"The army must emphasize keeping the intention of retreating secret. and also to conceal the retreat for as long as possible after the beginning of the retreat, and the retreat of the reserve is not complicated, since it is relatively easy to occupy the positions assigned to it in the rear at night. The real difficulty is the withdrawal of the first echelon from the front, which should begin to retreat after dark, and it should be silent. The distance of the first transfer should be as far as possible. In any case, each column should not be organized in more than one battalion, and each company was to act as a reading detachment. The reconnaissance aircraft could detect the moving column, and as soon as the flare was dropped, all movement had to stop. At this time, you should not run to the covered ground, but stay still. Before dawn, all troops should move into new positions. ”

"Every effort must be made to prevent the enemy from using the airfield, and as soon as we can no longer use it, blow it up completely. This does not apply to buildings, only to sites where aircraft can be temporarily taken off and landed. To complete all the demolition missions, usually only a few bombs (1,000 pounds or more) are required. Preparations, especially the laying of bombs, take time. At the last moment, planes take off and land on a runway riddled with mines, which has an adventurous name. When the last plane leaves, the blasting begins. ”

"Commanders cannot abdicate their duty to maintain order and maintain discipline. The well-organized retreat often depends on the officers' ability to lead by example and command, as well as their ability to maintain their composure and still act according to plan. ”

"The sappers must guard all the bridges, keep it intact and be ready to blow it up at any time. The road construction team should be ready to repair the road at any time. Rescue teams equipped with tractors should be properly deployed along the route to allow vehicles and artillery to move smoothly and to tow destroyed vehicles and equipment to the side of the road. Anti-aircraft guns should cover road intersections, important bridges and passes, etc. ”

"The planes were supposed to cover the main route of the retreat. A large number of traffic adjustment posts must be set up to adjust movement near road intersections, bridges and passes. A number of officers, including senior officers, should be appointed to be responsible for traffic adjustment duties. This is important because the sergeants could not play much of a role in this retreat. ”

"Sometimes, it is not possible to take all the weapons, vehicles and equipment with them, and in order to prevent confusion, the commander in charge must give clear orders as to which units can destroy their heavy weapons and vehicles. In such a situation, it depends on the level of the headquarters. ”

"In the process of retreating, it is also possible to be attacked by Soviet partisans, and the transport team is the best target for aircraft. Bumpy roads, heavy rain, sticky muddy ground, and sometimes heavy snow can make it difficult to move. ”

"Although the vast expanse of the Russian wilderness was conducive to the retreat, it had to be well organized. If the army is well-disciplined and has received a certain amount of training, organizing a strategic retreat can be an excellent means of striking suddenly at the enemy and regaining the initiative. ”

After writing in one breath, Dongfang Bai sat on his back on his back as if he was a little tired, and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Russia, Ben." Dongfang Bai whispered to himself, "If you come together, it's really troublesome." ”

He sat up again, his eyes fixed on the location of the map.

Looking at the large blue ocean on the map, Dongfang Bai picked up the pen and ruler again, but he stared at the ocean on the map for a while, and realized that it was a navy business, not something that he, an army staff officer, could manage, and couldn't help but smile bitterly.

However, even if it is not the navy, Dongfang Bai also understands that if he wants to defeat Yuben, it is impossible without the participation of the navy.

Dongfang Bai casually flipped through the information in hand, took out a few photos and looked at them, nodded, and started his work again.

In the photo, it is a large aircraft carrier of the Chinese Navy.

Port of Kiel, Germany.

"How is the Chinese' research work on aircraft carriers going?"

Standing on the iron bridge and gazing at the sea, the German Emperor Ruprecht I took a deep breath of the sea breeze, tightened his robe, and asked the German naval commander Raeder beside him in a voice that was not too loud.

"They've made a lot of progress, Your Majesty." "According to our people, the Chinese Navy has surpassed the British in terms of aircraft carrier and carrier-based aircraft tactics. ”

"Sooner or later, the conservatism of the British will bring them the consequences of destroying their surnames." Ruprecht I sneered, "They don't realize it now, they must arm themselves as soon as possible." ”

Although Britain realized the value of aircraft in future naval warfare early on, Britain's conservative and rigid system had a bad impact on the development of British naval aviation. Since the RAF Staff was mainly composed of officers from the former Royal Flying Force, the views of the Navy were excluded. And in order to install former Royal Flying Force personnel, naval personnel were encouraged to be transferred. This change of system was beneficial to the British Air Force, and for the British Navy, it lost its most talented officers; Only a very small number of pilots, after giving up their love of flying, were left behind to serve as naval staff officers. Thus, at a critical period in the development of naval tactics, the voices of British naval aviation were suppressed.

