Bismarck

Compared to Eugen who was full of excitement, Top with dark circles under his eyes looked helpless.

The battle at the front had already ended, and the news of the capture of the Cape of Good Hope Fortress was already known to everyone. And even without mentioning the additional good news that we had basically crippled the British air force stationed there during the battle.

Just the news that Bismarck and Tirpitz sisters took advantage of the chaos in the port and, under the cover of smoke and fog, rushed into the anchorage together, and then each towed back a large oil tanker - with a total of at least 23,000 tons of oil - which completely solved the oil shortage was so great that not only was Eugen jumping for joy like a little rabbit, but even he himself felt like he was overjoyed.

After all, now, the fuel level of his little Eugen has dropped to the absolute red line of 30%.

Just now...

Looking at the lively and cute little rabbit jumping around and muttering to himself beside him, Top smiled bitterly with helplessness.

This girl was so excited when she heard that the commander had won a great victory. She didn't even care that she could actually ask where the cat and mouse sisters were on the WIFI, and she had to talk about this and that.

But think about it, she is actually worried about her three sisters.

The game was going on intensely last night, so much so that Eugen, who heard Bismarck, Grape and Zeppelin communicating with each other over WIFI, was nervous the whole night - but not to mention her, I was also quite nervous!

Bismarck and Tizi followed the commander to attack the fortress, while Zeppelin was to command the air battle. He was solely responsible for the escort of the Zeppelin aircraft carrier and the two transport ships!

In order to provide air cover for the commander, Zeppelin had to be as close to the Cape of Good Hope Fortress as possible, and conversely, the British Air Force at the fortress airport was fully capable of attacking itself! Fortunately, according to the combat plan, in the warship formation, the two warships, Prinz Eugen and Zeppelin, and the two merchant ships, were as far behind the Bismarck sisters as possible, that is, to make the Cape of Good Hope Fortress, the Bismarck sisters and themselves as straight as possible.

In this case, any planes that might threaten Zeppelin and the transport ships would first be intercepted by Bismarck and Tirpitz, who were under the direct command of the commander. Moreover, these planes would have a higher probability of bombing Bismarck and the others directly. Even if there were some that slipped through the net, they would be more than a hundred kilometers away for at least half an hour, which was enough time for them to relocate their positions.

If all else fails, there is Eugen's own anti-aircraft firepower.

Fortunately, apart from shooting down a British reconnaissance plane that might have slipped in, there were no other problems. The only problem was that I had stayed up all night.

Unsung heroes... probably people like me and Eugen...

After all, Top hadn't rested for a whole night, and his eyes were a little tired. He returned to his seat, closed his eyes and began to take a nap. However, after only ten minutes of rest, Top, who was almost asleep, heard a shout from his own heavy cruiser in a daze:

"Top Top! Get up, get up! Sister Bismarck and the others are back towing the tanker!!"

“…Hmm?! Something’s happening…?!”

Hearing his own heavy cruiser calling him in a daze, Top opened his eyes and jumped up reflexively, looking around with a serious face: "...Eugen, what's going on? Are there any enemies coming? How many? Where are they? Tell me now!!"

With a chuckle, Eugen burst out laughing on the spot.

Chapter 681: Su Ying wants to negotiate

“…此次作战，战死四十七人，受伤二百六十二人……耗用弹药共计：380主炮弹992发，150毫米炮弹480发，105高炮弹2800发，50毫米高炮弹11000发，以及37高炮弹近三万发，另有鱼雷八条。其中高炮弹消耗量分别占现有炮弹总数的10.2%、26.8%和12.4%。目前全舰队尚有380炮弹2008发，150炮弹4520发，105高炮弹24700发，50毫米炮弹约30000发，37毫米炮弹197000发，另有533毫米鱼雷20条。……”

"We lost six BF-109 fighters, nine FW-190 fighters, and one JU-87. The fleet currently has ten BF-109s, thirty-five FW-190s, and six JU-87s. We can only deploy three BF-109s and eleven FW-190s. Fortunately, when we evacuated Socotra Island, we still had enough spare parts and materials, and we still had 2560 tons of aviation fuel..."

"Some secondary guns and anti-aircraft guns were also damaged in the battle... We can make up for the loss of these secondary guns and anti-aircraft guns with the last spare parts and gun barrels in stock. However, the remaining spare parts can only make up for the loss this time. If there is damage again, there will be no way to deal with it next time..."

