Bismarck

However, as the leader of a key department, it is his duty to better carry out various tasks only if he has a full grasp of the work progress of his subordinates - whether it is giving instructions to the Prime Minister and the wartime cabinet, or guiding subordinates on problems in their work, and more importantly, coordinating and cooperating with other departments of the same level!

After all, intelligence that requires collecting information from multiple sources and then summarizing and refining it is not something that can be produced behind closed doors. Similarly, it is far from enough for leaders to just sit in their offices and read reports.

Therefore, Director William Wyatt came to the Admiralty with a wry smile on his face, intending to have an in-depth discussion with the First Sea Lord, Marshal Cunningham, on some secret topics. Although, according to the usual practice of dealing with each other, there were not many common topics between him, a veteran who was used to fighting head-on, and his "despicable" spy chief.

Not to mention, in order to understand the weaknesses of those ship girls, he was even played a mixed doubles match by the First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy and his flagship...

In fact, this exchange was no exception compared to the usual situations where Jiang Ju often got into trouble...

"...Wyatt, let me tell you this...I have no objection to the deepening and expansion of intelligence exchanges between MI6 and the Admiralty. The effect of the 'Admiralty Operational Intelligence Center' that the two sides cooperate on is indeed obvious to all. We can always find some clues about the movements of German submarines. Even Lütjens suffered a big loss this time - but!"

In front of Wyatt, Cunningham mocked him without hesitation, with a genuine smile on his face: "But, I personally really don't want to watch your despicable and shameful tricks! Instead of watching you and your gang of subordinates, I'd rather watch the front-line reports from the generals in the front!"

Touching his nose, Wyatt said speechlessly, what else can he do? I'm afraid he can only smile bitterly?

Hey, who would have thought that I would "actually" run over and directly set my sights on someone else's ship...

Isn't it normal to be disliked if you want to hit someone's wife?

However, the knock on the door just interrupted the awkward conversation in Cunningham's office.

"Your Excellency Marshal! The Operations Intelligence Center has an urgent assessment report!"

The door of the office opened, and a major in a naval uniform came in - and Cunningham and Wyatt were no strangers to him: Norman Denning of the famous "Room 40" of the Navy Department's Combat Intelligence Center - the backbone of the business and the actual founder of this department, no doubt about it!

Since the establishment of this "Room 40", it has made great achievements in deciphering German intelligence! Even though the German army now adopts more stringent and standardized cryptographic confidentiality measures, deciphering intelligence is no longer so easy, but through radio direction finding, and comparing and analyzing the information detected by its own escort and reconnaissance aircraft, it can actually judge the activities of the German Navy. Even Tovey and Warspite, as well as Somerville, who has been killed, often praise the effectiveness of this agency.

In fact, as the Admiral of the Navy, Cunningham also knew this.

but……

This guy Denning is kind of close to Wyatt, that bastard who's after his wife, and that's why he just can't like him.

Although, as a naval admiral, he still had some tolerance and would not punish a talented and contributing major just because of this matter. But every time he thought of this, the corners of Cunningham's mouth would twitch unnaturally.

Major Denning over there didn't know what was going on in Cunningham's mind, but now, holding a report in his hand, he looked at Wyatt sitting next to him, hesitated for a long time, but didn't know whether he should speak.

After all, operational secrets were strictly limited to those who knew them. Even though Wyatt was the head of the intelligence cooperation unit and the business dealings between the two sides had always been very close, the rules were still the rules...

"Um...should I step aside for a moment?" The experienced Wyatt touched his nose awkwardly, then shrugged with a wry smile.

Cunningham noticed Denning's hesitation and Cunningham's embarrassment, and as an experienced man, how could he not know what these people were thinking?

but…

Major Denning's department is currently mainly responsible for military intelligence in the North Atlantic. In the current North Atlantic, the only thing that can be called "urgent military intelligence" is that old rival who can be called an irreconcilable enemy...

After taking a look at Major Denning who was still hesitating, and then glancing at Wyatt who had a wry smile on his face all day long, Cunningham, who was a little depressed, waved his hand in a magnanimous manner and said, "It's okay. Anyway, this guy is no stranger to you or me. Just say it."

"Yes! Your Excellency! Our receiving station has just received a message from Brest. The message took an hour to send, and the encryption rules used were not the conventional submarine code. It might be some advanced code! At the same time, the transmission band was not the long-wave radio commonly used by submarines, but the channel used for ships... Preliminary speculation is that this telegram should be sent by Dönitz to Lütjens. But..."

