At noon on 12 February, British Admiralty Secretary Winston. Winston Churchill drove through the streets of Paris in his car. He had come for the battleship Richelieu, a super-battleship with eight quadruple 380mm/45x diameter guns, which was now being outfitted and was to be completed in June or July 1940.

The British Royal Navy hoped that the super battleship could be transferred to the Atlantic Fleet in France after completion in order to cooperate with the British Home Fleet.

Because a few days ago, British agents discovered that a huge super-battleship that looked like a floating city had appeared in Wilhelmshaven (which was actually not yet finished)! It was supposed to be the battleship "Bismarck", the lead ship of the legendary German F-class battleships.

The appearance of the "Bismarck" immediately caused panic in the British Admiralty. Because now the battlecruiser "Hood" is still lying in the dock for overhaul, and it may not be undocked in 1940. Because the engineers of the British Admiralty, after a comprehensive inspection and study of the damage to the "Hood", warned: there were major problems with the ship's protection, the horizontal armor was not strong enough, the anti-mine design was outdated, and the anti-aircraft fire was seriously insufficient. If it is not strengthened, it will easily suffer heavy losses in future battles!

So the British Admiralty had to keep the "Hood" in the dockyard for a few more months in order to strengthen the level of defense.

And several battleships of the "King George V" class have not yet been built. The British Royal Navy has only two battleships on its books that can fight the "Bismarck" and theoretically only two "Nelson" class that have just been repaired.

However, the theoretical maximum speed of the "Nelson" class was only a pitiful 23.8 knots, and it was impossible to catch up with the "Bismarck".

Although the British did not know the speed of the "Bismarck", they understood the tactics of the German Navy to break the diplomatic relationship, so they guessed that the "Bismarck" had a speed of more than 30 knots. With the exception of the "Prestige", the current Royal Navy probably does not have a single battleship / battlecruiser capable of catching up with it. But the "Prestige" could not beat the "Bismarck" in any case.

Therefore, the British Admiralty, a little cornered, thought that their French friends had battleships of the "Richelieu" class. According to the plan, the battleship was still a few months away from service (perhaps a little earlier). Until the completion of the overhaul and refit of the "Hood", it will be the main force against the "Bismarck" and its sister ship "Tirpitz".

Churchill's brow twisted at the thought that the broken armatility of Bismarck, Tirpitz, Gneisenau, and two German aircraft carriers would break into the Atlantic in the second half of 1940. At this moment, Admiral Verrick, commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force, who had arrived at the airport to meet him, interrupted his train of thought.

"Minister, look there!"

Churchill heard the voice, then looked in the direction of Admiral Verrick's finger, and saw only a pile of twisted, charred metal in the open space in front of a department store, and the "Iron Cross" mark could be faintly seen.

"Is it a German plane?" Churchill said.

"It's a He-111," said Admiral Verrick, "and the Germans bombed Paris again last night, and it seems that they have taken advantage of nothing." ”

The military operation to "bomb up Paris" has finally begun! 1000 planes and 10000 tons of bombs are nothing. However, every night a few dozen to a hundred German medium bombers frequented Paris.

He-111s and Ju88s usually come, breaking in from an altitude of 6,000 meters, dropping bombs and leaflets and leaving, rarely shot down, and similarly rarely blowing up any worthy targets.

Nevertheless, the French authorities made 120,000 efforts to defend the airspace of the great capital Paris. Not only did it turn Paris into the city with the highest concentration of anti-aircraft guns in the world, but it also brought in the "Home Chain" radar and a number of squadrons equipped with Spitfire and Blenheim night fighters, plus 20 squadrons equipped with Ms. 406 fighters and Potez631CN-2 night fighters.

"The Germans don't dare come during the day?" Churchill pulled out an oversized cigarette made to order. Admiral Verrick pulled out a lighter and lit a cigarette for the future British Prime Minister (Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was emaciated and in poor health, and Churchill would soon be Prime Minister).

"The Germans bombed airfields west of the Maginot Line during the day, and sometimes dropped several oversized bombs on the Maginot Line." Admiral Verrick replied, "Our 'Hurricane', 'Spitfire' and French Ms.406 aircraft are mainly concentrated at the military airfields near Metz, Arnold, Nancy and Verdun, and as long as the weather is good, there will be air battles." Until they completely grasp air supremacy, there should be no possibility of a massive air attack on Paris during the day. ”

"Oh," Churchill took a drag on his cigarette, "who has the advantage?" ”

"Germans," said Admiral Verrick, frowning, "clearly Germans!" They have two really great aircraft, the BF-109 and the Fokker Zero, which are really tough to deal with. Even without counting the planes destroyed on the ground, the exchange ratio between the two sides is close to 1:3...... In order to shoot down a BF-109 or Fokker Zero, we would lose 3 Ms.406s, Hurricanes or Spitfires. ”

"Sounds terrible!" Winston. Churchill took a sharp drag on his cigar. "Luckily, we were able to buy planes from the U.S. to replenish them."

