389 French Navy

In Akado’s original time and space, after the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War, the once powerful Beiyang navy was finally besieged and killed by the Japanese army and navy in Weihai, and the entire army was wiped out. This is the eternal pain in the hearts of every Chinese.

However, similar history is always repeated from time to time. Just over fifty years later, a well-equipped navy of another major country ended its mission in a more tragic way-the French Navy in World War II.

It was not the weak enemy, the German Navy, who was merciless, but the ally of the French in World War II: the British Royal Navy!

After World War I, the United States, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan signed the "Washington Naval Agreement" aimed at limiting armaments in Washington, the United States. The agreement stipulated that the total tonnage of the French navy was 175,000 tons, which is The fourth largest naval power in the world.

Then in 1926, the soul of the French Navy—Admiral François Darlan's appointment brought new life to the French Navy. As soon as this general from a naval family came to power, he began to rebuild the French Navy. important task.

In 1929, in the face of the threat from the German Navy's "Lützow" class armored ships rebuilt by Arcado, the French Navy finally approved the construction plan of the light battleship Dunkirk. As the first French battleship after World War I, this ship type surpassed the "Deutschland" class pocket battleship in terms of displacement, speed, firepower and armor thickness.

Soon, France started construction of the Richelieu-class battleship, which was not inferior to the latest warship in the world at that time in terms of performance, and could even compete with the King George V class of the United Kingdom, making it the best battleship in the world.

When Admiral Darlan was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Navy in 1937 because of the beginning of the War of Poland, the French Navy had become one of the most modern navies in the world, with 1 aircraft carrier, 3 battleships, 7 heavy cruisers, and light cruisers. With 12 cruisers, more than 50 destroyers of various types, and 101 submarines of various types, its comprehensive strength ranks fourth in the world, and it is a formidable maritime force.

Then on January 6, 1938, war between Germany and France officially broke out. In just a dozen days, the French army was defeated. The surrender of France. The only action was when he was ordered to round up the German armored ship "Admiral Graf Spee" in the North Sea, but it was missed because of the inaccurate intelligence of the French fleet.

As a result, this large-scale fleet remained almost intact, and became an important force that both Britain and Germany were very concerned about. After a rush of work, the battleship Richelieu entered service on January 30. Not only did the French Navy not suffer any losses, but it even "added and imported", adding a newest battleship.

So it is not to blame Raeder and Lütjens for coveting the French navy at all, but because the size of this navy is too large. Once these warships fall under the control of the German Navy,

Then the German Navy can be said to have at least doubled in size in the short term.

Originally a sweet pastry that everyone wanted, now it has become a character that both parties want to get rid of quickly. The British Navy knows that under the current situation, it is simply impossible to try to get the French Navy to stand on its side. So on February 5th, they brazenly attacked Brest, an important French military port.

The two British aircraft carriers took off 30 Swordfish attack aircraft in one go, and also dispatched 10 Dapeng fighter jets to escort them to bomb the French port and destroy the French fleet in the port. As early as ten minutes ago, the British battleships HMS King George V and HMS Resolution had approached the port of Brest, preparing to attack the French battleships inside with their large-caliber artillery.

At 10:21 in the morning, the battle officially started. The battleship King George V opened fire first, followed by the battleship Resolve. Only two minutes later, the French fleet began to fight back.

The British were taken aback by the quick response of the French fleet, and Lawrence, who had developed his intuition in the Battle of the North Sea, immediately felt that the situation was not good. He ordered the Ark Royal where he was to move south, leaving only the aircraft carrier Fury to continue eastward.

The commander of the French navy, Darlan, sits on the latest battleship Richelieu and bombards the British battleship Resolute with eight 380mm main guns. British side leaning.

"Boom!" The main guns of the French battleship fired again, but not far behind them, a heavy cruiser was hit by shells from the battleship King George V, and it was sinking slowly with thick smoke.

"General, there is no way to go on like this. We are defending the air while confronting the dominant British. Maybe the whole army will be wiped out in the harbor." The adjutant just received a radio notification from the land-based air defense force of the harbor. The anti-aircraft artillery position has just been hit by the naval artillery of the British Navy, and 2 main anti-aircraft artillery positions have been lost.

