Zhou Tianlei's Training (Part 2)

  "This... report, General, I haven't checked it out yet, can't determine what the problem is?"

  "How did you learn in the naval academy? How did your military rank as a naval technical sergeant rise, you're not a new recruit." Zhou Tianlei's face had already turned black. "Listen up, this kind of malfunction generally belongs to hydraulic oil contamination, check the oil route and oil tank as well as the oil moving parts. The problem is usually here, go check it out." He said, turning around and leaving.

  Zhou Tianlei said to Luo Ge, who was still confused by Zhou Tianlei's performance: "I believe that the vast majority of my officers and soldiers are adapted to our war needs, but do you understand? If we have cooked a pot of enema soup and suddenly find a few rat droppings in it, how would you feel?"

  "My first reaction was to go and pour this soup away."

  Zhou Tianlei shook his head in disappointment: "Or maybe my previous metaphor was not suitable, I'll change to another one. Look at this bucket." Zhou Tianlei said while drawing a shape in the air with his hand. Luo Ge nodded and asked: "General, what about it?"

  Zhou Tianlei continued: "If the wooden boards that make up this barrel are of varying lengths, what do you think?"

  Rog shouted: "Sir, isn't that saying that the wooden barrel can only hold water according to the height of the short board, and cannot hold water according to the height of the tall board."

  Zhou Tianlei said: "This metaphor is still not very appropriate, but it also explains the problem. If we have powerful warships, but no sailors and officers who can drive them, can we fully exert the combat effectiveness of these warships? The answer is no. And our opponents are also very strong, they and we are in the 20th century, not us in the 20th century and them in the 18th century. Modern warfare is no longer like before, relying on the number of people to win the battle, but how to grasp the opponent's mistakes and make use of them, and minimize our own mistakes to let the opponent grasp."

  "Like that sailor just now, normally he might not be a problem, but if it's during intense combat, our planes need to take off multiple times. If there's an issue, we need to repair it quickly. There won't be time for him to disassemble the plane and slowly find the fault. Our fleet has expanded too rapidly recently, and many personnel may not have kept up with the progress of the expanding fleet scale. So I think our fleet should take these few days to conduct special training."

  "Special training?" Roger asked in puzzlement.

  "Yes, it's a training to enhance their level, I want to try and see how it goes."

  Zhou Tianlei smiled secretly in his heart: In fact, it's quite simple. It's a method to stimulate the enthusiasm of employees by imitating how Japanese people manage companies. It's just using their positions to entice them, but since this is an army, this idea needs some adjustments before it can be tried out here.

  At the fleet officer meeting on Sunday, Zhou Tianlei announced this 'reform' plan, which immediately caused a stir among German officers. However, this was within Zhou Tianlei's expectations. He sat silently without speaking until the officers' whispers had almost subsided before saying: "This plan is currently only being tested on the aircraft carriers 'Rhein' and 'Zeppelin', and its scope is limited to soldiers and non-commissioned officers. But I want to tell you that if I see good results from this trial, I will implement it throughout the fleet and expand its scope to include officers. As for how far it will be extended at that time, we'll discuss it further then." The meeting was dismissed.

  In the evening, a lot of people gathered at the entrance of the Water Soldier Canteen, and everyone was looking at a poster posted there.

  The poster reads: Now, according to training and combat needs, a special training program is being implemented on a trial basis. The details are as follows:

  Soldiers and military personnel on board the "Rhine" and "Zeppelin" aircraft carriers participated in this training without distinction of rank, all equal.

  2. The training period is half a month. After half a month, the training situation will be evaluated by senior military officers.

  3. Those who perform exceptionally during the training period may be considered for rewards ranging from verbal praise to salary increases and promotion in rank at the time of evaluation.

  4. The training content is the performance of sailors and soldiers in their daily work and combat. If someone can propose improvement suggestions within their own job responsibilities, they will be given extra points during evaluation.

