Many times, Chen Tian wished that he was just an ordinary soldier or a small officer, so at this moment, he could stay in the trenches with other German soldiers and taste the most real taste of war, instead of hiding in a huge steel fortress like a battleship with super strong and thick armor and listening to the sound of artillery from afar like listening to a musical.

The "Frontier Governor" was surrounded by a group of old armored battleships and destroyers, and the aircraft carrier group was a little west of them, and although the transports had basically left the sea, if the British fleet broke through the interception of the blocking fleet and appeared nearby, both the German ships here and the army troops on the beach would be subjected to immeasurable material and mental blows, and the last thing a landing force would want to see was the other party's fleet behind them. However, it seems that the heavens did not intend to give the British this chance.

When Schemit's blocking fleet sent a telegram to meet the British fleet, Chentian and Scheer's faces were surprisingly calm, this night was indeed the best time for the British to counterattack, and it was only natural that the British army and navy should attack at this time. Compared with the attackers in the classic Normandy landings in history, the German army that launched the landing attack has no obvious advantage at present, especially the small England and the huge number of British Army, which makes people more worried about the first wave of German landings, so before the landing force departed, the Kaiser personally explained to the generals that they could only let Chentian land on the British coast after the battle situation of the British War was stabilized.

"If I hadn't been here, the Admiral would have been commanding the fleet to fight the British fleet in high spirits at this time!" Looking at Scher's infinite eyes, Chen Tian believed that the veteran must have a desire to kill the last British fleet with his own hands, this kind of great honor is something that no German admiral wants to miss, but the Kaiser himself spoke, and a very important task for Scheer this time is to protect the German quasi-heir.

For the Kaiser to show this kind of meticulous care, Chen Tian did not appreciate it in his heart, and perhaps no one in this world really understood what this changeable monarch was thinking. In Chentian's view, Wilhelm II simply copied his love for Prince to himself, which could not erase everything he had done out of selfishness before.

At 3:01 a.m., the British shelling of the German 8th Army line suddenly stopped, and the sky that had been red by the explosion in the direction of the beach soon dimmed, and the sea area where Scheer's fleet was located returned to calm.

Although he could not personally stand on the front line and direct the battle, Tatsuten knew that the British army would launch an even more fierce attack next.

"The reason why the British shelling lasted only 45 minutes, I think one may be that the troops who arrived in a hurry did not bring many shells, the transportation of a million troops in one day had already put the railway line in the south of England at full capacity, and it was difficult for them to open the way with the shelling that lasted for several hours before the subsequent ammunition and supplies arrived on the battle line, and the second possibility was that the British commander thought that our troops had landed less than a day, and the defensive line built in just a dozen hours was not as strong as a fortress, if this was the case, I'm afraid the British generals should make up for it! Looking at the vague British coastline, Chen Tian could only imagine the battle on the other side of the beach, and after months of fighting with the Russian and French armies, his soldiers had grown from recruits to veterans who were very familiar with the combat modes of encounters, trench warfare, and rush warfare, and the use of trenches for defensive warfare was a piece of cake for them.

"When the front-line troops return to the exact position of the British troops, we will be able to teach the British a good lesson with naval guns, and it is indeed interesting to bombard them with the battleships they have made!"

Scheer turned his attention to the two large battleships on the starboard side, the "Prince of Prussia" and the "Tirpitz", because it had been less than a month since the German Navy had repaired and officially received these two battleships, and the sailors on them were not yet proficient in maneuvering them, so Scheer did not include them in the blocking fleet, but prepared to use their 343 mm naval guns to bombard the attacking British infantry.

"I've never experienced an enemy shelling on the front line, but I think when a shell from a heavy naval gun explodes nearby, even if it is not injured by shrapnel or oscillating waves, that momentum is a very big psychological blow!" Chen Tian remembers that in the previous world, when the special effects of movies became more and more advanced, people could feel the shock of war more and more. It's a pity that Chentian's identity makes him always stay in the rear headquarters, and he didn't have the opportunity to experience the taste of covering his ears and hiding in the trenches during the enemy's shelling and using rifle and machine guns to shoot at the enemy.

"When a shell from an opposing warship hits your warship, you will feel the whole ship tremble violently, and if the opponent's shell is powerful enough, it can even stun some of the ship's crew." In the First Battle of the North Sea, Scheer's battleship was once hit by a British 343-mm armor-piercing shell, but fortunately, the German battleships were all thick-skinned, and half a month later, the battleship returned to the sea alive.

"It's a pity that I haven't been through a real battle at sea either, and the air defense battle against British fighters in the morning has already opened my eyes!"

Standing in this safe place and paying attention to the two sea and land battles that took place not far away is already a good enjoyment for Chen Tian, if his identity and status are higher, I am afraid that he can only stay in Berlin in the future to listen to the generals' battle reports, or take advantage of the battle to go to the front line to cheer up the soldiers, maybe being the ruler of an empire may not be as happy as the general who leads a steel army to gallop across the field.

