In the middle of the night on 27 July, a modest fleet was passing through the Strait of Gibraltar.

The main force of the fleet is two Radiant-class armored aircraft carriers, in addition to two heavy cruisers, two light cruisers and eight destroyers, as for the old battleships of the king of the sea, there is not one. Because the speed of the four antiques bought from the United States is too slow, and they are not suitable for carrying out the current long-distance mission.

The Royal Navy is broken! The mighty Grand Fleet in Scapa Bay has long since become a sigh of relief with the defeat of the three Norwegian Sea battles. The new George V-class battleships were still on the slipway, and even if the British Empire shipyards worked overtime as hard as they could, they would not be commissioned until the end of the year. And even if it is put into service, this battleship designed with "cost optimization" as the first priority consideration may not be the opponent of those two demon warships.

This sneak attack on the French fleet was suddenly the first factor. Therefore, in this sortie, Commander Cunningham only took the two fastest high-speed aircraft carriers as capital ships, and the "antiques" from the United States were thrown by him at home.

Because they were too slow to beat their opponents, the four battleships from the United States were in an awkward position. They couldn't beat the Shane sisters and couldn't escape, and every time the Shane-class battleships attacked, these four antiques could only hide in the harbor in fear and act as a "storage fleet". After the British spent a lot of money to buy it from the Americans, the only role was when the Shane-class battleships did not come out! When attacking, this antique can be used as an escort ship to follow the large ship group to deter the two pocket battleships from approaching. Not long ago, a group of 40 freighters from the United States did not dare to approach the two pocket battleships that were circling around the vicinity because of the existence of an "antique" Russian Waiming class battleship and the fact that it cooperated with an escort aircraft carrier accompanying the ship.

"This damn war, and the damn government!"

On the flagship "Tejour". Commander Cunningham cursed with hatred, and his fleet was about to cross the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean. The destination of his trip was the port of Millsbick, a naval port about a kilometer west of Oran, a French colony in Algeria, North Africa.

After the signing of the armistice between France and Germany in June, the political forces in France were divided into three: Vichy France, led by Petain, who submitted to the Germans; The "Free France" who lived in England continued to resist. Its members have a variety of leaders, such as the famous mouth cannon master Charles de Gaulle; In addition, there is the military junta established by the naval forces led by Darlang in the colonization of North France.

In the history of this plane, due to the premature collapse of the Royal Navy and the pressure of the German Navy, the French concentrated most of their capital ships in the country. At the time of the signing of the peace treaty, only one battlecruiser, the Dunkirk, had been captured because it happened to be "a guest" in England - the hapless boy had happened to be returning to England on an Atlantic escort mission, only to be seized by the British. The British, another French battleship, the Provence, escaped the British seizure and fled back to France.

After the armistice between Germany and France, the main French fleet was mainly distributed in three ports.

The oldest battleships of the "Courbet" class, "Courbet" and "Paris". He is still in the port of Toulon. The battleship "Ocean" and the three Brittany-class battleships were all stationed in the port of Millsbeek, and the last French battlecruiser, the Strasbourg, was also in Millsbeek. As for the two new French battleships, the Richelieu nearing completion and the battleship Jean-Bal with only one turret, both of which are now stationed in the port of Dakar, far away in Senegal, West Africa.

The first target of Cunningham's trip was five French capital ships in Millsbeek Harbor. The British Navy now has so few mobile fleets at its disposal that it is not possible to attack targets in three different locations at the same time, so it can only give preference to Millsbeek, which is the closest and weakest in protection, but the most targeted.

For the task of performing such a sneak attack on the former allies. Cunningham himself was disgusted, but had to carry it out seriously.

When the fleet was crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. Cunningham's mind kept flashing the propaganda of the past few days from the German radio to the British.

Today's German broadcasts to Britain, in addition to calling Churchill a "lackey of the capitalists of the military-industrial complex," also ridiculed Churchill as Britain's biggest "British traitor."

"Let's analyze what the British will get after the war with Germany as the war between Britain and Germany continues. And how much the British will pay for it. ”

"It's been almost ten months since the war went on now. The treasury of the British Empire was so empty that it could only run mice. So far, let's look at how much Britain has sold in order to fight Germany to the end. ”

"Ninety-nine years lease of all British islands throughout the Caribbean! Open all British colonial markets! The interests of the whole of Asia are shared with the United States! After the end of the First World Peace, Pakistan called the peace meeting. At that time, the British government, together with the French, did everything possible to kick out the Americans, the purpose was to protect the interests of their colonial market, but now, these interests have been sold out by Churchill, who sold Ye Tian in one go, and this is not counting the great achievements of the Royal Navy under his command. Perhaps Mr. Churchill thought that after the end of the war, he would have a chance to pit the Americans again, as he did at the Paris Peace Conference, but now the British, who did not even have a decent navy, were they possible? ”