  The signature is the German High Seas Fleet Command. After reading it, some quick-reacting sailors realized that this was their chance to get ahead and promote themselves by this method. If one could be quickly promoted from an ordinary soldier to a military officer, it would definitely be a very exciting thing. While other soldiers realized that if they didn't work hard to show themselves, they would eventually be eliminated.

  On the second day, Zhou Tianlei went to another deck and hangar, where he saw that a considerable number of soldiers had understood the meaning of his announcement the previous day. The work looked much more energetic, and many people began to try to learn and improve themselves.

  Zhou Tianlei let out a sigh of relief after seeing this, he originally thought that the German sailors would need some time to understand the content of the poster, but it seems that under the temptation of money and honor, there are actually very few fools in this world.

  He returned to the fleet command center set up on the flight deck of the carrier, where Rog already had some reports ready for him.

  Chow Tianlei took over the report, only to see that the first report was about the Gibraltar area. Spain agreed to lease the area to Germany for 50 years in accordance with the requirements of the De Xi secret treaty. The rent for Germany had been specified in the secret treaty, so it was not detailed. Now German troops have begun to occupy the area, taking over the airport and other military facilities originally set up by the British army there. In particular, the German air force has stationed J-88 dive bombers that have undergone training in attacking sea targets.

  The second report is about the repair status of French naval vessels. The German Navy can now utilize a considerable number of warships, as the swift and decisive action of the German paratroopers on that day meant many French sailors did not have time to sabotage their ships, so the vessels are largely intact. However, the biggest problem now is the lack of experienced sailors to man them. Zhou Tianlei thought that he could only draw personnel from his own fleet, then use veterans to lead newcomers and bring the troops up to speed as soon as possible. However, with the Malta operation imminent, these veteran soldiers would only be able to start transferring after the battle was over.

  He asked Roge to hold a fleet internal meeting in the conference room of the flagship first, to study the specific details of the Malta operation plan.

  As the meeting was about to begin, Zhou Tianlei entered the conference room, and all the naval officers stood up and saluted him with a military salute. Zhou Tianlei also returned a standard military salute.

  He sat down and said, "Now our time is limited, so let's not say much more nonsense." He turned around and gestured to the operations staff to pull open the curtain covering the map on the wall. After the operations staff pulled open the curtain, he pointed at the map and said, "Everyone look, this is a map of the Mediterranean. Everyone probably already knows that we have now taken control of the Strait of Gibraltar, which connects the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. We have cut off Britain's most convenient connection line in Asia, but this does not mean we can maintain this advantage. The British Mediterranean fleet is still in the Mediterranean, and if they lose a battle, they can retreat eastward to Egypt and defend their Suez Canal with all their might. If we lose, we will have to withdraw from the Strait of Gibraltar. There is also the possibility that their rebuilt home fleet will come and give us a good beating. At that time, if we can return to our pre-war state, I would be very satisfied. So everyone must not think that just because we have taken control of the Strait of Gibraltar, we have won. This is only a small success on the road to victory, and it is easy for us to lose it. Therefore, we must now enter the second phase of combat operations."

  "In the Mediterranean, apart from the Strait of Gibraltar, there are Malta, Sicily and Crete. Sicily is under our ally Italy's control, but Malta and Crete are not under our control. We need to take them by force. Since Crete belongs to Greece, if our navy acts alone, we will definitely be unable to swallow it, so this requires coordination with the army. So now our goal is - Malta."

  The voice of the combat staff officer sounded in the conference room: "Malta is located in the central Mediterranean, at the intersection of the east-west route from Gibraltar to the Suez Canal and the north-south route from Italy to North Africa. It is 93 kilometers away from Sicily, Italy. The terrain is a limestone hill country, with high terrain in the southwest and low terrain in the northeast. The highest point in the southwest has an elevation of 253 meters. The southern and southwestern coastlines are steep, with many caves. The northern and eastern coastlines are low and flat, with winding shorelines and hidden bays. The soil is thin and rocky, with few trees, mostly small shrubs. It belongs to a typical Mediterranean climate, with hot and dry summers, mild and humid winters, and sufficient sunshine throughout the year. The annual rainfall is about 530 mm. Autumn and winter are often hit by storms. This is some of the geographical and astronomical situation of the island.

