Chapter 308 It's France's Turn 2

At noon on February 12, British Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill was driving in a car on the streets of Paris. He came for the battleship "Richelieu". This super battleship with eight quadruple 380mm/45-caliber main guns is now being outfitted and will be completed in June or July 1940.

The British Royal Navy hopes that this super battleship can be transferred to France's Atlantic Fleet after completion to cooperate with the operations of the British Home Fleet.

Because British agents discovered a huge floating city-like super battleship in Wilhelmshaven a few days ago (it has not actually been completed yet)! It should be the legendary battleship "Bismarck", the first ship of the German F-class battleship.

The appearance of the "Bismarck" immediately caused panic in the British Admiralty. Because the battlecruiser "Hood" is still lying in the dock for overhaul, and it may not be able to leave the dock in 1940. Because engineers from the British Admiralty warned after a comprehensive inspection and study of the damage to the Hood: the ship's protection had major problems, the horizontal armor was not strong enough, the mine protection design was outdated, and the anti-aircraft firepower was seriously insufficient. If it is not strengthened, it will easily suffer heavy losses in future battles!

Therefore, the British Admiralty had to let the "Hood" stay in the dock for a few more months to strengthen its defense level.

Several "King George V" class battleships have not yet been completed. Theoretically, there are only two "Nelson" class battleships on the British Royal Navy's books that can compete with the "Bismarck" that have just been repaired.

However, the theoretical maximum speed of the "Nelson" class is only a pitiful 23.8 knots, and it is impossible to catch up with the "Bismarck".

Although the British did not know the speed of the "Bismarck", they knew the German Navy's tactics of breaking diplomatic relations, so they guessed that the "Bismarck" had a speed of more than 30 knots. Except for the "Reputation", there is probably no battleship/battlecruiser in the current British Royal Navy that can catch up with it. But the "Reputation" could not defeat the "Bismarck" no matter what.

Therefore, the somewhat desperate British Admiralty thought of their French friends having a "Richelieu" class battleship. According to the plan, this battleship will be commissioned in a few months (perhaps even earlier). Before the "Hood" completes its overhaul and refit, it will be the main force against the "Bismarck" and its sister ship "Tirpitz".

Churchill frowned when he thought that the breakup fleet composed of "Bismarck", "Tirpitz", "Gneisenau" and two German aircraft carriers would break into the Atlantic in the second half of 1940. A ball. At this time, General Verrick, the commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force who went to the airport to greet him, spoke, interrupting his train of thought.

"Minister, look there!"

Churchill heard the sound and looked in the direction of Admiral Verrick's finger. He only saw a pile of twisted and blackened metal in the open space in front of a department store, and the "Iron Cross" mark could still be vaguely seen.

"A German plane?" Churchill said.

"It's a He-111," Admiral Verrick said. "The Germans bombed Paris again last night. It seems they didn't take advantage."

The military operation to "blow up Paris" has finally begun! There are no 1,000 planes and 10,000 tons of bombs. But every night, dozens to a hundred German medium bombers visited Paris.

The ones that come are usually He-111s and Ju88s. They break in from an altitude of 6,000 meters, throw some bombs and leaflets and leave. They are rarely shot down, and they rarely blow up any valuable targets.

However, the French authorities still made great efforts to protect the airspace of the great capital Paris. Not only did it turn Paris into a city with the highest concentration of anti-aircraft guns in the world, but it also brought in the "Native Chain" radar and many squadrons equipped with "Spitfire" fighters and Blenheim night fighters from the United Kingdom. 20 squadrons equipped with Ms.4z631CN-2 night fighters.

"The Germans don't dare to come over during the day?" Churchill took out a custom-made oversized cigar. Admiral Verrick took out a lighter and lit a cigarette for the future British Prime Minister (Prime Minister Chamberlain was mentally and physically exhausted during this period and was in poor health. Churchill would soon have his turn as Prime Minister).

"The Germans have been bombing the airfields west of the 'Maginot' line of defense during the day, and sometimes they will drop several oversized bombs on the 'Maginot' line of defense." Admiral Verrick replied, "Our' Hurricane, Spitfire and French Ms.406 aircraft are mainly concentrated at military airports near Metz, Anog, Nancy and Verdun. As long as the weather is good, there will be air battles at them. Before we have complete control of the air, there should be no possibility of launching a large-scale air attack on Paris during the day.”

"Well," Churchill took a drag of his cigarette, "who has the advantage?"

