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Dorrick and the other surviving German naval officers and civilian crews soaked for hours in the icy sea before being rescued. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info╔╗

But interestingly, it was not the German Navy that saved them, but the two Phoenix-class light cruisers belonging to the Atlantic Fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy.

The two cruisers of the Imperial Chinese Navy "happened to pass by" and saw the fire and smoke on the sea and knew that something was wrong, so they rushed over to carry out a humanitarian rescue operation.

A total of 341 people, including Doric, were rescued, but as soon as they got on board, the officers of the Imperial Chinese Navy asked each of them about the situation, mainly asking them what they had seen, whether they were sure what had attacked them, and misleading them into thinking in the direction of the Soviet submarine.

Doric didn't think much of it at the time, but was grateful to the Imperial Chinese Navy for saving them and giving them warm blankets and hot food.

It was not until many years later, when the combat performance of the Song-class submarines of the Imperial Chinese Navy was made public, that Doric suddenly realized that the events of that year were actually manipulated by the Imperial Chinese Navy, and in fact, from that day on, the Chinese Empire had actually started a war against Germany.

Afterwards, Dorrick revealed to reporters that two warships of the Chinese Empire came to the rescue at that time, and they kept asking the Germans about the situation, in fact, they wanted to know if anyone had witnessed the "real murderer", or thought that this incident was related to the Chinese Empire. He recalled: "If we, the survivors, could have been sure that it was the submarine of the Chinese Empire, I am afraid we would all have died!" ”

Three battleships of Dorik and more than sixty tankers of the Keck regiment were sunk. The news quickly spread back to Germany, shocking the German leadership.

International public opinion immediately thought of the Soviet Union, because the Soviet Union was the only country with a deep blood feud with Germany. ╔╗

"The submarines of the Soviets sank German warships and tankers!"

Public opinion was almost unanimously directed towards the Soviet Union, which was now facing a dangerous situation in the Battle of Stalingrad. Tens of millions of troops from the Central Powers stormed the Soviet Union and left the Soviet army in disarray. The Soviet army on the front line lost tens of thousands of people every day, and the Soviet Union faced a period of decisive battle to the death. Although Stalin learned from the Soviet Naval Commission that no Soviet submarine had recently sailed to the North Atlantic to attack the American and German ship groups, in fact, the only dozen or so Soviet submarines capable of ocean-going operations had been sunk by the German Navy in the Barents Sea a few days before the incident.

But Stalin wanted to inspire the will of the Soviet Red Army and the people to fight. The Soviet Navy was also in danger of being surrounded by the German Navy at its northern base, and he needed to use this victory to boost the morale of the Soviet Union. Of course, Stalin also knew that the loss of the German oil-transporting ship could not hurt the German oil supply, but he still ordered the Soviet Propaganda Department to make a big publicity, saying that "the German oil fleet was destroyed, the Germans ran out of oil quickly, and the Soviet Red Army would be able to achieve the final victory as long as it held on!" ”

As a result of this decision of Stalin. As a result, the Soviet government neither admitted nor denied the incident, and as a result, the outside world had the impression that the incident was committed by a Soviet submarine, which put tremendous pressure on the US and German navies.

Hitler was very annoyed by this incident and called Geenitz and other major officers of the German Navy to scold him.

As the chief officer of the German Navy's submarine force, Gazenitz was good at using submarines to attack enemy warships and merchant ships, but he was not good at anti-submarine warfare. The German Navy suddenly switched from attacking other countries' caravans to defending against other countries' merchant fleets, and this sudden change made the German Navy not adapt.

This is understandable. ╔╗From World War I to World War II for more than 20 years, the German Navy has been studying how to attack the transport fleets of other countries, and its naval construction is mainly offensive, which can be described as chicken ribs in anti-submarine aspects, which the German Navy just swapped positions with the British Navy. Knowing that the German Navy today understands why the British Navy is so powerful but is beaten by the broken engagements on a few routes, and wants to protect the entire route from the Americas to Europe, the naval resources consumed are quite huge, which is really understood when the German Navy takes the place of the British Navy.

