Helmut. Heyer and Fritz. The two of them quickly walked to the map table placed in the bridge. The www.biquge.info of the pen "Fun" Pavilion has already placed two model ships, symbolizing "battleships and battle cruisers", in the northwest of the Faroe Islands.

"Can the shore-based planes in Bergen reach?" Heyer asked Major Max, the aviation staff officer (who was also the flight control officer of the "Seydlitz"), who was in the bridge.

"Barely enough," replied Major Max, glancing at the model boat, "the British know the combat radius of the Ju88 and S.M.79, and they should not get too close, after all, they have just suffered a big loss in the waters near Ireland." ”

Heyer nodded, agreeing with Major Max's analysis. "If the shore-based planes in Bergen can't go, then it's time for us to get on the ...... Is it too late to launch an air strike today? ”

"It's too late today," Major Max looked at the sky outside the bridge, "it's going to get dark soon, and we're too far away from them, and our Fokker 99 combat radius isn't very large." ”

The range of the Fokker 99 is more than 1400 kilometers, and the combat radius is almost 500-600 kilometers. And the place where the "Hood" was found was about 800 kilometers from two German aircraft carriers.

"Then launch an attack tomorrow morning, and let Bergen's 3rd HNA Division send FW-200C to track the Hood." Lieutenant General Haye thought for a moment, "And we...... It is time to sail north. This will be an early attack tomorrow, and we will be less likely to be attacked by enemy planes. ”

It is the polar day of the North Pole, and the closer you are to the North Pole, the shorter the night hours and the longer the daylight hours, so it will be more advantageous for Haye's fleet to occupy the northern position.

However, there is also a disadvantage to sailing north, that is, it will be close to Iceland, which is controlled by the Americans. So that "Seydlitz" and "Seckert" could be detected by American reconnaissance aircraft.

"Vice Admiral, there's an American fleet near Iceland to the north." Major Max reminded Lieutenant General Heyer in a whisper.

Lieutenant General Heyer crossed his arms and thought for a moment, and said, "Let's go north, just a little farther away from Iceland, we can't stop fighting just because they're here." ”

Helmut. Heyer certainly didn't expect when he said this that his fleet had actually been discovered by the British submarines.

"Admiral, the German fleet has come out of Bergen!" On the battleship "Nelson", the commander of the British Home Fleet, Admiral Tovey, received a report of the submarine. "At least 2 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers and 4 light cruisers."

"2 battleships?" Admiral Tovey asked, "Did you tell me what type of ship it is?" ”

"It's 2 'Bismarck' class."

In fact, the British submarine saw 2 heavy cruisers "Admiral Hipper" and "Blucher". However, the appearance of German battleships and heavy cruisers is similar, and it is easy to misunderstand, especially the "Bismarck"-class battleships with the same number of main gun turrets and the "Admiral" class heavy cruisers are more likely to be confused. Moreover, the accompaniment of the two aircraft carriers also made the British believe that what they found was the "Bismarck" and "Tirpitz".

"Where's the direction?" Admiral Tovey asked again. "Where is the direction of the voyage?"

"60.5 degrees north latitude and 4.2 degrees east longitude, which is about this location. sail north. ”

"North of Bergen." Vice Admiral Fraser, deputy commander of the British Home Fleet, quickly found this position on the charts. "If you go all the way north, you'll soon be in the Norwegian Sea."

"Norwegian ......" Admiral Tovey also walked to the chart table, "The Germans want to go to the Danish Channel?" ”

Located between Iceland and Greenland, the Danish Strait is a waterway from the Norwegian Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, which is very wide, 290 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, and has long nights in winter and often foggy in summer, making it ideal for the German fleet to break into the Atlantic.

"It is also possible that they wanted to attack the 'Hood', and it is likely that the German submarines had already discovered the B flotilla." Vice Admiral Fraser quickly suggested another possibility, "The German aircraft carriers must be heading north to occupy a favorable northern position, so that their planes can take off at two or three o'clock tomorrow morning." ”

"It's also possible." Admiral Tovey thought for a moment, "Order the C Fleet to also go north, as close to Iceland as possible." If the aim of the Germans was to attack the B Fleet, then we would strike east and at the same time ask American planes to fly east of the C Fleet and intercept the German reconnaissance planes. If the Germans wanted to break through the Danish Strait, then the C flotilla launched an air strike over Icelandic airspace. ”

Now the United States has taken over Iceland and manipulated the Icelandic parliament to pass a resolution that turned Iceland into an American dependency. As a result, Iceland is now considered a "neutral zone", and German planes cannot fly over Icelandic airspace, but British planes can fly over Iceland if necessary, and even land in Iceland during wartime. In addition, American planes stationed in Iceland could take off to intercept German reconnaissance planes trying to fly over airspace close to Iceland. So Tovey wanted the C fleet to attack the German fleet under the cover of Iceland.

