The two F-class destroyers, cruising at a speed of 18 knots, left the coast of Cape Finisterre and sailed along the dividing line between the western edge of the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic Ocean under the watchful eye of a Spanish patrol aircraft that appeared far to the east. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info They will always travel to Wales on such a route, rather than turning northeast to the English Channel.

The transport of the Soviet delegation was a great responsibility, and although the route from the English Channel to London reached the capital as close as possible, the French coast would be threatened by the Luftwaffe, and the strait was littered with minefields laid by its own men and the Germans at the same time, and it was not much easier to keep an eye out for threats from the air in a narrow channel surrounded by mines, than to go through the eye of a needle!

The British were actually stumped by their own mine array, but this is not the first time, there is nothing to be ashamed of. The Germans have deployed a number of air bases along the French coast, and although they have basically stopped air raids on the British mainland, they still have a certain advantage in air control over the English Channel, at least at the beginning of this year. The "Fire Dragon" was going to make a detour, but it seems that some people did not think that it was difficult to pass through the English Channel, and that it was German!

The telegraph room received a telegram from the command, and the watchman immediately sent the message to the captain's office in some disbelief.

"Impossible! The Germans are crazy! "This was the first reaction in Major McNulty's head!

What surprised Mr. Captain so much? Because there was a German fleet that actually tried to cross the English Channel during the day! It's almost impossible!

Since the Battle of Graflin in 1588 and the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, no hostile navy has dared to challenge the maritime dignity of the British Empire, and to openly cross the English Channel, the "aqueduct" of the British Empire's back garden!

McNulty immediately called a meeting of officers, and even Major Leonov, from the Soviet delegation, was invited. Out of the consciousness of an excellent naval officer, Mr. Captain judged that the incident mentioned in the telegram had something to do with the Soviet battlefield.

The German Navy's battle cruisers "Scharnhorst", "Gneisenau" and "Admiral Hipper", under the cover of a group of destroyers and powerful Luftwaffe fighters, crossed the Strait of Dover in broad daylight and killed like a group of deathsquads to the northeast!

This is simply impossible, and it is almost impossible for the Germans! Everyone immediately thought that the Germans were crazy, and this was simply a suicidal operation! However, as the telegrams continued to come from the telegraph room, the officers' expressions became worse and worse - the mighty British Royal Navy had no effective response to this action of the Germans, because the Germans were too crazy and unexpected to react!

The message was received throughout the North Atlantic, and the mainland was mobilizing all the forces it could use, but in the current emergency situation it was clear that many warships were beyond their reach, including of course the two destroyers including the "Fire Dragon", which were still far from the English Channel.

Such madness is decided only by crazy people, and the German Führer Adolf Hitler was precisely the one who never lacked madness! This action was ordered by Hitler himself, and it would have been impossible for someone else to be so crazy or determined.

This has to start from March last year, when the battle cruisers "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" returned to the port of Brest in France with the glorious record of sinking 22 transport ships with a total tonnage of 115,000 tons, after a two-month sea safari codenamed "Quadricycle".

After the battleship "Bismarck", the most powerful battleship of the German Navy, was sunk in an engagement with the powerful battleship formation of the Soviet Northern Fleet and the "Tirpitz" was heavily damaged, these two sister ships became the most powerful surface ships of the German Navy, and they were a thorn in the side of the British Navy, bent on putting them to death as soon as possible.

By the way, to deal with these two German battlecruisers, which could appear in the North Atlantic at any time, the British had to send heavy troops to deal with them. As the saying goes, "If you are not afraid of thieves stealing, you are afraid of thieves." The British Royal Navy not only deployed the H Fleet and the Honjo Fleet in Gibraltar and Scapa Bay respectively to tightly seal and block from the north and south, but also constantly sent planes to bomb the port of Brest, making it difficult for these two extremely threatening large warships to be trapped in the port of Brest.

In addition to the heavy cruiser "Admiral Hipper" in the port of Brest, these three large German warships not only played the role of containing part of the British fleet, but were simply decorations in the harbor, and they also had to send a large number of air defense forces to protect them, which was unbearable for Hitler, who had insufficient large surface warships at hand and was eager to block the northern route to support the Soviet Union.

