Chapter 1036: Heading South but Aiming North

On the vast, boundless sea, a huge fleet had quietly assembled. Countless transport ships and warships shuttled among them. In the face of all this, humanity seemed exceptionally small. This was perhaps the most spectacular scene of industrial civilization challenging nature; after all, these warships could be said to have ruled the oceans for nearly a hundred years.

Although this was already the southern part of the North Atlantic, and the sea was no longer cold, the waves still rocked the ships on the surface, a constant reminder that this was not a calm and peaceful place, but a dangerous battlefield that could become stormy and violent at any moment.

Because the entire fleet had to maintain proper radio silence, they communicated with flickering lights. They had been ordered to go to Gibraltar, to pass through it to Italy and engage the Germans. This unlucky plan, who knows which fool had drawn it up, had not even considered the element of coordination.

The Allies, like the Germans, had rich experience in amphibious landings. The German army had accumulated its experience during the landing in Britain and the expedition to Norway, while the British and Americans had won a series of landing operations in the Pacific theater. But this time it was not a landing operation, but the concealed transport of so many troops through an enemy-occupied area, to land in the enemy’s heartland—this was a first for the Anglo-American joint forces.

But how could such a massive transport fleet completely avoid German reconnaissance? The ocean-going German U-boats were all over the ocean, and all kinds of long-range reconnaissance planes were flying from Britain, France, and Gibraltar… The Germans on the other side had countless means to discover this Anglo-American naval force in advance.

“Destroyer 97 signals, they have just monitored some irregular noise, suspected to be an enemy submarine…” a colonel walked to the side of the fleet commander, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, saluted, and reported. “This is the second danger alert today. We are already approaching the dangerous area. If this goes on, we will be completely annihilated by the German navy at Gibraltar.”

Dudley Pound sighed helplessly. Did he not know that his fleet was in great danger? At least, three days after he had set sail with the main fleet of the Royal Navy, he had received a piece of intelligence from the United States: the whereabouts of the main German naval fleet were unknown.

What did “whereabouts of the main German naval fleet unknown” mean? It meant that at least five of the German Navy’s aircraft carriers had already left their home ports and were out on the Atlantic Ocean. Who this enemy fleet was coming for, Dudley Pound naturally knew in his heart. But the landing in Italy was too important for the entire war situation. Even he could not bear the responsibility of casually canceling the operation. He could only grit his teeth and lead the fleet in a huge circle, to approach Gibraltar as covertly as possible.

“Now it all depends on the Italian fleet, on whether they have the ability to interfere with the Gibraltar fortress and let us escape from this death trap,” Dudley Pound said, his hands behind his back, his voice filled with hesitation and wavering. “If that German fleet is really at Gibraltar, I can only say that that will be our grave.”

An American admiral, standing behind him with his hands behind his back, forced a smile and said, “General, it’s not that pessimistic, is it? We are only responsible for the escort mission, we don’t have to actually get close to the Strait of Gibraltar… Even if there are some losses, I don’t think they will be too great, right?”

That’s because you’ve never fought the German aircraft carriers! Compared to the Japanese, the Germans are much more skilled at playing the carrier game, okay? The quality of the German carrier-based aircraft is higher, okay? And more importantly—the Germans can fight completely within the cover of their land-based air force. Is there anything more depressing than that?

With the German deployment at Gibraltar, they could easily sortie over a hundred planes. Adding the number of fighters from the carrier fleet, the German army had a clear, overwhelming advantage. In contrast, on the Allied side, three newly launched escort carriers, plus the Ark Royal—the number of planes they could launch probably wouldn’t even reach a third of the enemy’s. If this wasn’t just feeding the enemy kills, then what was?

“Two originally hostile countries cooperating… involving almost every field, including military ports, transport, and naval warfare. How can an operation of this scale be kept completely secret?” Dudley Pound said mournfully. “Do you really think the German spies are all idiots?”

“This is what worries me most. Up to now, the performance of the German intelligence department in this operation has been too sluggish. They’ve been one step behind, almost as if they’re deliberately letting us go,” the American admiral said. He clearly did not want to see his fleet be outwitted by the Germans. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Let’s have the fleet adjust course and slow down its advance?”

