Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 39: Royal Navy (Part 1)

　　"Very well, continue shooting and let the radar pay attention to the sea surface." Admiral Forbes, commander of the British Royal Navy's home fleet, stood on the armored bridge of the battleship Nelson and gave orders to Captain Mills.

　　 Then the commander took the coffee delivered by the orderly and walked slowly to the porthole by the bridge. Looking at the fleets charging towards Dunkirk Harbor in the distance, Admiral Forbes was full of doubts.

　　 Regarding the plan made by the chiefs of staff of the Navy Department, Admiral Forbes has reserved his opinion from the beginning. This huge plan is full of assumptions and imagination. For an experienced navy veteran, it would be foolish to execute a plan that was made without rigorous analysis and long-term preparation.

　　The naval battle is full of changes and various accidents. Any small negligence may lead to the destruction of a battleship or even the entire fleet. The navy staff will certainly not know this, but they still passed this plan with all their strength. , This is the point that makes Admiral Forbes most puzzled.

　　Although Admiral Forbes is dissatisfied with the plan of this operation, but for this old navy, the Royal Navy’s belief is loyalty. No matter what you think, order is order. As a naval officer, you should Unconditional obedience, so he still assumed the responsibility of the commander of the entire operation.

　　 Letting the elite giant ships of the Royal Navy's home fleet enter such a narrow channel is full of adventure in itself. I don't know what the navy guys think. The current artillery channel was abruptly swept out of the minefield, traversing the entire Strait of Dover, and it perpendicularly intersects the Dunkirk supply channel that was swept out a while ago, forming a cross.

　　 But this channel is too narrow, only about two kilometers, and the length of these huge ships of their own are more than two hundred meters, the fleet must also keep sailing on the center line of the channel, if it is attacked by German submarines here In the attack, these ships have no room to turn around and make evasive maneuvers. The chiefs of the Admiralty explained to themselves that under the cover of a large number of destroyers, the fleet would not be threatened by German submarines. I hope they are right, but the horror of German submarines is not something that those who work in the office can imagine. Admiral Forbes is still a little worried about the threat of submarines.

　　 Regarding the part of letting his warships bombard and suppress the German army positions, Admiral Forbes has not found anything wrong. The admiral is full of confidence in whether his warship can complete this task. According to the intelligence of the Ministry of the Navy, the most powerful artillery of the German artillery is the 210mm heavy howitzer used by the army. According to the intelligence, the maximum range of that kind of artillery is about 18 kilometers. Set at 20 kilometers from the shore, those German artillery could not threaten their warships. And the longest range of the guns of their warships can reach 25,000 meters, and they are powerful. It can be said that the German artillery and their naval guns are not at the same level, and it is very simple to suppress them.

　　According to the plan, after his warship entered the artillery position in the artillery route, it stopped its action, anchored the ship and fixed it, and then used it as a stable floating sea fort to accurately and violently suppress the artillery bombardment of the German position. Regarding this point, the Admiral also has no opinion. This is the most standard shore shelling procedure for the British Navy. The opponent is not a coastal fortress, and he is bombarding outside the opponent's range. There is no danger in doing so.

　　 Now my destroyer has begun to conduct anti-submarine patrols nearby. As long as no submarine sneaks into the defensive circle, there is nothing to threaten my warship.

　　 Forbes didn't care about the German aircraft's attack. Up to now, no battleship has been sunk by the opponent's aircraft. What's more, enough anti-aircraft artillery is installed on its own warships. The Royal Air Force has also arranged a wing fighter to **** its fleet. Under such strict defense, the German aircraft may not even have the chance to fly overhead. . Even if a German pilot who is not afraid of death rushes through the air defense net, Forbes does not believe that the small bombs mounted on the German aircraft can cause any damage to its own warships with heavy armor of more than 300 mm.

　　 Now, what annoys the Admiral is that he hasn't obtained any accurate information about the position of the German artillery until he set off. He finally felt that his captains were right, that the Army's intelligence department was run by a group of wastes. After so many days, they have not been able to obtain intelligence on any valuable targets in the German positions. Those expeditionary forces have been bombarded by the enemy for three days, and they still don't know where the shells came from. This is incredible for the navy.

