Thus ended the first naval battle between the two sides in the Iran War, in which the Allies and the Chinese side traded a heavy cruiser for an old battleship, but this was only the beginning. When Count Luknall heard that his fleet had been sunk by the other side, a battleship had been sunk. This was the first time he had independently commanded the Grand Fleet. This defeat had a huge impact on his future. Whether it's to keep the empire's shipping lines safe or to save face. Count Luckner had to make a break with the Iranian fleet. But at the moment he obviously couldn't catch this cunning fellow, the other party was far away from him, and soon he would be far away from the sea. And he will have to reformulate the battle plan, in which he will use the advantages of the German naval system to completely crush the opponent!

"What do you say? The teacher told me to go back? "When Count Luckner led the fleet back to Spain and was ready to resupply and kill the ocean again, the Count's old friend, Count Spee's old subordinate, Vice Admiral Max Crouff of the Imperial Navy, came to Count Luckner's flagship with an order from the German Admiralty, and the order was simple, let him hand over the fleet to himself for the time being, and then let Luckner take Langsdorf to the German High Seas Fleet base in Crete by plane to report on his duties.

"What the hell is going on? Is it because of the defeat just now? "Count Luknal was a little emotionally unstable, especially when he was alone with Lieutenant General Luffy, and the resentment and depression that had accumulated in his heart finally broke out!" Well, I bear the responsibility for the defeat of the whole battle, but I beg Your Excellency, Commander, give me a month, no, just two weeks, and I can find them out! The Count said through gritted teeth.

"2 weeks?" Luffy said noncommittally. "It's just a debriefing. Your Excellency the Commander will arrange everything. Don't take this as punishment, Admiral Raeder is directing the battle in the Middle East, and there is no one here to fight with you. This operation has exposed a lot of problems, and Your Excellency the Commander just wants to discuss some issues with you. Now the situation is different, and the Count understands Admiral Schell a little. Now there are already people in the Navy who are feeling the pressure of their opponents. Luffy said earnestly.

And at this time. Just as Count Luknall was nervously boarding the plane back, Count Spee looked at the battle report in his hand and fell into deep thought. If he was high-spirited and ambitious when he first ascended to the high post of commander of the Navy. So now he can be described as cautious, and can even be said to be walking on thin ice. After studying a large number of documents of the Navy and combining his own experience, Count Spee had to admit that Marshal Tirpitz was strategically superior to himself. And the two marshals, Scheer and Hipper, were also better than him in naval tactics. The Count felt that his pattern was still too small.

The current count admires Tirpitz for his post-war Pearl Chain. This front, which straddled the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, was the core area of operations of the German Navy and the basis for maintaining the lifeline of the Reich.

But alas. This front is not perfect. According to the plan drawn up by the original Admiralty, the communication between the German mainland and the naval headquarters in the Mediterranean could be completely dependent on land transportation, and the major capital ship shipyards (with the exception of submarines) would gradually be relocated to the shores of the Mediterranean. The German Navy's infrastructure investments are also tilted towards the Mediterranean. But in reality, land transportation is not enough, and the sea transportation lines of the Atlantic Ocean are still indispensable. The result of this was that Germany needed to continue this front in the direction of the Atlantic. In the end, this front not only covered the route from the mainland to the Mediterranean, but also put a noose around the throat of the British Empire. It can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

The Germans are not unaware of taking LinkedIn, but in reality this plan is not very feasible. First of all, geographically, if France cannot be defeated, then attacking Britain can only be delusional. Fighter jets taking off from the German mainland could barely fly to Britain with drop fuel tanks on them. How could the Germans have completed the crossing without the support of the Air Force? Even if France was taken according to the original plan. How to deal with minefields in the English Channel and suppress the RAF is also an almost unsolvable problem. The British Air Force was at ease and was not much smaller than the Luftwaffe. Coupled with the fact that Germany had to face other enemies, the air force in the English Channel was not at all superior. So the ultimate plan of the German Navy was to limit and weaken the British combat power. On the one hand, try to ensure the smooth flow of routes from the mainland to the Mediterranean, and on the other hand, it is necessary to restrict the entry of foreign goods into the UK.

