Compared to the army and air force, the German Navy has always been in a very awkward position. On the one hand, they were valued by the Führer, but on the other hand, they embarked on a path of development in which even they did not quite believe in themselves.

On September 13, just after the beginning of the war, the command of the German Navy was in chaos. Compared to the Army's expectations of war, the Air Force's confidence in the future, and the German Navy's inferiority complex buried deep in the shadow of the British Royal Navy, they were filled with fear of the coming war.

"We tried our best to get the Führer to go to war next year, but the army and air force bastards made the Führer make an unwise choice. Raeder looked at the complex navy-specific drawings and complained to Dönitz, the commander-in-chief of the Navy's submarine forces.

Dönitz sighed helplessly, he worked overtime to supervise the manufacture of submarines, frantically produced submarine forces, hoping that the German Navy could restore the size of the former submarine forces, but the sudden war still disrupted his steps.

He glanced at the map, pointed to the North Sea, and said: "I will build a formation of surface warships and go to sea immediately! We cannot let the British Navy block the military port, and then the aircraft carrier will be even more dangerous." ”

Raeder frowned and said, "Do you think I don't want to go out? Two new aircraft carriers are being installed, and if I don't wait for these two aircraft carriers to join the combat force, I won't have the strength to meet the British Royal Navy at sea!

"I have deployed forty submarines and formed ten search formations to provide you with intelligence reconnaissance in the North Sea. Dönitz said: "We can't defeat the British Royal Navy, but we can still try to avoid the British main fleet on the sea." ”

"I sometimes envy your submarine forces. Raeder glanced at Dönitz, then sighed and said, "Ugh...... If you can't beat it, you can just dive into the water. ”

"There's no use complaining!" Dönitz smiled: "Tell the fleet to leave! Deal with the British for a month, and you will have another reinforcement!"

"What about the Danzig Corridor?" Raeder said, "and the plan was drawn up that the Navy would have to support combat operations along the coast of the Danzig Corridor. We've sent that a few troops, can we?"

"The Führer will understand us!" Dönitz said, pointing to the map, "In order to prevent the British from cutting off Swedish iron ore imports, our main fleet must maintain deterrence. Therefore, it is impossible to allocate more troops to participate in any cover operations. ”

"Well, then I'll send a telegram to the detachment!" Raeder nodded and said, "Order them to cover the Army's operation!" ”

"When I sail with the naval fleet, the base will be under your command!" Raeder stood up and said, "I will take the fleet to evade the British naval fleet according to intelligence, and I hope that the first time I sail in a state of war, there will be no mistakes." ”

"Probably not. "Although our navy lacks training and combat readiness, there should be no problem in escaping under the cover of aviation, right?"

Dönitz looked at Raeder, and then remembered what the Führer had said to him: don't underestimate the British Royal Navy, which is a truly global deployment navy with absolute quality and quantity superiority, and if it can avoid the decisive battle in the early stage, leave enough room for the German Navy to develop, and look for opportunities to surpass and defeat it in one fell swoop, it is the best policy.

"Do as instructed by the Führer. After thinking about it, Dönitz said to Raeder: "Send naval aviation to reconnoiter the surroundings, and if you encounter a lone British ship, eat them! If there is a Royal Navy main fleet, retreat!"

"Fight a guerrilla war at sea!" He pointed to the North Sea and said: "You can't get mixed up here! Just retreat back to the combat radius of the shore-based air force! Catherine and Dick will definitely not watch the navy suffer!"

"General, the naval convoy has assembled outside the port. The adjutant came over and reported, "We should go!" The aircraft carrier Bismarck is already here, and the Zeppelin will leave in 15 minutes. ”

"Don't worry! I don't ask for merit, but I want no fault! I have all the money of the German Navy in my hands, and I won't bury it lightly!" Raeder motioned for his adjutant to go out with him, and said to Dönitz solemnly: "It's you, it's more worrying! The Führer doesn't seem to pay much attention to the conventions of international law on submarine warfare, so you have to persuade him more to avoid provoking the United States." ”

After saying that, he walked out.

On the afternoon of September 13, 1937, two hours after France declared war on Germany, 14 warships of the German Navy's High Seas Fleet, including two aircraft carriers, left the port and sailed into the icy North Sea.

"Long live the Führer! Report to the captain! Call from the General Command!" a first mate walked up to the captain of a German Navy destroyer with a white brimmed hat, saluted, and handed the message to the captain.

The captain took the telegram, looked down, and immediately ordered: "All artillery ammunition! Raise the battle flag! Aim at the Polish coast! Speed up!"

