afterglow

Chapter 418 Conflict between Germany and France; Ming Dynasty Australian Expeditionary Corps

Sure enough, three hours, two and 10 minutes later, Franz's FuMO radar detected the approaching unidentified aircraft group dozens of kilometers away.

"Yes, Captain." The sergeant staring at the oscilloscope reported: "There is a large target in the 140 direction. This ripple feature is probably Sunderland; there is a group of small targets in the 105 direction, which is similar to the Swordfish we encountered last time. Very similar."

The display screen of early radar was not the screen and rotating sector in the later impression, but an oscilloscope - a loose analogy to the style used in experiments in middle schools and universities.

The rotating fan-shaped PPI flat panel display was only gradually adopted by Britain and the United States in the middle and late war.

Eleven Swordfish torpedo planes from the 814th Attack Squadron of the Royal Navy took off from the aircraft carrier HMS Arenas. As the US destroyers continuously reported coordinates, the Swordfish found the Franz effortlessly.

The Atlantic Ocean, which used to be rough in the past, is rarely calm today. The British pilots can clearly see the situation on the sea in the distance——

The four destroyers were distributed around the large battleship in the middle like a personal escort, which left a long white track on the sea.

The leading Captain Scully took another look at the identification manual and said with satisfaction: "That's correct, that's the Franz, preparing to enter the attack route."

The sky is high today and the storm is calm. If you kill the German guy, you will win!
Good weather and sea conditions are very suitable for torpedo attacks, but everything is relative. This also provides quite good conditions for the development of German warships' anti-aircraft firepower.

"Enemy planes found! The sight angle is 17 degrees, about 10 of them."

"Hans! Give me the filter set!"

"Air defense control, combat status!"

After quickly completing the range measurement, the twin SK.C/34 105mm anti-aircraft guns opened fire into the distant sky.

The huge fragmentation grenade was timed and fuzed by the fuze detection machine, and then loaded into the barrel of the gun and fired.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Clouds of gray-black smoke suddenly burst out from behind the Swordfish, and several aircraft were shaken up and down by the violent shock waves.

They were divided into two groups, attacking from the left front and left rear.

After the destroyer Sims issued the order to stay away, the four US destroyers drove to both sides one after another and went to watch the show from a distance.

It can be said that the air defense levels of the Workers' Navy are very well matched. The outer ring is responsible for the 105mm large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, the middle ring is responsible for the 37mm anti-aircraft guns, and the inner ring is assigned to the quadruple 20mm anti-aircraft guns.

Although the diameter of the SK.C/37 37mm anti-aircraft gun barrel is not as good as the 37 diameter of the historical "83 handgun", its rate of fire is three times that of the latter.

A single ship against a squadron of Swordfish torpedoes?This is a first for the Atlantic Ocean.

The British aircraft that was hit by the shell burst into conspicuous flames, and soon turned into a fireball, plunging into the sea like a falling meteor, splashing a large white spray.

"Look! Look! They're approaching!"

"British planes are too slow."

"Oh no, it was shot down."

The U.S. sailors on the USS Sims destroyer were intently watching the confrontation between British aircraft and German warships.

It is truly an unforgettable experience to witness sea and air battles up close without any burden!

The captain, Major Frank, looked out with a stern expression. He found that the penetration capabilities of British carrier-based aircraft were much worse than those of his own country.

The torpedo squadrons of the USS Lexington, USS Yorktown, and USS Raider have been equipped with cutting-edge TBD torpedo aircraft-all-metal lower monoplanes with a maximum flight speed of 300km/h, which is faster than the British Swordfish torpedo The machine is a full [-]% faster.

"Captain, the British..."

"They can't do it." Frank put down the telescope and frowned: "I don't know why the British Navy insists on using biplanes. This is the price of being conservative."

Three of the 11 Swordfish torpedo planes were shot down during the process of entering the attack route. As the distance shortened, they entered the range of the 3mm anti-aircraft gun.

The four quadruple-mounted 20mm anti-aircraft guns on the port side of the Franz roared in unison, and hail-like shells were thrown at the swordfish flying leisurely.

In an instant, dazzling tracer bullets filled half of the sky.

Some British pilots were immediately in a panic. In panic, they hurriedly dropped their torpedoes without waiting for the distance to close.

At least it won't disintegrate on the spot if hit by a 20mm high-explosive bomb, which is probably good news.The smoking swordfish lost control and rolled into the sea.

