Anti-Japanese War: The whole world is a base vehicle

"The German army destroyed Port Said?" Not long after, the Italian fleet received a telegram from the German army. Admiral Arturo Ricardi of the Italian fleet held the telegram, his eyes scanning back and forth between the words on it, his face full of disbelief.

In his opinion, Port Said is a tough nut to crack. Even if the British army has transferred most of its fleet, its own defensive strength cannot be underestimated.

Apart from anything else, the coastal defense guns alone are not so easy to deal with. Those rows of coastal defense guns are like steel guards protecting the port. They are powerful and have a long range. As long as enemy ships approach, they can fire back with fierce artillery fire. Even the Italian fleet does not dare to touch them easily on normal days.

From this point, it is enough to see how tightly defended Port Said is.

As a result, the port, which he had always thought was indestructible and could not be easily destroyed, was taken by the German army. This was indeed beyond his expectations and made him a little overwhelmed for a while.

Moreover, judging from the content of the telegram, the process of the German army taking Port Said seemed to be very easy, which made him even more puzzled.

When did the German army have such a powerful fleet?
Could it be that their submarine force played a huge role in secret?

But when did their submarine force arrive in the Mediterranean?
There is a British fleet guarding the Strait of Gibraltar. Are the British fleet blind?
Are we just going to watch the German submarine forces swagger into the Mediterranean and attack Port Said without doing anything?
These questions were like a tangled mess, entangled in Admiral Arturo Ricardi's mind, filling him with confusion.

"Commander, although the German submarine force is very powerful, it may not be so easy to capture a port?" The subordinate looked at his boss's puzzled expression and couldn't help but ask.

He also thought this was very strange. The submarine force was good at conducting underwater raids, blockades and other combat missions. It was not realistic to rely on them to capture a port with strong defenses.

"Of course, Port Said is a well-fortified port. How can it be taken so easily?" Admiral Arturo Ricardi shook his head after hearing what his subordinates said.

He agreed with his subordinates' views. In his opinion, it would be impossible to capture Port Said without a strong surface ship force.

"There is hope only if they have a large number of warships, at least five battleships or more." Admiral Arturo Ricardi frowned and added.

In naval battles, battleships have powerful firepower and combat effectiveness and are an important force in naval operations. If the German army really has a fleet of five battleships, it is indeed possible to capture Port Said. But the question is, can the German army have so many battleships?

"Five battleships? How could the German army have them?" When the subordinate heard this, he couldn't help but chuckle, with a look of disdain on his face. In his opinion, this was simply a fantasy.

Are you kidding me?
Five battleships?
Do you really think this thing is easy to build? Even a battleship equipped with a 380mm naval gun is not so easy to build. From design, construction to launching and commissioning, it involves too many complex links and a lot of resources.

Although the German army had a Bismarck battleship, it was still somewhat inferior to mainstream battleships. The German army treated this one battleship like a treasure and used it carefully. How could they possibly produce five at once? This was simply unrealistic.

"Never mind all that. The Germans ask us to join them as soon as possible and attack Alexandria. Everything will be clear once we get there." Admiral Arturo Ricardi thought for a moment and felt that it was pointless to speculate here now. After all, the telegram did not make it clear. It would be better to wait until they joined the Germans and see it with their own eyes. Everything would be clear then, so he made this decision.

"Yes." The subordinates heard the order from their superior and responded hastily. Then they went to convey the instructions and prepared to let the fleet sail in the direction of the German army to meet the next offensive action whose situation was unknown.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Jean Soul of the French fleet also received a telegram from the German fleet.

He took the telegram and read its contents carefully. His expression was no different from that of Admiral Arturo Ricardi, commander of the Italian fleet. Both were full of disbelief, with their eyes wide open and brows tightly furrowed, as if they had seen something extremely incredible.

In fact, he was not the only one, even Admiral Darlan of the French fleet looked confused.

They were all wondering, when did the German fleet become so strong?
In their previous understanding, the German fleet usually stayed in the area around Wilhelmshaven and Kiel Harbor, guarding its own waters, with few large-scale operations extending to other places. So why did it suddenly come to the Mediterranean now?

Moreover, they did such an amazing thing that they destroyed Port Said in one breath. To them, this was just a joke.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just tell me how the German fleet sneaked into the Mediterranean?

In the Mediterranean Sea, the British Royal Fleet is constantly conducting reconnaissance and patrols. It would not be easy to evade the Royal Fleet's eagle-like sharp reconnaissance, right?
Were those people in the Royal Fleet blind, allowing the German fleet to enter the Mediterranean so brazenly?
This is really hard to understand. The more I think about it, the more I feel that this matter is weird.

Of course, both of them were smart people, and other ideas popped up in their minds. That is, maybe the German army had a fleet hidden somewhere else that had not been discovered before, and suddenly appeared now, catching everyone off guard.

However, as soon as this idea popped into their minds, they quickly abandoned it.

After all, there are only a few places where warships can be built. Everyone knows that if the German army really has another large fleet secretly built somewhere else, how could there be no news at all? This is almost impossible. So after thinking about it, they still think that this matter is full of mysteries and can only wait for further information. However, they also know that it is difficult to see anything substantial just by thinking about this telegram. The telegram only conveyed the German army's requirements and informed the fact that Port Said was destroyed, but there was no detailed explanation on what the German army relied on and how it did all this.

If you want to know the specific situation, it seems that the only way now is to obey the orders of the German army and go to Alexandria as required.

