On August 11, four days after the Battle of Jutland, the Germans held a very solemn victory parade in Berlin. Led by Admiral von Ingnoll www.biquge.info commander of the High Seas Fleet, more than 2,000 German sailors marched through Wilhelmstrasse and Linden Strasse in a neat procession, receiving cheers and salutes from hundreds of thousands of Germans. On this day, Berlin was undoubtedly a sea of jubilation, and Kaiser Wilhelm II, together with members of the royal family and Allied powers, inspected the German naval forces and invited them to a feast in the Royal Ballroom, and the spectacular fireworks display continued into the night......

In the eyes of outsiders, both the German top brass and the officers and men of the navy were still immersed in the joy of celebrating the victory at this time, and the main ships of the high seas fleet were basically wounded in the battle, and the German navy would not have a large-scale sortie in a short period of time, and the dispute in the North Sea was limited to some light ships of both sides, and a heavyweight fleet battle could only occur a few months later. To the surprise of most people, in the middle of the night of August 11, the German fleet led by the "King" quietly sailed out of the port of Kiel, and the temporary flagship was naturally not Ingnor, who was far away in Berlin, but Vice Admiral Reinhardt-Schell, who was the commander of the mixed operation fleet as the commander of the 2nd Battleship Detachment.

Turning the clock back 48 hours, Kaiser Wilhelm II, the head of the Navy, von Tirpitz, the chief of the Naval Cabinet, von Müller, the chief of the naval staff, and the commander of the High Seas Fleet, Ingnorzi, sat in the smoky reception room at the Royal Palace in Kiel, listening to the explanation of the plan of the sortie by the chief of staff of the High Seas Fleet and a member of the royal family, Prince Joachim.

Rulers of the empire and navy officers did not essentially reject a military adventure of great significance, but a great victory had just been reached, and people were in a psychological "digestion period", reflecting on the process of the battle, thinking about its far-reaching impact on the outcome of the war, and naturally resisting this plan to fight with the remnants of the battle. However, the unexpected victory in the early stage was precisely the result of such a surprising and worrying battle plan, and the people were clearly unwilling to miss another experiment with great potential gains, and the two psychology were intertwined, and the mood of hesitation, contradiction, and entanglement dominated the atmosphere.

Stating the entire plan he envisioned, Xia Shu said: "Regardless of the performance of the army units, the battle situation in Belgium is a little worse than we expected, the actions of the right flank have lagged behind the established schedule, and once the British Expeditionary Force of six divisions arrives in France, no one can predict how much impact they will have on the situation on the Western Front." If possible, why don't we move ahead to do our best to eliminate this disadvantage? ”

"The stupidity of the Belgians has indeed caused some trouble for our right flank, but the Chief of Staff of the Army has repeatedly assured me that our army will annihilate the main French forces in the Maas River valley as originally planned, and that as for the British Expeditionary Force, no matter how many men they come, it will only increase our spoils!"

The Kaiser's words were a sign of confidence, but it was clear that he was not completely sure of Moltke's assurances, and intelligence from Russia showed that the Russian troops were being assembled and deployed faster than the German staff had expected, which made Germany face a terrible threat on the Eastern Front.

The officers of the Navy are neither willing to go beyond their position nor have the ability to judge the performance of the Army, after all, most of the information they know is hearsay from others in idle conversation, and if they are put on the table, in addition to showing their own recklessness, I am afraid that they will only arouse the disgust of their colleagues in the Army.

Natsuki, of course, would not argue with Wilhelm II's arguments in front of everyone, and he persuaded in a roundabout way: "No matter how long this battle lasts, the sooner we force Britain to compromise, the sooner we can restore our sea routes; The sooner routes are restored, the sooner we can get our industrial economy back on track. Moreover, Britain, France, and Russia, the strongest of the three countries, after all, is still Britain, and if it can withdraw from the war, the psychological blow to the enemy camp will be very heavy, and at the same time, it can also warn those countries that vacillate and wait for the opportunity to move that there will be no good end for being enemies of Germany. ”

The Kaiser smoked his cigar silently for a moment and turned to ask Ingnoll for advice.

Ingnoll looked up at Natsuki and replied slowly: "Your Majesty, although this battle has greatly damaged the strength of the British Navy, judging from the British government's bulletin, their will to fight has not been completely broken, and many people must have been lucky, thinking that the British fleet was only defeated by a momentary negligence, and they will definitely win the next battle." At this time, if the British were to be inflicted another heavy blow, it would certainly greatly weaken their morale, force the British Navy to withdraw from the naval bases in the north, our merchant ships would sail out and back to the North Sea under the protection of the fleet, and our fast warships would sail into the Atlantic to attack the British shipping lines, and the prospect of such a good war would seem worthy of our risk. ”

At this time, the chief of the Navy, Muller, Tirpitz, the number one rival within the Navy, interjected: "Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness Prince Joachim, I personally have a different opinion: the confidence of the British military and civilians has not been broken because they have just suffered a defeat, and their strong self-esteem has aroused their will to fight, and after a long time, they will look back on this battle and realize that they deserved to be defeated, and the heavy casualties of the fleet will inevitably make them lose the courage to fight us a little. And after such a fiasco, I don't think the British top brass would dare to send troops to France to defend their homeland. Or, as soon as Britain sends an expeditionary force, we put on the posture of landing on Britain across the sea and force them to withdraw their troops. By the time we win a decisive victory on the Western Front, it will be a matter of time before Britain withdraws from the war. We are in a hurry to fight at this time, and it is good to win, and if there is a mistake, it will directly help the British to restore their confidence. ”

Müller's analysis clearly pandered to the Kaiser's ship-defending mentality, and he nodded slightly, then asked Tirpitz for his opinion.

