Chapter 254: Sneak Attack
Britain was reluctant to expose the fact that it had the blueprints of the Huaxia bomber so early, but it couldn't help Huaxia, because Huaxia still didn't want to offend the Allies on the surface, and wanted to maneuver between them and the Allies in order to make more profits, and they would do the same in their position in Huaxia.
Huaxia and Britain cooperated perfectly, this false shot really concealed Germany, and Germany also sent condolences, expressing its willingness to continue to study a new generation of bombers with Huaxia, and Huaxia agreed without much thought.
Britain's possession of bomber drawings meant that a large number of bombers could be produced quickly, which put great pressure on the Allies to continue to increase the development of new bombers, and decided to speed up the progress of the war and not give the Allies too many opportunities, so the bombers delivered to the Allies in China, which was close to Britain, became the target of German attack.
Huaxia helped the Entente produce bombers Germany originally wanted to use greater interests to trick it into pushing down the Entente's orders or reselling them to the Allies, but Huaxia did not agree, on the grounds that most of the orders had been signed before the war, and the credit that Huaxia had built up with great difficulty could not be lost, otherwise how could foreign capital be introduced in the future?
At the urging of Britain, the first bombers had successfully crossed the Mediterranean Sea into the Atlantic Ocean near Britain. Huaxia is not a fool, knowing that Germany will attack these transport bomber merchant ships, he did not use his own cargo ships to transport, but made full use of Britain to continue to bomb the homeland and let Britain organize its own merchant ships to transport them back to China, and it was also in line with the deal, because Huaxia had not promised to deliver to the door before. This also frustrated Britain's plan, with the ambiguity between China and Germany, the German army would definitely not attack the merchant ships in China.
The British government was also shrewd in dividing the bombers into pieces, scattering the bombers, and fifty bombers were transported by more than twenty ordinary cargo ships, and the cargo ships were not clustered together, and they were very secretive.
"Your Excellency Prime Minister, there is very unfortunate news that three cargo ships transporting bombers were secretly attacked and sunk by enemy submarines in the Alvoran Sea, and six bombers sank into the sea, and the enemy submarines had already absconded when our navy arrived!" Churchill received a message from the Navy in the Strait of Gibraltar and immediately reported it to Asquith.
Asquith's expression was very calm, in order to ensure the safety of the bombers this time, they had let the cargo ship hang the Italian flag before entering, and they also went to the Italian port to stop, but they didn't expect to be attacked. But soon he thought about it, these cargo ships were all registered in Italy, it can be said that Italian cargo ships, and the Allied navy actually attacked Italian cargo ships, and it would definitely be disgusted by Italy and let Italy move closer to him.
Although the loss of these six bombers is heartwarming, it is still worth it, and the possibility of being able to pull the dragon Italy has increased a lot, which is also a good thing.
The Allied navies in the Mediterranean began to use submarines to attack passing Allied merchant ships as early as when the Allies declared a blockade of the Mediterranean, and most of the interested Allied merchants would change the Italian flag before entering the Mediterranean.
They also want to hang the Chinese flag, but every Chinese merchant ship will be tattooed on the hull of the Chinese flag and the title of the Chinese word, and most of the sailors are Chinese, and every Chinese merchant ship entering the Mediterranean will be filed with the Entente and its allies to prevent accidental attacks.
Although there was no huge naval battle between the two camps in the Mediterranean, small battles continued, either you attacked me or I attacked you, and it has become common for each other to attack each other's cargo ships.
"How did the enemy know about the bombers, and why were they not attacked before?"
Asquith's meaning is very clear, the cargo ship is flying the Italian flag, and it stands to reason that the enemy army will not attack, because it will affect the relationship between Italy and the Allied forces, and even anger Italy, so there is no need to think that the Allied forces only risked offending Italy to attack after they learned the news.
"According to the news, only the three attacked cargo ships let the sailors disembark and rest when they docked in Italy, and the rest set sail after resting on the ship, and it is estimated that the sailors inadvertently exposed the news!"
"Hmph, check the captains and military leaders of these three cargo ships, and if they are not dead, they will be investigated to the end!"
"Yes!"
The Austro-Lunar navy had done a good job in the Alvoran Sea, and their intelligence officers accidentally obtained news of these cargo ships, and finally reported them to Germany, because these cargo ships were under the banner of Italy, and if they were not done, it would cause Italian dissatisfaction.
After Wilhelm II learned about it, he thought twice about letting Austria-Hungary do it, and now the strength of the Central Powers was not afraid of Italy joining the Entente camp at all, and the Balkan coalition troops stationed on the Italian border could send troops to Italy at any time.
Sure enough, Italy was furious when it learned that its country's cargo ship had been attacked by the Allied navy, and directly questioned Austria-Hungary, demanding an explanation and compensation.
"Hmph, sue them, these cargo ships secretly help the Entente transport bombers, and they are not their people, they want to start a war quickly!"
