Chapter 589 Operation Sea Lion XI

It was cloudy at 3 p.m. on May 2, 1942.

Over the St. George's Channel, 55 kilometers south of the island of Ireland and 200 kilometers from the capital of Ireland, 12 Me323 transport planes that looked very bloated and fat, escorted by 36 Fokker Zero fighters, appeared and disappeared in the clouds. This large transport plane, which can carry up to 12 tons of cargo or 120 armed soldiers, was developed on the basis of the Me321 large glider transport plane.

Moreover, the Me323 is a Franco-German cooperation project. It was developed by the German Messchmidt Company and the French Land God-Rhone Company. The latter provided a reliable 14-cylinder radial engine 14N type, which can take off with 1140 horsepower and reach 1035 horsepower at an altitude of 5,000 meters. Although this engine is behind the air-cooled engines produced by German BMW and Siemens, it has sufficient production capacity and can fully meet the needs of the Me323. It is also very reliable and the price is extremely low.

So the engineers of Messerschmitt and Land God-Rhone installed 6 Land God-Rhone 14N engines on the Me323 transport aircraft. With a total power of more than 6,000 horsepower, this aircraft can fly 750 kilometers at a speed of 200-245 kilometers per hour when fully loaded, just enough to fly a one-way detour from Brest to Dublin (bypassing the Cornwall Peninsula in the UK). It is simply a tailor-made aircraft for raiding the Irish capital!

Since France quickly turned to Germany after the Mediterranean Campaign, the Me323 transport aircraft not only used French technical strength in the research and development process (because the participation of French engineers and technicians accelerated the research and development process a lot), but also production was arranged in French factories-these factories were opened before the war and have very excellent technical workers, engineers and equipment, which are no less than German factories. According to today's production plan, the German Airborne Transport Command can receive at least 200 Me323 transport aircraft this year.

Lieutenant Otto Skorzeny, a big guy, sat in a window seat in the "big belly" of the Me323 aircraft. Outside the window were white clouds that looked like cotton wool, which made people feel like traveling on a large passenger plane.

If everything goes well, it will be a trip - according to the guarantee of the commander of the 323rd Special Mission Fighter Aviation Regiment of the German Air Force, which uses these Me323 aircraft, the flight to Dublin is a pleasant trip.

Because the 5th Fleet and the landing fleet have attracted most of the attention of the Royal Air Force, and before the aircraft of the 323rd Special Mission Fighter Aviation Regiment took off, a squadron of P.108S heavy bombers had already dropped aluminum foil strips near the Cornwall Peninsula, so the radar deployed by the British on the Cornwall Peninsula should now be unable to see anything.

As for the Irish, there is even less need to worry, because the whole world knows that the Irish hate Britain. Britain was once the richest and most powerful empire in the world, but it allowed hundreds of thousands of Irish people to starve to death during the Great Famine in Ireland caused by potato germs between 1845 and 1850. During this famine, the British government not only did not actively rescue, but also prevented the Ottoman Sultan at the time from providing a donation of 10,000 pounds to the Irish famine victims - because Queen Victoria herself only provided 2,000 pounds. In the end, the Ottoman Sultan had to secretly transport three ships of food to Ireland to help the famine victims... This attitude towards the Irish can no longer be described as "indifferent", but is close to a deliberate genocide policy!

Therefore, this famine became the beginning of the awakening of Irish national consciousness and the independence movement!

Although the Great Famine has passed for nearly a hundred years and Ireland has become a free state, the road to national independence has not been completed after all. Britain still controls the Northern Ireland region in the north of Ireland, and Ireland is not a real republic, but a "free state" under the British Empire.

However, the Irish are not content with the current situation. The current Irish Free State government is also notoriously anti-British. Under the leadership of this anti-British government, Ireland is now the only free state in the entire Commonwealth that has not declared war on Germany and remains neutral.

The members of the "Moonlight Squadron" who once "tourized" Ireland during the war all know how pro-German the Irish are. Just look at the uniforms of the Irish army, which are exactly the same as the German uniforms.