"The last problem is fuel consumption. This assault consumed a lot of fuel, especially for me and the Bismarck and Tirpitz. We consumed 3,500 tons of fuel in less than a day..."

At the desk in the captain's office of the battleship Bismarck, the secretary Bismarck, who was standing next to the captain reading a report, secretly stuck out his tongue.

Although he was the only one reporting to the captain, the captain's requirements were still very strict. He was glared at by his captain for being a little bit careless in his report. Bismarck, knowing that his captain was very strict in military discipline, did not dare to say anything. After sticking out his tongue, the Persian cat slightly restrained his mischievousness and continued to pretend to be serious, reading the last point of the report in his hand:

"…The two British and American merchant ships we captured this time carried a total of 23000 tons of fuel! Together with the remaining fuel of our fleet, our fleet currently has a total of 31400 tons of ship fuel! According to the preliminary estimate of the General Staff, this amount of fuel is enough for us to sail 18600 kilometers at a speed of 14000 knots, and the distance from the Cape of Good Hope to Brest is only kilometers, which means that our fuel problem has been completely solved... Report completed!"

As soon as she finished reading the report, the somewhat excited Bismarck quickly put it away. She was so happy that she almost jumped up three feet high, and then she threw herself on her captain and said, "Captain, now that our fuel problem has been completely solved, what should we do next?"

"You, you lost your composure right after you finished reading the report... Alas..."

The serious captain encountered a naughty, lively and cute Persian cat. He had already finished reading the report, and after glaring and threatening him didn't work, he could only shake his head and smile helplessly.

However, there is probably more doting in this expression. Having a beautiful woman's company after a battle can probably help to adjust one's mood. At least Lütjens is in a very good mood now.

The next plan still needs to be given instructions.

Lütjens thought for a moment and said, "The Cape of Good Hope will not accept such a defeat. I'm afraid they are dispatching aircraft to try to counterattack... Let's go southwest first, use the shortest route to get out of the effective combat radius of their air force, then find a place to distribute the supplies, and finally return to the northwest, bypassing the airport reconnaissance range of St. Helena and Ascension Island. Let them search for us all over the Atlantic!"

After thinking for a while, Lütjens added: "Oh, by the way, ask the communications team to use a high-power radio to send a victory report to the country, and also send a request for the country to send transport ships to support aircraft and ammunition - no matter whether Raeder agrees or not, at least send the request first! As for the communication code with the country, use the code book on the submarine rescued a few days ago, and let Dönitz tell Raeder."

"Yes! I'll tell them right away to turn southwest together!"

Bismarck nodded excitedly, then turned around and went to contact the sisters and transport ships in her fleet without asking a single question - her captain was so scheming and shrewd, and as a secretary cat who had long been corrupted by the bad company, how could she not raise her two front paws in approval?

After all, this time, even the heavily guarded and heavily defended Harbor Qiji Cape of Good Hope Fortress was taken down by himself!

Bismarck walked out of Lütjens' office and closed the door gently. Not long after, the telegraph machine in the confidential room next door began to emit the pleasant sound of a telegram...

--

The Cape of Good Hope Fortress was completely destroyed, and the tragic news that Admiral Algernon Willis, commander of the South Atlantic Garrison, had been killed in action reached London. In the conference room, Churchill leaned on the table with a fat, smelly face, supporting his chin with one hand, and tapping the five fingers of the other hand on the table over and over again.

The British First Sea Lord, Admiral Andrew Cunningham, who was also in the conference room, no longer had his usual cynical and smiling expression. Instead, he had a gloomy face and said nothing. Only the veins on his forehead were still there, jumping, jumping, and jumping again...

All he was thinking about was the same thing as the Prime Minister.

What happened at the Cape of Good Hope Fortress is so infuriating!

Willis was an old subordinate of his, and now he was suddenly defeated and killed for no apparent reason! Moreover, this was after they had made careful preparations, so how could such a thing not make them feel upset?

Although the heavily guarded Cape Fortress in Harbor was no match for the German ships, and Admiral Willis's death in battle was a manifestation of the Royal Navy's dedication to duty, Lütjens not only stormed the Cape Fortress this time, but also relied on several evil spirits to commit blatant robbery.

Admiral Willis had just been killed when the German evil spirits openly seized two oil tankers from the crippled Cape of Good Hope Fortress and fled! This was simply a naked act of piracy!

