ps: Embarrassed, why is even "Tu-Ni-Si" blocked......

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After the Battle of Jutland last year, the British Home Fleet was wiped out and the seas around Britain were opened to Germany. Taking advantage of this opportunity, in October Germany seized the Shetland Islands in northeastern Britain, a strategically important place that would henceforth control the Atlantic Ocean and the northern North Sea.

Germany was not enough, and in November it occupied the Faroe Islands of neutral Denmark, preparing for a complete blockade of Britain. Well, according to Erdezi, this is just a "lease", and they pay Denmark 5 million marks or the equivalent of materiel as rent every year, but this agreement does not stipulate the lease period. But for Denmark, this is also a helpless thing, don't you see that the British Empire has been beaten into a dog? Even if you know that this is Liu Bei's borrowing from Jingzhou, you have to pinch your nose and admit it. It's already good that the native hasn't been leased by Erdezi, where do they dare to say anything.

After the success of the Irish uprising, it became a German sphere of influence, and with the arrival of German troops and the rise of local armed forces in Ireland, Germany now basically completely controls the island of Ireland. In addition, most of southern Britain has fallen, and Germany has now successfully blockaded most of the British Isles.

After the occupation of the islands of Ireland and the Faroe Islands, only one out of every eleven British merchant ships arrived safely, and the other ten, with the exception of a very few that were sunk by submarines, were mostly cheaper than two deers, and even cargo ships were sent over. For example, most of the equipment of the current Irish Free Army is captured from the sea, from pistols and rifles to artillery and aircraft, and American equipment from the water. In addition, there are also things that they use to arm the puppet army in the occupied area and the African black corn, and many of them also come from these seizures.

This situation was intolerable to the Entente, and the solution to the British crisis would first require the opening of a sufficiently safe sea lane. Otherwise, those merchant ships are equivalent to delivering goods to Erdezi, and the American troops who are ready to assist Britain in recovering the British Island first, it is impossible to risk being blown up to play landing.

The island of Britain is surrounded by Erdezi in the southeast, south, west, and northwest, and now don't think about it in the south of Britain, where the German army is heavily gathered, and the American GIs are neither Jedi nor Gundam, so they rushed there when they were stupid. Although the Germans in Ireland to the west are relatively small, the 4 million Irish on it have a bitter hatred for the British, and now they are determined to fight with the Allies. As for the eastern part of Britain, it is the North Sea, let alone think about it until the north and the south are opened.

So for the time being, the North is the most suitable point of breakthrough, far from Germany proper, and Germany has no mass base here. And now the most suitable passage between the Americas and Britain is undoubtedly the Northern Route, which, once the blockade of the North is opened, can become a lifeline for Britain and a supply line for American troops sent to Europe.

So the Faroe Islands became the center of the campaign. The Faroe Islands are a volcanic archipelago in the northern Atlantic Ocean, located between Iceland and the Shetland Islands, and are a stopover on the route from Northwest Europe to Iceland.

The battle planned by the Allies was divided into two parts, first the combined Franco-Japanese fleet set out from the port of Brest as a feint force, on the one hand, escorting reinforcements from twelve colonial divisions to reinforce the Cornish Peninsula in southern Britain, where the British army was almost unable to hold out. On the other hand, it was to attract the attention of the German High Seas Fleet and contain part of its forces. After Erdezi was attracted by this side, the main force of the U.S. Navy came from Iceland and took the Faroe Islands.

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In the early morning of 24 May, the combined Franco-Japanese fleet set out from the port of Brest as planned, cruising back and forth at the western entrance to the English Channel as if a matador were teasing a bull.

At the same time, the convoy of transports carrying troops sailed out of France, escorted by warships, and sailed directly to Plymouth on the Cornish peninsula to unload the ships, and over the next five days, 12 integrated divisions from Australia, New Zealand and Canada and their equipment were successfully disembarked.