"Captain, I received information from the transport fleet the other day that the Poles have newly laid mines in the nearby waters...... Isn't it, don't you want to speed up yet?" the first mate was stunned for a moment, and then asked.

"What you say also makes sense, then don't speed up yet, move slowly along the coast, pay attention to adjust the course, and don't get into the range of the Poles' coastal defense artillery fire. The captain nodded.

This was a German naval task force with only three warships, a cruiser with two destroyers, which was deployed off the coast of Poland as a support for coastal operations in the Danzig corridor area. However, with the current situation of the German Navy, it seems that if aircraft carriers are not deployed as support, the rest of the warships seem to have difficulty adapting to this traditional naval role.

Because in the traditional naval role, ground support is entrusted to battleships or heavy cruisers with large-caliber naval guns, and those 381 mm caliber and 280 mm caliber cannons can of course calmly face the enemy's defensive batteries on the shore.

However, in addition to the aircraft carrier, the German navy now has light cruisers and destroyers, both of which are only equipped with high-level dual-purpose guns with anti-aircraft weapons, the largest caliber is only 150 mm, and most of them are only 88 mm guns - this caliber is too small to deal with shore defense guns, so Raeder could have moved at least 10 warships, but only sent a pitiful three.

Originally, the caliber of artillery was not dominant, and if the warship wanted to attack the shore defense artillery, it could only rely on speed and evasion to fight a war of movement, and it could use high-speed zigzag movement to avoid its own losses as much as possible (of course, this is not a very reliable method, and it also affects the accuracy of its own artillery attack), but the Poles laid mines in the nearby sea areas and cooperated with the shore defense guns to defend, which created a very tricky problem for the German fleet.

"Fire, attack the port facilities!" Seeing that the fleet command flag was hoisted on the cruiser, and the two destroyers were notified of the attack by light, and all the guns of the destroyer in the front were pointed to the starboard side, the captain took a deep breath and ordered.

"Boom!" 88 mm guns spewed flames, five 88 mm single-barreled guns on one destroyer, 10 guns on two, and three 150mm single-barreled guns on the cruiser, the scene of 13 guns salvo still looked very grand.

On the other side, it was very quiet, and the black smoke raised by the shells hitting the target could already be observed with telescopes, but the return fire from the shore defense guns still did not arrive. So the three warships followed their own course and got closer to the coast.

"Let's hope that the Poles won't fight back. The captain put down his binoculars and muttered. He was obviously a little unsure about doing such an unsuitable job for his battleship. If he let his warship go to air defense, he would feel more at ease.

The Poles obviously did not want to let his idea come true, and soon a column of water several stories high splashed around the battleship, accompanied by a huge explosion, which made the entire battleship shake, and in the fortifications near the port, the Polish large-caliber coastal defense artillery began to counterattack, judging from the fact that one attack was a close miss, the defenders were obviously very high.

"Enemy artillery fire!" "Observe the sailor's loud report: "Close miss!"

"Speed up evasion!" The captain still couldn't hold his breath because of his youth: "Immediately evade the voyage! If the hull of the ship is hit by one of these large-caliber shells, it will be completely finished." ”

"Send a signal to the command ship! Let them change the channel immediately! The enemy artillery fire is very fierce! It is not suitable for a destroyer attack like ours!" the captain thought for a moment and added, "Let's find an opportunity to break away too." ”

"Sail due north!" The adjutant gave the captain's order in a loud voice: "Keep firing at the tail gun! Observe the sailors in their positions! Pay attention to the water! Avoid mines!"

"Attention! Enemy artillery fire!" "Observe the sailor again: "Close miss!"

"Captain, signal from the command ship! They have begun to disengage, good luck to us. The first mate glanced at the telegram handed over by the signal soldier and reported. Probably because of the attack of Polish coastal defense artillery, from just now, the flags and lights on the flagship were in a mess, and they had to rely on the slowest message to inform the news.

"Mine suspicious ahead!" a observing sailor reported loudly.

"Slow down! engine reversal!" the captain commanded in a loud voice: "Which side of the gunwale?"

"Starboard direction!" replied the sailor in a loud voice, "It can be circumvented!"

"Continue to the left full rudder!" the captain ordered.

The speed of the boat slowed down suddenly, and it seemed that the power room was beginning to turn upside down. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and it seemed that they had avoided the mine.

"Cannonballs!" shouted the observer sailor.

The hull shuddered at the shout, and then a loud explosion followed. In the process of swaying, the last consciousness of the captain was clearly imprinted in his mind: It's over! I was hit by a cannonball!

Long Ling has something to do today, and the second chapter is estimated to be updated late, please forgive me!