Tobias looked at his watch, and it had been five minutes since the troops occupying the vault gave the signal to retreat. "All right, let’s retreat! Everyone retreats to the west on the left side of the highway according to the plan in advance, and the people on the right side of the highway head east. The motorcade will go to the scheduled joint location separately! Discard heavy machine guns, ammunition boxes and other sundries. Everyone should evacuate lightly! "
Without these German commandos, Churchill personally took command of the evacuation as planned, the British special fleet was also advancing to British soil as soon as possible, among which the fastest cruiser was behind the fleet, and the backbone destroyers were composed of dreaded battleships and armored battleships, which were distributed around the battleships and transport ships to guard against and tow submarines. The fleet appeared to have no obvious defects, but the 10-day voyage gave Churchill a headache, but there were also sailors who were unfamiliar with their warships and corrected their mistakes when they were enough, and the transport ships in the fleet were full of goods. They couldn’t get up quickly if they wanted to.
"Report the cruiser Knight to signal that it is in front of the fleet. Now there is a cargo ship flying the German flag. Major Mick asks for further action!"
After the correspondent’s report, Churchill smoked his cigar with an expression on his face. The brain of the former secretary of the navy is busy at the moment. In more than a month before the war, German merchant ships disappeared from the Atlantic Ocean, and even German freighters to Norway and Sweden were greatly reduced. Now this situation has just reversed. Most British merchant ships are now lying quietly on the cold seabed, and German submarine captains are silently waiting for the British shipyard to build a freighter as soon as possible.
After spitting out a big smoke ring, Churchill said coldly, "Sink it without warning!"
"Yes!" In the opinion of this ordinary communication officer, flying the German flag is naturally a German ship, and German ships are naturally Germans. Whether Churchill thinks so or not, they all made a big mistake.
Chapter 29 Clinton incident
"Come to Mr. Clinton, I discussed the friendship between our two countries and the bright future of our two companies. Let’s drink!"
Holding the glass high is a German captain wearing a blue collar and epaulettes. He once served in the German navy, so he wears this naval major every time he goes out to sea.
"It’s very kind of you, Mr. Foster!" This name is Clinton, the owner of a mining company in the United States. His company is not particularly large, but when Germany and the United States signed a land-for-resources agreement worth $200 billion, Clinton smelled the huge benefits. Although the Atlantic route was not very safe at this time, Clinton took a bunch of his family to Germany to look for business opportunities and finally chose the Prussian shipping company partner where Captain Foster was located.
Clinton’s plan is not to sell minerals to Germany. On the contrary, he plans to buy a large number of mineral resources from Germany after Germany and the United States sign a phase agreement. Because he believes that after the United States exports a large amount of minerals to Germany, the price of minerals in the United States will inevitably soar, while the price of minerals in Germany will drop accordingly. Based on the close relationship between the boss of Prussian shipping company and the society, Clinton takes a fancy to the fact that this German company can obtain a certain amount of minerals and facilitate shipping. After all, it is safer to make German freighters in the Atlantic than to make American freighters.
After handling the transaction contract and transportation matters in Germany, Clinton returned to the United States on the first batch of German ships loaded with ore to arrange the reception matters in the United States. He never expected to meet the British special fleet here. In addition to Clinton, there were 22 American citizens on the 10,000-ton freighter named "Hill", all of whom were employees of Clinton Mining Company.
As soon as Clinton’s glass touched his lips, a German crew member rushed in and reported that "there is a lot of black smoke in front of the captain. It is estimated that it is a huge fleet!"
Foster took a look at Clinton. Generally speaking, an American fleet would wander around the sea in this area close to the US territorial waters.
"Don’t worry, it should be our American Atlantic fleet!" Clinton gloated and comforted everyone, as if the stronger the US navy was, the stronger he spoke in front of the Germans.
"But your country has sold most of its Atlantic fleet to the British!" Foster was awake. Although the Anglo-American and German-American transactions were conducted in a relatively secret state, it was no secret for most people.
"This ….." Clinton clearly knows this matter. If the front fleet is the one with British names, they are in a bad situation now.
"Tell the chief officer that we will immediately turn north and try to avoid the fleet! If the other party signals to ask, tell them that we have American citizens on board! " Foster’s face didn’t look nervous. After the German navy defeated the British navy, his cargo ship was the first German-owned ship to leave German Ports. After changing its course to Germany and the United States at the end of October, he had never been intercepted by a British warship.
