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Page 229
So, when Peros was about to throw the hydroxyl bomb at the bridge, a loud blast of thunder erupted, and the muzzle hurricanes from the six main guns directly knocked her aircraft over—like knocking a silly cat off a refrigerator with a broom.
Peros felt her head buzzing and her hands and feet going numb. By the time she could see the deck again, the damage control team from the King George V had already rushed over, pushing unactivated mines into the sea while spraying her with water cannons.
Not long after, Vincent, who had been so arrogant just minutes before, suddenly made a short circuit sound.
“Tell the intelligence officers.” Felin curled his lip and patted the staff officer on the shoulder. “On April 18, 1946, the Royal Navy’s ship damage control team killed and captured an enemy pilot for the first time. Oh right, an ace pilot.”
……
When the telegram reached the North Union headquarters in Hamburg, it was seen by Eisenhower, who was on his way to the Ministry of Communications.
However, Ike wore an incredulous expression—Are you sure this news happened less than an hour ago? How can such a thing still exist in Britannia now?
There is only one possibility: their opponents are sending their "new recruits who have not yet shed the blood of District 45" here to adapt to the battlefield.
“Oh, this is terrible, Montgomery…” Eisenhower entered the room, intending to voice his premonition, only to find that only General Cunningham was waiting for him—upon inquiring, he learned that Montgomery had temporarily left due to a crisis on the British front.
After hearing all this, Cunningham's worried brows furrowed even more.
Ike was naturally aware of the bad news that the Soviet Union had recently sent them.
"The Red Navy's submarines have been conducting reconnaissance along the coast of Rügen Island these past few days and have discovered that Britannia has been sending transport ships to the eastern waters at night. Further confirmation has shown that all of those transport ships have anchored inside the harbor of Stralsund, and it seems that the Soviet army currently has no plans to attack the transport convoy."
Cunningham's thinking was clear: if the Empire intended to force its way into the Danish islands, there was no need to preposition transport ships in such a remote and somewhat dangerous location before capturing Szczecin, which was held by the Soviets. Therefore, it seemed that Britannia intended to seize Bornholm Island in the short term, with the aim of dominating Northern Europe and the Eastern Baltic Sea.
Accelerating the deployment of the Northern Alliance's air base in southern Sweden is a given, but could they force their way into Rügen Island and sink those transport ships in their harbor?
Cunningham rejected the idea without a second thought—carrier battle groups were still the same old problem, and the space constraints meant it was pointless to risk entering the enemy's shore-based air strike range for a few transport ships and a small island in the Baltic Sea.
Sending battleships to launch a surprise attack is even more unreliable. Think about it, it's only been a few years since the Z Fleet incident, have you forgotten all about it? HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are still underwater in the Malay Sea, watching over the old sailors of the Royal Navy.
"Your American ships are still on their way. Prime Minister Attlee neither wants to recall HMS Duke of York and HMS Anson from the Pacific, nor does he want the Royal Navy to speed up the progress of HMS Vanguard. He has even rejected almost all proposals to refit the main and secondary guns of battleships completed before 1930 on the grounds of rebuilding the homeland."
"Moreover, to be fair, the only old ship approved for rearmament, HMS Renown, and the British government's promise to take full responsibility for the logistics of the Northern Fleet, were all thanks to the hard work of the highly hawkish Mr. Churchill in helping the Royal Navy hold on."
Yes, it would be feasible if the battle line could cover the entire German coast, but unfortunately, with the addition of the French Richelieu, the Northern Union only has three high-speed battleships that can be immediately deployed.
……
The two were discussing this matter when Doolittle arrived—that's right, probably only the US and British land-based air forces could do this, let's see if he has any good news to bring.
"I just spoke with ASEAN. Recently, with the reduction in the sortie rate of fighter jets, Britannia has also reduced the intensity of its airstrikes against Poland and Czechoslovakia."
Cunningham thought this was a good thing, because it meant less air pressure on the Eastern Front and near Rügen Island, which would allow the Army Air Force's bombers and fighters to complete the mission.
