Chapter 24:
Chapter 24
The British Empire, which had ruled the colonies of the six continents for the past century, was already on the brink of collapse.
The reason why the British Empire, which was called the empire where the sun never sets, could dominate the vast territories across Asia, Africa, and America, was its powerful fleet.
The world’s first navy!
The fleet that ruled the five oceans!
The ‘Great Fleet’! The British were always proud of their magnificent fleet.
But the admirals and politicians knew.
No matter how powerful the fleet was, it had its weaknesses.
Those who had challenged Britain’s maritime supremacy had been racking their brains for decades to break Britain’s world domination strategy.
<Germany’s place in the sun!>
Wilhelm II, the emperor of the German Empire, claimed Germany’s share in the colonial competition and clash of powers, and built a large ocean fleet.
And he challenged Britain’s supremacy. Through the naval arms race, Germany tried to build a dozen dreadnought-class battleships to fight.
Of course, Germany lost miserably.
Britain was an island nation, and compared to Germany, a continental nation that had to balance between army and navy, it could invest much more of its national power in the navy.
The German Empire mobilized its national power to catch up with Britain’s fleet size, but ultimately failed.
The German Empire’s large ocean fleet, which once boasted the second largest size in the world, was eventually sunk under the cold sea of Scapa Flow after losing in World War I.
Until a few years ago, Germany was bound by the Treaty of Versailles and could not even possess battleships.
For Germany, which had to pay billions of marks in reparations, rebuilding the navy and large fleet was a pipe dream.
But everything changed after Hitler’s rise.
Hitler, who declared the Third Reich and took power as chancellor, abolished the Treaty of Versailles and declared rearmament.
Britain and France were afraid of war with Germany, and Hitler took advantage of their fear with his bold strategy to regain some of the prestige of the large ocean fleet.
The result was Deutschland-class armored ships, Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers, and Bismarck-class battleships Bismarck and Tirpitz, the pride of Kriegsmarine.
Of course, this was not the end.
Italy and France, which joined the Axis powers, also had huge fleets that Germany lacked.
Especially, after France surrendered and the British attempted to seize its fleet, the French navy cooperated thoroughly with Germany’s war effort in anger.
The Italian navy also recognized Kriegsmarine’s strategic leadership after admiring its previous feat of accurately predicting and preventing an air raid on Taranto harbor.
Even if Britain had a ‘Grand Fleet’, they had to scatter cruisers across the five oceans to dominate the world.
The home fleet only had powerful but slow and outdated battleships.
And they even lost three battleships in the pursuit of Bismarck.
But Churchill refused to heed the naval department’s suggestion to call back the cruiser fleet from the colonies.
“Damn stubbornness...”
James Somerville, commander of Force H, cursed.
The homeland kept repeating the same thing.
<Reinforcements are impossible. Defend the Mediterranean with your current strength>
Force H was ordered to defend Gibraltar and Malta, the entrances to the Mediterranean.
To sustain the battle for Suez Canal, which was at stake on the opposite side of the Mediterranean in North Africa, supplies from home were needed.
To cut off supply lines and collapse British forces in North Africa, Luftwaffe and Italy’s Regia Aeronautica, as well as Axis joint fleet attacked Malta relentlessly.
British soldiers in Malta resisted desperately.
With only weak anti-aircraft guns and destroyers supporting them, they endured repeated air raids several times.
And they were pushed to their limit.
But home refused to increase Force H’s fleet.
How can we survive without supplies?
Now that Spain has joined the war, this place is no different from an island floating in enemy waters.
To the north is mainland Spain, to the south is Spanish Morocco.
To the west is Atlantic Ocean where U-boats are installed and to east inside Mediterranean Sea is Vichy France’s Algeria where British navy would be scared away.
To coordinate with Mediterranean Fleet he urgently sent wireless telegraph but something seemed to be happening there too as they were silent.
“Contact home quickly! They may be trying to launch simultaneous offensives to prevent us from concentrating our forces, but to attack Gibraltar they need a fleet and they will have penalty of not being able to concentrate all their forces on landing. Don’t we already decipher their Enigma machine?”
Urgent communications from Iberia to London poured out.
‘El Caudillo’ Franco decided to join war and gathered Regulares soldiers and Falange volunteers from Morocco and formed them into regular army.
Luftwaffe freely flew over Spanish airspace and openly prepared for attacking Gibraltar and Malta.
A report came up screaming that more than half of supplies stored for defending Gibraltar Fortress disappeared between rocks.
“If Hitler took such a gamble then he must be confident in taking Gibraltar but how can he subdue it without fleet? No matter how many planes he made can he break through dense anti-air network on south coast and face our air force? He sent so many planes to Gibraltar?”
“Prime Minister sir, Germany cannot have that many planes, I guarantee you this!”
The old media tycoon was pleading with Churchill.
With a tearful expression, he argued.
“No matter how many fighters they produce, it is impossible to have hundreds or thousands of planes as the reconnaissance reports. Isn’t there an error in the report?”
“No, it is the most conservative estimate based on cross-verification of many pilots. Where do those Nazi bastards get their planes from? Or did they leave the Eastern Front empty? Those stupid Soviets, even though the Nazis have sent so many planes over here...”
Suddenly, Attlee slapped his knee.
“Get them from the ground, that’s possible!”
Churchill snorted his nostrils as if he was angry.
He always had a habit of inhaling his breath and snorting his nostrils before shouting.
Those who had suffered a lot from him knew that habit very well.
They didn’t want to hear the scream that would come out of his fat belly.
Attlee, who didn’t like the scream, revealed his thoughts.
“What if their goal is not to land on the mainland, but Gibraltar? They want to distract us from supporting Gibraltar and sending home fleet and Mediterranean Fleet to home. Isn’t that possible?”
“Then where did those damn planes come from?”
“Where they came from, they got them from the ground! From hell!”
Now Attlee started to bang the table.
With bloodshot eyes, he proved that it was more scary for a calm and composed person to make a fuss.
“Fake planes, fake tanks, fake troops that can fool reconnaissance planes! Do you think they are stupid to show us their forces? They must have had a purpose. They laid out hundreds or thousands of fake planes and sent the real ones over there to Iberia Peninsula?
Germany’s industrial production capacity is obvious, where did all those tanks come from? If Stalin lost his mind and made peace with Germany and only received support from America...”
Everyone bit their lips.
It was a plausible scenario.
They threw Bismarck as bait and waited for the wolf packs.
And if they put their arms deep into the mouth of the wolf packs that were wide open to catch Bismarck...
Bang.
At least one arm would fall off.
“Call them back right away. Leave only the minimum defensive force at home and send them all to Gibraltar. The telegram from Gibraltar said that the supply depot on East Side collapsed, but if the rest of the depot is intact, they can hold out for at least three weeks. If we combine home fleet and Mediterranean Fleet, we can fight them enough...!”
“Then we have to subdue Spanish army but if we exchange all their fleet and half of our fleet then it’s enough to try. The damage will be great but our fleet can still overwhelm them in numbers and quality.”
They all clenched their lips.
As long as they don’t get divided and conquered, Royal Navy can still overpower Axis fleet. We are still strong.
“Send a telegram to Gibraltar. Tell them to defend the fortress by any means. Order them to cooperate with Mediterranean Fleet in Alexandria and home fleet that is sailing out. Eden, you... prepare a hotline with Stalin.”
“Yes, Prime Minister sir.”