Major Denning hesitated for a moment, but still told the truth with his head down: "If they are using advanced codes, this one-time pad single-volume code is basically impossible to decipher... Although from another perspective, simply deciphering this one-time pad telegram is actually meaningless. And from the perspective of probability and military logic, such a telegram is likely to be Dönitz reporting the entire situation of the North Atlantic battlefield to Lütjens..."

Major Denning said as he handed the analysis report to Cunningham. Cunningham flipped through the report in front of Wyatt. After finishing the report, Cunningham thought about it for a while and sighed:

"Although I can understand that, I still don't like to hear this kind of 'maybe, maybe, possible' stuff." Cunningham waved his hand and sent Major Denning away, then glanced at Wyatt while speaking.

"There's nothing we can do. Our intelligence department can often only judge problems through analysis..." Wyatt spread his hands, looking innocent.

"Then can you help me analyze where Lütjens will go next?" Cunningham was a little itchy.

"How would I know about your navy? I'm just an intelligence officer..." Wyatt continued with an innocent look on his face.

"Speak human language!" Cunningham felt that not only his teeth were itching, but even his fists were itching.

"Okay, okay, I'll analyze it..." Seeing veins popping out on Cunningham's forehead and fists, Wyatt couldn't help but shrink his neck. Although he didn't want to be angry with Cunningham, as the saying goes, a scholar can't explain himself when he meets a soldier. After all, he is just a civil servant, while the other party is an old sailor who has fought against the wind and waves, and he is also a marshal! The soldier has a bad temper and has some grudges against him. If the other party really takes action, then his only fate will definitely be to be beaten up by Cunningham.

"Cunningham, in the entire North Atlantic, where do you think the defense is the weakest? And which is closest to Lütjens?"

"The weakest? Hey!" Cunningham, who had raised his fist, was stunned when he heard Wyatt's words, and then he laughed (there should be ramen here): "You mean, that old ghost Lütjens will go to Canada and Newfoundland to cause trouble?"

Wyatt didn't give a direct answer, but an innocent smile appeared on his old face.

…………(PS: Newfoundland was an independent country during World War II and joined Canada in 49)…………

The deep Atlantic Ocean at dusk is empty and desolate. The boundless sea is reflected in the blood-red setting sun, making it look heavy and desolate...

However, no matter how desolate the natural landscape is, how can it compare to the desolation in one’s heart…

Now only the fuel in the fuel tank can bring a little warmth to people's hearts...

Although, there is not much "last warmth" left in the fuel tanks of the four ships of the German Navy's Eastern Expeditionary Fleet that are now trying to return home...

And, as everyone knows, once the fuel runs out, the problem goes beyond just "warming the heart."

In fact, this problem was that they had suffered a severe air raid before, and after the air raid, they continued to advance into the deep Atlantic Ocean in order to avoid Tovey, so the distance back to the mainland was even farther. Now the morale of the entire fleet has become somewhat unstable.

For example, a Persian cat that was sprayed all over the face by its captain ran back to its room to clean itself up. On its way back to the command post while sulking, it heard the sailors whispering about it.

Although Bismarck, who was kind and sensible, did not go up to question or find the gendarmerie, but only told his captain privately - if the matter got out of hand, these sailors would certainly be punished for "disturbing military morale", but in the current dire situation, the consequence is that the morale of the sailors of the entire fleet may not be suppressed.

After all, hidden behind those whispers was a fact that even his captain and the commander of the entire fleet were worried about...

Lütjens, who was originally analyzing intelligence and judging the battle situation, was silent for a long while after hearing the reaction of his secretary cat. He just gently touched the head of his well-behaved and sensible secretary cat...

The hearts of the sailors, even those of the military police, and the hearts of these captains, are all made of flesh and blood...

Therefore, in order to solve this urgent problem, except for Bonte who had not yet woken up and was still recuperating, the remaining three captains and four secretaries once again gathered in the meeting room of the Bismarck battleship and picked up the long briefing that Raeder had sent to Lütjens...