There were many pirates throughout the history of Atlantic navigation, and there were also many disguised attack ships, but this time, what was looted was not a merchant ship, but an entire port!

It was a slap in their faces, and Cunningham felt very ashamed.

Although there were many ports that were attacked during the war, there were also many ports that were robbed... When was the last time a port was looted in such a humiliating way?

If there are no omissions in the Admiralty archives, the last port to be plundered in this way was the last pirate king in the sailing age 120 years ago, the daring Captain Sehenmauel Roberts, nicknamed "The Black Baron"!

Was it the time when Roberts, using the excuse that his ship was too old and needed to be replaced, robbed more than 150 ships in the harbor in front of the harbor battery in Trebassai, and even openly towed away a French cruiser to serve as his new flagship?

Not to mention, False Bay is not just an ordinary port like Trebasi Port, but a heavily guarded fortress-class naval base! It is the headquarters of the South Atlantic Garrison, which is guarded by dozens of fortress guns! !

When they thought of this, a bunch of British military and political officials cursed in their hearts...

This bastard Lütjens was treated as a pirate by the navy. He has more than just a lack of moral integrity. He has lost all moral integrity!

However, they are far away in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Royal Navy is currently in a period of transition, while the main force of the US Navy fleet is all in the Pacific battlefield... No matter how badly you curse in your heart, what can you do?

Not to mention, the Royal Navy doesn't even have the combat capability to intercept Lütjens now...

"…The Cape of Good Hope Fortress has been breached, and Lütjens should now have no shortage of fuel... Gentlemen, the past cannot be changed, so let's talk about what to do next..."

Churchill, who was sitting at the main seat, looked a little dejected. Cunningham and others below were also either dejected or gritting their teeth... However, no one stood up to continue Churchill's words!

After all, the current strength of the Royal Navy is so terrible that it cannot be described with the words "terrible"...

The former mighty British Empire Royal Navy was still a big shot even if it was in decline. But in just three or four years, it has fallen to the point where there are only a few cats and cats now!

The Allies have lost 17 battleships and 12 aircraft carriers so far, and more than half of them - 12 battleships and 5 aircraft carriers - were either killed by Lütjens and his shipgirls, or were related to Lütjens's battles! Some were even killed by the enemy in the shipyard!

In the Battle of Newcastle, wasn't the Lion battleship turned into a pile of scrap metal on the slipway? Now the new Lion battleship is still the second Lion-class ship, the Reckless, renamed.

Then the name of the third Lion-class ship was changed to Reckless, and finally the fourth Lion-class ship, which was to be the ship carrying the latest combat command system in the plan, finally got a new name called Vanguard... It's a shame that the ship names had to be changed back and forth!

After getting angry, looking at the cards in their hands, all the dignitaries in the conference room looked helpless...

The Royal Navy's flagship, the Warspite, was nearly killed in Operation Support, and is now under repair in India! The list of battleships that can be deployed only includes the armored aircraft carrier HMS Vengeance of the Home Fleet, and four newly commissioned, hastily constructed, giant-class light aircraft carriers.

The only battleships left were the Duke of York and Howe of the Home Fleet, plus two Rhodes-class armed fleet armored tankers that were transferred from the Gibraltar fortress to the port of Freetown in West Africa to "sit in the mid-Atlantic" - in fact, it is better to say that they are providing psychological comfort, or simply to give courage - which are the entire main force of the Royal Navy now!

Especially, even Churchill himself knew that the two fleet tankers were actually completely unable to fight in the mid-Atlantic! However... for the sake of dirty politics, he had to hold the mentality of covering his ears and stealing the bell, and put the two fleet tankers Rodney and Nelson on the battlefield. Although these two tankers had a glorious record of fighting with Bismarck in the Icelandic naval battle, they blocked the opponent in the Reykjavik Bay, and the Bismarck had already damaged a main turret...

This is simply incomparable to the current situation where the Mid-Atlantic waters are vast, there are two evil warships on the opposite side, and there is also the Zeppelin evil aircraft carrier to support them!

The only luck they had was probably knowing that the speed of the two ships was too low. They could use this as an excuse to evade Congress, public opinion, and perhaps even the Americans, saying that their speed could not catch up with the German ships.

The group of people were silent for a long time, looking at such a mess and unable to come up with any ideas. But at this moment, there was a knock outside - someone knocked on the door of the meeting room...