The torpedoes that the Swordfish released in a hurry were quite messy, some were far away and some were close, completely unable to reach the level of training.

Seeing the incoming torpedoes falling into the water, the Franz immediately used the left rudder to evade under the command of Major General Hubert, and used standard inward maneuvers to dodge seven aviation torpedoes.

After completing the attack, the Swordfish immediately turned around and returned, while the Germans saw them off with rumbles of cannon fire.

After a few minutes, the entire sea area became calm again.

The destroyer USS Downes (DD-375) cruised around the location where the British aircraft crashed into the sea, trying to search for survivors, and she succeeded in rescuing a rear seat gunner.

Six Swordfish were shot down, but in the end only this lucky man was rescued, which shows the great operational risks of naval aviation.

Four U.S. destroyers continued to follow the Franz at such a close distance, which made the German sailors greatly irritated.

One of the keys to breaking a diplomatic relationship is to hide your whereabouts, even pretending to be another warship by camouflaging its chimneys and turrets.

But now the Franz is so entangled by the Americans. What's going on?

Major General Hubert asked in a deep voice: "Has the headquarters responded?"

After a long wait, Berlin finally called back - the leaders and the war committee are studying countermeasures, and for the time being, please make your own decisions without committing hostile acts.

It is obvious that in any collective there will be dissent.

In the upper echelons of the German society, where the atmosphere is relatively relaxed, once a topic involves the United States, all kinds of different opinions quickly appear.

Some pessimists believe that antagonism with the United States will lead to bad situations, and that Germany needs sufficient time to integrate Europe.

The ethnic estrangement and resentment that have existed in Europe for thousands of years cannot be underestimated. This cannot be easily resolved by the same ideology.The United States, which has failed halfway, can try to sow discord, divide and disintegrate, and destroy the ultimate cause.

In fact, this is no longer a guess but a fact - intelligence shows that the British side is planning an underhanded move to sow discord between Germany and France.

"...Some comrades have ideological misunderstandings. It must be pointed out that strategically we cannot be afraid of the enemy, and we must have full confidence in the sacred cause we are undertaking; tactically we must not fall into the enemy's trap."

"As the largest and most isolated capitalist group in the world, the cunning American big bourgeoisie is trying to join the war, but they also need to find opportunities to agitate the people. War is inevitable, and taking chances is weak and irresponsible."

The actions of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet have implemented the federal government's plans, and the upper management of the German Society clearly understands this.

However, in terms of tactics, or for this matter, when faced with deliberately provocative and hostile behavior, one should avoid it.

Sooner or later, the United States will find an excuse, gather enough reasons, and gather enough public opinion, but until then, the longer it delays, the better it is for the German Society.

From a macro-strategic perspective, the series of military operations carried out by the German Society so far are morally aimed at safeguarding security and liberating the people.

But as the main war ended, the German Society found that even large-scale military operations under the banner of justice could still easily lead to dissatisfaction.

The feedback from Norway, Sweden, and France was not satisfactory. Ernst realized that although direct attack was simple, crude and straightforward, it also had hidden dangers.

The powerful armed forces of Deshe should not be used as sharp spears, but as strong shields; on the contrary, thoughts should be sharp spears.

This is also the reason why the German Society did not send troops to Russian Poland, the Baltic States, and Tsarist Russia.

They want to try to see if the Russians can solve the problem on their own by sending a large amount of aid supplies and advisors and sending a small number of volunteers. If it is not possible, they will not consider going into battle personally.

What makes the upper echelons of the German society a little annoyed is that the damn British are still nagging at every turn and doing some disgusting things.

One million German troops swept across France. The base was so large that it was impossible to ensure that no officers and soldiers among them made mistakes.

The British specifically chose these things to publicize, and even set up an organization called the "French Football Training Committee" to use radio broadcasts to publicize the contradictions between Germany and France to the French people and stir up their resistance.

The commissioners sent by the French Democratic Commune also formally made a request to Berlin-the Commune government could lead the French people to build and defend the country, and hoped that the German troops would withdraw from French territory.

Although the upper echelons of the German Society had such a plan, the German officers and soldiers and some people were very unhappy about it, feeling a bit like a hot face against a cold butt.

Although everything is not so ideal and beautiful, at least now the blockade of the German Society has collapsed, and the trade between Germany and France has returned to normal.

Trains loaded with ores and goods clanked across the German-French border - iron ore in Lorraine, bauxite in Provence, ball bearings from SNR Company, optical instruments from HUET Company, and so on.

