The Third Reich in Desperation

With the rank of Admiral Gott, it is easy to put two more people on the plane back home.Moreover, these two people no longer have any influence on the battle situation. They are dispensable two people, and it is easy to transfer them away.

"Then thank you, Commander." Montgomery looked at Lord Gott gratefully when he heard that he could also leave this ghostly place, and said, "After returning home, I will continue to follow the Commander's footsteps and obey the Commander's guidance."

In Montgomery's eyes, it is not a strange thing for Dunkirk to fall even in the next second.Along the way, he has had a profound impact on the combat effectiveness of the German army, which is definitely not an enemy that the remaining soldiers of the expeditionary force can resist.When he saw the German paratroopers appearing 10 minutes ago, Montgomery became more convinced of his judgment-Dunkirk is about to fall!

"Don't call me commander, I'm not your commander anymore." Gott smiled and waved his hands, mocking himself: "You were just dismissed today, and your nominal commander has been changed to General Alexander."

"You will always be the commander in my heart." Montgomery said flatteringly without any hesitation: "The failure of the expeditionary force today is all because of the arrogance of the French and has nothing to do with our command. You have tried your best, no People can do better than you, and Commander Alexander absolutely can't."

Compliments always make people feel comfortable.Hearing Montgomery's praise, Gott felt a lot more relieved.

The mood improved a lot, and when he met a "talking confidant", Gott inadvertently blurted out information that was still secret for the time being: "Hehe...that's true. Today is also thanks to you Only when you met me did you have the opportunity to take the plane back. You know, the generator project will probably be terminated soon, and if you don’t take my plane today, it is impossible to have the opportunity to take the boat.”

As he said that, Gott triumphantly said in a mysterious manner: "There has been no news from the navy for a long time. It is estimated that the battle has been lost, otherwise it would have been publicized long ago. If the navy is defeated, how can the generator project continue?" …”

"That's it, that's it. Thank you, sir, for your help today." Montgomery was sweating profusely, and nodded in gratitude.He couldn't have imagined that his luck was so good that he caught the last flight out of Dunkirk by coincidence!

Main textChapter 388 Defeat is imminent!

"God!" A captain of the First Fleet of the Royal Navy opened his mouth wide as he watched the swarm of fighter planes roaring towards him, unaware that the pipe in his mouth had fallen to the ground.

"Is that... a German fighter plane?" An anti-aircraft shooter on the Hu Dehao battleship, staring blankly at the transparent group of German fighter planes that were getting closer and covering the sky, murmured to his companion beside him. .

The companion didn't speak, he just looked at the German fighter planes that ruled the sky in a daze.The dense black dots have become bigger, clearer and more terrifying.

The battleship Hood, to be precise, the battlecruiser Hood, made a special trip to sum up the experience of that battle after the Battle of Jutland, increased the main armor belt from 8 inches to 12 inches, and strengthened the key parts of the side Improve the fire protection facilities of the ammunition depot, increase the total weight of the armor from the original design of 10100 tons to 13550 tons, and increase the weight of the hull structure.

Moreover, the battleship Hood also installed protruding anti-torpedo bulging compartments below the waterline on both sides of the hull to protect the ammunition depot and power compartment, improving the torpedo defense capability and providing additional buoyancy.

It can be said that the Hood has considered all dangerous situations on the surface and underwater, and has made corresponding protection.But the only thing is that the crisis from the air was not considered.

The Hood's greatest weakness came from its weak top armor.Among the German carrier-based bombers, the Stuka bombers equipped happened to be "precision air cannons" specially designed to restrain warships.The so-called fear of what will come is nothing more than the current situation.

Seven or eight FW-190 fighter planes with small bombs on them have already swept over the head of the First Squadron of the Royal Navy's Home Fleet, and dropped the explosives that were first tested.

As soon as this group of vigorous fighter jets passed the stern of the Hood, another group of Stuka bombers descended vertically from above like falcons, and dropped even heavier bombs straight to the thin hull of the Hood. On the top armor.

It has to be said that Stuka, as an aircraft carrier-based aircraft performing bombing missions, is really a wise decision.

Compared with traditional large "level bombers", small "dive bombers" such as the Stuka have obvious advantages in attack accuracy and cost.

On the one hand, the dive bombing method can use the dive to reduce or eliminate the forward inertia of the dropped bomb, thereby effectively improving the bomb hit rate.If the pilot is good enough, one or two bombs can have a very good effect, especially when attacking warships. When the bombers on the British aircraft carrier do not have high-precision sights, the large and medium-sized horizontal bombers have to use them at a higher altitude. When carrying out horizontal bombing, the hit rate is naturally very low, but the Stuka on the German aircraft carrier can bomb the British warship with exceptional precision.

The cost of building and researching and developing those large aircraft is very high, neither suitable for the needs of the German aircraft carrier, and it seems a pity to be destroyed.It is a very cost-effective small bomber Stuka, both because of its small size and weight.It made the "Zeppelin-class" aircraft carrier expand the number of carrier-based aircraft, and found a relatively cheap but used carrier-based aircraft for Germany's aircraft carrier tactics. The guarantee effect can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Airplanes are not good, and this is one of the small reasons why the British don't look at aircraft carrier tactics.

After all, most of their carrier-based aircraft are "Swordfish" biplane torpedo aircraft, with backward performance, slow flight, and small ammunition load, and their aim is not at the same level as the German Stuka bomber.

The garbage of carrier-based aircraft further weakened the power of aircraft carrier tactics by British naval commanders.

And at this moment, when every battleship of the British First Squadron was filled with German fighter planes flying all over the sky, they finally realized the meaning of aircraft carrier tactics again.

