Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 120 Aircraft Carrier Plan

Ryan actually did not agree with Tirpitz's proposal.

Firstly, this is against the rules, and secondly, it will have a bad influence in the army.

But then he thought again, since my unit's disguised number is already called 102 Air Force Special Service Fleet, I can have another one.

This is called a name that does not weigh you down.

Then the Human Resources Department disagreed.

But this is not a problem, because Tirpitz's face is more useful than anything else.

The rest is much simpler.

In a private conversation with Tirpitz, Ryan learned that the Empire would send delegations to the United Kingdom on the 30th of this month and from the 1st to the 4th of next month to negotiate and sign a non-aggression pact.

Today is the 18th, which means Ryan still has twelve days left.

Compared to the previous days, Ryan can now finally take a break.

But Ryan didn't think that this so-called twelve-day rest period was very long.

After all, it was only the people of the 502nd Regiment who were resting, and there were still many battles to fight on the front lines.

Not to mention the troops of the First and Second Armies who were frantically rushing towards the Atlantic Ocean with their baggage, the right wings of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Armies who were supposed to cover their rear were already extremely busy.

As mentioned before, Ryan's battle plan relied heavily on the use of Esco's blast wall, and this was also the case on subsequent fronts.

Ryan's new plan on the front line is to rely on the special swamp environment with high water content and the ability of the Esco explosion-proof wall to quickly build solid fortifications at a location about 50 kilometers away from the coastline of the Kingdom of Periguet, forcing the Farlans who are already exhausted from marching to the sea to retreat to the west side of Calais.

The reason why it is Calais is mainly because it is the narrowest area of ​​the English Channel.

If the plan succeeds, it will establish the best defensive line that can not only ensure the safety of the empire itself, but also ensure that the United Kingdom cannot safely land in Farland after participating in the exhibition.

But before that, the Empire had to ensure that Calais was in the hands of the Farnians.

Because this will lead the war factions within the United Kingdom to believe that they have an excellent landing advantage in Farlan and support Farlan's counterattack against the Empire.

The United Kingdom's troops would inevitably choose to land in Farland at a port like Dunkirk, which has complete and high-quality supporting facilities.

Their troops were also able to quickly reorganize and immediately engage in battle thanks to the fact that Dunkirk was less than 50 kilometers away from the Ostend front.

The United Kingdom's fleet could use its familiarity with the waters around Dunkirk to launch a feint attack on Ostend, forcing the Imperial Fleet to hold Dunkirk and be unable to interfere with the landing operations of the United Kingdom's troops.

It can be said that this was a great gift from Ryan and Schlieffen to the United Kingdom.

As long as the United Kingdom tears up the agreement, they will inevitably fall into the trap carefully prepared for them by the Empire.

The United Kingdom will push a generation of young people, of which they are so proud, into the abyss of utter despair, from which there will be no return.

However, this also has prerequisites.

The most important point is that the Empire needs to be able to complete the Zeppelin-class transformation before the United Kingdom launches an attack.

But in this regard, there are actually some things that make Ryan feel troubled.

The main reason lies with the project leader who is responsible for the transformation task.

As mentioned before, Lieutenant Brinkman's father, Lord Brinkman, is the head of the Equipment Development Institute.

This time he was also responsible for the transformation of the Zeppelin class.

At the beginning of the plan, he said to Ryan: "Why not just develop a new airship specifically for carrying 150mm and 40mm howitzers?"

There is actually nothing wrong with what the lord said. After all, it costs a lot of money to modify an airship. If it is just for the purpose of carrying artillery, developing a new airship is both easy and cheap.

Ryan didn't understand it at first, then he remembered that there were buoyancy units in this world. He didn't have to consider the mass of the airship itself at all, he only had to consider the size of the airbag.

He then rejected the Lord's plan and insisted on using the Zeppelin as the basis for the transformation.

Just kidding, the German guy made a plate of dumplings just for that onion, and ended up killing himself.

Whether it is their BF109 series fighter jets or their Tiger tanks, they were originally designed to defeat the enemy with excellent performance, so that the troops can gain strategic advantages through tactical advantages.

However, such a design greatly limits the subsequent upgrade capabilities of the 109 and Tiger tanks.

Therefore, when the Allies took out tanks equipped with bigger treasures and fighter planes with higher-specification engines, the Germans naturally came up with a solution that was enough to make everyone's eyes go blank - we need to develop bigger guns/better engines, and then equip this gun with a vehicle body/how come this engine can't be stuffed into the plane?
Meanwhile, the Allies were busy mounting any artillery they could find on their own buns...

Ryan once heard a joke. Although he couldn't remember the exact content, the general content was - if an American soldier called for tank support at the front line, and was told later that your steamed bun was on the way... then he had better pray that the steamed bun delivered later was a real steamed bun.

