"With eight fortresses costing 1.4 billion Reichsmarks, and 45,000 well-armed Allied soldiers, most of them Germans, this so-called unsinkable island stood out from the enemy for only three days...... Three days! Even if the gods descend to earth, what can they do in such a short time? ”

In the commander's suite of the "Deutschland", the general flagship of the German High Seas Fleet, Admiral Beinke smoked a cigarette and talked to himself. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info sat on the small table in front of him with delicious sirloin steak, bacon and asparagus rolls, onion toast, and mushroom bisque, but whether it was tender steaks, emerald asparagus, or fragrant soup, he didn't have the appetite at all. The fall of Angra Sanstinjíta has put the fleet commander under a lot of pressure, because when the Allied defenders there are in extreme predicament, his fleet is "wandering" on the sea more than 100 nautical miles away -- in the eyes of ordinary people, the US and British fleets suffered heavy losses the day before yesterday, the Allied fleet's carrier-based aircraft have gained the upper hand, and three Mackensen-class battle cruisers and more than 20 light ships have been added at night, and their strength has been strengthened. The situation is bound to change dramatically.

Beinke was not timid in battle, nor was he simply trying to preserve the strength of the fleet, he naturally did so with his own reasons. On the one hand, although the US and British fleets had suffered losses, their strength was still superior to that of the Allied fleets under his leadership, and giving full play to the combat effectiveness of carrier-based aircraft was the best way for the weak to defeat the strong, but the sudden change in weather at sea caused the US and British fleets to take the opportunity to escape into rain clouds, causing the Beinke fleet to waste a precious day in a dilemma. On the other hand, even in the case of the fall of the city of Herosímato, it should not be a problem to grit its teeth and hold on for another three or two days with the defensive facilities and material reserves of the two major fortress groups of "Berlin" and "Lübeck".

Whether the fortifications of Texel Island were exaggerated, or whether the German soldiers had lost the Prussian spirit of the past, Beinke had no right to judge, nor could he pour out his heart as he pleased, so he could only lock himself in his room and complain to himself as he did now.

As night fell, the carrier-based aircraft of the Allied fleet gradually ceased to be active. Having lost this advantage, Bernke had to revert to a cautious strategy, that is, to lead the fleet to temporarily withdraw from the Azores, they would soon join up with another detachment from Europe, and the addition of two Bavarian-class battleships would further narrow the gap between the two main fleets, but the change of hands on the island of Texel had already tilted the situation in the Azores in favor of the opponent, and Bernke's road to a comeback became extremely difficult, and there was a big premise that he could not decide, that is, whether the German top brass would continue to trust him.

Beinke has no confidence in this.

At this moment, it was pouring rain on the island of Texel, which had experienced three days of bloody fighting. More than 20,000 Allied soldiers who had surrendered to the American and British forces were temporarily placed in the fields north of Angra Sangra Sangra, without adequate tents, food and medicine, and although it was the height of summer, the feeling of soaking in muddy water all night was terrible. The new owners of Texel had no time to pay attention to the prisoners of war, who were racing against time to consolidate the fruits of their victory, with naval engineering units and auxiliary ships working through the night to repair the shipping facilities at Angra do Mercio do Mercio so that the transport ships waiting in the nearby waters could transport troops and war materiel to the island.

Due to the weather, the ship-based radars of the US and British fleets, as well as the land-based radars transported to the island of Texel, could not work normally. In order to prevent the Allied fleet from attacking at night, the battleship detachment that had made great contributions in the battle to conquer Anmarísmo was on combat alert all night, and a number of light ships were assigned to patrol the nearby seas, while the main US and British fleets under the command of Admiral Harrison Standley also returned to the waters off Texel Island, and if the Allied fleet attacked Angloportínpo at night, it would fall into the hands of the other side -- daytime operations were not good for the US and British fleets, which lacked aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft, while night operations were beneficial to the US and British fleets, which had a numerical superiority in both capital ships and light ships.

At about 11 o'clock that night, the US and British fleets detected the radio signal of the main fleet of the Allied Powers, and although it was unable to decipher the contents of the telegram, it was possible to deduce the approximate location of the signal source by means of direction finding. To the regret of Standley and his staff, the radio call sign of the enemy's flagship appeared more than 200 kilometers away from Texel Island, and judging from the opponent's previous combat methods, the idea of winning while maintaining stability was more obvious. Since the other side did not dare to fight a night battle with him, and at this time the rain was unabated, the sea was high and the waves were fierce, the light cruisers and destroyers of relatively small tonnage were jolting very badly, and even several destroyers had been damaged in the wind and waves, so Standley ordered some of the light ships to enter the harbor to take shelter from the storm.

