Battle of the Third Reich

"German... German!"

The first officer stood next to Carsent with an incredible look on the large German submarine parked beside the battleship and muttered.

The u-37 has completely surfaced. The wet gray hull flashes a soft light under the sunlight. The sea water is still gurgling from various small and narrow drainage holes, stirring up a circle of white on the sea surface. The ripples and bubbles in the sky are like a beautiful pearl necklace surrounding the hull.

All British sailors stood stunned and looked at the uninvited guests in front of their respective battle positions. In the eyes of the British Royal Navy sailors, this beautiful and mighty submarine even brought a trace of mystery in addition to a strong sense of deterrence. , A hint of legendary romance.

Few British sailors have ever seen a German submarine at such a short distance. Usually they can only see this kind of terrorist warship that was once a nightmare for all naval transport captains from drawings or black and white photos. In their consciousness, the German submarine should be ugly, shabby and dirty. It should be a small boat full of evil smell that makes people look disgusted at first glance. Those evil and weak German sailors stay here In the narrow and dirty cabin, breathing the turbid and poisonous air, staring at their red eyes searching the dark sea, looking forward to launch attacks on the invincible transport ships, or grinning to those struggling on the sea Surviving women and children shot. This is the impression of the German submarine in their minds, and this is the image of the German submarine soldiers in their minds.

Now, this close warship completely overthrew their previous impression of the German submarine. Her beautiful linear shape, slightly provoked bow, smooth and clean hull, exquisite control tower, and even the high-rise periscope attracted the eyes of the British sailors.

In particular, her dramatic appearance, the majestic appearance that only appeared in myths and legends, brought a strong shock to the hearts of all British sailors present. They all stared blankly at the enemy ship in front of them. They couldn’t believe what they saw was true. They all forgot that they were fighting and that the beautiful ship in front of them had just fired two torpedoes at themselves. They even forgot that their battleship was sinking slowly. Everyone stood there motionless as if enchanted, opening their mouths and staring blankly.

"What are you doing, what are you doing there, that's the enemy, ready to fire! Pull the battle!"

Cassent reacted for the first time. He was irritated. He was furious that the Germans would dare to rise up against his own warship, which was obviously provoking. He was angry at his subordinates for being so sluggish. It was a shame for the Royal Navy. He was even angry that he was also attracted to this German submarine just now. This is simply incredible. How could he seem to have just emerged? The Maotou kid in the military school was as naive as he was, and he was willing to believe that he was shocked by this sudden situation and he did not want to admit that he was really fascinated by the submarine at that moment.

Suddenly, the good news of battle reverberates in the sky above the heavy cruiser Devon, as if the magic was broken, the sailors began to move in their respective positions, they finally remembered that they were fighting, and the one in front of them That submarine is its own enemy. The deck in Devon was suddenly in a mess, and everyone was busy in their respective positions. The British soldiers were crazy about their weapons, and everyone tried hard to point their weapons at the German submarine.

They were finally awake now. The submarine was not made for viewing. She was a real murder weapon, especially when they saw the 105mm cannon on the front deck of the submarine, which was also painted gray. After the action, they had to shatter the submarine before the Germans climbed onto the deck to use the terrible cannon.

Now in the eyes of these British sailors, the submarine is no longer as cute as it was a minute ago, except for the cannon, the two 20mm organs with black cold lights on the command tower [cannon, the horrible one on the rear deck The 37mm rapid-fire gun, including the sharp sawtooth edge of the sharp anti-submarine net cutter at the bow of the boat, made these British sailors feel the pressure of death, maybe in the next second, those cruel Germans The sailors will swarm from the submarine, and then use their terrifying rapid-fire weapons to fire on themselves, and then the deck of the Devon will be a **** full of blood and fire.

The deepest feeling for this is the gunners of the 40mm ping pong guns. They do not think that the five-millimeter ordinary steel plate on their fort can block the shooting of any weapon on the submarine deck. All the gunners on the starboard side of the Devonshire were turning the muzzle frantically, and they hoped to get rid of the arrogant German submarine as soon as possible.

