In the afternoon, the island of Texel received a brief thundershower, and the sweaty heat of the midsummer sun subsided, but the fierce confrontation between the two armies did not stop. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 The United States and Britain sent a large number of carrier-based aircraft to launch the third wave of air raids, and the German aviation units that fought against the water sounded the horn of counterattack for the second time, and both sides replaced defense with offense, trying to inflict heavy damage on the opponent, but they fell into a tug-of-war and war of attrition in the air, and as a result, no one could make a substantial breakthrough, but only contributed to the shining rise of a group of ace fighter pilots with the young lives of countless ordinary bomber pilots......

At this time, one of the main ships of the Second German Reich Navy, the "Count Tirpitz", known by the Germans as the "battle patrol killer", and its sister ship "Prince Heinrich" were sailing in the waters northwest of Texel Island. Although the tonnage was 9,000 tons less than that of the American Lexington-class battlecruisers, the Tirpitz Earl-class had the strength to defeat its opponents, not because the German shipbuilding industry was strong enough to crush the United States, but because the disadvantages of the Lexington-class were as clear as their advantages. Germany's Earl Tirpitz class was born four years later than the Lexington class, and it was precisely during these four years that the Germans made an important technological breakthrough in the power system of large warships, thus successfully building this new battle patrol that can restrain the "world's first battle cruiser" - comparable to the speed of the Lexington class, the protection comparable to the South Dakota class, and the firepower equivalent to the Colorado class, the title of "Battle Patrol Killer" is worthy of the name!

The sight of dark clouds hanging low and waves rolling on the surface of the sea seemed to herald a fierce battle. In the captain's office of the "Count Tirpitz", a middle-aged admiral with a thin face is working hard to write, and there are two military photos hanging on the bulkheads in front of him and behind him, behind him are the bearded Kaiser Wilhelm II and the fox-faced Crown Prince Wilhelm Jr., in front of the bald and bearded Admiral Tirpitz and the short-faced and drooping Archduke Oldenburg.

Hearing the knock on the cabin door, the middle-aged general did not raise his head: "Please come in!" ”

A tall and energetic young officer walked in with a telegram clip: "Sir, I received an encrypted telegram from Anglosmo Heromas. ”

The middle-aged general stopped his movements, tilted his head to the side, as if he was figuring out a certain wording, and then woke up and looked up at the comer: "Oh, Hans, I'm sorry, please read the telegram!" ”

The young officer paused: "To Fleet A: The enemy's main battleships have turned to the southeast in formation, and they are now 7 hours away from Texel Island, and they may arrive close to Texel Island tonight to launch artillery bombardment." ”

"Finished?"

"It's over."

"Oh......" The middle-aged general blinked his eyes a few times in a row, as if inspiration came, and he immediately wrote at the desk. It took two or three minutes before he put down the pen in his hand, propped his fists on the edge of the table, and rolled his eyes a few times.

"Call back: To Base B: We are keeping a close eye on the enemy's movements, and we will act with our cameras, and we must not be careless."

The young officer stood tall and replied, "Yes, sir!" ”

After the other party left, the middle-aged general refocused his attention on the letter in front of him, read it carefully, put it in a drawer, and got up to the porthole. Not far away were two escort destroyers, a medium aircraft carrier in gray livery could be seen in the flanks and a light cruiser in front of the flanks - a complete combat sailing formation, and several battleships in sight, all of which belonged to the German Atlantic Fleet and had been stationed in the Azores for a long time.

The Germans had three naval bases in the Azores, and the Heroshafen on the island of Texel was the largest and most well-equipped, and the main ships of the Atlantic detachment were usually anchored here. Thankfully, when Texel Island was hit by a surprise air attack by an enemy carrier-based aircraft group, the detachment was out for drills and was thus spared doom. However, the US and British navies were almost all dispatched, with more than 20 battleships and battlecruisers alone, and the first wave of air raids by the powerful air force inflicted heavy losses on the German land-based air forces in the Azores, and the operational situation facing the German Atlantic detachment was not optimistic.

After a while, there was another knock on the hatch, and the rhythm of the knocking was very different from the previous one.

"Please come in!"

As he spoke, the middle-aged admiral had already walked to the closet, and then pushed the door in was a naval officer about fifty years old, with a tall nose, deep eyes, the corners of his mouth down, and a gold star on his shoulder, showing a cautious appearance when he spoke.

"Your Excellency von Oldenburg, our reconnaissance aircraft has spotted an enemy destroyer 90 nautical miles northeast, which is supposed to be a guard ship for the enemy fleet, and my personal suggestion is to ignore it completely."

The middle-aged general, who had more gold stars on his epaulettes, asked his colleagues to sit down on the sofa, took out a crystal bottle wrapped in silk cloth and two stainless steel cups from the closet, unscrewed the caps, and poured some amber liquid into each of them.

