At the beginning of November 1940, Norway in northern Europe had already experienced several heavy snowfalls, and a fleet of 23 warships of various sizes was quietly anchored in the treacherous Grimstadt fjord, south of Bergen. The steep cliffs on both sides of the fjord are covered with snow, but the bay does not freeze.

The fleet was led by the battleships "Marshal Hipper" and "Field Marshal Hindenburg", the largest tonnage battleships ever built in the Second German Reich, three Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers, the heavy cruisers Moltke and Goeben, four large supply ships of the Lake class, four cruisers, and eight ocean-going destroyers of the 1939 type.

The 1939 ocean-going destroyer of the German Navy was originally a modification of the Austro-Hungarian Navy's "Island" class large destroyer, built for the Chinese Navy, with a standard displacement of 3180 tons, a full load displacement of 3840 tons, a length of 128 meters, a width of 13.2 meters, and a maximum draft of 4.3 meters. Armed with four twin 127-mm high-level dual-purpose guns, two quadruple torpedo tubes and three depth charge droppers. In addition, it is equipped with four quadruple 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, four twin-mounted 37-mm anti-aircraft guns, and eight twin-mounted 20-mm anti-aircraft guns, which have strong anti-submarine and anti-aircraft capabilities.

This type of destroyer has a top speed of only 33 knots, but its biggest feature is that it has an ultra-long endurance of 5,900 nautical miles / 15 knots, and can sail from the Suez Canal to Guangzhou in China without refueling in one go.

In such weather. With the fall of the fortress of Gibraltar, the Austro-Hungarian and Italian fleets were able to freely enter and exit the Mediterranean and the two oceans. With the Axis fleets converging in the Bay of Biscay and Gibraltar, the attention of the British Royal Fleet shifted from the North Sea to the French coast, creating excellent conditions for another fleet in Germany.

Norway's fjords, as narrow as they sound, are more like well-guarded harbors, and the Grimstadt Fjord is still not crowded to accommodate such a large German fleet.

Early in the morning, entering the war room of the "Guangxi", Rear Admiral Sa Shijun looked through the latest battle report, and the British claimed impregnable fortress of Gibraltar was completely conquered by the Austrian-Italian coalition after only 23 days. But at the most tense moment of the Battle of Gibraltar. The combined Japanese fleet appeared off the coast of East Africa, and three German-Austrian transport fleets were attacked in succession. A total of 26 transport ships and 3 warships were sunk on the German-Austrian side, while another 12 ships were damaged and suffered serious losses.

This forced the German-Austrian Navy to begin to speed up the formulation of an operational plan against Japan and to take the necessary "retaliatory measures."

Sa Shijun when he read this news. I can't help but feel a little gloating, who told you not to hit Japan earlier, this is good, raising tigers for trouble, and causing disaster to yourself.

In the Chinese theater, Japan was eager to seize the German and Dutch colonies in the Pacific after the full-scale outbreak of war, and its forces had been used to the limit, and there were basically no major battles in the Chinese theater. In the north, a major battle broke out between China and Japan at Rehe and Xilin Gol. The Wehrmacht withstood the Japanese attack on the Rehe line. However, in Xilingol, due to supply difficulties, the IDF retreated to the south of the Hunshandak Sands. in Outer Mongolia. The Russians controlled the Tangnu-Uliang region and the Selenga River valley, the Japanese controlled the east of Kulen, and the Wehrmacht controlled the west of Hangaishan and Kobdo.

The shape of southern China remained largely unchanged, with fierce rivalry between China and Japan over Tongling along the Yangtze River, and the Japanese army controlling all of Jiangsu and most of Zhejiang and Anhui, but unable to continue westward. On the line of eastern Henan and Luxi plains. The Japanese offensive was also curtailed.

In South China, the Japanese South China Dispatch Army had only six divisions. It was only with the support of the navy that it occupied the four cities of Fuzhou, Xiamen, Shantou and Guangzhou, but due to the lack of troops, it was only trapped in these cities and was unable to launch another attack. In Indochina, several Japanese landing operations ended in failure due to the lack of air supremacy.

With the completion and operation of several steel plants in Suzhou, Chongqing, Kunming, Shuicheng, Guizhou, Lianyuan, Hunan, and Liuzhou, Guangxi, China's steel output has exceeded 6 million tons, and it has finally basically caught up with Japan in terms of industrial capacity.

At present, the Wehrmacht is planning a large-scale counteroffensive in the spring of 1942.

The shape of the country is gratifying, which makes Sa Shijun have an urge to return to China quickly.

At the same time, on the flagship "Admiral Hipper", a staff officer of the fleet was walking into Gunther? Admiral Lukins' room. The Admiral had just gotten up and was sitting at the table eating breakfast.

"General, telegram from the command of the Navy." The staff officer said respectfully.

"What's the content?" Admiral Lukins looked up, wiped the corners of his mouth with a napkin and said.

"A large British convoy has left the Gulf of St. Lawrence and into the North Atlantic. At the moment the submarine forces are monitoring the movements of this fleet, and the command of the Navy ordered us to intercept them. ”

"Well, what's the weather like these two days?" The admiral took a sip of his coffee and asked, in fact, British reconnaissance planes had visited the Norwegian fjords several times, and they were already aware of the movements of this fleet, and in order to avoid a sudden air attack, this fleet was transferred from the port of Bergen to the Grimstadt fjord.

"According to the weather forecast, there will be wind and snow from tomorrow, and the weather is not very good."

"Well, order the fleet to get ready, we ...... It's time to sail this evening! Admiral Lukins said, "Call the captains of the ships to my conference room, oh, including the Chinese!" ”

The "Admiral Hipper" raised the signal flag, the fleet was in the second level of combat readiness, the captains of the ships went to the flagship for a meeting in the transport boats, and the order to fight was given.

At this time, Britain was very short of war resources, so it had to risk sending a large convoy of convoys from North America, accompanied by a powerful escort fleet. Unbeknownst to the Germans, the U.S. Navy had also sent four warships to join the convoy.

The British, of course, kept an eye on the movements of this fleet, primarily because of the two battleships of the "German" class. At this time, the aircraft carrier did not show the demeanor of the supremacy of the sea, and its appearance in the war was tepid, mainly attacking on land and land, and there was no opportunity to show its skills in the duel at sea.

"Admiral Hipper" is currently the world's largest tonnage battleship, with a standard displacement of 47,800 tons, a full load displacement of more than 60,000 tons, equipped with 10 410 mm main guns and 16 twin 150 mm high-level dual-purpose guns and 12 105 mm anti-aircraft guns, 12 88 mm single-barreled anti-aircraft guns, and more than 150 short-range anti-aircraft guns. However, the German Navy has established the policy of taking aircraft carriers as the main force of fleet attack, and in fact, such a battleship with powerful firepower only serves as an air defense frigate for aircraft carriers, but because the main battleships are equipped with complete communication equipment, and the living quarters are much more spacious than those on aircraft carriers, most fleet commanders like to regard battleships as flagships, which instead gives people the illusion that battleships are still the main force of the fleet.

At 6:10 p.m., after it was already dark in the Norwegian seas, the entire fleet quietly set off and left the Grimstadt fjord. (To be continued) R580