Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 176 Joint Naval and Air Operations
The meeting ended just as it had begun, with the end of Ryan's voice.

The captains of the two Zeppelins were the first to leave, as their airships were currently under the highest level of secrecy, and a hasty attack could easily reveal to the United Kingdom that the Empire had upgraded their firepower and defenses.

Of the four captains of the Wave-class destroyers, apart from Colonel Schmidt, the other three also left shortly afterward.

Standing by the window of the commander's office, Schmidt, with his back to Rein, looked through the murky glass at the few airships slightly above the horizon, swaying gently in the wind, and said, "An operation not approved by the General Staff, that's interesting."

"I don't think so."

There was no trace of happiness on Ryan's face.

Catherine's arrival was not a bad thing, but it brought with it widespread attention from the capital.

Ryan didn't mind being watched all day long; he was used to it and felt quite at ease in such an environment.

As the commander of the troops, he was naturally the most attention-grabbing figure.

Unlike other officers, he did not believe that the General Staff's practice of sending people to inspect and instruct troops to plan and execute their own combat operations was an incentive for combat troops.

If the battle is successful, that would be fine, since only the victor can write history.

But it was precisely because of this that Rein dared not allow the operation to fail.

As mentioned before, if the airship reconnaissance operation is successful, the Empire will be able to gain an intelligence advantage for a short period of time, which will be very beneficial to the Empire's operations in the North Sea.

However, if they fail, the empire will face an even more severe maritime situation.

In reality, the German Navy was not in a bad situation before it began fighting the Battle of Jutland, which seemed like a victory but was actually a major defeat.

Because Britain did not recall all its overseas warships at the time, the Imperial Navy only had to face an enemy with a total number of 1.5 times its own.

In terms of naval warfare, this is actually acceptable.

But what lay before Renn was a completely different situation.

He is not a naval officer, has no authority to command naval operations, and does not possess the capability required to command a large fleet.

All Ryan can do is use all available resources to escalate the already tense maritime situation.

In the eyes of the General Staff, this was perhaps just a radical act by an Imperial soldier after being spurred on by the General Staff, which yielded a sufficiently desirable result.

But in the Navy's eyes, it was like some idiot suddenly popping out of nowhere, barking at the United Kingdom like a dog, forcing them to stop enjoying the warmth of home, eating oranges, and watching the Royal Uncle, and instead pick up their guns, climb back onto the ship, and go to war.

And among these people, there will inevitably be a group who will sacrifice their lives because of this battle.

The problem lies here—Raine is not qualified enough to be an officer who can treat the number of his own friendly casualties as just a number.

This is something only the people of the Farland and the Imperial Kingdom could do.

More importantly, this operation will happen very suddenly.

How the fleet under Rein operates is one thing, but whether the navy can react in time is another.

Before launching a wave-class attack, he must go to the North Sea Command or the Baltic Command to inform the Navy of his operational plan and subsequent response measures, which will then be relayed by the Navy's staff to the various fleets below.

The entire process will take at least a week.

But Rennes only had half a month left.

The Wave-class requires half a month to prepare all the resources needed for the sortie, while the Zeppelin-class will soon need two more ships. However, the modernized airships will need a month just to complete the crew conversion work.

In other words, even if Raine were to acquire four Tideships and four Zeppelins before the war, he would only be able to use six of the eight airships in the large fleet. Even more critically, these six airships would need to simultaneously perform multiple tasks, including reconnaissance, feint attacks, personnel transport, and ground attacks.

If their captain were any human being, he would never agree to such an absurd request.

But they actually agreed to it.

Silence once again enveloped the office.

After an unknown amount of time, when Schmidt could no longer see the people in military uniforms walking in the rain, Renn finally spoke: "If we really do this, the United Kingdom will hold us hostage."

"Humph."

Schmidt snorted coldly, a glint of cold light flashing in his eyes: "You make it sound like they didn't keep pestering us before."

Schmidt has been in the military for over a decade.

For more than a decade, the empire had held the dominant position in Europe, but it had never achieved true hegemony.

Whenever the Empire tries to circumvent its essential need for access to the North Sea by various means and changes the way goods are exported to land or air, it will inevitably be met with encirclement and suppression from the United Kingdom.

Rein was not unaware of this; in fact, when the topic came up more than a month ago, he used the first and second island chains to describe the Empire's situation to Schmidt.

Schmidt wholeheartedly agreed with Renn's description; the Empire was indeed in the predicament Renn had described.

That is, how can the Empire break through the multiple blockades from the United Kingdom?

But the result is obvious.

Given the Empire's current strength, breaking through the maritime blockade from the United Kingdom is virtually impossible.

Unless the Empire can crush the United Kingdom at the fastest speed in history, it will have no choice but to endure it.

Setting those memories aside, Schmidt, who already knew Rein's character very well, continued, "How do you plan to explain things to the Navy?"

"The Marshal is not a difficult person to talk to. If we go directly to him, we can probably get his support on the same day, no, on the spot."

Rein recalled someone's signature beard, not even noticing the cigarette ash falling on his coat: "However, whether the fleet at the front can swallow this insult is another matter entirely."

"You're saying they might be unwilling to assist in the operation?" Schmidt's voice didn't sound very happy.

Renn just smiled.

"No, I just think they're unwilling to clean up the mess the Air Force made."

"You boy."

Schmidt almost burst out laughing when he thought Renn was about to say something complicated again.

"They won't gossip about this kind of thing."

He shook his head, and the seriousness on Schmidt's face completely disappeared, replaced by a relaxed expression.

"We will complete the preparations for the sortie as soon as possible before the middle of the month. I will also leave a few veterans with the Zeppelin-class destroyers to help them master the tricks of ground attack. As for the rest, I can't take care of them."

"I know."

Ryan nodded, brushed the cigarette ash off his coat, and then pulled out a few documents to read.

(End of this chapter)