"…At present, the UK's route in the North Atlantic basically gathers at Halifax Port, passes Newfoundland Island, then heads north towards Iceland, takes the Great Circle Route into the Irish Sea, and the entire journey is about 5000 kilometers…"

“…大西洋护航队的规模现在平均每月有900艘左右的商船，组成大约15-16个护航队。目前英美尽可能的一直保持至少三对运输队在航线上相对开行……这些运输队平均规模是25-40艘船，航速平均14到16节，会有大概一个中队的驱逐舰和护卫舰掩护…”

"…Under normal circumstances, because they need to avoid our submarines, they actually travel only half the distance of the fleet every day. However, after you looted the Cape of Good Hope Fortress, they began to order the transport convoy to enter the port as soon as possible - the ports of the British mainland, Iceland and Canada - the purpose of doing so has now been determined, which is to implement a strong defense against you..."

"At present, their defense from the Caribbean Sea to Iceland is not very strong. But they are also strengthening their defense... They don't have enough destroyers and frigates, especially Canada, which can't even guarantee the escort force on the St. Lawrence River! But the number of destroyers along the US coast has now been greatly strengthened..."

"In addition to the surface fleet, the same is true for their air force: long-range patrol aircraft along the U.S. coast can detect up to 1200 kilometers, but the airports in Canada, Newfoundland and Iceland are very weak. Even the reconnaissance aircraft in the three places combined may not even have the strength of a battalion! In addition, there is a 700-kilometer-wide area southeast of Greenland where their reconnaissance aircraft cannot guarantee reconnaissance efficiency... However, I am not sure if they have asked the United States to borrow troops to strengthen their defense if they want to prevent you from harassing them - the distance from Halifax to Boston, USA, is only 500 kilometers!"

"In addition, another battle site that may be relatively close to you is the Bermuda Islands. However, that is now one of the most important naval bases of the United Kingdom in the western Atlantic Ocean. It has a garrison and a large number of fortresses and is guarded by a permanent fleet! In addition, the island is actually only 1000 kilometers away from the United States, so it is not difficult to obtain reinforcements..."

"In addition, there is another situation in the past two days: as their transport fleet gathers, the destroyers of the escort fleet are now more concentrated... At present, our submarines can no longer continue to operate along the coast of North America. The North American submarine cluster has been evacuated, so we can't provide you with more reliable intelligence..."

--

Pieces of intelligence and information went around in the hands of the three captains and several ship girls. There was good news and bad news, but now there were more words like "uncertain" - this kind of intelligence could not be used directly in fighting.

But... now there is no choice but to fight.

If we don't rob some fuel, we can really just hang the sail and float back.

Bismarck, Tirpitz and Zeppelin now weigh only 1800 tons, while Eugen, which has the smallest tonnage and eats the least, is already in a dangerous state of only 1100 tons!

At a cruising speed of 2100 knots, this little bit of fuel can only last for another three days - that is, about kilometers. But if it is a battle, this amount of fuel may not even guarantee a full-speed cruise for hours.

You have to know that the fleet’s current location is 1200 kilometers away from the nearest major port - Halifax Port in Canada, or St. John’s Port in Newfoundland - and to return to the European continent, even if it is just the Bay of Biscay, it is 4000 kilometers away.

Not to mention, the Tovey fleet, which has returned to the mainland, now has two aircraft carriers.

Bismarck now wants to return to Germany very much. After all, only the lovely Harbor Princess can give her the fuel to warm her heart.

I have never found Germany so fascinating!

"That means, now we have no choice but to go to Canada..." Lütjens shook his head and sighed imperceptibly.

I have read Sun Tzu's Art of War. The first sentence of the book is that war is a matter of national importance. Such military operations are directly related to the survival of my troops and even the country. The huge responsibility requires me to consider the battle situation from the most cautious perspective, calculate the gains and losses, and never fight a battle without confidence.

But now, there is no way to continue thinking about it - although speaking of it, it seems that I have become accustomed to gambling with my life...

Under the cruel war and huge pressure, I have changed a lot! With a wry smile on his face, Lütjens continued to ask: "Zeppelin, how many planes do we have now?"

"Now there are only 9 BF-109s and 190 FW-87s left, as well as the last JU-1200 that can carry jammers..." Zeppelin, who was always aloof, could only shrug his shoulders helplessly, and even made a cold joke: "But in this case, the tons of aviation fuel and a large amount of aviation ammunition we have left are a bit redundant..."

Hahaha, Tirpitz wanted to laugh, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he was glared at by his sister.

Okay, he lowered his head silently again.

Not funny, not funny... she told herself.