"The Germans," General Verrick said with a frown, "It's obviously the Germans! They have two great aircraft, the BF-109 and the Fokker Zero, which are really difficult to deal with. Even if you don't count the ones that were destroyed For aircraft on the ground, the exchange ratio between the two sides is also close to 1:3... In order to shoot down one BF-109 or Fokker Zero, we have to lose three Ms.406, 'Hurricane' or 'Spitfire'."

"That sounds terrible!" Winston Churchill took a deep puff of his cigar. "Fortunately, we can also purchase aircraft from the United States to supplement that."

American "****" (that is, P-36) and F2A have been shipped to Europe one after another and will soon be equipped with British and French armies. However, the performance of these two aircraft is not very good, and they are no match for the BF-109 and Fokker Zero.

"Minister, what is really terrible now is not the loss of aircraft, but the loss of pilots!" Admiral Verrick said, "Although most of the battles took place in French airspace, considering the casualties caused by German aircraft bombing The exchange ratio of pilots and front-line pilots is still around 1:2. If the Germans lose one, we French will lose two or more... Minister, this kind of war of attrition is very dangerous to Britain!"

"I understand." Churchill said lightly, but instead of continuing the topic in the air, he turned the conversation to the ground. "So, how does General Gamelin plan to defeat the Germans?"

General Gamelin is now the commander-in-chief of the British and French forces, and it is his responsibility to lead the British and French forces to defeat Germany. Although there was no major battle on the ground during this period, General Gan Molin did not intend to let the more than one hundred divisions under his command sit quietly until victory.

"Admiral Gamelin prepared to form a large armored force," said Admiral Wyrick. "He studied the situation in the Polish campaign and believed that the key to the German victory was to have a strong armored force. The Germans concentrated their use of tanks. , instead of distributing them to infantry divisions. This is their secret to winning the war! So General Gamelin is ready to learn from the Germans, organize 24 armored divisions before 1942, and then use them to crush the Germans!"

"24 armored divisions?" Churchill smoked a cigarette. "That sounds like a lot...but where are we going to attack from? Are we going to break through the Siegfried Line?"

"No, of course not," said Verrick. "Admiral Gamelin believes that Belgium's neutrality can be undermined when necessary."

Churchill shook his head and said: "If we have to wait until 1942 to launch a counterattack, it means that the Royal Navy will have to fight the Bismarck, the Tirpitz and several other more powerful super battleships! "The British Admiralty Minister said in a serious tone, "According to intelligence, the seven major shipyards in Germany have a total of nine large slipways with a capacity of over 60,000 tons. These slipways are currently building ships, and they probably won't be super cruise ships... Intelligence shows that the Germans have a large-scale shipbuilding plan, and they may already be building a battleship larger than the Bismarck, possibly a 60,000-ton giant battleship!”

The British also got some information about Germany's construction of "H" class battleships and "O" class battleships. Although they don't know much, they can guess that these two battleships must be more powerful than the "Bismarck" class.

If you want to deal with them, you can't rely on the existing British battleships. Even the "King George V" class and the "Lion" class are not necessarily their opponents.

"In addition, according to reliable intelligence," Churchill exhaled smoke, and then said, "the Soviets' four 'Soviet' class battleships will also be put into service within 1942. By then, Germany and the Soviet Union will have up to 15 (9-seat The 60,000-ton slipway will each build one giant battleship, plus two Bismarck-class and four Soviet-class super battleships! This is something that the British Royal Navy and the French Navy cannot resist..."

The British Admiralty has obviously overestimated Germany's shipbuilding plan. Currently, the construction of 2 H-class and 3 B-class aircraft carriers on the nine 60,000-ton slipways (one of which was launched only after the launch of the Tirpitz Keel laying started), 2 O-class ships, and 4 P-class ships (the 2 P-class ships share a 60,000-ton slipway). However, even a combined fleet consisting of 2 Bismarcks, 2 H-classes, 2 O-classes, 4 P-classes, 1 Gneisenau, and 4 Soviet-class ships was not something that the British and French navies in 1942 could handle. of.

"Minister, what should we do?" Admiral Verik asked with a frown. In fact, he also had doubts about Gamelin's plan of 24 armored divisions to crush Germany. Because the Germans will definitely form new armored divisions. There may not be 24 armored divisions by 1942, but there will never be less than 20, right?

The British and French armored divisions cannot have an overwhelming advantage in numbers!

"We still have to bomb the oil-producing areas of Baku, Grozny and Batumi!" Churchill exhaled smoke and lowered his voice, "Let French planes do the bombing!"