"The Americans relied on factories to start their factories and sell arms, and they got what they dreamed of a hundred years ago. There is an old saying in China that if you are sold, you will help you pay for it. Under the guidance of Winston Churchill, the most successful spy of the United States of America in Britain, the British Empire is now doing this stupid thing of selling itself and helping people to pay for it. Obviously, there is an opportunity to end the war with dignity, but Churchill, the biggest "American spy and traitor", has ulterior motives in rejecting our Germans' proposal to build peace, and he wants to continue this war that is destined to bring the empire to the dust! ”

"American spy, British traitor Winston. In less than a year since Mr. Churchill became Prime Minister of Britain, the empires on which the sun never sets have lost more than they have lost in the last hundred years combined. ”

For the Germans' ridicule of General Churchill on the radio, Cunningham, who came from the navy. Out of the hatred of war, I didn't take it too seriously. But there is one thing that Cunningham agrees with, and that is that these words will have a great impact on the British people.

During the period under review, Cunningham was able to reach out to more civilians and soldiers at the bottom of the country, and in his interactions with them, Cunningham found that the situation was getting worse. The supply of goods in the market is becoming more and more tight, and the British people's dissatisfaction with the war is deepening.

The people needed a bitter victory to vent their long-standing frustration, as well as victory to encourage their confidence in continuing the war.

But these were not possible for the British army, which had been defeated in the French War and on land and sea in Norway.

"At the beginning of a war, there is often a very clear reason, and later in the fight, the accumulated blood debt will make the hatred between the two sides accumulate to the point of irresolvability. In war, it's easy to build up enough hatred. ”

Churchill sent planes to bomb German cities in order to stir up more hatred. Germany saw through this. For this kind of conspiracy, so far Hitler still played the role of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and forcibly bombed the British mainland without retaliation. He simply announced that the British pilot, who had been shot down and captured during the bombing of Kiel in Germany that day, had been publicly executed for the crime of massacring civilians. It was also announced that any British pilots who bombed German cities would be shot on the spot if they were captured.

The Germans were bent on ending the state of war with the British, and their "sincerity" was felt even by Cunningham. As a military strategist, Cunningham's strategic acumen was not bad. He knew that the reason why the British government had been insisting on the continuation of the war was that the British could not tolerate the emergence of a strong and united Europe. This is the instinct that is engraved in the century-old glory of the empire on which the sun never sets.

The age of the Sun King united the Spaniards, the Dutch, against the French.

The Napoleonic era united all of Europe against France.

After the end of the Napoleonic War, the Russians united with the French anti-French "European gendarmes".

Before World War I, they united with France and Russia against Germany, a European land power.

Any country that wants to unify and integrate the European continent is a natural enemy of the empire on which the sun never sets, just. In this day and age, the British government has deliberately ignored one of the biggest variables. The United States is rising strongly in the New World.

In a certain way, Cunningham actually agreed with the Germans, but he was just a soldier and not a politician, and he had no choice -- just like when the German attack fleet entered the Atlantic Ocean on a large scale, he could not make the decision to lead the fleet to pick fat and block, but only at this critical moment. In the middle of the night, quietly sailed into the Mediterranean, preparing to attack the fleets of their former allies.

"It's crazy! The British Empire is going to play with eggs, so before playing with eggs, do we want another feud with the French to be a little more finished? ”

Thinking of this, Cunningham let out a long sigh. He glanced through the porthole at the lights on the Gibraltar fortress in the distance, and felt very uncomfortable. The Spanish navy, which had suffered heavy losses in the civil war, was too short to sail the Mediterranean, but avoided the danger of his fleet being discovered. But the Spaniards were not the only warships operating in the Mediterranean, the French and even the Italians could discover his fleet.

The choke point of the Mediterranean, the fortress of Gibraltar is still in the hands of the British. Compared with the French fleet, the safety of Spain was also a major headache for the British. The Spanish Civil War had just ended at the end of August last year, and after three years of civil war, Spain was now devastated.

After the end of the French War, a large number of German troops were gathering on the French-Spanish border, and now the Germans were engaged in diplomatic negotiations with Franco's regime.

The negotiations were about Gibraltar.

The Germans, on the other hand, made a "loan" request to the Franco regime to build a land base field in Spain to facilitate the capture of Gibraltar. The Germans said that after the capture of the fortress of Gibraltar, the Germans would return it to Banya.

The pressure on the Franco regime is now enormous.

Less than a year after the end of the Spanish Civil War, the whole country was devastated. When the IRA was defeated, a large number of IRA personnel fled the country. Some were taken in by the Soviets, and some fled to Germany. Both the Soviets and the Germans organized these fugitive Spaniards. In the event of a war between Germany and Spain, these people will become their "leading party".

Faced with Germany, which defeated France in a month, the Franco regime was under great pressure. Although the Franco regime was generally British, it was not able to resist the German invasion.