Chen Tian did not know at this time that this kind of court life was getting closer and closer to him, in this era, due to the emergence of various long-range and powerful weapons, it was no longer possible for monarchs to go to the front line to command the army to fight like Napoleon, and this landing battle would be the last battle that Chen Tian personally commanded.

After a while, the reports sent back from the front confirmed Chentian's simplest guess, that as soon as the British artillery bombardment ended, tens of thousands of British infantry launched an attack from all over the battle line. At this time, in the front-line trenches, the German soldiers could already see the British soldiers rushing all over the mountains through their own artillery fire and flares, they and their comrades were lying side by side in the trenches, and they could hit the enemy infantry in front of them with a little aiming, and their ears were filled with the sound of countless machine guns and rifle fire on their own lines.

"Your Highness, we're going to start the shelling, please go back to the command room!" Scheer politely "deprived" Chentian of the right to watch the battle from the bridge, and the battleship's main gun salvo was becoming so powerful that the sailors had to enter the ship's cabin to avoid the astonishing sound and shock waves during the shelling.

Fortunately, through the porthole of the battleship, Chentian can still see the dazzling sky in the north, where the flares that are rising or falling are as brilliant as festive fireworks, and the artillery behind the German defense line unambiguously tilts the shells towards the attacking British army, and the sound generated by the continuous fire of more than 2,000 guns is no weaker than the artillery of the British army (Regarding the artillery of the British Army, according to historical data, in the early stage of the war, due to policy and war preparations, the number of artillery and ammunition reserves of the British army were far less than that of Germany, France, Russia and other belligerents, Large-caliber artillery was even more scarce, and the situation did not materially change until the later stages of the war).

When the guards brought a pot of fragrant coffee, Chen Tiancai remembered that he had not closed his eyes for almost 24 hours, and Scheer seemed to have been sticking to his post since Chen Tian boarded the ship, and most of the naval and army staff officers here did the same. However, in such a significant battle, there are indeed very few generals who can sleep peacefully.

Chen Tian found that his need for coffee at this time was no longer a hobby and taste, but purely out of refreshment, and at the end of a cup of coffee, a staff officer wearing the uniform of a major in the Navy happened to bring a telegram, and after hesitating for half a second, he handed the telegram to Admiral Scheer.

"There is no suspense about the battle between Admiral Schemit's blocking fleet and the British fleet!" Scheer took a quick look at it and reported it to Chentian.

"When these two fleets meet head-on, it is destined to be a battle without suspense!"

Although he did not command a fleet to participate in naval battles, Chen Tian often consulted some admirals about the common sense of naval warfare at the beginning of the establishment of the Baltic Fleet, and at that time he still had plenty of time, and sometimes he would go to sea with the fleet to train, so he was not completely unfamiliar with fleet combat. Although naval battles, especially night battles, are more contingent than land battles, the factors for winning naval battles are still inseparable from the quantity and quality of warships on both sides, the quality and morale of officers and men, and the tactics and command adaptability of the generals on both sides.

With airships dropping flares to pinpoint and calibrate the fleet, a fleet far superior in firepower, defense, and mobility, thousands of experienced and highly motivated naval officers and men, and a veteran naval commander like Vice Admiral Schemit, the German Blocking Fleet had no reason to miss a head-on engagement.

On the side of the British fleet, on the other hand, the aging warships were difficult to maneuver effectively, and the quality of the sailors was acceptable, but almost everyone was inexplicably afraid of the German navy. Although Lord Fisher made a statement because he vigorously promoted the construction of dreadnoughts, he was far from reaching the level of Nelson's military god in fleet command, more than 5,000 British naval officers and 19 British warships bravely and fearlessly rushed to the German blocking fleet that had been oppressed for a long time and despair, and in more than two hours of fighting, only 3 British destroyers finally escaped from the battlefield, and Fisher and 2019 other British sailors died as honorably as Nelson. Perhaps the currents in the English Channel would send their bodies to the place where Nelson was killed.

After the Battle of Portland, the British military and historians of various countries disagreed on the original motives of Lord Fisher's unwinnable attack, the British military announced that Fisher's fleet was on its way to Bonemouth to raid the German landing fleet and the troops were unfortunately ambushed by the German fleet, and that Fisher's defeat could only be attributed to the cunning of the German navy, while some historians believe that Fisher had a premonition of British defeat, and if Britain was defeated and surrendered, then his fleet would inevitably fall into the hands of the Germans, and surrender humiliatinglySome scholars believe that Fisher continued to be under tremendous pressure after taking the helm of the British Admiralty, especially after the special fleet purchased from the United States was blocked by the German fleet and finally destroyed in Port Rodel, Fisher's spirit and mentality were out of balance.

When a mild-mannered virtuoso slammed into an opposing defender at the World Cup a few years later, many seemed to understand Fisher's mood before the fight.

As the front-line troops returned the coordinates of the shelling to the Scheer fleet cruising near Bonemouth, the officers and men of the "Frontier Governor" carefully fired the first two shells into the farthest range, and no one expected the half-ton high-explosive shells to fall on their heads. About 3 minutes later, everyone was relieved by the report of the school firing coming back from the front line, "The impact point is located in the center of the battlefield, and a large-scale artillery bombardment can be carried out at a distance in turn!" ”

Soon, the "Frontier Governor", the "Prince of Prussia" and the "Tirpitz" lined up, aiming their starboard side at the fierce battle to the north, and the firepower provided by 10 305 mm and 20 343 mm naval guns was equivalent to that of three artillery regiments armed with heavy howitzers (the five twin main turrets of the British George V-class battleships were arranged in the middle line like the German King's class, with all the main guns firing in a salvo to the same side), The shells fired from the three battleships caused heavy casualties to the British attacking forces exposed in the wilderness after a long flight, and they exploded with the same speed as one might expect to be terrified of the British.

The other three old armored battleships in Scheer's fleet, the Braunschweig-class ironclads "Hesse", "Braunschweig" and "Alsace", were far more palpable than these three dreadnought battleships, and their 40 times diameter 280 mm guns could not reach far inland unless they stood on the beach and fired.

As the battle progressed, telegrams reporting the situation of the battle flew like snowflakes to the headquarters of the 8th Army on the "Border Governor", and judging from the serious and calm expressions on the faces of the staff officers, there were no surprises on the battlefield for the time being. Although it was possible to be intercepted by the other side through radio contact, the Germans were unable to use telephone lines to connect the front line with the headquarters on the battleship, so important information and instructions had to be transmitted by encrypted telegram. Telephone calls and arc lights are very common and effective means of communication between front-line departments.

In Chentian's view, the attack launched by the British army this morning was not much different from what the Russian army did in Bialystok and the French army in the border battle, the artillery could not completely destroy the trenches and barbed wire fences up to 2 to 3 meters deep, and the infantry of the attacking side, whether in a straggler formation or a dense formation, was exposed to the terrible machine guns and had only a dead end, and the tanks and armored cars that the British army invested in the battle of the Fording River Bridge were too few in number, and the speed of the tanks was too slow, and the defense of the armored cars was too weak. Even if the front-line defenders do not have specialized anti-tank weapons, a concentrated bombardment of a large number of field guns can destroy or repel them.

At 5 a.m., the most sleepy time of the day, Vice Admiral Schemit and the main force of the blocking fleet finally returned from targeting, and the guns of the battleships seemed to be still steaming, and they took over the fire support of the three previous battleships with a slight adjustment.

Taking advantage of the rest of the main guns and gunners on the ship, Chen Tian couldn't wait to walk to the bridge, he hoped that the cold sea breeze could drive away his fatigue, but at this time the air on the bridge was warm, and the smell of gunsmoke left after the main gun shot was still very strong. When the battleships were shelling, a considerable area around them would be illuminated by artillery fire, and other than that, there were only a few ship navigation lights on the nearby sea.

At this time, there was still some time before dawn, Chen Tian faintly heard the sound of the aircraft carrier elevators not far away, he could imagine that a series of two-winged or single-wing warhawks were rising from the hangar to the deck, the pilots sitting in the cockpit of the plane were full of longing for battle, and the crew were doing the final inspection of the deck and the aircraft.

This is the busyness before dawn, for a warship, for a city, for an army, for a country.

After about a quarter of an hour, the sea breeze completely blew away the heat and smoke from the battleship, and the sound of gunfire from the interior gradually weakened.

"Your Highness, all the front-line divisions have reported that the British troops in front of them have stopped attacking and returned to their starting positions! We are estimating the results and losses and will report back to you in a moment! Hoffman's round face didn't seem to have appeared in front of Chentian for a while, and he probably stayed in the command room of the army group during this time. The British infantry stormed the German position about 25 kilometers long for more than 100 minutes, and the casualties were naturally not small.

"Did the British throw in their armor?"

According to the description of the new weapons of the British army by the Garris Airborne Forces, Chen Tian can be sure that the British tanks have come out, and those guys with tracks must be the first tanks made by the British, following Germany, Japan (developed by stealing intelligence), Austria-Hungary (purchased from Germany), Turkey (donated by Germany), Russia (purchased from Germany), the British finally entered the era of tanks. However, Chen Tian was slightly surprised by the appearance of that British tank, it seems that because of him and the "stone", the British will probably not develop the diamond-shaped Mark series tank as they did in history, and as for whether the product of this unique period of the diamond-shaped tank will be skipped by this world, he does not know.

"Yes, they put more than 20 armored cars and two tanks on General Olg's defensive line, I think the British will really pick a place, General Olg is a big tanker, dozens of tanks of our army drove out of the bunker and fired those British tanks back to a state of parts!" Hoffman looked sarcastic, it seemed that the British hastily launched an attack did not shake the defense line of the Chentian Army in the slightest.

"May God forgive these poor Britons!" Chen Tian lightly drew a cross on his chest, the trench defense was not invulnerable, but it was insurmountable by infantry alone.