However, only a few minutes later, the thunder sounded from a distance, and Foster and Clinton finally understood the truth of this statement. However, it was not accurate for the fleet in front of the reconnaissance/calibration machine to shell at a long distance. The first batch of tall water columns rose nearly a kilometer on the starboard side of the "Hill"
"Damn it! Tell them there are Americans here! " Clinton shouted hysterically.
Foster didn’t answer, but walked quickly to the ship’s control room. Angry Clinton followed him.
Foster took the telescope handed over by the crew and carefully observed the black smoke sea in the west for a while. "Turn to 25 degrees north-east!"
"Is that really the British fleet?" Clinton still has a little illusion about the scene before him, although the second wave of dull shelling has come from afar. Foster disdains to answer, but hands him the telescope.
Clinton was surprised to see some white ship shadows from the telescope, which belonged to the "Great White Fleet" that shocked the world seven years ago.
"unbelievable!" Clinton didn’t want to believe what he saw with his eyes for a long time, just as they didn’t want to see the last thing. The US government sold the main force of its Atlantic fleet to the British, and that fleet is now angry with itself.
"I’m afraid the other party decided to kill us!" Although Foster sailors signaled to each other again and again, the other side didn’t know whether they had seen or ignored the shells, and the deafening explosions continued in batches, which ironically proved Clinton’s so-called "powerful fleet."
Obviously, this poor German freighter has become the first live-fire practice target of the British Special Fleet.
"Express to the German Embassy in the United States that our ship was shelled by a huge fleet 97 nautical miles from the territorial waters of the United States! Our coordinates are the ship and there are 23 American citizens asking them to inform the US government as soon as possible! " Foster couldn’t help feeling desperate when he watched the other side’s shells fall closer and closer to him.
"Mr. Clinton let you write a legacy! We can’t last long! "
Mr. Churchill, the battleship Utah, is smoking a cigar leisurely during the thunderous shelling. Listening to this familiar sound, he seems to have returned to the era when he belonged to the enemy navy of the British Empire
"Report that the cruiser’ Knight’ came to signal that three waves of shelling in front of it were lost."
The communication officer’s report was like a pot of cold water, which upset Churchill. Six dreaded ships and 12 armored battleships fired at a slow-moving freighter at the same time. More than 100 heavy artillery shells were fired in three waves, but none of them hit the target. Even the armored German ship was able to resist it. It seems that the shooting accuracy of this new fleet is consistent with the style of the British Navy. It is the nature of this group of people.
"The fleet maintains the current course and the aerial shooting observation station re-determines the shooting data. If the three waves of shelling can’t hit the German freighter, let the shooting commander sweep the toilet for a month!"
Churchill ordered the Canadian captain Lieutenant Colonel Reese, who was in charge of observing and shooting the cruiser Knight, to go to the front of the fleet soon. He felt very dissatisfied with this. He felt that he needed his "Knight" to rush at close range and bombard the German ship, so that it would sink to the bottom of the water. But Churchill insisted on using the ship as a target ship for shooting training so that the battleship team could practice long-range shooting.
"Give the Germans enough time to report so that the German government will know our whereabouts soon!" Riise moped and complained. In fact, the German spy returned the information as soon as the fleet left the port. Whether there was the German freighter or not, their whereabouts were made public by the shells. The Americans were still very generous in moving the goods in the warehouse. After all, there were no warships, and there were no shells. More importantly, the Americans were building and preparing to build warships with larger caliber main guns.
"Captain, the freighter seems to be signaling us all the time!" Next to Reese, the first mate held up a telescope and said, but the distance and the rising water column in front of the ship made it difficult for him to read the signal.
"German freighter … Hill … German weapons … American citizens …"
The first mate stared at the telescope and then repeated the last word "American citizen!" "
"Does that freighter have American citizens?" Reese was surprised. "Why didn’t our observers report that the freighter was signaling us?"
Another wave of large-caliber naval artillery shells screamed and cut through the air and flew over the head of the Knight. The throat-tearing sound covered up Reese’s startled and angry voice. It was not until after the battle that he looked blank and Koo observers revealed the reason. "I saw the German freighter signal, but before the flagship, the order was to go directly to the gun station without warning the other side. I ignored the German ship signal! Although I have only been in the British Navy for three months, I can see the flagship order clearly. I will never be wrong! "
When dark red "meteorite" appeared in front of the line of sight, and the eardrum was badly shaken by sharp and harsh sound, Foster was unusually calm, closed his eyes and prayed silently. If all this was meant to be, he felt that he had nothing to be sad about.
