The occupation of Iceland and the Faroe Islands would have cost Britain diplomatic and political points, but it would have been a significant military one.

Because Iceland and the Faroe Islands are located on the choke point of the German Navy breaking into the Atlantic!

By occupying the area, Britain would be able to use Shetland and Orkney as the first island chain, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands as the second island chain, effectively blocking the passage of German surface ships to break through the Atlantic Ocean -- the historical battleship "Bismarck" was discovered by radar by British cruisers patrolling there when it broke through the Danish Strait.

And the "Bismarck" was found not because it was particularly unlucky, but because the width of the Danish Strait is limited, but about 300 kilometers. There are planes in the sky, warships on the water, and submarines under the water, and it is absolutely very difficult to break through without being detected.

And once the German fleet is discovered by the British, then wait to be surrounded and suppressed by the British fleet with absolute superiority in numbers in the Atlantic!

Of course, such a bad situation will not happen right now. Because the radar technology in 1939 was not high, the vast majority of British ships did not follow the radar, let alone the airborne radar. It was not easy to spot German ships in the long night of the Danish Strait.

However, for the current German Navy. The British occupation of Iceland and the Faroe Islands meant that the return of the aircraft carrier "Seydlitz" would not be smooth.

"Where is that aircraft carrier now?"

At the meeting of the high command on the morning of October 14, Adolf. Hitler asked in a very gloomy tone.

He was preparing to visit Rome two days later to persuade the Italian leaders to join the "socialist axis". If the Scharnhorst and Seydlitz were still happily traveling in the Atlantic, Mussolini would have become German-leaning, if not imminent.

But now, the Scharnhorst is surrounded by the British in Angra Sangra in the Azores. Ribbentrop took an Italian plane overnight to Lisbon to negotiate with Salazar (the Portuguese dictator). However, the result will probably not be good, and it is impossible for Salazar to offend Britain and France for the sake of Germany.

The end of the "Scharnhorst" seems to be that it sank itself in the port of heroes!

And the "Seydlitz" is now on the run - even Hitler, an army corporal, could understand how dangerous an aircraft carrier without any escort ships could have.

"It's heading for the Danish Strait." Admiral Raeder replied with a grim face, he did not expect this result either.

The tactic of using submarines to ambush battleships has been successfully carried out many times in war games and actual military exercises, and the "Scharnhorst," which acts as an imaginary enemy, has been "sunk" more than 10 times -- this kind of exercise was actually carried out in accordance with a plan of the Ministry of National Defense.

The Ministry of Defense envisaged that France might lose quickly in a future war, and that Germany might soon get an opportunity to land on British soil.

In this case, what could the underpowered German Navy do to block the entrance to the English Channel if the aircraft could not be dispatched (at night or in bad weather)?

The German Navy came up with the idea of using submarines to attack British battleships that penetrated the defenses with battleships equipped with radars......

But now it seems that this method obviously does not work!

"When can I get to the Danish Channel?" Hitler asked.

"It will take another 60-80 hours...... "it will take 60 hours to walk in a straight line, but it will be easy to be ambushed by the British submarines." ”

"So how will the British intercept it?"

"They will deploy Spitfire, Hurricane fighter jets and Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers in Iceland." "So that the Seydlitz would not dare to break through during the day." At the same time, the British could also mobilize cruisers and destroyers to blockade the Danish Channel and the Norwegian Sea. Relying on their numerical superiority, they have a good chance of catching the 'Seydlitz' in the Danish Strait and the Norwegian Sea. ”

That would be a fiasco! Everyone in the room furrowed their brows.

The "Battle of the Azores" proved the role of aircraft carriers - aircraft carriers can be the core of the fleet, and the greatest value of battleships and battlecruisers in naval warfare seems to be escort aircraft carriers.

"Send out the High Seas Fleet!" Hersmann said, "Let the 'Gneisenau', the 'Deutschland', the 'Admiral Spee', the 'Admiral Schell' strike together!" By the way, can the aircraft carrier 'Seckert' be dispatched now? ”

"Aircraft carriers can be dispatched, but carrier-based pilots have not yet completed their training." Raeder said.

"No carrier-based pilots?" Hersman frowned, without the aircraft carrier guard, the British "Beaufort" torpedo bombers would be a big problem.

"No," Raeder shook his head, "we now have 12 Fokker Zeros and 6 Fokker 99s on board...... Piloting them were instructors from the Wilhelmshaven HNA Training School. ”

The Wilhelmshaven Naval Aviation Training School specializes in training carrier-based aircraft pilots (pilots like Hersmann's son Rudolph), and there are a total of 18 instructors who can go to the aircraft carrier, all of whom are naval treasures (they are all from the navy). However, in order to rescue the "Seydlitz", they had to be taken out.

