It was late at night, and the only sound left on the sea was the sound of the winter breeze blowing the waves, and the sailors standing guard on the deck and side of the battleship kept their feet warm up. Before you know it, the goose-feathered snow falls, and the scenery of snow on the sea is magnificent, but unfortunately except for a few pilot lights on nearby warships, the whole world is dark.

Lieutenant General Conway raised his hand and looked at his watch, the hour hand had just passed its highest point, and it was already December 23rd. One more day will be the much-anticipated Christmas, and everyone from the belligerent countries and neutral civilians will want to have a peaceful and happy Christmas.

"Report!"

Churchill's face did not look very good, and after two cigars, his voice was a little hoarse.

"Please come in!"

The door opened, and several guards entered with two men wrapped in blankets, pale, and still shivering.

"Americans?" Conway stood up and looked at the two poor men.

"Yes, General! My name is Carl. Inside, his name is Walker. Brown, we're all Clinton Mining Company employees! One of the younger men replied, and there were still a few shallow scratches on his face, and it seemed that the cold had stopped the bleeding from his wound.

The other man was older, and he looked a little weak, so he just nodded his head in a trembling manner, which was kind of approval of his companion's answer. Had it not been for the swift arrival of the British cruiser, they would not have lasted long in the icy waters of the Atlantic in December.

"Warm up with some whiskey!" Conway said as he pulled out a metal flask from his pocket, and the British were obviously a little surprised that one of the admirals actually put a jug of wine in his pocket. Conway didn't care what the British thought, but twisted the lid and handed the flask to the older survivor.

The man didn't say thank you, took the flask and took two large sips, and then handed it to the young man next to him. The young survivor poured all the rest of the wine without reservation, and the faces of both of them looked much better.

"Thank you!" The young man handed the empty flask back to Conway. After putting the flask away, Conway nodded his condolences to the two of them and asked them to take a seat in the chair across from him.

"Tell me what happened to you! Be as detailed as possible! Conway motioned for Schridden to take a written note, and he chose a comfortable position to lean back in his chair.

Churchill, Lieutenant Commander Reese, and two other British admirals sat at one end of the conference table, not looking at the two American survivors, like a bunch of children who had done something wrong and were ready to be criticized.

The young survivor took a deep breath and began to reminisce about the horrific journey:

"Our Clinton Mining Company is a company that specializes in iron, copper, tungsten and other ores. Clinton is our boss. Three weeks ago, Mr. Clinton traveled to Germany with a group of staff, including us, mainly to explore the market. After successfully signing a contract with a German company, we departed from Hamburg and returned to the United States five days ago on board the German freighter "Hill", which was carrying cargo for us, with 22 American employees, including our boss, in addition to the German crew. ”

"After setting sail from Germany, we sailed through the North Sea, around the northern waters of Scotland and into the Atlantic, where we encountered only a few German warships, who simply asked us about something, and everything seemed to go very well! When we entered the sphere of influence belonging to the US Navy, everyone's mood relaxed. But this afternoon, about 5 o'clock, we met the British fleet here, and they began to fire shells at us from a great distance, without any signal asking for our identity! ”

"Before our freighter was hit, they fired about two or three hundred shells in total! A large-caliber shell hit our port side, most of whom were killed in that explosion, and some were sucked to the bottom by the whirlpool created by the sunken freighter. The two of us were the only surviving Americans, and the remaining 21 American citizens were all killed by the guns of these British! ”

It is an indisputable fact that the British admirals did not speak during the course of the American narrative, especially since the entire British fleet fired 320 rounds of 280 mm or 305 mm shells before hitting the large, slow-moving German freighter, which made the generals who came from Britain to receive the warship feel disgraced. According to the record of the German Hipper raid fleet in the Atlantic, the Germans only needed 30-40 shells to sink a British ship at the same distance.

Lieutenant General Conway silently pondered every detail of the matter, but he did not ask the British questions for the time being, but continued to look for answers from American survivors.

"What kind of cargo is being transported on board?"

The young survivor looked at the older survivor, "Iron ore!" ”

"Iron ore is a military material that violates the Neutrality Act!" A British general said as if he had found a life-saving straw, but Churchill frowned.

"General, I'm afraid you've drunk too much!" Lieutenant General Conway was obviously very dissatisfied with the guy's words, "We in the United States are a neutral country, and any country has the right to ship iron ore to the United States!" Although this is not the territorial waters of the United States, no country has declared this a war zone at present, and I am afraid that it is your British Navy that violates the neutrality law. ”

"Stupid guy!" Churchill's lips moved a few times, and he made a voice so faint that only he could hear it, his own general was too impulsive, and making a fuss about this would only give the Americans more opportunities to attack.

