Battle of the Third Reich

"Captain Henslake, this is the last box. If there is no problem, sign here." The Moroccan businessman said by pointing at the signature on the lower edge of the manifest.

"Do you have any good wine here?" The captain of the navy took the pen handed over by the businessman and signed the name on the bill of lading.

"There are some Gires, if you want, you can give you a discount." The Moroccan took the bill back from the captain's hand, glanced down, and then handed over to the attendant standing behind him.

"What is Gires?" the captain asked, tilting his head in doubt.

"Guires is Gires, it's good wine." The Moroccan made a drink gesture with his fingers.

"This is what the Spanish call it, which is actually sherry." Kobiski reminded not far away that he was instructing the sailors to remove the hook from the net.

"Sherry? Is there any whiskey?" Henslake looked at the Moroccan businessman.

"No, the French just removed all my inventory." The businessman shook his head helplessly.

"Okay, how much is a bottle."

"Five marks."

"Why don't you grab it?"

"I'm a legitimate businessman with a clear price, you can choose not to buy."

"Okay, give me fifty bottles. This is fifty marks, even if it's a deposit." The captain of the navy took out a stack of paper money from the pocket of his uniform and counted a dozen or so to the supplier.

"This is not good enough, okay, when do you want the goods." Seeing the captain's eyes widened, the businessman decided to compromise temporarily.

"The sooner the better."

"Then tomorrow morning, I will let the people deliver the goods, remember to clear the remaining money, Captain Henslake." The businessman smiled and extended his right hand to shake the deal with the captain.

The Moroccan came in a large rowing boat controlled by twenty strong North African oarsmen. The businessman returned to the rowing boat with his escort. He turned back and waved enthusiastically to the captain.

"See you later, Abdul." With a bright smile on the captain's face, he waved his arms as if to bid farewell to a best friend.

"This Moroccan is a slippery head." Kobiski had already finished his work.

"But he can get a lot of good things. In addition to what the wine needs in the officer's restaurant, the rest of the wine has changed hands in Italy, and the price can at least turn over. I have asked someone specifically to ask, where the supplies are now tight, it is easy You will be able to release the goods." The captain of the navy pressed his companion's waist ribs and said mysteriously.

"Well, I'm not very expert on this, but I advise you to be careful. Colonel von Camp is not easy to fool."

"Relax, I won't violate the military regulations. The lieutenant colonel can't hold my handle." The captain grinned at the friend's shoulder.

"I heard that there might be a fight this time, are you not nervous at all?" Captain Kobisky leaned on the bulletproof fence of the anti-aircraft gun group and pulled a cigarette case from the pocket of his uniform.

"Is there anything to worry about, aren't we just here for this? Look around, what a beautiful battleship this is." Captain Henslake pulled a cigarette from his friend's cigarette case.

"The problem is that the battleship is about to face the first actual battle, but there are still a large number of systems and equipment that have not been debugged."

"So I'm not worried at all. In this operation, we at most act as a deterrent. Marshal Redell certainly knows the situation of this ship. He will never take this precious warship to take risks." Henslake comforted With his companion, he immediately took out the lighter and lit the cigarette.

"Just as I said before, Jean Barr’s combat preparation is only 90% complete. Our fire control system still has problems and needs some necessary tests. The specific circumstances, I have written in The report is here." The deputy captain Colonel Hendrik von Camp reported seriously to the squadron commander.

"The superior also knew these difficulties, but at most they could only give us two more days. At that time, anyway, Jean Barr would have to play with the fleet. The Nelson's engine failed, and she had to be removed from the blockade. Replace it.” Major General Walner Stephen, the squadron commander, pushed a document in front of him to Colonel Camp.

"Captain Calviz is temporarily unable to carry out his mission. The headquarters has agreed to let you temporarily act for him. Congratulations, Colonel Camp, you are now Jean, the acting captain of Barr." Admiral Station He got up and shook hands with the new acting captain.

"I will fly to Toulon for a meeting tomorrow. I hope you can complete the rest of the work before I come back. I believe you have this ability. Colonel, remember that the head of state is always paying attention to the progress of the plan. The Navy must not let He was disappointed." The squadron commander raised his chest and raised his right arm.

"Hi! Reinhardt!"

"Hi! Reinhardt!" Von Camp quickly raised his hand in return.

Seeing the squadron commander boarding his shiny traffic boat, the acting captain finally took a deep breath. Captain Calviz contracted dysentery in the city of Tunis. This is really a joke. I thought it was just a simple intestinal disease, but I did not expect to cause a series of complications. The poor navy commander almost lost his life because of diarrhea. Fortunately, the Navy sent the latest antibacterial drugs by plane, which dragged the captain back from the death, but almost half his life was still left.

Camp had long expected this meeting today because he was the best candidate for the captain. This experienced deputy captain on this battleship has absolute authority. I believe that he will take over the role of captain. No officers or soldiers on the whole ship will object.

"Jean Barr." Standing on the broad front deck, Camp raised his head and looked at the towering bridge, the 47-year-old naval captain, it was almost difficult to suppress the excitement at the moment.

At this moment he finally got his wish and became the captain of a battleship. Although he was only an agent captain, Camp was confident that with his talent, he would soon be able to remove this ugly prefix.

The most powerful battleship in the history of the French Navy, quietly docked in Tunisian harbour, on top of her towering mast, a huge German navy cross war flag fluttered in the wind.

As for how this battleship will fall into the hands of the Germans, there is an interesting story behind it.

At that time, the Germans had already approached Saint-Nazaire, and her sister ship Richelieu hurriedly fled the home port with a full ship of military and political personnel and refugees.

Jean Barr was also prepared to escape before, but encountered trouble when the power system was commissioned, because the workers were eager to rush to work, and many pipes and lines were not tested. As a result, the boiler was started soon. Three of the four steam turbines The station had problems one after another, the temperature of the machine room rose sharply, and several steam pipes also broke.

At this moment, it was obviously too late to return to the dock for replacement and commissioning. The German vanguard was less than 20 kilometers away from the port. The German Army’s light reconnaissance aircraft had appeared over the city of Saint-Nazaire.

The first captain of the battleship was the French naval captain Pierre Jean Ronald. He immediately decided to stop unnecessary repairs. He summoned the technical personnel of the shipyard to discuss relying on the existing power and the previously prepared Whether the two port tugs can let this warship leave the port.

At the meeting, Deputy Captain Major Rodlake Du Berticchik and Naval Supervision Engineer Dr. Gasquet made a new proposal. They thought that the warship should be directly chiseled in the dock, so that it can be avoided Let the pride of the French Navy fall into the hands of the German invaders.

The Penoy shipyard that made the Barn had no suitable berth before. In order to build this unprecedented giant ship of the French Navy, they deliberately chose a suitable river bank upstream of the shipyard and specially built a new cement cofferdam. Just inside a thick concrete wall, Jean Barr completed the preliminary construction and outfitting.

In the original plan, while the battleship was being built, the local river management department would dig a fairway between the dock and the main channel of the port.

But because of bureaucracy and several accidents in a row, the progress of the project lags far behind the original plan.

The French thought that the Germans would leave them enough time for them to complete the construction of this warship. In the eyes of the government bureaucrats, the dredging of the waterway became less urgent, so they transferred their valuable manpower and equipment to The construction of the southern military port was built.

So until the day before the Germans arrived, this channel was just finished hastily, and there wasn't even time to send someone to check it out, and don't mention sending a ship for a trial voyage.

Now facing Captain Jean Ronald is a difficult multiple choice question. If he insists on breaking through, he must run the risk of the warship stranding in the waterway. (To be continued.)

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