Albert, who served as President of the French Third Republic for eight years, was the President of the French Third Republic. Lebrun is pacing back and forth in the presidential palace at the moment, and as a miner-engineer, he can become the president of France, and he belongs to the kind of ancestral tomb that smokes from his ancestral tomb.

He has been sitting in this position for eight years since 32, which is not too short in the history of the Third Republic. Under the influence of the British, although he did not advocate a policy of appeasement, he did not actively contend with Germany. Instead, he blindly built the Maginot Line, on which he had high hopes, or rather, the defense line on which the whole of France had high hopes. Of course, not all of this was influenced by the British, and a large part of it was caused by the domestic economic downturn, and the development of the military did not require money? In the final analysis, it is a matter of national strength. The Napoleonic era is gone.

Just when Lebrun was anxious, the current French Prime Minister Philippe . Pétain walked in, and before Lebrun could speak, Pétain said hurriedly: "Your Excellency, the British have just sent a message asking us to gather our fleets and unite the forces of the two to try to wipe out the German fleet in the Mediterranean. ”

Hearing the news that Britain was going to make a move, Lebrun was a little relieved. As long as Britain can be of the same heart and strength as France, then he has nothing to fear.

"Has the British side decided when to leave? Who commands the united fleet? ”

"The British side did not say anything, but in the telegram hoped that we would gather the fleet as soon as possible and go to the Strait of Gibraltar to join them. At the same time, we were also asked to gather all the forces of the Mediterranean Fleet and cooperate with the British Mediterranean Fleet to guard against the movements of the Italian navy. Petain began.

"Give an order to the navy, assemble the capital ships, and do as the British say." Lebrun spoke.

"I'll go right away." Petain nodded, and walked out quickly, his old body seemed to be full of vitality.

Seeing Petain quickly leaving, Lebrun muttered in his heart: "I hope everything goes well!" Petain was quite positive, and he was truly a hero of France. ”

It's just that if Lebrun knows what the hero in his mouth, the commander-in-chief of the French army who originally led the French army and the German army in a stubborn battle in World War I, will have a look after directly surrendering to Germany in World War II. However, it is estimated that he will not be in the mood to care about a traitor by then, and he will also have to live on the run.

———————————— the British Prime Minister's residence, Chamberlain and Churchill were waiting for an answer from France. Seeing the sudden emergence of the German fleet, the opinions of the two were also super rare to unify. However, both of them took a step back, and when the Chinese Olympics were over, it was estimated that the German fleet had just passed through the Suez Canal by that time. When the time comes, the German fleet will be stopped directly in the Mediterranean.

To put it bluntly, Britain is a maritime country after all, and it is separated from the European continent by an English Channel. Britain may not be worried about the landing of the German Army in England, but he is worried that the German Navy will become stronger, although the German Navy has always been much weaker than the British Navy since history, but the appearance of the fleet this time made the British also begin to be afraid. With this fleet, Germany would have the ability to really threaten the British mainland, and would most likely blockade the English Channel. This was a fatal blow to the British.

No matter how the two discuss, the question of whether they can offend China or not no longer exists. It was inevitable that another war could be waged and the German fleet should be destroyed.

In order to achieve the maximum results, Britain can be said to have exhausted the main force, and only sixteen battleships, three battlecruisers and eight aircraft carriers will be dispatched. At the same time, France was also informed that France would also send all its capital ships to join in. At this moment, the British abandoned even the defense of their homeland, concentrated their fists, and attacked the German fleet on its return.

Historically, Britain still had only 12 battleships with combat effectiveness at this time, but the early release of the Washington Naval Treaty, coupled with the butterfly effect brought by the Chinese Kunlunshan-class battleships, after the George V-class battleships, Britain designed and built a super useless ship with a displacement of more than 50,000 tons. Avant-garde class battleship.

The lead ship, the Qianwei, has a full load displacement of 52,000 tons, is armed with eight twin 15-inch (381 mm)/45 caliber main guns, and has a maximum speed of 30 knots. Five ships of the same class were planned to be built, and four have now been completed.

Counting the level of British shipbuilding, such a battleship is no weaker than the Kunlunshan class, and in terms of armor and performance, it is not much worse than the current German Bismarck. Of course, the specific combat effectiveness will have to be tested in actual combat.

And the only battleship that France can get hold of now is the Richelieu-class battleship, which is also the pinnacle of the French. The displacement also reached 48,000 tons, and it was armed with two quadruple 381-mm guns, and its speed reached 30 knots, but it was weaker than the avant-garde class in terms of armor. Four ships are planned, two have now been completed, and two more are in the dock.

