"What? You're going to attack Ireland? ”

The next day, still in the Eagle's Nest, Adolf. Hitler was hesitant when he heard Hersmann's offer to attack Ireland. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"Marshal, you know that William II and I have made promises to the Republic of Ireland." Hitler pondered, "And the Irish now have a strong leader, who will lead the Irish to the end if we invade, just as he led the Irish to fight the British." ”

The fighting spirit of the Irish and the English was very fierce in the twenties and thirties of the twentieth century, and the Irish also resorted to KBIST means. At that time, the IRA and Sinn Féin were famous!

"It's not going to happen," said Hersman, shaking his head, "because the Irish leader is actually your admirer." If we do enter Ireland, he will lead the Irish to fight alongside us. ”

"What?" Hitler was stunned, "You said that Irish Prime Minister Eamon. Morality. Valera is my admirer? Why haven't I heard of it? Marshal of the Reich, what evidence do you have? ”

Hersmann's words are of course well-founded, because the Irish prime minister, after Hitler's defeat and suicide, personally went to the German Embassy in Ireland on May 2, 1945 to mourn Hitler! And the President of Ireland, De Grass. Hyde also sent a public letter of condolence.

What does it mean to see truth in adversity? This is the truth of adversity!

But this "evidence" cannot be told to Hitler now, and Hitler does not look like he is going to commit suicide now......

But Hersman found evidence that the Irish leader was pro-German, saying: "Leader, the Irish military courts have been convicting Irish armed forces personnel serving in the British army for two years. Even those who die on the battlefield are convicted. In fact, the leaders of the Irish knew very well that only if we Germany, won the war, could they truly become independent and reclaim Northern Ireland, which was still under British occupation.

Moreover, if we were to finally settle Britain militarily, it would certainly be more advantageous to fight in Ireland than in England. Because we do not have enough tank landing ships and infantry landing ships to deliver enough forces to the beaches of England at once. ”

After the end of the campaign on the Western Front, the spring of shipbuilding in Germany and even on the entire European continent came. After the Battle of the Mediterranean, as the supply problems of oil and non-ferrous metals were actively solved, Germany began to release the stocks accumulated before the war to meet the needs of the industries of European countries under its leadership, so the heavy industrial production of various countries quickly returned to the highest level before the war. However, the shipyards of European countries under German leadership were now mainly busy building surface combat ships in order to give Germany a naval power that could overwhelm Britain and the United States. And all kinds of ships with landings have never been a top priority for the European shipbuilding industry.

Of course, not being a priority does not mean doing nothing. Already at the time of the development of the Z plan, Hersman proposed a plan for the design and construction of landing ships and landing craft. Soon after the campaign on the Western Front, a series of ships were designed for landing operations, ranging from a few tons to several hundred tons (numbered from A to O) and 900 to 1,500 tons (P, Q, R, S and T). However, the total number of these landing craft and landing ships was still small, and all the models were added together, and by the beginning of 1942, there were only more than 1,700 of them, and at most three fully manned motorized rifle divisions could be sent to British beaches.

At the same time, the British were doing their best to prepare for a decisive battle on the beachhead, and the whole of southern England near the English Channel was full of fortified areas. Hundreds of thousands of infantry and 7 armored divisions are guarded there, which is not at all something that just 3 motorized infantry divisions and 1-2 airborne divisions can deal with.

So landing in the south of England has never been one of the options of the Wehrmacht.

"Marshal of the Empire, what do you want to do?" Hitler pondered in silence for a moment, then asked Hersmann.

"Now we should prepare for a landing battle with great fanfare, and if the United States resumes supplying supplies to Britain, then we will be ready to land!" "Gathering ships and troops in France and northern Belgium near the English Channel, and making a gesture of being ready to force the English Channel," Hersmann said. ”

"Is this a scam?" Hitler asked.

"Yes, the real target is Ireland." "So only the landing ships and landing craft concentrated in Brest are real, and everywhere else they are replaced with fakes."

At the same time, a decisive battle at sea should also be prepared! It will be a battleship Armageddon on the scale of Jutland, we will have 2 Hindenburg-class (H-class), 2 Bismarck-class, 2 Barbarossa-class, 1 Scharnhorst-class (Gneisenau) ready to fight, the Italians have 3 Veneto-class (Veneto, Litorio, Roma) at their disposal, and the French have 3 Richelieu-class (Richelieu, Jean. Barr, Napoleon) can be used. So we were able to defeat Britain even without taking into account air superiority.