The American "****" (that is, the P-36) and F2A have already arrived in Europe one after another, and will soon equip the British and French armies. However, the performance of these two aircraft is not very good, and they are not at all the opponents of the BF-109 and the Fokker Zero.

"Minister, what is really terrible now is not the loss of planes, but the loss of pilots!" "Although most of the engagements took place in French airspace, the ratio of front-line pilots was still about 1:2, taking into account the pilots killed and wounded in the German bombings, and the Germans lost one, and the French lost two or more...... Chancellor, such a war of attrition is very dangerous for Britain! ”

"I see." Churchill said lightly, but instead of continuing the conversation in the air, he turned the conversation to the ground. "So, how is Admiral Gammelin going to defeat the Germans?"

Admiral Gammelin was now the commander-in-chief of the Anglo-French forces, and it was his duty to lead the LinkedIn coalition forces to defeat Germany. Although there was no major battle on the ground during this time, Admiral Gammelin did not intend to let the more than 100 divisions under his command sit still as they do until victory.

"Admiral Gammelin was ready to assemble a large armored force," said Admiral Verrick, "who studied the Polish campaign and decided that the key to German victory was to have strong armored forces." The Germans used tanks intensively, and not dispersed them to infantry divisions. This is their trick to winning battles! So Admiral Gammel was ready to learn from the Germans, organize 24 panzer divisions by 1942, and then use them to crush the Germans! ”

"24 armored divisions?" Churchill smoked a cigarette, "That sounds like a lot...... But where are we going to attack? Is it necessary to break through the Siegfried Line? ”

"No, of course not." Verrick said, "Admiral Gammelin thought that if necessary, he could undermine the neutrality of Belgium." ”

Churchill shook his head and said, "If we were to wait until 1942 to launch a counterattack, it would mean that the Royal Navy would have to fight the Bismarck, the Tirpitz and a few more powerful super-battleships!" The British Admiralty said in a heavy tone, "According to intelligence, Germany's seven major shipyards have a total of nine large slipways of more than 60,000 tons. Now these slipways are starting to build ships, and I don't think they will be super cruise ships...... There is intelligence that the Germans have a large-scale shipbuilding program, and it is likely that they are already building battleships with a tonnage larger than the 'Bismarck', probably a giant battleship of 60,000 tons! ”

The British also got some information about the German construction of "H" class and "O" class battleships, although they did not know much, but they also knew that these two battleships must be more powerful than the "Bismarck" class.

To deal with them, it is not possible to rely on the existing British battleships, and even the "King George V" and "Lion" classes are not necessarily their opponents.

"Also, according to reliable intelligence," Churchill spat out a cigarette, and then said, "the four 'Soviet' class battleships of the Soviets will also be commissioned in 1942." At that time, Germany and the USSR will have up to 15 super battleships (9 60,000-ton slipways, 1 giant battleship each, plus 2 Bismarck-class and 4 Soviet-class) super battleships! This is a ...... that the British Royal Navy and the French Navy cannot resist"

The British Admiralty apparently overestimated Germany's shipbuilding plans, and the current construction of the nine 60,000-ton slipways is 2 H-class, 3 B-class ships (one of which was launched by the Tirpitz to start laying keels), 2 O-class, and 4 P-class (2 P-class ships share a 60,000-ton slipway). However, even the combined fleet of 2 Bismarck, 2 H-class, 2 O-class, 4 P-class and 1 Gneisenau plus 4 Soviet-class ships was not something that the British and French navies could deal with in 1942.

"Minister, what should we do then?" Admiral Verrick asked, frowning. In fact, he also had doubts about the plans of Ganmalin's 24 Panzer Division to crush Germany. Because the Germans will certainly form new panzer divisions, maybe not 24 by 1942, but there will be no less than 20, right?

The Anglo-French armored divisions could not have been overwhelmingly superior in numbers!

"Or to bomb the oil-producing areas of Baku, Grozny and Batumi!" Churchill spat out his cigarette and lowered his voice, "Bombed by the planes of the French!" (To be continued.) )