The Third Reich in Desperation

Historically, if the French navy in the port of Oran could not contact General Darlan and wavered between war and peace, it would not have been successfully attacked by the British fleet.

But this time, the British home fleet was seriously injured by Germany in the North Sea World War I. Even the battleships needed for sneak attack operations were only made up of 2 ships, which caused its firepower to not have an absolute advantage from the beginning.

However, the British fleet still has a certain advantage after all, and Sir Forbes also cannot bear his own fleet, nor can he bear the Royal Navy of the British Empire.

Excited, Sir Forbes loudly ordered to the officers: "Give me up, open fire on all French targets, and blow up these damn French fleets! Let them see, our Royal Navy of the British Empire , there is an insurmountable gap between him and him!"

Inspired by Sir Forbes, the naval guns on the remaining British battleships shot into the sky one after another, shooting at the French meritorious battleship Provence.

After a while, more than half of the flybridge connecting No. [-] and No. [-] chimneys on the Provence collapsed, and the remaining small part was also twisted into a spiral at a strange angle.

On the battleship Provence, the crane and the lifeboat had been thrown into the sea, only a small crooked crane arm remained.

The chart room that the French captain loved the most disappeared immediately, and tons of materials either turned into ashes in the sea of ​​fire, or turned into confetti flying all over the sky.

In addition, a corner of the telegraph room was cut off, and a piece of shrapnel tore off the wireless antenna above the command tower, causing the Provence to temporarily lose contact with the main force of the French Grand Fleet. threat, urgently repair the wireless antenna.

This is not over yet, the armored wall of the turret bomber that was frantically output by the British naval guns on the Provence, the armor-piercing projectiles that were bounced off, and the bulky armor-piercing part caused secondary damage to the Provence.

The shell destroyed the communication door of the watertight cabin, which was less than 40 mm, penetrated the thin floor of the communication channel, and exploded in the dry cabin, which has only one partition of the watertight cabin with the propellant storage room of the turret.

Even though the rescuers on the ship rushed to extinguish the fire and the gaseous water mist covered the fire scene, it was still useless. The fire and light yellow poisonous gas caused by picric acid still spread, and soon broke through the hole that was dug. Looting in the communication channel.

"The strength of the British Royal Navy really lives up to its reputation!" Looking at the battleships on his side that are twice as large as the British army, but being crushed by the British fleet, Darlan, holding a telescope, couldn't help but sigh with emotion.

At the same distance, the British fleet had already defeated the French fleet with the accurate gunnery maintained by their good training.

The distance between the two sides is the same, but the officers and soldiers under Darlan's command cannot achieve the high hit rate of the British Navy because of the gap in artillery skills.

"Commander!" Darlan's adjutant couldn't stand it anymore. He stepped forward emotionally and shouted: "Please order the entire fleet to press up and fight the British!"

At this time, the only chance for the French fleet may be to rush forward, shorten the distance between the two sides to improve the hit rate, weaken the gap in training with the British army, and give it a go.

However, Darlan shook his head lightly and stopped the adjutant's suggestion: "You forgot one thing, the British have already laid a large number of mines before negotiating with us."

This is why the British Navy was the first to deploy mines.Sir Forbes, from the very beginning, the French navy might give it a go.

Therefore, he ordered mines to be laid, blocking the route of the French warships leaving the port early.

This is the true strength of the British Navy.

When it comes to artillery battles at sea, they are invincible!

If it weren't for Reinhardt's use of naval aviation to change the combat mode when planning to build the German Navy.

Even if the German High Seas Fleet builds 10 more battleships, it may not be able to defeat the Royal Navy in the North Sea.

Unfortunately, today's French navy has no chance to learn from Germany.

With a wry smile, Darlan said a little lonely: "Although I don't want to admit it, the British are indeed much better at naval battles than us..."

Text Chapter 441 Hell

At the end of the communication passage came the sound of messy footsteps. Captain Bedick, the damage control captain of the Provence, put on a gas mask in a hurry, grabbed the fire hose, and led a group of subordinates into the fire without thinking about their own lives.

The electrical watertight door near the fire site was locked, the communication door of the communication channel was also closed heavily, the water pump was turned on, and water was injected into the watertight cabin.

The damage control soldiers holding water dragons slowly advanced towards the center of the fire scene. After 10 minutes, the fire was gradually suppressed. If there is no accident, the damage control team can clear the fire source within 10 minutes.

But what good would it do if they put out the fire?The current Provence has no combat effectiveness at all. They can only say that they avoided the sinking of the Provence, but the British offensive continues.

