Chapter 359 The Empire's Crossbow (Part 2)
Port of Toulon, France.
The flag of Admiral Jean de Laborde, commander of the French High Seas Fleet, was hanging feebly on the battleship "Brittany". Since the powerful "Richelieu" and "Jean Bart" are not finally completed, the flagship of the French fleet is still the old "Brittany".
This battleship built before the First World War and one of its sister ships "Provence" (the second ship of the "Breton" class "Lorraine") have been used by the British Royal Navy because of repairs in Alexandria. Detained), three "Guba" class battleships, two "Dunkirk" class battleships completed in 1937 and 1938, and an ancient pre-dreadnought ship "Condorcet", as well as 95 completed % of the "Richelieu" battleships are now moored one by one at the deepest battleship berth in Toulon Port, waiting for the final decision.
"Can we just wait like this?" Lieutenant General Andre Matthews, Toulon's maritime chief (equivalent to the base commander), seemed unwilling to do so. He stood on the bridge of the "Brittany" , looking at the neatly arranged battleships, cruisers and destroyers in Toulon Port.
"This is the fourth most powerful fleet in the world and the second most powerful fleet in Europe!" Lieutenant General Matthews said, "They have the power to destroy the German navy, but they have never even been on the battlefield..."
The Commander-in-Chief of the French Navy, Admiral Darlan, is also on the "Bretagne" now. According to the order of Marshal Pétain, he, Admiral Lapolde and Lieutenant General Matthews jointly control the port of Toulon. in the Grand Fleet.
Defense against enemy attacks is not the focus. What the French government is most worried about now is the fleet slipping away or a sailor uprising.
Admiral Darlan turned to look at his subordinate Matthews, and smiled reluctantly: "What else can we do? There is no strait between France and Germany. Now the army has been completely defeated, and the Germans have surrendered to Paris. Occupied...what can the navy do?"
"The fleet is now a bargaining chip, the only thing we can use to bargain with the Germans." Admiral Rappold is a follower of Marshal Pétain, and he is somewhat anti-British - such a person is This is not uncommon among French naval officers. After all, most of the French naval operations in its history were beaten by the British Royal Navy.
He glanced at Lieutenant General Matthews, "If the fleet falls into the hands of the Gaullists, not only will the French motherland have nothing to exchange interests with Germany, but this fleet, built with the hard-earned money of the French people, will also Used to blockade France! Isn’t this what the British are best at?”
Matthews sighed, Admiral Rappold's words were true. From the perspective of short-term interests, helping Germany defeat the UK is obviously the best option - as long as the UK fails, the European Community will succeed and become the dominant force in the world. Food from India, oil from the Middle East, spices from Southeast Asia, silk from China and Japan, beef from South America, and gold and diamonds from Africa are constantly being shipped to Europe. And there is no need to worry about lack of market for various industrial products produced in France.
There is no doubt that the French will get an era of prosperity and happiness because of the emergence and victory of the European Community.
But this also means that France will always live in the shadow of Germany!
The three French naval admirals all knew these truths and were relatively speechless for a while. I don't know how long it took before Darlan said: "Let's go and sit at my headquarters. I'll treat you to a big dinner... Can we now All he does is hold a knife and fork in his hand and wait for death!”
…
"We're here, Major General!"
The leaders of the French navy were waiting to die, while everyone in the British Royal Navy was doing their jobs and working hard to save their empire. At 7:30 pm on May 12, the aircraft carriers "Ark Royal" and "Glorious", escorted by the battleship "Barham" and 4 cruisers and 4 destroyers, finally arrived south of the port of Toulon. Position X about 170 nautical miles.
"Okay, sound the battle alarm!" Rear Admiral Lister, with the "Glorious" as the flagship, issued the order, "The carrier-based aircraft are ready to depart. The aircraft carrier is traveling against the wind at a speed of 28 knots!"
A series of orders were issued, and the two aircraft carriers immediately began to turn and quickly accelerated to 28 knots. Strong winds blew on the flight deck.
Lieutenant Commander Williamson, the captain of the carrier-based aircraft group on the "Glorious", is the commander of the air attack group. His L4A "Swordfish" aircraft had been lifted onto the deck by the elevator, and the roaring sea breeze rushed towards him, which immediately cheered him up.
The moonlight is very bright tonight and the visibility is not too bad. It seems to be a good day for an attack.
