Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 40: Close-fitting tight

　　 "German... German!"

　　, the first officer stood beside Casent, looking at the large German submarine parked beside the battleship with an incredible expression, muttered.

　　 U-37 has completely surfaced, the wet gray boat body shone a soft light under the sunlight, and the sea water is still gurgling down from the small and narrow drainage holes and agitated on the sea. A circle of white ripples and bubbles shines like a beautiful pearl necklace surrounding the boat.

　　 All the British sailors stood in their respective battle positions dumbfounded and looked at the uninvited guests in front of them. In the eyes of those British Royal Navy sailors, this beautiful and mighty submarine had a strong sense of deterrence. With a trace of mystery, a trace of legendary romance.

　　 Few British sailors can see a German submarine at such a close distance. Usually they can only see the terrorist warship that was once the nightmare of all naval transport captains from drawings or black and white photos. In their minds, the German submarine should be ugly, shabby, and dirty. It should be a small boat full of evil that makes people look disgusting at first glance. The evil and cowardly German sailors stay here. In a narrow and dirty cabin, breathing the turbid and poisonous air, staring at them with red eyes, searching the dark sea, looking forward to attacking the transport ships that have no resistance, or grinning at those struggling on the sea. Women and children surviving shot. This is the impression of the German submarine deep in their minds, and this is the image of the German submarine soldiers in their minds.

　　 Now, this battleship close at hand has completely overthrown their previous impression of German submarines. Her beautiful lines, slightly raised bow, smooth and clean hull, exquisite control tower, and even the high-rise periscope deeply attracted the eyes of the British sailors.

　　 Especially her dramatic way of appearance, that kind of imposing appearance that can only appear in myths and legends, brought a strong shock to the hearts of all the British sailors present. They all stared blankly at the enemy ship in front of them. They couldn't believe what they saw was true. They all forgot that they were fighting, and that the beautiful ship in front of them had just fired two torpedoes at them. They even forgot that their warship was sinking slowly. Everyone stood there motionless as if they were possessed, with their mouths open, staring blankly.

　　 "What are you doing, what are you doing there, that is the enemy, ready to fire! Raise the battle alert!"

　　Kasente was the first to react. He was enraged. He was angry that the Germans dared to float on his battleship. This was obviously a provocation. He was angry that his subordinates were so slow to react. It was simply a shame to the Royal Navy. He was even angry that he himself was attracted by this German submarine just now. This is incredible. How can he feel like a freshman? The boy in the military academy was as naive, he would rather believe that he was shocked by the sudden circumstance before he did not want to admit that he was indeed fascinated by the submarine at that moment.

　　 For an instant, a terrible battle alert echoed over the heavy cruiser Devonshire, as if the magic was broken, the sailors began to move in their respective positions, they finally remembered that they were fighting, and The submarine in front of him is his enemy. The Devonshire deck suddenly became a mess, and everyone was busy in their respective positions. The British soldiers manipulated their weapons frantically, and everyone tried hard to aim their weapons at the German submarine.

　　 They are finally awake now. The submarine was not built for people to watch. She was a real murder weapon, especially when they saw the 105mm cannon on the submarine’s fore deck that was also painted gray. They couldn't help speeding up their movements, and they wanted to break the submarine into pieces before the Germans climbed onto the deck and used the terrible cannon.

　　 Now in the eyes of these British sailors, that submarine is no longer as cute as it was a minute ago, except for the cannon, the two 20mm machines [cannon, on the rear deck The terrifying 37mm rapid-fire gun, including the sharp serrated blade of the sharp anti-submarine net cutter at the bow of the boat, made these British sailors feel the pressure of death. It may be in the next second. Cruel German sailors will swarm out from the submarine, and then use those terrifying rapid-fire weapons to fire at themselves, and the deck of the Devonshire will surely become a **** full of blood and fire.

　　The deepest feelings about this are those gunners of the 40mm ping-pong guns. They don’t think that the five-mm ordinary steel plate on their turret can block any weapon on the submarine’s deck. All the gunners on the starboard side of the Devonshire were turning their muzzles frantically, hoping to get rid of the arrogant German submarine as soon as possible.