"Well, good rum." The comer praised.

The middle-aged general, that is, the "Your Excellency von Oldenburg" in the mouth of the other party, Wilhelm August von Oldenburg of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, said calmly: "The real battle has not yet begun, General Böhm, don't be too nervous. ”

It was Hermann-Böhm, the new chief of staff of the German Atlantic Fleet, who had not worked together for a long time and had little prior contact, so he spoke and behaved politely.

Bohm was indeed a little nervous, and drank almost the wine in the glass in one sip, and the prince of Oldenburg opposite quietly refilled him a little, and the atmosphere suddenly eased a lot.

"The enemy's fleet is huge, and this is their advantage and at the same time their disadvantage. I have thought about it for a long time, even if our sub-fleet concentrates all its ships, it will not be enough to confront the enemy fleet head-on, so it is better to disperse appropriately and give full play to the advantages of flexibility to attack and harass the enemy. ”

Upon hearing this, Bohm almost jumped up: "Aha, my thoughts coincide with Your Excellency!" ”

After all, William August is a member of the German royal family, and he has a steadiness and generosity that ordinary people can hardly achieve between his gestures, and he nodded slightly: "Since the general agrees with this idea, the next step is the specific deployment." My opinion is that the Count Tirpitz and Prince Heinrich should form a rapid assault formation, and the Seydlitz, Moltke, and Goeben should form a rapid assault formation, with the Kaiser Karl and the Ottoman providing reconnaissance cover for them, respectively. ”

This was obviously a deviation from Bohm's assumption, and he said euphemistically: "It is more appropriate to divide the squadron by speed, but I am worried that the firepower of the three old battlecruisers is too weak, and once we encounter the enemy capital ship with a faster speed in battle, the battle will be very unfavorable to our side." ”

"My vision is...... The task of the assault formation is to wait for an opportunity to storm the enemy's position and is the real main attacking force. ”

"Assault the enemy?" For this wording, Bohm did not express fear, but a slight excitement and deep apprehension - even if the Count Tirpitz class was the "unsinkable ship" of this era, once it fell under siege by a dozen or twenty capital ships of the enemy, how could it create a miracle against the sky?

William August then explained: "If all the enemy's capital ships are always in close battle formation, of course we will not have the opportunity to directly attack the enemy's position, but I believe that the enemy cannot do this all the time, and they must disperse their forces to improve efficiency by completing the set combat objectives before our main fleet arrives." ”

After hearing this, Burmton was relieved.

Prince Oldenburg took a sip of the rum in his glass: "Taking a step back, even if the enemy does not disperse their main warships, we can still take advantage of the opportunity of the night battle to get close to their fleet, attack their escort ships and auxiliary ships from a long distance, and if we are lucky, we may have a chance to sink their aircraft carriers...... If we ambush the waters north of Texel Island, we have a chance to fight this quick blitzkrieg tonight. ”

Bohm picked up the cup and took a sip: "Rational analysis...... I don't think that the enemy will use capital ships to launch an artillery bombardment of Texel Island tonight, at best at the cruiser level. ”

William August, though a little surprised, politely made a gesture of please, motioning for Bohm to explain his reasoning.

"Two days ago, our dreadnought 'Frontier Governor' was sunk by the British off the coast of North Wales, and this painful loss once again proves the mortal threat of torpedo bombers to large warships, and the Americans will certainly not forget their 'Ioda'. For this reason, I don't think the main enemy fleet will approach Texel until the obstacle is cleared. ”

Listening to Bohm's explanation, Prince Oldenburg quietly thought for a while: "You are absolutely right, the enemy is definitely afraid of our torpedo bombers, but they are well aware that torpedo bombers are very inefficient in attacking at night, and tonight's shelling of Texel can destroy a lot of torpedo bombers that stay on the ground...... If I were the commander of the enemy fleet, I would definitely have shelled Texel heavily tonight. ”

This is the logic of reverse thinking, and Böhm wrinkled his brows and thought about it for a long time, reluctantly agreeing with the other party's train of thought.

"If the enemy ventures to attack Texel Island tonight, it is likely that the aircraft carriers and auxiliary ships will be left behind, and only some of the capital ships will be used to carry out close artillery bombardment, in that case, why should we not use lightning strikes to pin down their capital ships and attack their aircraft carriers and auxiliary ships in assault formation?"

Bohm's suggestion seemed reasonable, but Prince Oldenburg was unmoved, and he muttered: "Two days ago, the British Navy launched a counterattack in the southern waters of the Cohen Peninsula with a large number of mine-striking ships, and although we suffered losses, we finally sank all the enemy's mine-striking ships, so I thought that in the face of the well-prepared enemy's main fleet, it was too cruel to force our mine-striking ships to charge head-on. After dawn, how will we feel when we look at the sea water stained red by the blood of the soldiers? ”

(End of chapter)