But Eisenhower didn't think so. He shook his head and said meaningfully, "Let's discuss it with the Royal Air Forces," before bringing up Cunningham's views on defending the Jutland Peninsula.
As Cunningham turned to retrieve his notebook, Ike pulled the puzzled Doolittle aside and lowered his voice.
……
"What do you mean by that, sir?" Doolittle was also puzzled by him. "Are you worried about increased air pressure on the western front? Or do you think the ASEAN air force needs to reduce the intensity of the battle and take a good rest and reorganization?"
"There is indeed pressure in the western skies, and our friends in the east also need our help to share the burden, but that's not the main issue." Eisenhower paused. "Let me ask you first, what has been the Royal Air Force's recent sortie rate?"
"Well... ever since General Patton started stirring up trouble, their attendance rate has been a poor one."
"Do you understand why? After fighting for so long, the British pilots were exhausted. And why were they exhausted? Because they couldn't find pilots to cover their shifts."
He gave Cunningham's somewhat hunched and weary figure a meaningful look, then returned to whispering in Doolittle's ear.
"Now that the Royal Navy is not even receiving strong support from the British Labour Party, do you think the internal pressures facing the Royal Air Force will decrease before the end of the war?"
"What do you mean?"
"It won't be long before the planes and pilots from America arrive. Organizational matters are no small thing, and your air force is using this as an excuse to push some tasks onto the Royal Air Force."
"What?!" Doolittle almost cried out—could they afford to joke about something like this with such a formidable enemy at hand?
“I will arrange reporters for you,” Eisenhower continued. “If the Royal Air Force really gets to the point where it is exhausted because of Mr. Attlee, they will naturally join forces with the Royal Navy to increase pressure on the Labour Party.”
"Then we spread the news about the British troops on the front lines to the British Isles through reports and photographs, and the public's attitude towards Attlee will naturally explode. When the Labour Party is ousted, we can then help the furious Churchill to come to power. With him, the bulldog of Britain will have a chance to show all its fangs."
Chapter 307: Strategic Planning and Decisive Victory at the Baltic Sea (Part 2)
Field Marshal Cunningham didn't pay much attention to what Ike and Doolittle were talking about; he simply took out a map of the Nordic coast and focused intently on preparing his speech.
By the time the two of them had finished discussing and arrived, he had already marked the map.
"First, let me talk about the arrangement of the North Atlantic Joint Fleet. We have four fleets at our disposal, totaling seven aircraft carriers, two battleships, six cruisers, and thirty destroyers. Moreover, due to geographical constraints, we cannot deploy them in a concentrated manner."
"The Third Squadron, centered on HMS King George V and HMS Howe, was responsible for guerrilla warfare in the waters between Bornholm and Kiel, with air cover provided by naval aviation and Nordic army aviation. This was the simplest way to prevent the Britannian Navy from landing on Bornholm before they could make a comeback."
"Task Force 45.1, centered around the two Illustrious-class aircraft carriers, HMS Formidable and HMS Indomitable, as well as the light carrier Unicorn, is deployed in the northern waters off Zealand. It can protect the Third Fleet on the one hand, and the security of cities such as Copenhagen on the other."
"Then I positioned your American Task Force 45.2, centered around two Midway-class ships, in an area 20 nautical miles north of Formidable."
"Wait a moment, and forgive my bluntness," Doolittle offered his opinion. "Marshal, as far as I know, the combined number of aircraft on the Midway and Roosevelt is close to 200, while your three British ships combined have less than 130, and their protective capabilities are roughly equal. Why..."
“I think that since they entered service last September, the crew of the Midway-class ships have been aiming at targets more than enemy planes and ships, right?” Cunningham raised a finger and gently tapped his head.
"This is the first battle of your new aircraft carrier, and it is also the Northern Fleet's trump card. I can only feel at ease after the young men of the US Navy have truly been tempered in actual combat. At present, the battle-hardened Essex-class carriers have not yet arrived, and Mr. Nimitz will understand what I mean."
"So, what about the remaining two aircraft carriers?" Doolittle pointed to the location on the map, which was due northwest of the Jutland Peninsula.