The bridge of the "Fire Dragon", where the temporary meeting of officers was held. Leonov stood on the sidelines, silent, not knowing what he was thinking.

"Since the United States entered the war, the aid convoy to the Soviet Union on the northern route has become more and more dense, and this time the Germans are clearly moving these three warships to Norway and blocking our support for the Soviet Union. There are only two routes from Brest to Germany and then north to Norway, the first is the western route that bypasses us off the coast of Ireland, and the other is the eastern route that crosses the English Channel directly. The western route sailed a long distance, outside the Luftwaffe's combat radius, and was easily intercepted by our own powerful naval and air forces; Although the eastern route had a short distance, it was within the combat radius of the Luftwaffe and could be covered by the air of the German air force. ”

Although they couldn't catch up with the battle, the officers still had to analyze the situation, McNulty said, as if he were giving a briefing to Leonov: his subordinates knew everything.

"I have seen the empty-shelled cruiser Petropavlovsk, which is the original German "Lüzov", and if such large warships appear on the northern route, it will obviously be a great threat to our shipping, and at least the Germans will have the strength to once again break out a battleship decisive battle with our Northern Fleet in the waters north of Norway. ”

"The decisive battle was secondary, and threatening shipping was the ultimate goal of the Germans."

Now the most powerful on the Northern Route is not the German battleship "Tirpitz", nor the old battleships in the escort transport fleet sent by Britain and the United States, but the Northern Fleet in the hands of Kuznetsov Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov, the trump cards of which are, of course, the two powerful Soviet-class battleships.

After listening to Leonov's words, Smith said: "The two Scharnhorst-class battlecruisers of the Germans are more threatening, with a displacement of more than 30,000 tons, and according to intelligence, the speed is at least more than 30 knots. Although the caliber of the 9 main guns was only 283 mm, it was difficult to confront the battleship head-on, but it caused us huge losses in the Atlantic last year. Except for the Air Force, originally we only had the Hood that could compete with it in speed and firepower, like two hungry wolves that ran fast and fiercely, and it was difficult to surround them. ”

The main guns of the British battleships were large enough and more powerful, but the speed could not be compared with the two Scharnhorst-class, and the original tactics of the typical slow duck-Scharnhorst-class were to fight and run, and the British really had no problem with them all of a sudden.

"If they get to Norway, the pressure on the northern route is even greater."

The three German ships had to pass through the English Channel, a forbidden area of the British Navy, depending on whether the British minefields in the strait and the large-caliber shore guns deployed by Dover could effectively block the strait in a few hours. Coupled with the large number of destroyers and torpedo boats in those bays in the Strait, they could not cause trouble for the Germans with torpedoes, and bought time for the British Navy's powerful home fleet in Scarpa Gulf, North of the Strait.

Hitler said that "luck always favors the adventurer!", he chose the Eastern Front, and today the three battleships seem to be really lucky, and luck cannot stop it!

The actions of the Germans seemed risky, but in fact they were well prepared, and the air-sea coordination was well prepared. Coupled with a series of unexpected events and luck under the coincidence of chance, they are really very likely to succeed!

Hitler's decision was the last choice of the German Navy, and the generals of the Luftwaffe Navy and Air Force carried out the Führer's order to the letter: the Navy first cleared a channel in the dense minefield in the English Channel, and made full preparations for possible air defense operations and naval operations during the entire breakthrough process.

The German Navy named the operation "Thurbrus" - the name of the watchdog of hell in Greek mythology and the pet of the goddess Hekate in Greek mythology. It has three heads (actually fifty, changed to three for the convenience of painting and carving) and a dragon's tail and is responsible for guarding the gates of hell and preventing the undead from leaving.

In Greek mythology, it was Hercules who finally subdued Thurbrus and brought him back to Mykne from hell, and Hercules subdued Thurbrus, which was an impossible task. The choice of such a mythical code name for the German Navy was clearly an indication of the accomplishment of an impossible task.

In the plan, the Luftwaffe was responsible for providing air cover for the entire operation of the fleet's breakthrough, and the operation code name was "Thunder", and the entire operation code name for the breakthrough of the English Channel was collectively called "Thurbrus-Thunder". Of course, reading "Thunder Thurbrus" upside down is more imposing!

