Sure enough, three hours and twenty minutes later, Franz's FuMO radar detected an unidentified group of aircraft approaching dozens of kilometers away.

"Yes, Captain." The sergeant, staring at the scope, reported: "There is a large target in the direction of 140, and this corrugated feature is most likely Sunderland; There is a group of small targets in direction 105, much like the last time we encountered Swordfish. ”

The display screens of early radars were not the screens and rotating sectors that later generations remembered, but oscilloscopes—the kind of experiments that can be compared to those used in high schools and universities.

The PPI-type flat panel display with a rotating fan-shaped style was adopted only in Britain and the United States in the middle and late stages of the World War.

Eleven Swordfish torpedo planes from the USS Athletic took off from the USS Athletic from the Royal Navy's 814th Attack Aircraft Squadron, and the Swordfish found Franz without much trouble thanks to the constant reporting of coordinates by American destroyers.

The rough Atlantic Ocean in the past is rarely calm today, and the British pilots can clearly see the situation on the sea in the distance-

Four destroyers were scattered like close escorts around the large battleship in the middle, which left a long white trail on the sea.

Captain Scully, who was in the lead, glanced at the identification manual again, and said with satisfaction: "Exactly, that's the Franz, ready to enter the attack route." ”

Today, the sky is high and the waves are calm, and if you kill the German guy, you will win!

Good weather and sea conditions were ideal for torpedo attacks, but everything was relative, which also provided quite good conditions for the German warships to carry forward their anti-aircraft fire.

"Enemy aircraft spotted! The sight angle is 17 degrees, about 10 planes. ”

"Hans! Give me the filter cover! ”

"Air defense control, combat state!"

After quickly completing the range, the twin/Type 34 105mm anti-aircraft gun opened fire into the distant sky.

The large fragmentation grenade is timed by a fuze tester and then loaded into the breech and fired.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ”

Clouds of gray-black smoke erupted from behind the swordfish, and a few planes were shaken up and down by the violent shock wave.

They split into two groups, flanking from the front left and the back left.

After the destroyer Sims gave the order to stay away, the four American destroyers sailed away one after another, and went to the side to watch the show.

It can be said that the air defense level of the Workers' Navy is very well matched, the outer ring is responsible for 105mm large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, the middle ring is responsible for 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and the inner ring is given to quadruple 20mm anti-aircraft guns.

Although the diameter of the barrel of the 37mm anti-aircraft gun of the /37 type is not as large as the 83 times diameter of the historical "37 hand-pulled machine", its rate of fire is as much as three times that of the latter.

A single ship against a squadron of Swordfish torpedo machines? This is the first time in the Atlantic.

The British plane, which was hit by the shell, burst into a conspicuous fire, which soon turned into a fireball, planted into the sea like a falling meteor, and splashed a large white wave.

"Look! See! They are approaching! ”

"The British planes are too slow."

"Oh no, it was shot down."

The American sailors aboard the destroyer Sims watched the exchange of British planes and German warships with great engrossion.

Witnessing a battle in the air and sea like this without any burden is truly an experience of a lifetime!

The captain of the ship, Major Frank, looked at it with a stern expression, and he found that the penetration ability of the British carrier-based aircraft was much worse than that of his own country.

The torpedo squadrons of the USS Lexington, USS Yorktown, and USS Raider have been equipped with cutting-edge TBD torpedo planes - all-metal lower wings, which can reach a maximum flight speed of 300km/h, which is a full 30% faster than the British swordfish torpedo planes.

"Captain, the British......"

"They can't do it." Frank put down his binoculars and frowned: "I don't know why the British Navy insists on using biplanes, that's the price of conservatism." ”

Three of the 11 Swordfish torpedo planes were shot down on their way to the attack course, and as the distance closed, they came within range of the 20mm anti-aircraft guns.

The four quadruple 20mm anti-aircraft guns on the port side of the Franz roared in unison, hail shells battering at the swordfish as they flew leisurely.

In an instant, dazzling tracer bullets filled the half of the sky.

A few British pilots were in a hurry, and in panic, they hurriedly dropped their torpedoes without waiting for the distance to close.

Being hit by a 20mm high-explosive shell will at least not disintegrate on the spot, which can probably be regarded as good news. The smoking swordfish lost control and tumbled and fell into the sea.

The hastily dropped torpedoes by the Swordfish were rather messy, some far away and some near, and they were completely not up to the level of training.