“Oh, those are the Colossus-class ships of Task Force 45.4, HMS Colossus and HMS Perseus, responsible for plugging the gaps in the two main carrier battle groups ahead.” Canning paused for a moment, “By the way, there’s something I’d like to add: Prime Minister Attlee only rejected our Royal Navy’s proposal to upgrade the battleships, as for the carriers, as long as they don’t have a primary mission outside of Europe, there’s no problem.”
Well, it seems the Labour Party is just being overly cautious, not cowardly or afraid to fight.
“You need to listen carefully to what’s coming next.” Cunningham looked into Eisenhower’s eyes. “I have no right to interfere with the plans of the Northern Army, but there is one condition: if the war gets too intense and the Jutland Peninsula cannot be held, you must not lose Hamburg, even if you have to give up Lübeck and Kiel.”
Ike didn't quite understand that statement—logically speaking, if Britannia were to convert the harbors of these two cities into their naval berths, the Admiral would have an even bigger headache, as he had previously made this a key focus when he and Montgomery were developing their plan.
Then, Cunningham drew a circle with his pen, outlining Hamburg, Cuxhaven, Bremen, and Port Wilhelm together.
"Hamburg is currently the most important primary logistics port for the Northern Union ground forces, and it is also the location of the Northern Union headquarters. Its fall would be a huge blow to the military equipment and morale of European countries."
"But that's not the point. These deep-water ports are located west of the Jutland Peninsula, leading directly to the North Sea. Once they fall into Britannia's hands, their plans to use Scandinavia's geographical advantage to restrain the enemy fleet will be completely ruined. In other words, once they have Hamburg and Wilhelmshaven, the Britannian fleet will be just one step away from raiding the British coast and Scapa Flow, except for getting some notes from me."
"notes?"
“Yes, I can write a summary of the Taranto raid, or the Japanese surprise attack plan on Pearl Harbor.” Cunningham nodded, gripping his pen tightly, his face very serious. “Compared to that, whether their warships can pass through the Kiel Canal is irrelevant.”
Ike and Doolittle exchanged a glance, then turned to Cunningham and asked if he had any further thoughts.
"I'll need your help to get things done next." The admiral didn't mince words, taking out another stack of reports. "General, I imagine many of the German soldiers interested in joining the Northern Alliance are from the navy, right? Similarly, the Netherlands and Norway, who want to assist us, also need the right equipment, don't they?"
"You've always had your eye on the German warships in Wilhelmshaven, haven't you? I guessed it. We've also considered renovating the shipyards in this area for supplying the German warships, and of course, it would be even better if they could also be used to maintain our own ships."
"As a British person, it is natural to hate the Nazi wolves at sea, but on the other hand, no matter how bad their ships are, at least those Z-class destroyers are much better than their own patrol boats when given to various small countries."
“Let me do the math.” Eisenhower counted on his fingers, recalling the German warships anchored in Wilhelmshaven. “The Nuremberg has already been given to the Soviet Union, so there’s only one heavy cruiser, ten Z-class destroyers, and a whole bunch of submarine patrol boats left…”
“There’s Z38 in Portsmouth, Z4 and Z30 in Oslo, Norway, and the French also have Z31.” Cunningham recited the words fluently while handing over another document. “There’s also Z34 in Kiel. The Leipzig can be fitted with some anti-aircraft guns. As for the heavy cruiser Hipper, it can’t be moved. It can only be used as part of Kiel’s defenses before the Third Squadron withdraws.”
“We have considered that… wait a minute?” Ike sensed something was wrong. “You mean those two battleships can’t stay in the Baltic Sea for long?”
“If Britannia’s air power continues to increase from today onwards, then we’ll have to leave quickly, won’t we? Once Hipper has stabilized, the Leipzig and Z34 can also leave, taking King George V and Howe out of the danger zone. Isn’t that the only logical thing to do?”
"And finally, I'd like to know, how are your talks with the Italian side going?"
……
As another Axis power in World War II, Italy did not suffer as much damage as Germany. Geographically, it was also very convenient to supply American troops in southern Germany through Italian seaports.