Hersmann exchanged glances with Schleicher and Hitler, and then said, "Then let's go together!" We can't afford to lose the 'Seydlitz', it's too precious! ”

The "Seydlitz" was too important for the Norwegian campaign that could break out in a few months. Especially in the case of the loss of the "Scharnhorst" by Germany.

And the "Seydlitz" also has the best carrier-based aircraft pilots in all of Germany. If some of them were to act as instructors, Germany could train carrier-based pilots twice as fast!

"Okay, I'll give Herman at once. Admiral Bohm gave the order. Raeder stood up and hurried out to give orders to the new commander of the High Seas Fleet (he was Machar's predecessor, who had just stepped down not long ago, and had returned last night).

"Leaders, ministers," Hersmann said to Hitler and Schleicher after Raeder's departure, "it looks like we need more aircraft carriers!" ”

He paused, "The Europa, the Potsdam and the Gneisenau are three large ships that can be refitted. ”

Retrofitting an aircraft carrier with a large cruise ship is a more time-saving method, and 2 years is enough to change a large aircraft carrier. Moreover, through the "German-Italian cooperation" in the early years, the German Navy mastered the situation of two Italian converted aircraft carriers, and there would not be much problem in the design of the scheme.

"What about the shipyard?" Hitler asked, "Is there an empty slipway?" ”

"No," Herman. Goering shrugged, "All the big slipways are full. ”

"It's not a problem," Hersman smiled, "you can start demolishing the superstructure first, and then we'll have the slipway when it's done!" It will take several months to dismantle the superstructure, and by then the Danish, Dutch, and Belgian shipyards will surely be available to Germany. ”

By this time Raeder had already walked back quickly, and he said, "Admiral Boehm's fleet will be ready to depart in six hours, and the fleet will be able to cross the Shetland Islands into the Norwegian Sea this evening." In addition, Admiral Boehm hopes that the air and naval aviation will make some action this evening to bomb the airfield in Lerwick (the capital of the Shetland Islands). ”

Hersman nodded, "Of course there will be action." He glanced at Air Force General Kesselring, who immediately said: "Not only Lerwick, but also France!" ”

"Bombing France?" Raeder was stunned, "When?" ”

Hersman replied, "It's now!" ”

The plan to bomb the big cities of France had been made for a long time, and certainly not 1,000 planes to drop 10,000 tons of bombs, Hersmann did not want to blow Paris into ruins. However, in order to paralyze France and make them think that Germany only wanted to win by bombing, two or three hundred planes still had to be sent.

However, the large-scale dispatch of fighters today is naturally related to the defeat of the "Scharnhorst"! The loss of a battleship was a big blow to German popularity in Europe, and it was necessary to try to save some face.

Therefore, before coming to Berlin for an emergency meeting of the High Command, Hersmann gave the Air Force an order to bomb all civilian military airfields in Lorraine-Alsace and Champagne-Ardennes.

These two areas are located between mainland Germany and Paris, and destroying the airfields there can be seen as clearing the way for bombers to fly to Paris!

"Edmund, we were bombed by the Germans!"

The Chief of the British General Staff, Ironside, had just arrived in Paris when he heard bad news from Admiral Gammelin, who had come to greet him, at the airfield.

"They sent hundreds of planes! There are He-111, there are Do-17 and Ju88, and the damned BF-109! ”

For the British, it's the Fokker Zero that is damned now.

And for France, the most terrible was the BF-109. This aircraft had a great advantage over the French MS.406. Having the upper hand in air battles near the Maginot and Siegfried lines, the French often needed to use three or more MS.406s to get one BF-109 - an advantage when the Fokker Zeros were not numerous enough to form a high-low combination (high-altitude and low-altitude coordination) with the BF-109.

"This morning they bombed fourteen of our airfields, destroyed hundreds of aircraft, and also shot down 28 MS.406s in air combat. And their losses were only 7 BF-109 and 8 bombers. "Just one hour ago, several German fast bombers had dropped numerous leaflets in Paris, declaring that if France did not accept Germany's terms of peace by October 31, 1939, German planes would bomb Paris!" ”

The Commander-in-Chief of the French Army looked at the British Chief of the General Staff with some anxiety, "Edmund, we must defend Paris!" I know you have good planes, let them come to France! (To be continued.) )