I was a tycoon in World War I: Starting to save France - Chapter 640

Galiene acted quickly. The next day, he ordered 200 aircraft through the government in the name of “cooperating with the British Royal Navy to blockade the English Channel”. At the same time, the construction of the airport was also put on the agenda.

However, most of the aircraft were fighters, and only a few Caproni bombers were used for training and testing (testing what problems the Caproni bombers would have on the high-salt and high-humidity seashore and making improvements).

The British would have no objection.

At this time, everyone believed that the role of fighters was limited. They were just fighting for air supremacy, reconnaissance, and attacking the enemy’s logistics supply lines.

Moreover, these were mostly limited to land battles, and naval battles could only be reconnaissance.

What the British did not expect was that all this would be Charles’ conspiracy.

Charles took advantage of the British not realizing the importance of aircraft and took the lead in making arrangements before the British noticed the danger and easily gained sea and air supremacy.

Then, as long as the airport was built and fighters and torpedo attack aircraft were placed there, the overall situation would be determined.

By then, the French Navy, which had been suppressed by the Royal Navy for decades and could only hide in the naval port and dare not compete with the Royal Navy for the Channel, will be proud.

British Fleet: “Get out of the way, you idiots! Look at those small and broken fishing boats, we don’t even need artillery, we can sink you by ramming you!”

French Fleet: “Look up at the sky, arrogant British. Do you see the torpedoes hanging under the bombers? If necessary, we can call dozens or hundreds of them. Think about what the consequences will be!”

The British fleet felt cold in an instant. They only knew that torpedoes were fired into the water, but the French actually put it in the sky!

The guns on the warships were all aimed at enemy warships, and only a few “bang bang guns” were used for air defense, and the target was still seaplanes.

It is far from enough to use this thing to deal with fighters and bombers!

(The above picture shows the “Bang Bang Cannon”, which can be regarded as a large-sized Maxim, with a caliber of 37MM. The British Navy used it in various modifications and combined installations until World War II. It has no tracer bullets, has great defects, and has extremely limited air defense capabilities)

It was not until then that the British suddenly realized that the world’s No. 1 navy had been handed over to the fifth-ranked French Navy. They always thought that the English Channel, which was their inland river, was completely under the control of the French Navy. If they were not convinced, this narrow strait would soon become their graveyard to bury the entire Royal Navy.

……

In the center of London, the war office building in central London, UK, staff officers and secretaries in military uniforms came and went, adding a bit of tension to this Edwardian Baroque-style building.

(The above picture shows the British office building built in 1902, which has now been transformed into the Raffles Hotel.)

In the office on the third floor facing the road, the Minister of Munitions and General Winter looked at the map expressionlessly, watching the staff calculating the timely position of the German fleet on the nautical chart.

“Is the intelligence accurate?” asked the Minister of Munitions.

“Yes, very accurate.” The staff officer replied.

The Quartermaster nodded with satisfaction.

During this period, they have been verifying whether the decoded code is consistent with the actual position of the German fleet.

If it is consistent, it means that the decoded code is correct and the Germans have not discovered it.

Originally, the Quartermaster did not need to worry about this matter, it was the business of the Navy Minister.

However, the code is closely related to the location of the German submarine, and the Quartermaster’s task is to ensure the safety and escort of supplies, so the code is under his responsibility.

General Winter handed over a telegram:

“Sir, the code shows that the Germans will have a sneak attack plan tomorrow.”

“They will send a fleet of 2 battlecruisers and 11 destroyers to attack my Third Fleet.”

The Third Fleet is a British fleet deployed south of the North Sea to block the English Channel. It is the weakest of the three fleets of the British Royal Navy. It is composed of small and medium-sized light cruisers, destroyers and torpedo boats. Its main task is to lay mines and blockade.

Then General Winter added: “We should notify the Minister of the Navy immediately, sir, otherwise it will be too late.”

The Minister of Munitions was silent for a while, and asked slowly: “Do you mean, let the Minister of the Navy send reinforcements?”

“Yes, of course.” General Winter replied: “The Second Fleet can arrive in time.”

The Minister of Munitions shook his head gently: “No, General, we shouldn’t do this.”

“Why?” General Winter looked at the Minister of Munitions in confusion.

“In order to prevent the Germans from noticing something unusual.” The Minister of Munitions raised the deciphered telegram in his hand: “Have you considered that if we can know the Germans’ sneak attack plans in advance every time and avoid danger, some plans are even made temporarily, what do you think the Germans will think?”

General Winter suddenly realized.

The German plan is “tomorrow”, and they are all fast battlecruisers and destroyers. It is very likely that it is just a sneak attack plan made temporarily, as the Minister of Munitions said.

If even the Royal Navy can know in advance, it means intelligence leakage.

So it won’t be long before the Germans will suspect the code!

After a moment of silence, General Winter said, “Then we should at least notify the Third Fleet and let them make some preparations.”

No mistakes in one post, one content, one book, one forum, one 6, one 9!

The Minister of Munitions rejected this suggestion again, his voice was cold: “This is not a rational approach, General, Vice Admiral Avery (Commander of the Third Fleet) may use mines to block the waterway to ensure his own safety, or do some other small actions.”

General Winter understood that the Minister of Munitions intended to sacrifice part of the strength of the Third Fleet to ensure that the German code could continue to be deciphered.

The Minister of Munitions stared at General Winter and said earnestly: “We must do this, General, blocking the main force of the Germans is our real task, understand?”

General Winter responded helplessly: “Yes, sir, I will inform the Minister of the Navy of your suggestion.”

It goes without saying what the result is. The Minister of the Navy will also stand on the side of the Minister of Munitions. They will never be soft in this regard.

At this time, a staff officer pushed the door in and reported: “Sir, the Germans have changed the code.”

“What?” The Minister of Munitions and General Winter were shocked. They looked at each other and didn’t understand what went wrong.

After a while, the Minister of Munitions frowned and said, “Could it be that we are avoiding submarines too often?”

General Winter added:

“And the French fleet is hunting submarines.”

“The Germans don’t know that Charles has developed the ‘echo sounder’, and they can’t figure out why 12 submarines were sunk at once.”

“This may make them suspect that it was due to intelligence leaks.”

The Minister of Munitions nodded slowly.

There are all kinds of possibilities, but it is useless to consider this now. The key point is that the code can no longer be deciphered, and they can’t know the Germans’ subsequent breakout plan!