The German Navy was forced to respond to the high-profile attack on Narvik, which was now known throughout Britain and the world.

The decisive battle will begin in the early hours of tomorrow morning or morning.

The Royal Navy, which had been defeated in successive battles, had only a little more than one-third of the ships in its hands at its peak, and its advantage over its opponents was not large. And the German navy's superiority in night combat technology is even more worrying.

On the evening of the 24th, the pulse of the whole of Britain fluctuated with the information of the war situation transmitted from the front, in such an atmosphere, where could Churchill sleep?

On the island of Britain, the lights of churches in almost every city were kept out that night. After hearing on the radio the high-profile challenge statement of the German Navy, the feelings of the entire British people were stirred. Huge crowds flocked to the church to confide in the priest and pray to God.

From the evening of February 24 to the early morning of the next day, there was no one to sleep in the British Isles.

After four o'clock in the morning of the 25th, Churchill, who was napping in a chair in the naval operations command center, was having a nightmare.

I dreamed that the Royal Navy encountered those two demon warships at sea, and then a fierce exchange of fire between the two sides began. The Royal Navy's shells hit the opponent's body, either ejected or blocked by the opponent's thick armor, leaving only a harmless white mark. And the opponent's shells, each blow made a bottomless and amazing hole in the battleship.

In the raging waves, the Nelson, the Malaya, and the Royal Oak, one after another British warships, were detonated into flames in the fierce firefight. In this hell of water and fire, huge ships slowly capsized under the baptism of flames and bullets, and countless British sailors jumped into the sea screaming and screaming, only to be sucked into the eternal darkness of the ocean by the whirlpool of the sunken ships

Churchill, in the same state of horror, suddenly found himself on the avenue in front of 10 Downing Street, surrounded by grieving and angry families of sailors. They raised their hands and pointed at him, unsure of what they were angrily accusing......

The scene in front of him frightened Churchill in his dream, and he only felt that he couldn't breathe, and he wanted to roar, and then. Then he was woken up from the nightmare just in time.

"Prime Minister, a call from the front, a call from Commander Tovey, his fleet has encountered a German battleship."

"What?"

Churchill, who stayed up late and took a nap and woke up from his slumber, took a few seconds to understand what his secretary was saying.

He looked at the wall clock next to him, which showed that it was 4:15 a.m., and it was still night.

"Did you get a firefight?"

Churchill asked nervously, so far. The Royal Navy could not overcome the difficulty of long-range artillery battles at night, and night artillery battles with the German Navy were the last thing the Royal Navy wanted.

"Not yet, Commander Tovey led the main fleet to retreat ahead of time before the encounter, and they are heading in the direction of Paka Bay, and the Germans are pursuing behind!"

Churchill got up from the rest room and quickly walked to the side of the operations command center, where a large number of operations staff officers were working intensively on the drawings. Learn from the people in the Admiralty. Due to the fact that Commander Tovey carried out the order to retreat in advance, he changed the direction of the fleet's march in time. The encounter that would have been a head-on confrontation with the German fleet turned into a full-scale retreat and a full-speed pursuit.

John. At the time of Tovey's turn, the German capital ship was about fifty-six kilometers away from the reconnaissance ship in front of it, and about eighty kilometers away from the capital ship.

When the whole fleet completed the turn, the distance between it and the main fleet was shortened to seventy kilometers, and at this time, the reconnaissance fleet changed from the vanguard to the rearguard. Shortly after the completion of the turn, their radar detected the traces of the German fleet fifty kilometers away.

Soon, the alarm bells of the entire fleet rang out.

Under the guidance of Commander John Tovey, the British main fleet did not care about approaching the German ships at high speed, but only buried itself in full speed.

The maximum speed of a German capital ship was between thirty and thirty-one knots. And the speed of the British capital ship was twenty-three knots, and it was now the end of February, less than two and a half hours before dawn. The difference in speed between the British and German capital ships was about seven to eight knots, (almost 14~15 kilometers), and in terms of time and distance, it was enough for the British ships to drag the time until dawn.

In the operational command center, after a brief calculation, the staff officers told Churchill the "good news," and after the conclusion was announced, the entire operational command center let out a burst of excited cheers.

John. Commander Tovey's direct order to turn and retreat without consulting his superiors ensured the fate of the Royal Navy to avoid a night battle in a very unfavorable situation.

"Is that the shadow of those two demon warships so big for you?"

Churchill sighed in his heart.