"American citizen …" Churchill wait for a while looked breathless and ran to the communication officer with a cigar in his mouth. He was still helping to burn a column of light smoke. It was like an oriental burning incense to pay homage to the dead. If it was a neutral ship or a German passenger ship, he wouldn’t reach the fire order so easily, but it happened that it was an extremely ordinary German cargo ship. Churchill felt that he couldn’t wipe off the "smell" if he wanted to.
After the intermittent "thunder" in front stopped, Lieutenant General Conway, the deputy commander of the US Atlantic Fleet, felt uneasy and was not in a better mood. Although the Anglo-American land-for-fleet treaty stipulated that the British could leave the fleet at any time, the release order was that he Conway personally arrived. Once there was any major problem, he was afraid that he could not escape.
Major Shreddon was silent behind Lieutenant General Conway. When the Sims Navy was about to call, Conway was hunting with local dignitaries in the Woods more than ten miles away from Norfolk military port. When Shreddon finally found him, he was dressed as a hunter with several turkeys on his horse. After returning to the base to change troops in a hurry, Conway and Shreddon and others immediately boarded the dock to wait for destroyers. Two American patrol fleets and a destroyer fleet, a total of more than 30 warships, made full efforts to chase the British fleet for 25 knots, which made these warships almost lose their neat formation, but also made them have to see the black sea ahead in the afterglow of sunset.
"Lieutenant General sent a telegram from the Navy Command!" The communication officer handed over a long-awaited newspaper.
Frowning, Lieutenant General Xun scanned the paper face, and the clouds became more dense. After reading the newspaper carefully and heavily again, he crumpled it up and threw it into the sea on the side of the ship’s side, which made Shreddon and others more confused and curious.
"The first patrol fleet from the right, the second patrol fleet from the left side of the highest air chase and intercept the British fleet! No matter what happens, people are not allowed to get angry without my order! In addition, signal to the British to ask them to temporarily stop moving forward. We have very important and urgent things to negotiate with them! "
The newspaper soaked in seawater has two lines on its surface.
Germany and Japan signed a secret agreement. The main force of the Japanese navy pushed into the west coast of the United States, and it was difficult to support the Pacific fleet. It was necessary to recall the main force of the Atlantic fleet that had been delivered to the British.
In a short time, the newspaper soaked in seawater slowly sank into the water with this important command, and it also sank with Lieutenant General Conway. At this time, Conway and these American naval officers and men did not know that 23 American citizens on the surface of the German freighter "Hill" had encountered the poor German freighter, which was now slowly sliding to the bottom of the sea. Its port side was hit by a 35mm shell, and the ship suddenly seemed to be bitten by a huge shark. It seemed that a large shell was missing. The explosion produced a huge impact and several shrapnel killed most of the crew, and a few extremely lucky people were alive.
When the cruiser Knight, made in the United States, owned by Britain and controlled by Canada, sailed to the vicinity of the wreck of Hill, the sea surface there could be a mess. Fortunately, the boat was paddled like ants in the water, and all kinds of things floated on the sea surface, including small pieces of wood, broken furniture and some bottles and cans.
"Emperor! What have we done! "
Lieutenant Colonel Reese lamented that most of them were American citizens and how many Germans died. He didn’t care about the efforts of Canadian sailors. In the end, 17 lucky people on that German freighter were rescued, including two American captain Foster, who was worth $20 million. Another 25 German sailors and 21 American passengers were killed in this shelling incident. Afterwards, Americans called this disaster "Clinton Incident". For them, it was just a tragedy before Christmas.
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Chapter 30 King Kong
When night fell, I saw those American patrol ships and destroyers blocking the fleet route like mantis. Churchill had to agree to Lieutenant General Conway’s request for talks. For the British government at present, the American government is even more unwilling to see the situation conflict. I am afraid that the sinking of the newly born "Hill" is very unfavorable to the British government. Lieutenant Colonel Reese learned about the passengers on the German cargo ship from the fortunate Americans. He immediately reported this information to Churchill, 21 Americans were killed and missing. Churchill’s heart became very heavy. Conway strode into the reception room of Utah when he was still wondering whether to directly tell Conway about the meeting of the "Hill" with American citizens or let the British government apologize and hesitate first.
"ah! Dear Lieutenant General Conway, how did you come here? " Churchill put away his face and greeted him with melancholy and enthusiasm.
Conway tried his best to keep friendly and calm, but Churchill saw through his anxiety and anxiety at a glance. He knew very well that the deputy commander of the American Atlantic fleet was here.
"hello! Mr Churchill! I’m sorry to disturb your homing plan, but we have to and I hope you can understand! "