Chapter 817 Winter War

Time entered the early 1940s, and the sea was no longer as calm as before.

In fact, since September last year, brutal naval battles have been waged between Germany and Britain.

This war was first provoked by the Germans. After Britain and France officially declared war, the little man ordered a complete blockade of Britain.

At that time, he ordered in a tone containing worry, anger, anxiety and fanaticism: "If you can't let it die in battle, then completely trap it on an isolated island."

That night, the British passenger ship "Athena" bound for the Caribbean was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. Over 100 people died, including more than 20 American citizens.

Formally based on the occurrence of this incident, the Washington DC of the United States will mobilize several large passenger ships to bring citizens from all over Europe back home safely.

Two days later, three more large luxury liners, all important British vessels, were sunk off the coast of Spain.

If attacks on merchant ships merely irritated the British, the attack on Scapa Flow in October was a formal provocation to the navy.

In October, Scapa Flow, an important British naval base, was bombed by German planes, and the HMS Royal Oak sank as a result.

This incident immediately aroused the response of the British Admiralty, and the British retaliated against it.

Churchill, then Secretary of the Navy, visited Scapa Flow in person and held talks on the flagship of Admiral Forbes to discuss the issue of counterattack.

The meeting ultimately decided to strengthen the booms and barricades, create minefields and increase patrol boats in the undefended Eastern Passage at Scapa Flow.

In addition, artillery positions to control entrances and exits will be arranged. In order to prevent air attacks, the Ministry of the Navy plans to add 92 heavy anti-aircraft guns and 60 light anti-aircraft guns to ensure that enemy planes cannot attack unscrupulously above their heads.

Many remote searchlights, defensive balloon nets and so on will be added to the base.

Churchill hopes that these deployments can be completed within March of this year, so that the threatened fleet will return to other places.

Until these deployments are completed, Scapa Flow can only serve as a temporary refueling station for ships.

At this time, the whole of Europe is in a "strange war", which is the so-called weird state of "declaring no war" between Britain and France against Germany.

Strange War is what the French call it, the Germans call it a 'quiet war,' the British call it a 'false war. '

No one knows how long this situation will last, but all countries are trying to find a way to end this seemingly absurd 'war. '

Churchill, who served as the Minister of the Navy, took the initiative to ease the relationship between the two parties with Chamberlain in order to realize his ambition and complete the deployment of the navy.

Invite the Chamberlains to the naval base, arrange for them to visit the defense deployment of Scapa Flow, and listen to Chamberlain bragging about how his father invested money to develop the land here at the end of the last century and earned a lot of money.

In fact, during this period, Churchill agreed with Chamberlain's plan of "diverting trouble to the east" because of the change of identity and the difference in structure.

This stance comes from deep-rooted class roots, and he would be happy to see the war passed on to the Soviet Union, pitting Germany and the Soviet Union against each other to the death.

When speaking to the outside world, his evaluation of the Soviet Union also changed, although he used a lot of flamboyant and false words to cover it up.

But in fact, the core of what he pointed out was no different from that of Chamberlain. He changed his original attitude and once again hated the Soviet Union.

Both agreed to send more troops to Finland, and at the same time resume negotiations with Germany, so that the conflict between Germany and the Soviet Union would re-emerge and divert the trend of the war.

At this time, Finland has been mobilizing the country for two months, and the total army has expanded to more than 450,000, of which about 150,000 are the main force and more than 300,000 are the reserve force.

In addition, there are 100,000 reserve troops and 100,000 women's service teams, which are responsible for producing military needs during wars and providing various services for the troops.

The Finnish authorities are also actively seeking help. They first found Germany, because compared with Britain and France, which successively betrayed the Czech Republic and Poland, the Germans' credibility is obviously higher than theirs.

However, the attention of the Germans will not be on it at all.

From the panic and anger of Britain and France when they officially declared war on them, to the high ambition now, wanting to completely conquer Europe and change the world, his vision is much bigger than his heart.

It's a pity that the little man is wholeheartedly preparing for the invasion of Western Europe, and has no time to 'take care' of the little brother around him, let alone intensify the conflict with the Soviet Union.

Although Britain and France expressed their willingness to send troops to support them, they did make corresponding preparations.

However, because Sweden and Norway were afraid of Germany and feared that the war would spread to the entire Scandinavian peninsula, they rejected the request of Britain and France to use the channel.

The war developed rapidly. Finland originally thought that it could resist the Soviets for half a year to a year by virtue of its geography and people's hatred of invaders.

In the beginning, the progress of the war was indeed unfavorable to the Soviet Union. Among the four areas that launched an attack on Finland along the border, only the northern section successfully achieved the intended goal.

In the Karelian Isthmus, the Soviet army broke through the Mannerheim Line and suffered another blow.

In the ensuing tough battle, the Finnish army beat the Soviets to the ground in the snow with various anti-tank weapons and sled troops.

In the northeastern area of ​​Lake Ladoga, large units of two divisions of the Soviet Army were surrounded and annihilated by the Finnish army, and the remaining units were forced to turn to defense.

The Kitale area was engaged in offensive and defensive battles for a long time. At the beginning of the year, it was divided and surrounded by the Finnish army, and its supplies were also cut off.

Most of the troops of the two divisions were encircled and suppressed, with nearly 20,000 casualties. The rest of the troops retreated and passively turned to defense.

There are many more similar battles. Generally speaking, at the beginning of the war, the Finnish army exhausted the Soviets, and the polar bear was completely stunned.

Although the Finnish army has bravely demonstrated strong combat capabilities in order to defend the country, the gap between the two sides cannot be bridged by courage alone.

After many failures, the Soviet Union decided to increase its investment in the Finnish war.

500 planes loaded with artillery shells were launched into the air, and more than 400 cannons were deployed in the positions, launching a long and violent large-scale attack on the Finnish army and its rear.

In the 24 hours before the start of the second offensive, a total of more than 300,000 shells were fired, destroying a large number of firepower points and fortifications of the main force of Finland.

The planes were dispatched more frequently, dropping bombs on the defense line of the Finnish army, and using the airborne machine guns to frantically straf the snow and jungle below.

Relying on the suppression of artillery fire, the Soviet army launched an offensive again. After three days of brutal close-range battles, the Soviet Seventh Army broke through the Mannerheim line of defense and opened a breach in its main defense zone that was large enough to accommodate mechanized troops. .