Who did the "generator" of the Western European campaign electrocute (II)?

  After the British escort destroyer flotilla flagship 'Westminster' sank, the 'Saladin' destroyer, which took over the command of the flagship, wanted to gather as many of the remaining rescue ships composed of trawlers and yachts as possible and take them back to Britain. It began to lay a large smoke screen in an attempt to block the Germans' line of sight. But how could the German intercept fleet let them go? The German intercept fleet's flagship 'Brüchel' ordered the destroyer to cut off the British escape route as soon as possible. At the same time, U-9 underwater had already passed under the rescue fleet and when it found that the British on the surface were in a mess, it couldn't help but start looking for targets again.

  In the UK, the Home Fleet Command, the Admiralty and Churchill's Prime Minister's Office almost simultaneously received an urgent distress call from the British rescue fleet. They were nearly stunned - when did German warships appear in the English Channel, and why had British patrol boats never reported anything? On the contrary, there were many reports about the actions of the German Navy in Norway and Denmark, and wasn't it always said that the German Navy might launch a surprise attack on British military bases in the North Sea? How could they have appeared in the Strait? Now the British Admiralty began to analyze the scale of the German fleet - was it possible that this was just a group action by German raiders or a premeditated battle by the German Navy. If it was the former, Britain only needed to send 2 battleships and corresponding cruisers and destroyers to annihilate the German fleet; if it was the latter, it would mean that the Germans had come out in full force this time - but did they have the courage? Did they dare to tweak the whiskers of the British Empire? Now they didn't even have an advantage at sea, so the staff finally determined that this was just a group action by German raiders. The basis for this judgment was that the flagship of the German intercept fleet, the heavy cruiser 'Blücher', and the light cruisers 'K?ln' and 'Leipzig' had all recently attacked British convoys in the Atlantic. Therefore, the British Admiralty made this judgment - although the German fleet was not large, it had already posed a great threat to the British rescue fleet today. The current battle report said that the flagship of the British escort destroyer squadron, 'Westminster', had sunk. Others could no longer withstand the attack. Moreover, these German raiders usually hid and played hide-and-seek with the British Navy - now they had come out just in time for the powerful British fleet to annihilate them. Therefore, the British Admiralty began to notify the British Home Fleet to prepare to send a fleet to destroy the German intercept fleet, while other warships continued to wait at their bases for the German raiders.

  Churchill was shocked by the report, how did the Germans get to the English Channel, and how could they gather in convoy 025 to attack our rescue fleet. It wasn't their main fleet that moved out, their main fleet's target is still our North Sea base, according to intelligence showing they will launch a surprise attack on our North Sea naval base tomorrow or the day after tomorrow when our power generation plan starts.

  Churchill's face turned red with anger and he asked, "How did the German warship know that our rescue fleet was on its way? Was the intelligence leaked to the Germans in advance? And how did they manage to evade our daily reconnaissance of the strait and lay an ambush right under our noses?" He then ordered, "Now, quickly dispatch a fleet to wipe out those damned Germans. After that, your Navy Department will have to submit a detailed report."

  "Yes, Prime Minister," replied the officer, "We've already mobilized the battlecruisers 'Hood' and 'Repulse', as well as the cruiser 'Devonshire'. We've also taken all the battleships, battlecruisers, aircraft carriers, most of the cruisers, and destroyers from our home fleet. Even with these vessels withdrawn, we can still maintain a firepower advantage over the German High Seas Fleet. Moreover, they will never expect us to launch a surprise attack on them. If we don't withdraw these ships, the Germans might discover our plan, making it difficult for us to annihilate them later. However, since aircraft carriers cannot be mobilized, I need the Royal Air Force to provide air cover with fighter planes to prevent German bombers from attacking us."

  Churchill replied, "That's no problem, I'll have Dowding dispatch a squadron of fighters to support you. Now go and execute your mission, send those detestable Germans to the bottom of the sea!"

  At this time, the British escort destroyer squadron still wanted to cover the remaining yachts and trawlers to retreat back to Britain. However, they found that German destroyers had cut off their retreat route, and worse still, the intercepting fleet's flagship 'Brüchel' and two light cruisers 'K?ln' and 'Leipzig' had joined the two destroyers that cut off their advance route, pressing towards them together. There were also submarines lurking in some corner, ready to sink them at any time. They hadn't heard the sound of submarines just now, so they judged that the submarines must be under the group of yachts and trawlers they were escorting, using their noise to cover themselves.

