730 Champagne

After a long voyage, a ship arrived at the port of Spain. This passenger ship from afar carried a group of sailors in German navy uniforms. The ship returned from Australia, and almost all the German officers and soldiers on it were elite submarine troops.

These people walked down the hanging ladder in groups of three or five, talking and laughing, and there were several German naval officers on the pier to greet them, and they got the treatment they dreamed of when they got off the boat. There are enough banknotes for them to eat, drink and have fun in Spain, and there is also an ocean-going expedition medal that represents honor.

They are the soldiers with the most experience in ocean combat in the German Navy submarine force. It can be said that what they carry is the future and hope of Germany's struggle for ocean hegemony. According to the plan, they will be responsible for cultivating ocean-going combat units for the submarine force of the Third Reich Navy, imparting their experience in ocean-going cross-regional operations, and evolving the German Navy submarine force from a local navy to a global navy deployed around the world.

For this plan, Prien led ten submarines to leave Germany, traveled across the ocean to Australia, and completed a combat deployment across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Facts have also proved that a navy that wants to expand its combat range is not An easy thing to do. This requires many people to put in their own efforts, and it takes a long time to achieve this goal.

Of the ten German ocean-going submarines, only eight remained capable of combat after they arrived. In order to ensure the normal operation of this submarine force, some repairmen and engineers had to be deployed with the army, and eventually the damaged submarines had to be dismantled and unloaded. Parts are used to repair submarines with less faults-all of this is based on the German submarine model specification and the common use of parts. It is conceivable how important equipment standardization is for ocean-going logistics support.

As time went on, Prien led one submarine back, and the remaining submarines began to be scrapped and damaged one after another due to malfunctions. Repair ships departing from Germany can only transport some vulnerable parts to Australia. Once a submarine has a major failure, it can only be done by dismantling one and repairing the other to ensure that someone can go to sea to fight.

In order to balance the strength of the U.S. Navy and the Japanese Navy, Akado ordered the German naval squadron in the Pacific to start attacking the U.S. transport fleet with all its strength. However, because the U.S. anti-submarine defense was still in place, German submarines sank some merchant ships. Did not achieve any decent record.

They mainly attacked American transport ships, sneaking attacks on the slow ships on the route. These ships were full of supplies shipped by the United States to the front line. Every sinking of one made the American soldiers on the front line extremely sad.

Now, only three of the seven submarines can go to sea to fight, and those German sailors who lost their combat submarines were ordered to return home. They are heroes, so they must have won the triumph of heroes. days before returning to base to report to their superiors.

When Akado knew that the Japanese navy was retreating on Kauai Island, he knew that his purpose of letting Japan and the United States consume each other should have failed.

His plan to check and balance Japan and the United States was too sloppy, and it did not keep the Japanese in a good state and consumed the US Navy fleet.

"Welcome back safely!" The leading German military officer came to a German submarine captain who was disembarking, stood at attention and raised his arms with a smile: "Long live the head of state, Acador Rudolph."

"Long live the Führer!" The German captain also raised his arms, then walked away with a smile, and hugged the German officer in front of him: "It's great to come back alive. I'm glad you can come to pick me up, come, I'll come Let me introduce you, this is my crew."

The commander in front of him is the commander of the port leased by Germany in Spain. He and the captain used to be college classmates, and they have a good relationship. When they went to Australia, it was he who sent the fleet out of Europe. embarked on a journey to the Pacific Ocean.

"The head of state is very grateful to you for using your courage to accumulate valuable experience in ocean-going submarine warfare for the empire. Everyone has a holiday. Each person can spend 1,000 imperial gold marks in Spain or France." The officer smiled and said to these submarine sailors One by one, they shook hands and shared the news that made everyone cheer.

"What's the current situation of the submarine force in Australia?" Sitting in the car returning to the base, the officer asked about the situation of the acquaintance's troops in Australia. After all, it is far away from the base. difficult things. Although Prien has brought back a lot of news, the latest news should be asked of the latest person, isn't it?

