Anti-Japanese War: My equipment is infinitely refreshed

Especially these French naval soldiers, their hearts were filled with anger at this moment.

Back then, the French Navy was one of the five greatest naval powers in the world, and it had an extremely glorious record and a remarkable status on the vast ocean.

But who could have imagined that because of the insidious sneak attack by the Royal Fleet, the entire French Navy suffered heavy losses, its strength was greatly damaged, and it suddenly fell from the peak to the bottom, directly reduced to the navy level of a third-rate country, even inferior to the Italian Navy. How could they swallow this?

At this time, facing the British army, these French naval soldiers would not show any mercy.

They were determined to return all the humiliation they had suffered before.

In the battle, they were even able to perform beyond their normal capabilities, with their artillery shells having a very high hit rate, as if every shell carried their anger and unwillingness, whistling straight towards the British ships.

"Well done, beat these bastards hard." A French naval soldier shouted at the top of his voice, his voice full of resentment while busy preparing for battle.

"Let the British see how powerful we are." Another soldier echoed, with a fiery light flashing in his eyes.

The British have brought so much pain to the French Navy. Now it's time to let them know that the French Navy is not to be trifled with.

"Come on, beat these bastards." More soldiers shouted to cheer, and the morale of the entire French naval fleet reached its peak.

On the majestic Richelieu-class battleship, the ammunition handlers quickly stuffed shells into the main gun barrel. Their movements were skillful and precise, ensuring that the shells could be loaded smoothly.

The gunners were concentrating on measuring and aiming. Using various instruments and equipment, they carefully calculated the distance, angle and other data from the target, and then steadily adjusted the aiming direction of the main gun, waiting only for the order to let the powerful main gun roar and smash the shells into the British ships, letting the enemy taste the revenge of the French Navy.

Although daybreak was about to break, at this critical moment before dawn, the four-nation combined fleet knew that it must first destroy the searchlights on the Rock of Gibraltar and not leave any chance for the enemy's coastal defense artillery to exert its power.

After all, the caliber of the coastal defense artillery is not small and its power cannot be underestimated.

Battleships, relying on their relatively thick armor, might be able to withstand a few shells without suffering an immediate devastating blow, but it is different for destroyers and cruisers. Their armor is relatively weak, and if they are hit by a shell from a coastal defense gun, a big hole will definitely be blown out, with disastrous consequences.

"Boom!" At this moment, the four-nation joint fleet launched another round of salvos.

However, this time, the accuracy of the artillery shells was somewhat off, and they did not hit the searchlight on the rock mountain as accurately as expected, but instead hit the bunker built by the British army on the rock mountain directly.

In an instant, the explosion produced tremendous power. The strong shock wave was like a surging wave, which instantly blew away the sturdy bunker made of cement.

The British soldiers in the bunker had no time to react before they were killed by the shock wave. The scene was extremely tragic.

You know, for hundreds of years, the British army has been making every effort to build fortifications in the Strait of Gibraltar.

It can be said that after a long period of painstaking efforts, the entire Gibraltar has become a huge fortification complex, filled with various defensive facilities. These fortifications were originally an important support for the British army to resist foreign invasions.

But now, facing the attack of the 380mm naval guns of the Four-Nation Combined Fleet, the defensive capabilities of these fortifications seem insignificant.

The power of the 380mm naval gun is absolutely insane. No matter how solid the fortifications on land were, in front of such large-caliber naval guns, they are like fragile slag and cannot withstand a single blow.

The British soldiers on the rocky mountain were feeling extremely uncomfortable at this moment.

In the past, they were always proud of these sturdy bunkers, believing that they could effectively resist invading enemies with these bunkers.

Unexpectedly, facing the attack of naval guns, these bunkers were completely powerless to fight back. They could only watch the shells fall and then endure the devastating blow.

More importantly, the Italian fleet's 381mm naval guns would come to the rescue from time to time.

Although the hit rate of Italian naval guns was average, when several naval guns exploded in succession not far away, the deafening sound and strong shock waves still scared many British soldiers, causing their morale, which had already been low due to the attack, to drop rapidly, and the entire team was shrouded in an atmosphere of panic.

"Your Excellency Governor, the enemy ship's firepower is too strong. Request reinforcements." A British officer reported to the British Governor anxiously, his voice trembling with nervousness.

"Bastards, send Fleet H to provide support immediately. Don't let them cross the channel." Upon hearing this, the British Governor's eyes widened, his face full of anger, and he shouted loudly.

He knew very well that if the four-nation joint fleet successfully crossed the strait, the consequences would be disastrous, so the only hope at this moment was to quickly get Fleet H to support and use more powerful firepower to resist the enemy's attack.

"Yes!" The officer responded seriously after receiving the order, and then hurried to convey the governor's urgent order.

The entire Gibraltar defenders were trembling at this moment, looking at the sea with horror on their faces.

On the sea, hundreds of warships were lined up in a row like steel monsters, one after another pouring their fury towards the rocky mountains.

The dense artillery fire fell on the rock mountain and its surrounding areas like raindrops. The flames produced by the explosions illuminated the entire sea surface and the area near the rock mountain like purgatory.

"Keep shooting, and shoot according to the predetermined targets." Standing at the command position of the flagship, Chuichi Nagumo said calmly to the staff officer beside him.

The original plan was to wait until daybreak before launching the attack, so that with a clearer view, the battle could be better commanded and the artillery shells could hit the target more accurately.

But now the situation has changed. Since the battle has already started in advance, it doesn’t matter. It’s less than an hour until dawn anyway.

Moreover, at this moment, the searchlights were basically all destroyed, which had no significant impact on their shooting.