  The British garrison on the island now consists of army and naval air forces, with three aerodromes at Halfar, Luqa and Takali, a flying boat base and radar station at Kalafrana. Their combat aircraft comprise one fighter squadron, No 261 Squadron, with twelve Hurricane fighters. Eight of the previous twelve Sea Gladiator fighters remain, five Swordfish torpedo bombers and one reconnaissance plane. In addition, their ground forces are organised as follows:

  Royal Corps of Signals Malta Signal Troop; 26th Anti-Tank Regiment, Royal Artillery, comprising 15th, 40th, 48th and 71st Anti-Tank Batteries

  The 4th Heavy Artillery Regiment of Royal Garrison Artillery at Tigne, comprising the 6th, 10th and 23rd Heavy Batteries.

  7th Anti-Aircraft Brigade, Royal Artillery comprising 10th and 13th Anti-Aircraft Batteries, Royal Artillery and 5th Anti-Aircraft Battery, Royal Malta Artillery

  The 1st (Delimara) HAA Battery, Royal Malta Artillery, The 2nd (Mtarfa) HAA Battery, Royal Malta Artillery, The 3rd HAA Battery, Royal Malta Artillery

  The 7th Searchlight Regiment (based in Mtarfa)

  16th Fortress Company, Royal Engineers; 24th Fortress Company, Royal Engineers (at Tigné, including a Malta section)

  The 1st Battalion of the Royal Malta Artillery (at Lower St Elmo)

  Royal Malta Artillery, with headquarters at Upper St Elmo, comprising the 1st Heavy Battery (at Fort Rocco) and the 2nd Heavy Battery

  1st Heavy Battery (garrisoned at Fne), 3rd Heavy Battery (garrisoned at Fort St Elmo)

  Royal Malta Artillery 4th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery

  Malta trip, jurisdiction:

  Devonshire Regiment 2nd Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment 1st Battalion, Queen's Own Kent Regiment 2nd Battalion (at Tarxien), Royal East

  The 2nd Battalion of Irish Rifles.

  "This was compiled in October last year, following our victory at Dunkirk, the British Army has withdrawn the following units back to the UK for home defence: 4th Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery stationed at Tigne, 10th and 13th Light Anti-Aircraft Batteries of 7th Anti-Aircraft Regiment Royal Artillery, 4th Heavy Battery Royal Malta Artillery, and 2nd Battalion The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment from the Malta Brigade. There are no new British Army units arriving in Malta."

  "General," asked Roge, "the British Mediterranean Fleet is based in Alexandria, Egypt. If we start attacking Malta, what will the British Mediterranean Fleet do?"

  "They will definitely respond, now the British Mediterranean fleet in the Mediterranean has become a very awkward force. Originally, their allied French fleet had been largely captured by us. Moreover, our ally, the Italian Navy, is on its way to reinforce them. They once deployed a small fleet in the Gibraltar area, but this fleet was recalled to Britain after our destruction of the British home fleet. However, I think that if our intelligence work is not done well and the British learn about our plan in advance, we will be raided by the British. Although we are not afraid of the strength of the British fleet, it will be our Northern Fleet that participates in the battle, while our Southern Fleet cannot join the fight for the time being. Although the Italian fleet appears to be quite strong, let's not forget the performance of this lovely ally in World War I and their recent performance on the French southern front line, so I don't expect them to play a big role."

  "Gentlemen, this is our first joint landing operation of the army, navy and air force. If successful, its significance to us will be self-evident. After this plan is drawn up, I will take it back to Germany for approval. The fleet will go to a French port for repairs, and after the plan is approved, we will begin our pre-war adaptive training. I have already come up with a code name for this action, called 'Operation United Star'. We will mobilize large numbers of troops from all three services to complete our plan. That's why I came up with this name. Gentlemen, let's take a break and have a cup of coffee before continuing to discuss the specific details of the operation."

  The German officers burst out laughing and took over the coffee from the plates held by the orderly who had just come in behind them.