The Entente had realized the inevitability of war. They're preparing for the worst. But their preparation process was still a little slower. When General de Gaulle was ordered to form an armored corps to deal with the breakthrough on the southern front, when the British stationed the first 900 planes in France, when the Americans considered what price the British should be given in exchange for valuable aid. The Germans, preparing for the landing in France, had already arrived in Italy on transport ships! The Allied front-line air force, with a total of 25,000 aircraft, has entered the designated combat position. Millions of troops are ready to go! According to the words of the German leadership, the war could have started in another week.

At this time, in the headquarters of the German High Seas Fleet in Crete, Count Spee, who had just flown from Berlin, was listening to his subordinate Count Luknall's briefing on the situation of the German High Seas Fleet, and on a sand table the size of a conference hall were the models of all the capital ships of the German High Seas Fleet. Looking from behind him, Count Spee could see the deployment of all 14 aircraft carriers in the German High Seas Fleet.

"At the moment our aircraft carriers are mainly deployed in Crete, on the Adriatic coast and in Greece. The entire German fleet consisted of 14 aircraft carriers of 4 classes, 3 battle groups. The first battle group was commanded by Admiral Raeder, and he commanded a total of four aircraft carriers, namely the first generation of our aircraft carriers Blucher and the Von der Tann, with a displacement of about 18,000 tons. The other two aircraft carriers are the Moltke-class aircraft carriers, the lead ship Moltke and the Goburn, and their standard displacement is 29,000 tons. These four main aircraft carriers are equipped with a total of 360 carrier-based aircraft of various types, including 180 FW190T fighters. 90 FW190F dive bombers (attack aircraft version with increased internal fuel capacity) and 60 JU90E torpedo aircraft. There are also 30 reconnaissance planes and other aircraft, and in order to balance the combat effectiveness, we have also prepared two aviation cruisers for Admiral Raeder, which carry a total of 40 aircraft, which can completely make up for the shortage of aircraft in the fleet. "As a relict of the former dynasty, although Count Spee and Raeder are not in the same system, whether from the perspective of ability or the forces represented by the other party, it is necessary to arrange an independent battle group for him.

"The second aircraft carrier battle group is under my command and also has a total of 4 aircraft carriers. These aircraft carriers are all Moltke-class aircraft carriers, namely the Setritz, the Lütsov, the De Fllinger, and the Hindenburg. The four aircraft carriers have a total of 400 carrier-based aircraft (including spare aircraft and deck mooring. Specifically, there are 200 FW190T fighters, 120 FW190F attack aircraft, and 30 JU90 attack aircraft. In addition, there are 40 twin-engine radar sentinel aircraft, anti-submarine attack aircraft, and electronic warfare aircraft. At the same time, I also have an aviation cruiser in my fleet. "Although, judging from the number of carrier-based aircraft, Admiral Raeder and Count Luknar's troops are about the same. But obviously, in terms of strength, the latter is stronger, and the fleet of Count Luknal is more reasonable and adaptable.

"The Third Aircraft Carrier Strike Group is under your personal command, and there are a total of 6 aircraft carriers, namely the Europa, Bremen and Hamburg of the Europa-class aircraft carriers. and the three new Beast-class 18,000-ton medium-sized aircraft carriers, the Tiger, Puma and Panther. These six aircraft carriers can accommodate a total of about 540 aircraft of various types. Of these, the twin-engine attack aircraft BF110 are 60 units. These aircraft can carry guided bombs. FW190T fighter 240 units. 40 aircraft for other purposes, such as radar sentry aircraft. The number of FW190F attack aircraft and JU90 attack aircraft is 200 units. "There is no doubt that Count Spee's fleet, which was at the heart of the entire German High Seas Fleet, had the most powerful offensive and defensive power. Considering the fragile defenses of the 3 Beast-class medium aircraft carriers, Count Spee's fleet will be slightly further behind.

"A total of 14 aircraft carriers with 1,300 aircraft of all kinds." The Earl said with great satisfaction. "And what about our allies, Austria-Hungary, the Turks, and Spain?"

