Chapter 1225 Atomic Bomb VII

On the morning of April 27, when the Allied and German forces on Newfoundland were preparing for the upcoming decisive battle, German Wehrmacht Chief of Staff Hersmann left his home in Zossen and flew to the British capital London on a Fokker 42 passenger plane.

His trip to London was planned long before the Germans landed on Newfoundland, but was delayed by a lot of military affairs. He didn't have time until he got the "Atomic Bomb Authorization" on the 26th. So on April 27, he arrived in the British capital London with Hermann Goering, President of the European Commission, and Rudolf Hess, German Minister of State.

Hersmann's visit to London was related to the Canadian Campaign that had already begun - the European Allied Forces' actions in Newfoundland and Labrador actually kicked off the "invasion" or "liberation" of Canada!

Whether this attack was an "invasion" or a "liberation" depends on the position of London. If the Queen of England and her government still insist on not participating in the European and American war, then the European Allied Forces are the invaders.

On the contrary, if Queen Elizabeth held high the banner of liberating Canada, then the righteousness would be on the side of the European coalition forces - after all, before the "fall" of the British mainland, the Dominion of Canada still obeyed the will of London, and the United States also recognized Britain's sovereignty over Canada at that time. And to this day, George VI and his government in exile in Canada, as well as the government and parliament of the Dominion of Canada, have never claimed that Canada is a sovereign and independent country.

According to their caliber, the Dominion of Canada is still part of the British Empire!

In other words, the British Empire still has indisputable sovereignty over the Dominion of Canada, and even the US government has never publicly questioned that the British mainland and the Dominion of Canada on both sides of the Atlantic belong to the same Britain.

So now the European coalition forces that "invade" Canada will be legitimate "Liberation Army" as long as they get the support of the Queen of England and the government.

However, the Queen of England and her government also know how important the chips in their hands are, so before the visit of Hessman, Goering and Hess, they have been vague.

"Ludwig, look down, on the Thames."

When the plane flew over the Thames, Hessman, who was resting with his eyes closed, was suddenly awakened by his personal secretary Natalie.

"What? This is..." Hessman looked out the window in the direction of Natalie's finger, who was sitting opposite him, and saw a large ship that looked very majestic anchored on the water near the London docks on the Thames.

"This is a battleship!" The fat man Goering's voice came. The fat man was a pilot and had a pair of farsighted eyes, so he recognized the big ship floating on the Thames at a glance, "It's the King George V class... My God, the British actually have a battleship!" "It's the Prince of Wales." Hessman smiled and said, "This battleship was severely damaged by us in 1941, but it was not abandoned. Instead, it was towed back to London for overhaul and has been hidden in the dock. It was launched again a day ago... I think it was launched to welcome us." The news that the British secretly repaired the Prince of Wales battleship certainly could not be concealed from the German intelligence department. However, the German Wehrmacht did not interfere. After all, in Hessman's view, battleships are actually completely outdated in the era of increasingly mature anti-ship missiles. The Prince of Wales battleship is not so much a powerful killing weapon as it is a mascot with strong symbolic significance. It symbolizes the revival of the British Royal Navy! It also means that the British Empire has the power to rebuild the Royal Navy!

In fact, in the "British-European Community Armistice Treaty" signed in 1943, the Germans did not prohibit Britain from owning battleships and aircraft carriers, but only imposed some restrictions on the size of the Royal Air Force and the Royal Naval Air Force.

However, the British themselves have always been very guilty about rebuilding the navy. They dare not openly engage in the navy, but secretly repair the "Prince of Wales" and build the "Elizabeth II" fleet aircraft carrier that can carry jet aircraft. The original name of this aircraft carrier was "Bold". It started in October 1942 and was later shelved because of the surrender of the British mainland.

However, the Germans did not "force" the purchase of this aircraft carrier under construction, but let Britain continue to build it secretly. In 1944, after the British government's financial resources were slightly restored, the construction of the "Elizabeth II" resumed, and the angled deck design of the "Adolf Hitler" class aircraft carrier was also referred to.

According to the latest design, the full load displacement of this class of aircraft carrier will exceed 50,000 tons, making it the world's third largest aircraft carrier (ranked by "class") after the Adolf Hitler class and the Midway class.