The British Navy also recognized the danger of the problem, and in 1924 the Naval Aviation Corps was re-established within the jurisdiction of the Royal Air Force in order to be treated fairly. But senior officers in the British Air Force are increasingly concerned with keeping the Royal Air Force in mind. They are keen to elevate strategic bombing to the primary, in fact, the only and overriding position. Julio? Duhey's theories were fully implemented, although they were not actually confirmed by previous war examples. The discussion about air power in Britain has become more and more rambling, and many people have blindly advocated "bomber supremacy", and according to this logic, they have even come to the conclusion that "there is no need to build fighters". Politicians and journalists have always been pushed back by the notion that any ship can be sunk by accurate high-altitude horizontal bombardment.

The claims of the British "bomber cult maniac" are naturally exaggerated. Their real purpose was to squeeze as much money out of their limited funds as possible to make bombers. British naval aviation had no priority at all. Since the power to design and purchase naval aircraft was in the hands of the Air Force, the British Admiralty, even if it was enthusiastic about aviation, could not influence its own aircraft. As a result, in 1926 British carrier-based aircraft, which were still comparable to shore-based aircraft, gradually fell behind and could not catch up with the naval aircraft of the United States, China, and Ben.

Under the jurisdiction of the British Air Ministry, British naval aviation deteriorated. The most serious is the lack of aircraft. The British Air Force controlled the design and ordering of aircraft, and they blindly regarded high-altitude horizontal bombing as a treasure, and were not allowed to order dive bombers, nor did they support the Navy in developing carrier-based aircraft that were close to shore-based aircraft. The technical specifications developed under the supervision of the British Air Force made it possible for British aircraft designers to design high-quality aircraft. It is even difficult for the Germans to imagine that the world's leading British aviation industry is not capable of building a carrier-based aircraft of the same quality. Although the senior officers of the British Navy, who believed that air power should meet the operational needs of the fleet, were aware of the seriousness of the problem, they were powerless to change the situation.

"The Chinese converted our most powerful warships into aircraft carriers, bought machinery and equipment from us, and hired our people to serve them." Ruprecht I looked at the harbor where hundreds of warships had been docked, and his voice became a little hoarse, "They really know how to do business." ”

"We're getting paid off now, Your Majesty." Raeder understood what the Kaiser was thinking, and replied at the right time, "I think it's worth the price. ”

After the end of World War I, the German Empire was a defeated country, and its vast naval and army heritage became the target of competition among the victorious powers. In contrast to the British and American powers, which focused on the notorious Bavarian-class and Württemberg-class battleships, China chose to target the Mackensen-class battlecruisers and York-class battlecruisers. Although these battleships are much more powerful than the "Bavaria" class battleships and the "Württemberg" class battleships on paper, in the eyes of Britain and France and other countries, they are not as valuable as the real new battleships in their hands. In addition, it was clear that China's target was not for battleships that seemed to be the dominant power at sea, so in the end these warships fell into Chinese hands. After these "warships" were sent to China, they entered the docks of several newly built large shipyards, began large-scale transformation, and eventually became the test of the waters of the future Chinese Navy aircraft carriers -- the "Xingtian" class aircraft carriers.

The standard displacement of the "Xingtian" class aircraft carrier is 35,300 tons, the total length is 298 meters, the waterline is 261 meters long, the width is 30 meters, the draft is 10 meters, the flight deck is 41 meters wide, and it can carry 92 aircraft. There are a total of 7 ships of this class, all of which are converted from German ships. The first ship "Xingtian" was converted from the battlecruiser "York"; the second ship "Gonggong" was converted from "Gneisenau", the "Feilian" was converted from "Count Spee", the "Jingwei" was converted from "Prince Frederick", the "Kuafu" was converted from "Scharnhorst", and two ships of the same class, the Chinese did not even bother to change the name of the ship, so they directly called the original German ship names "Marquis Bismarck" and "Deutschland".

And the largest cooperation between the Chinese and German navies was also carried out on these aircraft carriers, which were converted from German warships.

After Germany announced the abolition of the "Versailles Declaration" in March 1935, Germany and Britain reached the "Anglo-German Naval Agreement" in June with Britain that the German navy was 35% of the British navy. Since Germany had no experience in building aircraft carriers, it was initially looking for British support and wanted to refer to the British aircraft carrier "Fury", but it did not achieve the desired results. Germany then turned to China, and the Chinese Navy reacted very positively to Germany's request, and after consultations, the Chinese side decided to disclose to the German Navy all the secrets of the "Xingtian" class aircraft carriers, from the design and construction to the technical data of carrier-based aircraft and the tactical training methods of pilots, in exchange for submarine technology from the German side.

"Tell me what we've got." Ruprecht I said.