The Austro-Hungarian king did not mean to say this to the people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the contradictions between Austria-Hungary and Italy had not existed for a day or two, and he had been very dissatisfied with Italy's neutrality, and now that there was no Tsarist Russia, the greatest threat to the rear, he wished that Italy would go to war against him.
With Greece and the Ottoman Empire also joining the Central Powers, the Balkan coalition army grew unprecedentedly, and in addition to sending troops to France and North Africa, Austria-Hungary and other countries were really not busy.
"Damn Britain and Austria-Hungary, although I would love to join the Entente, but now the Entente is losing and retreating, and the time has not yet come! I don't think those who support the Allies are still determined to join the Alliance, and this is my time! Italian Prime Minister Sarandra, while annoyed by Austria-Hungary's strength, also wanted to take the opportunity to expand his camp and get more support for the Entente in the future.
The sinking of the three cargo ships by the Austro-Hungarian Empire was exposed by the British media, and it was soon known to the Italian people, whose first reaction was the provocation of Austria-Hungary against Italy and the protest against the Austro-Hungarian atrocities.
Although the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also came out to condemn the evil deeds of Austria-Hungary, it also warned certain countries not to flaunt and deceive under the banner of Italy, and at the same time warned businessmen not to help others transport weapons without authorization, otherwise they would bear the consequences.
Austria-Hungary did not say anything, except to publish in the official newspapers several pictures of bombers exposed when the cargo ship was sunk, bluntly stating that any merchant ship in the Mediterranean that helped the Allies transport weapons would be attacked if they were discovered.
When the Austro-Hungarian newspapers came out, the Italian people knew what was going on, and they were furious to find themselves being shot, and they planted the seeds of bad faith against Britain in their hearts.
In the Celtic Sea, ten cargo ships were rushing towards Britain under the escort of the British naval fleet, and there were still more than 500 kilometers to reach Britain, and the military chief on board was relieved.
"With these bombers, the empire doesn't have to worry about the Germans' bombers anymore, if only they were all used to defend the empire! I really don't know what those parliamentarians think, isn't the empire itself more important than France? ”
"Hey, the front line is now bombed every day, with bombers can also relieve the pressure on the front line, so as not to be pressed and beaten, and now it is said that the defense line has shrunk to the Nantes area, and the French government is preparing to move to Toulouse, it's pitiful!"
The first batch of bombers delivered by China to Britain was divided into two, twenty were rushed back to the country to protect the homeland, and twenty-four rushed to the front line.
Several officers of a warship were standing on the deck watching the cargo ships talk, very excited about the arrival of the bombers, but they did not know that in the sea behind them, ten submarines were following.
"The target was found, protected by four submarines and five warships, and the enemy submarine went to a shallow depth of seventy meters, one on the front and one on the left and one on the left and right, and the report was completed!"
"Dive to a hundred meters, approach the enemy submarine, and then attack, the first target is the cargo ship, the second target is the submarine!"
"Yes, sir!"
The German submarine spotted the British submarine and became even more sure that these cargo ships were their target, and immediately began to take action.
In order to ensure the safety of the bombers, Britain not only sent a naval fleet to escort the bombers, but also drew four escorts from the few submarine forces that protected the mainland.
The German submarine quickly approached the British submarine, but because the British army had not yet developed the technology and instruments to detect the submarine, the submarine in Shanzhai Huaxia was incomplete and the depth of the dive was not deep, so the German submarine was not found.
The German submarines decisively approached the cargo ship from below, and the cargo ship attacked as soon as it came into their range.
Ten torpedoes streaked through a long water mark in the sea and frantically drilled towards the cargo ship diagonally above, and the British submarine saw these water marks only to realize that an enemy submarine had appeared in front of them, but it was too late.
"Hey, when will these German submarines get in front of us, attack immediately!"
The German submarines were exposed after firing torpedoes, and the angry British submarines launched a counterattack against them.
"Boom ......"
Ten torpedoes hit three cargo ships, but the cargo ships did not sink immediately, but were frantically flooded into the hold by the sea, and the other torpedoes were either missed or narrowly 'dodged' by the cargo ship.
"Damn, it's a submarine sneak attack, speed up immediately!"
The captain of the cargo ship that was not hit knew that he had been attacked when he heard the explosion, and immediately accelerated the speed of sailing, only in this way could he reduce the chance of being hit.
The German submarines left four submarines to drag the British submarines and then pursued the victory, and continued to fire torpedoes at the three cargo ships that were hit, and with a few booms, the three cargo ships sank rapidly.
The German submarine pursued the cargo ship, and successfully destroyed a search cargo ship, and after several successive launches, the torpedo ran out and evacuated decisively.
The four British submarines were even more angry after being dragged down, and they competed with the German submarines, and the two sides were sunk one by each other, and the other submarine had already hit the German submarine after no torpedoes, but they did not expect their submarines to be knocked out of a hole, and the German submarine was only slightly recessed and was not knocked through.
The remaining three German submarines also withdrew after running out of torpedoes, leaving to watch the two British submarines that watched their own friendly ships sink.