Unlike Germany, which was already in chaos, Italy had withdrawn from the Axis powers in 1943 under Allied attack. As the current Prime Minister Gasberry in the coalition government, he was well aware of the demands from the leaders of the United States, Britain and France, and obediently agreed to let Italy join the NATO.
There were both benefits and costs involved—while providing logistical support to the Northern Union, Italy gained a small opportunity to revitalize its industry.
As for contributing to the front lines, most people may find the performance of Italian soldiers in North Africa and the Mediterranean somewhat unappealing, but "that doesn't mean they had nothing to commend them," said Cunningham and French naval commander Lemonier.
Both of them were considering collecting all available naval vessels for the NATO countries other than Britain and the United States, and they also traveled together on the battleship Richelieu to Italy to see the devastation in Naples and the Taranto naval port.
Persistence pays off, and they finally obtained what they urgently needed.
One day in late spring or early summer, the people of Italy squatted on both sides of the Strait of Messina, watching the long-awaited battleships Veneto and Littorio bid farewell to the Mediterranean Sea in the wake of Richelieu and the destroyer Javelin, and slowly head towards the Strait of Gibraltar.
Section 396, Chapter 308: Anhalt - The Decisive Game
Even though six months have passed, the hammer and sickle flag still haunts Germany like a ghost, even when no red star can be seen in the whole of Germany.
After confirming that the enemy in Czechoslovakia and Poland was indeed incapable and unprepared to launch an attack, the large contingent deployed in eastern Germany turned west and joined the front against the British and American Allied forces.
On the western front, the Britannian expeditionary force has almost everything it needs, except perhaps a battle to integrate the old and new blood.
Syndra and Kan Hu were the same; they had originally planned to take a break after defeating the Soviet army—at least their new recruits needed to adjust—but now they could only treat the mission of guarding the enemy as a welcoming ceremony for their comrades.
The air force that came to the west to provide support had already set a good example for the soldiers on the ground—their small marching squad could even use the wreckage of a Halifax bomber that had crashed on the roadside as perfect cover.
The land beneath our feet is said to be the Free State of Anhalt, which remained intact from the collapse of the Second German Reich in 1918 until the defeat of the Third Reich. When East Germany was established, people only remembered it as the heart of Europe, a hub of transportation, while the name Anhalt almost faded into obscurity during the Cold War.
But neither yesterday nor tomorrow will change today—the blindly advancing British army is about to lose an important game to itself from another world.
"Guests, huh?" The sound of a gasoline engine came from afar. Kan Hu's binoculars gradually revealed a square iron box filled with British soldiers, but it clearly didn't look as clumsy as the Churchill Tank. "Emmmm, isn't that a giant trebuchet... Have you ever seen one, Syndra?"
"A new one recently encountered by friendly forces, seems pretty similar?" The sergeant took the binoculars, flipping through the lenses in his hand and the illustrated files around his neck. "Damn it, what does 'maybe it might require recoilless rifles, but it's also possible that UL rounds will suffice' mean? Did the British send a whole squad of Rubik's Cubes?"
"Let's be on the safe side, after all, these are British tanks." Kan Hu could easily list them on his fingers—Churchill, Valentine, and Matilda, those three tanks, with their unassuming yet thick armor, had given them a painful taste of fishbone, hadn't they?
……
It was at this moment that the Cromwell tanks, carrying infantry in a line and advancing along the road, were completely unaware of the danger beneath the bomber wreckage.
"Baker One calling Zebra One, please pay attention to your speed and surroundings. Please respond if you hear me."
"Calling Baker One, there is a crashed fighter jet ahead. Requesting immediate stop and inspection."
"Calling Zebra One, this area has been handed over to other infantry for inspection, and there are no signs of survivors. Our mission is to penetrate the enemy's flank as quickly as possible, with that as the highest priority. Over."
"Zebra One refused. According to regulations, we must rescue our teammates on the battlefield. We cannot put our own lives at risk for the sake of so-called operations."
As Zebra One was saying this, it slammed on the brakes, but just as the British infantrymen jumped off, the assault guns in the distant farm opened fire.