"Come in!" Churchill looked at the confidential secretary who pushed open the door and walked in. He stared at the confidential secretary with an unhappy face and asked, "What's going on? Don't you know not to interrupt a meeting unless it's important?"

"Report to the Prime Minister, it is like this. ... The Foreign Minister Molotov from the Soviet Union brought a group of people here, saying that they represent the Soviet government and want to talk to us."

"What to talk about?"

"They said they wanted to discuss the following topics. First, they wanted to recognize the 1941 border between them and Poland. Second, they wanted to sign a formal anti-fascist wartime alliance treaty with us. In addition, they wanted to discuss the post-war peace in Europe... Oh, right! They also said that they wanted to urge us to fight the Germans and open up a second front in Western Europe..."

（PS:历史上1942年5月20日莫洛托夫访问英国，于5月26日签署了正式的英苏战时同盟和战后合作协议。历史上苏德战争爆发后因为种种原因，在41年战争最开始的时候，英国和苏联只签订过一个很空泛的联合行动协议。）

"FxxK! These uninvited Russians! If I weren't here to kill Hitler, do you really think I want to negotiate some kind of deal with these GC party members..." Churchill, who was anti-GC by nature, was so angry that he cursed on the spot. This was simply taking advantage of someone's misfortune.

But diplomacy is no trivial matter, especially now it is wartime, and at least we have a common enemy called Hitler, I can bear it!

Churchill, who felt that he had mastered the twelfth level of the Turtle Back Divine Art, took a big gulp of black tea and barely suppressed his anger. He finally managed to control his temper and glanced at the confidential secretary. With a stern face, he asked, "Where are Molotov and the others now?"

"They have arrived at the gate of the official residence and are asking for a meeting, so I ran over now..."

It's incredible that she said these words only when they reached the door, without even giving him time to think hastily.

"...It's really damn stupid. Why did the Russians come at this time instead of earlier? Never mind. We can't do anything about the German evil spirits now. It's never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. It won't be too late to settle the score later..."

After gritting his teeth, Churchill finally slapped his thigh and said, "The meeting is adjourned! In addition... (British Deputy Prime Minister and Lord Chancellor, also leader of the opposition Labour Party) Attlee, (Foreign Secretary) Eden, (Minister of Supply and Demand) Beaverbrook... (Chief of the General Staff) Alan Brooke, (First Sea Lord) Cunningham, (Director of MI6) William Wyatt... The rest of you stay and come with me to meet Molotov!"

He wants to have a good meeting with those Bolsheviks!

"Yes, Prime Minister!"

ps: It's time for the Persian cat to change its gun, 406 is here

Chapter 682: Soviets gather information about the ship girls

"General Secretary, Comrade Molotov has sent another contact telegram."

"Oh? Show me."

A red country and a capitalist country, the Soviet-British negotiations were destined to be full of contradictions. However, in order to defeat Nazi Germany, the mortal enemy, this negotiation was imperative.

Especially since Britain and the Soviet Union also suffered heavy losses at the hands of the German army...

In order to ensure the success of the negotiations, Molotov in London simply moved the radio onto the Soviet Embassy's communications vehicle and parked it in the yard of 10 Downing Street. As long as there was any progress in the negotiations, he would send a telegram to Stalin. Similarly, for two whole days, Stalin personally stayed in the telegraph room, closely following every move of the London negotiations.

Obviously, both sides attach great importance to this negotiation.

Although, the negotiations did not go well...

"…Except for the fact that the two sides have little disagreement on continuing to consolidate and maintain the anti-fascist Anglo-Soviet military joint action treaty signed in July last year, the British side said that our negotiation conditions with them cannot violate the spirit of the Anglo-American 7 'Atlantic Charter'?!"

"…At the same time, Britain also declared that as an ally of the Polish government in exile, Britain disagrees with my country's proposal for the Curzon Line, which is the traditional national dividing line between Poland and the Soviet Union, and the new 1941 border. It opposes my country's sovereignty over Western Belarus (northern Poland in the east) and Western Ukraine (southern Poland in the east and Bessarabia in Romania), where Belarusians and Ukrainians have settled since ancient times. It insists on demanding that my country return to the old border of 1921-1939 and reassign these two regions to Poland. Even if we advocate temporarily shelving this issue and leaving it for later resolution, why can't we reach an agreement now?!"