Dudley Pound nodded, which was his agreement to this adjustment. He himself was unwilling to carry out this plan, and what’s more, a warning had just come in about a possible enemy submarine. So he also felt that they should change their sailing parameters, so that his fleet could shake off any possible German calculations. “Order the fleet to reduce speed by another 4 knots, maintain current formation, and adjust course 15 degrees to port!”

“Understood! Reduce speed by 4 knots, rudder 15 degrees to port, adjusting course!” the helmsman said, turning the ship’s wheel and repeating the general’s order. In the sky, the naval P-40 fighters that were escorting the entire fleet were still circling, warily scanning the distant sky.

“Sir! A telegram from Washington!” a British NCO, holding a piece of paper, came up behind Admiral Dudley Pound, stood at attention, saluted, and said, “It’s just been translated, encrypted with the highest level code!”

“Read it!” Dudley Pound received a confirmation telegram from Washington every hour. Since his fleet had left Canada, he had already received countless such confirmation telegrams. If there were no special circumstances, he did not need to reply, just to sign for it. So he had no interest in even looking at it and just casually ordered his subordinate to read the message.

“Operation Artemis is compromised. Mission canceled. Fleet to return to base immediately!” The officer’s voice trembled as he read this message. He himself could hardly believe his eyes. After all, when he had left Canada, he had even left his last will.

“Hmm?” Dudley Pound walked over in disbelief, snatched the telegram from the officer’s hand, and, bowing his head, confirmed it, word by word. And the American admiral behind him also leaned in, checking the contents… Unfortunately, the message was indeed what it was.

“The Italy plan has been exposed? That’s right, how could it not be…” Dudley Pound said with a bitter smile. At this moment, he didn’t know whether to laugh with excitement or to shed tears of sorrow. On the one hand, his fleet and its tens of thousands of men no longer had to take the risk in Italy. This was indeed a piece of good news that made one excited. But on the other hand, it also meant that the opportunity to use Italy to turn the tide in North Africa, to buy time for Britain to reorganize, had completely disappeared.

However, as a famous admiral of the British Navy, Dudley Pound still knew how to prioritize. He immediately ordered radio silence to be broken, to send a telegram to Washington to confirm the accuracy of this order. He then immediately ordered the entire fleet to change course and to head south to avoid a possible encounter.

“All ships in the fleet, hard right rudder!” He gave the order to turn, racing against time, and then gave the order to strengthen the air defense alert. “Have the escort carriers clear their decks, prepare to launch fighters at any time! After completing the turn, immediately disengage to the south from this sea area.”

“In another 20 minutes, the Allied fleet should be entering our attack range…” A German destroyer captain gave a cold laugh, a look of certainty on his face as he looked at his pocket watch. “Prepare the anti-aircraft weapons. Radar to be turned on in 17 minutes for a search!”

About 10 kilometers behind him, on the deck of a German aircraft carrier, one after another of the Fw-190 air-cooled fighters were being armed with bombs under their wings. The German army was determined to win this one, preparing to encircle and annihilate the Anglo-American fleet that was entering the Gibraltar pocket.

Further in the distance, at the Gibraltar fortress, the coastal defense super-guns that had originally been deployed there had already had their camouflage tarps removed, revealing their ferocious fangs. These giant weapons, which had originally been placed there by the British to seal the entire strait, were now, under the operation of the German gunners, pointing in the direction from which their former masters, the Royal Navy, might appear.

“A message from reconnaissance U-boat 6! The target did not pass through his warning area! We’ve lost the target!” Just as Lütjens was in high spirits, preparing to fight a battle of annihilation against the Anglo-American Atlantic fleet at Gibraltar, the next piece of intelligence was like a basin of cold water poured over his head.

“The enemy fleet has turned! We’ve lost contact! They are no longer approaching Gibraltar!” After marking the chart, Lütjens knew he had been too careless. To ensure that nothing went wrong, he had not arranged for air reconnaissance, which had at once cost him two-thirds of his ability to track the enemy fleet.

“Damn it! This group of cunning bastards! They actually sensed the danger at the last moment and turned around?” Lütjens slammed the pencil in his hand onto the chart table and ordered with hatred, “All radars on! We will give chase to the north! I will not let the joint American and British transport fleet just slip through my hands so easily!”

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