After the naval victory, the landing force of three divisions will go to Ireland with 1,700 landing ships, and two airborne divisions will carry out air assaults in Ireland. ”

The Barbarossa class is the original O-class, but it is different from the historical O-class, it is actually the 380mm main gun model of the Scharnhorst class, and the various technical indicators are exactly the same as the Gneisenor with the modified 380mm main gun.

The Italian super-battleship Veneto class now has 3, and the 4th ship "Imperial" will soon be in service. The No. 3 ship of the Richelieu class of France was also completed in early 1942, but it could not be called "Clemenceau", but was renamed Napoleon. Bonaparte.

Therefore, by the time of the spring equinox in 1942, Germany, Italy and France would have as many as 14 battleships at their disposal!

On the British side, although they desperately built ships after the Battle of Shetland, how could the industrial strength of Britain alone be compared with most of Europe under the leadership of Germany? Therefore, by the beginning of 1942, in the hands of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the only battleships available were "Nelson", "King Disguise V", "Duke of York" (under sea trials, scheduled to be commissioned in March 1942), "Anson" (under sea trials, scheduled to be commissioned in April 1942), and a battleship "Howe" was to be commissioned in the second half of 1942.

In addition, the construction of the three powerful "Lion" class battleships, "Lion", "Brute Yong", and "Conqueror", was in full swing after the Battle of Shetland and was expected to be completed by the end of 1943 and early 1944. There was also a battleship "Avant-garde", which also began construction shortly after the Battle of Shetland and was scheduled to be commissioned in the third quarter of 1944.

"Well, by the third quarter of 1944, we will have four King George V-class, three Lion-class, one avant-garde, one Nelson-class, a total of nine super-battleships. The South Dakota-class and Iowa class in the United States will also be in service in large quantities, and several Montana-class ships will also be built. At that time, the sea dominance of the Atlantic will return to our hands! ”

Churchill always had a talent for saying inspiring words in the toughest of times. But today, in the bunker of the wartime cabinet, all the people who heard him say this were sad, and they looked like they were about to come to a great disaster.

Because most of the super-battleships that Churchill spoke of would not be built and commissioned until 1943 or 1944. And in the first half of 1942, Britain and the United States had only one North Carolina-class, two or three South Dakota-class, three King George V-class, and one aging Nelson-class. At most, there are only 9 ships, far less than the 14 ships in Germany, Italy and France.

And...... The Germans also have Japan's 80,000-ton super battleship, which can defeat the North Carolina-class ruthless characters! There are 1 or 2 80,000-ton battleships in the Pacific Ocean, and the American Atlantic Fleet will now treat it as air. So now there are only 4 super battleships that the British Empire can really rely on!

4 to 14, as long as you can do arithmetic, you know that there is no hope. So Princess Elisabeth, who knows that 4 is much less than 14, has now begun to learn German, and is also correspondingly with her cousin, Prince Friedrich of Germany, and seems to be ready for a vigorous aunt-nephew love.

But King George VI of England and his daughter took a completely different stance towards Germany. After the Japanese invasion of the Hawaiian Islands, he still publicly called on the British people to unite against the impending invasion - of course, the king was an enlightened monarch who would not interfere in his daughter's private life, nor would he prevent Princess Elizabeth from taking a cruise ship from the Swedish royal family to the Netherlands to meet her cousin, Prince Friedrich of Germany......

"Mr. Prime Minister, the vernal equinox is just around the corner, and the weather in the North Atlantic and the English Channel will improve, favoring engagement and landfall."

Alexander the Minister of the Admiralty, looking at Churchill, who still had the support of the king and was confident himself, said with great embarrassment: "And now there is intelligence that Germany is gathering troops in Calais, Normandy, Picardy, Brittany in France, and in Bruges and Antwerp in Belgium." It seems that an invasion is imminent! And the Royal Navy is too weak now......"

Churchill glanced sideways at the unconfident Admiralty Chancellor and interrupted him, "No problem, we still have the Army, and the Royal Air Force, we have enough strength to defend the homeland!" (To be continued.) )