Chapter 290 Churchill's Island Chain

Although occupying Iceland and the Faroe Islands will make Britain lose points in diplomacy and politics, it will greatly score points in terms of military.

Because Iceland and the Faroe Islands are located at the throat of the German Navy's breakthrough into the Atlantic Ocean!

If Britain occupies there, it can use the Shetland Islands and the Orkney Islands as the first island chain, and Iceland and the Faroe Islands as the second island chain, effectively blocking the passage of German surface ships into the Atlantic Ocean. The historical battleship "Bismarck" was discovered by the British cruiser patrolling there when it broke through the Denmark Strait.

Moreover, the "Bismarck" was discovered not because of bad luck, but because the width of the Denmark Strait is limited, only about 300 kilometers. There are planes in the sky, warships on the water, and submarines underwater. It is absolutely difficult to break through without being discovered.

Once the German commerce-breaking fleet is discovered by the British, it will be surrounded and suppressed by the British fleet with an absolute advantage in numbers in the Atlantic Ocean!

Of course, such a bad situation will not happen at the moment. Because the radar technology in 1939 was not high, most British ships did not have radar, let alone airborne radar. It is still not easy to find German ships in the long night of the Denmark Strait.

However, for the current German Navy. The British occupation of Iceland and the Faroe Islands means that the return journey of the "Seydlitz" aircraft carrier will not be smooth.

"Where is that aircraft carrier now?"

At the headquarters meeting on the morning of October 14, Adolf Hitler, who was a little irritated, asked in a very gloomy tone.

He was preparing to visit Rome two days later to persuade the Italian leader to join the "Socialist Axis" again. If the "Scharnhorst" and "Seydlitz" were still traveling happily in the Atlantic, then Mussolini would definitely become inclined to Germany even if he did not join immediately.

But now, the "Scharnhorst" was surrounded by the British in the port of Heroes in the Azores. Ribbentrop took an Italian plane to Lisbon overnight to negotiate with Salazar (the Portuguese dictator). But the result would probably not be good. Salazar would never offend Britain and France for Germany.

It seems that the fate of the "Scharnhorst" is to sink in Heroes Harbor!

The "Seydlitz" is now fleeing in panic - even Hitler, an army corporal, can figure out how dangerous an aircraft carrier without any escort ships is.

"It is heading for the Danish Strait." Admiral Raeder replied with a sullen face. He did not expect this result.

The tactic of using submarines to ambush battleships has been successful many times in war games and actual military exercises. The "Scharnhorst" acting as an imaginary enemy has been "sunk" more than ten times - this exercise is actually based on a concept of the Ministry of Defense.

The Ministry of Defense assumes that France may fail quickly in future wars, and Germany may soon get an opportunity to land on the British mainland.

In this case, what can the German Navy, which is not strong enough, do to block the entrance to the English Channel when aircraft cannot be dispatched (at night or in bad weather)?

The German Navy thought of using submarines to cooperate with battleships equipped with radar to attack British battleships that have penetrated...

But now it seems that this method is obviously not feasible!

"When can we reach the Denmark Strait?" Hitler asked.

"It will take another 60-80 hours..." Raeder said, "It will take 60 hours to go in a straight line, but it is easy to be ambushed by British submarines."

"So how will the British intercept it?"

"They will deploy Spitfire, Hurricane fighters and Bristol Beaufort torpedo bombers in Iceland." Raeder said, "In this way, the Seydlitz will not dare to break through during the day. At the same time, the British can also mobilize cruisers and destroyers to block the Denmark Strait and the Norwegian Sea. Relying on the advantage of numbers, they are likely to capture the Seydlitz in the Denmark Strait and the Norwegian Sea."

That would be a disastrous defeat! Everyone present frowned.

This "Battle of the Azores" proved the role of aircraft carriers - aircraft carriers can completely become the core of the fleet, and the greatest value of battleships and battlecruisers in naval battles seems to be escorting aircraft carriers.

"Send out the High Seas Fleet!" Hessmann said, "Let the Gneisenau, Deutschland, Admiral Graf Spee, and Admiral Scheer attack together! By the way, can the Seckt aircraft carrier be deployed now?"

"The aircraft carrier can be deployed, but the carrier-based pilots have not completed training yet." Raeder said.

"No carrier-based pilots?" Hessmann frowned. Without the carrier guard, the British Beaufort torpedo bombers would be a big problem.

"No," Raeder shook his head, "We now have 12 Fokker Zeros and 6 Fokker 99s that can be put on board... They are driven by instructors from the Wilhelmshaven Naval Aviation Training School."