However, even with good weather, it is still very difficult to complete the mission of surprise attack on Toulon. Because in addition to the two difficulties of taking off, landing and navigating in the dark, the shallow water depth in Toulon Port is the third and biggest problem.
The water depth in Toulon Port is only about 10 meters, which makes it easy for aviation torpedoes falling from the sky to plunge into the seabed. In addition to slightly improving the torpedoes, the most critical solution is actually to lower the altitude of bombing - the "Swordfish" torpedo aircraft participating in the attack must complete ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming flights and drop bombs at night!
In addition, the Swordfish usually has three crew members, namely the pilot, navigator/bombardier and radio operator/rear gunner. However, there were only two crew members on the Swordfish that attacked this time, and a 270-liter fuel tank was installed on the middle seat of the navigator/bombardier. This means that the pilot must serve as both the navigator and the bombardier at the same time.
Just an ultra-low-altitude sea-skimming flight is already difficult, and it is also at night, and there is one less person on the plane. It is estimated that no one else in the world can complete such a task except the British Royal Navy’s carrier-based aircraft pilots.
Thinking of this, Major Williamson suddenly felt proud and said loudly to Sergeant Larson, the radio operator/rear machine gunner sitting behind him: "Sergeant, we are making history! We are doing something that no one has ever done before!"
"Yes, Major." Sergeant Larson replied, "It would be better if we were not attacking the French!"
"That's the fault of the Germans," said Major Williamson, "They don't have their own ships, and they want to rob the French. They are simply a group of robbers!"
...
At 7:45, the carrier-based aircraft on the two aircraft carriers of the L fleet were all ready to go.
The two aircraft carriers rushed against the wind at a speed of 28 knots. The fierce deck wind made many sailors sway. The deck flight officer at the front held a red flag and waited for the order from the flight control console.
"Catapult, fire!"
Suddenly, the code for the start of the operation sounded in the flight officer's headset. The flight officer waved his arms violently. Under the illumination of the searchlight, the moment the red flag fell, the "Swordfish" torpedo bomber driven by Major Williamson rushed out of the deck first.
One after another, batch after batch!
The 36 Swordfish planes on the two aircraft carriers took off in an instant, and they will form the first assault wave. Among these 36 aircraft, 26 of them carry 1 545 kg aerial torpedo, 8 of them carry 6 112 kg bombs, and 2 of them carry 3 bombs and 12 flares.
The 36 Swordfish planes of the second assault wave will take off at 8:45 pm and arrive at the French port of Toulon after midnight on May 13.
…
"General, the Italian submarines have discovered a British fleet, located east of the Balearic Islands, and they are heading north."
At the German Southern Front Headquarters in Rome, General Halder, who had just returned from a boring but very sumptuous dinner, received a piece of news that surprised him.
"What time was it discovered? What is the scale?" He asked Chief of Staff Air Force General Val T. Weaver.
"At 4 p.m.," Vice Admiral Hans Jeschonnek replied, "there are at least 2 aircraft carriers and 1 battleship, as well as several cruisers and destroyers."
"2 aircraft carriers and 1 battleship? Are they going to bomb Toulon?"
"I think so," Val T. Weaver nodded, "The target can only be the French fleet in Toulon. Admiral, I think the British may launch a night attack tonight. Although this is difficult, their slow biplanes (referring to Swordfish) may be able to do it. We have several night fighter squadrons equipped with BF-110 stationed in Rnaya, which can be sent to reinforce Toulon."
Admiral Val T. Weaver was the chief of staff of the German Air Force. Although he himself was not a flying expert, he was very familiar with the performance of various aircraft because he participated in the establishment of the German Air Force. He knew that the British "Swordfish" aircraft (not only the British, but also the Netherlands were equipped with this aircraft) had very good low-altitude and low-speed performance.
"Has the news of the discovery of the British fleet been reported?" Halder did not make a decision immediately, but asked further.
"Yes," Weaver said, "Marshal Hessmann should have received the news."
Although there is now a channel of communication between the German Southern Front Headquarters and the Italian Navy in Toulon, Val T. Weaver cannot contact the French without Halder's order, so he just reported the news to the General Staff.
"Okay," Halder paused, "Then we will continue to wait... The Italians have destroyers outside Toulon Harbor, right?"
"Yes, that is used to monitor the French fleet."
Halder thought for a while, "Send another Fw-200 for reconnaissance. If we find that the French have been bombed, we will send BF-110... It is also a good thing to let the French be bombed by British bombs."