But at the next moment, an embarrassing situation happened, and the British suddenly discovered that they didn't have a weapon to reach the submarine, because the submarine turned out to be the reason. . . . It is really. . . . Too close to her.

The Devonshire is a London-class heavy cruiser. In order to adapt to fighting in the North Sea and the Atlantic region, the designer specially designed a boat shape suitable for her to sail in high sea conditions. Her bulwark is very high, which may be felt by the Admiralty. The six to seven meters high ship's side is not high enough. They also installed her secondary gun turret on a three-meter high turret. So although she has a powerful 102mm secondary gun, they found that it was impossible to use it to attack a ground ship with a height of only 15 meters and less than 5 meters, and its depression angle was not that great.

Not to mention those 40 guns and 20 guns, they are arranged according to the air defense state, all the artillery are placed on the round turrets with half-person high steel plates welded into the fence. Not to mention that they are now placed on a tall superstructure, even if they are placed on the deck, they are not able to hit the submarine, they have a maximum depression angle of only two degrees, which must be removed after removing the steel guardrail Can do it.

Originally, there were some small-caliber antiaircraft machine guns on this battleship. The thing was open. If the machine guns were still there, although the submarine could not be destroyed, the submarine entrance and exit was blocked, so that the Germans could not use those weapons. . But it is a pity that they were all demolished, because the power is too small, and the table tennis cannons were replaced.

Now the British can only watch the submarine steadily standing 15 meters away from them. They have no usable weapons and no power. Now they have no countermeasures except to spit to the Germans. What's even more **** is that this distance is too close for the cannon, and a little further for the saliva, and all the British are extremely depressed.

"Captain, what should we do now." The first officer's helpless face asked him carefully to Carsent.

He could see that Cassant was almost mad by the awkward situation now. Although he didn't jump like a thunder, but the uncontrollable trembling of Carsent's body showed that the captain was now very angry.

"What else can we do, we have to kill this **** German submarine, no matter what! I have never been humiliated like today!" Cassin turned his head and said fiercely, suddenly he seemed to think of something.

"Saladin, yeah, I still have the Saladin. Quickly transfer her over and let her drove this **** submarine away, no, kill it. I don’t want to see it again, whether it’s drove or killed. A **** thing appeared in front of me. They were insulting me, they were provoking me. Damn! Damn! Damn German! Why don’t you even signal! Saladin, call Saladin, you don’t understand me Words?" Carent yelled.

"Captain, I originally wanted to report to you." The first mate's expression of frowning.

"You...you mean." Cassent hurried to the port side of the bridge.

It turned out that he found his last destroyer Saladin at a glance, and it seemed that she was doing a difficult move. Saladin is trying to raise his stern to a height of 100 meters. Carsent was fortunate to see the moment she failed. The broken stern hit the sea fiercely, inspiring like a hill. Big splash. Cassent could even clearly hear her last whine, the harsh sound of friction when the hull steel plate was twisted and broken. Then only a group of floating sailors, various debris, and two or three snow-white lifeboats remained on the sea.

"It's over, we're over."

Cassent watched the sinking of his last wing ship, and he felt as if he had sunk into the icy sea with that cry. Everything was over for him. The Germans successfully destroyed him in just a quarter of an hour, ruined his life, ruined his future, taken away his honor, his courage, his pride, and now still May take his life. There was a confusion in Cassett's mind, and he recalled the hardship and effort he had made to this step. He thought of his beautiful wife, lovely child, his beautiful and warm home in London. He thought of his old parents, his brothers, bosses, friends, all of him, and now all this will leave him, he may never see them.

Cassent pulled out his pocket watch from his sturdy military uniform trouser pocket. He wanted to know the exact time now. He wanted to remember this moment forever, the moment when his life was destroyed. His finger suddenly touched a cold and hard thing, and he remembered it. It was his pistol. It was exquisite. The Swiss product was small and useful. He was never equipped with a gun at ordinary times, but today I don't know why he spooked this toy-like pistol into his pants pockets. Cassant suddenly felt that this might be God's will, and it was God's instruction to himself. The defeated soldier should pay for his mistakes. Cassent slowly took out his pistol, then pointed the muzzle at his mouth.