Whether Mantou is serious or not is not the point, but the fact that such a joke can occur is obviously based on the extremely versatile nature of the Sherman's body.

Back to business.

Indeed, developing a chassis specifically for a weapon is a good idea, as it means the two are bound to be a good match.

But the battlefield is not a competition arena, where you can increase your chances of winning through extreme optimization.

Versatility, convenience, and ease of maintenance are the real core.

Therefore, even if the Empire's designers thought it would be a good idea to design a vehicle specifically to carry weapons, Ryan would still require them to develop it based on a universal chassis as much as possible.

An empire can fight a war of attrition, but this war of attrition must consume the enemy's blood, not the empire's own.

No one understands this now. Perhaps they have vaguely sensed it, but have not yet fully understood it.

In short.

In Ryan's plan, the Empire must offset the United Kingdom's fleet advantage through other means.

And this is the most important part of the Empire's actions in the next few months.

the other side.

Ryan actually has other plans for this vacation that lasts for more than ten days.

Because almost all the soldiers and officers of the 502nd Regiment have experience in fighting on the front line, the most important task of the 502nd Regiment at present has changed from how to organize the troops for combat to how to make everyone in the unit learn to drive.

This job is not easy.

Firstly, the current traffic regulations and automobile equipment have not developed a mature system. Secondly, most soldiers have a low level of education, and it is difficult to explain these things to them.

Take the first and second battalions as an example.

In these two battalions inherited from the Seventh Army, only twelve officers and five non-commissioned officers had high school education; the rest either graduated from elementary school or dropped out.

You said they can read, and they can indeed read and write their own names.

But if you say they will learn, that's another matter.

But you have to learn how to drive.

Because although the 502nd Regiment is called an airborne unit, it is actually more of an experimental unit used to try various tactics.

Although one of the reasons was that they had not been able to gather all the silk parachutes until now, Ryan understood that if the 502nd Regiment wanted to survive on the battlefield, it must ensure that its troops had excellent mobility.

He didn't expect everyone to be able to repair it, but at least these guys had to understand how the car moved and be able to drive away the truck or motorcycle when necessary.

The reason for such a requirement is that the Third Battalion is almost entirely composed of highly educated talents drawn from military academies and some reserve forces.

Not only can everyone in this group drive, but they all graduated from high school, and some even have graduate degrees as military officers.

Ryan had to exploit these people hard before their original troops came to ask for them, so that these highly educated talents could play their due role.

So the Third Battalion was in dire straits. Almost from the day Ryan returned to the Imperial Capital, they began trying to teach the soldiers of the First and Second Battalions how to drive using over twenty trucks and over a hundred motorcycles.

But Ryan was not idle during this time.

He first went to have a brief discussion with Field Marshal Schlieffen, whose health was deteriorating, on how to make Asquith, the former Chancellor of the United Kingdom, neither dare to continue to support the war openly, nor make him so angry that he would tear up the neutrality treaty in a few months and participate in the war as an aggressor.

Ryan then went to explain to Air Force Commander General Bölk the construction specifications of the new Zeppelin class and the improvements that needed to be made.

This made General Burke very dissatisfied.

Because in Ryan's opinion, the new construction of Zeppelins would only support the Imperial Air Force in producing a maximum of 12 Zeppelin-class airships, which is the size of three fleets.

As a price, the Empire needs to retire six Zeppelin-class ships that have exceeded their service life.

It was like the Air Force was busy all night and could only get six new Zeppelins.

But what made General Burke even more dissatisfied was Ryan's proposal to include buoyancy units in the development project of fixed-wing aircraft.

Ryan's request was that the Imperial Air Force deliver all of its small buoyancy units in stock to fixed-wing aircraft development projects, with the aim of making the Empire's fixed-wing fleet more efficient in transport.

If Burke agrees, the Empire will also allow the Air Force to build a Zeppelin carrier specifically to accommodate the new aerial communications boats.

The reason for this is mainly because Burke heard that his Air Force's aerial communication boats completed the bombardment and reconnaissance of the Farlan artillery positions, infantry camps, and urban areas with extremely high efficiency in the Battle of Verdun.

The exaggeratedly excellent results made him smile from ear to ear for several days.

After all, the aerial communication boat does not occupy the Imperial Air Force's airship organization. The only problem is that this little thing is not fast enough, and its size does not have a decisive advantage over ordinary airships.

At the same time, when Ryan learned that Burke was so excited, he almost immediately found a woodcarver. After spending fifty marks, he successfully ordered a new model of an air communication boat from the woodcarver. The boat had no airbags, was driven by a single propeller, could only carry two people, and could carry two 50-kilogram sweet potatoes.

This little thing is six meters long and two and a half meters wide. It uses a standard rear three-point landing gear. The shell is corrugated aluminum and aluminum alloy, and the frame material is aluminum alloy and wood.

[Just think of it as adding a radial engine to the nose of a Vanguard boat.]

