Chapter 504 Eagle Plan

In August, the smoke returned.

It was not only the ground war between the vanguard and men, nor the strangulation of the skies and seas between the Germans and the British near the British Isles, and the Italians, stimulated by the dividends of the German war, began a new expansion.

Due to the tight situation on British soil, the power of the British in Africa seemed even weaker than in the original history, and the Italians had long been unable to hold their breath. Seeing that the Germans had full superiority in the air and at sea, they were about to knock Britain down. The Italians hurriedly searched for worthy targets. This time, they are targeting Somalia first.

The 40-year-old Horn of Africa includes a series of colonies, and everyone knows how important it is, with the French, British, and Italians each holding a territory in Somalia alone. The relationship here is complicated, and until later generations Somalia was a region of conflict, precisely because of the result of the game of these great powers.

Eritrea only became independent in '93, so you know the sensitivity there. There is a problem, and then there is a problem in Somalia. The great powers need to constantly change hands and adjust in order to lay out more opportunities. Even Huaxia, who was still a minor in the navy, sent a fleet to go there for an outing. I don't talk about whether I fought pirates or not, but along the way, I practiced the sea conditions from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean a few times. If something happens in the future, it will not be a new one.

In normal times, all parties here are playing, especially Britain and France, and there are not many opportunities. But as Europe unrested, crises and opportunities began to stagger.

The Italians used their troops in the vicinity for the past two years, and in 36 they drove out Selassie I and occupied Abyssinia, which is now Ethiopia, thus uniting its colonies in the Horn of Africa, Italian Somalia and Eritrea.

However, there is still some dissonance, and near the tip of the nose in the Horn of Africa, there are two patches of British Somalia and French Somalia that Mussolini always looked discordant.

To the north of the Red Sea is the Suez Canal, and to the south is the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which controls the passage from the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, and is under the control of Somalia under the control of Britain and France. Mussolini may not have thought of having Caingfa at the throat, but what he needed most was to take the Horn of Africa in the hands of his new King Caesar.

After the defeat of the French to the Germans, French Somalia became a demilitarized area. Mussolini was a little helpless, so he could only fill in another patch in a rage to make his world more harmonious.

At the end of July, five Italian brigades crossed the border and entered British Somalia.

At this time, the British were weak, and the British commander-in-chief in the Middle East, Wyol, could only order a small number of British troops to make a symbolic counterattack. In fact, without an order, the British army could not organize a large-scale resistance when the defense forces were evacuated. They could only be evacuated from the ports of Zela and Berbera. The Italians fought sporadically for half a month, and by the time they arrived at these ports, the British had abandoned them all.

In this way, the Italians, who occupied British Somalia, received their first and only victory over the British.

"Continue the offensive to the north and take Kashmu!" Mussolini was in high spirits and immediately ordered the Italian commander in North Africa, Duke Aosta, to direct the troops to continue the attack north, into the British-controlled Sudan.

"We should strengthen our forces to defend East Africa so as not to be counter-attacked by the British!" Aosta tactfully rejected Mussolini's order. Mussolini also has an Italian king above his head, even if it is a little empty, but the name of the king is still above Mussolini's head. Mussolini's authority in Italy was not as solid as Hitler's, or the Italians would not have been so in World War II.

And Aosta's status as a grand duke was still able to face Mussolini's refusal.

Of course, his refusal was not due to a political dispute with Mussolini, but because the Italians were indeed not prepared for a large-scale war.

Although Mussolini has been clamoring, Italy's domestic economic downturn is an indisputable fact. Mussolini prematurely implemented a fascist policy in Italy, but under the suppression of Britain and France, he did not get better war dividends for more than ten years, which has made the Italians a little tired.

This was different from what Hitler did in Germany. When the Nazi power swelled, the old Xi used the Jewish goal to stir up the enthusiasm of the Germans, and also equipped a stronger army from the Jewish purse. When this power swelled to a certain extent, it immediately shifted the pressure to European expansion again. And by this time, Mussolini's vaunted balloon had deflated, and the Italians had softened.