The exhausted damage control team leader finally took a short break and took off his sticky gas mask.The face blackened by the thick smoke just showed its head, and then it was dyed in the color of fire. The middle-aged damage control team leader took off his wet shirt, squeezed out a puddle of water, and leaned against the contact door. gasp.

At this time, Colonel Horning, the unkempt Provence deputy captain, unscrewed the turn lock of the communication door. After a hasty military salute, he sent them bad news.

"Captain, on behalf of all the officers and men of the Provence, I would like to express my gratitude to you, but I must tell you now that we have decided to abandon the ship. The Provence was hit on the second deck on the port side amidships. A large amount of sea water has entered, and the hull has tilted greatly. There is absolutely no other way now, so prepare as soon as possible.”

A British 15-inch armor-piercing projectile with an unstable fuze penetrated the entire deck and exploded outside the armor wall connecting the first and second decks, causing the Provence to completely capsize!

"Commander, the current situation is very bad." Darlan's adjutant carefully glanced at Darlan, who was frowning, and suggested on a whim: "Should we ask the Germans for help now and ask them to send the air force?" Come to the rescue!"

After all, France's own air force is not as lucky as the navy.The French Air Force was already heavily damaged by the Germans during the battle with the Germans.

And the fighters they had left were all taken over by the German army in the end.

In other words, if Darlan's fleet wants to get fighter support, the Vichy government can't count on it.The only one they can turn to is the German government.

"The Germans? Count on Reinhardt? He wants us to fight the British to the death and reap the benefits. How could he come to help us!" Darlan shook his head, coldly rejecting the adjutant's suggestion.

Indeed, Darlan hated Britain, but he also would not be close to Germany.

Originally, if Churchill really did what he said and forgave the suffering of the French navy, then Darlan might gradually lean towards Britain psychologically.

But now, the persecution and sneak attack of the British Royal Navy has completely wiped out the trace of gratitude and goodwill that Darlan had just ignited for the British.

At the final stage of the battle, the Port of Oran was already in flames and thick smoke billowed.

The sunk tanker spread a large amount of fuel oil, causing the sea to burn, and the scene was horrible.

Even the flagship "Brittany" in the port of Oran, France, was accurately sunk by the British in the artillery duel of the British army.

Although the number of battleships is not dominant, Sir Forbes, the commander of the British fleet, concentrated almost all the artillery fire of cruisers and destroyers on this huge battleship, and the results were remarkable.

Of course, the French officers and soldiers under Darlan's command also performed very well.

Although the artillery skills are not as good as those of the British army, the moment the "Brittany" was sunk by a torpedo, it was still firing back, showing its indomitable and tenacious!

The 1130 French officers and soldiers on board sank into the sea with the ship, but these Frenchmen who fell into the water refused to accept the rescue of the British. Facing the helping hand extended by the British lifeboat, many people firmly replied: "I would rather be drowned." , and will not accept the rescue of the betrayer!"

After the "Brittany" sank, the British ship diverted its artillery fire and continued to shoot at the remaining French ships.The entire connection process was as smooth as flowing water, and the high level of tacit cooperation between the officers and soldiers of the British Empire relying on excellent training has been fully demonstrated in this naval battle!

"Order the fleet to break through." Darlan watched his beloved warships being sunk one after another, and finally made this heart-wrenching decision in the command room in Oran Port.

"Let the severely damaged battleship rush to the beach at full speed, and avoid being sunk on the bottom of the sea by running aground."

Although Darlan is not considered a master of naval warfare, he is a well-known technical school in the French navy.In terms of technical execution, Darlan's experience is no worse than that of Sir Forbes.

Just like now, he ordered the severely damaged warship to give up breaking through and choose to run aground.

On the one hand, this can indeed prevent the warships from sinking to the bottom of the sea even if they are severely damaged.At the same time, they can also serve as a never-silent fortress on the beach, sustaining artillery counterattacks.

On the one hand, in the port of Oran, there are anti-aircraft artillery positions of the harbor roadbed air defense team, which can help fight against the British carrier-based aircraft.

And the large-caliber field artillery transferred by Berante can also play a role of offshore support to a certain extent.

"Let the battleship Slatersburg open the way and bring out the port with less damaged warships." Darlan continued to command: "In any case, let them join the support fleet I have transferred as much as possible."

Looking at the smoky harbor, Darlan gritted his teeth and ordered: "Those who stay, fight back with all your strength! Even if the rest of us are wiped out, we must cover as many warships as possible to leave!"