After the Keck incident, there were more than 20 incidents of submarine attacks on merchant ships and warships of the United States and Germany and other Allied countries, resulting in the loss of more than 700,000 tons of merchant ships and more than a dozen warships of the Allied countries, among which the battleship Hill with a displacement of 30,000 tons and the heavy cruiser Nuremberg with a displacement of 18,900 tons were sunk, the former killing more than 1,200 German officers and men, and the latter also killing and wounding hundreds of people.

The navies of the United States and Germany and other allied countries have never found the real murderer, but have suffered heavy losses themselves. In the past three months, the number of Allied merchant ships lost has skyrocketed, starting with the loss of 2.2 million registered tonnage in the first month, soaring to 4.7 million tons in the second month, and soaring to 8.52 million tons in the third month, and the Allies' loss of merchant tonnage in three months has exceeded the total merchant tonnage lost since the start of World War II.

The failure of the Allied navy to prevent the attack of "Soviet" submarines caused the loss of merchant ships and the tonnage of the Allied countries to multiply, which already made the American and German navies feel ashamed. But what made them even more embarrassed was that their escort warships were also not spared, from the loss of 32 warships with a total tonnage of 52,000 tons in the first month, to 72 warships with a total tonnage of 82,300 tons in the second month, and then to the third month, the loss of 112 warships with a total tonnage of up to 112,000 tons, including the sinking of two German Navy's newest Frankfurt-class fast battleships, while the majority of the losses of the US Maritime Self-Defense Force were light cruisers and destroyers.

Such a huge loss dealt a heavy blow to the maritime trade between the United States and Germany. In three months, the total loss of ships, materials and related personnel at sea by the United States and Germany and the entire Allied Powers is estimated to be about 125 billion dragon dollars, which is a heavy blow to the Allied Powers that are tightening their belts and fighting a war.

Hitler was very dissatisfied with the German Navy, and once again overstepped the command, ordering the German Navy to go out and carry out a comprehensive escort system over the entire North Atlantic Ocean from the Arctic Ocean to the east coast of the United States. Emphasis was placed on protecting the various strategic materials imported by Germany from the United States, especially oil and steel, which were essential raw materials for Germany's huge war machine.

During this three-month period, almost all the personnel of the American and German navies who participated in escort and anti-submarine warfare described a problem. That is, the submarines that attacked their warships and merchant ships were difficult to detect by sonar systems, and the enemy's torpedo attack line broke the traditional anti-submarine understanding of the American and German navies, and the enemy's torpedoes would turn around. Chase the target ship as if it had long eyes until it hits.

"Were Soviet submarines so advanced?"

There have been discussions within the U.S. and German navies.

Obviously. This issue attracted the attention of the top brass of the American and German navies.

Soon, a targeted investigation was introduced, and the intelligence obtained by the intelligence officers of the United States and Germany in the Soviet Union showed that the most advanced submarine of the Soviet Union was only the Song-class (Tang-class) submarines imported from the Chinese Empire, which was exactly the same as the Song-class submarines (Tang-class modification) exported by the Chinese Empire to Britain, France, Germany, Italy and other countries. And this kind of submarine cannot escape the sonar detection system of the American and German navies.

The most important piece of information is that the Soviet Union has just acquired this kind of Song-class (Tang-class) submarine, and it has not yet been deployed in real combat. And the current submarines of the Soviet Navy are basically imitations of the submarines built by Britain, France, the United States and Germany in the early thirties, and their performance is very low. ╔╗ It does not have the stealth ability that is difficult to detect.

Vice Admiral Hoss, commander of the German Navy's anti-submarine destroyers, pointed out in his report that he led the German anti-submarine fleet in the Baltic Sea to engage the Soviet submarine fleet many times, and the Soviet submarines were completely vulnerable. This situation cannot be compared with the so-called Soviet submarines on the route from the Arctic Ocean to the Atlantic, it is not on the same level, and the gap is too large, and it is not at all like the combat capability of a submarine fleet belonging to the same country.

The report concludes by pointing out that the submarine on the Atlantic-Arctic Ocean route is not necessarily a Soviet submarine, correcting for the first time to "submarine of unknown nationality". At the same time, the report suggests that it is possible that British submarines acquired more advanced submarines from the Chinese Empire. For political reasons, the report of the German Navy did not directly mention the Imperial Chinese Navy. But there are always signs that they are beginning to be suspicious.