Like the Bismarck-class battleships, the number of main guns of these three capital ships is eight, but the Bismarck caliber is larger and the armor is much thicker. It is stronger than the two new capital ships of Britain and France.

According to Churchill's idea, eighteen battleships and three battle cruisers and eight aircraft carriers were taken out to sink the German fleet in the Mediterranean. Although among these eighteen battleships, except for the six most powerful, the other twelve battleships are all old battleships after World War I and World War I, but there are many ants biting elephants, and there are more than one quantity, which can always make up for the gap in quality, not to mention that there are three powerful battlecruisers, especially the Hood and eight aircraft carriers, which are enough in terms of strength.

However, the Mediterranean has always been the home of the Italian navy, and now Italy also has eight battleships, although six are old battleships that are difficult to get their hands on, but Italy's newest two battleships have to be wary. The Veneto-class battleship is also a new type of capital ship, and it has been launched for the past two years. And the biggest weakness of the Italian Navy, the absence of aircraft carriers.

The Veneto-class battleships also had a displacement of 46,000 tons, were armed with three triple 406-mm guns, and could reach a maximum speed of 30 knots. However, due to the fact that it is equipped with a Chinese-made 406 mm caliber main gun, coupled with its high speed, the armor is very weak among super battleships. However, Italy was also designed to contain the French Richelieu-class battleships, and also to adapt to the sea conditions in the Mediterranean, and in terms of firepower, it was much stronger than the Richelieu-class.

Paying attention to the Italian Navy naturally did not want the Italian Navy to support the German fleet. Once the fleets of the two countries are united, it will be a force that can shake Europe, and no one dares to take it lightly.

The French reply did not make Chamberlain and Churchill wait too long, and with a clear French reply, it was much simpler.

"Before you act, you have to keep it as secret as possible. If the Germans had known, they would have failed to achieve the purpose of the attack. The results may also be greatly reduced, and even new changes may occur. Chamberlain began.

"Perhaps the Germans already knew about it when our fleet left the port and disappeared into the open sea. With such a large-scale naval operation, it was difficult to hide from the eyes of German spies. Perhaps now Germany has placed a lot of eyes on the Strait of Gibraltar to monitor our navy for any changes. Churchill also understood that a surprise attack was the best way to do it, but for a time he could not think of any effective way to conceal the actions of the navy.

"No matter how difficult it is, even if the Germans know about it, it's a big deal to do it with real knives and guns." It was rare for Chamberlain to say such things.

Churchill was slightly surprised to hear this, but he did not say anything about it, but said: "We must also prepare for the worst, even if we cannot achieve the purpose of attack, even if the navy is disabled, we will destroy the German fleet." It is better to take out the Italian navy together, I believe that we have such strength, the majesty of the empire on which the sun never sets, and the certainty of completing the task is still great with the advantage of our forces. However, on land, we also need to inform all our allies, so as not to catch the German big brother by surprise. ”

"Well, France has the Maginot Line in the way, and I'm not worried about that, if we go to war with the Axis powers, then Poland will be in danger. It was necessary to prepare Poland to deal with Germany. Chamberlain began.

—————————— the Reichstag in Berlin, Hitler and Andriy received the latest information from spies early on.

At the time of the departure of the German fleet, Hitler had long expected such a thing to happen, and sure enough, Britain and France could not sit still. However, Hitler did not have the slightest worry, even if the naval strength of Britain and France was strong, he Hitler did not care.

At the beginning, Hitler demanded that this fleet be hoisted with the Chinese flag, because at that time Hitler was also worried about the British and French interceptions. It's just that Chen Shao didn't agree to this proposal, and later, after Andriy's design, Hitler also saw the benefits of it, and readily agreed, letting the German fleet come back with a swagger.

Of course, whether it was in World War II or World War I in later generations, Germany has always been suppressed by Britain in terms of navy, which is no way, after all, there are many British colonies, and the dead camel is bigger than the horse, which is not at all comparable to Germany. In fact, in what is now Germany, there is also a fleet. Although there are only two battleships that can be handled, the others are old battleships, and there is no way to compare their combat effectiveness with new battleships. But as long as the two fleets were fully combined, it would now be the first time in German history that they would be close to Britain in naval power.

Now that Germany has a navy sufficient to confront Britain, plus there is a detailed battle plan, and China is secretly cooperating, Hitler has nothing to worry about, and there is no need to worry at all.

The 400,000 German troops who followed the fleet were all trained in landing operations and could play a pivotal role in the Mediterranean or the Middle East.

The question on Hitler's mind at this moment was how to fire the first shot more perfectly

(To be continued)