Speaking of Darlan, I will not make a single point. Originally, there were coastal defense artillery positions on both sides of the Brest Naval Port, equipped with a lot of large-caliber artillery and anti-aircraft guns. That is actually the fundamental guarantee for the invincibility of the Brest Naval Port. It's good now, because the German army will take over these areas in a few days, and most of the destruction and abandonment of the angry French have lost their effect.

It's really self-provoking and suffering. Darlan sighed, and ordered to his adjutant: "No matter how much, now I can only rely on myself! Continue to fight back! Even if our entire army is wiped out, the British cannot take advantage of it! These treacherous bastards, Sooner or later, I will get back to this place today!"

Don't look at Darlan who is still determined to persevere until now. In fact, he is already close to insufficient support. A heavy cruiser was sunk, and two gunboats were also sunk due to air raids with thick smoke. The battle started less than 15 minutes ago. , the French fleet has suffered heavy losses.

Not to mention those other warships, the battleship Richelieu, which he now serves as the flagship, has also been hit twice. Simply because of its good defense capabilities, no tragedy happened. But everyone, including Darlan, knew that if they persisted like this, it would only take an hour at most, and there would be nothing left of the main force of the French fleet in the port.

What supports Darlan to continue to fight back here is not actually the spirit of patriotism, but the promise made to him by the German side just now by the former enemy. He doesn't know how long he has to hold on, but he knows that as long as he holds on, the support promised by the Germans will come.

At that time... At that time, it will be a big deal to sell some strength when working for the Germans, and beat the UK twice for the purpose of revenge, and it will be considered as repaying the favor owed today. Darlan shook his head with a wry smile: The commander-in-chief of the French navy, who has fallen into such a miserable situation, doesn't know whether to call himself pitiful or ridiculous.

A shell from a British battleship hit the surface of the water not far from the Richelieu, splashing a huge water column more than ten stories high. The French battleship also fired back again, and the 8 380mm caliber guns on the bow once again sprayed out huge flames. A land observation post on the outskirts of the port that was still working received news that one of the shells hit the battleship Resolve, but The damage done does not appear to be serious.

The British seemed to have a feeling, and a large-caliber shell hit the battleship Richelieu again, directly hitting its B turret position, and accurately hitting the middle armor of the two main guns. Although the shell did not penetrate the turret, it directly caused the No. B turret to be seriously deformed and could not be fired again.

The large-caliber artillery, which the French had no advantage in the first place, lost half of it in an instant. You must know that although France has 4 battleships, the other 3 ships are not in the Brest naval port at this moment-the only one fighting back with the Richelieu is the Dunkirk with a 330-caliber main gun. Of the battleships that were handed out, the rest of the warships were not at the same level as the British battleships.

However, at this moment, the Dunkirk had already been hit twice, the entire battleship was emitting thick smoke, and the artillery had long since been unable to return fire. Now the damage control personnel are rescuing this French "light battleship", not to mention continuing to fight, it is hard to say whether this battleship will be successfully repaired.

"These bastards! Treacherous whores!" After the Richelieu was shaken violently after being hit, General Darlan's adjutant had just stood firm on the map table, and he shouted excitedly: "If I live Today! I am at odds with those bastards in England!"

Can survive today? Can we survive today? Darlan held his forehead and thought silently. Could it be that the Germans used such a trick to kill two birds with one stone in order to get rid of the French navy? Although the British are despicable bastards, the Germans are not much better if they do not save themselves!

When he was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard a burst of cheers from the battleship. Darlan was taken aback for a moment, and then through the glass of the command cabin, he saw a British fighter jet in the distant sky, dragging a long black smoke, falling to the sea.

Before Darlan came back to his senses, an officer ran over and laughed and hugged him, shouting happily: "General! General! Our reinforcements are here! German fighter jets are here! ! Their plane is coming!"

In order to kill these British warships attacking the French Navy, the German fighter force deliberately carried out careful battlefield coordination, and it was precisely because of the cumbersome coordination that they were late for a full 20 minutes. But this delay is of great significance, because when they came from all directions, the British 30 planes rushed into the port only to find that they were surrounded by a full 90 German fighter jets.