Their economy has not climbed out of the quagmire, and the dividends of Ethiopia have not been enough to compensate for the sharp increase in military spending. Although the advanced weapons developed to confront Britain and France were in full swing during the confrontation in the twenties and thirties, they fell behind in all respects after the large-scale war of World War II began. The price of replacement is beyond the reach of Italians, who are also financially weak. Defeat in World War II is assured.

But at this time, Mussolini was still agitating his subjects, and he was agitating himself. Helplessly, the lack of war resources made the Italians have to stop at the dream of capturing Kashmu after occupying British Somalia.

In contrast to the more barren Sultan, they were now preparing to attack the richer Egypt. Mussolini is now urging the troops in Libya, but Graziani, who is also facing a lack of strategic resources, is also delaying.

And at this time in Europe, the war hammer of the Russians had just fallen.

On August 2, at the Seventh Conference of the Supreme Soviet of Soviet Russia, Russia announced that the three Baltic states would become its 14th, 15th, and 16th republics.

As early as after the signing of the non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union and Germany, Soviet Russia began to deal with the three Baltic states. Poland's plan to escape from the submarine Eagle gave them a godsend. Even at the time of the Soviet-Finnish war, the plans to annex the three countries did not stop.

In the beginning, Soviet Russia only signed mutual assistance treaties with Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. However, with the successful assault of German tanks in Europe, Soviet Russia accelerated the annexation process. Directly sent troops to take over, and after receiving slight resistance, they used a tough ultimatum to take these three countries into their pockets. The territory of Soviet Russia was again covered by square kilometers of land.

More importantly, Soviet Russia made up for this hidden danger in the Baltic Sea. In the future, whoever wants to attack Soviet Russia from the Baltic Sea must carry out landing operations.

The landing battle at this time was brutal, and the German Sea Lion plan, after a long time of preparation, was still not launched. The British planes were not cleared, the artillery groups on British soil were not resolved, and the British warships were not driven away, and the army generals refused to send their soldiers to the meat grinders on the coastline.

And the first thing that determines all of this is the sky.

The air strangulation between the British and German sides has been going on for more than a month. A dozen or even dozens of British planes were shot down every day, but every day brand-new planes flew into the sky.

In this regard, the Germans listed the prelude to this part of the sea lion plan separately, and formulated a strict eagle plan, no longer scattered strangulation, but to carry out large-scale air raids to annihilate the air power of the British in one fell swoop. Hitler himself named the Eagle Attack.

"I need a plane! More planes are needed! "Commander of the British Air Defense Command, Edward. Admiral Bill shouted at Beaverbrook on the other side of the phone. More than a month of strangulation has already cost the British more than 500 aircraft. At this time, there were only more than six hundred fighters left in his hands, and recently there were fewer and fewer new planes sent by aircraft factories.

"If you can stop the German bombers, we can build more planes!" Beaverbrook was also full of anger. Originally, the aircraft factories set up in various localities would have been able to produce 1,500 planes a month with more efforts, and even under normal circumstances, they would have been able to produce 7 or 800 planes, which would at least be able to guarantee the losses in air combat. However, the destruction of German bombers and agents caused the aircraft factory to be constantly destroyed, even directly destroyed.

For the whole of July, they produced less than 300 units, and less than 150 fighters.

Edward Bill was also a headache for the German bombers. Most of the radar stations set up in various places have been destroyed. Without waiting for the new radar station to be erected, the German Ju-88 bombers, under the cover of fighters, rushed over and blew up more radar stations and various other strategic facilities. Arsenals, power stations, oil reserves, airports, shipyards, ports, etc., became the favorite places for the Germans to attack.

"How can you keep the skies of London without more planes?" The phone over there had been heavily detained, and Edward stared at the telephone receiver with carved nan wood inlaid with silver for a long time before slowly buttoning it up and muttering to himself.

But then the phone rang again.

"Edward, we need more detailed and accurate information, and we need the support of radar!" Edward had just picked up the earpiece, the commander of the British Fighter Command, Hugh. Doyle's deep voice came out, "Without the support of the radar network, our actions have fallen behind the German planes. ”

"We are building new radar stations." For this old pilot during the First World War, Edward could only say gently. There are only three of the 38 radars along the coast. What could he do in the face of targeted bombing by the Germans? The radar that had just been built was blown up again not long after. The Germans already knew the secrets of the radar and focused on this to attack.