"We are only 1200 kilometers away from Canada and Newfoundland. It is dusk now. If we sail at full speed under the cover of darkness, it will be possible to get within 500 kilometers of them by tomorrow morning, but..."

As he spoke, he glanced at everyone in the meeting room and asked the question with a serious look: "Our current speed is only enough to sail at full speed for less than 24 hours. It will take 12 hours to advance the distance... By then, we have to attack the port, tow away the oil tanker, resist their artillery and air strikes, and even fight with the reinforcements of the US Atlantic Fleet... So we have to find a place for the assault that is as perfect as possible!"

"Dönitz said that they had already started to clear the countryside. The convoy that Kumetz encountered the day before yesterday was also encountered near Ireland. With the convoy's speed of fourteen or even sixteen knots, I'm afraid they have all hidden in the port by now... Moreover, I asked, and Grape said that she had no way to intercept the information they transmitted through the submarine telegraph cable..." Lindemann scratched his head and looked at the hamster lying on the wall behind him.

This lazy, greedy, and somewhat heartless girl...

Following Lindman's words, everyone else looked at each other, their faces becoming even uglier.

As early as the end of the 19th century, submarine cables were laid in the Atlantic Ocean to transmit telegraph information, and wired communications definitely cannot be intercepted by radio means! Although if a deep-sea special operation ship is dispatched, eavesdropping devices can be installed on the telegraph cables, where are the deep-sea special operation facilities on our side now? !

Not to mention, the locations of real military submarine cables are kept secret.

Moreover, Dönitz also said that now that the British and American transport ships have begun to gather, their destroyers have also begun to gather! The submarine forces that were originally operating along the coast of the United States are now forced to evacuate this sea area...

The current situation is like a blind man, and he has to risk everything when facing a strong enemy.

It's really a desperate situation.

"We can't go on like this... Let alone the sailors, even we are a little bit..."

Lütjens glanced at the faces of the others, and felt even more anxious...

(Well, everyone, do you think we should hoist the sails? Or hoist the white flag? Or hoist the battle flag and open the sea valve at the same time? 2333)

Chapter 706: Bismarck of a Liberal Arts Student

"When we were breaking the Atlantic trade before, there was information about Halifax Harbor, and I've found the map now." Lütjens took out a map from the pile of documents beside the conference room and spread it on the table, then pointed at Halifax Harbor on the map and continued, "Although the defense is definitely much stronger now than it was then, the terrain of the port itself cannot be changed. The problem now is that the enemy has too many alert troops in this area... Moreover, we must grab enough fuel to ensure the next step, so it is far from enough to just rob their frigates..."

"According to intelligence, the US Atlantic Fleet has some light and heavy cruisers, as well as a squadron of old battleships, and their naval base is also very close." He pointed at Boston Harbor on the northeastern coast of the United States on the nautical chart. "The Quincy Naval Base outside Boston... is here. It is only 600 kilometers away from Halifax! And according to Dönitz's intelligence, there are a lot of airports around this area, which are very difficult to deal with!"

And more importantly, there are all kinds of natural harbors around here - Boston Bay, Cape Cody Bay, the Bay of Fundy on the Canadian side, Halifax Port, and the shallow Gulf of St. Lawrence between Canada and Newfoundland, which is surrounded by land on three sides - although Dönitz said before that the defense here is not strong, now they have strengthened their vigilance to the point of driving all of Dönitz's submarines out of this area... So it's hard to say now...

"The other place is Bermuda, which is isolated overseas. However, it has long been the location of the British West Atlantic Garrison. Moreover, it is also one of the oldest overseas bases in the UK. I guess the nickname 'Gibraltar of the West' is not for nothing... Of course, the most important thing is that although many scattered merchant ships have been sunk here, the submarine force has not found any large-scale escort teams organized here..."

"That is to say, their merchant fleet has most likely moved to the American mainland, especially to Boston Bay?" Top couldn't help but speak as he watched Lütjens pointing on the map.

"Of course, it is possible that some of them were not transferred in time, but God knows." Lütjens shrugged and said helplessly.

"I have an idea!" Lindemann interrupted, "Let's go to Bermuda!"

"Tell us about it?" Lütjens and Top both became interested.

"Let me analyze it. The only places we can go right now are Boston, Newfoundland, Halifax, and Bermuda. And these four places are transportation hubs, so..."

