Chapter 389

In the original time and space of akado, after the Sino Japanese naval battle of 1894-1895, the once powerful Beiyang navy was finally surrounded and killed by the Japanese army and navy in Weihai, and the whole army was destroyed. This is the eternal pain in the eyes of every Chinese.

But similar history is always repeated from time to time. Just over 50 years later, a well-equipped navy of another big country ended its mission in a more tragic way - the French navy in World War II.

The killer is not the weak enemy of the German Navy, but the French ally in World War II: the Royal Navy!

After the first World War, the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Japan signed the Washington naval agreement in Washington, D.C., aimed at arms limitation. The agreement stipulates that France's navy has a gross tonnage of 175000 tons, which is the fourth largest naval power in the world.

Then in 1926, the soul of the French navy, Admiral Francois? Darlan's taking office brought new life to the French navy. As soon as he came to power, the general, who was born in a naval family, began to rebuild the French navy.

In 1929, faced with the threat of the German Navy's "luzov" class armored ship reconstructed from akkado, the French Navy finally approved the construction plan of the light battleship dunkerk. As the first type of French battleship after World War I, this type of battleship has surpassed the "German" class pocket battleship in displacement, speed, firepower and armor thickness.

Soon after, France started to build the lisser class IV battleship, which was not inferior to the latest battleship in the world at that time in performance, and even could compete with the British King George V class, and could be called the best battleship in the world.

When admiral Darlan was promoted to commander-in-chief in 1937 because of the war in Poland, the French navy has become one of the most modern navies in the world. It has one aircraft carrier, three battleships, seven heavy cruisers, 12 light cruisers, more than 50 destroyers of various types, and 101 submarines of various types. Its comprehensive strength ranks fourth in the world, It's a formidable sea power.

Then, on January 6, 1938, there was a formal war between Germany and France. Within just a dozen days, the French army was defeated. Because of the lack of action plan, the French Navy even failed to open the port, so it ushered in the surrender of France. The only operation was ordered to round up the German armored ship "Admiral Earl Speyer" in the North Sea, but the French fleet's intelligence was not accurate, so it went to the air.

As a result, this large-scale fleet was almost intact and became an important force that both Britain and Germany cared about. After some rush work, the Richelieu battleship came into service on January 30. The French Navy not only did not lose money, but also "imported" a new battleship.

So it's not that Randall and lutjans are salivating over the French navy, but because the size of the navy is too large. Once these warships are under the control of the German Navy, it can be said that the size of the German Navy will at least double in the short term.

It used to be a sweet cake that everyone wanted, but now it has become a role that both sides want to get rid of. The British Navy knows that it is impossible for the French navy to stand on its side under such circumstances. So on February 5, he attacked Brest, an important military port of France.

Two British aircraft carriers took off 30 swordfish attack planes at one go and sent 10 Mirs fighters to escort them to bomb the French ports and destroy the French fleet in the ports. As early as ten minutes ago, the British battleship King George V and the determination battleship had approached Brest harbor and were ready to attack the French battleship inside with their large caliber guns.

At 10:21 a.m., the battle officially began. King George V opened fire first, followed by the determination, and only two minutes later the French fleet began to fight back.

The British were startled by the rapid response of the French fleet. Lawrence, who had developed his intuition in the battle of the North Sea, immediately felt that the situation was not good. He ordered his royal ark to move south, leaving the fury in the East.

French naval commander Darlan, sitting on the latest battleship Richelieu, blasted the British battleship determination with eight 380mm main guns. Although the two sides were fighting for a while, the British fighters soon arrived, and the situation began to tilt towards the British side.

"Boom!" The main guns of the French warships shot together again, but not far behind them, a heavy cruiser was hit by the shell of the British King George V battleship and was sinking slowly in smoke.

"General, it's not the way to go on like this. While we are defending air, we are fighting against the British who are in the ascendant. Maybe we will lose the whole army in the harbor." The adjutant has just received a radio notification from the seaport land-based air defense forces that their anti-aircraft gun positions have just been shelled by British navy ships, and two main anti-aircraft gun positions have been lost.