Only by actually going there and seeing the German fleet with your own eyes can you understand how they did it.
Therefore, after serious discussions between Lieutenant General Jean Sur and Admiral Darlan, they all agreed that this trip was a must.

Whether they wanted revenge for the various injustices they had suffered before, thinking that if the German army really had some powerful means, they could take the opportunity to learn from them and enhance their own strength; or they were simply curious and wanted to find out how the German army suddenly became so powerful, they had to make this trip to find out the situation. Otherwise, the doubts in their hearts would never be resolved, just like a thorn stuck there, making them feel uncomfortable.

On the other side, Admiral Kanan Ning, who was fleeing in a panic, also received a telegram from the remnants of the troops in Port Said.

As he looked at the shocking words on the telegram, his face became increasingly gloomy and he felt extremely upset.

The telegram said that the port of Said had been completely destroyed, with ruins and holes everywhere. The once busy docks and sturdy defense facilities were now all reduced to ruins. There was no way to repair them in a short time. If you want to restore it to its former appearance, it will take a lot of manpower, material resources and time.

Moreover, the warships left behind in the port could not escape the disaster and were sunk one after another by the German army. All of them sank to the bottom of the sea and became a pile of scrap metal. The originally large-scale port fleet has now disappeared. This is undoubtedly a heavy blow to the British army.

At the same time, the telegram also explained why it was destroyed, that is, the German army dispatched more than five battleships.

Faced with such powerful firepower of the German army, the British troops left behind in Port Said were really powerless to fight back. The battleships' guns kept bombarding the port, and the shells fell like raindrops. The flames and shock waves produced by the explosions put the entire port into a desperate situation. They simply could not withstand such a fierce offensive, and had no choice but to flee. It was a blessing to be able to save their lives. However, this escape meant that Port Said fell completely into the hands of the German army, and the subsequent situation became even more difficult to control.

"Damn it, how on earth does the German army have so many warships?" Admiral Cannin looked at the telegram in his hand, frowning, his face full of anger and confusion, and he couldn't help cursing in a low voice.

Although the telegram did not clearly state the exact number of German warships, judging from the situation described between the lines, it was obviously a force that could not be underestimated and was by no means something that could be dealt with casually. Even a general like him with rich combat experience had to deal with such a powerful opponent with caution and not be careless at all.

In fact, from a rational point of view, returning to Alexandria at this time is already somewhat unwise.

After all, the German army had just demonstrated such powerful strength and destroyed the Port of Said. Going back now would probably be like a sheep walking into a tiger's mouth and falling into the German army's encirclement. The consequences would be unimaginable.

But Admiral Kan Anning felt that he could still take another gamble. He gritted his teeth and a hint of determination flashed in his eyes.

After all, if he just ran away in disgrace and handed over the Port of Alexandria, it would be too embarrassing. As a senior general of the British army, if word got out that he did not dare to fight because he was afraid of the German army, his prestige in the army would plummet. How would he lead troops to fight in the future? He could not afford the consequences of retreating at the critical moment.

More importantly, he was full of curiosity about the powerful German fleet that suddenly emerged. He especially wanted to see with his own eyes what this so-called battleship looked like and what powerful performance and power it had.

He knew very well that only by knowing both oneself and the enemy can one win every battle. Now, nothing is clear about the situation of the German fleet, not even how many warships the enemy has or what their specific performance is. This would put him at a great disadvantage in subsequent operations or responses. So even though he knew there were risks in going back, he still wanted to take the risk and test the situation.

"Report the situation here to His Excellency the Prime Minister, and ask him to find a way to collect information about the German fleet. Make sure to find out clearly where the German army got so many warships from." Admiral Kananning frowned, pondered solemnly for a while, then gave the order with a firm look.

He knew very well that the current situation was too complicated and dangerous. The sudden strength of the German fleet caught them off guard. If the Prime Minister could grasp the details of the German fleet as soon as possible, such as the origin, performance, number and other key information of the warships, he might be able to come up with a countermeasure to reverse the current passive situation. Therefore, this matter must be done quickly.

"Yes." The subordinate responded immediately after hearing the order, and then turned around to arrange related matters. He knew that this matter was of great importance and could not be delayed at all. The news had to be conveyed to the Prime Minister accurately as soon as possible.

"Commander, the Italian and French fleets are behind us. Should we deal with them first?" The subordinate spoke at the right time after completing the previous task.

He looked at the vague shadows of the Italian and French fleets behind him and felt a little worried, thinking that if he could get rid of them first, perhaps he could reduce some subsequent troubles.

Upon hearing this, Admiral Cannin naturally guessed the plan of the fleet behind him. They must want to take advantage of the British army's panic and disadvantage to get some advantage or cooperate with the German army to form a pincer attack on the British army.

After a moment of silence, Admiral Canniin slowly shook his head. He weighed the pros and cons in his mind and felt that now was not the time to get entangled with the Italian and French fleets. After all, the German fleet was the biggest threat at the moment.

"Retreat to Alexandria first and notify the air force in the port to take off immediately and prepare to support us." Admiral Cannin gave the order without hesitation. He thought that as long as they could safely retreat to Alexandria first and then rely on the air force in the port for support, they could pose a certain threat to the German army and the Italian and French fleets that might catch up. Maybe they could buy some breathing space and then make plans for the next step.

"Yes." The subordinate responded again. (End of this chapter)