"I think the British have already received the news of our departure at this moment." Lutejens looked at his watch and fixed his eyes on the charts on the table, "The British will not wait this time, they will definitely open their nets and wait for us at the first time." ”

"So we have to move fast." The chief of staff of the fleet looked at the flotilla outside the porthole and said, "It would be better if we could get the landing force to its destination before they find us." ”

"Then we'll be able to travel light and have a good fight with them." Lindemann said.

"That's the best-case scenario." Lutjens nodded, "However, we still have to be prepared for an encounter with the British. ”

"Unless the British move their forces to their positions without wasting an hour and quickly, Norway is open to us. Sir. Lindemann said.

While Luteyans was discussing the details of the battle with his subordinates, their opponents were not idle.

"The 'Großdeutschland' has been dispatched, and with it is the entire main force of the German Navy." A British rear admiral reported to the Admiralty Churchill.

"The Germans want to avenge the revenge of the year." The pot-bellied Churchill took the telegram from a Havana cigar, looked at it a few times and handed it to Sir Pound, the First Sea Lord.

"Denmark resisted for less than 4 hours. That's pretty good, though, and maybe we shouldn't ask too much of them. Churchill came to the map table, waved his hand, and several officers immediately laid out a large map of the Nordic seas on the table.

Churchill had already received the news that in the early hours of April 9, 1940, the Germans had suddenly launched an attack on Denmark. German ground forces crossed the Danish line of defense on the Deland Peninsula and paratroopers were airborne in Copenhagen and at strategic points, and landing forces landed in major Danish ports. The Danish army put up resistance, but was quickly crushed by the Germans. The Germans occupied all of Denmark in less than 4 hours.

"Now let's see how we can destroy this big monster that the Germans have created." Churchill looked carefully at the map, "Where are the Germans aiming?" ”

"The target of the Germans should be Norway." Pound looked at his watch, sighed, and said, "Operation Minelaying is over, but we have missed the best time to land in Norway. ”

"The prime minister has his difficulties, and we should understand that." Churchill heard the reproach in Pound's words, and he smiled absently, as if to excuse Chamberlain, and said, "If we can sink the 'Big Germany', we will all get back the lost opportunity." ”

The British Admiralty had a premonition of a possible direct German invasion of Norway, and was ready to send a landing force on the warships of the home fleet to occupy Norwegian ports, and in order to prevent Germany from using the Norwegian waterways to transport ore, the British Admiralty also planned to lay a mine barrier off the coast of Narvik. The plan was originally scheduled to begin on the night of 6 April, but in the final stages, Chamberlain's cabinet hesitated, and as a result, the mine-laying operation was delayed by 48 hours, and the British missed the perfect opportunity to land in Norway.

"But it's been too long now." "I think the Großdeutschland is almost in Norwegian waters. ”

"Tovey will stop it." Churchill said.

"The problem is that Norway's coastline is too long for us to be on the right track." Pound said worriedly, "We don't know where it's going to be." ”

"Yes, that's a nuisance. We have to send more ships. Churchill took a puff of his cigarette and nodded.

"And to deal with such a behemoth as the 'Großdeutschland', we need to dispatch at least three 'Lion'-class battleships." "That is, the home fleet is going to be dispatched in its entirety." ”

"What you said is that the 'Großdeutschland' has only two main turrets, and their secondary guns are 15 inches, which is okay against ordinary battleships, but even worse against our lions." Churchill nodded.

'Let's not give Tovey any advice, he's very familiar with his responsibilities and we can keep him informed of the situation and let him take action on his own.' Pound said.

"Okay." Churchill nodded, "Inform Tovey at once, tell him about the situation, and ask him to take all the action he can." ”

At this moment, a communications officer ran over with a pale face and handed a telegram to Pound, who only glanced at it, and his body began to tremble violently.

Churchill realized that something unfortunate had happened, and he stepped forward quickly, took the telegram from Pound's hand, and read it, and after only one glance, his hand trembled.

"Forty-eight hours have passed, and we have been waiting until the 'Großdeutschland' has appeared!" Tovey, the commander of the British Home Fleet, who received the official telegram order, said with some annoyance, "The bombers of the Air Force could have been dispatched to leave that monster in the harbor!" ”

Tovey's annoyance was not without reason, in fact, in the early morning of 8 April, four British destroyers, alerted by the battlecruiser "Prestige", the cruiser "Birmingham", and eight destroyers, began laying mines at the entrance to Westfjord, the channel to Narvik. However, it was too late, and the 1st Battle Group of the German Navy had already sailed through the minefield area and its cordon was approaching Narvik. Reconnaissance reports of the main forces of the German Navy approaching Norwegian ports flew like snowflakes, and it was only then that the British Admiralty, which had always been unpredictable about the build-up of German naval vessels, was completely awakened, and they could not believe that the German Navy dared to act so boldly and hastily ordered the home fleet to set off overnight. Since the opportunity to preemptively land in Norway had been missed, and a naval siege was imminent, the British landing force, which had already been on board and ready to go, had to return to the shore. In order to allow the home fleet to rush to the battlefield as soon as possible, the ordnance and equipment of the landing force were too late to be unloaded. No sooner had the British Home Fleet set sail than the Anglo-German fleet exchanged fire.

