June 8, 1941, 3 a.m. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Several regimental airports near the port of Brest were already bustling with people, and the aprons and runways of each airport were illuminated by high searchlights. Ground crews used trolleys or towed bomb carriers to drag 1,000-kilogram aerial bombs or 500-kilogram aerial torpedoes under the belly of the aircraft, and then lifted them and fixed them on the pylons of the aircraft's bomb bays.

In this day and age, night flights are still a bit dangerous, but fortunately, most of the pilots of this 2nd Navy Division in Brest are experienced veterans, and as long as they fly north for an hour, the sky will gradually start to brighten. When the sky is almost clear, they will form an attack formation over the Atlantic Ocean -- because it is taking off at night, it is difficult to form a formation, so they can only designate a grouping coordinate and wait for dawn to form a formation.

Today's commander-in-chief of the 1st Assault Wave is Captain Johannes of the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Bombardment Aviation Regiment of the HNA Navy. Major Steinhof. He is one of the few officers in the naval aviation who came from the navy, joined the naval aviation as early as 1934, and is now an old bird who has been flying for seven or eight years. At first, he flew seaplanes, and later fighter planes, shot down more than 25 enemy planes in Poland and the Western Front, received the Blue Max Medal, and after the Western Front Campaign, he changed to JU88 due to the expansion of the bomber force.

However, after changing to JU88 and becoming the captain, Johannes. Major Steinhofer's luck seemed to be coming to an end. From the beginning of 1941 to the present, the JU88 bomber he piloted has made dozens of sorties, but has not achieved any success.

"Brothers," Steinhoff said loudly to his crew as the plane was about to take off, "we will be the first to drop a bomb today!" We're going to sink an aircraft carrier with one shot! ”

"That's right! Blow up and sink an aircraft carrier! ”

"That's right, let the Brit eat one of our 1,000-kilogram bombs!"

Amid the cheers of the crew, Steinhofer's headset sounded the order for the plane to take off.

On the runways of 5 regimental airfields around the port of Brest (one of which was stationed with a division headquarters and reconnaissance aircraft), one plane at the same time roared and sped into the sky.

Then, one after another, batch after batch, and soon the air in Brest was already a war secret!

However, what the German flying elite did not expect was that as soon as they took off in the air, the flagship of the British Home Fleet, the "Nelson", received the relevant report.

Because at this very moment, a British destroyer of the "Tribe" class, which had just been installed with the 279 radar, was cruising in the English Channel, less than 120 kilometers from the port of Brest. And that 279 radar is shining right over the port of Brest!

The main reason for this was that the German planes deployed in the port of Brest were so terrible that they could go to the port of Liverpool (now Britain's largest trading port) and the anchorage of the home fleet at any time to bomb Clyde Bay. So the British got some destroyers with radars, approached the port of Brest from the sea as soon as it was possible, and then detected them with radar. It is hoped that an early warning can be given in the event of a mass take-off of German aircraft.

"Massive sorties of German aircraft in Brest?" Commander of the Home Fleet, John Brown. Koronin. Vice Admiral Tovey (wartime admiral) immediately became nervous when he heard the news and immediately asked: "How many are there?" In what direction to fly? ”

"At least 100 of them, the direction of flight is not yet known, they are in formation."

John. Koronin. After thinking about it for a moment, Tovey said in a solemn tone: "The Germans must have discovered the E Fleet or the C Fleet, these damn planes are going for air raids." ”

He took a sharp breath: "Give the order to the E fleet immediately, disband the formation immediately!" Then order the C fleet to speed up and go north, it must be fast, otherwise our plans will be in vain.

Also, ask the Air Force to immediately send fighter jets to cover the E and C fleets! ”

The wartime cabinet command in London was also reported at this moment by a massive sortie of German aircraft in Brest. Admiral Diere, the chief of the Imperial General Staff, who remained here (although Churchill had a room in the underground headquarters of the wartime cabinet, but he never lived), did not dare to take it lightly and immediately gave Hugh to the Fighter Command. Admiral Dowding gave the order to send all P-51s and P-40s, as well as Hurricanes, capable of gaining access to the battlefield, to reinforce them.

Soon, the sirens sounded over the airfields in the southwest of England in Northern Ireland and Wales, and the pilots were awakened from their sleep, scrambled to put on their flight suits, and hurried to the tarmac.

