The Third Reich in Desperation

"That's right, now we are suffering from local losses, but overall we still have some advantages. It is definitely not good news for the French to remain neutral at this time. Once we are defeated again or suffer some small losses, the French may immediately change camps and switch And to attack us, I agree with the plan to attack the French navy." Another French officer also spoke, his eyes full of determination.

"There is no need to hesitate any longer! Since we do not intend to accept variables, we must simplify the current situation." An admiral spoke his mind for Churchill.

Seeing this situation, Churchill finally couldn't help but speak: "Since most of us think that the navy should be dispatched to attack the French military port and sink the main force of the French navy in the military port. Then, this decision is reasonable. .”

Churchill would not have thought that their vicious decision to turn their faces and deny people may not ultimately hurt the French Navy, which was once an ally of Britain...

"Codename, Operation Ballista!"

An action that was about to completely turn Britain and France into enemies was born.

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PS: Don't say anything, just watch my performance.For the 3rd time in a row, 5 updates a day

Text Chapter 424 Little Major General

After France surrendered, Britain fell into a desperate situation for a while.

At this time, the British mainland army basically had no combat effectiveness.The only thing that comforts those old English gentlemen is the English Channel.

The German Naval General Staff feared that the French fleet was heading towards the United Royal Navy, and the British Admiralty also feared that the French fleet would serve as the vanguard of the German Imperial fleet's attack on the British Isles.

After all, the French navy, which has the fifth strongest strength in the world, is a huge modern fleet.No matter which side it joins, it will play an important role in influencing the balance of strategy.

Because the German High Seas Fleet defeated the British Home Fleet in the North Sea, and the German Navy captured a large number of Polish, Danish, Belgian, and British warships, the strength of the two sides ebbed and flowed.

In fact, the ranking of maritime combat power in this time and space is no longer the United States, Britain, Japan, France, Italy and Germany in the original history, but the United States, Germany, Japan, Britain, France and Italy.

As the fifth most powerful naval power, as of June 1940, 6, the French Navy actually had 7 battlecruisers, 2 battleships, 7 cruisers equipped with 7-inch naval guns and 8 ships equipped with 11 Inch-caliber naval gun cruisers, plus a super-strong navy of 6 light cruisers, 27 destroyers, 26 submarines and an aircraft carrier, as well as a large number of smaller ships.

That's right, you heard it right, the French fleet has aircraft carriers!

Some people may find it incredible, because in the Second World War in history, it was the navy of the United States, Britain, and Japan that shined.Aircraft carriers seem to be the patents of the above three countries.

Even the famous "Zeppelin-class" aircraft carrier of the Third Reich only existed in the plan, and there were many difficulties at the beginning of construction, and finally died halfway.

However, France, a country that was completely defeated by the Third Reich in less than six weeks, has an aircraft carrier that even the Third Reich did not have in history.

This French aircraft carrier is the little-known "Bearn".

So how powerful is this "Bearn" aircraft carrier?It can be seen with an example.

In terms of full-load displacement, that is, tonnage, it has reached 28900 tons, which is close to the "Essex"-class fleet aircraft carriers built by the United States in large numbers.

However, it also has many immature features.For example, a total of eight 155mm naval guns are installed around its hull, six 6mm and eight 75mm high-level dual-purpose artillery are equipped on both sides, and four torpedo launchers are retained on the bow.

Such a large number of artillery torpedoes is enough to arm a light cruiser, but it has no effect on the thinking of "fighter is king" in aircraft carrier operations.

It can be seen that the thinking of the French is still in the era of giant ships and cannons, and their understanding of the new naval warfare model is not sufficient.Their aircraft carriers, compared with the carriers built by the German Navy under Reinhardt's intervention, had a large number of defects and deficiencies.

However, the French Navy still has an aircraft carrier after all, which is better than nothing.Because of its aircraft carrier, it also firmly sits on the throne of the fifth strongest navy in the world.

Unlike the large number of British naval ships that are mostly old, most of the French Navy's ships are even new warships built in the 30s and 1937s.For example, the two battlecruisers "Dunkirk" and "Strasbourg" were just built in 1938 and 8, each equipped with eight 13-inch caliber naval guns with powerful firepower.Among the other seven battleships, the "Richelieu" and "Jean Bart" are the two newest battleships that are about to be completed, equipped with 7-inch naval guns.

