and pressed it on the ground, Weese had to laugh helplessly.

"By the way, what happened to that British battleship?" It took a moment for Bowman to remember that he didn't know the outcome of the previous battle.

"I heard that a wave of shells from behind our artillery battalion blew it up! We're really back! ”

"And what about the other British battleships?"

"Except for the few ships that were sunk, all the others ran away!" Wiese glanced at the nurse who was far away, and pulled a cigarette from his breast pocket.

Bowman struggled to sit up, his head aching again, "Alas! What a cruel war! I lost so many companions in one day! ”

"What are we, I heard that the High Seas Fleet and the British Main Fleet fought again, and that was really ...... Alas! With a cigarette in his mouth, Wiese tried to light the match with his left hand, but failed several times, and he threw the match on the ground angrily, "I'm a waste, I can't even light a match, man, I'm going to ask you to borrow a fire again!" ”

The wounded soldier on the other side of Wiese handed over a lit cigarette, and Wiese leaned his head over.

"What do you think happened to our high seas fleet?" Bowman stared at the side of Wiese's face, which looked pale and weak.

"A fierce battle!" Wiese took the cigarette from his mouth with his left hand and coughed again.

Bowman's eyes widened, "Who won?" ”

"Win? What is a win? Hehe! Wiese smiled wryly.