The English general, too, seemed to realize his mistake, and he retracted his head, and then said no more.

Conway didn't want to rush too much with the British, so he turned to the two survivors, "Did you signal to the British fleet that there were American citizens on board before the freighter was sunk?" ”

"Yes, I know German, and after the bombardment by the British fleet, the German captain of that ship had his sailors signal over and over again that there were no weapons on our ship and that there were American citizens on board!" The young survivor replied earnestly and solemnly, and it was the older one who also began to speak:

"I also saw the Germans signaling that they would like to stop the ship for inspection, but the British ignored it!"

The Englishman at the conference table still did not speak, and Conway immediately began to cautiously ask the "perpetrators".

"Mr. Churchill, I would like to know what you and your generals have to say about this!"

Churchill took his cigar in his mouth, but it was not lit, and his mouth was filled with the bitter taste of tobacco leaves.

"General, as you know, many of the sailors in this fleet are sailors with no experience in battleships. They found out that the German freighter had given a signal and did not immediately report the message to the commander. The derelict sailor has been detained by us! ”

Reeser sat silently with his head down, and now Churchill's so-called responsible person was the hapless signal soldier on his ship, in fact, as the captain of the ship, he himself had an unshirkable responsibility.

It is obviously not satisfactory for the Americans to take out only a small soldier to take the blame for the whole thing, Conway was expressionless, "If this is the case, I'm afraid all the warships here will sail back to Norfolk Military Port to be investigated by us!" ”

"My 'Knight' is responsible for the observation and calibration of the entire fleet, if you want to investigate, just leave me as a ship!" After much thought, Lieutenant Colonel Reeser took the initiative to stand up.

Churchill sat there quietly, not saying anything about Reeser's performance, but only thinking about how to satisfy the American government at the lowest cost.

"So who gave the order to shoot?" Conway looked at Churchill and asked in a milder tone.

"That's right, it's me! We have to admit that it was a very bad mishit! Although Lieutenant Commander Reeser and his sailors have some responsibility, in the final analysis, the incident is due to a piece of intelligence from our Admiralty. According to the latest information we have received, it was a German spy ship that had come to spy on our fleet, a ship loaded with torpedoes, artillery and disguised as an ordinary freighter. It wasn't until we sank it that we found out that this was a very wrong piece of information! For this matter, our entire British Naval Intelligence Department, the British Special Fleet, should be responsible. Our government will explain this matter and apologize and compensate the families of the victims! ”

Churchill's attitude surprised the other British admirals, including Reeser, who ostensibly seemed to be shifting the main responsibility to the British Admiralty, but in fact he was exonerating the fleet from responsibility, so that the Americans would have no reason to detain the remaining warships. Intelligence from all sides indicated that the Germans would attack as soon as Christmas was over, and that they would be able to return to England with an extra warship, and the British army's hopes of holding the land were somewhat greater. That is, he would rather stay on his own than have any of the remaining warships taken back to Norfolk by the Americans.

"That is to say, Mr. Churchill, you, as the head of intelligence of the British Admiralty and the person who gave the order to shoot, are the main person responsible for this matter! In that case, I hope you will come back with us to explain this to our government and people! Conway does not seem to have seen through Churchill's scheming plans, and it is impossible for the U.S. government to detain the entire British Naval Intelligence.

"Are you going to judge me?" Churchill's tone was calm, "As a loyal friend of the United States, we in Britain are facing an unprecedented and arduous test, and I implore your navy and your government to proceed from the overall situation, put aside the contradictions caused by this accident for the time being, and give full support to our British fight against foreign invasion!" This matter is very clear, even if I go back to the United States with you, it will not make any sense. The shelling took place on the high seas, and I am a British soldier, and your government does not have the authority to try and detain me! ”

Lieutenant General Conway was still a little immature in the face of a politically savvy man like Churchill, but the most he could do, as the British put it, was to "kindly invite" Churchill back for a special investigation.

Conway took a piece of paper from Srieddon, thought about it and wrote something on it, and after several alterations, he gave it to the communications officer and asked him to send it to the commander of the Atlantic Fleet on an American destroyer.

Then, the conference room fell into a long, dreary wait.

At this time, in a farm near London in mainland England, Cullen and others had hidden trucks and oxen and wagons behind the granary. Despite being woken up in their sleep, the farmkeeper's family was very kind enough to receive the men who had just finished participating in the "hunt for German spies" in British military uniforms, while the commandos in charge of sweeping the tail kept an eye on the entire farm. On this cold winter night, the neighborhood of this somewhat remote farm is so calm that even the animals hide in the cold.