On the morning of 8 April, the British Navy destroyer "Firefly" gradually broke away from the formation in order to search for a sailor who had lost his footing and fallen into the water in the stormy seas of last night. The fleet had just completed its minelaying mission at the entrance to Westfjord and was on its way to another minefield. At about 8:30 a.m., the "Firefly", which was acting alone, suddenly encountered a German destroyer, and then made contact with a second German destroyer, and then the two sides began a chase battle. After a while, the heavy cruiser "Admiral Hipper" of the German 2nd Battle Group rushed to help in the battle. The Firefly caught fire, but the brave British sailors bravely launched a suicidal ramming of the new enemy ship under the cover of a smoke screen. The "Admiral Hipper" could not dodge it, and was hit by the "Firefly" into the hull of the ship, and the hull of the "Admiral Hipper" was smashed to a crack, and the "Firefly" also ignited a raging fire, the hull was seriously deformed, and after staggering away for a few minutes, it exploded and sank. All the officers and men below the captain of the ship, Lieutenant Commander Rupp, were killed.

But for the British Navy, the greater misfortune was the battle that took place later.

The battlecruiser "Prestige" arrived at full speed after receiving a telegram from the destroyer "Firefly", intending to intercept and intercept the enemy, but according to later intelligence and a telegram from the Admiralty in London, the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Whitward, decided to sail to Westfjord to defend the entrance to Narvik Harbor. In the early morning of April 9, the Norwegian Sea was furious, with a blizzard and raging waves. In the morning light, the "Prestige" found two vague shadows of two ships about 50 nautical miles from the fjord, one of which appeared unusually tall, and the "Prestige" had not yet figured out whether it was a German battleship or not, and the other party had opened fire at an almost impossible distance.

It was the "Großdeutschland" that fired at the "Prestige"!

Later information confirmed that the "Prestige" appeared in front of the two German battleships, the "Großdeutschland" and the "Scharnhorst", which had covered the entry of the German 1st battle group into Westerfür Bay and were preparing to drive the British fleet away from Westerfügh. "Velvet Germany" first fired at the "Prestige" at a long distance outside the range of the "Prestige", and the "Prestige" rushed to 18,000 yards to fire back, just when the "Prestige" completed the first salvo, an 800-millimeter "Dora" shell fired by the "Velvetschland" hit the "Prestige", and the violent explosion instantly blew the "Prestige" in two, and the broken hull of the "Prestige" quickly disappeared into the sea. More than 1,400 officers and men, including the commander of the fleet, Vice Admiral Whitwarn, were killed, and only three sailors were rescued.

As one of the main ships of the British Royal Navy, the battlecruiser "Prestige" with a displacement of 32,740 tons was unexpectedly blown into two by the opponent's single shot, which shows the fierceness of the "Großdeutschland" gunfire.

The news of the sinking of the Prestige reached Scarpa's Flow, and the entire British Home Fleet was shocked. The British Admiralty, who received the news, was furious and ordered the entire home fleet to be dispatched to find and sink the "Big Germany". And for Tovey and the officers and men of the home fleet, this order came too late.

Tovey has always believed that the best way to deal with such a steel monster as the "Great Germany" should be to prevent it from leaving its home port, because the 170,000-ton "Great Germany" has too deep a draft and a huge hull to anchor at Wilhelmshaven, and its combat scope is actually quite limited. As long as it did not leave its home port, it could not pose a threat to the British Navy. And once the "Velvetschland" is at sea, it will be too difficult to sink it.

Now, Tovey has no choice but to lead the "lion pack" out and have a head-to-head decisive battle with this monster.

"Let's go right away!" Tovey sighed and said to the Chief of Staff of the Fleet, "Hopefully, that monster of the Germans doesn't inflict greater losses on us before we arrive." ”

The Fleet Chief of Staff began to give orders, and soon the Home Fleet left Scarpa Bay and disappeared into the vast mist.

"Just now we got news from the Admiralty that it was the battlecruiser 'Prestige' that we sank yesterday."

On the bridge of the battleship "Großdeutschland", the chief of staff of the fleet, Rear Admiral Scholz, happily said to Lütjans.

"Yes, this head is not bad." Lütjans smiled and nodded, "However, for the 'Great Germany', warships like the 'Prestige' are just appetizers, and our target is those 'lions'. ”

"We won't have a problem killing them, sir." Captain Lindemann said confidently. Just now he had already conveyed the news of the sinking of the "Prestige" by the "Großdeutschland" to the officers, which made the officers rejoice.

"More importantly, we succeeded in completing the task." Lütjans looked at the calm port of Narvik in the distance and said in a low, hoarse voice.

