Corvu Island is about 20 kilometers northwest of Floris Island, one of the three smallest islands in the Azores. It is 6 kilometers long from north to south and 4 kilometers wide from east to west. Before the "Portugal Crisis", there were only hundreds of permanent residents here. The fishing port located in the south of the island was the only window to contact the outside world. After the German army entered the Azores, the military value of all nine islands was discovered. Barracks, military ports, airports, fortresses, and radar stations appeared on Corvu Island one by one. At the peak, more than 2,000 German officers and soldiers were stationed on the island, with two squadrons of combat aircraft and a warning squadron.

In the early stage of the Battle of Azore, due to the German General Staff's determination to seize the archipelago and the estimated force invested by the United States and Britain, a series of failures were caused. After the central islands such as Tser, Piku, and Fayar were successively lost, the Allied troops on the battlefield of Azore fell into a state of no intention of fighting. When the US and British troops conquered Floris, more than a thousand German soldiers left on Korwu Island became a group of poor people abandoned by their companions. They held on for a day and a night under the fierce artillery fire of the US and British fleets, and finally surrendered to the landing troops that were several times more than their own, leaving a helpless exclamation mark for the German officers and soldiers and the people of the country.

Just as the battle situation in Azore continued to decline and Germany was building a "European barrier", the battlefield situation suddenly took an unexpected turn. First, the Allied Reinforcement Fleet annihilated the US and British fleets that came to attack their escort fleet in the waters east of Azore, and then launched a fierce battle with both aircraft carriers as the protagonists, and finally ended with the Allied's victory. Next, the Allied Land-based Aviation Force launched a strong attack, severely hitting the US and British army's aviation forces in Texel. At this point, the Allied Army reversed the decline in the Azore War Zone, which excited all supporters.

In fact, it is not only those who have no military knowledge or overestimate their military combat effectiveness that the Allies' counterattack in the Azores will soon begin, and those islands occupied by the United States and Britain will soon be planted with the battle flags of the German and Irish troops one after another, look at newspapers and magazines in various parts of Germany, and listen to the news comments on the radio. Many people think that the early decline is just a storm. When the rain stops and the clouds open and the sunlight comes, the powerful Germany will return to the track of winning a series of victories like a destruction.

Only those who always keep a calm mind and objective attitude can see that there is still a long and difficult road to go to win this battle.

Returning to the German battlecruiser "Markensen", the military meeting attended by senior naval officers of some Allied countries only proposed a feasible combat plan. To implement it, a lot of deduction and calculations are needed, and preparations for the army equipment and tactical strategies are made accordingly. In the next four days, Natsuki and Lars discussed it a lot, confirming whether there are loopholes in each link of the plan with a responsible attitude, and then submitting the gradually improved plan to everyone for discussion.

During this period, the lightning formation with the flagship "Markensen" continued to lie down on the day and go out at night and retreat into the warning circle of the Allied fighter jets during the day. The aircraft carrier-based aircraft of the 1st TCM fleet conducted combat reconnaissance on the waters between TCM and Floris, and replaced the carrier-based aircraft to enter this area for patrol. At the same time, the Allied aviation troops on San Miguel ignored the high combat losses rate and continued to carry out oppressive bombing on TCM. On the one hand, it greatly consumed the US-British aviation troops on TCM, making the opponents exhausted from coping and unable to carry out large-scale combat patrols in the surrounding waters. On the other hand, it also seriously disrupted the deployment of the main fleets of the US-British fleet, making them difficult to gain a foothold in the waters around TCM.

As for the 2nd Special Mixed Fleet and two attack ship formations assigned by Natsuki, the sea supply lines of the US and British troops were still blocked as planned in the past four days. In revenge against the US and British fleet's night attack on San Miguel Island, two de Fringer-class battlecruisers carried out a long-distance night shelling on Floris Island under the command of William Maschar. Although they only caused extremely slight damage to the island's military facilities, they achieved the effect of disrupting the enemy's morale. The two Moltch-class battlecruisers sailed to 44 degrees north latitude and 47 degrees west longitude under the command of Gunther Lütjens. The seaplanes taken from the "Moltch" "visited" St. Pierre Island in the southeastern end of Canada within the limit of the range and donated two small bombs of 10 kilograms to Canadian soldiers at Cape John's radar station.

