Since the outbreak of the war, Kiel, the home port of the German High Seas Fleet, has become a heavily guarded fortress with strict scrutiny in and out of the area, any possible peep into the harbor area has been designated as a military exclusion zone, and the German Navy has set up a number of radio listening and jamming stations here to prevent enemy spies from snooping on military intelligence in the harbor and quickly sending it to the country's naval command. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

One autumn day, nearly 100 ships of all sizes were moored in the port of Kiel. As far as the eye can see, the mast is like a forest, and it is magnificent. On the docks, thousands of sailors lined up to board the ship, and they were greeted by six light warships of the same appearance, docked end to end by the dock, the German Navy battle flag fluttering in the wind on the mast. Compared to the newer cruisers that often surround the capital ships, their hulls are old and thin, the bridges are rudimentary, the bow is still quite old, and all the guns are mounted individually. The main battleship is the heavy lancers covered in thick armor and charging into battle, the battle cruisers are the rangers who carry shields and swords and come and go like the wind, and the cruisers are the light cavalry that can reconnoitre, patrol, cover, and charge -- the difference is that the Kolburg-class, Magdeburg-class, and Karlsruhe class, which shine in Jutland and Flanders, can be described as brightly armored and sharp, while these old "gazelles" in front of them are simple, rugged, and dull, and the difference in strength is obvious. So whether it's in the three all-important naval battles or on wartime patrol alert missions, the Gazelle, Bremen and even the Königsberg class built at the beginning of the century only play a secondary auxiliary role. In a head-to-head confrontation, these old cruisers are indeed useless, but they have unparalleled advantages over ordinary transport ships in terms of speed, protection and agility.

In the crowd lined up to board the ship, Private Demir Hook stood out for his burly physique and resoluteness, and the machine rifleman, who had fought from Amiens to the banks of the Oise and back to Amiens from the banks of the Oise, had matured rapidly in the flames of war, and the Iron Cross on his chest was the best reward for his bravery, tenacity and composure. In the procession, this stout man carried his Madsen light machine gun in one hand, in front of him was a light machine gunner ammunition bag with four 30-round magazines, behind him was a square cowhide backpack and a rolled-up single tent, with a black metal lunch box, a field water bottle wrapped in a yellow holster, a cotton dry food bag, and a lightweight and durable M98 short shovel. As a rule, the more complete the equipment you carry with you, the more complex the combat environment, and the combat operation cannot be concluded in a short time.

"Well, you say, are we going to the shores of Flanders or to Russia?"

As boarding the ship was imminent, the rifleman behind Hook who was carrying a Mauser G98A short rifle once again voiced the doubts in the hearts of his companions. The officers and men of the 1st Naval Infantry Brigade had just returned home from the Western Front to regroup and recuperate, when they were told that their troops were about to return to combat, but the destination of the operations was kept strictly secret, and only a few senior officers knew the real answer, just as the situation was before the Marine attack on Amiens.

"The shores of Flanders, no doubt." Another rifleman, who followed behind, replied, "If you're going to Russia, you'll have to give us winter clothes and non-slip boots this season, otherwise we'll be crushed by bad weather before we even fight the Russians." ”

The non-commissioned officer in front turned around and said: "Maybe the cold equipment is already waiting for us in the cabin, the fleet will have to walk for at least two days and two nights to the Russian coast, and we have enough time to change into winter clothes...... Who knows? In a few hours, "when the ship leaves the dock, the answer will be revealed." ”

"Maybe the answer will surprise all of us." Hook said in a deep voice, looking past the crowd on the dock to the group of capital ships on the other side of the harbor. Frederick the Great, who had just returned to the fleet from an overhaul, was moving towards the Kiel Canal surrounded by tugboats, apparently heading through the canal to Wilhelmshaven, and if the flagship was preparing to sail from Wilhelmshaven to the Flanders Seas, the 1st Naval Infantry Brigade would most likely launch a landing attack on the Belgian coast - the raids on Zeebrugge and Ostend were the foreshadowing. However, since it is only 200 nautical miles from northern Germany to the Belgian coast, the landing force can be delivered by standard landing ships, and there seems to be no need to transport it by cruisers.

In full view, the "Frederick the Great" flying the admiral's flagship flag slowly sailed into the Kiel Canal, followed by the mighty "Catherine", they were only carrying ordinary standard war materiel, and they did not have the conditions for long-distance operations unless they were replenished at Wilhelmshaven, which seemed to confirm people's speculation that the German Navy was about to launch a landing operation on the coast of Belgium, but Reinhardt-Scher, who had just been officially appointed commander of the High Seas Fleet, was not on the "Frederick the Great" at the moment. He and his fleet command team quietly boarded the newly returned battleship "King". After nightfall, the shadow flagship will assemble a landing fleet in the Bay of Kiel, then cross the Skagerrak Strait into the North Sea and head to Ireland, the actual landing site.