In order to confront the powerful American and British fleets, it was certainly not possible to rely on the fleet alone, and the German Navy had made the concentration of forces the first priority in naval warfare since the first World War. Count Spee knew that the German fleet could only maintain superiority in one direction, and in the other strategic direction it could only be on the defensive and in breaking the diplomatic battle. After the capture of France, the German High Seas Fleet could only operate in the direction of the Indian Ocean, so in order to ensure control over the North Atlantic, the German Navy had to rely on the islands of Europe and the Eastern Atlantic. For example, in the Canary Islands and the Azores at the western entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar. Aircraft, submarines, and a small number of aviation cruisers were used to form a breaktip to prevent the activities of the US and British navies in the coastal areas of Europe. At the same time, it can also provide a shield for its own sea lines of communication.

Of course, this plan is a bit far-reaching, and the fundamental goal of Count Spee's recall of Lucknar is to remedy the effects of the night battle that has just ended. To be honest, the material damage caused by the mere sinking of a battleship was not significant. The German High Seas Fleet, which has a big business, actually doesn't really care about the sinking of an old capital ship. The key is that you can't wipe it off your face. The German Navy had to deal with this fleet as soon as possible in order to salvage its reputation. As for how the King was sunk, Count Spee did not think too much about it at the first time.

The reason is simple, according to the intelligence provided by eyewitnesses, there were three large explosions before the sinking of the King, that is, three torpedoes may have been hit. This is certainly a fatal blow to an old ship that is more than 20 years old and has gone through several bloody battles. As for the two things of not finding the torpedo track and the torpedo fired by the destroyer of the opposing side, Count Spee is also understandable, after all, it is a night battle, and it is normal for the track to be conspicuous during the day and not visible at night. By the same token, the failure to detect the torpedo firing from the opposing destroyer could also be attributed to poor visibility, so in the end, it can only be attributed to Rear Admiral Parro's mismanagement. There was no escort of destroyers around the capital ships, and of course, it was also a mistake that Count Luknar did not send enough destroyers, if it is said from the roots. Of course, this question was automatically ignored by the short-guarded Count Spee. And in order to prevent the former from stirring up trouble at the naval hearings, Count Spee also intends to make this matter a big thing into a small one. However, if you want to solve this problem completely, the most important thing is to catch this fleet as soon as possible!

There is an old European saying that the king's secrets are always the most, although the Count of Spee is not the king. But as the head of the navy, he also has a lot of secrets, and there are still some things in his pocket that people don't know. These things were originally intended as hole cards for future battles. But this time, in order to relieve the students, he also had to come up with some. This time, Count Spee directly took out three trump cards to help his disciples, namely an aviation team, a fleet of ships, and a dumb puzzle cipher machine!

This air force is a long-range seaplane squadron codenamed Exocet in the newly formed German Navy. This squadron of long-range reconnaissance aircraft uses DO26 maritime reconnaissance aircraft. The new reconnaissance aircraft is equipped with four JUMO205 700 hp liquid-cooled engines. There is something peculiar about its layout, every two engines are placed in one engine nacelle, and two engine nacelles are placed in the upper part of the wing. This kind of aircraft was definitely a giant at the time. It is 24.6 meters long, with a wingspan of 30 meters and a height of 6.85 meters. Empty weight 10 tons. It can load 6.75 tons of fuel and oil. The maximum landing weight is up to 20 tons!