  Suddenly, the 'Saladin' which had taken over as flagship of the British escort destroyer squadron from the 'Westminster', found that the German fleet had stopped shelling. They were contacted by lamp signal and asked to surrender. At this moment a humming noise was heard from the direction of France, and soon some black dots appeared on the horizon, moving very fast. The British soon discovered that these were more than twenty Stuka dive bombers escorted by a dozen BF-109 fighters, which after flying over the British ships did not attack but merely circled above them in a show of force.

  The U-9 submarine, which had been operating underwater, observed that the intercepting fleet and air squadron had taken control of the situation. Under the command of Captain Wolfgang Lüth, it surfaced with a flourish in front of the British forces. The sailors on board rushed to man the machine guns and deck cannons, which were then trained on the British.

  The British escort destroyer flotilla flagship 'Saladin' saw that the situation was hopeless, and the new commander of the 'Saladin', after consulting with two other destroyers via wireless telegraphy, decided to surrender in order to save the lives of the remaining British sailors on board the destroyers and the civilian crew members of the rescue ship convoy they were escorting. However, they also decided that the warships could not be handed over to the Germans under any circumstances. They had to be sunk in the Atlantic Ocean. But this action had to be kept secret from the Germans, who must not discover their intentions.

  The British escort destroyer flotilla flagship 'Saladin' sent a signal to the German intercept fleet's flagship 'Brüchel' asking the Germans to accept their surrender. The request was made in accordance with the Geneva Convention, demanding fair treatment of the crew, especially civilian sailors who were not military personnel and therefore could not be handed over to the German SS. The German intercept fleet's flagship 'Brüchel' agreed to these demands but also put forward the Germans' own requirements: the warships were not allowed to open their sea valves to sink them, they had to sail under escort to a port controlled by German troops for disarmament. Otherwise, all surrender conditions previously agreed upon by the German Navy would be automatically cancelled. If the British refused or did not give a satisfactory reply within ten minutes, the German intercept fleet and supporting aircraft would open fire on the British, after which the British would no longer have such good terms to surrender. The captain of the British escort destroyer flotilla flagship 'Saladin' and commander of the British escort destroyer flotilla fainted upon seeing the German response. How did the Germans guess our intentions? They actually wanted us to surrender with our warships! But now the British were in a desperate situation, and no reinforcements had arrived. It was truly an internal and external predicament!

  The captain of the German intercept fleet flagship 'Brüchel' and commander of the German intercept fleet, Riedel, also thought that today's command from Lütjens, the commander of the German Ocean Fleet, was quite strange. He asked him carefully, capturing the enemy sailors was possible, but why did he have to capture the warships as well? Wasn't victory in a sea battle just about sinking or heavily damaging more of the enemy's warships while minimizing one's own damage?

  Lüterans gave himself a heavy slap and said, "How did you become such an honorable naval officer? Don't you know that our warships are in short supply now?"

  "We can make it ourselves." Riddle said discontentedly.

  "Build our own? When do you think those warships will be launched? We're at war now, do we have the time to wait for our own ships to be built and launched? Will the British and French wait for our ships to join our Third Empire's naval fleet before engaging us in battle? Would you, as a Briton, have such gentlemanly manners? After we capture the British and French warships, repair and modify them, and then add them to our combat fleet, wouldn't that be slower than building our own? You're not unaware of how difficult it is for our navy to build new ships! Our budget is much smaller than the air force and army. So now we must implement 'no guns, no cannons, Britain and France will build for us.' The British and French navies are just stepping stones for us to become stronger. If you smash all the stepping stones, when can we grow taller? Will our potential enemies wait for us to develop our strength? You really are stupid. How can we entrust more troops to your management?" Lüte Ensi said with disdain.

  The British convoy destroyer fleet and the British rescue ship they escorted were divided into two groups according to the requirements of the German Navy, one group for civilian ships and the other for military vessels. German sailors boarded the remaining British destroyers, locking up surviving British sailors and naval officers in separate holds. Armed guards were posted outside the doors, while other German sailors inspected the British destroyers according to their specialties. Damage control was carried out on some of the more heavily damaged areas. The British destroyers were then set in motion, sailing towards a port in Belgium controlled by German forces under the escort of two German destroyers.