The frequent activities of the navy and air force of the Allied Powers and attacked from multiple sides, which made the American and British generals under pressure from inside and outside and unable to sleep or eat. Chatfield, the commander of the US-British Joint Force, who had received the formal commission order, seemed particularly calm. He rejected the various suggestions of the squadron commander and staff, insisted that the main fleet stayed in Texel, and let the ships carrying soldiers and supplies to Azores assembled in Boston, and ordered the fleets carrying wounded or empty ships to wait for instructions on Floris Island. For four days, on the vast sea between Texel and Floris, Floris and North America, except for a few guard patrol ships and ships ordered to return to the assembly point, there were no ships that were alone or sailed in formation.

Chatfield was able to calm down and strongly encourage him to serve as the commander of the United Combat Fleet, but the British senior officials did not have such determination. The remnants of Britain were forced to retreat to the northern highlands of Scotland. Although the military and civilians had the determination to fight to the end, they had basically lost the ability to produce combat materials on their own after losing Wales, England and southern Scotland. If the Atlantic route could not be opened for a long time, they would soon stop fighting due to exhaustion of ammunition.

What worries British senior officials even more is that once the Battle of Azore fails, the US government may withdraw from the war under the dual pressure of unfavorable foreign wars and opposition from the people. The Soviet Union and Japan, which are waiting for the development of the war, will also make choices that are unfavorable to the interests of Britain. By then, the sinking empire that will not set will completely lose the opportunity to turn its destiny.

Based on the heavy pressure from all sides, Chatfield failed to hold him to the fifth day with a static and braking strategy, which was inexplicably sad for a talented and ambitious commander. After nightfall, he ordered British Lieutenant General Buckhouse to lead the formation of the "Hau" and "Queen Elizabeth" to Floris Island, and accompanied them to escort two American light cruisers, three American destroyers and three British destroyers. After leaving Texel Island, the formation ran north at a speed of 24 knots, and turned east until midnight, trying to avoid night reconnaissance of the Allied ships, but it

Their speed was not fast enough, and they were not far enough to travel north. More than an hour before midnight, the formation was discovered by the carrier-based radar of the German destroyer Heinz Butch. The ship immediately informed the position of the enemy formation to its fleet. The radio signal was discovered by the "Hao" and "Queen Elizabeth". Radio direction finding has always been the strength of the British Royal Navy. Buckhouse soon learned that the enemy ship had been tracking behind him. He immediately changed his plan and led the fleet to sail westward. He also sent a secret telegram to Chatfield, suggesting that he immediately lead the main fleet to sail in order to attack the enemy fleet with his backhand.

At 2 a.m., the Buckhouse formation was more than 60 nautical miles northeast of Texel Island. If it was during the day, he was always within the cover radius of his own land-based aviation force. However, in the dark night before dawn, he and his formation were hovering on the edge of danger. The stalkers behind him kept transmitting the direction of the formation back to the flagship. Under the direct dispatch of the battle commander, as many as 26 ships rushed towards the Buckhouse formation from several directions. The first special mixed formation with two aircraft carriers followed up from a distance, and the ground aviation troops stationed on San Miguel Island made preparations in advance...

At this critical moment, the Heinz Butch, who had been following the Buckhouse formation, led the ship "Otto-Schkira" and another group of destroyers that arrived first, resolutely shouldered the heavy responsibility of restraining the enemy. The frontal combat power of these four Allied destroyers was far inferior to that of their opponents, but they fully utilized their flexible maneuvering characteristics. Sometimes they fired torpedoes and sometimes they flicked a shot, forcing Buckhouse's warships to turn to avoid one after another, and bought valuable time for their own light ship clusters.

At 2:26 a.m., the German submarine east of Texel Island saw several large warships on the sea. 15 minutes later, the Irish light cruiser "Pewell" followed the notification and guidance of its submarines and used radar to detect a large number of enemy ships heading towards the location of the Buckhouse formation.

For several days, Xia Shu had been waiting for the enemy fleet to leave Texel. If he had to deal with the 10 ships of the Buckhouse formation, he was sure to cook a delicious feast, but the enemy was more cautious and smarter than he thought. Faced with the situation where the enemy's main fleet came out, he made a decisive and rational choice and ordered all participating ships to give up their current operations and evacuate the target sea as soon as possible. The dive bombers and tactical bombers that were on standby at the airports of San Miguel Island changed to aviation armor-piercing and armor-breaking bombs. At dawn, fighter jets were used as outposts to conduct reconnaissance and search for the US and British ships leaving the anchorage of Texel Island, and immediately attacked without any effort after finding them. The heavy bombers were dispatched one hour later than before, and the bombing targets were still various aviation facilities on Texel Island.
Chapter completed!