According to Ryan's estimation, the fastest speed of this thing is about 250 to 300 kilometers per hour. It can enter and leave the battlefield at extremely high speeds, and will not be discovered by the enemy because of its large size like a traditional airship.

It's like a flying man operating a torpedo.

But Ryan obviously won't just give such a good thing to the Air Force.

He planned to use this thing as an auxiliary reconnaissance aircraft and communication equipment for the Imperial Army. When it was deployed on a large scale, it could be transported by Zeppelin airships. After reaching the front line, it could be released like a bomb to launch attacks in groups.

Yes, the extra Zeppelin is an aerial carrier specially built to transport this thing.

And because of the presence of the buoyancy unit, a Zeppelin can carry at least 60 such small air liaison boats while maintaining its own combat effectiveness.

And this thing does not conflict with the original organization of the air communication boat, so Ryan made such a request almost because he was almost certain that Burke would not refuse.

The only problem is.

The operation of the buoyancy unit can only be performed by nobles, so this will significantly increase the operating costs of the air force.

Burke was very worried about this.

Especially when he knew that the additional costs would come from the Navy's appropriations.

Of course, he also asked Ryan how to deal with Tirpitz who knew that his money had been stolen.

Then Ryan showed the naval captain's badge that Tirpitz had forced on him.

As the new Zeppelin carriers and air liaison boats were officially allowed to go into development, the time came to September 29th.

That morning, in Londen, the capital of the United Kingdom.

As always, the lead-gray clouds still hang over this megacity that has prospered for hundreds of years.

The continuous drizzle kept washing the brick and stone ground, cleaning up the dust-covered Downing Street.

Winston Churchill sat on the sofa in the living room, clutching a still warm newspaper. He glanced at the telegram handed to him by the imperial diplomat, then looked at the newspaper, his face full of complicated expressions.

Suddenly, an old voice came from the door: "I heard they want to return the two warships?"

Winston Churchill struggled to his feet and walked towards the door: "Yes, sir."

But the first person he saw was Asquith's daughter Violet: "Good morning, Miss Asquith."

"Hello, Your Excellency the Prime Minister."

The woman, about 27 or 28, lifted the hem of her skirt and bowed to Churchill. Churchill politely kissed the back of her hand, then lowered his voice and looked at Asquith, who was taking off his raincoat. "The Imperial Government will return the two Lion-class battlecruisers to the Kingdom on the first of next month as a gesture of goodwill before the negotiations."

But Asquith snorted coldly, his voice very unhappy: "How are they going to return it?"

"Those are two battlecruisers, the Kingdom's most advanced warships. Tirpitz and the Emperor of the Empire will never return them to us. That's just their excuse."

"Don't be fooled by the Empire's sweet talk, Winston."

Asquith walked past Churchill and sat down with the help of his daughter Violet, glancing at this 'young man' who was ten years older than his daughter.

But then he was speechless.

Because Churchill directly handed today's newspaper to the former prime minister: "This morning's Times, the front page headline bought by the Empire himself, sir."

Asquith actually wanted to refute, but he saw the huge photo in the newspaper at a glance.

The two Lion-class battlecruisers were docked in the port. There were no signs of combat on their surfaces, and their waterlines were normal.

The Kingdom's sailors stood on the deck, scrubbing the deck and turrets, and next to them was an Empire's Nassau-class battleship.

Asquith had seen the Nassau-class battleships, but there was no record of this type of battleship being moored together with the Lion-class, so this must have been a photo taken after the Empire captured the Lion-class battlecruisers.

According to the Kingdom's intelligence department, the Nassau class arrived in Ostend the day after the battle...

"They didn't damage our warships?"

Asquith's eyes twitched constantly. He couldn't believe the photo in front of him, because the warship in it didn't show any signs of battle damage.

"If this photograph is true, sir, they certainly did not damage our warship."

Churchill's voice was somewhat reluctant, but he also knew what he meant.

At the same time, he handed Asquith a new stack of photos and a list.

"This is a photo of our Lion-class battleship taken by the Empire the day before yesterday. The Navy has already analyzed it. Only the upper deck of the battleship was hit by a small explosive, and there are traces of shrapnel..."

"What do you mean?" Asquith was not from the navy and didn't understand this.

Then he saw Churchill open his mouth, looking as if he didn't know what to say.

Asquith cried out at once: "What do the Admiralty men mean, Winston?"

Seeing this, Churchill could only shake his head and answer in a helpless voice.

"Sir, the Admiralty means..."

"Our two battlecruisers must have been captured by the Empire's infantry..."

"They believe the Empire must have taken advantage of the cover of night to sneak into the port and occupied the upper decks and superstructures with infantry or marines."

"This explains why there's no damage to the battleship's armor in the Empire's photos, and why our two battlecruisers were immediately captured by the Empire..."

(End of this chapter)