"Austria-Hungary now has five aircraft carriers, an 18,000-ton medium fleet carrier Silesia, and four other 27,000-ton armored aircraft carriers, all of whom are of the Lord Loudoun class. They are Lord Loudoun, Austria, Hungary and Ferdinand. After the start of the war, Austria-Hungary was able to complete the Lord Loudoun class ship No. 5, the Throne. Austria-Hungary insisted on organizing its own fleet into a separate group. Commanded by General Jordy, their fleet currently has 400 aircraft of all kinds. Among them, there are 210 BF109 fighters and FW190 fighters, 100 JU90 bombers and FW190T bombers, and the remaining 90 torpedo aircraft. Count Luknall thought for a moment and continued.

"The Spaniards also have 2 medium-sized aircraft carriers, the Ibilis and the Madrid. The performance of these two aircraft carriers is close to our first-generation aircraft carrier USS Blucher. The Spanish fleet has about 160 carrier-based aircraft of various types. The Turks have 2 medium aircraft carriers and 1 armored aircraft carrier, which are much the same as the Blucher, and the last armored aircraft carrier is being outfitted. The three-carrier fleet will have about 260 aircraft of all kinds. However, judging by the current attitude of the two countries, they cherish their fleet, and the Turks have advised that their supervision remain in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf to ensure the security of the lines of communication. And the Spaniards even said that their aircraft carrier power system had some problems and could only do close cruising in the Mediterranean. The Russians are more troublesome, and they seem to have made up their minds to fight us. Before the handover of the fleet, they carried out the destruction of part of the parts! We need to do some repairs before we can use it. At this point, there was a wave of anger in Count Luckner's words.

"It seems that we are on our own, as Marshal Scheer said before his death. The external environment of the German Navy after the end of World War 1 was even worse than before World War 1. The naval backbone of the Allies before World War 1 was the German, Italian and Austrian three carriages. And now, with the exception of Austria-Hungary, Turkey only cares about its own one-third of an acre and three points of land, and there is no big picture to speak of. And Spain is the first to do both. Probably, in the Italian War, the Allies and the huge fleets of China frightened the country. There was a hint of helplessness in Earl Spee's words.

He now somewhat agreed with the statements of his predecessors, Marshals Scheer and Hipper. So far, Germany can be said to be the public enemy of the world. With the exception of Austria-Hungary, the Germans could no longer find a loyal ally. The victory in World War 1 propelled Germany to an unprecedented peak. But at the same time, it also made the Germans blindly trust the war knife in their hands. They rely more on force than on politics and strategy to solve problems. Time and again, violence has been used to challenge the bottom line of countries. Although the momentum is now flourishing, the Entente are at a disadvantage in Europe, and China has not yet made its attitude clear for various reasons. But if it were to the point where the world was defeated, would Germany continue to win? Count Spee was very uncertain.

However, the Count was a soldier. Politics is not his main business. What he has to do now is how to use the resources in his hands to fight this battle. At present, there are as many as 19 aircraft carriers that can be assigned to their own name. Such a large fleet was divided into 4 battle groups, and how to organize and arrange the attack during the battle was a problem, although the Germans had conducted many experiments, but they wanted to control the 4 battle groups. It is really difficult for them to release nearly 900 aircraft of various kinds to attack in the first wave of attacks, and it is very troublesome to effectively distribute tasks and how to effectively arrange attack aircraft groups.

"As the size of the fleet has grown, our chain of command has been seriously challenged, and it has been difficult for us to effectively allocate targets. In simulated battles, it is not uncommon for hundreds of aircraft to attack one of the opposing fleets while the other fleets are left unattended. Hundreds of aircraft make up for the air, and it is difficult to coordinate the order of attack. The sky was chaotic, with some planes attacking, others circling aimlessly. While the attack is disorderly, the defense is just as troublesome. The aircraft carrier groups are spaced about 10 to 15 nautical miles apart, and each aircraft carrier releases direct guard fighters, which are generally hovering over their own fleets, and we tried to concentrate the aircraft of more than a dozen squadrons of 4 fleets for defense, but we were eventually forced to abandon this idea because of problems with information processing and communications. As a result, the final defense mode became that each aircraft carrier battle group drew some aircraft to form a joint defense force, and the remaining fighters were only responsible for the security of the airspace above the fleet. In Admiral Raeder's diary, the situation of the German Navy before the war was clearly recorded, and the German naval strategy and tactics at this time had been formed, but there were still some flaws in the actual operation. It can only be said that it has achieved 7 maturity. And that's exactly what Count Spee feared.