In the battle room of the "King", Natsuki stood quietly in front of the porthole, watching the naval infantry who were ready to go board the four old Gazelle-class cruisers in turn. Considering the slow speed and poor survivability of ordinary cargo ships and passenger ships, and the fact that the landing fleet would sail from Germany and sail around the northern seas of Britain to land in southwestern Ireland, with a total voyage of more than 1,800 nautical miles, without any ports to dock and recuperate on the way, and that it would be difficult to tow the landing ships or travel under their own power, he borrowed the experience of the German invasion of Norway in history, and used 8 Gazelle-class and 4 Bremen-class as fast troop carriers, each carrying 300 men, Together with two old battleships carrying 200 men each, it would transport 4,000 naval infantry destined to land in Ireland. Upon arrival on the shores of Ireland, the force would not need to launch a landing operation, they would be picked up by Irish independence activists. If the Irish Volunteers were able to take control of the port, the German cruisers could even send the naval infantry directly to the docks.

In order to confuse the intelligence officers of the Entente powers, German ships bound for Ireland set off in batches and at different times from the ports of Kiel, Lübeck, Rostock, etc. The reconnaissance fleet commanded by Hipper entered the North Sea ahead of schedule, and the Second Battleship Detachment, consisting of "Nassau," "Rhineland," "Helgoland," and "Thuringia," was on standby in the Bay of Kiel.

"Britain was conquered for the first time by Germanic peoples in the 4th and 6th centuries AD, and more than 1,000 years later, we are once again embarking on this great and magical journey. Only a few months ago, who believed that the German Navy would be able to defeat the invincible British Navy and transport German soldiers to British soil? ”

At the conference table, Colonel von Trota, Chief of Fleet Operations, sighed with pride, and his words were immediately echoed by several staff officers, but to Natsuki's ears, this notion was not only arrogant, but also made a mistake of direction - the landing in Ireland was not to conquer Britain, but to weaken the war potential of the British Empire, to undermine their national prestige, and to force London to divert a considerable part of its attention from naval construction to the defense of its homeland.

Such a strategic idea, Natsuki had previously formed a consensus with Tirpitz, and won the approval and support of Kaiser Wilhelm II, but even so, he did not correct Colonel Trota in person, after all, everyone here has the limitations of the times, it is impossible to have a long-term strategic vision like a successful decision-maker, even if it is a painstaking teaching, it is difficult to change people's way of thinking, and as long as the leader continues to play a role, the whole flock will not deviate from the direction.

As usual, Lieutenant Colonel Lefetsov, who was accustomed to "singing the opposite," said without hesitation: "There was no strong resistance we faced when the Germanic tribes attacked Britain, and to be honest, I don't trust the Irish, I fear that they have already leaked their mouths and let the British Navy know the timing of our action, and then deploy a fleet in the northern seas to wait for us." With these cruisers full of soldiers in tow, it was difficult for us to let go of our hands and feet to fight the British fleet. ”

Colonel Trota, as usual, retorted: "Jutland, we have 19 capital ships against 25 of the British Navy; Flanders, we have 10 main ships in the main fleet of 10 of them. Gentlemen, the trend is very pronounced in the constant decay of the enemy's power, and we are moving from disadvantage to superiority. What is absolutely certain at the moment is that the main fleet of the French Navy remains in the Mediterranean, and that the British Navy will certainly have fewer capital ships to fight than we do. ”

It has been a month and a half since the end of the Second Battle of Flanders, at the cost of slowing down the construction progress of the Bavaria-class dreadnoughts, the major German shipyards have concentrated manpower and resources to repair the damaged ships, and a group of capital ships that were most seriously damaged in the Battle of Jutland have all returned, and the structural damage to the hulls of "Frederick the Great", "Catherine", "Ostfriedland", and "Posen" has been irreversible, and it is not suitable to continue to fight on the front line of naval warfare, so they play the strongest supporting role together. The landing fleet for Ireland included the "King", "Elector", "Caesar", "Regent Louitpold", "Westphalia", "Nassau", "Rhineland", "Helgoland", "Thuringia" and the latest King-class battleship "Frontier Governor", there were 10 dreadnoughts alone, and the four battle cruisers under the command of Hipper, "De Fllinger", "Seydlitz", "Moltke", and "Goeben" were all in battle. And even if the British Navy is equipped with a triple 13.5-inch caliber new battle patrol "Tiger" has been put into service, there are less than 10 capital ships in service, and it will be at a disadvantage in any case.

(End of chapter)