"But now we need it! Our lovely lads can't just look at the enemy with the naked eye of the 500,000 National Guard and simple binoculars. By the time their intelligence reached the command, the Germans' bombs were also on top of us. "Hugh. Doyle cut off his rhetoric, this is not the time to talk to his superiors about gentlemanly demeanor, the number of fighters is too small at this time, and the number of German fighters is still increasing.

"We also need more planes. Otherwise, once the German scale attack, we will be difficult to resist. We also need ...... "Hugh." Doyle continued to act like a businessman, bargaining with Edward for what he needed.

"Jingle bell!" Edward took the receiver a little farther away, and continued to listen with his hand on his forehead. Doyle's nagging, at this time, a black phone next to him rang, and he picked it up and put it to the other ear.

"What? You repeat? After only a few words, his jaw of surprise almost let the microphone in his hand slip to the ground.

"In the early hours of tomorrow morning, the Germans are going to launch a massive air raid! It's massive! "The news is from MI6, the accuracy is not doubtful, Hugh. Doyle's words were unfortunately true.

"Attack!" In the early morning of the 5th, Ge Fatzi waved his hand, and the Eagle Plan began to be implemented. On this day, the Day of the Eagle, is 8 days ahead of history.

At this time, Germany had been preparing for this day for a month.

Because of the need to build temporary airfields in France and Belgium, to reserve strategic materials, and the previous air strangulation, both sides are still a little tentative. But even the Germans lost more than five hundred fighters and bombers.

However, more of their planes converged on the eastern shore of the English Channel.

When the Eagle Attack plan was implemented, because of the deal with the copycat company, the Germans had gathered more than 3,000 combat planes against the British. Among them, the main fighter is still the BF-109, but it is the E and F types. Both aircraft surpassed the British in terms of performance. It's just that there is still the problem of too short a range.

And those planes with a long range are all post-Pearl Harbor planes, although the price is also one-twelfth of the discount, but compared with the planes before Pearl Harbor, it is 2 times, or even 4 times the profit. This makes Meng Xiang more willing to dump profitable weapons. Besides, it is also necessary to take care of the British, who have been put together a lot, so that they do not collapse too quickly. The British still have a lot of oil and water to fish.

"We don't have enough planes, the sky is full of holes!" Edward grumbled at Churchill at this time. The previous battles were on the level of 100 sorties a day, but if the Germans decided to launch a large-scale air attack, it was normal to have 1,000 sorties a day. The Germans made a lot of preparations on the other side. The British had less than seven hundred fighters, and it took as long as they tossed back and forth.

Churchill looked at Beaverbrook, who was sitting there without saying a word, and knew that there was nothing he could do. The fragments of the Germans' bombs even fell in front of his office, and the aircraft factories could not report it, and there was no talk of what production quantities.

"Ask the umbrella company and see how many planes they have. We've got it all. Churchill thought about it for a moment, and finally decided.

"It's a pity that most of what they produce is Hurricanes!" Next to Hugh. Dao'er smacked his mouth and muttered in a low voice.

"It's better to have planes than not to have them. The battle is on our soil, as long as the lads are prepared with umbrella bags, we will sacrifice less than the Germans! Churchill, who stood up next to him, said calmly.

He was right, air battles were fought for more than a month, because most of them were over British territory. The percentage of British pilots who survived parachuted jumps was much higher than that of the Germans. The pilots captured by the Germans were already nearly a hundred people at this time. But the Germans still held the lives of tens of thousands of British expeditionary forces in their hands, and the prisoners of these German pilots were treated well.

The Germans also remembered the idea of changing prisoners, but Churchill kept delaying, and the pilots were not the same as ordinary soldiers. They turned around and were able to fly the planes back to the homes of the British. And the infantry that the British exchanged for could only be bombed on the ground right away. Prisoner exchange is as it should be, but not now.

German reconnaissance planes were still flying in the sky, and the whole city of London was not many people wandering the streets under the August sun.

In a remote alley, a somewhat dilapidated British-made Biford truck blocked almost the entire alleyway.

