"For Britain, which has lost its sea supremacy, mines, submarines and coastal fortifications have become the last line of defense on their home soil."

At the Admiralty Military Conference, the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Field Marshal Pol, made a report.

Today, the emperor was unwell and did not attend, so Chen Tian naturally became the main head of the meeting. For Chen Tian, it feels good to be the boss, and every speaker will continue to cast inquiring eyes at him.

"According to our estimates, by the beginning of December 1914, Britain had accumulated more than 20,000 mines of all kinds in the English Channel, the Strait of Dover, and near ports where the German navy could raid them, making it almost impossible to cross the English Channel laterally. Since late September, when His Majesty the Emperor ordered our navy to begin preparations for landing in England, the removal of British mines from the Channel and the shipping routes has become a major task of our Admiralty, and we have set up a minesweeping fleet consisting of minesweepers, large mine-striking ships, and destroyers for this purpose. ”

"This fleet has cleared about 3,000 mines since the end of September, but the fact is often that the minefields cleared by our fleet today are quietly re-mined by British ships at night, and there are occasional small-scale encounters between the minesweepers and minelaying fleets of the two countries. It wasn't until early November that we launched an airstrike against a dozen British minelayer homeports near the English Channel, sinking dozens of British minelayers and damaging their homeport facilities. ”

"As the time for the planned attack on Britain approached, in order to minimize the threat of British mines to our ships participating in the landing operation, the Admiralty dispatched as many minesweepers as possible to increase the intensity of mine clearance, and at the same time sent airships carrying 1-2 fighters to escort the minesweeping fleet. However, the British minelayers did not give up, and the British Navy continued to convert all kinds of ships into minelayers, and as long as they still had a mine in their warehouse, they would do their best to replenish the minefields cleared by us. ”

"At the beginning of the war, the British Navy had 70 submarines, and their performance was not much worse than ours, and the British could have posed a huge threat to our navy and sea lines with them, but in the September "Operation Doomsday", the British Navy lost more than 40 submarines at one time, leaving less than 30 submarines deployed in the east and west of England, with the main task of defending the main British ports and harassing the German Northern Sea Route. ”

The British submariners were much inferior to the shrewd German submarine captains, but they sank 15 Allied warships and 47 Allied merchant ships in September, October, and November, with a total tonnage of 230,000 tons, and lost only four submarines themselves. Together with the new submarines launched in these three months, the British Navy had a total of 49 submarines by early December. However, with our small and medium-sized ships equipped with sonar and depth charges, British submarines were probably not doing so well, and in the first week of December alone, seven British submarines were sunk by converted German ships, and two others were wounded and forced to surface and captured by the German Navy. ”

"On the long and winding coastline of the British Isles, there are hundreds of old and new naval fortifications of various sizes, some simple forts, others newly built or reinstated. In the case of Dover, the British expanded and strengthened the fortress of Dover after the naval defeat, and the fortress group of 17 batteries had more than 700 guns of large and small calibers, including 210 mm heavy howitzers and 305 mm giant fortress guns. The 50KG and 100KG bombs carried by German aircraft did not pose much of a threat to these fortresses, and the number of airship bombings was limited, so battleships would be the main weapon of the Germans to clear these beachhead obstacles. ”

Bohr's long report provided a detailed analysis of the British naval defense, and also reflected the rigorous spirit of the German navy. After Pol finished speaking, he naturally asked Chentian to express his opinion.

"The Admiralty has done a very good job under your leadership, and it was you who made the landing of the Army in Britain possible. On behalf of His Majesty the Emperor and the people, I would like to thank you. "Chen Tian has become more and more accustomed to thanking another group of people on some occasions, but after the polite words, he still has to make some useful additions according to his awareness of being ahead of the times," Here I would like to put forward some personal opinions for your reference. ”

"First, in addition to choosing the right landing site and landing time, we also need to do a good job of secrecy and deception. Needless to say, the deception I am referring to is not an act that violates the morality and chivalry of a soldier, but a tactic to mislead the enemy's judgment. For example, we can intensify reconnaissance and bombardment of non-landing sites, and even send out fleets to carry out artillery bombardment before landing, so that the enemy can make an early movement of forces, so that the enemy's defense line is likely to be exposed, or weaken the defense of our actual landing site. ”

