The Entente had realized the inevitability of war. They're preparing for the worst. But their preparation process was still a little slower. When General de Gaulle was ordered to form an armored corps to deal with the breakthrough on the southern front, when the British stationed the first 900 planes in France, when the Americans considered what price the British should be given in exchange for valuable aid. The Germans, preparing for the landing in France, had already arrived in Italy on transport ships! The Allied front-line air force, with a total of 25,000 aircraft, has entered the designated combat position. Millions of troops are ready to go! According to the words of the German leadership, the war could have started in another week.

At this time, in the headquarters of the German High Seas Fleet in Crete, Count Spee, who had just flown from Berlin, was listening to his subordinate Count Luknall's briefing on the situation of the German High Seas Fleet, and on a sand table the size of a conference hall were the models of all the capital ships of the German High Seas Fleet. Looking from behind him, Count Spee could see the deployment of all 14 aircraft carriers in the German High Seas Fleet.

"At the moment our aircraft carriers are mainly deployed in Crete, on the Adriatic coast and in Greece. The entire German fleet consisted of 14 aircraft carriers of 4 classes, 3 battle groups. The first battle group was commanded by Admiral Raeder, and he commanded a total of four aircraft carriers, namely the first generation of our aircraft carriers Blucher and the Von der Tann, with a displacement of about 18,000 tons. The other two aircraft carriers are the Moltke-class aircraft carriers, the lead ship Moltke and the Goburn, and their standard displacement is 29,000 tons. These four main aircraft carriers are equipped with a total of 360 carrier-based aircraft of various types, including 180 FW190T fighters. 90 FW190F dive bombers (attack aircraft version with increased internal fuel capacity) and 60 JU90E torpedo aircraft. There were also 30 reconnaissance aircraft and other aircraft. In order to balance the combat effectiveness, we also prepared 2 aviation cruisers for Admiral Raeder, which carried a total of 40 aircraft. It is quite possible to compensate for the shortage of aircraft in the fleet. "As a relict of the former dynasty, although Count Spee and Raeder are not in the same system, whether from the perspective of ability or the forces represented by the other party, it is necessary to arrange an independent battle group for him.

"The second carrier battle group is under my command and also has a total of four aircraft carriers, all of which are Moltke-class aircraft carriers, namely the Sedritz, the Lütsov, the De Fllinger and the Hindenburg. The four aircraft carriers have a total of 400 carrier-based aircraft (including spare aircraft and deck mooring. The specific combination is 200 FW190T fighters and 120 FW190F attack aircraft. 30 JU90 attack aircraft. In addition, there are 40 twin-engine radar sentinel aircraft, anti-submarine attack aircraft, and electronic warfare aircraft. At the same time, I also have an aviation cruiser in my fleet. "Although Admiral Raeder and Count Lucknar's troops are similar in terms of the number of carrier-based aircraft, it is clear. In terms of strength, the latter is stronger, and the fleet of Count Luckner has a more reasonable and adaptable machine type.

"The Third Aircraft Carrier Strike Group is under your personal command, and there are a total of 6 aircraft carriers, namely the Europa, Bremen and Hamburg of the Europa-class aircraft carriers. and the three new Beast-class 18,000-ton medium-sized aircraft carriers, the Tiger, Puma and Panther. These six aircraft carriers can accommodate a total of about 540 aircraft of various types. Of these, the twin-engine attack aircraft BF110 are 60 units. These aircraft can carry guided bombs. FW190T fighter 240 units. 40 aircraft for other purposes, such as radar sentry aircraft. The number of FW190F attack aircraft and JU90 attack aircraft is 200 units. "There is no doubt about it. Earl Spee's fleet was at the heart of the entire German High Seas Fleet, and it had the most powerful offensive and defensive power. Considering the fragile defenses of the 3 Beast-class medium aircraft carriers, Count Spee's fleet will be slightly further behind.

"A total of 14 aircraft carriers with 1,300 aircraft of all kinds." The Earl said with great satisfaction. "And what about our allies, Austria-Hungary, the Turks, and Spain?"