But at this time, Churchill was also secretly happy. Before the attack, he specially asked John in his capacity as prime minister. Tovey sent a telegram asking him to keep the main fleet safe as his first consideration, and that all other Invi be undisturbed. He gave it to John. Tovey, the front-line commander, has great battlefield autonomy, and it is precisely this autonomy that makes Commander Tovey directly order the whole fleet to turn at the first time without waiting for London to ask for instructions.

This timely order brought the Royal Navy's main fleet to a halt on the edge of the cliff and turn around. If the order to turn was given a few dozen minutes later, his fleet would have encountered the German navy head-on, and even if he wanted to turn and flee because of the opposite course, he would have to pay a terrible price for it.

On the other side, in the chart room of the Scharnhorst, the flagship of the German fleet, Raeder, who had just been promoted to the rank of marshal because of his exploits, received a notice from the combat staff officer.

"The British ships ahead were sending out a large number of dense wireless telegraphies, and radio communication was being used on an enreaval basis between the ships. We have every reason to assume that our actions have been detected by the other side. ”

"Hmm!"

Raeder hummed softly, indicating that he understood. The reason why the German ships approached before, unlike in the Battle of Bergen, released the aluminum foil jamming belt was to get as close as possible to the British fleet before exposing themselves. Because once the aluminum foil jamming band is released, the opponent's radar screen is immediately full of snowflakes, which is equivalent to telling the opponent that we are coming.

When the British fleet suddenly turned en masse, Reddahl was aware that his adversary was aware of his strategic intentions. At that time, due to the distance, no trace of the British fleet was found on the radar screen of the German warship for the time being.

The early turn of the British ship made the German ship's original plan to approach the opponent, and the tactic of destroying the aircraft carrier first came to naught, and the next thing could only be the most primitive "game" of hunters and prey chasing and fleeing.

The combat staff officer asked: "Do you need to release the aluminum foil jamming belt?" ”

Raeder looked into the air and asked, "Lord Gabriel, what is your opinion?" ”

"After Bergen, Britain and the United States will inevitably increase their attention and investment in radar, and the secret of the aluminum foil jamming belt will not be kept for a long time, and there is no need to hide it anymore."

Two minutes later, the light spot signal of the German ship, which had been exposed to the radar screen of the British Navy, was once again masked by a large number of snowflake interference sources.

Raeder looked at the relative position of the British and German ships on the map, and sighed in his heart.

"Is the era of the passionate collision of big ships and huge guns coming to an end today? Will the big battle after dawn herald the advent of the era of aircraft carriers? ”

Raeder was well aware that, in any case, it would be difficult for the German ships to catch up with the British fleet, which was fleeing with all its might, before dawn. After dawn, in the face of the huge numerical superiority of the British ships to two, the navy he brought with him relied on the five aircraft carriers in his hands.

Compared with Raeder's excitement with a little loss, the only two outsiders in the chart room, Yamaguchi from Japan, heard more than he could tell at this time. After the Battle of Bergen, most of the Japanese observation groups returned to China, but only he and Chiaki Matsuda stayed according to domestic requirements and continued to stay "cheekily" on the German flagship to watch the battle.

Yamaguchi Tabun, an advocate of aviation, was also excited to be able to truly experience a naval air duel that would determine the outcome of the sea battle.

After releasing the foil jamming band, the pursuing German fleet began to change direction, and instead of choosing the closest distance to the direction of the British ship, they deliberately made a detour to increase the distance.

The plan to annihilate the British fleet by night was already bankrupt by the timely change of direction of Commander Tovey, and the German Navy was now adopting a second set of combat schemes.

Draw the distance first and wait for the dawn. Immediately after dawn, naval aviation was dispatched to launch an air attack to weaken the main force of the British battleship, and then to "collect the body" in a close-range artillery battle that approached him.

That night, when it was discovered that his radar had encountered strong interference again, as in the Battle of Bergen, Commander Tovey ordered several destroyers to break away from the formation, sail towards the Dazhi where the German ships were located, and conduct a visual search by the most primitive method.

The British ship's movements were quickly perceived by Hannah.

The ability to perceive and control the battlefield against the sky is the greatest capital of the German Navy in the confrontation with the superior British Navy. Where can Hannah and Raeder tolerate the British and their "sharing" of battlefield intelligence rights. Soon, the German fleet also sent several light cruisers to cooperate with the destroyers to intercept it.

The German interceptor fleet and the British search fleet, soon met under the illumination of flares.

The British, who were well aware of the superiority of the Germans' radar, positioned themselves on the "weaker" side from the very beginning, and they kept shooting a large number of flares into the air early on, and with the help of flashing white artificials slowly falling in the air, they soon spotted their opponents who were approaching with bad intentions.

A fierce artillery battle ensued. (To be continued......)

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