A 500-ton coagulation decoy bomb dropped by a German airship in the Port of Rotterdam caused nearly 15,000 British casualties. This horrific news shocked the outside world, even more than the sinking of four Royal Navy battleships in one day.
heavy losses.
the reason is simple.
It was so miserable that it could be described as horrific. There were two troop transport ships carrying 4,000 people, but not a single person was left alive. The two ships had just docked at that time, and the soldiers on board had not yet begun to disembark. Eight of them were on board.
The airship passed over their heads along the Rhine River at a height of 500 meters, and almost all of the forty tons of coagulated qi decoys fell on the two troop carriers, which were docked end to end. In an instant, the two ships became
All the soldiers were trapped in the cabin by the fire. The hard steel and the fire above their heads cut off any possibility of escape. Then the violent burning emptied the air in the cabin. All four thousand people died of suffocation.
, even some of the dead bodies were burned into cokes by the red-hot hull.
After the fire was extinguished, the rescue soldiers who boarded the wreckage of the two warships opened the hatches that were still burning, and some were even scared crazy.
In addition to these two ships, the other troop carriers that were landing also suffered heavy losses. The bodies of the British soldiers that were burned to coke were piled up layer by layer on the entire dock. The floating corpses in the Rhine River were rippling with the waves like garbage belts. There were four more
A merchant ship transporting ammunition was directly detonated by the fire. The huge explosion even sank a destroyer that was escaping next to it.
The fire in nearby buildings also killed thousands of British soldiers who had taken refuge inside.
This terrible bombing dealt a fatal blow to the British landing plan in the Netherlands. If the Dutch's tenacious resistance was purely accidental and the German High Seas Fleet's attack was expected, then the airship bombing was completely planned by the British Admiralty.
He was negligent. As the Minister of the Navy, Fatty Qiu had to take responsibility for this. On that night, the Minister of the Navy, who had only been in office for a few months, had to take the blame and resign.
However, the battle in the Netherlands will definitely continue. Without air protection, the British simply gave up their original plan to occupy Rotterdam as quickly as possible and then directly attack Germany. This is no longer possible. With Rotterdam now
With the speed of the British army, they can't even think about solving this city in a week. At this time, reinforcements from both the Netherlands and Germany are arriving continuously. If not, they may still be in danger of being wiped out. In this case, they might as well just land on the ground.
Ship-borne troops continued to land on the coast of the Netherlands, turning the original raid into a step-by-step attack. First, they took advantage of the Dutch army being transferred to Rotterdam to capture The Hague and Amsterdam. They established a solid control area, especially to capture the Dutch.
Airport, then fly fighter jets from China, set up an air defense network first, and then advance to Germany when everything is ready. Anyway, the Netherlands is such a big place, so there is not much pressure to hit Germany.
Emperor Yang was very satisfied with the recent war situation in Europe. Of course, it was not the fire in Rotterdam. This small fire was nothing to mention to Emperor Yang, who once used cloud bombs to massacre hundreds of thousands of Japanese. What he was satisfied with was the British Navy.
Together with the ships sunk by the Dutch, the British Royal Navy lost four battleships in one day. Another ten ships were seriously damaged and entered the dock. This has to be said to be a very happy number.
Comparing their results, the current British Royal Navy, once the supreme maritime overlord, has made many knowledgeable people sigh.
The result of sinking the Dutch fleet is not worth mentioning. The sea duel with the German High Seas Fleet actually resulted in a two-to-one battle loss despite the numerical advantage of twenty-six to eighteen. It has to be said that it was a real fiasco.
Well, even if the Germans were the first to retreat, they could not conceal the fact that the British Home Fleet was defeated.
"It still doesn't work. The Germans withdrew too early. It would be better if they could fight for a while longer." Emperor Yang said greedily. In fact, he also knew that it would be great if the two families could fight. After all, who
He is not a fool. It must be someone else who gets the advantage in the end by destroying the fleet. I guess Nikolai is as happy as him at this time!
After the British's Dutch landing plan went bankrupt, the Western Front counterattack, which was originally intended to cover their operation, basically came to an end. In order to cooperate with this drama, Britain and France lost more than 300,000 people, but Germany
The losses were close to 200,000, which had affected William's continued replenishment of blood to the Eastern Front. Coupled with a large number of anti-aircraft machine guns and tanks, heavy artillery was transported to the hands of the gray animals. The sound of guns and artillery on the Eastern Front gradually fell silent, and it is still
In the fierce battle, only Baron Goltz's attack on Odessa remained.
However, it is difficult for him to make a substantial breakthrough in the short term. The Russian army has sea control over the Black Sea and can provide Kuropatkin with supplies at will, and Makarov's fleet can also provide artillery support for the defenders at sea.
