October 4th.

Southeast Asia, Andaman Sea, Motama Bay, Bangladesh Harbor.

Six o'clock in the morning.

After finishing the three-kilometer fixed morning run every day, He Cheng wiped the sweat drops on his forehead, walked into the dormitory, and began to sort out his equipment.

He is a native of Guangdong Province, originally from Lufeng Jinxiang, when he was a child, his family conditions were good, although he was not a wealthy family, but his parents could also provide him with education, but unfortunately when he was thirteen years old, his family changed, and his parents took him to leave his hometown and go south to the French colony to make a living.

The children of the poor are in charge of the family at an early age.

Since the age of thirteen, He Cheng has worked as a day laborer, dug grain in the field, worked as a mechanical apprentice in a factory, worked as a car worker, and at the age of fifteen, he happened to board a French fishing boat to do chores, and has since settled down.

That's five years.

During the five-year fishing boat miscellaneous career, he became strong and proficient in water, during which he also learned half a bowl of ink with the French captain who had been in the Republic of China for ten years - it is no problem to read and write French and Chinese characters, and also learned to repair the old German diesel engine.

Three years ago, the fishing boat was sunk by a Japanese patrol warship, and the captain followed his beloved fishing boat to sink in the Gulf of Thailand, but he survived.

Half a year ago, with the complete failure of the devil, he finally barely settled down, and he settled in the city near the sea, intending to return to his old business and make a living by the sea.

Before he could get out his fishing boat, two and a half months earlier, he had seen an announcement from the expeditionary force to recruit sailors.

After just a second of hesitation, he chose to sign up.

In the past six months, although the days are still hard and tight, the parents are not in good health and cannot do physical work, and the mother is sick and has to take medicine for a long time, but with the entry of domestic businessmen, the price of food has fallen all the way, and the price of medicine has also fallen, but there is gradually hope for it, and it is easier to find work, and all this comes from the arrival of the expeditionary force and the reason for the prosperity and strength of the country.

If it weren't for the fact that his parents couldn't bear the rush, he would have planned to go back to his hometown, and it is said that people with skills can find a good job.

Coupled with the abundant military salary, it was enough to make his parents' life very easy, and the regret that he wanted to return to China to fight devils back then, but he couldn't get rid of it, made him go directly to the registration point after a second of hesitation.

Parents are very supportive.

Thanks to his very good cultural level, reaching a high level of Chinese, and five years of fishing boat career, accumulating rich engine maintenance skills, and good physical foundation, in just one and a half months, he passed recruit training and officially entered the army.

Then, half a month ago, he passed the assessment and became the deputy chief engineer of the engine room of the Warring States-class battleship, and his parents were also taken to the domestic Ping An Hospital for treatment.

When he thoroughly masters the power repair and maintenance of the Sengoku-class battleships, he will be able to become the chief engineer of the engine room, replacing the current devil technician.

Three minutes later, He Cheng sorted out all the equipment, new military uniforms, and guns, walked out of the troop dormitory, and followed the large team to the port to board the majestic first ship of the Warring States class.

After taking stock of the assembly, he made his way to the engine room.

"I don't know how long it will take us to master this thing!"

Looking at the big guy in front of him, eight oil-fired boilers and four steam turbines, He Cheng's teammates wiped their foreheads.

Although it is the latest power system in the United States, and the manufacturing quality control is much better than the original in the United States, after all, the material and design defects here also require a large number of technicians to maintain carefully, and the work intensity is quite high.

Failures can also occur.

"I'm afraid it's hard for half a year."

Someone shook his head:

"Even the devil technicians haven't fully figured it out, we don't have any foundation at all..."

There is no problem with the normal maintenance process, half a month has passed, and after many trainings, everyone will also be able to.

However, in the event of an emergency failure, how to find and eliminate the problem, how to judge the operation status, and even, how to operate the main engine in a timely and correct manner after receiving the captain's instructions, everyone has no bottom in their hearts.

Even if it is, a fighter who once served in the Navy.

"Take your time."

He Cheng took a deep breath and cheered for everyone:

"We have to study hard, come on, and if we don't understand anything, we can read the manual, read the picture guidance, or consult technical experts from Ping'an County."

Everyone did not reply, all bowed their heads, and their morale was depressed.

That being said, moreover, the technical experts from Ping'an County are very professional, almost all problems can be easily solved, and there are video teachings, but such an advanced warship makes everyone feel uncertain.

The instructions are really thick, and the steam turbine maintenance manual alone has millions of words, not to mention that they are responsible for the maintenance of the power and electrical systems of the whole ship.

At the beginning, everyone was full of confidence, but after so many days of actual combat training and study, a lot of things were messed up, and there was still no progress after making a lot of trouble, and everyone's confidence was almost gone.

We have to find a way to boost everyone's morale.

Looking at the people who were still depressed, He Cheng's expression remained unchanged, but he was secretly anxious.

After thinking about it in his heart, he quickly thought of a way:

"We can't be discouraged, no one wants to hope that the engine room of our battleship has been controlled by devils."

When the words fell, everyone's originally depressed eyes flashed unwillingly.

In the past few years, everyone has been bullied by devils, and countless people have fallen under the devil's gun, although at this time the devils in the warship have not done anything bad, or are prisoners, but they are also former devil soldiers, and they control their own warships, how can they be happy?

"Yes, we have to hurry up and learn, we have to drive this warship ourselves, otherwise in the future, others will think that it was a little devil! How can you hold your head up in front of your parents and fellow villagers when you go home? ”

"That's it, the devil can, why can't we?"

"Could it be that we are worse than the devils?"

“····”

As soon as the devil was mentioned, everyone did not bow their heads, they raised their heads one after another, and in a few words, the morale of the members of the engine room was instantly full, and they were full of fighting spirit.

