It wasn't dawn yet, and it was raining in the sky. On rough seas, 16 submarines of the 7th and 8th Submarine Groups of the Austro-Hungarian Navy are forming formations, under the cover of a destroyer fleet sent by the Navy from the port of Tunis, and are sailing along the coast of the northwestern side of Sardinia towards southern France.

On boat 0811, Captain Fischer, wearing a raincoat, got out of the conning tower under the bridge and went up to the small bridge outside. The wind and waves on the surface of the sea were a bit strong, and the bow of the boat was in and out of the waves from time to time. Every time the bow deck sank below the surface, a salty and wet splash would hit the bridge and drench the crew on duty. The sea was dark and dreary, and as far as the eye could see, there was nothing but his own team.

The time was long and boring, the crew would sometimes joke with each other with light signals, and the enthusiasm of the crew at the beginning of the voyage was almost exhausted by the boring and dreary voyage of the past few days.

The eastern sky showed a fish-white color, and Colonel Lerch came up from below, and he glanced at the drizzly sky, and then said to Fischer: "The surface ships of the escort can only go to the north of Sardinia, inform the other boats, and start diving at 8 o'clock." ”

"It's raining in the sky and the visibility is so low, why do we have to dive underwater," Fischer said. ”

"No, what if something happens to us." "There may be French patrol ships around Corsica, and we can't risk it!" ”

A light signal flashed on 0811, conveying the Wing Commander's order.

Just after 8 o'clock, the alarm sounded for the submarine to dive and dive, "Prepare to dive!" Fisher's voice rang out. The sailors on duty slid down the hatch with seawater, and the last to come in was the signal officer, who stood on the ladder, straightened his body and closed the hatch with a "bang", and then pressed the spring latch on the hatch with a strong blow.

The deck of the submarine was submerged, and the sound inside the boat became muffled, as if the world had become quiet all at once.

"Report the situation in each part!" Fisher shouted into the microphone, "Raise the periscope!" ”

Colonel Lerch ignored the hustle and bustle of the boat, and sat in the dining room, studying the charts with Major Miller.

As soon as it was normal, the submarine was slowly diving at a speed of 5 knots at the periscope depth, and it may not begin to rise until the evening, Fisher turned the periscope and searched back and forth on the sea surface twice, but saw nothing, so he handed the periscope to the deputy captain on duty, and he himself went to the dining room and sat down next to Major Miller.

"I heard that the V-type submarine is experimenting with an underwater snorkel capable of working with a diesel engine at periscope depth?" "If we all had that thing installed, we wouldn't have to move forward as slowly as we do now." ”

"It's there, but it's currently being tested, and its reliability has yet to be verified." Lerci looked up from the chart and said, "Maybe soon." ”

"When will the surface ship forces act?"

"It should be tonight, and they'll need to wait until we've laid the mines before they can start moving." The first landing forces have actually been boarded on the island of Malta and the Italian port of Taranto, and the fleet is now on standby and ready to move at any time, Lerch said.

"Hopefully we can end this damn war soon." Fisher said.

"Not necessarily, now that the Yankees are involved, it may be a long time before we see peace." Lylsch said slowly, ordinary officers and soldiers do not know the United States very well, and even some high-ranking generals believe that the distant United States, although its navy is not bad, has an army of more than 300,000 people that cannot be compared with the European powers. But Lylch, who had studied in the United States for a while, was well aware of the strength of American industrial capabilities.

On the evening of May 27, the submarine forces finally arrived outside the port of Toulon.

Toulon is a port city located on the northern shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the south of France, and although the city has more than 100,000 inhabitants, it has always been the most important military port and the main naval base in France. Surrounded by the mountains of Cape Bren and Cape Kerr, the harbor is calm and rarely disturbed by storms at sea. After hundreds of years of construction, the Toulon naval base has long been surrounded by large and small fortresses, and it is basically impossible to attack this strongly-fortified military port from the sea.

The brilliant sunset filled the sky, the golden sun shone on the sea, and the 16 submarines of the 7th and 8th Submarine Groups lurked outside the port of Toulon, and Lerch personally led the 0811 boat to the channel outside the port entrance to reconnoiter the enemy's situation.

The submarine quietly dived to the side of the channel near the Buren cape, "Rise to 11 meters and get ready for battle!" Colonel Lerch took the captain's place, stood in front of the periscope, and gave the order.

The crew was maneuvering the horizontal rudder, "Sir, it's already up to 11 meters." After a while, the chief engineer replied.

"Good, keep it level, turn off the motor!" Lerch said, then turned to the observer next to him and gave the order, "Raise the periscope." ”

"Yes, sir!" The main periscope barrel, located at the rear of the bridge leading to the command room, slowly began to rise, and finally stopped, and Lylch put his eyes in front of the eyepiece, slowly turned the wheel, and began to search the sea.

"Oh my gosh, we almost hit the anti-submarine net." The colonel said to the recorder: "Write it down, there is an anti-submarine net at 500 meters from the coast of Cape Bren, and another at 150 meters. The enemy is very well guarded. ”

In the operational plan drawn up by the General Staff and the Admiralty, the landing site was chosen for the port of Vendel, which was weakly defended by the Defence Forces and located in the Pyrenees on the Franco-Spanish border.

In fact, the French forces in the south themselves consisted of only two army groups, and they were all concentrated in the Alps along the Franco-Italian border, and there were basically no field corps in the entire rear, except for some garrisons. The French thought it would be difficult for Austria-Hungary to break through the Franco-Italian defence, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and in fact the German-Austrian side did not want to do so.

During the night, when the 1st Submarine Wing began laying mines outside the ports of France, the convoy carrying all the personnel and equipment of the 1st Marine Division had already left the port of Taranto in southern Italy and, escorted by the 2nd Naval Battlefleet, began to sail into the western Mediterranean.

The 3rd Battlefleet was on the task of blockading the military port of Toulon, while the 4th Battlefleet, which was the strongest, was assigned in the direction of Gibraltar to prevent reinforcements from the British fleet.

The French side also failed to imagine that the Austro-Hungarians would launch a risky naval offensive.

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