　　 But at the next moment, an embarrassing situation happened. The British suddenly discovered that they didn't even have a weapon to reach the submarine. The reason turned out to be the submarine. . . . It is really. . . . It's too close to her.

　　The Devonshire is a London-class heavy cruiser. In order to adapt to warfare in the North Sea and the Atlantic, the designer specially designed a ship shape suitable for navigating in high sea conditions. Her bulwark is very high, maybe the Admiralty Feeling that the ship's side of six to seven meters high is not high enough, they also installed her secondary battery turret on a three-meter high turret. So although she has an amazing 102mm secondary gun, they found that it is impossible to use it to attack a ground ship at a distance of only 15 meters and a height of less than five meters. Its depression angle is really not that big.

　　 Not to mention those 40 guns and 20 guns. They are arranged in an air defense state. All the guns are placed on round turrets with half-man-tall steel plates welded to form a fence. Not to mention that they are now placed on a high superstructure. Even if they are placed on the deck, they are not capable of hitting the submarine. Their maximum depression angle is only two degrees. This has to be done after removing the steel plate guardrail. Can do it.

　　 There were originally some small-caliber anti-aircraft machine guns on this battleship, which are open layouts. If those machine guns are still there, although the submarine cannot be destroyed, the submarine entrances and exits are blocked, so that the Germans cannot manipulate those weapons. owned. But unfortunately, they were all dismantled because they were too weak. As a result, they were replaced with those ping-pong cannons.

　　 Now the British can only watch the submarine steadily stop 15 meters beside them. There are no weapons and no power. They have no countermeasures except spit at the Germans. What's more **** it is that this distance is too close for the cannon, and a little farther for the saliva, and all the British are extremely depressed.

　　 "Captain, what should we do now." The chief officer looked helpless, and he asked Cassant carefully.

　　 He could see that Carcent was almost mad at the embarrassing situation now. Although he was not furious, but from the uncontrollable trembling of Cassant's body, it could be seen that the captain was furious.

　　 "What else can we do, we are going to kill this **** German submarine, no matter how we do it! I have never been humiliated like this before!" Carcent turned his head and said viciously, suddenly he seemed to think What happened.

　　"Saladin, yes, I still have Saladin, please transfer her over and let her drive this **** submarine away, no, kill it. I don’t want to drive it away or kill it again. Seeing this **** thing appear in front of me. They are insulting me, they are provoking me. Damn! Damn! Damn German! Why don't you send a signal! Saladin, call Saladin, listen Don't understand me?" Casent yelled.

　　 "Captain, I wanted to report to you." The first officer now had a sad expression on his face.

　　 "You...you mean." Cassent hurriedly ran to the port side of the bridge.

　　 There he found his last destroyer Saladin at a glance, and it seemed that she was doing a difficult maneuver. The Saladin was working hard to lift her stern to a height of one hundred meters. Casente was fortunate to see the moment she failed. The broken stern slammed into the sea, stirring up like a hill. Big splash. Cassent could even hear her last wailing, which was the harsh rubbing sound of the hull steel plate being twisted and broken. After that, only a group of floating and struggling sailors, various debris, and two or three white lifeboats were left on the sea.

　　 "It's over, we're over."

　　 Casente watched the sinking of his last wing ship, and he felt that he himself seemed to sink into the cold sea with that wailing. Everything about him was over. The Germans successfully ruined him, ruined his life, ruined his future, took away his honor, his courage, and his pride in just a quarter of an hour. Might take his life. There was confusion in Carson's mind. He recalled the hardships and efforts he had put in to this step. He thought of his beautiful wife, lovely children, and his beautiful and warm home in London. He thought of his old parents, his brothers, bosses, friends, everything he had, and now all of them will leave him, and he may never see them.

　　 Cassent took his pocket watch out of the pocket of his neat military uniform. He wanted to know the exact time now. He wanted to always remember this moment, the moment his life was destroyed. His finger suddenly touched something cold and hard, and he remembered that it was his pistol. It was a delicate, Swiss product, small and useful. Normally, he never deserves a gun, but today I don’t know why he stuffed this toy-like pistol into his trouser pocket. Suddenly, Carson felt that this might be God’s will, an instruction from God, and that the defeated soldiers should pay for their mistakes. Cassent slowly took out his pistol, then pointed the muzzle at his mouth.