So Lieutenant Otto Skorzeny firmly believes that as long as 38t tanks and fully armed German soldiers appear in the park in front of the Irish Presidential Palace, the Irish government will be very happy to invite Germany to send troops to station there - because the Irish are not opposed to the German invasion, but are worried that Ireland will be occupied by Britain again after the German invasion fails. This is a problem.

"Eamon, where is the German fleet?"

Although Irish President De Grasse Hyde has no real power, he still couldn't help but call Prime Minister Eamon de Valera to inquire about the situation of the German landing fleet.

"We should have passed Normandy. Churchill, the liar, just announced the Normandy victory in his speech, claiming that two German aircraft carriers and a German battlecruiser were sunk in the waters near Normandy."

"It can't be true?" DeGrasse Hyde asked worriedly.

"Impossible, because Churchill also called on every British person to fight to the end in his speech, which means that the Germans will land soon."

"Will the Germans land in Cork Bay?" DeGrasse Hyde asked.

"I don't know, but we are ready." The Irish Prime Minister assured, "All suitable landing sites have been cleared, obstacles and mines have been removed, German road signs have been placed, and clean water, food and shelter are prepared near the beach, as well as German-speaking guides. I think the German landing will be a military operation without casualties."

"What about the railway? Is the railway department ready?"

"Ready, 100 locomotives and 1,000 train cars have been prepared at the railway hub in Cork City, and they can be started at any time to send the landing German troops to Dundalk."

Dundalk is located on the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, only more than 70 kilometers away from Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, and has always been the focus of defense for the Irish army.

However, the Irish army is dressed more like the German army, and its combat effectiveness cannot be compared with that of the German army. Moreover, the Irish government has always been very poor, and there is no industrialization in the country, so it can't afford good weapons. Therefore, the Irish army is just bread and rifles, and the British army can't beat them if they really invade.

So the only way for the Irish government to recover Northern Ireland and save most of the Irish territory from the ravages of war is to let the Germans pass through the southern and central regions of Ireland as soon as possible and reach the front line near Northern Ireland.

After hanging up the phone, Irish President DeGrasse Hyde began his routine walk on the grass before dinner every day. This is also a rare opportunity to contact ordinary Irish people. Although Hyde is the president of the Free State, he is not the kind of person who lives in the clouds. Phoenix Park, where the presidential palace is located, is also open to the public. Many people will relax and have fun here every day. President Hyde likes to talk to these ordinary Irish people and understand their needs.

However, when President Hyde walked out of the presidential palace today, he saw that many people who were supposed to be strolling leisurely on the grass were running towards him quickly, and there was a buzzing roar coming from somewhere.

What's going on? Douglas Hyde thought: Could it be that the citizens of Dublin saw their beloved president coming and rushed to ask for his autograph? He reached into his pocket to take out the pen, and suddenly heard someone shouting beside him.

"Plane! Big plane, such a big plane!"

Big plane? How big? Douglas Hyde subconsciously looked up at the sky and saw an incredible scene.

Over the Phoenix Park, more than a dozen "big-bellied" planes appeared at some point. This type of plane was larger than any plane Douglas Hyde had ever seen. There were six engines on the wings, and the buzzing roar should be made by them.

And these big planes were flying very low, as if they were about to land on the grass of Phoenix Park in the next moment.

"Mr. President, those planes are about to land!" An attendant of the presidential palace told the stunned Douglas Hyde loudly.

"Landing?" Douglas Hyde looked closely and saw that there was indeed a plane about to land on the big lawn of Phoenix Park.

"Oh my God, whose planes are they?" DeGrasse Hyde asked. He didn't know much about airplanes, and his old eyes were blurry and he couldn't see the emblems on the planes clearly.

"I don't know, but they are definitely not ours!" An attendant suddenly pulled the president's arm, "Mr. President, they may be British planes... Mr. President, get out of here!"

DeGrasse Hyde woke up from his dream and followed his attendants back to the presidential palace. Before he ran into the presidential palace, he saw a large group of Irish Army infantry rushing out of the temporary military camp next to the presidential palace, carrying rifles, machine guns and white flags - if the British came down from those big planes, then use rifles and machine guns to greet them. Although Ireland is weak, it also has the courage to resist. If it is the Nazis, then quickly raise the white flag to avoid unnecessary casualties...