"Pack the goods and check the packaging again. These are not allowed to be flooded, and if they leak you, you will be responsible. Ye Shanying yelled at the two British laborers next to him. Being able to yell at the foreign devil so many times, Ye Shanying felt as happy in her heart as if she had drunk sour plum soup with ice on this hot day.

"It's all some broken books, what's the use?!" Ye Shanxiong's muttering next to him was heard by Ye Shanying, and he immediately slapped him on the back of the head.

"Stinky boy, I told you to read more, but you didn't listen. Haven't you heard from people? There is gold in the book, there are women, and the person who reads the book is a capable person! Ye Shanying regretted that she had been illiterate. But this second brother was also delayed, and at most he knew a few words more than him. At this time, the domestic vanguard army studied for free, but this kid didn't read, ran out of the country, and defected to him, which made him angry.

"You, if you don't study, how can you give our old Ye family glory to your ancestors?" Ye Shanying's fingers shook and pointed at Ye Shanxiong's head, hating iron and not making steel.

"I'm past the age of reading, and I can read or not. As soon as I touch a book, I get a headache. Ye Shanxiong muttered, "Besides, isn't there a third brother and a second eldest sister!" They're a great reader! ”

Ye Shanying was also happy for her younger siblings when she heard it, and the compulsory education of the Pioneer Army benefited all school-age children. Both men and women, the two younger sisters in the family can also study, and it is said that the grades are not bad, better than those boys.

Then he clicked on the boxes loaded into the car and said, "In these books, there are a lot of university questions, maybe one day the third brother can also see them!" ”

"Those books are all the words of some foreign devils, how many people can understand them?" Ye Shanxiong once used the level of his elementary literacy class to watch for a long time, and every letter seemed to be recognized, but when they were put together, it was as inexplicable as a book from heaven.

"You know what? Back then, those foreign devils didn't understand our Chinese books, so they also snatched a lot of them back from the Hanlin Academy. Now that the foreign devils are in trouble, it is also our turn to empty their map and library. Ye Shanying taught his younger brother a lesson as he said what he had heard, and looked back at the old library building at the end of the alley.

"Big brother, are these real foreign devils?" Ye Shanxiong next to him looked at both sides, and saw that the few foreigners who were moving the goods did not respond to their words, so he put his mind at ease and leaned over and asked in a low voice.

"Of course!" Ye Shanying glared, then raised her chin and said proudly.

Having been in England for nearly a decade, he can definitely tell that these Britons carrying cargo boxes are pure white people, not impostors like Indian Ah San. A chunk of bread and a pack of cigarettes can hire a pure white man for day labor. There were also poor among the British, and the British government's wartime supply program was in trouble, and the whole month of July was the prime time for German submarine hunting.

The German submarines that were constantly attacking had already jammed the British access to the outside world, suffocating the unhurried British gentlemen. And the destroyers of the British could only look at the looming German Yamato-class battleships from afar.

Due to the high fuel consumption, the Germans' two converted Yamato-class battleships did not always follow the submarines, but the guns of the Scharnhorst battlecruiser and the three Admiral-class heavy cruisers often followed the German submarines. Where the guns were directed, the British destroyers could only retreat.

The British, wounded in the battle to block the French port, returned from the Hood and encountered the Shane. With the cover of the fleet, he was about to start, but he saw a Nagato-class battleship following behind. It was okay to fight the Shane alone, but against Shane and Nagato at the same time, the British thought it would be difficult to resist. Next to it, there is a bunch of waves baring their fangs. In the end, the Hood, which was weak, had no choice but to hurry back to repair its wounds.

This scene lifted the spirits of the Germans.

In the original history, the Germans were forced by the weakness of the navy and had to rely mainly on submarines to cut off the German merchant ships. Encountering the siege of the British fleet, they could only escape. And now, the German Navy is facing the British.

Because of the presence of three Yamato-class battleships, the German navy was even more unscrupulous, and if it weren't for the British still maintaining their numerical superiority, they were afraid that the German navy would go straight to the door.

"That's not the way to go! We need stronger warships to regain sea supremacy! "Churchill, a naval secretary by training, understood that the sea was the key to the rise and fall of the British. The dimness of the sky obscured by German planes only made the British passive for a while, and the British Empire lost the sea, and thus lost its vast colonies, and lost their last ray of hope.