The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Lieutenant!" Marshal Redel asked Qin Chuan loudly from a few meters away: "How was the conversation with the French general?"

"Oh!" Qin Chuan replied: "You know, talking to the French has nothing to do with anything other than surrender!"

The headquarters couldn't help but burst into laughter again.

Just as the German warships were rushing towards the Tunisian Strait at full speed, the British Fleet A was working hard to clear mines.

During this period, Major General Fischer, commander of the German 27th Air Wing, took the initiative to contact Marshal Redl.

"Your Majesty Marshal!" Major General Fischer reported: "We found an enemy minesweeper fleet in the Tunisian Strait, and there are more warships following it. The specific number requires further reconnaissance. What is your plan? We need to prevent them from clearing mines. ?"

"No, Major General!" Reidel replied: "Let them clear the mines. We will arrive in more than half an hour!"

"Yes, Marshal!"

Redl's decision was of course correct, because the distance from Tunisia to the Strait minefield is about the same as Malta. This means that when the Luftwaffe in Tunisia took off to bomb the British minesweeper group, the British army The fleet will also take off from Malta to participate in the war.

In this way, Germany only has an air force, while the British army has a navy and air force for joint operations. Obviously, the German air force will suffer.

The Luftwaffe did not have a numerical advantage, so waiting for the arrival of the navy was a wise choice.

"Also!" Reidel said to Major General Fischer: "I think we should change our tactics slightly!"

"What?" Fischer didn't understand what Redl meant.

"You must have heard of our battle in the Tyrrhenian Sea!" Redel said.

"Yes!" Fischer replied: "A beautiful battle, Marshal!"

"So..." Redl said: "You don't have to rush to provide air cover for the navy, understand? I think the British still don't know what the problem is, and will try to use aircraft to preemptively strike as before, so that we can Teach them a lesson!"

This time Fischer understood. He nodded and responded: "Yes, Marshal!"

Because there was no interference from German fighter planes and warships, the demining of the British Fleet A went smoothly.

Of course, minesweepers always sweep mines as cleanly as possible, so as to provide their fleet with a wider and more favorable combat waters as much as possible.

Therefore, eight minesweepers drove back and forth in the Tunisian Strait under the cover of cruisers and destroyers...

Minesweepers and minehunters have different minesweeping principles.

Minehunters are equipped with detection equipment on the ship, which can detect whether there are mines underwater and then clear mines in a targeted manner... But it is conceivable that although minehunters are more accurate, their work efficiency is relatively low and they require more consumption. Time for Minesweeper.

The minesweeper does not have detection equipment. Its hull has undergone special treatment, such as using non-magnetic or low-magnetic materials to build the hull, and is also equipped with a degaussing device so that it will not detonate magnetic mines; another example is that the ship is equipped with various Noise reduction device so that it will not set off acoustic mines.

In short, minesweepers are basically invisible to mines.

Then, the minesweeper tows the floating minesweeping cable behind, and a magnetic field will be generated around the cable... and the magnetic mines will be detonated one by one. Sound mines fire sonic bombs into the water.

Ordinary mines are anchor mines with a mine cable... Only by being fixed at a certain point by the mine anchor and the mine cable can the mine not be swept away by the current.

It is even easier to deal with this kind of mine. The tonnage of the minesweeper is small and the water is shallow. Generally, this type of mine will not be triggered. The minesweeping steel cable sunk to the seabed at the rear has a cutter. When it passes the mine, it will cut the mine cable, and then The mine will surface, and then you can use a gun or cannon to detonate it.

The eight British minesweepers are all new minesweepers. Each ship has several different minesweepers at the same time, so the mines were almost cleared in less than half an hour.

"General!" After receiving the telegram, the staff reported to Lieutenant General Tovey: "It can be passed!"

Lieutenant General Tovey, who was looking at the map, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then asked: "Where is the German fleet?"

"We are still 20 nautical miles away!"

"Where is the Italian fleet?"

"Always in the ports of Palermo and Messina!" the staff officer replied.

The Port of Palermo and the Port of Messina are on the other side of the strait. The Port of Messina has to pass through the narrow Messina Strait and can easily be blocked by the British Air Force. This almost means that Italy has no intention to participate in the war. .

In fact, Redl did send a request to Garibald, hoping that Italy would also send a fleet to fight with the German navy.

But the Italian naval commander chose to avoid it after hearing that the British Mediterranean fleet was dispatched in full force.

"It is difficult for our warships to break through the British air blockade and join the battle through the Strait of Messina!" Admiral Angelo replied to Garibald: "And we do not have good communications and identification of friend or foe with the Germans. We Participating in the war may cause unnecessary chaos!"

When Redl heard this explanation, he couldn't help but cursed: "The Italians actually said they didn't recognize the French warship?!"

Redl was right, the Germans used French warships, and Italy was right next to France, and the French fleet has always been Italy's main opponent. How could it be "unmistakable".

But Redl also had no hope for the Italians. He didn't care whether they came or not, especially after repelling a sneak attack by the British Air Force.

Lieutenant General Tovey was hesitant. He believed that the German Navy must have something to rely on before it dared to come to meet the enemy as it was now... Or, the German Navy might not have had two battleships severely damaged as reported by the Air Force.

At this time, Montgomery's call came to Lieutenant General Tovey's headquarters.

"What are you waiting for?" Montgomery said: "Crossing the Tunisian Strait, so that we can deploy firepower without being blocked by the enemy in the strait and unable to move!"

The Tunisian Strait is not narrow. It is about 200 kilometers wide. Although this is enough for two navies to fight, there may still be uncleared mines in the strait, which will make warships wary.

On the other hand, if the fleet is concentrated in the strait, it will easily be bombed by enemy fighter planes.

Therefore, the correct approach should be to pass through the minefield as soon as possible, which is also the narrowest section of the Tunisian Strait (148 kilometers), and enter the Bizerte Port area to fight the German navy.

"General!" Vice Admiral Tovey said: "I don't think they had two battleships severely damaged as we guessed..."

"No matter what, Lieutenant General!" Montgomery said: "Don't be intimidated by the Germans. Our air power still has the advantage. We have more warships and more combat effectiveness than them. We even have an aircraft carrier!"