In the early morning of April 10, the port of Narvik was unusually calm, except for the smoke that still filled the air and the debris floating on the sea, reminding people of what happened here yesterday.

After the arrival of the 1st Battle Group of the German Navy in the port of Narvik on time. The two Norwegian coastal frigates "Edswold" and "Nog" spotted several destroyers of the German fleet, and looking at the two old Norwegian warships, the commander of the German destroyer sent a German [***] officer on a motorboat to the Norwegian warship with pity, demanding that the commander of the Norwegian warship surrender and blow up the guns and engines on the warship. To the surprise of the Germans, the Norwegians sternly rejected the Germans' request for surrender, and the "Edswold" immediately opened fire on the German ships, but the Germans had already prepared for it. The German destroyer quickly fired torpedoes at the "Edswold", which was blown up in a volley of torpedoes from the Germans, and almost all of the crew members were killed. The brave Norwegian naval officers and sailors aboard the "Norge" put up an equally hopeless resistance, and a few minutes later were torpedoed and sunk to the bottom of the sea. At the time of the attack of the German destroyers, the Norwegian coastal batteries also began shelling in an attempt to prevent the German landing, and the multipurpose light battleships "Scharnhorst" and "Gneisenau" launched artillery fire on the batteries, which quickly broke the resistance of the Norwegian artillery. The German destroyer quickly came to shore, and Narvik fell. The Germans captured this important port at a very small cost.

According to reports, the combat operations of the 2nd Battle Group of the German Navy in the port of Trondheim were also quite smooth. The heavy cruiser "Admiral Hipper", although damaged by a suicide ramming of a British destroyer, did not lose its combat effectiveness. The German destroyer, issuing a British radio code before the attack, secretly sailed over the coast, and due to the fog at sea and the extremely low visibility, the Norwegian coastal artillery could not distinguish whether it was a German or a British ship, so they hesitated and did not open fire. When a Norwegian shore artillery battery noticed something was wrong and began firing, the wounded "Admiral Hippel" knocked it dumb with several salvos. The German assault team quickly went ashore and occupied the battery, the Norwegian resistance was crushed, the battery was replaced by German gunners, and the German army landed smoothly and occupied the port of Trondheim without blood.

The German navy at the other landing sites had a little less luck, but the operation was successful. In the port of Bergen, the Norwegian coastal artillery suddenly began to fire when the German ships approached, severely damaging the light cruiser "Königsberg", and after the destruction of the German ships' engines, they collapsed in the harbor, and the transport ship "Gadfly" also suffered heavy losses. In order to suppress the Norwegian artillery fire, the battleship "Hindenburg" and the heavy cruiser "Prince Eugen" carried out a half-hour shelling of the opposite shore, and the Norwegian battery was reduced to rubble by the German naval shelling. After destroying all the Norwegian batteries, the German Army began to land and successfully captured the port of Bergen.

At Kristiansand, the German 4th Battle Group twice forced its way across the fjord entrance, and the Norwegian shore artillery fire was extremely heavy, and the first German attack was defeated, and they had to retreat into the thick fog to hide. And after the fog dissipated, the battleship "Tirpitz" risked being hit by shells, approached the fjord to bombard the Norwegian battery, the artillery fire of the two sides was extremely fierce, the Norwegian coastal artillery hit the "Tirpitz" many times, but the thick armor of the "Tirpitz" withstood the shelling, after forty minutes of fierce fire, the Norwegian artillery fire was suppressed, the German commandos landed under the cover of the naval guns, and after a hard battle, captured the Norwegian battery, and successfully captured the port.

In Oslo, the German 5th battle group suffered the most intense resistance. The German fleet, intending to cross the 70-nautical-mile Oslo Fjord after dawn, was suddenly attacked by a Norwegian minelayer, the Trigdesen. After sinking a German minesweeper, the Norwegian warship blocked two German destroyers at the mouth of the fjord and damaged the light cruiser Emden. The most unfortunate was the multipurpose light battleship "Blucher", and by the time the fleet reached the vicinity of the fortress of Horten, the Norwegian defenders had been informed of the German attack and were ready. Two torpedoes fired from Norwegian shore defense positions accurately hit the "Blucher" at a distance of 500 yards, causing it to lose power. Under the heavy bombardment of the Norwegians, the battleship suffered another terrible blow, and the officers and men on the ship were killed and wounded, and other German ships, including the multipurpose light battleship "Lützov" and the heavy cruiser "Lufthansa", came to the rescue under artillery fire, and the "Lützov" and "Hansa" suppressed the Norwegian fire with naval gun fire, and the "Emden" dragged the "Blucher" out of the range of the Norwegians' gunfire, and finally saved the "Blucher" from being sunk. The German landing was hampered until German airborne troops outflanked the fortress of Holten from the Oslo airfield, and the Germans were able to advance ashore and capture Oslo

(To be continued)