Chapter 441: Technology Changes War

Just as he was frantically complaining about the unfairness of the war, he heard the shouts of his crew on deck. He saw them pointing at the

Just as he was frantically complaining about the unfairness of the war, he heard the shouts of his crew on deck. He saw them pointing at the sky, saw them yelling something at him.

He pushed open the cabin door and walked out onto the wind-swept iron staircase. He finally heard the terrible words the crewmen were shouting at him through the morning sea breeze: “My God! Planes! German planes!”

The captain looked up in terror and saw a dozen German naval fighter planes, their wings painted with black iron crosses, flying over their heads. The torpedoes and bombs slung under their bellies looked menacing and powerful.

“It’s over! Everything is over,” the British captain sighed, collapsing onto the staircase. He said in a choked voice, “How can there be German planes here? How can there be German planes here? Huh?”

The German army had taken control of more and more territory in Britain. In these areas were a dozen or so field airfields built by the British. Although some had been damaged, after repairs by German engineers, all of them were back in service. In addition, the Germans had secretly built three of their own airfields. The total air power deployed by the German Air Force on the British mainland had now reached 670 aircraft. The direct benefit of this achievement was that it had freed up the German Navy.

Thus, three German aircraft carriers had appeared on the British transport lines in the North Atlantic, used as the most fearsome long-range commerce raiders. The British supply lines were subjected to the most brutal interception in their history.

Although submarines were very effective and elusive, this weapon was ultimately limited by its own performance and could not completely strangle the British transport fleet. Even under the guidance of Dönitz’s wolf pack tactics, the hunting efficiency had increased, but it was still no match for an aircraft carrier.

A carrier fleet with its own aircraft could control tens of thousands of square kilometers of sea, using its air power to launch rapid strikes on targets within this area. Combined with searches by its carrier-based reconnaissance planes, very few ships could escape the net. This completely strangled the British supply lines and severed Britain’s maritime lifeline.

And this time, Akado had played an even more ruthless hand, one that made the British curse the Germans for their shamelessness after the attack.

“Captain! Captain!” a few seconds after the British captain had collapsed, a crewman ran in breathlessly. “A message in the clear from the German Navy.”

“A message? Read it!” The British captain had nothing left to lose and shouted the order.

“Our fleet has taken control of the surrounding sea. If you wish to surrender, please hang a white flag on your vessel as a sign. In five minutes, our naval air arm will begin to attack all ships not flying a white flag… Surrendered vessels will be taken over by our personnel. Over,” the crewman read, then looked at his superior.

Seeing that his captain was silent for a long time, he had no choice but to timidly ask, “Sir?”

“Raise the white flag…” the captain, his spirit completely broken by the German Navy’s new tactics, said weakly. Fearing his crew hadn’t heard, he repeated, “Raise the white flag!”

Of the several British destroyers, two turned to flee and were sunk by German carrier aircraft not far away. With these two ships as an example, the remaining two British destroyers and seventeen transport ships all raised the white flag. Just like that, the British convoy surrendered.

The British sailors, waiting to be taken over by the German warships, then witnessed an astonishing scene. A large group of strange aircraft slowly flew over, actually hovering above the British ships. Then, fully armed German soldiers descended on ropes from the sky and took control of the British vessels. This scene was repeated up and down the sea, and the German fleet managed to capture 68 British transport ships in a single day.

This highly efficient capture tactic was a suggestion from Akado to his naval commanders, and it was subsequently trained and popularized throughout the navy. To carry out this mission, each aircraft carrier had been equipped with an additional 360 marines.

So when this German naval fleet sailed back into port with 68 transport ships in tow, the entire port of Brest erupted. The haul was a full 200 American M3 tanks, 600 million rounds of 7.7mm machine gun ammunition, 80 million rounds of 20mm cannon shells made to order in America, and 100,000 tons of gasoline. If you also included the more than 600 American pilots who had been sent to support Britain, then this one interception mission was enough to make the British run out of food.

And in fact, the British did run out of food. Five days after the transport line was completely severed, the people waiting at the ports for supplies, who had only received a few cargo ships from South America, completely broke down. Everyone was waiting for food! All the factories were waiting for steel! Everyone was waiting to leave on these ships! What kind of joke was this?