After midnight, the number of US and British light warships still carrying out vigilance patrols in the sea near Texel Island was reduced to 17, and the visual observation of the crews alone was not enough to form a complete maritime warning circle; the German submarine force, which had previously performed mediocre, seized this opportunity, and three U boats successfully slipped through the warning line of the US and British fleets, and they easily avoided the minefield and approached Angra Heromas, and launched an attack on the US and British ships anchored in the harbor at a distance of less than 500 meters, severely damaging the British battleship "Warrior" on the spot and sinking the American heavy cruiserThe "Chicago", the troop carrier "Philadelphia" and two 10,000-ton freighters managed to escape under the cover of night.

Just over two hours after the German submarine attack on Angra Sanstomo was successful, three old war cruisers of the German Atlantic detachment also showed their sharp fangs in the rainy night. They kept an eye on the trail of a group of American and British ships more than 500 kilometers northwest of the Azores, and after finding out the strength of the opponent's escort, Lütjans led his battle patrol formation to attack with precision, and completely routed the American and British escort fleet consisting of two cruisers and seven destroyers in less than one of them, and then opened fire on the American and British ships that were almost powerless to fight back. By dawn, 22 non-combat vessels, including troop carriers, supply ships and cargo ships, with a total registered tonnage of 170,000 tons, had been sunk. For the United States, which is very powerful in shipping, the loss of these empty ships can be quickly compensated, but the successful night raids of the German fleet have dealt them a severe blow at the political and psychological level, and the American and British fleets will then have to draw large ships to protect the sea lines of communication in the delicate situation of naval warfare.

The outstanding performance of the guerrilla formations and submarine units of the Atlantic Detachment gave a new glimpse of the German Navy's edge, but unfortunately the sword came out of its sheath too late to cover up the mediocrity of the German main battleships in the Battle of the Azores, but fortunately, the German royal family and the military top brass did not negate Beinke's combat capability, and they gave the commander a second chance - to win a decisive naval battle before the American and British forces could gain a foothold.

Under the leadership of Lars, the chief of staff of the fleet, the German staff officers worked out two optional combat plans overnight, one was to have a head-to-head confrontation with the US and British fleets, with the fleet aviation playing an auxiliary role, and the other was the opposite, with the fleet aviation acting as the main combat force and the main battleships playing the role of decoys.

On this night of torrential rain, the senior officers of the US and British fleets also conducted a comprehensive analysis of the battlefield situation, and then inductively deduced two feasible operational directions, one was to take the initiative to confront, and the other was to defend instead of attack. Between these two contrasting strategies, the British tended to take the initiative to deal with their opponents cleanly, while most American generals chose a strategy that seemed to contradict their character, that is, relying on Texel Island for defensive operations. The disagreement between the two did not bother the joint operations of the American and British fleets too much, and after Shandley made a clear choice, both American and British officers had to obey unconditionally.

In the early morning of May 29, the sun was shining and the wind was light, which was very suitable for aviation flights. After two days of reconnaissance and preparation, the Allied fleet dispatched 235 carrier-based planes, together with 177 German land-based planes that had taken off from the islands of Flores, Pico, and San Miguel, to carry out air strikes on the combat planes and naval ships deployed by the US and British forces on the island of Texel. On the battlefield, the US and British officers and men were always vigilant, and their radars also detected the incoming enemy aircraft group as early as possible, and more than 100 fighter planes scattered in various field airfields quickly took to the air to meet the attack, and the US and British ships anchored in Praeda-Victoria Harbor and Angra Heromasmo were all on alert, and all ground air defense units were also ready for battle at the first time...... The American and British officers and men confidently met the challenge, but in the air raid, which lasted more than half an hour, they suffered a much larger blow than expected, with more than 140 combat aircraft destroyed on the ground, 3 destroyers and 7 non-combat ships sunk, and another 14 ships damaged.

Over the next eight hours, the Allies organized two more waves of large-scale air raids. Although the US and British troops occupying Texel Island made a proper response, in a short period of two or three days, they did not have time to build a safe and concealed underground hangar, nor were they able to rebuild the ground air defense system of the airfield and port...... Because their own air forces could not guarantee air supremacy, the US and British fleets had to suspend daytime operations to transport troops and equipment to Texel Island, and instead cover the ships entering the two ports at night, and the delivery speed was seriously reduced, and non-combat losses increased sharply.

On 30 May, Allied air forces continued their air raids on the island of Texel. Despite the average loss of 41 fighters and 79 pilots per round of bombing, the German naval and air forces and the Irish naval air force still gritted their teeth and persevered, and when the day's fighting was over, the American and British forces on Texel Island had only 22 fighters available.

(End of chapter)