"Everything about aircraft carriers by the Chinese, they do not hide from us. In 1933, Beiyang Airlines produced a biplane torpedo reconnaissance aircraft, codenamed 'White Bird', which was designed by the company according to the technical specifications set by the Chinese Admiralty. It has a maximum speed of 158 knots, carries a torpedo, and is defended by a 7.62 mm machine gun with an observer as a gunner, and a forward bullet that passes through the propeller. Soon Boeing China produced a prototype, a two-seat monoplane fighter that could carry out dive bombing. But its wing was not strong enough during dive bombing, and the prototype crashed during the test. But its design is still outstanding. In 1934, it was converted into a biplane, which reached a maximum speed of 260 knots and could conduct reconnaissance and bombing. As far as we know, its surname has surpassed that of similar aircraft in the United States and in Japan, and the manufacturing technology and use methods of these aircraft have been completely mastered by our people. ”

"It's good, we can avoid a lot of detours." Ruprecht I looked delighted.

"You know, Your Majesty, designing a suitable carrier-based fighter is not a simple matter. Carrier-based fighters must combine many special surnames, and they must not neglect one aspect of one aircraft. In order to intercept and annihilate enemy aircraft, it needs to have sufficient speed, and in order to escort its own dive bombers and torpedo aircraft, it must also have sufficient endurance. In addition to these contradictory requirements, carrier-based fighters also have strength requirements and size limitations. The task of aircraft designers is daunting. For these reasons, carrier-based fighters are always heavier than their shore-based counterparts and are more agile in all respects. "The gradual development of Chinese fighter technology has also benefited our designers." The Chinese have adopted folding wings, which not only make the elevator easy to load and unload the aircraft, but also enable the aircraft to have a larger wing area, generate greater lift, and make up for the shortcomings of the aircraft's large weight. Now the Chinese' 'Seagull' aircraft have landing flaps, which enable the aircraft to take off and land at low speed, which is very necessary for carrier-based aircraft, and the Chinese's experience in this area has also been known to us. ”

"What valuable experience have the Chinese provided us with in the design of aircraft carriers?" Ruprecht I asked again.

"As far as we know, the first consideration of the Chinese designers is to provide the largest area of flight deck for warships with limited water displacement, and they have installed protruding plates with obvious contours in the bow and stern of the ship, so that the flight deck is much longer than the waterline. And in terms of power, the Chinese designed the main engine to accelerate or decelerate suddenly, allowing the aircraft carrier to adapt to the wind speed on the flight deck. In practice, this means that the main engine of an aircraft carrier should have as much power as a battleship, and the surname can be better than a destroyer. Several sea trials have shown that the Chinese aircraft carrier is correct in adopting a short and wide hull. In this way, it turns faster in battle, and such a design does not compromise the stability and seaworthiness of the warship. ”

"The main engine of the Chinese aircraft carrier used a unique three-axis arrangement that could only be seen on German battleships, and the maximum speed was 36 knots. The Chinese store gasoline in a barrel-shaped gasoline tank, which is separated from the main structure to prevent the gasoline tank from breaking when the hull double-node vibration is rushed. In order to avoid seawater polluting the fuel, the Chinese replaced the seawater oil drain device with compressed air for the first time. ”

"The flight deck and hangar of Chinese aircraft carriers are protected by solid armor, such as ammunition compartments, aviation gasoline tanks and main engine rooms, as well as under the hangar deck, which are equipped with horizontal armor plates 90 mm thick. The side walls of these compartments are 150 mm thick ballistic and mine-resistant armor. On both sides are thin anti-mine shells and 60 mm thick miners. The Chinese aircraft carriers could withstand 152-mm shells fired from cruisers from 7,000 meters or more, 250-kilogram bombs dropped by horizontal bombers from 2,000-meter altitudes, and 400-kilogram torpedo heads. ”

"The hangars of Chinese aircraft carriers have sufficient headroom and strict fire protection measures have been taken, including the use of steel plate fire barriers, salt water injectors and air locks to prevent gasoline vapors from escaping from the hangar to other parts of the warship. These hangars have all the advantages of a closed hangar. Of course, these fire protection measures also came at a high cost, and by the time the final design was completed, the hangar capacity was lower than expected. ”

"The Chinese pay attention to aerodynamics when designing aircraft carriers. On the Xingtian, the island-like superstructure was designed to reduce turbulence. This is very necessary for structurally fragile aircraft. The flight deck of a Chinese aircraft carrier is a solid steel deck, and the Xingtian is the first Chinese aircraft carrier to be equipped with two hydraulic gas catapults at the nose of the flight deck, and eight arresting cables and a blocking net. ”

"The Chinese decided to give the aircraft of these aircraft carriers as effective protection as possible. Specifically, the Chinese built hulls with 150 mm bulwarks and 80 mm tops to withstand heavy bombs. The Chinese envisioned that in the event of heavy bomb attacks, the planes of the flying group would be sent into the hangar, leaving the defense of the warship to the heavy fire of the 127-mm anti-aircraft gun group. ”

(To be continued)