For some time after that, the German forces on the Eastern Front began to move intensively. A large number of men, horses and baggage were loaded onto the train and then rushed to the south flank of Warsaw with the rumble of steam engines. The dense railway network built by Germany before the war with huge manpower and material resources played an incomparable role in the dispatch of troops in the war. Seeing the Germans moving their troops from one region to another with incredible speed, without the slightest confusion in the middle, Hezendorff was amazed and filled with admiration and admiration for the Central European Empire to his north.

However, after all, this is a large-scale movement of more than 300,000 troops, and the materials that need to be transported are extremely large; Even the German railway line took about a week to complete. And the Russian army, as shown by the intelligence obtained in the hands of Hezendorff, is carrying out intense maneuvers in the Polish region. Millions of troops began to masse, and Russia's numerical superiority finally began to show itself after the second month of mobilization; If you just look at the lineup on paper, it's still a terrifying force. Both sides are accumulating strength for the upcoming big battle, preparing to give the other a complete break in the second phase of the battle.

The war on land was quietly brewing, but the struggle at sea set off a new round of waves.

On 28 June, the German Admiralty declared the waters around Britain a zone of engagement, and German submarines would have the right to sink British and French cargo ships in these waters without warning. The first batch of more than 40 submarines then sailed into the North Sea, turning the eastern Atlantic into its own hunting grounds.

Unlike in history. Since 1895, Qingying has invested a lot of money in the initial research and development and technology accumulation of submarines at his own shipyard in Ninghagen. And because of the special relationship between him and Tirpitz, these achievements that condensed the crystallization of the designer's wisdom were not ignored and repeatedly despised like the American Holland submarine, but received a lot of orders from the Admiralty. Driven by this "first blow from God", German submarines entered a virtuous circle of steady development from the very beginning: the Admiralty was satisfied with the performance of submarines and purchased them in bulk, while the design institute invested huge financial returns in research and development, continued to innovate in technology, and developed a new generation of works that were better than the previous ones.

By the time of the outbreak of the Great War in 1913. Germany already has the largest underwater force in the world. More than 150 submarines of various types are in service with the Navy in Tirpitz. In addition to the early small submarines that served as training missions, there are also more than 130 combat submarines that can attack the ocean at any time. And in the field of technology, German submarines are also far ahead of their counterparts in the world. Currently, the Ninhagen shipyard has delivered several large submarines with an underwater displacement of more than 1200 tons to the German Navy; Whether it's firepower, speed, diving depth, endurance, or self-sustaining time. They're almost perfect to the point where they don't seem to belong to this era!

But. Although German submarines were already far superior in the field of technology to their ill-fated counterparts of the Entente. However, the inherent shortcomings of submarines are by no means overcome. The narrow field of view, the slow speed underwater, and the inability to confront even the weakest escort destroyer are three key factors that define the value proposition of the submarine. It can only be used as a naval auxiliary force in coordination with surface ships. In order to maximize the power of submarines, they must be in a relatively small area, with a high concentration of enemy merchant ships and a lack of surface ships to patrol the enemy. Only in this way can the submarine avoid all its shortcomings and give full play to its advantage of being hidden underwater, and deal a fatal blow to the enemy ship.

Theoretically, this kind of sea area should not exist in the first place. With so many merchant ships to pass through Guò, it was impossible for the Allied navies not to focus on defending the area: Gibraltar and Alexandria, near Egypt, were heavily patrolled by British warships. But there are exceptions. At present, there is really one place in this ideal sea area, that is, the east coast of Africa adjacent to the equator, the mouth of the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.

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On the vast blue sea, a slender gray-black submarine is paddling through layers of waves and sailing leisurely ahead. The two MAN diesel engines made a cheerful abrupt sound, adding a bit of joy to the sound of a rolling wave. The sea is hot and humid, and the sun is harsh. On the low deck, which was constantly flooded by the sea, several figures in white military uniforms stood on the railing, breathing in the freshest air that belonged to nature.