Therefore, this siege battle is likely to be protracted like many similar battles in history.
It should be said that the Allied Powers Group gained a lot during this period of fighting. Although they failed to capture the established goal of Kiev, they captured more than one-third of the land in Ukraine. This is the richest granary in Europe and is essential for food supply.
For the increasingly nervous Allies, this was undoubtedly a timely help.
In fact, the food problem has now become the biggest headache for Emperors William and Joseph. Their domestic agricultural production has been shrinking due to a large number of laborers going to the battlefield, supply is becoming increasingly tight, and rationing has even begun in the cities.
It’s not that it’s impossible to transport it from abroad. Both Sweden and the Ottoman Empire can continuously sell grain to them. But the problem is that this thing requires money. Their gold has to be used to buy arms. They must be able to save money in other aspects.
Province. Now that there are rich occupied areas like Ukraine that can be plundered, at least it can greatly alleviate the domestic food problem. Compared with buying from abroad, this kind of food without paying any money is more popular.
As for the British attack on the Netherlands, there is nothing to say about the follow-up battle. That night, thirty-two landing ships loaded with two divisions originally prepared to reinforce Rotterdam landed directly at The Hague. The Dutch government agencies evacuated to Amsterdam, and then
The British army took over the nearby airport and began to transfer fighter jets from the country. In the following days, two more armies were successively transferred. At the same time, they divided their forces to reinforce Rotterdam and attack Amsterdam on the other side. The Dutch royal family and government continued
Abandoned Amsterdam and moved to Nijmegen, close to Germany.
It is obvious that up to now, the Dutch government is still trying to avoid destroying its country. Except for Rotterdam, which is still fighting fiercely, the British army has not encountered organized resistance anywhere else. It only fought with a small number of Dutch army and some militiamen.
There have been small-scale exchanges of fire. But now, the situation is no longer controllable by the Dutch. On the third day of the British attack on Rotterdam, the German Sixth Army arrived in the city, and then the German Fifteenth Army Headquarters entered the Netherlands.
The next battle is between them and the British. They don't care about the Dutch.
In the view of Emperor Yang, there is nothing that needs attention in the short term in the European battlefield. Next, he should extend his claws to Indonesia. The ministers of Britain, France and Russia have already tentatively consulted him to see if His Majesty the Emperor would like their attack on Indonesia.
What reaction will there be? After all, in Asia, no matter what you do, you can't do anything without getting Emperor Yang's nod. Moreover, Indonesia also involves China's interests, and there are a lot of overseas Chinese there.
Especially in West Borneo, the Lanfang Republic was pushed by the Dutch less than twenty years ago, and the identity of West Borneo is still unclear. After the Dutch pushed Lanfang, because after all, the country
They were too weak and feared that Concubine Yi would react violently, so they never formally annexed this land, but the rule belonged to them. After Emperor Yang ascended the throne, they dared not do so. But Lanfang has never belonged to them.
China is not even a vassal. When Emperor Yang took over the world, this country was gone. There was no reason to find trouble. Moreover, he had been playing panda in Europe before and had no great interest in taking care of such a small place, so he kept putting it off until
Now.
If Britain, France and Russia attack Indonesia, then the West Borneo issue must be cleared up with Yang Feng first. Otherwise, even if they swallow this piece of fat, they will have to live in fear in the future.
"Both I and the Chinese government are very sorry for your war with the Kingdom of the Netherlands. But now that the matter has come to this, I don't want to make too many comments about your right and wrong. Of course, in this war,
The Chinese government still adheres to its neutral attitude, and this will not change." Looking at the three envoys in front of him, Emperor Yang said calmly.
This means that whether you like to fight or not has nothing to do with me, I will definitely not care.
"However, no matter where you fight the war, you must ensure the interests of the Chinese there. Any behavior that harms the interests of the local Chinese is something that I and the Chinese government will never agree to." Yang Feng continued.
He didn't say this, but these three families also understood that because of the recognition of dual nationality, the Chinese in Southeast Asia were citizens of the Chinese Empire and even had the right to vote. With this capital in recent years, no one dared to provoke the Chinese in Southeast Asia. Britain, France, and Russia
Naturally, the three countries did not want to cause any trouble and force China to side with the Allies.
However, Yang Feng's statement still did not mention the West Borneo issue.
"Your Majesty, you can rest assured that this is just a war between us and the Dutch. China is our best friend. Of course we will take care of the interests of our good friends during the war, but we hope that before that, we can first
Solve the status issue of West Borneo." said British Minister Sa Daoyi.
"West Borneo? Are you talking about the Lanfang Republic? Does the war between you and the Dutch have anything to do with the Lanfang Republic?" Emperor Yang said inexplicably. (To be continued)