Having lost these transport ships, the British high command knew that the war could no longer be continued. The British Royal Family, already in Liverpool, boarded the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth and left Britain overnight. Under the escort of a dozen destroyers and cruisers, they fled in panic to Canada to “conduct an inspection.”

The next day, construction on the aircraft carriers whose keels had been laid in several important British ports was halted, and demolition charges were placed by engineers on their vital parts. The heavily damaged HMS King George V hastily concluded its repairs and left port, wounded, to rendezvous with the carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious, and slowly set sail for Canada.

With the departure of the last remnants of the Home Fleet, the once-bustling British ports were now empty, with only some barges and transport ships left at their berths, along with a few destroyers and cruisers waiting for their passengers to board.

The families of some political figures and other important personnel began to board the ships. The British Navy was under orders to evacuate key talent to Canada, and the so-called assessment of who was “key personnel” had become a “contestable quota” for powerful people to pull strings and use their connections to get their families out of Britain.

Most civilians chose to take a long detour and flee to the mountains of northern Britain, but this was a dangerous and exceptionally long migration. So, those with even a little bit of means still tried their best to leave by ship. But the roads north were still crowded with refugees, and even normal military movements had been bogged down to the point of impossibility.

In a forest near the coastline of Lowestoft, a German war photographer was taking pictures of a thick, reinforced concrete building, while nearby, some German technicians were measuring some strange data.

“From the type of wiring and the total amount of current it can carry, the power consumption of this detection radar is astonishing…” a German scientist said, taking notes in his analysis report.

“The pre-set foundation is huge, about… about four times the size of the base for our German long-range warning radar. The detection range is probably no less than 100 kilometers. For a warning radar, that’s not particularly far, but it’s enough to predict the flight path of our bombers,” another radar expert with glasses analyzed, pointing to the base on the roof.

“All signs indicate that the British are developing a radar air defense warning system to detect our bombers and provide early warning for their home air force,” an SS intelligence officer said to a professional intelligence officer from the air force. “We contacted you the moment we discovered this. It’s clear this thing has not been successfully developed yet, because it hasn’t been abandoned; it’s simply unfinished.”

The air force intelligence officer nodded and pointed to the already furnished radio room. “But it’s clear they were almost finished, just a little bit too slow… The foundations have already been laid, which means the dimensions of their radar have been determined.”

“That was a close call. Our air force almost suffered a major loss in British airspace,” the SS intelligence officer said, pointing to some equipment that had been destroyed by grenades and flamethrowers before it could be installed. “The Hurricane fighter almost became the main equipment of the British air force, and their radar almost entered service. If we hadn’t been just that little bit faster, the outcome would be hard to say.”

“Determine the signal frequency of this radar as soon as possible and bring the information back to the weapons research center laboratory in Berlin,” an engineer-like figure said to a group of his subordinates. “Pack up every piece of equipment carefully! Don’t damage anything! Understood?”

The SS intelligence officer in charge kicked a loose stone on the ground and looked at the SS soldiers in the distance who were busy packing the wreckage of the British radar system into crates. “What’s the word from Berlin? We’ve found a lot of good stuff in Britain! For example, we found a complete new Rolls-Royce aircraft engine in the warehouse of a British airfield, and now we’ve found an unfinished British radar station…”

“The offensive a few days ago allowed us to pick up a lot of treasures. We’ve captured intact American P-36 fighters and British Hurricane fighters. Especially the American P-36; it seems the British didn’t care much for it. They didn’t even bother to destroy it when they retreated. We captured 70 of them in one go,” the air force intelligence officer said. “The air force has test-flown both types of aircraft. The Hurricane is not bad, but that P-36 is really not that great.”

“The enemy is also making progress…” the SS officer said with emotion, glancing back at the British radar station.

“Indeed,” the air force intelligence officer nodded. “The Führer once said: ‘Not to advance is to fall behind.'”

They all felt it. The advancement of science and technology was changing war. If they did not pay close attention to the technological development of their opponents, and did not do everything possible to keep their own science and technology ahead of their rivals, then what awaited them was the tragic fate of the once-great world powers, Britain and France.

The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair