The horrific ammunition explosion instantly blew the giant ship into two halves. Under the gaze of countless stunned eyes, it sank into the Strait of Otranto with more than a thousand British naval officers and soldiers and their fleet commander in just three minutes.
In the water nearly 900 meters deep, a huge whirlpool immediately swallowed up the surrounding survivors. In the end, there was not a single survivor on the flagship of the British Royal Navy's Home Fleet.
But at the same time, the British also gained their first victory. At the cost of two light cruisers and three destroyers, a group of British warships finally rushed to less than four kilometers away from the Tegelhof, and then hurriedly rushed together
More than thirty heavy torpedoes were fired, six of which hit almost at the same time. Although it had an extremely perfect watertight design, the Tegelhof, which had already been hit by a torpedo before, quickly sank due to a large amount of water.
Lieutenant General Jellicoe, who took over the command, did not give up the attack because of the sinking of the flagship. In the next five hours, the British, French and Italian coalition finally defeated the enemy with three battleships, four heavy cruisers, and twelve light ships.
Cruisers, twenty-five destroyers, and forty torpedo boats sank all six Austro-Hungarian battleships, one heavy cruiser, and twenty other light battleships at a tragic cost, opening the door to the sea that had been firmly blocked for four years.
Strait of Otranto.
The remaining Austro-Hungarian warships had to flee back to the port of Pula and were trapped in the military port from then on, thus losing control of the Adriatic Sea. This gave the Chinese aid to Europe the hope of bypassing the Allied defense line through the Adriatic Sea.
Completely shattered.
"Don't worry, I am preparing to launch an attack on Australia and South Africa. After completing the maritime supply chain, I will launch a landing operation on Britain and France. In addition, I will continue to increase troops to the Balkans. It will take up to half a year, which should be enough to end the war. As for Berlin
dangerous situation, this can be supported by air transport. I have now invested 200 airships in Europe. Your country seems to have more than 100 airships. It is impossible to use them in the Battle of Berlin now, and there are dozens in Vienna.
If these are all used to transport soldiers and supplies to Budapest, it is estimated that maintaining a light army will not be a problem. In addition to supporting Budapest, at least two armies can be sent to reinforce Berlin.
In addition, as our offensive in Central Asia intensifies, the Russian army will definitely deploy troops to return to defense, so that your country can also withdraw some people from the Eastern Front. Coupled with the mobilized volunteer army, there should be no big problem in keeping Berlin.
Got it." Yang Feng almost patted his chest and said to Haijing who asked for help again.
"Your Majesty, thank you so much!" Haijing said movedly.
"Since we are allies, there is no need to say these kind words. Next, I will continue to expand the army in the country and strive to expand the total strength of the Chinese Army to more than six million within half a year. In short, please rest assured, His Majesty the Emperor and the people of your country,
The 600 million people of China will always stand with you." Yang Feng's heroic words echoed in the empty Hall of Supreme Harmony.
However, after blocking all the reinforcement roads, he now only has these few roads to go. Although Hamid II's army has captured the Suez Canal, the British have already taken the Gulf of Suez before that.
Countless mines were sealed and all the merchant ships that had not had time to evacuate from the Red Sea were scuttled in the canal. It would take less than a year to complete such a major project to open up this route.
As for the direction of the Balkans, if we don’t conquer that place for a year and a half, we won’t be able to defeat those high mountains and forest canyons at all. Without enough strength in terms of military strength, even if the Chinese aid force to Europe goes all out, it won’t be able to open it in a short time.
, not to mention that Emperor Yang couldn't let them go all out.
The airlift to aid the German army was very simple. The four armies originally scheduled to march north to Pula Port on the Adriatic Sea were no longer able to continue with the plan. One army was left to go north out of Kosovo with the Ottoman and Montenegrin armies to attack.
, the other three armies withdrew to Bulgaria, one of which was strengthened to the front line, and the other two were airlifted to Budapest by airship. Then in Budapest, they transferred to the train to Berlin and devoted themselves to the vigorous defense of Berlin to fight side by side with the German people, and maybe even return.
It allows those young men to seduce a group of Germanic beauties back home. There are more women than men in Germany now, so it is easy to do so.
Those Chinese young men in Budapest are very popular, and they have performed countless battlefield romances with cheap military food and attractive Chinese dollar bills.
With the current airlift capacity of airships, before the Balkan channel is opened, the three armies are already at their limit. After all, the supplies of materials in Germany and Austria-Hungary are also tight at this time. There used to be re-exports from Sweden, but after China entered the war, the Swedish amulet disappeared.
, neither Britain nor Russia could allow them to continue to supply blood to Germany. And after the Austro-Hungarian Empire lost its control of the Adriatic Sea, it was equally impossible to obtain its main supplies from the Ottoman Empire.
It is difficult to say whether the supply of our own army can be satisfied, let alone the Chinese soldiers who consume ammunition like water.
Three hundred airships transport 1,500 tons of supplies at a time, but these things are severely affected by the climate and cannot be dispatched every day, not to mention that various maintenance must be carried out. It is estimated that they can be dispatched fifteen times a month, which is considered a high price.
, more than 20,000 tons of supplies should be enough to satisfy three light infantry armies. In addition, let the Germans build more airports, and then send hundreds of Eagle fighter-bombers over, which can also provide air strikes. Besides, even if Berlin cannot be defended
It's not a big deal. In fact, Emperor Yang's heart still tends to be unable to defend Berlin.
Just as the European air force movement began, Yang Feng's claws began to reach out to his next target, which was the Australia he told Haijing. At this time, Australia only had a population of more than four million. Of course,
This does not include Western Australia, which does not belong to the Australian Federation. These populations are basically concentrated in the densely populated areas in the southeast, but the vast majority are white people, especially British immigrants. Two armies will pass through and then fall into
In the quagmire of white resistance, it is basically easy to explain to the outside world the insufficient strength of China's reinforcements to Europe.
Four armies in Central Asia, two armies in Europe, one army to besiege Vladivostok, two armies to clean up the area east of Lake Baikal, two more armies to disperse in Southeast Asia, one army to guard Jinzhou, and two more armies to Australia and China.
Theoretically, the army is basically all released. If you want to have more troops to reinforce Europe, you can only wait until the army is expanded and established. This cannot be completed in a short while. No matter how large the population and industrial strength of China are
No matter how strong it is, it cannot just pull a group of people and push them onto the battlefield. It must be trained. It must be trained for several months. After training, it must be transported. The normal frequency remains at three months and the second batch of reinforcements will be sent to Europe.
Then continue to add one more to Europe or other battlefields every month. This is completely fine. With China's strength, it can be said that it is doing its best to do this.
"Your Majesty, this is the Australian combat plan formulated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff." Li Yuncong carefully submitted the combat plan to His Majesty the Emperor for his approval.
"Landing in Sydney? This is wrong!" Emperor Yang said very dissatisfied when he saw it.
"Your Majesty, Australia does not have much of an army, and at least half of their young immigrants from Britain, France, Italy and other countries have gone to the European battlefield. Australia and New Zealand have a group army establishment in the British army, and from the beginning of the war these two places
So I participated. So far, the casualties of soldiers in these two places alone are estimated to be no less than 200,000. They have a total population of only a few million. There are no young and middle-aged people left. Those who are German and Austrian will only welcome us. So
The simplest way is to send our aircraft carriers and battleships over, gather all the landing ships and troop transports to send one army group at a time, and then directly occupy New South Wales and Victoria, and then slowly conquer those areas that dare to resist.
." Li Yuncong said.
This is the simplest and most enjoyable method. After occupying these two major population areas, Australians basically have no courage to resist. Even if they do, they are just little ants who can be pressed with just a finger.
Death can not only end the battle as quickly as possible, but also minimize the casualties of soldiers.
But unfortunately, what Emperor Yang wanted was not such a result. He needed a protracted Australian campaign. He needed to equip the Australians with sufficient resistance capabilities to capture Australia's most important industrial areas first.
What do the supporting Australians do to resist the Chinese invaders? If they don't resist the Chinese invaders, how can they have an excuse to cleanse this continent?
"Such a long-distance cross-sea landing is very risky. We must adopt the safest method. Even if our landing ship can set off from Mindanao, landing in northern Queensland is the safest way, and then we can find a ship there.
After establishing a stable foothold at the port, we will proceed southward along the railway in a step-by-step attack to the camp." Emperor Yang said earnestly.
"Your Majesty, it will take us at least three months to reach Melbourne." Li Yuncong said cautiously.
"Three months?! How can that be done? It will take at least half a year, or even a year is possible. We must understand who are the people who immigrated to Australia. They are all criminals, poor people and homeless people.
Such people usually have a very tenacious fighting spirit, we must be prepared for a fierce battle, understand?" Emperor Yang said.
"I understand, then I will make a new plan." At this time, Chief of General Staff Li already understood what the emperor wanted to do, and said with a smile. (To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, novels are better