London, England, 20 October 1939.

The city is immersed in a joyful and peaceful atmosphere, and the loudspeakers have just announced the good news of the victory in the "Battle of the Atlantic". It was announced that the German battleship "Scharnhorst" and the cruiser "Leipzig" were sunk, Iceland and the Faroe Islands were occupied. It not only smashed Germany's conspiracy to use the broken fleet to cut off British transportation lines, but also completely blocked Germany's foreign communications.

Not only will the German battleships not be able to break through the blockade of the multiple island chains consisting of the Onyc, Shetland, Faroe Islands and Iceland, but even German submarines will find it difficult to break through into the Atlantic!

At the same time, the "bombing of London by a thousand planes", which had been dressed in a lot before the war, did not happen because of the strict defense of the British Royal Air Force. Until October 20, not a single German bomb had fallen on the city of London. Instead, it was the German capital Berlin that was hit by a massive air raid (the same one that killed the elephant).

Standing at the window of the office in the Admiralty Building on Whitehall Street, Winston. Churchill looked at the city with a cigar in his hand, which was no different from the peacetime era, and after a while he turned to look at Charles, who had the Order of the British Empire on his chest. Admiral Forbes and Admiral Pound, sighed softly.

"The Sedlitz has returned to Wilhelmshaven?" Churchill asked.

"Yes, with the remaining capital ships of the High Seas Fleet." Charles. Forbes said, "The Prestige did not find them in the Norwegian Sea, these Germans were too cunning." ”

Admiral Pound added: "Chancellor, this time mainly because we have insufficient forces deployed in the Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands and Iceland, and wait until the expansion of the airfield is complete and the ground radar station is repaired. The Germans will not have the slightest chance of breaking out of our blockade! ”

At this time, Britain had only one airfield in Shetland Islands, and it was attacked by German planes at night before the German High Seas Fleet passed, and the runway of the airfield was blown out of several deep craters. As a result, 12 Spitfires and 6 Bristol "Beaufort" torpedo bombers were unable to take off - in fact, even if they could take off, it would be useless. The Spitfire's range was too short to escort the "Beaufort" torpedo bombers to the skies over the German fleet. If there was no Spitfire escort, 6 "Beaufort" torpedo bombers would have been killed.

As for the battlecruiser Prestige, because it was 4 knots slower than the "Seidlitz", there was no expectation of interception before the convergence of the "Seidlitz" and the main forces of the High Seas Fleet.

And after the convergence, the German side had a two-carrier, one-battle, three-armored lineup, which was not at all something that the Prestige and the three British heavy cruisers could contend with.

"And what about German submarines?" Churchill looked at the two admirals with medals on their chests.

Breaking up diplomatic relations with battleships is definitely a strategic mistake! But Germany had not only battleships, but also a large number of submarines!

"The German battleships couldn't get out, and their submarines couldn't be blocked by the island chain." Churchill took a puff of his cigar and said, "In September alone we lost 350,000 tons of merchant ships, and that's not counting the losses of France and neutrals!" ”

At the beginning of World War II, Dönitz had only 46 usable submarines, of which only 22 could fight in the North Atlantic.

And in this time and space, the number of submarines under Dönitz's command is as many as 300, of which 263 can be immediately put into battle, of which 60 can enter the Atlantic Ocean to fight!

"And in the first 19 days of October, we lost another 220,000 tons (including five merchant ships sunk by the German fleet)."

Churchill's words were like a hammer blow to the hearts of the two British admirals, and their good mood was suddenly gone.

It was obviously a mistake for Hersmann not to change the German Navy's thinking about breaking diplomatic relations, but he strongly supported Dönitz to build a truly powerful submarine force, but it cost Churchill his life!

Losses in early October decreased due to bad weather, but from mid-October onwards, the number of merchant ships sunk by mines increased dramatically. It turned out that the German submarine was not idle when the weather was bad, but ran to the door of the British Empire to lay mines. As a result, many British ships were sunk by mines!

Now the rate of loss of merchant ships has far exceeded the speed of British shipbuilding! If the British Royal Navy does not stop the destruction of German submarines as soon as possible, then within a few years more than 2,100 merchant ships of the British Empire will all sink into the icy ocean.

"Chancellor, we need more destroyers and minesweepers......" Charles Murphy. Forbes said, "And the routes that need to be protected are too long to be guarded." ”

Admiral Pound's brow furrowed even tighter, and he said: "Chancellor, after the failure of the Germans' fleet to break the diplomatic tactics, it is likely that the construction of submarines will be accelerated. The number of their submarines will increase rapidly in the next 12 months! ”

In the first 19 days of September and October, the losses of German submarines were minimal, and Admiral Pound received only six reports of sinking submarines. Taking into account the factor of false alarms, there may be only 3 German submarines that were actually sunk. And the submarines delivered by the Germans in September and October certainly exceeded this number.