　　What are the army commanders doing these days? The admiral felt that if the armies that were surrounded were really so stupid, then even if they were rescued back, it would not be of much use to defend the empire. The defense of the sacred British Empire ultimately depends on the brave and invincible Royal Navy, which Admiral Forbes has always believed in.

　　 Now his strike fleet has no coordinates of the enemy, no detailed and precise information, or even an English map of the area where the enemy’s position is located. Now he has only a French army map printed by the French. Those Germans seemed to understand that they were at a disadvantage. They had endured three volleys without returning them with their cannons, revealing the position of their artillery. Now that the German artillery positions cannot be found, the elite warships of the British Royal Navy's home fleet can only use the most stupid way to crush the German positions with shells inch by inch, until the German artillery positions are blown out.

　　"Boom..."

　　 The huge roar of the naval gun sounded very dull through the thick bridge armor. The huge power of the naval gun salvo made the huge hull of the battleship tremble with it. Forbes looked at the mighty artillery and felt very satisfied. This is the pride of the British Empire. As long as the British Empire still possesses these cannons, no enemy can defeat her.

　　 Forbes used the high-powered telescope on the bridge to observe the German position on the opposite side. Twenty kilometers is not a small number. Even the high-powered telescope can only see the outline of the German position. His shells hadn't landed on the opposite position, and the general waited patiently. Finally, a few seconds later, he saw the scene he wanted to see in the telescope. Countless fireballs rose from the German position, and various debris, earth and rocks were blown up all over the sky, and then the whole position was covered with dust. The gunpowder smoke enveloped him, and the admiral heard the dull explosion from a distance.

　　 "Yes, just keep fighting like this. If they are not willing to fight back, then let us slowly tear it apart like this." Forbes happily said to Captain Mills: "It seems Their artillery dared not fire, and the threat to those boats was reduced by half. Today's action should be said to have gone smoothly so far."

　　 "Yes, General." Mills replied aside.

　　 Forbes turned his telescope in the direction of Dunkirk, and he began to observe the charge of the small boats. The plan made by the Admiralty now worries him only this one. Although the threat of German artillery has been temporarily eliminated, the threat of the Luftwaffe is still there. If the fierce Luftwaffe is now facing the group If you use actual actions to explain to people what it looks like to be intercepted by small dull boats, those boats will be swallowed up by the Luftwaffe within half an hour.

　　If the boat is destroyed, then the whole plan will be meaningless. By then, it will be of no avail to knock down the entire German position. If the Luftwaffe were to be dispatched, their own huge artillery would not be able to help those boats. At that time, all they could rely on was the aircraft of the Royal Air Force.

　　 This time the Royal Air Force also invested a lot of money. For this operation, they invested in all the aircraft that could be used, and divided them into several batches, ready to cover themselves 24 hours a day. Battleships and those retreating ships.

　　 Now this batch is the first batch. Forbes pointed the high-powered telescope into the air while thinking, but his sight was blocked by the bulletproof baffle on the porthole. Forbes put down the high-powered telescope, opened the side door of the bridge and walked to the observation platform next to the bridge. Using the large observation telescope set on the platform, he began to look at the group of fighter jets hovering over the boat.

　　The other officers in the bridge also followed him to the platform outside the bridge, and they also looked at Dunkirk with their binoculars. Apart from following the general to watch the scenery, they can only stay on the bridge and look at the chart in a daze. This is not a naval battle. The entire fleet was used as a floating fort in this operation, and the artillery was the job of the gunners. After they brought the fleet to the artillery position, they had nothing to do. .

　　 "Luftwaffe planes, they are high in the sky!" an officer shouted.

　　 Forbes also saw that a large group of locust-like black spots in the high sky in the direction of Dunkirk were rushing towards the British fighters hovering over the fleet. And now the British fighters had clearly discovered the situation. They shook their wings and began to form countless small formations, and then greeted the group of black spots at high speed.

　　"They have already engaged with the Royal Air Force. There are hundreds of them. I don't know who is who."

　　 "Oh my God, it's spectacular!"