Tirpitz replied without hesitation: "When it comes to the strategy and tactics of fleet operations, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim is a once-in-a-century genius, and his courage and audacity can be compared to Nelson of Germany, so I personally have no objection to this sortie plan." ”

The Kaiser's gaze turned to the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Hugo von Bohr.

Pol, who was obviously on Muller's side, said in a tactful tone: "His Royal Highness Prince Joachim's combat strategy is indeed surprisingly wonderful, the British Navy would never have expected us to take the initiative at this time, so we have a better chance of victory, and I am worried that the British Navy is still very strong, only with the home fleet and not engaged in naval battles There are four main ships, and there are more than thirty non-full heavy gun battleships before the Dreadnought was put into service, and they may have urgently adjusted their deployment, and we know nothing about this adjustment." To be on the safe side, I suggest that it is better to wait for more capital ships to repair and participate in the war. ”

Of the five, only Tirpitz and Ingnorr expressed their support, which was already better than Natsuki's worst-case scenario, and he folded his hands to his chest and sneered a few times.

Everyone looked at him curiously.

"In a horse race, if we think both horses have a chance of winning, we will bet on both sides instead of worrying about paying more than one bet, which is very simple."

When he said this, Xia Shu didn't have any special expression on his face, but the dissidents could naturally hear the contempt in the words, and his face suddenly became a little ugly. Müller immediately retorted: "A horse race is a horse race, and we are now betting on the lives of the best capital ships of the German Navy and thousands of officers and men." ”

Natsuki sneered, "Since we have been in this war, the purpose is to seek victory with minimal losses. If you are bitter about the loss of every battleship and every sailor, what can you win? Hoping that the enemy's warships will sink on the reef? ”

Unbearable to be ironic, Mill stood up "with a sigh".

Natsuki stood up and looked at him without giving in.

Observing such a fierce confrontation, especially under Natsuki's sharp position, Wilhelm II's attitude was obviously shaken, and he said in a peaceful tone: "Sit down! ”

Muller felt out of his temper and knew that his arms could not carry his thighs, so he sat back in his position with remorse.

Natsuki sat down unhurriedly, bowed his head and said: "As a naval officer, I have no right to make any judgments about the overall situation of the war, but I have always had this fear in my heart: Britain, France and Russia will work together to turn this war into a war of attrition that we least want to see." Italy's neutrality, the fierce battle at the fortress of Liège, and the slow advance of Austria-Hungary in Serbia have all shown me bad signs in reality. As a naval officer, all I could do was to defeat the German enemy at sea, but in all fairness, I was not an overly reckless man, and I would not have regarded the lives of any naval officer or sailor as ants, I saw the opportunity, I made a battle plan with my wisdom, I had the confidence and certainty to win the victory, and that was it. ”

Everyone was silent.

After a while, the Kaiser spoke: "All right! At present, the situation in land warfare is still unclear, and the high seas fleet can also take advantage of the victory to divert the enemy's attention, disrupt its disposition, and boost our morale. Admiral von Ingnoel, what do you think? ”

Ingnoll agreed, of course, but he then said that he was feeling unwell, and that he had barely supported himself in the previous battle, and implored the Kaiser to find another person to take on the task.

Wilhelm II knew why, he asked Ingnoll if he had a recommendation, and Ingnoll was about to speak, but Natsuki preemptively said: "The commander of the 2nd Battleship Detachment, Admiral Reinhardt-Scher, is bold and persevering, and the 1st Reconnaissance Detachment, Admiral Franz Hipper, who is good at command and good at attacking, are ideal candidates to command this mixed fleet." ”

With the exception of Tirpitz, the other four were surprised by Natsuki's initiative to recommend others.

Relieved of the need to appoint an excessively young fleet commander, the Kaiser made his decision with relative ease. Over the next two days, the repaired German warships quietly underwent sea trials, then loaded the port of Kiel with ammunition, fuel, food, fresh water and other combat materials, and transferred crews from friendly ships awaiting repair to the posts of casualties. By the night of 11 August, the "King", "Caesar", "Regent of Louispold", "De Fllinger", and "Goeben" sailed out of Kiel with 7 light cruisers and 18 large torpedo boats, and went to the Gulf of Helgoland to rendezvous with the powerful but slow auxiliary fleet.

(End of chapter)