"No! Captain!"

The chief officer who had been watching him for a while rushed up, and he grabbed the gun in Cassent's hand.

"You can't do this, this battleship hasn't sunk, we haven't completely failed."

The officers standing aside also gathered together, and they struggled to hug Cassant who was trying to recapture the pistol from his first officer.

"Give me the gun!" Cassent roared like crazy: "Give me the gun, I'm responsible for my negligence. Give me the gun. This is the order!"

"No, Captain." The first officer shook his head firmly.

"Please forgive me for violating your order for the first time, Captain. Now it is not time for despair, even then, you cannot die in disreputable manner in this way. You cannot escape your responsibilities in this way, Moreover, these responsibilities are not worth your life. We were ambushed by three German submarines. This is a sneak attack. No one can predict it, even in the military law of the London Admiralty* I can stand my chest loudly. To defend yourself, no one can escape from this vicious trap. The responsibility is not on you, but on the planners, the intelligence departments. You have done everything you can, you have done your best, This is not something manpower can change. This is God’s will. God is now on the German side. You must take on the responsibility that you should take now. You are responsible for all the officers and soldiers on the Devon. We have not lost the power of resistance, Lieutenant Colonel Sanders has already called his subordinates, they have all kinds of army light weapons, they can attack the submarine. We have not failed, Captain!"

Cassent slowly stopped his struggle, he stared at his first officer gaspingly, his eyes slowly calming down.

"You mean Lieutenant Colonel Sanders, he went to summon his army soldiers?"

"Yes, Captain, they have machine guns, rifles, and grenades. They even brought mortars."

"When will he call his subordinates."

"When it was discovered that our weapons could not fire."

"Oh." Cassent let out a breath. He turned and said to the officers around him who had grabbed him: "Can you let me go now? Gentlemen."

"Are you sure you are all right?" an officer asked doubtfully.

"Of course, I'm fine, let me go." Cassent replied calmly.

The officers quickly let go of their captain. Cassett sorted out the crumpled military uniform before walking to the first officer.

"I'm so embarrassed ahead, thank you for reminding me. Major Luo Yi."

Although this first officer performed normally, sometimes even a bit dull and naive, but at a critical moment he still showed the courage and loyalty and wisdom that the Royal Navy should have, and Carsent felt that he had always ignored him He hopes that if he has the opportunity, he must make compensation for it.

"Captain, your pistol." The first officer handed the pistol respectfully to Carsent.

"You keep it, I don't think I will use it anymore." Cassin smiled, then walked toward the platform beside the bridge.

"Why don't the Sanders people get on the deck? What are they waiting for? Although we can no longer return to England from here, we have to get a little price for our warships and let the Germans know how powerful we are ."

Cassant felt that courage had returned to him. He knew that the Germans would never let go of this temporarily unpowered warship. They would not give up such a good opportunity. They would give her a shot. What puzzles him now is why the Germans haven't done so, and why the German submarine floated beside him. He didn't think that the Germans wanted to capture this warship, even the craziest guys wouldn't think so. It was impossible to capture this heavy cruiser with three submarines.

If they are deadlocked, they might still have a chance. Cassant knew that his warship was seriously injured but it was not fatal. Both German torpedoes hit the lightning protection belt of the engine room, but because the German torpedo charge was more than expected, the result still penetrated the hull. The power of the explosion, combined with the influx of seawater, destroyed the boiler on the left side of the battleship. It also destroyed part of the pipeline and oil tank. The reason why the battleship lost its power now is that the two main lines of the boiler room on the right have failed due to the shock, and they have ordered the sailors to repair them immediately.