Another telegram was delivered to the bridge with the latest news of the air and sea battle that was taking place in the strait. After reading it, the captain handed it to the people on the side to circulate, "Gentlemen, we are too confident and careless, it seems that this adventure of the Germans is about to succeed." We had always been heavily fortified in the English Channel, believing that the Germans would not dare to cross easily, and when I saw the first telegram, I thought that the Germans were going crazy, but it seems that I was wrong, and we could not respond effectively to such an unexpected situation and in a short period of time. ”

The people on board the "Fire Dragon" did not know that the Germans' preparations for this breakthrough were simply perfect, not only did the headquarters send smoke bombs one after another, but the degree of secrecy of the operation was achieved to the highest level, and the commander-in-chief of the operation, Vice Admiral Otto Siriacos, also took great pains to disguise and deceive the battle, disseminating the news through various channels that the three warships were going to sail for the Atlantic.

The Germans, knowing that the whole of France was covered with Allied intelligence networks, simply purchased a large number of tropical military uniforms and sunglasses in Paris, and also entrusted the French Navy to prepare artillery lubricants for use in the hotbelt areas, creating the illusion that the fleet was going south to fight in the tropics.

Since the fleet struck a mine during the breakthrough process, the warships that were injured and did not move quickly enough would become the mouths of the British home fleet, since mid-February this year, the German Navy dispatched a total of about 80 minesweepers from the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 12th minesweeper detachments and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th motorized minesweeper detachments to carry out large-scale minesweeping operations in the English Channel and the southern waters of the North Sea that lasted nearly one month, opening up a safe channel for the fleet.

The waters of the Strait were so narrow that the fleet could not maneuver in the narrow channel as it did on the ocean, and as soon as the Germans were detected, RAF planes would arrive at the scene. In response to this situation, from the end of February to the beginning of March, the German army conducted a week-long joint exercise with the fighter unit and three warships planned to participate in the operation, and strengthened the coordination between them. Liaison officers were also dispatched to the fleet's flagship "Scharnhorst" to ensure timely and smooth communication between the navy and air force during the operation, and air-to-air and shore-to-shore radio stations were installed on each warship to ensure that telecommunications links were foolproof.

In order to cover the fleet's movements, Germany sent heavy troops in the air, a total of 180 Me 109 and Fw 190 fighters as a front-line covering force, and 60 Me 109 and 30 Me 110 fighters as reserves, to ensure that the fleet is covered by 36 fighters at all times, and finally even the latest electronic jamming technology is used to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

The British reconnaissance planes did not detect the movements of the German fleet, and although the French underground resistance group in the docks saw the three German warships that had been nesting for several months at anchor and igniting and testing the operation, because the Germans imposed strict martial law in the port, they could not even get out of the mouse, so they could only do it in a hurry, and could not get the news out at all.

In the middle of the night last night, three warships, accompanied by 14 torpedo boats, including destroyers Z4, Z5, Z7, Z14, Z-25, and Z-29, T-2, T-4, T-5, T-11, T-12, T-13, T-15, T-16, T-17, USS Condor, USS Falcon, USS Doortail, USS Skunk, and USS Jaguar, set sail for the Haunted Gate of the English Channel leading to the north.

A series of coincidences and strong electronic interference, the British radar snowed, and they did not immediately detect the German fleet that arrived at the entrance of the strait in broad daylight!

It wasn't until the German fleet arrived at Letouet that it was finally discovered by the British shore artillery unit, and the British shore artillery opened fire fiercely, but God was helping the German fleet, the sky was light rain and the visibility was low, and the British coastal defense guns fired more than 30 salvos without a single hit, and watched the German ships sail out of the shore artillery range without any losses!

The British urgently dispatched all available aircraft from the airfields of Cornwall, Portsmouth, Manston, Norfolk, etc., and attacked with all their might, striving to sink the three German ships in the Strait. However, this time the British Royal Air Force did not have the momentum of the local air defense the year before last, and nearly 1,000 sorties did not even hit the skin of three German battleships, but were beaten miserably and suffered heavy losses by the German fighters who were waiting for the battle!

The German fleet finally forcibly broke through the Strait of Dover, and as soon as the news spread, the only surface ships that the Royal Navy could intercept now were the 6 destroyers in Harwich Harbor, about 110 kilometers north of the Strait of Dover, all of which were old V/W-class destroyers and Scott-class destroyers that were more than 20 years old.