The Wilhelmshaven Naval Aviation Training School specializes in training carrier-based pilots (pilots like Hessmann's son Rudolf), of which there are a total of 18 instructors who can go on aircraft carriers, all of whom are the treasures of the navy (they are all from the navy). However, in order to rescue the Seydlitz, they had to be used.

Hessmann exchanged glances with Schleicher and Hitler, and then said: "Then let's go together! We can't lose the Seydlitz, it's too precious!"

The Seydlitz is too important for the Norwegian campaign that could break out in a few months. Especially since Germany has lost the Scharnhorst.

And the Seydlitz has the best carrier-based pilots in Germany. If some of them are allowed to serve as instructors, Germany can double the speed of training carrier-based pilots!

"Okay, I'll give orders to Admiral Hermann Böhm immediately." Raeder stood up and walked out quickly to give orders to the new commander of the High Seas Fleet (he was Marshal's predecessor, who had just stepped down and returned to the furnace last night).

"Leader, Minister," Hersmann said to Hitler and Schleicher after Raeder left, "It seems that we need more aircraft carriers!"

He paused, "The three large cruise ships Europa, Potsdam and Gneisenau can all be converted."

Using large cruise ships to transform aircraft carriers is a relatively time-saving method. Two years is enough to transform a large aircraft carrier. Moreover, through the "German-Italian cooperation" in the early years, the German Navy has mastered the situation of two Italian modified aircraft carriers, so there will not be too many problems in the design of the plan.

"What about the shipyard?" Hitler asked, "Are there any empty slipways?"

"No," Hermann Goering shrugged, "All the large slipways are full."

"That's not a problem," Hersmann smiled, "We can start dismantling the superstructure first, and then there will be slipways! It will take several months to dismantle the superstructure, and by then the shipyards in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Belgium will definitely be available to Germany."

At this time, Raeder had walked back quickly and said, "Admiral Böhm's fleet can set off within 6 hours, and the fleet can pass through the Shetland Islands and enter the Norwegian Sea tonight. In addition, In addition, Admiral Boehm hopes that the Air Force and Naval Aviation will take action tonight to bomb the airport in Lerwick (the capital of the Shetland Islands). "

Hersmann nodded, "Of course there will be action." He glanced at Air Force General Kesselring, who immediately said: "Not only will Lerwick be bombed, but France will also be bombed!"

"Bomb France?" Raeder was stunned, "When?"

Hersmann replied: "Now!"

The plan to bomb major French cities has been formulated long ago. Of course, it is not 1,000 planes to drop 10,000 tons of bombs. Hesmann does not want to bomb Paris into ruins. However, in order to paralyze France and make them think that Germany only wants to win through bombing, two or three hundred planes must be sent out.

However, the large-scale deployment of fighter planes today is naturally related to the defeat of the "Scharnhorst"! The loss of a battleship has dealt a heavy blow to Germany's popularity in Europe, and it must try to save some face.

Therefore, before coming to Berlin to attend the emergency meeting of the High Command, Hessmann ordered the Air Force to bomb all civilian and military airports in Lorraine-Alsace and Champagne-Ardennes.

These two regions are located between Germany and Paris. Destroying the airports there can be seen as clearing obstacles for bombers to fly to Paris!

"Edmund, we were bombed by the Germans!"

British Chief of Staff Ironside had just arrived in Paris and heard bad news from Admiral Gamelin who came to greet him at the airport.

"They sent hundreds of planes! There are He-111, Do-17 and Ju88, and the damn BF-109!"

For Britain, the damned Fokker Zero now.

For France, the most terrifying is the BF-109. This aircraft has a great advantage over the French MS.406. In the air battles near the Maginot Line and the Siegfried Line, the French often needed to use three or even more MS.406s to exchange for one BF-109 - this was an advantage achieved when the number of Fokker Zeros was insufficient and could not form a high-low match (high-altitude and low-altitude coordination) with the BF-109.

"This morning they bombed our fourteen airports, destroyed hundreds of aircraft, and shot down 28 MS.406s in air battles. And their losses were only 7 BF-109s and 8 bombers." Gamelin said frustratedly, "Just an hour ago, several German fast bombers dropped countless leaflets in Paris, claiming that if France still did not accept Germany's peace terms before October 31, 1939, German planes would bomb Paris flat!"

The French Army Commander-in-Chief looked at the British Chief of Staff anxiously, "Edmund, we must defend Paris! I know you have good planes, let them come to France!"