Once Spain also fell into the hands of Germany, the Mediterranean aircraft carrier was cut off by a blockade. The ripple effect of this is that Britain will have less control over India. Once Germany invaded Spain and ousted Franco's regime, the state established on this land was likely to be a red Bolshevik state again.

"Firing at the French at this time will only push the French over to the Germans."

Cunningham himself was vehemently opposed to attacking the French Navy, but his opinion did not sway the opinion of the old men at 10 Downing Street. And the attack on the French Navy was also supported and approved by the Americans. At this point. Cunningham felt that Churchill's approach was really like a "traitor".

Cunningham had been to the United States and knew very well the terror of American industrial power, as well as the sinister intentions behind the Americans' support for British naval operations. Once the British Navy took action against the French Navy, even if the British ended the war as victors, the relationship between Britain and France would be irreconcilable because of this incident.

After World War I, Britain and France joined forces to kick the United States out of the Paris Peace Conference and let the world run according to the will of both countries, but after this war, the British Empire was once again weakened by Yanzhòng. Once relations with France become stiff and the two sides cannot join forces, the "voice" after the war will be even quieter.

"These shameless politicians!"

Cunningham cursed in his heart the old men at 10 Downing Street, who may love England very much, but they love themselves more. Many of those people are still able to sit still because the United States is still behind them to give them blood transfusions, but this "support" has come at the cost of the future interests of the British Empire.

The fleet took advantage of the cover of darkness and quietly passed through the Strait of Gibraltar. Approaching Millsbeek.

For more than a month after the surrender of France, British spies did their best to gather information on the French fleet and port defenses stationed in the area. The answer is not optimistic.

At Millsbeek, the French set up a complete anti-torpedo net, with anti-aircraft radars and anti-aircraft artillery positions, and this qiē was originally intended to guard against the Italians who were about to move to the east. When the war began in 1939, the Italians received an escort aircraft carrier from the Germans. Although it was only a ship with a speed of twenty-three or four knots. The maximum aircraft carrier is only thirty escort aircraft carriers, but after all, this is an aircraft carrier, and in terms of speed and aircraft capacity, it is no worse than the Eagle aircraft carrier, which made a great contribution to the surprise attack on Oslo. And the Mediterranean Sea is calm and the sea conditions are good. Aircraft carriers can increase their aircraft capacity by means of guò deck mooring.

After the "Oslo Miracle", the French side also strengthened the defense facilities of the port because they feared that the Italians would attack the French navy in a similar way. The most ironic thing is that the radar facilities at the anti-aircraft radar post that the French have set up at Millsbeek today were provided by the British before the armistice.

Due to the setting up of a complete mine protection net, it is difficult for the British ship carrier to attack the military fleet in the middle of the night like the surprise attack on Oslo, and the only means is to carry out dive bombing with the help of aircraft, but it is a pity that the current British naval and air forces lack professional dive bombers, and this sneak attack on the French fleet, Cunningham can still use the old and outdated Swordfish attack aircraft, as well as the Guanbi fighter-bomber that has just been equipped with the navy.

The Tubenose Swallow fighter-bomber was originally designed as a fighter for the Navy, and it was originally planned to equip the Navy in April. However, air battles in Western Europe proved that this aircraft was a little worse than the Hurricane fighter and could not compete with the German Navy's E112, which was declared "obsolete" by the brutal war before it was even equipped with troops. But the biggest advantage of this aircraft is the high engine horsepower - up to 1300 horsepower, long range (about 1300 km),

Due to the lack of professional dive bombers in the current British Navy, the Swordfish attack aircraft was beaten out by the Luftwaffe in the French campaign, and this attack on the French Navy, the "outdated" Guanbi Yan fighter was pulled out, and after a slight modification, it was temporarily used to carry out the task of carrying out sea attacks.

After reducing fuel and rear-seat machine gunners and removing some of the machine guns, the Tube Nose Swallow fighter can take off from the aircraft carrier with a 600-kilogram bomb on it

Fighters became the protagonists.

The attack was launched at 4 a.m., and it was the end of July, and it was very early in the morning, and it was expected that the attack group would arrive over the target at about 5:20 a.m. At that time, the visibility at the beginning of the sky is just right for launching dive bombing. For this operation, Britain urgently produced a batch of special armor-piercing bombs for ship use in a month's time - in fact, these bombs were converted from shells from stock 406 mm naval guns.

When the British fleet crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean, a German submarine that had long been lurking nearby spotted them.

After the fleet cleared the Guò Strait, the German submarine surfaced, and did not send a telegram immediately, but waited another hour for it to go away before sending a telegram to Berlin in code.

The message was only three words.

"Cow bites chicken".

When the German newspaper reported on the incident that day, it also used the words "cow bite chicken" as the headline.

Everyone, give more likes, at least 10,000 words will be updated today (to be continued......

ps:I didn't update it yesterday the day before yesterday.,At least 10,000 words will be updated today.,Let's first update R1292.