Back to 1939 Sea Wolf

  Jack and his crew finally did not hear or feel the terrifying descent sound and powerful impact of the deep water bomb. The sonar operator carefully sat down at his post, picked up the headphones and listened, excitedly saying: "Captain, it seems the Germans have left." Jack gestured for him to put what he heard on the submarine's public address system. After a while, everyone heard the sound of the main engine of the ships on the surface changing from loud to small, as if they were gradually moving away.

  Jack let out a sigh and wiped the sweat from his face with a handkerchief. He picked up the phone and asked, "Is the flooding in the engine room under control?"

  "Water ingress has been contained but we have now lost a significant amount of power and cannot go full speed, we need to get on the surface for repairs." was the response from the engine room.

  "Alright, rise to the surface for now, but be prepared for an emergency dive."

  As compressed air was blown into the submarine's ballast tanks, the Simon began to slowly leave the seafloor and rise towards the surface.

  As the periscope of the "Simon" broke through the surface, Jack suddenly yelled: "Not a single German has escaped, emergency dive, emergency dive."

  Before the sailors below could react, a 150mm shell landed next to the submarine's periscope. The shell instantly pierced the outer wall of the 'Simon' command cabin, and a large amount of seawater poured in.

  The "Simon" finally surfaced helplessly, and the German ships surrounded it. As a result, only more than 20 people were rescued from there. These more than 20 people survived in the engine room and the first torpedo room because the watertight doors were well sealed. The others had been drowned by the large influx of seawater during the German ship's bombardment just now.

  In one of the POW camps holding British and French troops, one morning, a large number of German soldiers suddenly rushed in. After a while, the commander of the camp ordered the prisoners to gather inside the camp.

  After the prisoners of war gathered, several German officers who led the troops walked forward, their sharp eyes scanning the faces of the prisoners. A moment later, they turned back and said something to the commander of the prisoner-of-war camp, pointing at those prisoners with their hands.

  The prisoners of war did not know what the Germans wanted to do, but they thought that nothing good would happen, and one by one, their faces showed terrified expressions.

  The commander of the POW camp took out a pen and scribbled on a piece of paper for half a day, then shouted at the prisoners: "You all listen carefully, when I call out a number, that person must immediately step forward."

  "28, 32, 41..." The commander of the POW camp called out some numbers of prisoners. When other prisoners who were not called looked at those whose numbers were called, they found that they were all Arab soldiers.

  The commander of the POW camp came down from the high platform after reading out the numbers, looked carefully and then said to those German officers: "All the people you want are here. They're all present."

  The German officer stepped forward and shouted at them in English: "Attention, right turn, quick march!"

  At the end of them were several German Blitz medium trucks, and after the Arab soldier prisoners got on the truck, the German soldiers put down the tarpaulin. Several trucks carrying Arab soldiers left the prisoner-of-war camp under the escort of German soldiers who were transporting them. The same thing was happening in other prisoner-of-war camps.

  As the Arab soldiers who thought they would be taken away to be shot or made to do forced labor got off the car, German soldiers lifted up the canvas and told them to get down. They only then discovered that they had arrived at a very large military camp. And it wasn't just people from their own prisoner-of-war camp who had come.

  After these Arab soldiers lined up on the drill ground of the military camp, a German high-ranking officer came out with an Arab man wearing an Arabic long gown behind him.

  The Arab soldiers stared strangely at the man in the Arab robe, wondering how someone wearing traditional Arabic clothing could appear in Europe.

  It wasn't until the man removed his headgear that some of the Arab soldiers cried out in surprise; the man standing before them was an assistant to the Grand Mufti, the chief interpreter of Islamic law. Some of the soldiers had seen him before.

  "This man stepped forward, took the microphone that the Germans had prepared for him and said: 'Who are you people? You are Arabs. Why do you want to go and fight for those British and French who ride on your backs, we Arabs? The great God says that now is the time for us, his subjects, to rise again. He demands from us, pious Muslims, to take up our weapons and drive out those who have been occupying our lands, sucking our blood - the accursed British and French. That land is ours, and on it we can no longer allow these people who drink our blood to oppress us.'"

  "Now, I command you to follow their training. After your training is complete, you will be sent back to our lands where you will engage in combat with the English and French devils. Allah will protect you, and you will be great heroes of our Arab nation." The Arab soldiers who were inspired by the assistant interpreter's words cheered loudly.

  In the fleet, Zhou Tianlei received news that Germany's strongest battleship 'Bismarck' had begun to join the German Navy. He asked: "Isn't this battleship supposed to be formally commissioned two months ago? Why is it only starting to serve now?"

  The officer in charge said: "That's for the new type of anti-aircraft weapon you proposed to equip the general, and some of the original 20mm high guns were dismantled to reduce the weight of the upper structure. In addition, according to the general's idea, the armor configuration of the steering room was strengthened. These things still need to go through sea trials, so its formal service date has been postponed."

  Zhou Tianlei is now rethinking his Mediterranean campaign in his mind. The Strait of Gibraltar has been temporarily controlled by the Germans, no matter how it was taken. The UK has not yet made a formal response to this, possibly because they have not thought of a way to respond to this situation. The British must be very clear that although the Spanish directly occupied Gibraltar, the real culprit is the Germans. Without German support, Spain would not dare to do so even if it borrowed a few more guts. However, since the UK has no formal response now, it must be because Germany is hiding behind the scenes and only striking at the forefront of Spain's performance, which can't have much effect. But if they attack Germany, they can't find any suitable reason. However, the British will not give up, they will definitely make a comeback.

