Chapter 541: Southward Advance

“Full rudder to port! Heading due south!” a first officer shouted, confirming the order on the bridge. For the first time, the German deep-sea fleet was entering the South Atlantic in force, escorting a massive transport convoy of 40 Hercules ships.

This was a large-scale naval operation. Germany had imported a large quantity of rubber from South American countries in one go, which was then formed into a convoy and escorted back to European ports by the German High Seas Fleet. The chemical companies and manufacturers that needed rubber had been eagerly awaiting its arrival, anticipating that high-quality natural rubber products would improve the quality of their own goods.

Natural rubber was still an irreplaceable industrial raw material at this time. Although the IG Farben company had already developed a substitute in the form of synthetic rubber, in terms of quality and properties, it was inferior to the natural product.

Has anyone ever wondered why German tanks in the previous life used the complex design of interleaved road wheels? Because the rims of the tank’s road wheels had to be wrapped in rubber, but the quality of German synthetic rubber did not meet the requirements. So they had no choice but to use small-diameter road wheels or interleaved road wheels to increase the contact area per unit of length, to mitigate the negative effects of the poor-quality rubber.

The fact that the much-criticized German tank running gear was primarily a compromise for the sake of inadequate rubber performance illustrates from another angle how a single technological shortcoming can bring about earth-shaking changes in design application. This is the power of industry, and this is why a transmigrator could not possibly equip the Tang Dynasty army with breech-loading howitzers.

Now, due to the technological innovations of the IG Farben company, the rubber that Germany had stockpiled before the war was about to run out. Originally, rubber could not be stockpiled on a large scale as it would deteriorate over time. However, IG Farben had developed a new technology that could, through processing, extract new rubber from deteriorated rubber. Although this technology had a waste rate of about 15%, it allowed the German military to secretly stockpile rubber supplies before the war.

This was the main reason why, in this timeline, Akado dared to let German tanks be equipped with single-row road wheel running gear, and also why the reliability of German tanks had been greatly improved.

Defeating the British Navy and not having a public falling out with the United States allowed Germany to purchase large quantities of raw rubber from the South American region. The United States, to avoid a complete break with Germany, did not include the important industrial raw material of rubber in its economic sanctions. Correspondingly, the German Navy did not go south to attack the shipping lanes from South America to North America. The two sides were clearly playing a game of tacit understanding while being adversaries.

And the United States now really had no ability to stop Germany from purchasing rubber from South America. This was clearly related to the naval strength of the two sides. For example, the United States could clamor for an arms embargo on Iraq, and everyone would think that was fine. But if one day Iraq were to clamor for sanctions against the United States and impose an arms embargo on it, that would be a complete joke.

The sinking of the American carriers Enterprise and Lexington at Pearl Harbor had dealt a fatal blow to the U.S. Navy’s actual combat capability. The U.S. Navy was already being chased around the Pacific, which it considered its own bathtub, by the Japanese Navy, let alone in the South Atlantic, where it had little strength.

This brings up a historical legacy issue. In fact, it was not that the U.S. Navy did not want to develop its Atlantic Fleet, but that the Atlantic had historically been the exclusive domain of the powerful British Royal Navy. Anyone who wanted to develop their own navy in the Atlantic had to get past the British Navy first.

However, this unreasonable but once-invincible British Navy had been defeated in a short period by the newly rising German Navy. This had suddenly created a power vacuum in the North Atlantic, and the German Navy was now working hard to fill this vacuum. So the slow-to-react United States government had actually fallen behind the originally not-so-powerful German Navy in the North Atlantic.

The aircraft carriers that the United States was building to deal with the Atlantic crisis created by the German Navy had not yet been launched, nor had the carriers that Britain was building in Canadian and American shipyards. The United States was completely unprepared for a two-front war, so they were now implementing a “Pacific first, Atlantic second” operational sequence.

However, at the same time, the British Royal Navy was thinking differently from the U.S. Navy. They had prepared a large number of raiding fleets in the South Atlantic, with cruisers as their core, to intercept German merchant ships, causing a lot of trouble for the German Navy.

Last month, they had sunk four ships plying the route between Germany and Brazil. These four ships belonged to Vichy France, Italy, and Germany, respectively. The German Navy, of course, could not tolerate a transport line that it had established with great difficulty being interfered with by the British Navy. So it immediately sent its fleet south, seeking a decisive battle with the British naval fleet near the South Atlantic.