"No wonder..."

Looking at He Cheng, the morale of everyone was raised to the fullest, thinking that the old navy sailor was suddenly in his heart.

It is no wonder that this man, who has only been in the army for more than two months, was promoted to the rank of chief engineer and is one of the candidates for chief engineer.

"General Chu said, if we perform well, maybe we can enter the service of the dynasty-class battleship!"

He Cheng threw out a message again.

"Really?"

The crowd suddenly boiled.

Although their Warring States-class battleships are very powerful, comparable to the strongest battleships of the European and American powers, compared to the Dynasty class, it is not a little bit worse. Otherwise, why let this group of semi-novices master the engine room?

The Dynasty-class battleships, equipped with missiles, are the most advanced warships in the world.

If you can serve at the dynasty level, then go home, isn't it more face-saving? Parents can walk with their backs at home.

"Can Head Chu deceive people?"

"Also, Commander Chu also made it clear that he will go to support the army in October!"

He Cheng once again gave everyone chicken blood, and everyone threw themselves into work.

The steam turbine is very cumbersome to start because it uses heavy oil, which cannot be ignited alone, and because it is viscous, it needs to be ignited with diesel oil, which is heated to flow into the combustion chamber for combustion. Then wait for the boiler water to boil to reach the operating temperature and produce enough pressure to steam, which takes ten hours if it is a complete cold start.

Of course, in warships during the war-ready period, the boilers were operated at the lowest power, and the steam pressure was maintained, and the start was very fast.

Half an hour later, a flotilla of two battleships, two heavy cruisers, and two destroyers left the port of Meng.

As for the aircraft carrier, because there is really a shortage of sailors, this kind of uncle, which requires a large number of technical arms to serve, has not yet been put into use, and is parked in the port for some pilots to train to take off and land.

······

October 5th.

Early morning.

Cherbourg.

"The Seventh, Eighth, and Twelfth Corps under the command of General Case have landed successfully and occupied the territory of Saint-Meon, and are now attacking Rennes."

Eisenhower received a message from the staff officer.

A month after Bayeux's defeat, that is, thirteen days ago, he attacked the Siegfeiler Line again, but the old fox used Caen as a node, built a whole large depth and multi-level defense line, with a large number of anti-aircraft towers as nodes, plus a large number of mobile troops deployed in Caen, his more than one million troops attacked for five consecutive days with almost no success.

He also suffered heavy losses.

The Allies were trapped on the Cotentin Peninsula and were unable to capture all of Normandy, let alone go any further.

So Eisenhower directly changed his thinking, gave full play to the superiority of the Allied forces, and took advantage of the fact that the main German force was pinned down by the Normandy offensive forces, and repeated the trick and landed in the Brittany district next to the Normandy region.

This hand seemed to be completely unexpected by the enemy.

The 300,000 landing troops easily seized the landing ground, and after the subsequent 500,000 troops landed, they advanced rapidly as if they were in a no-man's land, and in just three days, they directly occupied more than 70 percent of the Brittany area.

"Good."

Eisenhower nodded in satisfaction.

After Bayeux failed, the country was very dissatisfied with him, especially when the president suddenly had an accident, someone actually wanted to take the opportunity to replace him and let MacArthur take command, thanks to the new president, who also had a very good relationship with him and strongly supported him, so that he could continue to sit in the position of the supreme commander in Europe.

But voices of discontent remain.

Now, with the occupation of Brittany, the voices of discontent in the country will naturally disappear.

"What about the losses?"

Eisenhower asked.

Although the so-called 'Desert Fox' was out of his mind, he forcibly dropped a large number of troops and heavy equipment with the help of a large number of landing craft to quickly occupy the Brittany area, but the air defense towers still caused great casualties to his attacking troops.

"According to preliminary statistics, the casualties are about 100,000, and our army accounts for about one-third."

The staff officer replied.

It was casualties, not deaths.

"Got it."

Eisenhower breathed a sigh of relief.

Generally speaking, the casualty figures, 70 percent of which are wounded, 30 percent are deaths, 100,000 casualties, that is 30,000 deaths, and only a third of them are US troops.

This figure is perfectly acceptable.

······

October 6th.

Paris, France.

Old fox command room.

"General, why give the Brittany district to the enemy?"

A staff officer couldn't help but ask.

Although the strength of the Western Front is far inferior to that of the Allies, at present, the total strength of the Allies participating in the offensive is close to 7 million, and they only have 4.7 million, of which 1 million are still stationed as reserves in eastern France.

"There's no need."

The old fox shook his head, but did not explain in detail:

"Let's take our time!"

Today, all the elite German Panzer Divisions have been equipped with the new No. 5 tanks, and even some of the elite 'ally' units have been equipped with the new No. 5 tanks, and their combat effectiveness has increased greatly.

In terms of the air force, with the replenishment of the pilots of the 'allies', the number of combat planes on the western front has also expanded to 3,800, which, together with mobile antiaircraft artillery, can basically guarantee the air defense of the armored units.

Although the number of troops is insufficient for the enemy, in terms of armored strength, it is beyond the Allied forces, plus the air defense tower groups of several important node cities, as well as the rapid replenishment ability brought by the 'warehouse', and it is far exceeded.

Armored forces fight in clusters, and he has an absolute advantage.

This is also an important reason why Bayeux was able to annihilate 300,000 U.S. troops in the first place.

But Brittany and Normandy, from the map, are two protruding peninsulas, even if the terrain is flat, not suitable for large-scale armored operations, it is better to put the enemy in.

As long as the enemy can't take Caen and Rennes, they will be trapped on both peninsulas.

Then, with the help of the advantages of logistics supply and armored mobile forces, in the vast plain of France, you can play a good game with the allies in a mobile tank cluster battle.