Churchill was silent, his brow furrowed more and more, and after a while he said: "Later, you will report on the situation of the convoy operation at the cabinet meeting, and make the problem more pessimistic." ”

A little more serious? Isn't it pessimistic enough now!? Forbes and Pound glanced at each other.

"How much will we lose in the next 12 months?" Churchill asked again.

Forbes frowned and said: "In the next 12 months, if there are no surprises, we will lose 4 million tons of ......"

"Is this a pessimistic statistic?"

Pound said: "If we make a pessimistic forecast, there is a good chance that the predicament of 1917 will be repeated!" ”

In 1917, Germany sank a total of 2,566 Allied merchant ships, with a tonnage of 5.73 million tons!

Churchill nodded, "Okay, that's it!" He looked at the two admirals with puzzled faces, and said with a wry smile: "We must now let the people who lead the empire and our friends on the other side of the ocean know the reality that if we don't go all out and use all means, the British Empire is very likely to lose the war!"

So from now on, we and they must do our best. ”

……

"Marshal, you mean we're going to protect Norway?"

At 73 Wilhelmstrasse, within the Ministry of Defence, the German High Command met again to discuss Norway.

Now Denmark has accepted "neutrality under German protection", which also gives Germany a springboard for invasion of Norway. And Quisle, the leader of the Norwegian National Unionist Party, is willing to be the leading party. Therefore, Marshal Raeder thought that the opportunity should be seized to take Norway, but Hitler was not very interested in this. Hersmann, on the other hand, proposed a compromise solution - the creation of a Viking legion influenced by the National Socialists.

"No, it's not that we're going to protect Norway," Hirschman said, "it's that Norway has to defend itself!" ”

"Must?" Foreign Minister Ribbentrop did not seem to understand.

"Yes!" Hersman nodded and said, "If they still want to remain neutral, then they should be determined to defend it!" Neutrality is not a rhetorical statement, but a determination to defend one's independence and freedom to the end.

If the Norwegians had such determination, then they should have built an army that was truly capable of fighting...... Deployed in Narvik to deter a possible invasion. And we, and Sweden, which is benefiting from this, should provide some help to Norway. If Norway refuses to defend itself, then we will immediately invade and put Gisling in power. ”

In fact, "helping" Norway to strengthen its defence is a means of nurturing Quisling. Because Quisling was an officer, and most of his supporters were associated with the military (in fact, all the "fascists" of this era were like this). If Norway really agreed to create a truly combat-ready corps to defend Narvik. Then Quisling's influence will definitely expand, and with the financial support of the National Press International, he will gain more followers of the military.

As for whether he can become the leader of the Norwegian state in the future, it depends on his own ability!

"Sounds like an ultimatum," Ribbentrop said. "It's just that there's something strange about the content."

"It's an ultimatum," Hersman nodded earnestly, "and they're either defending themselves, or we're going to protect them...... Exactly what to do, let them choose. Then he looked at Hitler, "Leader, what do you think of this plan?" ”

Hitler frowned, "If our military operations on the Western Front go well, Gisling may be able to come to power because of this." ”

"We should help him, but try not to invade and extend the war to Norway."

"But the German Navy has no ports to attack!" Marshal Raeder protested. "After the British occupied the Faroe Islands and Iceland, it was very difficult for the high seas fleet to rush out."

"Then don't go!" Hersman said coldly, "The destruction of the Scharnhorst has shown that it is not feasible to break the fleet. We now have submarines and camouflaged assault ships available and do not have to rely on the fleet. Moreover, after we occupy France, the Fw-200C and He-115 can also take off from the Brittany Peninsula in France (near the Atlantic Ocean) to cooperate with submarines to break up diplomatic relations, and the effect will only be better than using the fleet. ”

Hitler also nodded, and said approvingly: "The main fleet cannot be allowed to risk an attack at the moment, and they should prepare for a decisive battle with the British home fleet in the future." Then he said to Ribbentrop, "Go to Oslo and tell the Norwegians in view of the British aggression in Iceland and the Faroe Islands." We have reason to fear the invasion of Narvik and Jälival. Norway should create an army and air force that could defend Narvik, and Germany was willing to help. However, we will not meddle in Norway's internal affairs, we have no ambitions for Norway, and we hope that Norway can remain neutral. (To be continued.) )