Seeing the torpedo falling into the water, the Franz immediately evaded the left rudder under the command of Major General Hubert, and dodged a full seven aviation torpedoes with a standard inward maneuver.

The swordfish, having completed their attack, turned around and sailed back, while the Germans saw them off to the sound of rumbling cannons.

After a few minutes, the entire sea returned to calm.

The destroyer USS Downs (DD-375) cruised around the spot where the British plane crashed into the sea, trying to find survivors, and she managed to rescue a backseat machine gunner.

Six Swordfish were shot down, but in the end, only this lucky man was rescued, which shows the magnitude of the operational risk of naval aviation.

The four American destroyers continued to follow the Franz in such close quarters, much to the irritation of the German sailors.

One of the key tactics of the war is to hide their whereabouts, even disguise themselves as other ships by camouflaging chimneys and turrets.

But now the Franz is so entangled by the Americans, what is this called?

Major General Hubert asked in a deep voice, "Has the command replied?" ”

After a long wait, Berlin finally telegraphed back - the Leaders and the War Council were working on countermeasures, and for the time being, please decide for themselves without hostile acts.

What is clear is that there will be dissent in any aggregate.

In the upper echelons of the German Society, which is more relaxed, as soon as a topic involves the United States, all kinds of different opinions quickly appear.

Some pessimists believe that bad relations with the United States will lead to a bad situation, and that the German Society needs ample time to integrate Europe.

Europe's millennia-old ethnic estrangement and resentment cannot be underestimated, and this cannot be easily resolved by the same ideology.

The United States, which has ended halfway, can try to sow discord, divide and disintegrate, and destroy the ultimate cause.

In fact, this is no longer speculation but fact - intelligence indicates that the British side is plotting a plot to sow discord between Germany and France.

“…… Some comrades have ideological misunderstandings. It must be made clear that we must not be strategically afraid of the enemy, and that we must have full confidence in the sacred cause we are undertaking; Tactically you can't fall into the enemy's trap. ”

"As the world's largest and most isolated capitalist group, the cunning American big bourgeoisie is trying to join the war, but they also need to look for opportunities to agitate the people. War cannot be avoided, and the luck mentality is weak and irresponsible. ”

The actions of the US Atlantic Fleet have been carried out in accordance with the federal government's intentions, and the upper echelons of the German Agency are well aware of this.

However, in terms of tactics, or in this matter, in the face of deliberately provocative hostile acts, they should be avoided.

Sooner or later, the United States will find excuses, make up enough excuses, and gather enough public opinion, but the longer it drags on until then, the better it will be for the German Society.

From a macro strategic point of view, the series of military operations carried out by the German Society so far are morally aimed at defending security and liberating the population.

But with the main fighting over, the German Society found that even large-scale military operations in the name of justice were still prone to resentment.

Feedback from Norway, Sweden, and France was not satisfactory, and Ernst realized that a direct attack, while simple and straightforward, was not a small risk.

The strong armed forces of the German Society should not be used as a sharp spear, but as a strong shield; On the contrary, the mind should be a sharp spear.

This is also the reason why the German Society did not send troops to Russian Poland, the three Baltic states, and Tsarist Russia.

They wanted to try it and see if they could let the Russians solve it themselves with only a large amount of aid and advisers and a small number of volunteers, and they really couldn't think about going into battle themselves.

What annoys the upper echelons of the German Society is that the damned British are still going against the grain everywhere and doing disgusting things.

The number of millions of German troops swept through France, and the base was so large that it was impossible to ensure that none of its officers and men made mistakes.

The British, on the other hand, have singled out these things to publicize them in a big way, and have even set up an organization called the "French Football Training Committee" to use radio broadcasts to publicize the contradictions between Germany and France to the French people and stir up their resistance.

The commissioner sent by the French Democratic Commune also formally appealed to Berlin that the Commune government could lead the French people to build and defend the country, and hoped that the German army would withdraw from French territory.

Although the upper echelons of the German Society had such a plan, the German officers and soldiers and some people were very unhappy about it, and they felt a little hot on their faces and cold butts.

Although everything is not so rosy and rosy, at least now the blockade of the German society has collapsed and trade between Germany and France is back to normal.

Trains laden with ore and goods clatter across the Franco-German border – iron ore from Lorraine, bauxite from Provence, ball bearings from SNR, optical instruments from HUET, and much more.