　　 Even the battle-tested Admiral Forbes couldn't help but marvel at what he saw. In the high altitude of Dunkirk, countless fighters of various styles are fighting together. In that area of ​​airspace with a radius of only five or six kilometers, at least about 300 aircraft from both sides were concentrated. They were flying up and down and strangling together, and there were continuous planes dragging black smoke down or bursting into a fireball in the air. It was tragic and gorgeous, cruel and elegant, **** and magnificent, and they appeared in such a harmonious space. The people who witnessed the air battle left a lasting and unforgettable impression.

　　 Admiral Forbes watched nervously as the planes rolled, hovered, sprinted back and forth, fighting each other in circles. He sweated a lot for the Royal Air Force, and now it seems that the most critical task of this battle really fell on these air forces. Now the fighting in the air has entered a white-hot stage. From time to time, a parachute will open over Dunkirk Harbor and slowly fall, and there is usually a fire-breathing fire, hurricane or Messer near it. Schmidt tumbled down. Although it is still not clear who will win in the end, from the current situation, the Royal Air Force is a bit disadvantaged. Admiral Forbes did not dare to think about the massacre of the boats that rushed into the harbor if the air force could not stand it. It would be the greatest tragedy in British history. Admiral Forbes watched the air battle with his binoculars while praying in his heart that the Royal Air Force would win the final victory.

　　 At this time, the turret alarm began to sound, which indicated that the next salvo of the battleship would begin. Admiral Forbes and the officers quickly hid in the bridge. During the salvo of naval guns, the huge sound waves and air pressure can cause damage to anyone and equipment nearby, especially this nine main guns are placed on the front deck of the "world’s largest shallow-water gunboat". It is said that those 406mm cannons sometimes cause more harm to themselves than the enemy can cause. The muzzle storm caused when the C turret fired sideways and even caused damage to the bridge. As a result, the turret was not allowed to turn to that angle to fire at any time.

　　 "Boom..." With the loud roar, another row of giant shells flew towards the German position. Admiral Forbes immediately looked at the German position with the high-powered telescope by the porthole. He loved the feeling of watching his heavy artillery bomb explode violently on the German position.

　　"Well, it’s good. Their positions along the coast should have been destroyed. Now they continue to shoot. Pay attention to the small hill behind their positions. There seems to be a few large fortifications, which may be one of their observation stations. Order all warships to aim and bombard the hillside." Forbes gave orders while observing.

　　 "Yes, General." Captain Mills picked up the phone on the wall and gave orders to the turret and the communicators.

　　 Forbes was eagerly waiting for the next salvo of his fleet. Suddenly, he found a burst of white smoke from the rear of the German position through his telescope. For a moment, the white smoke almost took the entire German army. The rear position was covered.

　　 "Starting to cast smoke to stop our shelling? Haha, do the Germans think this will stop me from leveling their ground? What an idiot."

　　 Forbes laughed, but after five seconds he felt that his thoughts might be wrong, because the cloud of smoke had risen too quickly, and it was quickly dissipating now.

　　"Is it ~IndoMTL.com~ is the smoke from the German artillery fire, the German artillery finally can't help it? Hahaha, captain, immediately shift the target and let all the warships fire on the smoke area , We finally found their artillery position."

　　 "Yes, General." Mills responded to Forbes's command briefly and forcefully with a serious expression. He picked up the phone and began to convey the order.

　　 "They may be firing at those small boats. God bless those small boats not to lose too much. Anyway, the Germans will only have this chance of shelling." Forbes put down his binoculars and pointed at the one next to him. The officers said with a smile.

　　 Suddenly a violent explosion sounded from the sea outside the bridge.

　　"General, destroyer..."

　　 An officer pointed out the window and shouted. Forbes was also startled by the sudden explosion, and he quickly turned and looked at the direction of the officer's finger.

　　 The sight in front of him made the admiral stunned.

　　The six destroyers patrolling on the German side of the battleship group are now each surrounded by countless huge water columns provoked by the explosion of artillery shells, black smoke and fireballs from the destroyers, and constant explosions. It seemed that they had been hit by more than one shell in each boat.

　　"It's covered shooting! The German artillery on the shore shot us covered!" an officer shouted.

　　 But the general did not think so, he picked up the telescope and searched the sea around him.