Chapter 1964: Above the Strait Five
A large number of people wearing British Army uniforms jumped off the ship trying to escape, and then the vortex formed when the ship sank sucked most of them into the bottom of the sea. It even overturned 2 boats that were ready to rescue next to it!
At this time, the British fleet, which had lost its last protection, seemed to have completely entered hell. Hundreds of German bombers still carrying ammunition were hunting their prey to their heart's content over Dover. Although the British have been dispersed by relay, the god of death from the air is still relentless. The white traces of death drawn by torpedoes on the sea are criss-crossing. Thousands of tons of civilian ships. There were also bombs bouncing and hitting the side of the ship like devils and elves, and then left a huge wound on the ship!
"I have never seen such a horrible scene. Hundreds of bombers painted in German gray or black paint unscrupulously attack us. On the sea, there are hundreds of ships of various kinds, and they are loaded with a lot of supplies. The lifeline on which our entire British Expeditionary Force depends, we once imagined that the Navy and the Royal Air Force could guarantee our safety. But now, we were wrong. Our air blockade was torn apart with ease like a rag, Our fleet could not protect itself, and it sank under the attack of German bombers! The burning hull and the figure tilted to the limit and about to sink are the last effects they left on us.
"There were deafening explosions and dying figures of ships all over the sea. We could see corpses floating on the sea and the sea water was stained red. I even witnessed at least 20 German bombers attacking our fleet. The attack was launched, and they dropped the torpedoes almost simultaneously. Dozens of white trails that foreshadowed death criss-crossed, forming a large net that could not escape! In just one minute, at least 4 ships were hit. The power of the torpedoes is It is so huge that I saw with my own eyes that half of a ship with a displacement of at least 5,000 tons was blown to pieces. And the colleagues next to it were cut in half! A series of smoke columns as high as 100 meters permeated the strait, even covering The sun. Fire, smoke and death constitute the theme of the Strait of Dover at this time!" A British sailor who survived by chance recalled.
"Your Excellency, Marshal, what shall we do?" At this time, in the headquarters of the British Army Air Force in Dunkirk, Trenchard and his staff officers could already see the smoke of gunpowder over the Strait of Dover and the The German fleet is like a black cloud. Even just ten minutes ago, a few bombs were dropped near his headquarters. Although no major damage was caused, everyone felt a kind of knife tip on the neck Horror feeling!
"We did our best, didn't we? We put in all the troops we could, but we still couldn't stop our opponents. Even now, they started circling over our airfields to hunt down our planes. The balance of war seemed to be on a It was out of balance in an instant. And there is very little we can do now." Trenchard was really desperate. If it is said that before this battle, he thought that even though the Royal Air Force was at a disadvantage, he could still deal with the Germans if he quickly switched to defense. Just like the German Western Front Air Force used similar tactics to hold the British and French Air Forces abruptly.
But now it seems that it is nothing more than my own wishful thinking! The size of the Luftwaffe seems to have more than doubled in an instant! In one day, thousands of planes launch a concentrated raid on a battlefield, which is something Trenchard can't even imagine! You know, the so-called large-scale attack before, that is, more than 1,000 planes launched an attack from a front stretching hundreds of kilometers, but now? The Germans alone have thousands of planes attacking in this area of only a few hundred square kilometers! This kind of density and strength is scary just thinking about it!
Trenchard did his best,
I don't blame him for losing! Although the specific battle report has not yet come out, Trenchard himself estimated that at least 200 crews died in this battle, and more than 300 planes were probably destroyed or completely scrapped! In this battle, not only the Royal Army Air Force, but also the Royal Naval Air Force also sent their own fighter units. However, there was no difference in the result. In the face of the German aviation force, which had an offensive advantage, quantitative advantage and qualitative advantage, the British pilots fought very bravely and tenaciously. However, this is of no use!
"What should we do next? Your Excellency, Commander?" An officer asked with some trepidation.
"Speed up our reorganization plan. We need more fighters and interceptors. Although the German air strikes are fierce, they will not last forever. And in the future, the material distribution center of our expeditionary force may be in Normandy, which is far away from Germany. People are farther away, and their attack power will drop a lot. We have made the best choice, and the rest can only be left to God." Trenchard said.
When the first round of air strikes was not over, the bombers of the second round of air strikes also followed. They continued to attack the remaining targets on the sea, and gradually extended the attack range from the strait to the shore, anchored in Dunker Fleets in the ports of Craig and Calais were also attacked. At least a dozen or more transport ships were sunk in the port, and the worst thing is that some of the sunk transport ships just blocked some key routes. It can be expected that these two ports may have a long For a period of time, the efficiency will be greatly reduced.
In the end, in this naval and air battle known as Dover Hell, the British lost at least 320 various aircraft and more than 260 crews. The Germans also lost more than 180 aircraft and 100 crews in this naval battle. Some of these planes were forced to abandon due to mechanical failure or injuries, so the crew loss was less.
As for the British fleet on the sea? In addition to the 4 former dreadnoughts and 3 armored cruisers that were sunk, there are 5 auxiliary cruisers and several small boats, with a total tonnage of more than 150,000 tons! Of course, these obsolete warships do not actually make the British feel heartbroken. The most heartbreaking thing is that there are still more than 5,000 naval officers and soldiers lost! This makes the situation of the Royal Navy, which is already stretched, even more difficult! You must know that the Royal Navy not only needs to maintain the personnel of the large fleet, but also requires a large number of personnel for hundreds of various anti-submarine ships. Historically, the auxiliary cruiser force has recruited a large number of civilian personnel. Now, the British Royal Navy on this plane The lack of personnel is even worse, so that there are many "civilian-turned-army" personnel in the large fleet!
The second one is here~~~! Ask for a subscription and a reward~~~!