Lindemann grabbed a pen, found a piece of paper and started writing: "Let's talk about Boston first. It probably has the most merchant ships, but it is also the most powerful. It is also an important base of the US Atlantic Fleet, so this place can be ruled out first. However, if you look at it from another angle, you can also think of it as the power center of Britain and the United States in the northwest Atlantic. Then, we can consider several other places!"

Everyone else remained silent, watching Lindman continue his analysis:

"Then the next one is Halifax. It is a natural deep-water port and the starting point of their North Atlantic convoy. But the problem is that it is too close to Boston. Because of this, they have now strengthened their vigilance, and the merchant ships are estimated to have been moved..."

Lindemann's finger passed Halifax without hesitation and pointed to St. John's Port, another port in the east of Newfoundland:

"Next, the capital of Newfoundland, St. John's Port, is 1500 kilometers away from Boston and more than kilometers away from Halifax. It is also a key route for the North Atlantic convoy, and the defense here was very weak before..." At this point, Lindemann shrugged his shoulders: "But General Dönitz's intelligence also made it very clear that the defense here was indeed very weak 'before', but now..."

Lindman stopped talking here and just looked at everyone with an expression that said "you all understand".

The people around us looked at each other, all with helpless expressions on their faces.

Finally, Toph couldn't help but speak: "So, Bermuda is the only place we can go now?"

"Of course, we still have enough main gun shells, but we only have half of our 105mm and 37mm anti-aircraft shells, and we have almost used up all our 50mm anti-aircraft shells. We only have 25 planes... With this little money, if we don't find an easy target, are we going to fight the heavily-armed North American coastal areas?"

Facing Top's question, Lindemann took it for granted. After thinking for a moment, he added, "Besides, have you noticed a problem? General Dönitz said before that they don't have enough troops from the North Atlantic route to the entire North American coast. Now they have concentrated their troops in Canada. But, you see, there are thousands of kilometers of land that need to be guarded there, and the United States also has shipping lines. In other words, Bermuda is likely to be short of troops..."

"Come to think of it, I just thought of it - the commander just said that there has never been a large-scale escort team organized here!" Lindmann pointed to the nautical chart and smiled confidently.

Everyone read the telegram, then looked at the nautical chart and calculated the sinking data, and it was indeed true.

Although the submarine force launched a campaign code-named "Drumbeat" in the previous six months, and carried out crazy attacks along the coast of North America, it was also found from the summary of these attacks that although there were not too few submarine battles near the Bermuda Islands, there were indeed few large-scale escort activities here! Although this is actually easy to understand: the British mainland was blocked by submarines, and there were only two main routes to the UK. The Bermuda Islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean are not adjacent to any route!

In fact, this is what Dönitz said. Although Operation Drumming has awakened the United States a little, the escort force on the North American continent is still not enough! That's why so many merchant ships are dispersed!

"But, if there has never been a large-scale escort team organized here, that means there aren't many merchant ships operating here now?" Top still looked at Lindman with some confusion.

"That's right, but if you read it the other way around, it means that the garrison there won't be that strong. And now they should have known that we are running out of fuel, so they are focusing their defense on Boston to Halifax. But...Bermuda is the British West Atlantic Garrison, so there must be some fuel reserves anyway! And..."

At this point, Linderman smiled and said, "...Although Bermuda is known as the 'Gibraltar of the West', it is actually just a small broken island. It is far inferior to the more than 300-meter-thick granite layer of the Rock of Gibraltar!"

"If they send reinforcements... wait! Let me do some calculations!" Hearing what Lindemann said, Top suddenly understood: "We are 1300 kilometers away from Bermuda - although it is exactly the limit of our full-speed sailing, it only takes about hours to get there if we attack... It is dusk now. If we attack at night and let Zeppelin set up electronic jammers and intercept their reconnaissance aircraft to shorten the time it takes for them to discover us, we will be able to hide our whereabouts before dawn tomorrow!"

"...and Bermuda is thousands of kilometers away from the U.S. mainland..." As he calculated, Top's eyes lit up: "That is to say, as long as we rush there, we can at least beat them by six or seven hours!"

"And if we have only a little fuel left, Bermuda is a small place with only one airport and a few artillery batteries at most. As long as there are no special problems, we are not afraid of exchanging fire with the artillery batteries!" Lindemann finally expressed his opinion on the station, and then looked at Lütjens: "Commander, what do you think?"