Anyway, the rock mountain is there and the target is clear. All we have to do is bombard the rock mountain. As for where the shells will hit the rock mountain, we can't worry about that for the time being.

On the Gibraltar side, the British Governor stood in the headquarters, watching the shells outside the headquarters streak across the sky like meteors, and then smash heavily into the ground.

As huge explosions sounded, the entire earth seemed to be shaking.

"boom!"

At this moment, a shell seemed to have eyes and hit the power station instantly. In an instant, thick smoke billowed up, accompanied by a violent explosion, and the power station was instantly destroyed.

The whole Gibraltar fell into darkness in an instant.

However, since it was very close to dawn, the impact on some ordinary defense facilities without the power supply from the power station was not very significant.

But if there is no electricity in an important place like a command center, the impact will be very serious.

Various communication equipment, command systems, etc. could not operate normally, which caused great inconvenience to command operations.

"Quick, start the backup generator immediately, quick!" The British Governor was anxious and shouted loudly.

At this time, he knew that he must not panic, but must stay at his post and wait for reinforcements to arrive.

As long as Fleet H can arrive in time, they will be able to defeat the enemy ships in front of them with their strength.

"How is the border? Have you spotted any Spaniards?" asked the British Governor with a frown.

He knew very well that Spain's attitude was also crucial in this battle.

If the Spaniards stabbed us in the back at this time, the situation would become more complicated and dangerous.

"No findings so far." The officer in charge of intelligence responded immediately.

"Very good, order the front-line troops to pay attention to the enemy's movements. Once the enemy is spotted, they must fight back immediately without reporting." The British Governor ordered decisively.

He is not a fool and he knows very well the purpose of the four-nation fleet appearing here.

Their goal was clear, and that was Gibraltar. Because the geographical location of this place was so important, whoever could occupy it would be able to control the entire Mediterranean Sea in and out, which was equivalent to holding the throat of the Mediterranean Sea and having an absolute advantage in strategy.

"How long will it take for the power to be restored?" After waiting for about five minutes, the British Governor asked again with a frown.

He is now very worried that there may be problems with the backup power generation unit. If power supply cannot be restored as soon as possible, it will be a disaster for the command of the entire defensive operation.

The Rock is completely different from other urban areas in Gibraltar. It has been carefully built and has many solid fortifications.

A large part of these fortifications are cleverly built inside the mountain. This design can not only enhance the defense capability with the help of the mountain's own cover, but also avoid enemy artillery attacks to a certain extent.

However, this design also has a tricky problem, that is, the space inside the mountain is relatively closed and the air circulation is poor.

Therefore, huge blowers must be running continuously to blow fresh air into the interior of the mountain. Only in this way can the soldiers inside the mountain be able to breathe normally. Otherwise, they will suffocate to death due to lack of oxygen, and the consequences will be unimaginable.

On weekdays, the operation of these blowers is mainly maintained by power plants, which generate stable and sufficient electricity to meet the needs of blowers and other electrical equipment inside the mountain.

However, if we encounter a special situation like the current one where the power plant is destroyed, we must rely on backup generators to provide electricity.

Fortunately, when designing these fortifications, the relevant engineers had already fully considered such emergencies that might occur.

Therefore, a high-power generator set was specially installed at the foot of the mountain. This generator set uses a large diesel generator as its power source. The electricity it generates is sufficient to support the normal use of all fortifications inside the mountain. Even in an emergency when the power plant cannot supply electricity, it can guarantee the electricity needs of various facilities and personnel inside the mountain.

When the British Governor gave the order to start the backup generator, the engineers responsible for guarding the backup generator did not dare to delay in the slightest. They immediately took action and tried to start the generator according to the operating procedures.

"Report, the backup generator cannot be started." A soldier was sweating profusely, his voice full of anxiety and helplessness. While reporting loudly, he kept fiddling with the various components of the generator, trying to find out the problem. But no matter how hard he tried, the generator had no response and remained there quietly, unable to provide the much-needed electricity to the fortifications inside the mountain.

This sudden situation undoubtedly made the already serious situation even worse.

Hearing this, the officer next to him suddenly widened his eyes, his face full of disbelief, and he blurted out: "Why?"

There was surprise and anxiety in the voice. No one expected that at this critical moment, the backup generator would have problems.

"It seems to be broken." The soldier also looked helpless and said uncertainly.

After all, I just started the generator according to the operating procedures, but it didn't respond at all. I couldn't accurately determine what went wrong at the moment.

"It's broken?" The officer's face darkened when he heard this.

Indeed, since Gibraltar has always been in a relatively peaceful state and has not experienced a real war for a long time, they have not paid enough attention to this backup generator set. On weekdays, they mostly just regard it as a symbol, thinking that it may never be used.

It is rarely maintained on a regular basis, and only occasionally is it checked briefly and maintained.

Now that I think about it, it has been almost two months since the last time I maintained it.

During this period, the generator may have had various minor problems, but they had not discovered them. Now when it is really needed to work, it breaks down.

"Damn it, fix it quickly. If you don't, the soldiers in the mountain will suffocate to death." The officer roared angrily, his eyes widened, veins bulging on his forehead, and he urged the soldiers anxiously.

In his opinion, the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers inside the mountain depended entirely on whether this generator could operate normally. If the generator could not be repaired and fresh air could not be provided to the inside of the mountain, then these soldiers would really be suffocated to death due to lack of oxygen. The consequences would be too serious.

Upon receiving the news that the generator was broken, the British Governor's face turned pale.

He knew very well that if there was no electricity and the blower could not be started to deliver fresh air to the inside of the mountain, the tens of thousands of soldiers inside the mountain would definitely face a catastrophe and would be suffocated to death. (End of this chapter)