"…and the UK also said that due to the catastrophic blow suffered by the Royal Navy in the war against Germany, the Home Fleet currently has only one fleet aircraft carrier and two King George V-class battleships with only 356mm main guns. It is completely unable to continue to maintain the escort mission of the Arctic route and launch the so-called second battlefield."

"The British claimed that some of the German large warships had a mysterious existence that could be called 'Shipgirls', which made the combat effectiveness of the German warships extremely powerful. Just a few days ago on the 21st, their heavily guarded Cape of Good Hope Fortress was directly breached and looted by the German Lütjens Shipgirls Brigade, and the commander of the South Atlantic Garrison, Admiral Algernon Willis, was killed."

"...Now the Lütjens Fleet is on its way back to the North Atlantic, and the German Home Fleet also has two powerful Hindenburg-class battleships, two Europa-class aircraft carriers and a Scharnhorst-class battlecruiser. The British Home Fleet is already in a difficult situation, so I ask for your understanding... This..."

He read the report in his hand with a cross-eyed look, and then passed it to other ministers of the Organization Bureau of the Central Committee of the CPSU, who also read it. Everyone looked at each other in confusion.

"This... doesn't this mean that nothing has been discussed?"

"Does Britain have any sincerity at all?" complained a minister.

"I don't think they are sincere! We only ask for our legal traditional border at the Curzon Line, but they don't even agree to that!" Another minister said this with a look of indignation on his face.

"The Curzon Line drawn up at the Paris Peace Conference was originally drawn according to the traditional national boundary between Poland and Ukraine-Belarus in history! If Britain and France had not supported the Polish Piłsudski army to attack us, and if Tukhachevsky, the boastful guy, had not lost the Battle of Warsaw, how could we have reluctantly ceded Western Ukraine and Western Belarus in the Treaty of Riga, where our nation had lived for generations?"

"Humph! I think they might just want to make Hitler and us both lose in a fight - don't forget that Britain, like the German fascists, is an imperialist country that is determined to destroy us!"

"Yes... Not to mention, the British have relied on this trick to instigate mutual losses on the European continent for the past 300 years in history, while they themselves reap the benefits! We must be on guard against this!" The new Chief of General Staff Vasilevsky nodded. Although his tone was flat, it was full of the red country's natural distrust of capitalist countries.

"Moreover, we already had an agreement on this matter with the Polish government in exile. I negotiated that agreement with the Prime Minister of the government in exile, Sikorski. The agreement clearly stated that the border issue between us and Poland would be discussed after Hitler was defeated, and Sikorski agreed."

"Look at what the British said. They said they didn't know about our agreement with Poland!" Stalin was furious when talking about this matter. "Does the agreement between us and the Polish government need to be recognized by the British? Isn't this just admitting that the Polish government in exile is a puppet regime of the British?"

"And they also said that our treaty with Britain 'cannot violate their Atlantic Charter alliance with the United States'? Isn't this just making trouble out of nothing and interfering in other people's affairs?!"

There was a lot of cursing in the meeting room. But even if they cursed, they still had to control their temper and continue talking about what they were talking about.

After all, Hitler is now mobilizing three million troops to attack Moscow...

"Come to think of it, when Hitler was just starting out, the British had the Munich conspiracy, trying to divert the blame to someone else...Now Churchill is also a staunch anti-communist. If it weren't for the current difficulties, no one would want to form an alliance with these guys..."

"We can't help it. Germany has almost brought all of its army to our side. Our aircraft and tank production capacity has not yet fully recovered. We have to hold out until autumn and winter before we can accumulate troops to fight back."

"…But relatively speaking, Germany doesn't have that many people in France. The British say they now have 40 divisions and 1.5 million militiamen on their home front. If the British take any action on the Western Front, it will be enough to give Hitler a hard time."

"But what they are saying now is that their main naval forces have been beaten to a pulp by an evil spirit called KanColle from Germany, and they can't carry out any military operations. So now they are gloating over us fighting Hitler's gangsters to the death..."

Stalin folded his arms and said angrily: "Who among you knows what this evil spirit called KanColle they are talking about is - Beria, you are in charge of intelligence, you tell me!"

"Yes, Comrade General Secretary." Beria stood up, adjusted his glasses, which were not rude but always gave people a sense of venomous snakes' prying eyes, and said:

"That so-called ship girl... Actually, we don't have much information. According to some gossip we got from the fascists, it is rumored that some girls appeared on some German warships, and these girls generally acted as female secretaries and had close relationships with the captains of these warships."