Yes, these 12 divisions are not Indian or African divisions, these units are all from the territory of the opium cow's own son, and they are the most combat-ready colonial forces of the British Empire, and their combat effectiveness is even inferior to Britain's own native troops. Because the British really don't have confidence in the combat effectiveness of other colonial troops, those guys are okay to fill trenches and be cannon fodder, but if they want to go to the German army to resist or even attack the German defense line, then forget it.

The arrival of these 12 pro-son divisions of the new force, the British finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the land southwest of the British Isle was safe.

In addition, another task of this feint fleet can be considered completed. They succeeded in pinning down part of the German fleet and fought a battle.

The Franco-Japanese combined fleet is a feint fleet, but its strength is also quite strong. They had a total of seven dreadnoughts (four of the Fuso and Ise classes of the Japanese and three of the Breton class of the French), twelve ex-dreadnoughts (six of the Japanese and six of the French Dandong class), four battle cruisers, and the number of capital ships was up to 23. In addition, there were two aircraft carriers, twelve armored cruisers (ten for France and two for Japan), four heavy cruisers (Japan), twenty-five light cruisers and 67 destroyers.

By the way, six Japanese former dreadnoughts and two armored cruisers, as well as four French armored cruisers, were part of the ships that were bought from China. After Britain and France bought these ships, they basically distributed them according to the principle of "returning things to their original owners", and it turned out that the three Glorious-class and one Joan of Arc-class armored cruisers, as well as four protective cruisers, which China had bought from France, returned to the hands of the French after going around in circles.

The six former dreadnoughts (Satsuma, Kashima, Shubo, Sagami, Hizen, and Iwami) and two armored cruisers (Aso and Iwate) that were captured and repaired by China during the Sino-Japanese War were also assigned to Japan by Britain and France. Britain and France did this, on the one hand, to continue to win over and strengthen Japan's strength, so that they could be more dedicated and powerful as cannon fodder, but on the other hand, they were also short of manpower, and they could not find so many naval officers and men for a while, and the weapons were used for use, not for viewing.

Of course, Britain and France have another intention that is difficult to explain, that is, to continue to widen the estrangement between China and Japan, so that Japan can be a dog for them with peace of mind and contain China. It's hard to say whether such a small action will have an effect on Japan, but it is useless for China, and Mr. Wen has already seen through it.

These are the last words, so I won't mention them for now.

The Germans were nervous about the French and Japanese fleets, but the American fleet was also eyeing Iceland, and after careful consideration, they finally sent eight battle cruisers, including two Mackensen-class, which had only been commissioned in March, as well as seven ex-dreadnoughts, and five armored cruisers, to the eastern part of the English Channel to stand on guard.

However, in the eyes of Britain, France, and the United States, it was not enough for Germany to send this fleet, at least a few more dreadnoughts had to be brought over, otherwise the pressure on the Faroe Islands would be too great. Since Erdezi is not yet on the bait, then it is better to increase the size. So they prepared to launch an attack on the German-occupied areas of southern Britain in order to attract more German ships.

Originally, the Japanese still wanted to regard the feint mission as a grinding workman, and they did not want to penetrate deep into the English Channel, but the commander of the Combined Fleet, Gentaro Yamashita, also found a good excuse, claiming that the British and French air forces could not provide effective air cover, and it was too dangerous for their fleet to operate in the narrow strait.

Of course, Britain and France did not do it. How can you play like that? It's so unkind. Since it's a feint, of course, you have to make an attack. Always active in your own territory, count it as a feint of the ball!

In the end, Japan did not resist the pressure, and at the strong request of Britain, France, and the United States, they finally reluctantly agreed to launch a feint attack on the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth. But they also claimed that they could only come once, and if the Germans were not fooled, they would have to find another way.

So on May 28, when the landing of 12 divisions at Plymouth was almost complete, the Franco-Japanese combined fleet sailed to the Isle of Wight with a fleet of three African divisions, pretending to land there. Well, these three African divisions are part of the decoy.

Unfortunately, this plan to lure the enemy was a shameful failure, and although the Germans were attentive to them, they did not mobilize more ships. They simply brought this battle patrol detachment under the command of Admiral Hipper, as well as the German air force and submarines.

So a battle broke out between the two sides in the waters off the Isle of Wight on the afternoon of the 28th.