"This is Baker Number One! Zebra Number One has been hit! All teams, move away from the road and retaliate!"
……
"Assault gun crews and KMF recoilless rifle crews, fire first! Attack!"
At a command, more than twenty KMFs and assault guns, along with infantry, swarmed forward and launched an attack on the line of British tanks that were in disarray.
Although the KMF and assault guns, usually ineffective against the 75mm tank gun, inevitably suffer damage or even death, this time they finally got their chance to vent their frustrations—not only were they riddled with bullets from the M4's machine guns, but the M26 and Churchill's heavy armor crushing became commonplace. And speaking of the Russians to the east… don't ask, it's just psychological trauma.
Today I finally got a chance to unleash a barrage of attacks on Cromwell, tearing through his armor with every punch. I finally vented my anger.
"Where are you, Sergeant? I need your help to suppress these imposters in District 45."
At this moment, Syndra and Kan Hu's group were hiding under a mound on the battlefield. The British infantry not far away had already formed their battle formation, retreating while retaliating with light weapons—they were hurriedly fitting anti-tank grenades onto the muzzles of their rifles.
"Leave the tank to me." The sergeant's infantrymen were responsible for suppressing the enemy with assault rifles, while Syndra was busy loading the rocket launcher by herself, completely unaware that the new recruits next to her were frantically lying down.
Just as she was raising the rocket launcher headfirst, a soldier quickly pulled her down. Immediately afterward, a Cromwell tank roared into the air. Syndra felt a tearing pain in her shoulder holding the rocket launcher; the tank's tracks snatched the launcher and a large amount of sand from her grasp, nearly severing her head.
"Oh my God..." Kan Hu was also terrified when he saw this. He glanced at the sergeant's arm and thankfully it was still conscious.
The Cromwell, which was speeding—no, flying low—landed heavily on the ground, accompanied by sparks and flying dust, and circled around to the flank of its own armored formation, quickly launching an attack.
The battlefield was in complete chaos. Kan Hu and another infantryman hurriedly went to pick up the rocket launcher—luckily, after pulling out the broken rocket and tapping the launch tube against a rock a few times, it could still be used, albeit barely.
"What are you doing?" The sergeant had intended to use this opportunity to train the new recruits in tank combat, but the tank in front of him was not to be underestimated. Its speed was even more surging than that of the Soviet Bison, darting back and forth through the woods. The British army had always been known for its steady and reliable tanks, so when did they ever have such a tank?
"How...how am I supposed to shoot?" The private was sweating profusely, his aiming line following Cromwell's wildly swaying backside. It was really difficult for a rookie like him to calculate the lead time for this freakish maneuver.
"You stubborn fool!" Kan Hu reminded his comrades in the armored squad via radio, "Find the thickest tree on its path, take a deep breath and relax, aim and go for it!"
Following the sergeant's instructions, during Cromwell's fight with the KMFs, he took the opportunity to knock down an oak tree, which happened to trip in front of the tank's track. He slipped and slowed down, and then a shell smashed its idler wheel, turning it into a burning target.
"Sergeant!" At that moment, Syndra's deputy drove her infantry fighting vehicle over, following behind two or three pursuing KMFs, and pulled them into the vehicle. "The 'imposters' are retreating. Are you all alright?"
"Drive your vehicle, I'll fire!" Syndra cursed, clutching her shoulder, as she climbed into the co-driver's seat of the infantry fighting vehicle, leaning against the hatch and continuing to grip her binoculars. "I want to see with my own eyes whether these tanks can fly any faster when they're running away!"
……
Hundreds of Britannian soldiers, like Sindra, watched the British army retreat in disarray, like coachmen pulling the victorious sun up from the horizon, shining on the road leading to Lüneburg in the heart of the war, and on the Churchill infantry tanks lying scattered on the ground.
Amidst the artillery fire, only this last slowly crawling "crab" remained, blocking the path of soldiers wearing iron hats, repeatedly firing at the Britannian army's heavy firepower.
"We're out of assault guns, sir."