Although the UK mainland has been locked down for more than two months, the farmer has cooked enough food for them. Watching the delicious roast lamb, ham, bread and tortillas, the commandos who had fought fiercely during the day had an appetite. The food was served on the table and soon all that was left of the bones and breadcrumbs, and their kitchen never stopped from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. The owner of the farmhouse here looks to be in his 50s, and he, his wife, three daughters-in-law, and five grandchildren all watch the commandos gobble up in a kind manner. A few of the seriously wounded members of the assault team were placed in rooms with fireplaces to recuperate, and the paramedics were able to take advantage of the opportunity to retreat their wounds and perform simple sutures.

"I'm so sorry to have eaten so much of your food when I came to visit so late! We'll apply to the War Department for compensation! "More than 100 people ate the farmer's four sheep, 10 large hams, two baskets of bread and a lot of tortillas, and even Cullen was a little embarrassed.

"It's okay, you've all worked hard! Alas! How did the Germans suddenly become so terrible these years! At the outbreak of the Great War, even the soothsayers did not expect that the barbarians would be able to cross the strait. But with you brave soldiers, I'm sure we'll drive these Germans back into the forests of Germany with axes, just as we did when we drove out the Romans! "The old man in England looked confident, and the commandos did not laugh at him, and patriotic people always have good wishes for the prosperity of the country.

"Do you have enough food for the winter?"

Cullen was not worried about eating the rations of the British, and it was also his side task to investigate the food reserves of the British civilian population. According to his previous surveys, most British households have stored more than two months' worth of food rations, and rural residents generally have higher food reserves than city dwellers.

"Alas! The food was no problem! The old man stretched out his wrinkled hand to caress the delicate face of his little granddaughter who had just fallen asleep, and said sadly for a while, "After our poor navy was badly damaged, we have been storing a lot of food, and the grain in the granary is enough for our family to feed for a year, and we have raised a lot of goats!" In order to procure these foods, especially corn from the United States, we have spent all our savings over the years! This is a trivial matter, you can earn it with both hands when the money goes, but you can't live again when you go! ”

Karen then remembered that there were no more sturdy men in the farmstead except for the old man and his little grandson, "Have all three of your sons joined the army?" ”

"No, all four sons have joined the army! Three of them served in the Navy, and the youngest son has not yet started a family and used to serve in the Army like you! The old man's voice was a little muffled, and when his wife and daughter-in-law began to sob, the commandos stopped to stuff something into their mouths, as if this was a war-torn family.

"Navy ......" Cullen didn't know what to say, while the Germans were frantically celebrating the victory in the naval battle, countless British were weeping for their lost loved ones. But war is inevitable, and war, hunger, disease, and death have never left in the course of human development.

"The eldest and second both served in the great fleet, which was once the pride of the people of England, and we were once the happiest and most glorious family in the village! All that, since September 2nd, has changed! The eldest son died in the first wave of German air raids, and the second son was laid to rest at the bottom of the sea with his battleship during the later Battle of the North Sea. The third child served on an armored battleship anchored in Plymouth with the last main fleet of the British Navy, and he was also my only surviving son, but once the Germans attacked, their battleships would probably have to face the demonic Germans as well! ”

"Demon ......" Cullen and the commandos are honored by this title, but perhaps the old man's family is too friendly to be happy at this time. But if this old man were to go to the battlefield with a gun, they would still shoot at him, and this is war.

"And my most pitiful youngest son, when he joined the Army, we all thought that the Army was far less honorable than the Navy, but at least it was safer than the Navy. Unfortunately, we were all wrong, he was transferred to the fortress of Dover with the troops last month, and he was given two days off to come back to visit us, but we didn't expect it to be the last time we would see each other! The old man's wrinkled face was filled with deep sorrow, and he shook his head as he spoke, as if to complain about the terrible war.

"Dover Fortress? He was in the German naval shelling last week......" Cullen looked at Helim, one of the purposes of the shelling was to cover their second commando. However, when the first commando team landed in the air, the Brighton Beach defense line was subjected to the same shelling.

After the commandos had eaten, Cullen looked at his watch, and it was already three o'clock in the morning.

"Alright, guys, it's time for us to get to work!"

*************

The third chapter of this week's lifting of the ban, as long as everyone continues to help click, recommend, and collect friends' new book "Jade Qingcong", the sky will lift the ban on eight chapters in a week as promised, so that readers who have not entered the VIP can look good and cool, the book URL - http:///showbook.asp?bl_id=118884, or click the link below, thank you for your support!

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