However, even the seven-fledged German navy actually had an advantage over the Entente. The air force of southern France was weak, and the air forces of the Central Powers in Spain and Italy could completely suppress each other's land-based air forces. Although the US Navy has as many as 16 aircraft carriers of various types, the British have no way to accommodate all of this huge fleet. In fact, the front-line forces of the two sides are very close on paper. Considering that the Germans were not mature but were one step ahead of their opponents, the advantage of the German Navy was actually very large, even if the Caesar-class aircraft carriers, the strongest of the Germans, did not participate in the war. Even if the proportion of German twin-engine aircraft is low, the proportion of bombers capable of carrying guided munitions is even lower. At this time, the Germans still had a great advantage.

And at the same time. The Allied air force also entered a state of imminent war, and the strength of the entire 20 air corps of the Luftwaffe was deployed in Germany proper, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and Spain! These air forces were divided into three groups, namely the German Home Air Army, which consisted of about 12,000 aircraft of various types in 10 air armies. Austro-Hungarian-Italian naval and air forces. It has 4 air armies and about 4,300 fighters of various types. Combined with the Austro-Hungarian Empire's own air forces, the Allied Powers actually had more than 8,000 air forces in the region. The Ibilisi Peninsula Air Force is a total of 6 air armies with nearly 6,000 aircraft of all kinds. And the French Air Force, which corresponds to the powerful air force of the Allies, has only 13,000 aircraft! About 8,000 of them were deployed in the northern part of France, and 6,000 of the 8,000 aircraft were deployed in the northeast of France, where the French built a very strong defensive anti-air fortress. Known as the Maginot Line in the air. There are only more than 4000 aircraft in the south. Even counting the reinforcements of the British Air Force and the US Air Force, the total number of Air Force aircraft deployed in the French region in the future will not exceed 18 thousand! This is at a disadvantage with the Allied Air Force's 25,000 or so aircraft. If we take into account the gap in the performance of the aircraft of the French Air Force and the unfavorable deployment of bases, then the gap between the two sides will be even greater!

However, despite being a good hand, Richthofen was still very calm. He carefully worked out the battle plan, perfecting every detail after the battle began. This time, the Luftwaffe did not start with an overwhelming all-out bombardment, nor did it start with a steady attack from the enemy's forward air bases, but took a targeted attack. The Luftwaffe abandoned its concentrated bombing of northeastern France because of its proximity to Britain and the fact that German aircraft attacking the Paris area would be flanked by both British and French attacks. Tactically very passive. And here is the core defense zone of the French, the radar and ground air defense facilities are the strongest.

The Luftwaffe, attacking from the Franco-German border, would give way to this area and bomb the central and northwestern parts of France directly. The Allies considered the northwestern part of France to be the safest, since it was the closest to Germany, so the Allied air forces used it as their general rear and general reserve. But in reality, because of the presence of Griffin strategic bombers, there was no safe area in mainland France, and FW190 fighters carrying auxiliary fuel tanks focused on attacking air bases in northwestern France and seaports on the Atlantic side under the cover of sections. Fundamentally weaken France's replenishment capabilities, and at the same time completely destroy France's southern air forces on the southern front, and finally cooperate with the navy and air force to launch an attack on the core area centered on Paris.

The Germans did not worry at all that the British could send a steady stream of reinforcements to France, and in the eyes of the Germans, it was more cost-effective for the British to come and die themselves than for German planes to fly over the English Channel to challenge their opponents. The Spitfire's short legs make it difficult for it to have much of an impact on the situation in southern France, even if it is deployed in the northeastern part of France. As for the D520 aircraft of the French, the Germans were convinced that their FW190 fighters could completely suppress their opponents!

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