In terms of flight performance, this aircraft is not outstanding, with a maximum speed of only 335 kilometers per hour and a cruising speed of only 265 kilometers on long-distance patrols. The maximum flight altitude does not exceed 4800 meters. But his range was extremely long, up to 9000 kilometers. And it can take off on the water, and the requirements for the base are not high. Therefore, these reconnaissance aircraft can be deployed in areas such as the Canary Islands, where the infrastructure is not sound and cannot accommodate 4 heavy bombers. As for the low flight speed, it doesn't matter, after all, as long as the general direction of the other side can be determined in a short time, these planes are the most electronically equipped reconnaissance planes in Germany so far, except for the sea and air search radars. The sea is equipped with advanced radio direction finding equipment. At the same time, it is staffed by the most elite radio technicians, who can find clues from the dense code.

The flotilla was a camouflage fleet known within the German Admiralty as "spectators", and these fleets were usually named after neutral countries, and the civilian ships were in the shape of warships. These ships also perform some transport tasks in normal times. But if necessary, they can even carry seaplanes or install gun emplacements. The Allies could detect the location of the German fleet by camouflaging ships, and the Germans could do the same against the Allies. This fleet is primarily responsible for intelligence gathering and the transportation of sensitive materials in peacetime. In wartime, it can be converted into a camouflaged assault ship. These warships can also search for the Iranian fleet at sea, and because of the neutral flags on board, Su Mo and the others really can't take them.

As for the dumb machine? It was the Count who activated some German spies hidden in the Entente. Especially in the United States, because the United States is a nation of immigrants. Among them are a large number of people of German descent. Therefore, compared with Britain and France, Germany's intelligence network in the United States is more developed. Sumer's fleet needs to be supplied at sea with high-speed supply ships, and these activated intelligence officers can provide Admiral Luckner with relevant information to make his actions more purposeful.

"Everything that can be given to you is yours, it's up to you," Count Spee signaled to the other party to leave after explaining, it only needs the intelligence of the German navy's victory now, and nothing else!

Just when the German Navy vowed to find out this Iranian fleet that dared to break ground on the German sea transportation line, Iran's ground war also entered a new stage, because the performance of the American armored forces in the last encounter was not good, which caused Huaxia to be very worried about the safety of its flanks!

"Is the U.S. military reliable?" Zhou Xuan, the commander of the Third Armored Division of Huaxia, looked at the staggered battle lines on the map and muttered to himself anxiously. The disastrous defeat of the Americans in Abad, West Islamabad, not only affected the Americans, but also had a very negative impact on China's military deployment. At this time, the main forces of the Chinese and Iranian armies were concentrated on the front line of Sanandaj, not far from the defensive positions of the Americans, which would be the most important logistics supply center of the Chinese army. The U.S. forces are the outermost and most important layer of defense in this center, and unless Huaxia gives up its attack on Kirkuk and turns south, the only thing the Huaxia Army can rely on is the U.S. Army. And now Huaxia is also hesitating, should the original attack plan be carried out or abandoned?

The plan for the attack itself was delayed, and after the first encounter with the Germans, the Air Force found that the other side was not concentrating on launching strategic air strikes on the entire northern part of Iran, so the plan to consume the Luftwaffe was dashed. The subsequent air defense situation will be even worse. In desperation, the Air Force is replacing some Tiger Cat aircraft with Foxbat fighters (Huaxia version P38) that are more suitable for air combat. Many fighters originally deployed in the rear also began to move to the front line and flanks, and the army's attack plan was postponed for nearly a week in order to obtain air support. And when the Air Force just completed its deployment, Peng Yi and others found that their flanks were already very unsafe. For this reason, Zhou Xuan, commander of the 3rd Armored Division, and Song Huaide, commander of the 5th Armored Division, specially went to Galway, which was located in the rear, to discuss the future situation with General Bradley, a representative of the US Army.

Huaxia is preparing for the future westward offensive, before leaving, Huaxia hopes that his flank is strong enough, and wants to ensure the safety of the flank, the generals of the Huaxia front believe that they can strengthen the U.S. army when necessary, or cooperate with the U.S. army to clear the flank threat first!

Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward~~~, and the book friend Magic Jack's monthly pass support ~~~~~~. (To be continued.) )