Contrary to my imagination, the sinking of the General Belgrano caused a strong reaction in Britain and Argentina and even in the entire international community.

"Here's the thing!" Brigadier General Clapp handed me a few copies and said, "This is the main content of the British and Argentine newspapers, because the newspapers cannot be delivered quickly to our fleet, so we typed them into a text." ”

Although Lin Xia's translation of this sentence is not very good, I still understand the meaning.

To put it simply, newspapers cannot be quickly delivered to the task force, after all, the task force is more than 13,000 kilometers away from Britain, and it is not easy for Argentine newspapers to be delivered to the task force, so in order to be able to get the relevant information as much as possible, the information in these newspapers was transmitted to the task force by guò telegram or other means, which is now the documents that Clapp handed me.

From this point of view, the information range of the British fleet was quite high, otherwise it would not have been possible to receive a large amount of information as far away as Britain during this war.

On the other hand, it also shows that Clapp attaches great importance to the reaction of Britain and Argentina.

But think about it, this should also be, this Falklands war is actually between Britain and Argentina...... To be precise, it should be determined by the attitude of the people of the two countries, and the regimes of both countries are actually trying to appease their own people or give them an explanation. In other words, the war was actually fought at the cries of the people of both countries. The content of the newspaper often represents the intention of the majority of the people.

"Judging by the English newspapers......" Clapp took a sip of his coffee, and then warmed his hands with a cup of coffee, "they first cheered or celebrated the sinking of an Argentine cruiser by our troops, and then when they learned that the death toll of the Argentine army was more than three hundred men." The tone quickly shifted to mildness. Some newspapers are even questioning whether we should have sunk the warship......"

"What is the basis for the question?" I asked: "Because the warship is outside the blockade zone?" ”

"Yes!" Clapp laughed and replied, "But that's just one point. There are many who believe that after the sinking of the General Belgrano, there is no hope of peace. It is true that more than 300 people died on the Argentine side, so the Argentine government's rhetoric has become very tough! ”

To be honest, the death toll of more than three hundred people is nothing to me.

But I also know that this should be treated differently, first of all, I came from the Vietnam battlefield and the Afghanistan battlefield, both of which were army against army, and both fought extremely fiercely, and the casualties were hundreds or thousands of casualties. This leads directly to the fact that I think war should be like this...... If there are no casualties, is it still called war?!

The second reason is that although the people of Britain and Afghanistan are shouting "war", in fact, the people of both countries are not ready for war.

The British people always thought that if they put more pressure on Argentina, they would sit at the negotiating table, which is why the intensity of the previous battles was not very large, or even very small.

For example, in the sneak attack on South Georgia, the number of casualties on the Argentine side was only a dozen, and the British army even had zero casualties.

Another example is the bombing of Port Stanley Airport, which had almost negligible casualties other than a hoax made out of paint.

Several air battles were also mostly in terms of fighter losses, and the number of pilot casualties was also in the single digits.

That's why Britain had such an appearance, and immediately began to cheer after hearing about the sinking of a warship, but after hearing that more than 300 people had died on the Argentine side, there was a controversy because it was not conducive to reconciliation.

For the Argentine side. They felt ...... at the beginning Anyway, the British side has been talking about a peaceful settlement, so let's put on a show first. It's a big deal to sit back at the negotiating table.

So both countries seem to have been frightened by the sinking of the Argentine warship.

"Actually......" After a pause, Clapp shook his head and said, "I didn't expect this attack to cause so many casualties in Argentina." Because we knew that the warship had two frigates, but neither frigate even realized that the General Belgrano had been torpedoed, and it was too late for them to turn back and rescue them! ”

I couldn't help but be a little speechless when I heard this, and it can also be seen from this that the coordination and information sharing between the Argentine ships are weak, and the two warships as frigates did not know that the main ship was sunk.

Of course, this also has something to do with the fact that the power system of the General Belgrano was damaged and it was impossible to call for help...... However, in a state of war, this situation arises, and in any case, the two frigates are not immune to involvement.

"Of course, that's what we're hoping for!" Clapp leaned back in his chair and said, "Except for the more than 300 people who died on the Argentine side, all of them were perfect. First of all, the British government realized that the chances of reconciliation were very small because of the tough attitude of the Argentine government, which finally made them determined to fight this war. The second is that the Argentine Navy has realized its shortcomings in anti-submarine aspects, and its fleet has completely withdrawn to the port and is not moving! ”

Speaking of this, Clapp couldn't help but nod at me and said, "Colonel, although I know this is redundant, I still have to say it...... Your analysis and prediction of the battlefield are so good that I even have some doubts that you have experienced this war, and everything seems to happen and develop as you think, such as now...... Our submarines have already gained absolute superiority, and because the Argentine Navy does not dare to make any more sorties, our surface warships have also achieved absolute superiority. Now, it's time to deal with the Argentine Air Force! ”

"That's not just the benefit we get!" I say.

"What else?"

"General, think about it!" I said: "What would it mean for this war if we had not sunk the General Belgrano outside the blockade zone today, or even given the order not to strike outside the blockade zone?" ”

"Oh!" Clapp nodded and said: "That means that our range of activities can only be in the blockade zone, and outside the blockade zone is the world of Argentina, which is tantamount to tying up hands and feet to fight Argentina!" ”

"Yes!" I said, "If that happens, the Argentine fleet will be able to finish a trick with us." They played hide and seek with us right on the edge of the blockade. The British fleet advanced without meeting them. Before we could reach the battle, they withdrew from the blockade again. Think about it, how should we fight this battle at that time? ”

"That's right!" Clapp nodded: "This also fully shows that the choice to sink the General Belgrano was right, otherwise we would not have ended the war before winter came, and once winter came...... If we are struggling to replenish, we will have to withdraw our troops! ”

"I wonder what the British government has to say about this?" I asked.