However, the "Queen Elizabeth II" class aircraft carrier will not be able to maintain its world's third place for long. Because in early 1945, the Japanese Empire, which was trapped in the continental war, exchanged the blueprints of the Adolf Hitler class on the condition of giving up two Prussian class aircraft carriers under construction (built in the Petrograd Shipyard) - the Japanese government, which was in extreme financial difficulties (it had to build aircraft carriers no matter how difficult it was, otherwise the shameless navy would not jump up? The navy is a great contributor, how can it not have the world's largest aircraft carrier?), decided to design and build the world's largest 80,000-ton super aircraft carrier based on the Adolf Hitler class aircraft carrier to maintain its hegemony in the Pacific!

The Japanese tightened their belts to build super aircraft carriers in order to maintain their hegemony in the Pacific, and it was also a reward for the navy. As a de facto defeated country, Britain is now repairing battleships and building aircraft carriers, which seems to be a bit unwilling to admit defeat...

"The appearance of the Prince of Wales should be beneficial to our trip this time." Rudolf Hess, the minister who manages everything (his position is equivalent to that of the deputy prime minister), is a pro-British faction and has a good relationship with the British fascist leader Earl Walder Mosley. Naturally, he knows what the British are planning.

"They want to revive the Royal Navy," Hess said, "but they have always been afraid of our interference."

"Revive the Royal Navy?" Hessman sneered a few times, "The Royal Navy will not join the European Combined Fleet?"

Hess shrugged: "After all, they are British!"

The biggest difference between the British and the French, Germans, Poles and Russians is that they are cut off from Europe! A loose European Community is the limit they can accept, and the United States of Europe is unacceptable to them, at least not for now!

After all, from the map, the British Empire is still an incomparable large colonial empire, with land and population far exceeding the sum of Germany and the United States.

Therefore, the British Royal Navy did not join the European Joint Fleet like the French Navy and the Russian Navy, but maintained a small Royal Navy. Now, taking advantage of the opportunity of the European Allied Forces' expedition to Canada, the previously hidden Prince of Wales was released to make an appearance, which clearly wanted Germany to recognize that Britain had the power to revive the Royal Navy.

And Germany's recognition was of course conditional, the condition being that Britain supported the European Allied Forces' actions in Canada. Of course, the political arrangements after the European Allied Forces took over Canada were another game.

Hersman laughed: "Rudolf, you are right. It seems that Queen Elizabeth will agree to our request, and we can also give them a chance to revive the navy... a chance to dream. Maybe what Elizabeth and Friedrich need is just a dream."

Germany's request had long been notified to the British through diplomatic channels, that is, to borrow Britain's "status" over Canada, so that the European coalition forces can send troops in the name of expelling the United States and restoring sovereignty over Canada, and at the same time send British generals such as Marshal Harold Alexander to serve as the "joint commander" of the coalition ground forces.

The German Wehrmacht certainly would not really give the command of hundreds of thousands of expeditionary forces to Marshal Alexander, he just went there to hang a name. Now the actual commander of the Canadian (Newfoundland and Labrador) ground forces selected by the General Staff of the Wehrmacht is General Rommel, and his title is also "joint commander", which means that Rommel will fight side by side with Alexander!

However, this idea does not exist in the "Gauchburg Plan". Before the European Expeditionary Force successfully landed on the Labrador coast, no one in the General Staff of the Wehrmacht knew about it. It was just a long-term plan agreed upon privately by Hessmann and Hitler to "liberate" Canada from the control of the United States after the success of the "Gauchburg Plan".

So the British were also very surprised after learning of the Germans' request (they had just learned that before the Germans landed on Newfoundland, the British did not know that the main attack direction of the European Allied Forces was actually Canada). The Queen and Prince Friedrich convened a royal meeting overnight and discussed for a long time. Finally, they decided to take out the Prince of Wales, which had been "hidden" for a long time, to test whether it was possible to revive the Royal Navy.

In the eyes of the upper echelons of the British Empire, the tool to maintain their collapsing empire is the Royal Navy. Once the Royal Navy declines, there is no way to maintain the distant and vast colonies such as India, Canada, and Australia.

Once these colonies are lost, the British Empire will become an ordinary power in Europe. Therefore, reviving the Royal Navy has always been the dream of Queen Elizabeth's authorities-although the dreamer may be very clear that dreams are difficult to come true, the dream of pursuing the revival of the Royal Navy itself is a political correctness in Britain!