"You can also ask your American friends in Iceland to send destroyers to search the Danish Strait and help us determine the location of the German fleet." Vice Admiral Fraser then suggested, "In the meantime, just in case, we can also have Fleet A make a sortie to the sea west of Iceland." In addition, the B Fleet should be 80-100 nautical miles south of the C Fleet, so that Faroe Islands aircraft can provide direct cover to the B Fleet. If the C Fleet had inflicted heavy damage on the German fleet, then the B Fleet would have been able to strike east to intercept it. ”

As Vice Admiral Fraser spoke, he placed model ships symbolizing Flotilla B, A, and C, as well as the German fleet, in various positions on the chart, and finally formed a situation of encirclement and interception of the German fleet.

"Admiral, all ships have finished resupplying."

Just as the British were preparing to lay siege to the two German aircraft carriers and the German heavy cruisers heading north, in the Norwegian port of Bergen, Colonel Lindemann, chief of staff of the German First High Seas Fleet and captain of the battleship "Bismarck", was making a request to Gunther. Admiral Lütjans reported on the replenishment of the fleet.

"In addition, the Marines have disembarked and settled in Bergen's barracks." Lindemann continued.

The capture of Shetland was also one of the options for this operation, so the transport ships that followed the 1st High Seas Fleet to Bergen carried 6,500 marines on board. If a landing operation were to be launched, they would be the first troops to go ashore.

In addition, in order to carry out the plan to capture the Shetland Islands, the Germans formed the 21st Cluster under the command of Admiral Falkenhorst. In addition to the Marine Corps, this cluster has 6 infantry divisions (including the Viking Division) and 1 Airborne Division, with a total strength of more than 100,000 troops.

However, most of these troops have not yet arrived in Norway, and the headquarters of General Falkenhorst has just arrived. Moreover, sea and air supremacy in the Shetland Islands has not yet been obtained, so it is not yet time to launch a landing operation.

After listening to Colonel Lindeman's report, Gunther. Admiral Lütjans looked at the time, it was 8:10 p.m., but it was still relatively bright in Bergen.

"It's almost time, let's go to sea." Gunther. Admiral Lütjens said, "We sailed close to the small islands of the Norwegian coastline, and then let the 3rd HNA Division send planes to cover us." If Haye's plane can damage HMS Hood and another British battleship tomorrow morning, then we will go for a decisive battle. ”

Gunther. Lütjans had long planned to lead the main force of the fleet to attack, because both he and Heyer believed that the Fokker 99 was not destructive enough to sink the British battleships and at most injure them. As for the last to complete the sinking mission, it was either the JU88 that took off from Bergen or Gunther. 3 battleships of Admiral Lütjans.

At 8:30 p.m. on the evening of June 8, 1941, the main force of the German First High Seas Fleet left the port of Bergen and passed among the small islands off the west coast of Norway, before disappearing into the Atlantic Ocean under the cover of night five hours later. Because it was already dark when the First High Seas Fleet left, and there was a mist on the sea. Therefore, the British submarine ambushed near the coastline of Norway did not find anything.

"Lieutenant General, the Coastal Air Corps reported that one of their Short 'Sunderland' seaplanes had spotted the German fleet southwest of the Faroe Islands, the coordinates were 62.2 degrees north latitude; 0.5 degrees east longitude. ”

At 1:30 a.m. on 9 June, the battlecruiser Hood, which was slowly sailing on the southern edge of the Norwegian Sea, received a report from the British Coast Air Force that a Schott "Sunderland" seaplane equipped with ASV search radar had spotted the German fleet, which was Haye's aircraft carrier group.

Captain of the Hood, who was also the commander of the B Fleet, Lancelot. Vice Admiral Holland immediately walked to the chart table, on which the navigator had already marked the location of the German fleet.

"We are more than 200 nautical miles away," said Lieutenant Commander Cook, the first mate of the Hood, "but I wonder if they have spotted us?" ”

"We have to be careful," said Vice Admiral Holland, smoking his pipe, "and they have two Bismarck-class battleships, and we are no match for the Prince of Wales together." ”

Lieutenant Colonel Cook said: "Lieutenant General, we can ask the Coast Air Corps to send a few more seaplanes to keep an eye on the German fleet, so that nothing goes wrong." ”

Vice Admiral Holland nodded and said, "But we still have to keep a distance of 200 nautical miles from them, and the Germans still have 2 aircraft carriers!" By the way, where is the C fleet now? ”

"Probably north of us," replied Lieutenant Commander Cook, "and the C fleet is now heading at full speed for the waters south of Iceland." ”

"The C fleet is to our north, and the German fleet is to the northeast outside......" Vice Admiral Holland tapped on the chart with his pipe, "and we will go a little further east, so that we can form three corners of an equilateral triangle with the C fleet and the German fleet." (To be continued.) )