The "Richelieu", which started construction in 1935, was only 1940% completed by June 6 due to the relatively weak shipbuilding industry in France, which made its construction speed unable to compare with that of Britain and the United States. Although the main equipment has been installed, it has not been debugged and has not formed combat effectiveness.

However, on the occasion of the French surrender, the "Richelieu" left Brest on June 6 and arrived in Senegal in French West Africa on June 15.

At the same time, other main battleships of France also left the French mainland port one after another. A few small ships, led by Vice Admiral Miselier, secretly went to England to meet Charles de Gaulle, but more warships were under the leadership of Admiral Darlan. Under the instruction of the governor, he sailed to the port of the French colony in North Africa with Governor Berente, keeping a wait-and-see attitude.

"Dong dong dong!" Outside Churchill's office, there was a regular knock on the door.

"Come in!" Churchill, who was reviewing the documents, shouted without raising his head.

After all, "Operation Ballista" has been confirmed to be executed, and there are too many related matters waiting for Churchill to deal with.

Personnel scheduling, intelligence confidentiality, material distribution, troop deployment, outsourcing of funds......

After all, Churchill had failed too many times, and he really didn't want to face any new failure.

Before Churchill became prime minister, he suggested a sneak attack on Norway to block the route for Germany to import iron ore from Sweden.

As a result, the British and French allied forces invaded with more than two divisions, but Reinhardt transferred only one division to drive the Norwegian army. It was quite cost-effective to give two divisions of the British army and one regiment of the French army. Hit and surrender.

Losing more with less is already a loss-making business.What's worse, Britain and France not only failed completely militarily, but also left a bad influence internationally, giving Germany a chance to become Norway's savior.

It was because of this disastrous failure that it almost played a direct role in promoting the downfall of Chamberlain.And Churchill also logically became the new Prime Minister of the British Empire.

Norway was defeated. In fact, Chamberlain was Churchill's scapegoat, and he unjustly took the responsibility for this failure.

But in the later "Operation Dynamo", Churchill, who was already the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, could no longer shirk his responsibility.

The destruction of the 20 elite expeditionary force was ten times higher than the number of British troops that surrendered in Norway.

In "Operation Dynamo", the huge loss of the Royal Navy's home fleet was ten times, twenty times, or even more than that in the Norwegian naval battle!

The current Churchill is actually worse than the failure that Chamberlain faced back then.

The reason why he has not fallen like Chamberlain is even more bizarre-because no one is willing to step up to take over the current mess, so Churchill can only be allowed to continue.

Churchill knew very well that for the current British Empire, it could no longer afford to lose.And he himself couldn't afford to lose!

"Prime Minister, General de Gaulle of France wants to see you." A confidential secretary pushed the door open.

"De Gaulle? Who is he?" Churchill, who didn't react for a while, raised his head from the copywriting: "Why haven't I heard of it?"

It is no wonder that Churchill is very unfamiliar with the name de Gaulle. After all, de Gaulle in this life is just a young major general with ambitions.

Text Chapter 425 A Trap

It took Churchill's confidential secretary a full quarter of an hour to explain to the Prime Minister the identity of de Gaulle and his reason for coming.

It has to be said that after Churchill listened to de Gaulle's introduction, he admired the ambition of this little French major general for a while.

An ordinary major general, among the many generals in France, it can be said that there is nothing special about him.

But it is such an ordinary little person who can no longer be ordinary, who actually has the ambition to re-form a new French government!

"I understand what you think." Facing de Gaulle standing upright in front of him, Churchill sat on his chair across a desk and said slowly: "Then, why do you ask me to Do you believe that you can successfully form a new government?"

Churchill's words are very straightforward. After all, the opponent is just a major general, not to mention a major general of a defeated country. Even among the soldiers of the armed forces of the Commonwealth of Nations, there are hundreds of people at the level of major generals. thousand.

If every major general had to listen carefully to his thoughts, then even if Churchill had two heads, two sets of ears would not be enough.

"I have to say, Dai, Dai...Sorry, I really can't remember your name." Churchill, who had just processed a lot of documents, couldn't remember the name de Gaulle, which he had only heard a few times. .

Of course, this also shows from the side that Churchill did not pay much attention to de Gaulle who volunteered.