In the distant Caucasus region of Eastern Europe, the Red Eagle Legion is making intensive pre-war preparations.

The 4th Mountain Division was stationed in Sweden for a period of time, then returned to China for a short two-week vacation, and then was ordered to come here all the way.

Because it had to cross rugged mountainous areas, the armored forces were unable to do anything, so the task of marching into Baku fell on the Mountain Division and the other two infantry divisions.

The British are paying close attention to this - just kidding, that is a giant oil field with a crude oil output of more than 2000 million tons. What if the Germans get it?
The 44th, 84th, and 158th Squadrons of the Royal Air Force equipped with Whitley MkII medium bombers were ordered to take off from the mainland, transfer to Jordan, a colony of the British Empire in the Middle East, and then deploy to the French colony of Beirut to prepare for a strategic bombing of Baku. .

The British 50th Infantry Division stationed in Cairo and the South African 1st Infantry Division, which had just arrived in Port Said, also received orders to organize an expeditionary force to go north through the French colonies and eastern Turkey to Baku.

It was obvious that the war would soon spread to new places.

The next day.

The capital of the Ming Dynasty was Yingtianfu, the Forbidden City.

"Germans are old-fashioned, but they are not so easily fooled. The more your enemies want to anger you, the less likely they are to get their wish."

After learning about what happened in the Atlantic, Zhu Lingjing believed that the German Society would probably choose to avoid it and would rather suspend the action to break diplomatic relations than give the United States an excuse.

"But Your Majesty, despite this, I estimate that the United States will take the opportunity to join the war within half a year at the latest. On average, it will probably be within the past three months." Gao Qingkui said.

"Well, the rivalry between Germany and the United States is interesting, but now we don't have to think about it so much. They play their game, and we play ours."

After realizing that the Americans were bound to fight with the Germans, the Ming Dynasty monarchs and ministers were completely relieved, and they could then leisurely implement the plan to invade Australia.

She asked: "How is the situation at the Governor's Mansion? When will the troops be fully prepared?"

Zhou Changfeng thought about it for a while and replied: "The personnel of the Division Supervisory Headquarters, the Fifth Army, and the Sixth Army General Office are basically in place. There are still two infantry divisions on the way. The heavy artillery brigade will be slower. It is scheduled to be all assembled by the end of this month. .”

Because the scale of the troops participating in the war was far greater than before, the Ming army established the Corps for the first time in response to actual combat needs. The Corps headquarters was called the Division Supervision Department.

The Australian Corps consists of the Fifth Army, the Sixth Army, several independent heavy tank battalions, and a series of large logistics units.

The Fifth Army consists of the 11nd, 20th, [-]th, [-]th, and [-]th Infantry Divisions, and the [-]st, [-]rd, and [-]th Field Heavy Artillery Brigades.

The Sixth Army has jurisdiction over the No. 12, No. 13, No. 30 30, No. [-] [-], [-]th Infantry Divisions, and the [-]th and [-]th Field Heavy Artillery Brigades.

In addition, the [-]st and [-]nd tank brigades and the [-]st and [-]nd motorized infantry brigades also went into battle as combat units directly under the corps.

The Air Force will also deploy two pursuit aircraft detachments, two bomber detachments, and a transport aircraft detachment, and will deploy additional units depending on the situation.

The total strength of the Australian Corps is 18. If logistics and miscellaneous personnel are also included, the number will exceed 30.

In order to meet the need to deliver these troops to the southern hemisphere as soon as possible, all Ming Dynasty's super cruise ships have ceased operations.

Five cruise ships, including the Shengping and Zhuque, were immediately requisitioned by the military and sent to the shipyard. Their luxurious interiors were dismantled and sealed, and they were transformed into large high-speed troop carriers.

It is said that before the soldiers and horses move, food and fodder go first. Before the army has set off, massive military supplies have already been shipped to Batavia and Surabaya.

This way, you can stock up on some in advance to save on transportation capacity later.

"Your Majesty, the court is still busy with a lot of government affairs. Please leave."

After settling the decision here, Gao Qingkui left. There are still countless things in Ming Dynasty waiting for the head of the government to deal with personally.

"Now I can more or less understand the feelings of the emperor after the army went out in the past." Zhu Lingjing was a little emotional. "Compared to Nanyang, where victory is guaranteed, going on an expedition to a place half a world away is a bit... uneasy no matter what."

(End of this chapter)