However, the commander of the destroyer's fleet, Colonel Pitts, was still undaunted, and immediately led the destroyer out to sea. ”

When the people on the German ship finally saw the approaching British destroyer through the binoculars, they were shocked! However, what surprised the Germans was not that the British Navy had finally arrived, but that the dignified British Imperial Navy had been sent to fight against these old-fashioned destroyers!

Originally, I was mentally prepared for a bloody battle with the British battleship, but I didn't expect such a few small shrimps to come!

Colonel Pitts and his men attacked with all Nelson fearlessness - but it was all in vain in the face of the mighty German fleet, the German destroyers did not allow the British destroyers to get close enough to fire torpedoes, and the heavy guns on the three large ships sank two of the British destroyers cleanly, and the British had to retreat!

The rest of the week was smooth sailing, not a single mine was touched, and the fleet sailed safely off the coast of the Netherlands. Several large ships turned around and headed north, heading for Norway.

The people on board the "Fire Dragon" looked at the intercepted messages in the telecommunications room one after another, as if they were watching a big show from a distance, and they could only say that the Germans were too lucky. Leonov was a little worried, just as the deputy commander-in-chief thousands of kilometers away thought when he got the news: they were clearly prepared to deal with the Soviet Union.

"The power of the British in the Atlantic against the large German surface warships could finally be liberated, although such a "liberation" would rather be absent to the arrogant Royal Navy. But it's a big problem for our northern route! ”

Lin Jun, who was far away in Lithuania, got the news a little later, "The Germans are really unlucky, even the time has changed, and what's even more excessive is that they didn't even hit a mine?!" ”

Lin Jun remembered that in this adventure of the German Navy, two battle cruisers had been hit by mines, and finally had to sail into the nearest German port of Kiel to repair the damage caused by the mines, and only the "Prince Eugen", which no longer existed, went north to Norway. Now it's the Admiral Hipper, and the two battlecruisers are unscathed!

Today is the twelfth of March, and a week has passed since the massive offensive of Marshal Mikhail Nikolayevich Tukhachevsky under the command of his troops on the German troops entrenched in Lithuania, codenamed "Buran", and the left flank has entered the outside of Vilnius, and a tough battle is breaking out! On the right flank, the assault forces, supported by the Red Banner Baltic Fleet, had already captured half of Klaipeda, becoming the first German territory to be captured by the Red Army (historically belonging to Prussia for a long time, called "Memel", and was again merged by Germany on March 22, 1939). The middle lane has also reached the outskirts of Kaunas. ）。

The 12th Mechanized Army and the 10th Army of the Synchronous Corps under the jurisdiction of the Eighth Army took the lead in attacking "Memel" and planted the red flag on this land with a complicated historical situation. It is precisely because of the complicated history of this place, and the fact that it was re-annexed by Germany in 39 years, that the German army fought extremely bravely in this area!

Tukhachevs did not blindly storm the city, aerial reconnaissance showed that the German Army Group North was fully supporting Memel, and the Front Command ordered the 10th Infantry Army besieging the city to fight the Germans in the style of the Battle of Minsk, but not to try to capture the whole city, because it was also difficult to do so for a while. Mechanized units broke through from the left flank to isolate the city along the coast!

Throughout the wide frontage, the "Red Ares of War" were like large firecrackers stuffed into a hornet's nest, and the troops were intertwined with the German army in this area. Just like the complex offensive arrows and icons of the two sides on the battle map that Lin Jun saw, both sides were trying to divide each other, and it was difficult to achieve it for a while.

The forward of Tukhachevs' troops was only 50 kilometers away from the original border of East Prussia, and his posture of wanting to take East Prussia in one breath not only disrupted the deployment of the German Army Group North for a while, but even the German high command could only deal with it according to the bold cards of the "Red God of War"!

Both sides were under pressure, on the one hand, the Soviet army must not be allowed to reach East Prussia, and on the other hand, while attacking, it had to face the same fierce counterattack and penetration of the Germans, and the northern battlefield put a heavy bargaining chip on the hearts of the commanders of both sides!

(Nearly 6000, I wish all book friends a happy New Year, and those who have monthly passes will be given a few, hehe.) (To be continued.) )