Three Hundred and Ninety Brest

Darlan swore he was still so happy when he saw the Luftwaffe for the first time in his life. When the densely packed German fighter planes surrounded the British planes in the sky, Darlan gave an order to repair the Dunkirk with all his strength and withdraw from the battle.

"General, shall we not get involved now and help the Luftwaffe kill the invading British fleet?" Darlan's adjutant asked, frowning.

"It's easy to chase out, but if the British pull us back before they die, the Resolve and the King George V will definitely let us sink to the bottom of the sea before sinking." Darlan sighed helplessly and said: "Besides, we Now there is no ability to pursue, we only have 4 main guns, and the speed of the battleship has also been affected."

Amidst the roar of engines and the enthusiastic cheers of French sailors, in just a few minutes, the Luftwaffe tore more than 30 British aircraft to pieces. Because of the huge gap in technical and tactical advantages, the Luftwaffe often reminds people of a group of vultures when they fight more and less. These large mechanical birds circle and dive in the sky, tearing their prey into pieces after a few rounds.

The victory in the sky saved the French fleet in the naval port from annihilation. As expected, the British gave up the bombardment and began to flee at an accelerated pace. However, whether they can escape the joint strangulation of the German navy and air force is another matter. up.

With the attitude that nothing to do with himself, Darlan began to command the troops to reduce losses and rush to repair the warship. The harbor was in a mess, more than half of the French ships were damaged by the British, a heavy cruiser and a light cruiser sank, a gunboat became a pile of scrap iron, and the only aircraft carrier was also destroyed.

The British used their actual actions to prove their strength. Even when most of the main force is lost and morale is low to the bottom, the precise gunnery maintained by good training is more than a step better than the French navy. Although the entire artillery battle lasted less than half an hour, the British hit the target as many as 11 times, while the French only hit the Resolve once.

Although this is related to the fact that the French are in the port, the warships are relatively dense and most of them cannot act, while the British naval ships are moving at high speed outside the port. However, the gap between the training level of the two sides and the gun handling skills is still very obvious.

Even the German Admiral Raeder, who later rushed to the Brest Naval Port to condolence the French Navy, was shocked by the level of the British artillery battle: the Admiral Earl Spey was quickly sunk during the night battle, and the French Navy was severely damaged during the artillery battle. The main force - this kind of strength is indeed not an opponent that can be defeated in a head-on fight.

Raeder later said in his diary: "I now know the genius of the head of state when planning naval construction. The Royal Navy is almost invulnerable in both quantity and quality. If the head of state did not use naval aviation to change the mode of naval warfare, even if it is built With 20 battleships, Germany could not secure its superiority at sea... let alone extract such brilliant results."

The smoke of the artillery battle at the Brest naval port has not yet cleared,

The naval battle not far from the naval port has already begun. The roaring 80 planes of the German Naval Air Force began to attack the British naval fleet, and the British naval fleet fought back while fleeing, and the scene was not at a disadvantage for a while.

If it is said that the British Royal Navy went out to sea to attack the French fleet, the commanders of the British Royal Navy fleet dared to carry out the mission, then fighting the German Navy's High Seas Fleet in the daytime is undoubtedly lent to these British captains. A situation where people dare to fight. The moment they saw the German Navy's carrier-based aircraft, almost all the British warships had only one thought left - that is, to run away.

Lawrence, the frightened commander of the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, was naturally the smartest escapee: he had brought three destroyers southward 20 minutes ago, and now he has almost left the main battlefield, and the route he chose It was heading south instead of north, avoiding the key interception area of ​​​​the German navy, and actually escaped the pursuit of the German navy.

However, apart from the lucky aircraft carrier Ark Royal, the other main battleships of the British Navy participating in the operation this time were not so lucky. The battleship Resolve, which was hit by a shell once, damaged several anti-aircraft gun positions, causing air defense There was a vacuum in the firepower. So the German fighter planes that noticed this flaw were like seeing carrion vultures, like flies smelling a fishy smell, and rushed towards the injured British battleship HMS Resolve in groups.

A Stuka dive bomber used its sights to lasso its target at high altitude, and went down at a high speed with a howling and screaming sound. At the same time, the two 20mm cannons on the wings sprayed out flames, and the tracer bullets drew a straight line. Swept towards the middle of the ship of the Resolution, shooting a dazzling spark.