It was a complete melee between the sea and the air, and both sides seemed a little absent-minded and had no determination to die.

The Entente landed first by German submarines, then by the Luftwaffe, and then by British, French, Japanese and German planes in the skies over the Isle of Wight. After the fighters of both sides retreated, a fleet battle began.

Judging from the lineup of both sides, Hipper's fleet was outdog, but he was supported by land-based aircraft and submarines, as well as shore defense torpedo boats. After two hours of scuffle, both fleets suffered considerable losses.

The Hipper's fleet lost five former dreadnoughts (two of the Brandenburg class and three of the Caesar Frederick III class) and the USS York, three battle cruisers and two armored cruisers were heavily damaged. Two destroyers and five torpedo boats were also sunk, and more than a dozen light ships were wounded.

The losses of the combined Franco-Japanese fleet were somewhat greater, they lost seven former dreadnoughts (Shubo, Sagami, Hizen, Iwami, Danton, Condorcet, Diderot), four armored cruisers (one Japanese, three French), and one cruiser and four destroyers were sunk. Three dreadnoughts, the Yamashiro, Ise and Provence, and four armored cruisers were heavily damaged, and the Japanese aircraft carrier Rinjin was also eaten a bomb. In the end, the Japanese could not bear it anymore and hurriedly released smoke and withdrew from the battlefield, and the French ships also retreated.

The losses of the German fleet were not small, and Hipper, after seeing the other side withdrawing, did not pursue, but only sent planes and submarines to harass it. The Franco-Japanese combined fleet ran away, but the more than 40,000 Indian officers and soldiers they left on the island of Wight became meat buns for dogs, and these third brothers had no heart to help others after seeing that there was no way out, and they surrendered to the Germans very decisively.

Oh, by the way, this wounded aircraft carrier is the Italian aircraft carrier Sicily, which was captured by Japan in the Battle of Gibraltar, and they took this aircraft carrier, which was bombed so that it could not take care of itself, as a treasure, and towed it to Saint-Nazaire, France, for repairs.

These old imperialists are different, their industrial strength is extremely strong, and this bombed aircraft carrier was completely repaired after two months of repair. Japan incorporated it into the Combined Fleet and named it Lin Zhen in the sense of "Long Xiang Lin Zhen, no strong enemy in front of him". But he didn't think about the first sortie mission after changing owners, and he was hit by a bomb and lost 11 carrier-based aircraft.

However, the aircraft carrier did not make a trip in vain, as its carrier-based aircraft damaged the former dreadnought of the Elector with torpedoes, damaged the armored cruiser Blucher with bombs, and its carrier-based fighters shot down five German aircraft.

The wise second lieutenant who staged the "sinking of one plane and one ship" in the Battle of Gibraltar last time broke out again, and this time his Fengxiang dive bomber squadron fired 12 shots and 11 hits, and sank the former dreadnought of Caesar Frederick III alive. The horizontal armor of this honest pre-dreadnought is quite weak, and it is not good for mobility and anti-aircraft firepower, and it is basically impossible to defend against dive bombing. After 11 rounds of 300 kg bombs in a row, even the gods will not come back. After suffering so much, let alone the former dreadnoughts of the last century, even the dreadnoughts of the last century have to kneel.

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To tell the truth, neither side took advantage of this naval and air battle. Judging from the results of both sides, it was definitely the Germans who won, but their eight battle cruisers were also pinned down by the Franco-Japanese fleet in the English Channel. Although the Franco-Japanese fleet suffered heavy losses, it did complete the scheduled mission, although in the eyes of Britain and the United States, the completion of this feint mission was not too high.

In hindsight, the Entente operation was quite successful. The German High Seas Fleet, which lacked eight battlecruisers, especially the four newest Mackensen-class battlecruisers, weakened considerably, especially with the lack of high-speed warships. Therefore, in the battle of the Faroe Islands, they were very passive in the face of the powerful US Navy.

Just after the Battle of White Island, the U.S. Navy quietly flew to the Faroe Islands in the harbor of Reykjavik that night......