"Secondly, large-scale minesweeping should be carried out not only on the routes through which the landing fleet is to pass, but also in other areas as a means of disrupting the deployment of British submarine forces in order to disperse the British submarines who are ambushing on our routes. In addition, we can induce the other side to make a wrong judgment by massing ships on the other side of the strait where they are not landing, or by deliberately omitting a wrong battle plan to the British Shinobi. ”

"Thirdly, the pre-landing battlefleet was required not only to shell the fortifications on the British coast, but also to suppress as much as possible the artillery deployed in the depth of the British line. Of course, this requires careful reconnaissance in advance, and it would be best if you could obtain information on the defensive deployment of the British army! ”

After Chen Tian finished speaking, he found that the admirals listened with relish. For a person who knows the details of the Normandy and Sicilian landings, these elements of pre-landing preparation are not difficult to think of, but for German generals who have never experienced or even learned about large-scale cross-sea landings here, they give them a lot of insight.

I'm just different from Prince! Chen Tian said silently in his heart, as far as he knew, Prince rarely attended the meetings of the Admiralty in the past, and even if he did, he only said some polite words or made some ridiculous suggestions.

"By the way, how many of our special tank landing craft have been completed?" Chen Tian suddenly remembered this very important question, it is no longer the time for army soldiers to climb down from big ships and row small boats to land, but it is still too early to develop amphibious tanks and armored vehicles in terms of technical conditions. Therefore, to send tanks and armored vehicles weighing several tons and wading to a depth of no more than 1.5 meters to the beach, it is necessary to use special landing ships with shallow draft, large carrying capacity, and the bow can be opened and closed. After the Admiralty began to prepare for the landing in England, Chen Tian handed over the requirements and sketches of such a landing ship to Tirpitz, and he did not inquire about it again after being busy with land warfare.

"So far, 220 of these purpose-built landing ships capable of carrying two tanks or a company of infantry have been completed, and we have developed an improved landing ship that can carry four tanks or two companies of infantry, and 70 have already been built. These landing ships can send one tank or armored division to the shore with the infantry units that are rushing to the shore, and when the beachhead is secured, the engineer units can build 15 trestles to unload the troops and equipment from the other medium and large freighters in the fleet. ”

The speed of the Admiralty is still satisfactory, after all, Chen Tian's original request is that at least half a tank division in the first wave of the stall force should support the infantry in the battle, and it seems that the Admiralty has exceeded its task.

"Excellent! Keep up the good work, everybody! After this battle, the Empire's take-off will be unstoppable! Chen Tian stood up and saluted the admirals with a solemn military salute, and by the way, his popularity index in the Admiralty increased a little.

Before leaving Berlin for the French coast, Chen Tian has to attend two other important meetings, one is Bilow VS the Japanese ambassador, and the other is Bilow VS the American ambassador, and the meeting seems to have become the main theme of Chentian's life in recent times. Fortunately, he can now see Lisa and her two children every day when he returns to his residence, and this short-term warmth makes him feel very happy. Because of them, Chen Tian is very reluctant to get involved in the political struggle, but it is also for them, Chen Tian should do his best to achieve the final victory. It's just that now, far from the time to move the emperor and Prince, after all, Chentian still needs time to familiarize himself with and control the overall situation, otherwise a careless mistake may push Germany into a divisive situation.

"Your Royal Highness, I am Japan's special envoy Hirota Hiroki, and I would like to salute you on behalf of the Japanese government!"

When the Japanese envoy finished saying this, the translator hesitated, but he still translated the original text of the word "crown prince". Bilo didn't pay attention, and Tatsuten was very disdainful of this compliment from the Japanese. However, he seems to have heard the name Hirota Hiroki somewhere, and there don't seem to be many people with the same name and surname in Japan. It seems that he is a Class A war criminal in another world who actively promoted the diplomacy of aggression against China, promoted the fascism of the country, and was sentenced to death by the Allies after World War II.

"Mr. Hirota, I am only acting as the Crown Prince of Germany, please note this! Our esteemed crown prince is only in poor health at the moment, but with the blessings of the whole country, I will be well soon! Tatsuten unceremoniously pointed out Hirota's mistake, although he preferred that the whole German people would forget about Prince's existence with the passage of time.