On the four-meter-high conning tower, German Navy Lieutenant Scholz was boredly observing the unchanging situation around him. The vast ocean waves are already familiar to him. When he first joined the Navy, Schultz, who grew up in Saxony, was fascinated by this endless blue ocean; And when he had served on a training ship for more than half a year, he could no longer praise the sea with any poetic praise. Even when the wind and sun are always beautiful, the eternal blue sea and blue sky will make people have indescribable aesthetic fatigue; And once the ocean is angry, even the most experienced veteran sailors will tremble in the face of this irresistible force of nature!

Two years ago, Schultz had also been horrified by ocean storms; However, when he became the captain of the U-19 submarine of the German Far East Fleet, he was able to deal with the ferocious and tyrannical sea. Although this submarine has a water displacement of only 520 tons, it belongs to the current German Navy submarine force with the worst strength except for training boats and pocket boats; However, it was able to dive to a depth of 45 meters to escape the tsunami rains raging on the surface. Even if the sea is high and rough, the sea at this depth is still not rippling; The sufficient supply of oxygen can also ensure that the submarine can have enough diving time.

On May 6, at the command of Vice Admiral Spee, the U-19, along with three other submarines, set off from the cave in Manila to the Ottoman port of Basra, thousands of miles away. In order to reach his destination safely, Schultz did not follow the Strait of Malacca waterway under the nose of the British Far East Fleet, but quietly bypassed the Indonesian archipelago, and then used nautical charts and the starry sky above him to find his bearings. During this long journey across the world, the U-19 encountered many violent tsunamis in the deep sea, but all of them escaped the cusp of the storm safely underwater, and then surfaced to continue sailing.

Due to the distance from Manila to Basra, in the absence of GPS and satellite positioning, the submarine will undoubtedly be prone to deviation during the long ocean. The U-19 sailed at economic speed for a month and a half before entering the Arabian Sea west of India. To Schultz and the rest of the crew, they came across a German camouflaged attack ship in this sea area: when the U-19 surfaced and was about to force the "British freighter" to stop, they found that the other ship was actually calling the identification signal of their own navy!

On this strange ocean, thousands of miles away from the German mainland, they were able to meet soldiers from their own country, and the German sailors on both ships all gave birth to a sense of surprise and emotion when they met their old people in a foreign land. At Scholz's request, the captain of the raider readily gave the submariners who had traveled from the Far East food and fresh water, and poured more than a dozen tons of diesel fuel into the U-19's already half-depleted tanks. After receiving this unexpected supply, Schultz's confidence was greatly increased; Instead of rushing across the Strait of Hormuz to Basra for supplies from the Turks, he decided to head west to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the western port of the Gulf of Aden, to ambush passing Allied merchant ships. The U-19 is equipped with 10 450-mm torpedoes, and he can make good use of the hole card in his hand that has not yet been played! And when he announced this decision to all 28 crew members, the young faces showed excitement, and cheers immediately resounded throughout the submarine. After a long and boring voyage at sea, it was time to find something else to stimulate their already numb nerves!

The sun is blazing and the sun is blazing. Located in the Gulf of Aden near the equator, the temperature is almost above 30 degrees Celsius all year round, and even if there is an oncoming sea breeze and hunting and blowing, Schultz, who is exposed to direct sunlight, still produces a rather unbearable heat. He was about to find someone to take over his guard duties, when suddenly he heard the cry of a seagull. Schultz was shocked in his heart, looked up, and saw a white gull bird in the northwest sky, spreading its wings and flying quickly in all directions.

"We are not far from the coast. The guys who are still on the deck, immediately return to their respective posts and prepare for battle! Schultz exclaimed to the sailors on the deck in front of him.

Following Scholz's order, several German sailors on deck ran back to the conning tower and quickly climbed into the submarine through the guò hatch. A few minutes later, the sailors in charge of various parts of the submarine, such as the diesel engine compartment, the generator compartment, the water pressure compartment, and the torpedo compartment, reported to him from under him the news that the machinery was working normally. Scholz then ordered the submarine to pump in half of the sea water and move at a third speed, while he himself still stretched half of his body out of the conning tower to observe the movements around him. He had a faint premonition in his heart that his first victory would be achieved in this sea area. (To be continued......)

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The author will go on a business trip to the construction site in Inner Mongolia from the day after tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, for a period of between half a month and a month. During this period, it will not be possible to maintain normal updates, and I hope that you will forgive me and I will resume the update as soon as I come back