"Proof! I want proof! ”

This phrase became the mantra of almost every senior Allied official, and it is said that it came from Hitler's line of scolding Genesnitz, and later it was reported that Roosevelt had also said such things when he reprimanded MacArthur, the commander of the US Maritime Self-Defense Force. But it is undeniable that neither Hitler nor Roosevelt wanted to collide head-on with the Chinese Empire. Unless there is conclusive evidence that their suspicions are correct. Otherwise, the accusation was made by the Chinese Imperial Navy would only give the Chinese Empire a pretext for entering the war, which was obviously a situation that neither Hitler nor Roosevelt wanted to see, at least for the time being.

Just three months before the submarine fleet of the Imperial Chinese Navy attacked the sea lines of communication of the Allies, Germany counted the huge losses at sea on the heads of the Soviets and launched a frenzied attack on the Soviet Union.

In the Stalingrad direction, the satisfactory results of the German Army Group F at the beginning of the campaign made Hitler change his plans again.

Hitler believed that the capture of Stalingrad did not require so many troops, so on the 17th he ordered the 4th Panzer Army of Hort to advance eastward from the direction of Stalingrad and transfer it to Army Group D to support the 22nd Panzer Army to force its advance across the upper Don River to the Sino-Soviet border. ╔╗

Hitler's tactical arrangement was very reasonable, because at this time the American and German navies had already cut off the Soviet Union's supply channel from the sea, and as long as the Soviet Union and the Chinese Empire were cut off again, it would be easy to completely destroy the Soviet Union.

The biggest difficulty facing the Allies was not actually the stubborn resistance of the Soviet Red Army, but the fact that the Chinese Empire supplied the Soviet Union with large-scale war materials by land, and as long as the Chinese Empire continued to supply the Soviet Union, it would be difficult for the Allies to destroy the Soviet Union in a short time. Therefore, Hitler decided to send troops to attack the western cities of the Soviet Union in order to cut off the Soviet Union's land connection with the Chinese Empire.

Thus, the attacking forces in the Stalingrad direction were left with Paulus's Army Group F (with 26 corps, including 12 panzer corps, 24 divisions of about 640,000 men, nearly 2,500 tanks, 8,000 artillery pieces and mortars, supported by 2,200 combat aircraft of the 4th Air Force). However, due to transportation and other problems, the advance of Army Group F slowed down somewhat, giving the Soviet troops some time to prepare. The Soviet High Command began to gradually clarify the intentions of the German army and was determined to organize and hold out at Stalingrad.

On July 12, on the basis of the original formation of the Southwestern Front, Marshal Timoshenko was formed, with Marshal Timoshenko as commander. The Stalingrad Front, of which Khrushchev was a member of the Military Council, was tasked with the defense of the Stalingrad direction. Its organization includes the remnants of the 62nd, 63rd, and 64th armies transferred from the strategic reserve of the Soviet Army, the 21st, 28th, 38th, and 57th armies of the former Southwestern Front, and the 1st and 4th tank armies (under the jurisdiction of the 13th, 22nd, and 23rd tank armies, including 1,240 M28A3 main battle tanks). As well as the 8th Army of the Air Force, the Volga District Fleet of the Navy. The Stalingrad Front, which had a total of 38 divisions in its establishment, had only 16 divisions (all of the 62nd and 63rd armies. 2 divisions of the 64th Army, 1 division each of the 1st and 4th tank armies) were able to occupy defensive positions in the main strip. Its task was to hold a defensive strip of about 530 kilometers long and 120 kilometers deep from Pavlovsk to Kurmoyarskaya.

In addition to the equal number of artillery, the German army has an absolute advantage in terms of aircraft, tanks, and troops.

The German army, which had absolute superiority in strength, advanced strongly, and the other allied ** teams also launched a fierce "fox and tiger" offensive, and soon reached the Kuban River.

On July 17, the Soviets and Germans engaged in fierce fighting close to Stalingrad, and the Battle of Stalingrad officially began. German Army Group F, under the command of General Paulus, had the 8th Infantry Corps and the 14th Panzer Corps as the Northern Assault Group. With the 51st Infantry Corps and the 24th Panzer Army as the southern assault group, the Soviet 62nd Army was encircled and developed an offensive in the direction of Karachi. At the same time, a feint offensive was launched against the Soviet 64th Army with part of its forces in order to attract the attention of the Soviet troops.