When it comes to Darlan, there is no place to fight. Originally, there were coastal artillery positions on both sides of Brest military port, which were equipped with a lot of large caliber artillery and anti-aircraft guns. In fact, that side is the fundamental guarantee for Brest military port's firmness. Now it's good, because in a few days, the German army will take over these areas, and the angry French will destroy and abandon them, Now most of them have lost their function.

I'm really making trouble for myself. Darlan sighed and ordered to his adjutant, "no matter how much, now we have to rely on ourselves! Keep fighting back! Even if we are totally annihilated, we can't let the British take advantage of it! These perfidious bastards, sooner or later, I'll get this place back Although Darlan is still determined to stick to it, in fact, he is already on the verge of insufficient support. A heavy cruiser was sunk, and two gunboats sank in smoke due to air strikes. Less than 15 minutes after the war, the French fleet has suffered heavy losses. Not to mention the other warships, the battleship Richelieu, which he is now the flagship, has been hit twice, simply because of its good defense capability and no tragedy happened. But everyone, including Darlan, knows that if we persist in this way, it will be only an hour at most, and there will be nothing left for the main force of the French fleet in the port. What supports Darlan to fight back here is not the spirit of patriotism. On the contrary, it is his former enemy. The German side has just given him a promise. He didn't know how long he would last, but he knew that as long as he persisted, the German promised support would come. At that time... At that time, it's a big deal. When I work for the German people, I will work hard and beat Britain twice for the purpose of revenge, even if I pay back the favor I owe today. Darlan grinned bitterly and shook his head: the commander-in-chief of the French navy has fallen into such a miserable situation. He does not know whether he should call himself poor or ridiculous. A British battleship's shell hit the water near the Richelieu, splashing a huge column of water more than ten stories high. The French battleship fired back again. Eight 380mm guns from the bow of the ship shot out a huge flame again. A land observation post outside the port was still working. A shell hit the battleship resolute, but the damage was not serious. The British seemed to have a feeling that a large caliber shell hit the battleship Richelieu again, directly hit its B turret position, accurately hit the middle armor part of the two main guns. Although the shell did not penetrate the turret, it directly caused the serious deformation of the B turret and could not be fired again. The French did not have the advantage of large caliber artillery, lost half as much in a flash. You know, although France has four battleships, the other three are not in Brest at this moment - the only battleship fighting back with Richelieu is the Dunkirk with 330 caliber main gun. The rest of the battleships are not equal to the British battleships. However, at this moment, the Dunkirk had been hit twice, the whole warship was smoking, and the artillery could not fight back for a long time. Now the damage control personnel are rescuing this French "light battleship". Let alone continue to fight, it is difficult to say whether this battleship can be successfully repaired“ These bastards! Treacherous bitch! Son After the Richelieu was hit by the violent shaking, general Darlan's adjutant just supported the map table to stand firm body, he excitedly yelled: "if I live today! It's against the British bitches Can you survive today? Can we survive today? Darlan held his forehead and thought silently. Is it true that the Germans killed two birds with one stone in order to get rid of the French navy? The British are despicable. Although they are such a jerk, it's no better for the Germans not to help them! He was just thinking about it when he heard a cheer from the warship. Darlan was stunned, and then through the glass of the command cabin, he saw a British fighter plane in the distant sky, dragging long black smoke, falling to the sea. Before Darron could recover, an officer ran up to him and hugged him with a big laugh, shouting happily: "general! general! Our reinforcements are here! German fighters are coming! Their plane is coming In order to kill these British warships attacking the French navy, the German fighter forces deliberately carried out careful battlefield coordination. It was precisely because of the complicated coordination that they were 20 minutes late. But this kind of tardiness is of great significance, because when they came from all directions, the 30 British planes that rushed into the port found that they were surrounded by a total of 90 German fighters.