"Let's put it this way!" Clapp smiled and replied, "They didn't know that the General Belgrano was outside the blockade at the time, understand?" ”

"Understood!" I nodded.

The British are masters at playing this set, so no one will blame the British government for this. Moreover, this is a war, and it is unrealistic for the two warring countries to strictly limit a scope in a war.

"Target found!" Just then, a British soldier yelled at Clapp, "General." A large number of enemy aircraft! ”

Without saying a word, Clapp stood up and walked to the command stand, and the shrill air raid sirens soon sounded in the warship.

"Is there going to be a war?" There was some fear in Lin Xia's eyes.

"You already knew you could fight, didn't you?" I smiled and said, "I told you when I was in China, and the place we went to was the battlefield!" ”

"But......" Lin Xia wanted to explain, but she didn't know how to explain.

Actually, she didn't say that I knew why, at that time she just didn't want to let go of this opportunity to go out and see the world, or to experience British culture firsthand, and maybe to make her English useful. Under the impact of such factors, the thing of "fighting war" was completely put on the back burner.

But now, when war really comes, when the atmosphere of danger and tension pervades the warship...... She realized that war was not as worthless as she had thought.

"It's fine!" I comforted Lin Xia and said, "Stay for a while and remember not to run around, you must follow me, understand?" ”

"Hmm!" Lin Xia nodded vigorously.

At this time, I only heard a "woo". Two fighter planes whizzed past the window, only to be so frightened that Lin Xia hid behind me with a scream, buried her face tightly on my back, and didn't dare to look at anything.

I couldn't help but be a little amused when I saw this. Slowly pulled her to the front and said, "The enemy plane hasn't come yet?" It was a British plane just now! ”

"Hmm, it's a British plane?" Hearing this, Lin Xia couldn't help blushing, and when she thought about what she did just now, she was too ashamed to look at me.

I stood in front of the window and held up my binoculars to look into the sky.

In fact...... At this time, if I want to be safe, I should take Lin Xia back to the bed compartment, because I know very well that the control tower on the warship will definitely be the key target of the enemy aircraft.

But I was not willing to give up this wonderful opportunity to observe, especially since I had already learned to judge the point of explosion from the whistle of a shell when I came down from the battlefield. Of course, there is a difference between an artillery shell and an aerial bomb dropped from an airplane, but I believe that I am fully capable of coping with it.

What's more, I am still representing the Chinese soldiers here, and if I go back to the cabin to hide when the enemy is coming, it will not lose the face of our Chinese soldiers.

"Why don't you go back to the cabin first!" After thinking about it, I said to Lin Xia, this is for her safety.

"No!" Lin Xia shook her head: "You just said that I should follow you!" ”

I won't persuade anything anymore, in fact, I already knew that it would be the answer, women usually don't choose to be alone when they are afraid, even if the place is relatively safe, they would rather choose someone to accompany them, and the person she chooses often makes her feel safe......

Hmm, I couldn't help but be stunned when I thought of this, what was I thinking!

That's when the Argentine fighter plane appeared in my sight. They were very smart, and a total of more than 30 fighters were divided into two groups, one on the left and one on the right, from a low altitude in two directions, and swooped towards the task force.

The aim was obvious, and that was to disperse the Harrier forces of the British army...... You must know that there are only more than 20 Harriers in the British Army, and because of the need to replace, there can only be a dozen Harriers in the air at most at the same time. The reason is that as mentioned before, this will create a gap in air defense and allow the enemy to take advantage of it.

In other words, although the performance and firepower of the British Harrier fighter are significantly superior to the Argentine fighter...... This is obvious, because the Argentine fighter planes that I see in my telescope are the old fighters that I often see on TV and in movies. Although I don't know their exact models, I do know that these are by no means advanced fighters.

Later, I looked at the information and pictures to determine that most of these fighters were the Aquila A4 fighters of the Yankees during World War II, and they were even second-hand, that is, the Yankees were ready to retire and then sold to Argentina. Although Argentina has made the necessary upgrades to these fighters, there is still a considerable gap with the Harrier equipped by the British army.

Therefore, in such a situation of inferiority against strength, it is obviously a wise choice to disperse the enemy's forces as much as possible like Argentina, and only in this way can Argentine fighters break through the British army's firepower network composed of fleets and Harriers.

The battle soon began, and it was not the fighters who were the first to be attacked, but the warships...... With Clapp's order, the Sheffield launched two ship-to-air missiles, and soon the smoke from the tail of the two missiles appeared in the air, like two unsheathed swords pointed directly at the Argentine aircraft group, and then only heard two "boom" sounds, and the two Skyhawk fighters were blown to pieces in the air.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but sigh: Britain has also been brilliant after all, and at this time, our country's ship-to-air missiles do not know where they are.

From this point, it can also be seen that the gap between Britain and Argentina in terms of strength can be seen, but the Argentine fighters were not scared away, and they still flew straight towards the British fleet without changing their direction.

The next thing to meet was the British Harrier, but as I said before, the Harrier was small in number, and it was divided into two parts, each with only five or six planes, so at this time, although they were much superior to the Aquila, they could not stop the Aquila's attack.

As the Aquila broke through the British fleet's defenses, the scene quickly became chaotic.

The sound of anti-aircraft machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, and missile fire in the fleet immediately became loud, and the Argentine fighters were as weak as I thought, because I found that they had to dive and drop bombs as they did in World War II......

Needless to say, the danger of this is that when the fighter plane dives, it means that it is very close to anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery, which means that the Argentine air force is actually gambling with its own life. (To be continued......)