The German High Seas Fleet, composed of 5 aircraft carriers, 17 armored ships and cruisers of various types, and 25 destroyers, faced off against the British South Atlantic Squadron, which consisted of 1 battleship, 7 cruisers, and 20 destroyers. The Anglo-German South Atlantic Naval Battle broke out on May 22, 1938.

Two days later, one Italian battleship with 3 cruisers and 5 destroyers arrived in the nearby waters, making the Axis naval power even greater. Meanwhile, two British destroyers left the battle area and headed for the Pacific to assist the routed U.S. Navy in the defense of Australia.

Following that, the Vichy French fleet also entered the war zone. One French battleship and one cruiser arrived in the South American waters to investigate the sinking of their country’s transport ship. In fact, although they had not received orders to engage the British Navy, the British Navy had already listed them as an enemy naval force that could be sunk.

On the morning of May 23rd, German naval aircraft spotted a British destroyer flotilla. The first wave of carrier aircraft launched an attack, and the two sides exchanged fire continuously. By the afternoon, all three of the destroyers in the British flotilla had been sunk. But then came the bad news: the main force of the British fleet had headed north and had heavily damaged the Italian fleet.

The Italian battleship was heavily damaged, a cruiser was sunk, and two destroyers were also hit and sunk. The Italian Navy had suffered its heaviest losses since the beginning of the war. However, their losses had yielded important intelligence: the German fleet had fixed the general location of the British South Atlantic Squadron.

The subsequent pursuit was more difficult than anyone had imagined. The British fleet actually closed in on the German Navy rapidly that night, forcing the German High Seas Fleet back a full 30 nautical miles before pulling away and continuing north, as if determined to return to Canada.

And according to the intelligence department, Britain’s only operational aircraft carrier, the HMS Ark Royal, had sortied with the remnants of the Home Fleet. It seemed they were determined to ensure the absolute safety of their squadron. But the German Navy, which had absolute air superiority at sea, did not give its opponent a chance. The next morning, the two sides made contact again. German carrier aircraft sank four cruisers and heavily damaged the flagship of the British South Atlantic Squadron, the battleship HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The British South Atlantic Fleet was now left with only two cruisers (the other had been damaged by the Italians and, due to its reduced speed, had fled in another direction, eventually returning to Canada for repairs). Its combat effectiveness had been reduced to a negligible level, and the shipping lanes in the German South Atlantic were once again clear.

However, the British submarines were extremely difficult to hunt down. After all, anti-submarine escort was a long-term job, unlike surface warfare, which could be decided in a single battle. So Lütjens was ordered to return to base. Subsequently, the German South Atlantic Fleet was established, consisting of two armored ships, two guided-missile destroyers, and two anti-aircraft destroyers, which began to patrol the South Atlantic for long periods, providing escort for the German fleet.

While Germany and Britain were fighting for control of the South Atlantic, the Japanese Navy was in high spirits. Like the German Navy, they were carrying out their own southward advance. They had crushed the American fleet in one fell swoop, had completely occupied Malaysia and the Philippines, and had driven the U.S. Army to Australia.

The “Greater East Asia” alliance, with a seemingly invincible posture, had, with the navy of just one country, Japan, established a dominance over the Asia-Pacific region. Coupled with the subsequent decisive victory of the German Navy in the South Atlantic, for a time, the three major blocs had been re-ranked: the Axis was now number one in the world, the so-called “Greater East Asia” alliance was in second place, and the Allies were actually at the bottom.

This situation was not complicated: the once-invincible British Navy had been defeated by the German Navy, and the U.S. Navy had unexpectedly suffered heavy losses at Pearl Harbor. In addition, the industries of both countries had only just begun to ramp up, and the lost ships had not yet been replaced. That was why they had suffered successive defeats at sea.

However, this did not mean that the United States and Britain would still be in such a sorry state a year later. Akado knew that as long as they survived this difficult first year, even if the Axis had already taken control of Europe, it would not necessarily be able to suppress the Allies, let alone a mere Japan.

He now felt a bit overwhelmed; many things were no longer under his control. Relying on aid or secret intervention could no longer have a great enough impact on the situation, nor could it change the outcome of some events. How to extend his hand into East Asia in the future, to exert a powerful influence on China, to change the post-war world order—all of this needed to be prepared for now.

“Provoking a world war is such a technical job, it’s really not something an ordinary person can play with,” Akado said with a wry smile, putting aside the combat report of the South Atlantic naval battle.

Published: 2025-09-04T04:01:27.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2025-12-18T18:18:10.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c541-advance-138089125

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