"Austria-Hungary now has five aircraft carriers, an 18,000-ton medium fleet carrier Silesia, and four other 27,000-ton armored aircraft carriers, all of whom are of the Lord Loudoun class. They are Lord Loudoun, Austria, Hungary and Ferdinand. After the start of the war, Austria-Hungary was able to complete the Lord Loudoun class ship No. 5, the Throne. Austria-Hungary insisted on organizing its own fleet into a separate group. Commanded by General Jordi. Their fleet currently has 400 aircraft of various types, including 210 BF109 fighters and FW190 fighters. There were a total of 100 JU90 bombers and FW190T bombers, and the remaining 90 torpedo planes. Count Luknall thought for a moment and continued.

"The Spaniards also have 2 medium-sized aircraft carriers, the Ibilis and the Madrid. The performance of these two aircraft carriers is close to our first-generation aircraft carrier USS Blucher. The Spanish fleet has about 160 carrier-based aircraft of various types. The Turks have 2 medium aircraft carriers and 1 armored aircraft carrier, which are much the same as the Blucher, and the last armored aircraft carrier is being outfitted. The three-carrier fleet will have about 260 aircraft of all kinds. However, judging by the current attitude of the two countries, they cherish their fleet, and the Turks have advised that their supervision remain in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to ensure the security of the lines of communication. And the Spaniards even said that their aircraft carrier power system had some problems and could only do close cruising in the Mediterranean. The Russians were more troublesome, they seemed to have made up their minds to fight us, and before the fleet was handed over, they destroyed some of the parts! We need to do some repairs before we can use it. At this point, there was a wave of anger in Count Luckner's words.

"It seems that we can only rely on ourselves, as Marshal Schell said before his death, the external environment of the German Navy after the end of the First World War was even worse than before the First World War. The naval backbone of the Allies before World War 1 was the German, Italian and Austrian three carriages. And now, except for Austria-Hungary. Turkey only cares about its own one-third of an acre of land, and there is no big picture to speak of. And Spain is the first to do both. Probably, in the Italian War, the Allies and the huge fleets of China frightened the country. There was a hint of helplessness in Earl Spee's words.

He now somewhat agreed with the statements of his predecessors, Marshals Scheer and Hipper. So far, Germany can be said to be the public enemy of the world. Except for Austria-Hungary. The Germans could no longer find a loyal ally. The victory in World War 1 pushed Germany to an unprecedented peak, but at the same time, it also made the Germans blindly trust the war knife in their hands. They rely more on force than on politics and strategy to solve problems. Time and again, violence has been used to challenge the bottom line of countries. Although the momentum is now flourishing, the Entente are at a disadvantage in Europe, and China has not yet made its attitude clear for various reasons. But if it were to the point where the world was defeated, would Germany continue to win? Count Spee was very uncertain.

However, the Count was a soldier, and politics was not his main business. What he has to do now is how to use the resources in his hands to fight this battle. At present, there are as many as 19 aircraft carriers that can be assigned to their own name. Such a large fleet was divided into four battle groups, and it was a problem to organize and arrange attacks during the battle. Although the Germans had conducted many experiments, it would be difficult for the anti-fleet to control the four battle groups and have them release nearly 900 aircraft of various types to attack in the first wave. How to effectively distribute tasks and how to effectively arrange attack aircraft groups are very troublesome things.

"As the size of the fleet has grown, our chain of command has been seriously challenged, and it has been difficult for us to effectively allocate targets. In simulated battles, it is not uncommon for hundreds of aircraft to attack one of the opposing fleets while the other fleets are left unattended. Hundreds of planes make up in the air. It is difficult to coordinate the order of attacks. The sky was chaotic, with some planes attacking, others circling aimlessly. While the attack is disorderly, the defense is just as troublesome. The interval between the aircraft carrier groups is about 10 to 15 nautical miles, and each aircraft carrier releases direct guard fighters, which are generally hovering over their own fleet, and we try to concentrate the aircraft of more than ten squadrons of up to 4 fleets for defense, but because of information processing and communication problems. We were eventually forced to abandon the idea, and the final defense model became that of each aircraft carrier battle group pulling a subset of aircraft to form a joint defense force. The remaining fighters are only responsible for the security of the skies over the fleet. In Admiral Raeder's diary, the situation of the German Navy before the war was clearly recorded, and the German naval strategy and tactics at this time had been formed, but there were still some flaws in the actual operation. It can only be said that it has achieved 7 maturity. And that's exactly what Count Spee feared.