  In order to counter the British comeback, the next step is to quickly take actual control of the Mediterranean and thoroughly block the British idea of adventure.

  He walked to the map and watched Malta. The island is located in the central Mediterranean, although the island's area is not large, but if it is based on the island, the range of attacks can control the entire western Mediterranean. In World War II, the German and Italian armies recognized the value of the island, but hoped to induce the island to surrender to the German and Italian armies through large-scale bombing. However, the island did not surrender as expected by Germany and Italy, but persisted in resistance. As a result, the island has been like a nail stuck in the logistics line of Rommel's African army. And the reason why Rommel's African army was defeated is largely due to logistics.

  Although we have now taken control of the Strait of Gibraltar, this is not stable and the British still have the ability to take it back at any time, even with the help of American power. So we can't think like some German generals that taking down the Strait of Gibraltar will be a complete victory. Far from it. If the British regain control of the Strait of Gibraltar, our previous efforts will be in vain. Therefore, whether from which side to consider, we should take down Malta and make it a solid support point for Germany in the Mediterranean.

  He is now preparing to return to the French port with the fleet, and then he will start preparing for the battle to capture Malta. As for Crete in Greece, it will be discussed with the army how to do it.

  After thinking about this, he felt his head was so dizzy and decided to return to his own rest cabin to write a letter to his new wife in Germany.

  After returning to his own cabin, he began to pick up pen and paper, pouring out his longing for Li Xia on the letterhead.

  Dear Xia, are you doing well in Germany? How's your brother? Do you miss me?

  Our naval exercise has officially ended and we will return soon. During this exercise, we sank a British submarine and captured more than 20 Britons. Be proud of your husband's victory.

  Of course, I remember what you said to me on our wedding night. You roughly said that in Asia, Japan is invading your country and Japan and Germany are allies, but I married a German general. I don't know if my actions fall into the category of traitor or not. My husband is fighting against the British, and although my homeland is not yet an ally with Britain, it will be in the future. Wouldn't that make me an indirect traitor? I love my husband, but I also love my country. How should I choose between them? Before our marriage, I asked my father about this, and he only mysteriously said to me: "Believe your German husband, he absolutely won't let you become a person stuck in the middle of him and China." Besides that, he wouldn't say anything else. That's why on our wedding night you asked me these questions.

  Now I'll repeat what I said, and you'll think that marrying me is a very right choice. You don't have to worry about it at all. Nor do you need to worry about being a traitor. Of course, there are many things I can't tell you. But please believe your husband, he's not someone who doesn't keep his promises.

  I received the letter you sent a few days ago. You said that on the day before writing the letter, you met the wife of the Japanese ambassador to Germany in Berlin. After learning about your identity, she wanted to invite you to participate in some so-called activities, but you rejected her on the spot. What I want to say is, Xia, what you did was very good, refusing those Japanese people. I also despise them. As for why I despise them, I won't say much. You just need to know that your husband supports you in dealing with the Japanese. He will never tell you about the German-Japanese alliance or ask you to be nice to those Japanese people.

  After saying so much, I'm a bit tired too, Xia. I love you, truly love you. Wait for me to come back, baby. Your loving husband. By the way, recently I took a Chinese name for myself, it's Zhou Tian Lei, what do you think? In our private moments, I don't want to hear you call me Gao Te, just use this name to call me. I hope when I step into our home, you can call me by this name. Your loving Zhou Tian Lei...

  Zhou Tianlei finished writing, put the letter in an envelope and sealed it. Then he handed it over to his deputy officer, Lafen, and asked him to hand the letter over to the communication officer on the warship, who would be responsible for delivering the letter to the port by speedboat the next day.

  Zhou Tianlei stretched his waist and began to ask Luo Ge and Lafen to accompany him to the flight deck of the aircraft carrier for a walk.

  A few people came down from the bridge of the command ship to the deck, and several ground crew members on the deck were busy maintaining the aircraft and had not yet noticed that the highest commander of the fleet was standing beside them.

  Zhou Tianlei walked up to a BF-109T fighter plane, where the pilot was telling the ground crew about the problems he had detected with the aircraft.

  The pilot said: "When I press the rudder pedal, it always feels heavier than usual." The ground crew asked: "How heavy is it? Do you just feel a little heavier or much heavier?"

  The pilot said: "My feeling is very heavy, like stepping on a stone that has taken root on the mountain." At this time, the ground crew had already seen Zhou Tianlei standing behind the pilot, listening to their conversation with great interest.

  The pilot, upon seeing the ground crew's gaze sweep past him and look behind his back, suddenly turned around to find that it was Fleet Admiral Gott Preisner standing behind him. He hastily came to attention and saluted.

  Zhou Tianlei returned a military salute and said: "What were you just talking about? Were you saying that this plane is difficult to control?"

  "Yes, General, I think my plane's rudder is much harder to use than before," the pilot replied.

  "What do you think is the problem?" Zhou Tianlei asked the ground crew member.