Now the water intake of the hull has been controlled. Although it is a little left, it still does not affect the action of the battleship. As soon as his warship recovers power, he can immediately distance himself from this submarine and surprise them with artillery before the Germans have responded. Even if it is operated by half the boiler, the Devonshire can run at a speed of 20 knots. If you are lucky, you may be able to get rid of these German submarines and return to the UK. The key now is exactly what the Germans want, and where is the other two German submarines.

Cassent carefully searched the sea for traces of two other German submarines, but to his disappointment, nothing was found.

"The soldiers of Lieutenant Colonel Sanders are ready on the deck, captain. Their weapons are only rifles and machine guns, and the other weapons are all in the ammunition depot, but they are now flooded. So They delayed a little time." An officer reported on the ship's phone.

"I know." Cassent looked up on the deck and saw that hundreds of Army soldiers were standing with rifles in three rows and aimed at the German submarine. Sanders was standing in front of the team holding a pistol. Looking in his direction and seeing Carsant looking at himself, Sanders greeted a military salute with carelessness, and Carsent quickly returned a profit.

"The German submarine is moving!" a sailor yelled. Everyone stared nervously at the control tower of the submarine. The army soldiers put their hands on the trigger. Their palms began to sweat slowly, and their breathing began to become more and more urgent.

"Calm down! Calm down!" Sanders commanded loudly: "Without my orders, no one is allowed to shoot, otherwise I will shoot him personally." Sanders shook his pistol, indicating that he was not joke.

"Yes, sir." The soldiers answered loudly.

Everyone held their breaths and stared at the control tower. The entire battleship became silent for a while. People only heard the waves of the waves hitting the hull and the sound of mechanical operations on the German submarine.

Suddenly, an object appeared on the podium, everyone's heart was suddenly lifted, and a few army soldiers almost scared and pulled the trigger.

The crowd commotioned and calmed down, and they looked carefully at the non-stop shaking thing.

That's a small side. . . . white flag.

"What is the matter, will the Germans surrender? Captain." an officer asked.

"Then why do you think they have surrendered?"

"I don't think it seems. Captain."

"I can't think of it. They wanted to talk to us, you..." Carsant swallowed the curse words back. He stared angrily at the subordinate and then took it off the wall. A big microphone.

Cassent took the microphone and walked to the railing. He shouted loudly to Sanders: "Lieutenant Colonel, the Germans want to talk to us. I think we should first listen to what they want to say. I don’t want to Which Army soldier accidentally fired and destroyed all of us, I hope you can let your soldiers look at their fingers well." Sanders waved to Carsent to know.

Then Cassent shouted to the German submarine: "Germans, you can come out now, we will not shoot, but I hope you can be gentlemen, don't do anything that would make my soldiers misunderstand. Understand ?"

The small white flag flicked twice, and then a German naval officer stood up from the command tower. Judging from his white combat bonnet, he was the captain of this submarine.

"This officer, I am Captain Cassett of the Devonshire. Please tell me your identity. And what exactly do you want to do."

The German official only stood there for a long time without talking, and then he disappeared from the control tower again, which could completely confuse the British.

At this time, on the control tower of U37, Gisele bent down to Xu Jun who was trying to climb out of the boat and asked: "Marshal, what is he saying in front of me. I can't understand anything."

"I don't understand what you did first."

"I'm responsible for your safety. I don't think you should come out. They have hundreds of rifles against us." Gisele said worriedly.

"What's the matter, I remember the last time I faced the machine gun."

Xu Jun finally climbed out of the hatch with the help of Giselle. He stood up without hesitation, and then watched the giant ship in front of him in a big way. His presence clearly caused a stir in the crowd on the deck of the British warship.

"A German marshal. God."

Cassett's hands were so trembling that he could hardly hold the telescope. He calmed down and picked up the microphone again.

"Dear Honorable Marshal, I am Lieutenant Colonel Cassett, Captain Devonshire of the Royal Navy. What do you want to talk to us about?

"What I want to do, I don't know what I want to do. If this **** battery is dead, and there is a problem with the high-pressure gas pump, I can take the risk and you are here to grind your mouth? "

Although Xu Jun kept cursing his bad luck in his heart, he still had a confident smile on his face.

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