　　 "No! Captain!"

　　 The first officer who had been watching him rushed forward, and he snatched the gun in Cassent's hand.

　　 "You can't do this, this battleship hasn't sunk yet, we haven't completely failed yet."

　　The officers standing aside also surrounded him, and they hugged Cassant, who was trying to retrieve the pistol from the first officer.

　　 "Give me the gun!" Cassent yelled like crazy: "Give me the gun, I will be responsible for my negligence. Give me the gun. This is an order!"

　　 "No, Captain." The first officer shook his head firmly.

　　"Please forgive me for disobeying your order for the first time, Captain. It’s not the time to despair, and even then, you can’t die in this way in disgrace. You can’t escape your responsibility like this Responsibilities, and these responsibilities are not worth your life. We were ambushed by three German submarines. This was a sneak attack. No one can predict it, even in the military law of the London Admiralty* I can stand up. Plead for yourself loudly, no one can escape this vicious trap. The responsibility is not you, but the planners, the intelligence agencies. You did everything you could, and you did your best This is not something human can change. This is God’s will. Now God is on the side of the Germans. You must bear the responsibility you should bear now. You are responsible for all the officers and soldiers on the Devonshire. We have not lost resistance. Lieutenant Colonel Sanders has summoned his subordinates. They have all kinds of army light weapons and they can attack that submarine. We have not failed yet, Captain!"

　　 Cassent slowly stopped his struggle, he looked at his first officer panting and his eyes slowly calmed down.

　　"You mean Lieutenant Colonel Sanders, did he summon his army soldiers?"

　　 "Yes, Captain, they have machine guns, rifles, and grenades. They even brought mortars."

　　 "When did he call his subordinates?"

　　"When it was discovered that our weapon could not fire."

　　 "Oh." Carson let out a sigh of relief. He turned to the officers around him who were holding him tightly and said, "Can you let me go now? Gentlemen."

　　 "Are you sure you are all right?" an officer asked suspiciously.

　　 "Of course, I'm fine, let me go." Cassent replied calmly.

　　The officers quickly let go of their captain. Cassent tidied up the crumpled military uniform, then walked to the first officer.

　　 "I was so embarrassed ahead, thank you for reminding me. Major Roy."

　　 Although this chief mate usually behaves very mediocre, sometimes even a bit dull and naive, he still showed the courage, loyalty and wisdom of the Royal Navy at critical moments. Casent felt that he had always been Ignoring him, he hopes that if he has a chance, he must make compensation for it.

　　 "Captain, your pistol." The first officer handed the pistol to Casent respectfully.

　　 "You keep the handle, I don't think I will use it again." Casent smiled, and then walked towards the platform by the bridge.

　　"Why don’t the people of Sanders go on deck yet? What are they waiting for? Although it is impossible for us to return to England from here, we must recover a little price for our warship and let the Germans know We are great."

　　 Cassent felt that his courage had returned to him. He knew that the Germans would never let go of this warship that temporarily lost power. They would definitely not give up such a good opportunity. They would make up for her. gun. What makes him wonder now is why the Germans have not done so, and why the German submarine is floating by his side. He didn't think that the Germans wanted to capture this warship. Even the craziest guy would not think so. It is impossible to capture this heavy cruiser with three submarines.

　　 If they stay in the stalemate, they might still have a chance. Cascent knew that although his warship was seriously injured, it was not fatal. Both of the German torpedoes hit the lightning protection belt of the cabin, but because the German torpedo had more torpedoes than expected, it still penetrated the hull. The power of the explosion and the influx of sea water destroyed the boiler on the left side of the battleship, and also destroyed part of the pipeline and oil tank. The reason the battleship lost power was that the main lines of the two boiler compartments on the right had malfunctioned due to the shock, and he had ordered the sailors to repair them immediately.

　　 Now the water ingress of the hull has been controlled, although it is a bit leftward, it still does not affect the actions of the warship. As soon as one's warship regained its power, he could immediately open the distance from the submarine and surprise the Germans with artillery before they could react. Even if it is transported by half of the boiler, the Devonshire can run at a speed of 20 knots. If you are lucky, you might be able to get rid of these German submarines and return to England. The key now is what the Germans want, and where the other two German submarines are.

