Chapter 199 Great Victory
There is a later World War II movie called "Attack from the Bottom", which tells the story of a German U-boat being ordered to search and destroy British merchant ships in the North Atlantic waters. When they completed their mission and prepared to return, it was already the 65th day. They were severely damaged and were running out of fuel, but they were ordered to cross the Strait of Gibraltar to carry out a new mission... Even though they were unfortunately shot by an Allied destroyer and sank at the bottom of the sea, they still survived the disaster. He did not die, but was sunk by Allied fighter planes in the La Rochelle dockyard in German-occupied France during the return celebration...
The cold data at the beginning of the movie "40,000 members of the German submarine force, 30,000 never came back" seems to confirm to the audience the failure of the wolf pack tactic. In the movie, we see these "lone wolves" lurking in the water fearfully, waiting for the Allied merchant ships, but what is waiting is often the Allied "lure and annihilation" and depth bombs. The "wolf pack" also became the "sheep pack" in the eyes of the Allies. The portrait of Dönitz hanging on the submarine was no longer admired by the soldiers, but was often used as a joke. What they expected was not to sink many merchant ships, but to go home quickly after firing torpedoes.
This was the tragic fate of the German submarine force at the end of the war.
But the initial wolf attack was frightening and terrifying; even the king of beasts could not resist the wolves' successive attacks. The Allies suffered heavy losses. At the peak of Operation Wolf Pack, they sank 1,160 merchant ships with a total tonnage of 6.3 million tons. However, their own losses were not even 7%. British Prime Minister Churchill said: The only victory in World War II was the Allied Forces. What I feel uneasy about is the German U-shaped ships.
His words came from his innermost feelings, because Britain is an island country with very poor resources, and the materials needed by the country basically need to be transported to the mainland from overseas colonies to maintain local production operations and the daily needs of the people. At that time, the UK relied on imports for 75% of its annual supplies of oil, 88% of iron ore, 95% of copper, 99% of lead, 89% of wheat, 84% of meat and 93% of cooking oil. , the total annual maritime cargo volume exceeds 68 million tons, and as many as 2,500 British transport ships sail on the sea every day. If these convoys were severely damaged, Britain would most likely be unable to continue the war due to lack of supplies.
Therefore, Dönitz is also known as the "Wolf Head".
The "Wolf Pack"'s crazy attack initially overwhelmed the Allies, especially as there were few ways to deal with the German submarines in the "non-safe zone" (the so-called "non-safe zone" was a place where land-based bombers could not fly ).
But when their attention turned to aviation, a way to crack the wolf pack tactics was born. Since land-based bombers cannot fly, wouldn't it be enough to bring the aircraft into the "non-safety zone"?
Just as they said, a support fleet that had just participated in the "Operation Torch" landing in Africa set out for the "non-safe zone" in the Atlantic Ocean. This fleet has an aircraft carrier as the core, surrounded by 2-3 protective rings consisting mainly of destroyers and fast frigates. It can not only prevent sneak attacks by German submarines, protect aircraft carriers, but also use carrier-based aircraft to attack German submarines.
This fleet patrols in the "non-safety zone". Once a German submarine is discovered, it immediately organizes carrier-based aircraft and fast frigates to intercept it. Unexpectedly, the attack was very effective. Dönitz's submarine was either sunk or lying on the bottom of the water without showing its head. The transport formation could finally sail to its destination with confidence.
This time the Allies finally found the nemesis of the German submarine force-the aircraft carrier.
From then on, the wolf pack repeatedly lost in contests with the Allies. Even Dönitz tried his best to change this desperate situation. Even in May 1943, as the Allies used aircraft carrier formations and other means to attack the "wolf pack", Dönitz lost 41 submarines in one month. His desire to block the Atlantic lines of communication was completely shattered and he had to order all submarines to withdraw from the route.
Yannick doesn't want to make the same mistake again. "The enemy can send escort aircraft carriers, and so can we. If they want to use carrier-based aircraft to attack our submarines, then we will use carrier-based aircraft to attack their carrier-based aircraft and aircraft carriers. General Dönitz, this is why I said Without the cooperation of large surface ships and aviation, submarines will ultimately be unable to survive alone.”
The current German carrier-based aircraft is the FW-190T. Yannick believes that this carrier-based aircraft can dominate the sea air supremacy for at least one or two years.
Generally speaking, naval aviation's carrier-based aircraft are slightly inferior to road-based aircraft in terms of performance. Because shipboard takeoff and landing requires additional structural strength and appearance design, the roadbed does not need these, which can save a lot of space in terms of weight and structure to optimize other performance.
At this time, German carrier-based aircraft were modified from roadbeds, and their performance was almost the same as that of roadbeds. With powerful performance, including flight altitude and speed, as well as roll, climb and dive parameters, the German aircraft far surpasses its opponents.
Once a large-scale war breaks out, Yannick doubts whether Britain can hold on for two years.
Yannick felt angry when he thought of this. He had worked so hard to equip the navy with such powerful weapons, but these guys didn't have the courage to fight the British! Could it be that Dönitz had to command the surface fleet?
Over and over again, nothing happens. If the surface fleet fled back in despair after setting off this time, he would definitely make someone pay the price.
The more Yannick thought about it, the angrier he became. The resentment in his heart was unquenchable and he felt uncomfortable all over. Annie knocked on the door with a look of surprise on her face. "Your Highness, great victory!"
"Let me see it!" Yannick stood up suddenly and almost snatched the telegram from Anne's hand. "The Royal Oak sank, the Iron Duke sank, the Nelson sank, the Argus sank, the Ark Royal sank, the Reputation sank; the Rodney sank; the Queen Elizabeth was severely damaged, the Courageous was severely damaged! The number of casualties will not be less than 5,000. In addition, Hebrew Jones, the commander of the Scapa Flow naval base, died of a heart attack."
"Long live Germany!!" Listening to Yannick's announcement of the terrifying names of the warships, Dönitz was so excited that he trembled all over, stood up suddenly and yelled, which scared Yannick.
However, Yannick, who was also extremely excited, did not blame him and handed the telegram in his hand to Anne. "Give it to Dr. Goebbels immediately and let him publicize it vigorously."
Yannick roughly calculated that the tonnage of the warships that Prien hit hard this time would not be less than 250,000 tons. "General Dönitz, I think the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves that I was going to award to Prien is far from enough to honor his heroic deeds. I decided to award him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves and Swords." The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves and Swords is a higher level of military honor than the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves and Swords. The only difference between the two is that there is an additional pair of swords under the oak leaves. Usually, a soldier has been awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves and continues to show extraordinary bravery in battle and complete his mission before he has the opportunity to receive the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves and Swords.
The German army commonly calls the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves "cabbage", while the unfortunate Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves and Swords is called "cabbage and fork".
"Your Highness is wise!" Dönitz certainly had no reason to object.
In less than an hour, all German radio stations began to report this incredible victory.
The whole of Germany was in jubilation.