A bloody air battle is about to break out over the Atlantic Ocean southwest of Ireland!

……

June 8, 5:20 a.m.

The battleship "Bismarck" was moored in the harbor of Bergen, surrounded by hundreds of islands of various sizes, at a time when a controversy was taking place over more than a million Euromarks.

The controversy was caused by the British Royal Navy's Fleet B, which had been spotted by German submarines near the North Channel the previous evening.

According to the submarine report, the British fleet, which consisted of the battlecruiser "Hood" (the Germans already knew the "Hood" in the B fleet, because this ship was so famous and easily recognizable) and another battleship, sailed out of the North Channel and headed due north for the Little Minch Strait, most likely to the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands.

In other words, this fleet is likely to be here to engage the First High Seas Fleet!

And after this news reached the "Bismarck" and "Seydlitz", the commander of the aircraft carrier force of the High Seas Fleet, Helmut. Vice Admiral Haye immediately sent a message to the Fleet Commander, Gunther. Admiral Lütjans made a request to transfer four squadrons of Fokker 99 to two aircraft carriers.

There is actually nothing to transfer the aircraft to the aircraft carrier, and what really makes Heyer and Lütjans argue is that Heyer does not plan to reduce the Fokker Zero on the aircraft carrier to make room for the Fokker 99, he wants to use the deck mooring method to let 48 Fokker 99s park on the decks of 2 aircraft carriers.

"Helmut, this is the North Sea!" Lutyans frowned and said, "You know what the climate and sea conditions are like in the North Sea, right? Can you put an airplane on deck in the North Sea? ”

The North Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean are not the Pacific Ocean or the Mediterranean, and it is a very probable event to encounter a storm here.

Therefore, aircraft carriers operating in the North Atlantic and the North Sea must be housed in full hangars according to regulations, and deck mooring is not allowed -- otherwise, dozens of aircraft will be scrapped every time they go to sea, and this is not a waste of money?

"Actually, it's theoretically possible," Helmut. Heyer replied. "It's June, after all, when the weather is better."

"Theoretically?" Lütjens shook his head again and again, "As long as there is a storm, these 48 Fokker 99s will be finished, which is more than a million euromarks!" ”

"Admiral, it's wartime!" Helmut. "As long as there is a victory and a heavy damage to the British's 'Hood,' more than a million marks are nothing," Heyer said. ”

"Hit the Hood?" "Do you want to attack with carrier-based aircraft?" ”

"I want to sink the Hood!" Helmut. Heyer was a little helpless, "However, the 250-kilogram bomb hanging on the Fokker 99 is not powerful enough, so I can only consider damaging the 'Hood'." And to achieve this goal, I don't need to complete multiple attacks, as long as I complete one strike, with the Fokker 99's dive-throwing bomb hit rate, I can theoretically inflict heavy damage on the 'Hood' and another battleship. So that your 'Bismarck' and 'Tirpitz' can catch up with the 'Hood' and sink it with naval guns. ”

In fact, after several major changes, the "Hood" has increased in weight a lot, and its top speed has been reduced, and it is not as fast as the "Bismarck" and "Tirpitz", but the Germans did not know about this.

"And that's the only way to destroy the Hood!" Helmut. Hayer paused and said, "Because it is impossible for the British to use 2 battleships and battlecruisers against our 3 battleships." There must have been undiscovered British battleships heading north with the Hood, so it was very dangerous to attack with battleships in the first place.

In addition, the British fleet certainly did not dare to easily enter the combat radius of the shore-based JU88, S.M.79 and Fokker Zero. They will only wander outside the combat radius of our shore-based aircraft, waiting for bad weather to come back to us for a decisive battle. ”

This analysis moved Lütjans a little, and the German admiral thought for a while and said: "Maybe as soon as we go to sea, we will encounter high sea conditions, and then your 48 Fokker 99s will be scrapped if they don't hit......"

The possibility exists, and while the weather forecast shows that the weather will be fair in the North Sea for the next few days, the weather forecast is not 100% accurate, especially in a place like the North Sea.

Helmut. Heyer gritted his teeth, "Then change to another 48!" If you want to dominate the world, you can't be reluctant to spend a small amount of money! ”

"More than a million Euromarks is a small amount of money?" Lütjans rolled his eyelids, "But it can really hit the 'Hood' hard, and the money is not unjustly spent...... Then let's report the request to the Navy headquarters! (To be continued.) )