On 23 July, the Germans broke through the right flank of the Soviet 62nd Army, encircled two divisions of the army, and advanced to the banks of the Don River west of Stalingrad. Two days later. The Germans launched an attack on the positions on the right flank of the Soviet 64th Army in an attempt to force a crossing of the Don near Karachi. The next day, the Su-64 Army was forced to retreat across the Don River.

Unable to contain his disappointment with the aging Marshal Timoshenko, Stalin dismissed him from his post as commander of the Stalingrad Front and replaced him with Lieutenant General Gordov, commander of the 64th Army. The Chief of the General Staff, Colonel-General Vasilevsky, was sent to Stalingrad as a representative of the Supreme High Command to assist in directing the war. Stalin also decided to quickly transfer the 1st and 4th tank armies of the reserve units to the Stalingrad area, all of which were equipped with medium armaments, had been trained for more than half a year, and were very combative.

Subsequently, in order to strengthen the morale of the defenders of Stalingrad, Stalin issued Order No. 227 on July 28, stating that all soldiers who did not obey the order and left their combat posts or retreated would be shot, and sternly demanded that the Soviet troops "must not take a step back!" ”

However, more than 10 million troops of the entire Central Powers swooped down on the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Red Army could not stop it no matter how strong it was, losing tens of thousands of troops every day.

Stalin managed to dial the military hotline from Moscow to the Forbidden City, and was able to speak to the Chinese Emperor Wang Chenhao in person. During the call, Stalin pleaded with Wang Chenhao, saying that the Soviet Union could no longer withstand it, and if the Soviet Union was defeated, the flames of war in Germany would burn to the borders of the Chinese Empire. If Germany occupies all of Europe, then the next enemy will be the Chinese Empire.

Wang Chenhao knew very well in his heart that sooner or later Germany would go to war against the Chinese Empire. But the biggest problem facing the Chinese Empire at the moment is that the Chinese Empire's citizens are still eager for peace and oppose the war, and unless the Allies take the initiative to attack the Chinese Empire and wake up the anti-war citizens of the Chinese Empire with a stick, it will be difficult for the Congress to pass a declaration of war.

Stalin sarcastically said to Wang Chenhao: "I have to admit that your country's democratic system is really admirable, and the degree of respect your country has for the people is really embarrassing, but in many cases only a few people can hold on to the right direction!" ”

Wang Chenhao expressed his understanding of Stalin's words, and finally Wang Chenhao agreed to secretly send a large bomber force to the Soviet Union at night to carry out a strategic bombing of the Allied ** team in order to reduce the pressure on the Soviet army.

Stalin was in ecstasy, and he wanted to run to the Forbidden City immediately to sweeten the leather shoes of King Chenhao.

On the evening of the third day of the seventh month of the 42nd year of Guanghua, Wang Chenhao ordered more than 1,100 H7 strategic bombers of the Imperial Air Force of the Chinese Imperial Air Force to assemble in the Northern and Western Xinjiang Theaters and take off loaded with more than 10,000 tons of high-explosive aerial bombs, and under the escort of 240 Jian-11B (two-seater night) fighters, they took off from 56 military airfields one after another, and completed the air assembly in the airspace near Fort Yekarina, a city in the northwest of the Soviet Union, and then flew to the Soviet-German front line.

Prior to this, Stalin had ordered the Soviet Air Force reconnaissance planes to mark the positions of the Allied ** team opposite the Soviet Army, and sent a death squad carrying radio guidance devices to infiltrate the periphery of the Allied ** position, preparing to provide the Imperial Chinese Air Force with factual information on radio guidance at night. At the same time, Soviet agents also paid the price of more than 20 people to blow up the only large radar station built by the German army in the direction of Stalingrad, temporarily paralyzing the German air defense reconnaissance system.

At the same time, Stalin ordered the Soviet troops in the outer direction of Stalingrad to secretly withdraw to Stalingrad that night, and demanded that the Imperial Air Force of China bomb indiscriminately. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point () to vote for recommendation, monthly pass, your support, is my biggest motivation. )