"Fire! Fire!" The British captains who reacted frantically ordered the anti-aircraft guns to launch a counterattack.

The anti-aircraft guns of the warships spewed out flames one after another, and fired at the sky as much as possible, trying to regain a little initiative.

Unfortunately, this is just a pointless struggle.

As the German fighter planes approached again and again, they swooped, locked, and fired.The losses of every British warship were rapidly accumulating.

"Boom!" A bomb hit the port side of the battleship Hood. Fortunately, the bomb exploded after falling into the sea, causing no serious injuries.

But other warships were not so lucky. The two main battleships "Nelson" and "Rodney" were immediately blown into a sea of ​​flames because they were besieged by dozens of Gastukas, and began to sink slowly in the thick black smoke.

In the distance, many destroyers were even blown up by Stuka's impactful large-scale special explosives, and lost their combat effectiveness instantly.

Farther away, other battleships that were still moving temporarily began to retreat anxiously under the order of Sir Forbes.

The entire formation of the British First Squadron has been torn and disrupted.The remaining battleships whose anti-aircraft artillery had not been blown up were desperately moving westward, hoping to take the opportunity to separate from the bombing circle of the German fighter planes and stabilize their position again.

Of course, it is absolutely impossible to escape the pursuit of the German fighter planes all the way with this ship-borne anti-aircraft gun and the fleet's average speed of more than 20 knots.

Their only hope, in fact, is to be able to withstand this wave of attacks by German fighter planes, to win five to 10 minutes of repair time for the First Squadron, to calm down the gap between the return of German fighter planes, and to move further west.

Over there, General Cunningham's Second Squadron has also taken off a large number of fighter planes from the aircraft carrier, and they are rushing here to meet the First Squadron.

As long as we can persist until the arrival of our own fighters, everything will turn around.Maybe, fighting the First Squadron to exchange the huge loss of warships for the loss of German fighter jets, it can also create opportunities for our own fighter jets to defeat the German fighter jets!

Once the British fighter group defeats the German fighter group, it will be the moment for the Royal Navy to counterattack the German High Seas Fleet.

At this moment, the battle damage rate of the British First Squadron has exceeded 30.00%. Of the 6 battleships, 3 of them are almost scrapped.And the scarred and crumbling USS Hood seems to be about to become the fourth battleship to lose combat effectiveness.Because of the focus of attention, the battleships of the British First Squadron have been "taken care of" by a large number of Stukas.

Of course, the situation of cruisers and destroyers is not much better, and they are also howling like ghosts and wolves.

Facing the almost crushing attack of the German army, few people were so strong enough to face death without changing their expressions.Similarly, it is difficult for those British captains to watch their beloved warships and soldiers under their command being slaughtered indifferently without choosing to evade and retreat.

The honor of the Royal Navy seems less important at this moment.This battle of revenge at sea launched to avenge Narvik's revenge with one arrow did not bring the Royal Navy the opportunity to be ashamed as imagined.

Leaving lives and warships may play a greater role in the future, and preserve every bit of extremely precious power for this country.

And if you choose to bet everything in this almost one-sided situation, even if you win badly in the end, you may be sent to a military court!

leave, leave now!Go to the Second Squadron of the British Army and join the carrier-based aircraft of the British Empire!

At this moment, in the First Squadron of the British Army, there was no such lofty arrogance as at the beginning of the battle, but only an instinctive sense of crisis and escape...

Text Chapter 389 Cunningham VS Raeder

Sir Forbes was still trying to give orders as calmly as possible.

The general, who was loved by officers and soldiers, was not completely panicked.After all, he came from the Royal Navy of the British Empire, which had dominated the world. Every order he gave was calm and rational.It was under his command that the British First Squadron did not fall into unmanageable chaos when it was attacked by the German carrier-based aircraft, and was able to sustain it to the present despite heavy losses!

However, now that the main battleships have been lost one after another, the fleet's air defense firepower has declined step by step.No matter how good Sir Forbes's command skills are, he will soon be powerless.

Overhead, there are more than 50 German fighter planes that have not released ammunition, and are launching the last wave of crazy bombing.According to the amount of ammunition carried by these German fighter planes just now, Sir Forbes probably estimated that as long as his fleet can survive the last minute or two, the situation will change!

In the sky, the first batch of arriving Stuka bombers and FW-190 fighter jets have already begun to return, flying back in the direction they appeared.Soon, the remaining German fighter planes will also return one after another due to the exhaustion of ammunition.

"Boom!" There was another loud noise, and the ammunition depot of the battleship Hood was hit vertically by a bomb dropped by a Stuka bomber, which immediately caused a violent explosion of the main battleship.

This is already the fourth battleship to be sunk!The remaining two ships are now carrying a lot of damage to varying degrees.

Suddenly, just as the officers and soldiers under Sir Forbes began to prepare to pray and were about to lose their courage, hundreds of "Swordfish" biplane torpedo planes quietly appeared to their west.

"Reinforcements are here!" This was Sir Forbes' first reaction.

It can be said that Admiral Cunningham's arrangement is impeccable.At this moment, such a large number of "Swordfish" biplane torpedo planes can appear in time, it must be that Cunningham took off almost all the ships from the rear as soon as he got the news of the encounter between the First Squadron and the German fleet. Carrier.If not, based on the estimate that the average number of aircraft on board a large British aircraft carrier is less than 50, it is impossible to have at least 200 torpedo aircraft without going all out.Moreover, if Sir Forbes' fleet hadn't ordered the dispatch of the carrier-based aircraft as soon as he received the news of the encounter, it would have been impossible for Sir Forbes' fleet to join the carrier-based aircraft group so soon.