However, even the seven-fledged German navy actually had an advantage over the Entente. The air force of southern France was weak, and the air forces of the Central Powers in Spain and Italy could completely suppress each other's land-based air forces. Although the US Navy has as many as 16 aircraft carriers of various types, the British have no way to accommodate all of this huge fleet. In fact, the front-line forces of the two sides are very close on paper. Considering that the Germans were not mature but were one step ahead of their opponents, the advantage of the German Navy was actually very large, even if the Caesar-class aircraft carriers, the strongest of the Germans, did not participate in the war. Even if the proportion of German twin-engine aircraft is low, the proportion of bombers capable of carrying guided munitions is even lower. At this time, the Germans still had a great advantage.

At the same time, the Allied Air Force also entered a state of imminent war, and the strength of the entire 20 air corps of the Luftwaffe was deployed in Germany proper, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Spain! These air forces were divided into three groups, namely the German Home Air Army, which consisted of about 12,000 aircraft of various types in 10 air armies. The Austro-Hungarian-Italian Naval and Air Group has four air forces under its jurisdiction and about 4,300 fighters of various types. Combined with the Austro-Hungarian Empire's own air forces, the Allied Powers actually had more than 8,000 air forces in the region. The Ibilisi Peninsula Air Force is a total of 6 air armies with nearly 6,000 aircraft of all kinds. And the French Air Force, which corresponds to the powerful air force of the Allies, has only 13,000 aircraft! About 8,000 of them were deployed in the northern part of France, and 6,000 of the 8,000 aircraft were deployed in northeastern France, where the French built a very strong defensive anti-air fortress, known as the Maginot Line in the air. There are only more than 4000 aircraft in the south. Even counting the reinforcements of the British Air Force and the US Air Force, the total number of Air Force aircraft deployed in the French region in the future will not exceed 18 thousand! This is at a disadvantage with the Allied Air Force's 25,000 or so aircraft. If we take into account the gap in the performance of the aircraft of the French Air Force and the unfavorable deployment of bases, then the gap between the two sides will be even greater!

However, despite being a good hand, Richthofen was still very calm. He carefully worked out the battle plan, perfecting every detail after the battle began. This time, the Luftwaffe did not start with an overwhelming all-out bombardment, nor did it start with a steady attack from the enemy's forward air bases, but took a targeted attack. The Luftwaffe abandoned its concentrated bombing of northeastern France because of its proximity to Britain and the fact that German aircraft attacking the Paris area would be flanked by both British and French attacks. Tactically very passive. And here is the core defense zone of the French, the radar and ground air defense facilities are the strongest.

The Luftwaffe, attacking from the Franco-German border, would give way to this area and bomb the central and northwestern parts of France directly. The Allies considered the northwestern part of France to be the safest, since it was the closest to Germany, so the Allied air forces used it as their general rear and general reserve. But in reality, because of the presence of Griffin strategic bombers, there was no safe area in mainland France, and FW190 fighters carrying auxiliary fuel tanks focused on attacking air bases in northwestern France and seaports on the Atlantic side under the cover of sections. Fundamentally weaken France's replenishment capabilities, and at the same time completely destroy France's southern air forces on the southern front, and finally cooperate with the navy and air force to launch an attack on the core area centered on Paris.

The Germans did not worry at all that the British could send a steady stream of reinforcements to France, and in the eyes of the Germans, it was more cost-effective for the British to come and die themselves than for German planes to fly over the English Channel to challenge their opponents. The Spitfire's short legs make it difficult for it to have much of an impact on the situation in southern France, even if it is deployed in the northeastern part of France. As for the D520 aircraft of the French, the Germans were convinced that their FW190 fighters could completely suppress their opponents!

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