Chapter 1964： Five Above the Strait

A large number of people wearing British Army uniforms jumped from the ship to try to escape, and then the vortex formed when the ship sank sucked most people into the seabed. He even overturned 2 boats that were about to be rescued next to him!

At this time, the British fleet that had lost its last protection seemed to have completely entered hell. Hundreds of German bombers still carrying ammunition were hunting and killing their prey in the sky above Dover. Although the British had dispersed the relay, the death **** from the air still refused to give up. The white death marks drawn by torpedoes on the sea crisscrossed, and various bombs fell from the air, taking a ship easily in the flames and smoke. Civilian ships of thousands of tons. Other bombs bounced and hit the ship's side like a devil and elves, and then left a huge wound on the ship!

"I have never seen such a horrible scene. Hundreds of bombers painted in German gray or black are attacking us unscrupulously. On the sea, there are hundreds of ships of all kinds, and they are carrying a lot of materials. The lifeline of our entire British Expeditionary Force. We once imagined that the Navy and the Royal Air Force could guarantee our safety. But now, we are wrong. Our air force blockade is easily torn apart like a rag. Our fleet cannot be protected by itself, and it sinks in the next battle under the attack of the German bombers! The burning hull and the figure that is tilted to the limit and will sink are the last influence they left on us.

"The whole sea is full of deafening explosions and dying figures of ships. We can see the bodies floating on the sea and the red water. I even witnessed at least 20 German bombers attacking our fleet. They attacked, and they dropped torpedoes almost at the same time. Dozens of white trajectories foreshadowing death criss-crossed, forming a large net that cannot be escaped! In just one minute, at least 4 ships were hit. The power of the torpedoes is It was so huge, I saw with my own eyes a ship with a displacement of at least 5,000 tons that was blown into half of the hull. And the colleagues next to it were directly cut in half! A hundred-meter-high smoke column filled the sky over the strait, even covering it. The sun, flames, smoke and death constitute the theme of the Dover Strait at this time!" recalled a British sailor who had survived.

"Your Excellency, what shall we do?" At this time, in the headquarters of the British Army Air Corps in Dunkirk, Trenchard and his staff could already see the smoke of gunpowder over the Strait of Dover and that The German fleet is like a black cloud. Even more than ten minutes ago, several bombs fell near his headquarters. Although it did not cause any major damage, everyone felt a kind of knife tip on the neck. Horror feeling!

"We have done our best, haven't we? We have put in all the troops we can put in, but we still can't stop our opponents. Even now, they are starting to hover over our airport waiting for an opportunity to hunt our aircraft. The balance of war seems to be one It was out of balance in an instant. But there is very little we can do now. "Trenchard is really desperate. If it is said that before this battle, he thought that even though the Royal Air Force was at a disadvantage, it could still deal with the Germans if it quickly switched to defense. It's like the German Western Air Force used similar tactics to hold the British and French Air Forces abruptly.

But now it seems that it is just my own wishful thinking! The size of the Luftwaffe seems to have more than doubled in an instant! Within a day, thousands of planes launched a concentrated raid on a battlefield. This is something Trenchard could not imagine! You know, the so-called large-scale offensive before, it was more than 1,000 aircraft attacking from a front that stretched for hundreds of kilometers, but now? The Germans alone have thousands of planes attacking this area of ​​only a few hundred square kilometers! This kind of density and strength feels terrible to think about!

Tren Chad tried his best, he is not to blame for losing! Although the specific battle report has not yet come out, Trenchard himself estimated that at least 200 aircrews were killed in this battle. I am afraid that more than 300 aircraft were destroyed or completely scrapped! In this battle, not only the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy Air Force also sent its own fighter force. However, there was no difference in the result. The British pilots were brave and tenacious in the face of the German air force, which had the advantage of offensive, quantity and quality. However, this is of no use!

"What should we do next? Your Excellency Commander?" an officer asked with some trepidation.

"Speed ​​up our reorganization plan. We need more fighters and interceptors. Although this round of German air strikes is fierce, it will not last forever. Moreover, in the future, the material distribution center of our expeditionary force may be in Normandy, which is far from Germany. People farther away, their attack power will drop a lot. We have made the best choice, and the rest can only be handed over to God." Trenchard said.

Before the end of the first round of air strikes The bombers of the second round of air strikes also followed. They continued to attack the remaining targets on the sea and gradually extended the attack range from the strait to the shore. , The fleet anchored in Dunkirk and Calais ports were also attacked. At least a dozen transport ships were sunk in the port, and the worst thing is that some of the sunk transport ships happened to block some key routes. It can be expected that these two ports may be quite long in the future. In a period of time, the efficiency will be greatly reduced.

Finally, in this sea-to-air battle called Dover Hell, the British lost at least 320 various aircraft and more than 260 crews. The Germans also lost more than 180 aircraft and 100 crews in this naval battle. Some of these aircraft were forced to abandon due to mechanical failure or injury, so the crew loss was smaller.

As for the British fleet on the sea? In addition to the 4 former dreadnoughts and 3 armored cruisers that were sunk, there are also 5 auxiliary cruisers and several small boats with a total tonnage of more than 150,000 tons! Of course, these old warships are not actually heartache for the British. The most heartache is that there are more than 5,000 naval officers and soldiers lost! This makes the situation of the Royal Navy, which is already stretched, more difficult! You must know that the Royal Navy is not only to maintain the personnel of the large fleet, but also a large number of personnel required by hundreds of various anti-submarine ships. Historically, the auxiliary cruiser force has recruited a large number of civilian personnel. Now, the Royal Navy is on this plane. The shortage of personnel is even greater, so that there are many "civilian-to-military" personnel in the large fleet!

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