"Oh, I'm sorry! But your strength is worthy of this title! Hirota nodded slightly and spoke in a Japanese posture, very respectful and humble, but the ghost knew what he was thinking, perhaps to take the opportunity to win Chentian's favor and increase the weight in the negotiation.

Chen Tian naturally wouldn't eat him, "I'm still the Prince of East Prussia of the German Empire, if you don't want to call me the acting crown prince, you can call me the prince!" ”

"Alright then, Your Royal Highness the Acting Crown Prince and Prince!" Hirota's words made Tatsuten always feel awkward when he heard it.

Chen Tian looked at Bilo and motioned for him to hurry up and start the talks, he didn't want to waste a lot of saliva with the Japanese on the issue of titles.

Birloh understood, "That's right, Mr. Envoy! Our Honorable Emperor His Majesty is very pleased with the present friendship between Germany and Japan, and he therefore asks you to convey on your behalf our country's greetings to your Emperor and Government. In addition, our emperor also hopes that your government can do a small favor! ”

"Oh! Thank you very much, Emperor! Our Honorable Emperor His Majesty will be delighted! The current friendship between our two countries is understandable, so if there is anything you need help with, please feel free to ask, and our country will definitely do its best! Hirota nodded more diligently as he spoke, a Japanese habit like a chicken pecking rice.

"At present the French Government has surrendered to our country, and according to the French surrender agreement, we will accept all the overseas colonies of France. However, our country is still too busy settling its dispute with Great Britain to receive and defend all the French colonies, especially the numerous islands in the Americas. Out of the friendly relations and the inclination of cooperation between our two countries, we hope that your Government will be able to send a powerful fleet to take over, temporarily protect and administer the French Polynesian Islands and Clipperton Island in the eastern Pacific Ocean on our behalf!"

The German intentions represented by Bülow were obvious, which was to advance Japan's sphere of influence to the eastern Pacific Ocean, especially Clipperton Island, which is located on the western side of the North and South American continents, and is only about 600 nautical miles from the American continent. If there is a strong fleet with an unknown purpose stationed there, I am afraid that the Americans will have to worry about their west coast.

Hirota did not answer immediately, but made a thoughtful gesture, so Bilow added:

"The French Polynesian Islands are located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, consisting of a number of islands such as the Tuamotu Islands, the Society Islands, the Ostra Islands, and the Marquesas Islands, with a total land area of about 4,000 square kilometers and a total population of about 200,000. The largest island is Tahiti, with an area of 1,042 square kilometers, rich in marine fishery resources, producing fish and pearl oysters, and the main agricultural and animal husbandry products are copra, fruits, herbs, coffee, milk, beef, etc. Clipperton Island, a coral reef island, is located in the Great Plains Ocean about 650 nautical miles southwest of Mexico. In return, the exploitation of the islands and the revenues from the nearby fisheries will be fully vested in your Government during the period of trusteeship of the islands. ”

"Your Royal Highness, Acting Crown Prince and Prince, Honorable Foreign Secretary, your country has made a very interesting request, if you understand correctly, your country intends to give us the concession of the above-mentioned islands without any rent, and the only request is for us to deploy a fleet of a certain size there, right?"

Tatsuten and Bilo glanced at each other, and it seemed that Hirota Hongyi was a smart person.

"Yes, your country's power in the Pacific can bypass the Hawaiian Islands and go directly to the central and southeastern Pacific Ocean! As for the lease period, our country has no intention of taking them back for the time being! ”

"We will contain the naval power of the United States on behalf of your country, so as to prevent them from fully supporting Britain!" The eyes of Class A war criminals are still very keen.

"Yes!" Billo replied without hesitation.

"But our country is now very interested in the British colonies in Southeast Asia, and the current plan of our naval force is to assist the army in launching an attack there!" Hirota smiled gloomily, everyone on the earth knows that Japan is currently stepping up its efforts to expel Russian forces from northeast China, and is eyeing the southern regions of Russia controlled by the Russian revolutionary forces, and even purges up the revolutionary party for Tsarist Russia. As for attacking Southeast Asia, where Britain had been entrenched for a long time, the Japanese Navy's warships were acceptable, but their capacity needed to be strengthened.

Chentian felt that before Aglini went berserk, the Japanese had better obediently withdraw their claws.

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