And in the Caucasus region of distant Eastern Europe, the Red Eagle Legion is in full swing preparing for war.

The 4th Mountain Division had been stationed in Sweden for a while, then returned home for a short two-week sabbatical before being ordered to travel all the way here.

Because of the rugged mountainous terrain that the armored forces could not do, the task of marching to Baku fell on the mountain division and two other infantry divisions.

The British kept a twelve-point interest in this - just kidding, it was a huge oil field with more than 20 million tons of crude oil production, and if the Germans got their hands on it, what would they get?

The 44th, 84th, and 158th squadrons of the Royal Air Force, equipped with Wheatley MkII medium bombers, were ordered to take off from mainland China and transfer to Jordan, the British Empire's colony in the Middle East, and then deploy to the French colony of Beirut in preparation for a strategic bombing of Baku.

The British 50th Infantry Division, stationed in Cairo, and the South African 1st Infantry Division, which had just arrived in Port Said, also received orders to organize an expeditionary force to go north through the French colonies and eastern Turkey to Baku.

It is clear that the flames of war will soon spread to new places.

Next.

Daming Jingshi should be Tianfu, the Forbidden City.

"Virtuous people are old-fashioned, but they are not so easy to be fooled. The more the enemy tries to provoke you, the less they will be able to get their wish. ”

After learning of what happened in the Atlantic, Zhu Lingjing was convinced that the Xinde Society would most likely choose to ignore it, preferring to suspend the operation to break diplomatic relations rather than find an excuse for the United States.

"But Your Majesty, Rao is like this, the ministers estimate that the United States can take the opportunity to participate in the war within half a year at the latest, and on average, I am afraid it will be in the past three months." Gao Qingkui said.

"Well, the German-American rivalry is interesting, but I don't have to think about it that much now. They play theirs, we fight ours. ”

After determining that the Americans were bound to fight the Germans, the Ming monarch was completely relieved, and then he could calmly implement the plan to attack Australia.

She asked, "What is the situation at the Governor's Palace?" When will the troops be fully prepared? ”

Zhou Changfeng thought about it for a moment and replied: "The personnel of the General Command of the Division Headquarters, the Fifth Army, and the Sixth Army are basically in place, there are still two infantry divisions on the way, and the heavy artillery brigade is slower, and it is scheduled to be completed by the end of this month." ”

Because the scale of the troops participating in the war was far greater than in the past, the Ming army for the first time established the corps to meet the needs of actual combat, and the corps headquarters was called the Supervisor Department.

The Australian Corps has the Fifth and Sixth Armies, a number of independent heavy tank battalions, and a large number of logistics units.

The Fifth Army is under the jurisdiction of the 2nd, 4th, 10th, 11th, and 27th Infantry Divisions, and the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Field Heavy Artillery Brigades.

The Sixth Army is under the jurisdiction of the 12th, 13th, 37th, 38th, and 40th Infantry Divisions, and the 5th and 6th Field Heavy Artillery Brigades.

In addition, the 1st and 2nd Tank Brigades and the 1st and 2nd Motorized Infantry Brigades are also fully engaged in combat as combat units directly under the Corps.

The Air Force will also deploy two destroyer detachments, two bomber detachments, and one transport aircraft detachment, and decide whether to deploy additional units depending on the situation.

The total strength of the Australian Corps is 180,000, and if you include logistics and miscellaneous personnel, the number will exceed 300,000.

In order to meet the need to send these troops to the southern hemisphere as soon as possible, all of Daming's supercruise ships have ceased operations.

Five cruise ships, including the Shengping and Suzaku, were immediately requisitioned by the military department and sent to the shipyard, where they were dismantled and sealed for the lavish interiors and transformed into large high-speed troop carriers.

The so-called soldiers and horses have not moved the grain and grass first, and the army has not yet been mobilized, and a large amount of military supplies have already set off for Batavia and Surabaya.

This is done to stock up in advance to save capacity later.

"Your Majesty, there are still a lot of government affairs to be busy in the imperial court, please retire."

After concluding the decision here, Gao Qingkui left, and there were still countless things waiting for the head of government to deal with in person.

"Now I can somewhat understand how the emperor felt after the army went out in the past." Zhu Lingjing sighed with emotion, "Compared with the Nanyang, where the victory is in hand, the labor division's expedition to half a world away is a bit ...... Disturbed. ”

(End of chapter)