　　 Kasent carefully searched the other two German submarines on the surface, but to his disappointment, he found nothing.

　　"The soldiers of Lieutenant Colonel Sanders are ready on the deck, Captain. Their weapons are only rifles and machine guns. The other weapons are in the ammunition magazine, but they are now flooded. So they delayed a little time." An officer reported with the phone inside the ship.

　　 "I see." Cassent looked to the deck, and saw hundreds of army soldiers standing in three rows with rifles aiming at the German submarine. Sanders was standing in front of the team and holding one. The pistol was looking in his direction, and when he saw Casent looking at him, Sanders saluteed a military salute in a cool manner, and Casent quickly paid a profit.

　　 "The German submarine is moving!" Then a sailor yelled. Everyone stared nervously at the command tower of the submarine. Army soldiers put their hands on the trigger, their palms began to sweat slowly, and their breathing began to become tighter.

　　 "Calm! Calm!" Sanders commanded loudly: "No one is allowed to shoot without my order, otherwise I will kill him by myself." Sanders shook his pistol and gestured. He is not joking.

　　 "Yes, sir." The soldiers answered loudly.

　　 Everyone held their breath and stared at the control tower. The entire battleship became silent for a while. People only heard the sound of waves hitting the hull of the ship and the sound of machinery running on the German submarine.

　　 Suddenly an object appeared on the command platform, and everyone's hearts were suddenly lifted. Several army soldiers were so scared that they almost pulled the trigger.

　　 The crowd commotion for a while and then calmed down. They looked carefully at the thing that kept shaking.

　　 That's a small side. . . . white flag.

　　 "What's the matter, do the Germans surrender? Captain." An officer asked.

　　 "Then do you think they have any reason to surrender?"

　　 "It doesn't seem to be there, I can't think of it. Captain."

　　 "I can't think of it, they want to talk to us, you..." Cassant finally swallowed the curse, he glared at the subordinate, and then at the wall. Take off a large microphone.

　　Kasente took the microphone and walked to the railing. He shouted to Sanders: "Lieutenant Colonel, the Germans want to talk to us. I think we should first listen to what they want to say. I. I don’t want to ruin all of us because of an accidental misfire by an army soldier. I hope you can make your soldiers take good care of their fingers." Sanders waved to Cascent and said he knew it.

　　 Then Cassent shouted at the German submarine: "Germans, you can come out now, we will not shoot, but I hope you can be gentlemen, don’t do anything that will misunderstand my soldiers. . Do you understand?"

　　 The little white flag flicked twice, and then a German naval officer stood up from the command tower. Judging from his white combat cap, he is the captain of this submarine.

　　"This officer, I’m Captain Carcent of the Devonshire. Please inform us of your identity. And what exactly do you want to do."

　　 The German officer just stood there for a long time without speaking~IndoMTL.com~ Then he disappeared from the control tower again, which completely confused the British.

　　 At this time on the U37 command tower, Giselle bent down to face Xu Jun who was trying to climb out of the boat and asked: "Marshal, what is he talking about in front of me. I can't understand a word." /

　　 "I don't understand why you came out first."

　　 "I'm responsible for your safety. I don't think you should come out. They have hundreds of rifles at us." Gisell said worriedly.

　　 "What's the matter, I remember the last time I faced a machine gun."

　　 Xu Jun finally crawled out of the hatch with Gissel’s help. He stood up without hesitation, and then watched the giant ship in front of him. His appearance obviously caused a commotion among the crowd on the deck of the British battleship.

　　"A German marshal. God."

　　 Casent's hands trembled so much that he could barely hold the telescope. He calmed down and picked up the microphone again.

　　 "Honorable Marshal, I am Lieutenant Colonel Carson, Captain of the British Royal Navy Devonshire. What do you want to talk to us about. What do you want to do?"

　　 "What I want to do, I don’t know what I want to do. If it’s not for this **** battery is dead, and there is a problem with the high-pressure air pump, I’m guilty of taking this risk and grinding with you here. Are you silly?"

　　 Although Xu Jun kept cursing his bad luck in his heart, there was still a confident smile on his face.