At a position close enough, Stuka dropped the 500kg aerial bomb mounted under the belly of the aircraft, and then suddenly pulled up the nose. The speed of the entire aircraft dropped sharply, and the bomb rushed directly to the chimney of the battleship Resolute by inertia, and the entire Resolute trembled slightly from the huge impact force.

Several British sailors who were on the nearby anti-aircraft artillery position saw that the bomb penetrated some armor parts in the middle and rushed all the way into the interior of the battleship. They closed their eyes in despair, praying countless times in their hearts that the bomb would not cause too much damage.

Suddenly their feet trembled violently, as if feeling an eight-magnitude earthquake on land. The middle part of the entire battleship was swelled up like a balloon by the huge impact force, and then with a dull loud noise, the entire deformed hull fell back at an extremely fast speed, and the huge air flow scattered in all directions, blowing the air on the deck. All the sailors flew into the sky.

"Resolution is finished!" On the Cambridge of the HMS King George V, which was dodging torpedoes and frantically throwing barrage into the sky, the captain with a sharp chin sighed, and then said to himself again. The adjutant ordered: "Continue to keep shooting in the air, the battleship accelerates to the maximum, let the surrounding cruisers and destroyers keep up, abandon the Resolution, keep the formation and continue north."

"The Royal Ark is heading south, and they have gotten rid of contact with the German aircraft." A telegraph officer handed over a message and reported loudly.

"Bastard! Last time I lost the Hermes and ran away by myself, this time I lost us to the Germans and ran away!" The British captain spat in hatred: "This Lawrence! When I go back, I won't let you go!" he!"

"The Rage has lost contact. A destroyer confirmed that the Rage was hit by a torpedo. This is the last news we have about the Rage." The adjutant sighed and said, "If we are doomed this time, then the British The home fleet of the Navy is completely finished."

"Don't be discouraged! Full left rudder, full speed forward!" The captain frowned, and ordered loudly: "Keep shooting in the air! You go to the anti-air control platform outside, and let the air defense director pay attention to the various positions at high and low altitudes." position, the German fighter planes cannot take advantage of it!"

Just when he gave the order, the middle part of the Battleship Resolve, which had already been left behind, was torn apart. The bow and stern of the ship began to rise, breaking into two pieces and sinking at a rapid speed. There are oil stains everywhere on the sea, as well as corpses, some broken boards and lifebuoys.

At the core of the original British naval fleet, the aircraft carrier Raging Fury was already on fire, with thick smoke billowing into the sky with a scorching breath. A German aerial bomb hit the bridge of the Fury aircraft carrier accurately and completely destroyed the command system of the aircraft carrier in an instant. The aircraft carrier rolled over and the ammunition exploded, and the interior was no different from an oven.

Although the British severely damaged the French navy this time, they also took advantage of their last bit of wealth. The German fleet was chasing and killing the last battleship in the British mainland, King George V, while the rest of the battleships sank. Half of the wounded have lost their combat capability—as long as they are not stupid, they know that the British Royal Navy's Home Fleet is over.

Lawrence looked at the sea not far away, which seemed so calm and refreshing, but both he and George beside him knew that there must be a sea of ​​fire and disasters. Although they escaped the pursuit of the German navy fleet and kept the last aircraft carrier capable of combat for the United Kingdom, everyone knows that the British Royal Navy is already at the end of its dying days.

The Mediterranean Fleet has long been suppressed by the Italian Navy; the Japanese Army in the Far East has fallen into the quagmire of war on Chinese soil, but the Japanese Navy has moved south quickly, and the British Far East Fleet has sent countless emergency telegrams; The Atlantic Ocean is the lifeline of the United Kingdom that cannot be given up-the number of troops that can be deployed is not as large as imagined, and the strength of the British Navy that can be used to resist the German invasion is almost completely lost.

The Fury sank without even sending out a telegram of condolence; the Resolution sank equally quickly and without delay. The HMS King George V finally escaped the pursuit of the German navy, and fled back to its own port under the desperate cover of local land-based fighter jets.

However, this battleship will not be able to fight in the short term, because its A turret was hit by a bomb and was damaged into a pile of scrap iron; the vicinity of Cambridge was also bombed beyond recognition, but fortunately there was no problem because of its thick armor; A torpedo hit, and the water ingress caused the entire hull to tilt by 15 degrees-the assessment report of the damage control department confirmed that the warship will take at least half a year to repair before returning to the battle order.