The captain who came back mentioned that Australia didn’t look very happy. He thought for a while and said slowly: “Actually, the conditions there are very bad. The Australians only provide us with fresh water and a small amount of support. The Japanese are already approaching the east coast. , the situation is very critical. We are short of ammunition, so we have given up many good attack opportunities, the repair and maintenance of the submarine itself is also poor, and the soldiers are fighting on their beliefs."

In fact, his words are not exaggerated at all. In the battle in Australia, the German submarine officers and soldiers almost fought on their own beliefs. They dismantled one submarine and used the parts to repair the remaining submarines in better condition. There were fewer and fewer submarines available, but they still went to sea on time to attack designated American transport targets.

Since the war between the United States and Germany, American ships heading to the Middle East have been attacked by German submarines. In contrast, the originally safe route from Spain to Australia in the Pacific Ocean has also been blocked by US Navy destroyers. At that time, the German Pacific Submarine Squadron, which was short of parts, was completely in an embarrassing situation of shortage of food and ammunition.

Some scarce parts were not replenished, and the torpedoes that were used up were also not delivered. This submarine squadron was able to maintain the normal operation of 5 submarines at the beginning, and now there are only 3 left. Even so However, when these three submarines set sail, they still had to choose their attack targets carefully, so that their precious ammunition would not be wasted.

"How is the disposal of the scrapped submarine going?" the officer asked as he listened to his old classmates complaining about how his submarine was dismantled due to a minor fault, and it eventually became a matter of spare parts storage.

"We removed all the parts that could be removed, and finally opened the sea valve, and watched our submarine sink to the bottom of the sea. It was our old partner for many years. Do you think we will handle it rashly? We watched it sink. He was still singing military songs when he was here," the captain replied.

"Here I have a telegram from Berlin, which was sent by the Imperial Propaganda Minister's order. You have to carefully read the statement to the media, and then if someone interviews you, you have to use this standard statement. Let’s answer the other party’s question.” The officer handed the captain a document and said, “I heard that you will be promoted to colonel and teach at the submarine academy, congratulations.”

"To be honest, if I had a choice, I would rather drift on the sea." The submarine captain smiled wryly and said, "People who have fought in the sea don't bother to return to land to live a stable life, I still hope I can lead my soldiers to fight on the cold seabed, that is the place I really like, there is no intrigue, no messy things. If you have the ability, you can survive and make contributions; if you don’t have the ability, you can die as a matter of course.”

The officer who greeted them laughed loudly: "I knew you would say that, but it's a pity that you are all the most valuable talents in the empire now, so you can teach in school with peace of mind."

Sighing, the submarine captain nodded in resignation: "Sometimes I really envy that guy Prien, he went to Australia with us, and I heard that he is still at sea, living a life he likes. What about the day of the battle?"

"This guy is even more proud now. I heard that he burned, killed and looted all the way on the east coast of the United States, just like a bandit. The US government offered a reward of 5 million US dollars, as long as Prien's head!" As The commander of the port is still very well informed. Prien is now between Iceland and the east coast of the United States, and has sunk a transport ship with a gross tonnage of more than 100,000 tons, which has made the entire United States panic.

The new submarine that was renamed U-47 has become a ghost living in the North Atlantic. The destroyers of the US Navy have detected this terrible weapon more than once, but no one has been able to sink it. The submarine came and went without a trace, playing dozens of British and American destroyers like idiots, and made the British and American navies suffer.

Like the United Kingdom, Germany has invested its own new weapons on the North Atlantic battlefield, but unlike the Meteor fighter jets with extremely low reliability in the United Kingdom, Germany's new submarines are very reliable. Compared with the British, the German army The weapons used in the war are more mature and more deterrent. Just after Prien's submarine began to fight, the transportation efficiency between Iceland and the United States was reduced by more than 5%. This is just what a new type of submarine can do.

Just when the United Kingdom and the United States were struggling with the German ghost submarines on the east coast, three shipyards opened their doors at the same time in Wilhelm Naval Harbor in Germany, and three identical new submarines were launched one by one to the music played by the military band. Ci and Raeder smashed the champagne for the three submarines in turn.