Port of Toulon, France.

The commander's flag of Admiral Jean de Labord, commander of the French High Seas Fleet, was hanging weakly on the battleship "Breton". Since the powerful "Riceliu" and "Jean Bar" have not been completed yet, the flagship of the French fleet is still the old "Breton".

The battleship built before World War I and one of its sister ships, Provence (the second ship of the Brittany class Lorraine, has been detained by the British Royal Navy for repair in Alexandria), three battleships of the Lonely class, two Dunkirk class battleships completed in 1937 and 1938, as well as the ancient former dreadnought Condorse, and the 95% completed battleships of the Richelieu battleship, are now berthed next to each other in the berth of the battleship with the deepest water level in the Port of Toulon.

"Can we just wait like this?" Lieutenant General Andre Matthews, the Chief of the Toulon Maritime Army (equivalent to the commander of the base), seemed unwilling to accept it. He stood on the bridge of the "Breton" and watched the neatly arranged battleships, cruisers and destroyers in the Port of Toulon.

"This is the fourth largest fleet in the world and the second largest in Europe!" Lieutenant General Matthews said, "They have the power to destroy the German navy, but they have never even been on the battlefield..."

Admiral Darlang, commander-in-chief of the French Navy, is now on the "Breton". According to the orders of Marshal Betan, he, Admiral Laborde and Lieutenant General Matthews, jointly control the large fleet in the Port of Toulon.

Defending on attacks from the enemy is not the focus. What the French government is most worried about now is the fleet slipping away from its hands or the sailors are revolting.

Admiral Dallang turned his head and looked at his subordinate Matthews, and smiled bitterly unwillingly: "What else can I do? There is no strait between France and Germany. Now the 6th Army is defeated and Paris is occupied by the Germans... What can the Navy do?"

"The fleet is now a bargaining chip, the only thing we can use to bargain with the Germans." Admiral Labord was a follower of Marshal Betan, and he had some anti-British plots. Such people were not uncommon among French naval officers. After all, most of the combat operations in the history of the French naval were beaten by the British Royal Navy.

He glanced at Lieutenant General Matthews, "If the fleet fell into the hands of the 'Charles Charles de Gaulle', the French motherland would not only have nothing to exchange interests with Germany, but also this fleet built with the hard-earned money of the French people would be used to block France! Isn't this the British's best skill?"

Matthews sighed, Admiral Labord's words were also good. From short-term interests, helping Germany defeat Britain is obviously the best option. As long as Britain fails, the European Community will succeed and become the dominant force of the world. India's food, oil from the Middle East, spices from Southeast Asia, silk from China and Japan, beef from South America and gold from Africa, and diamonds are constantly transported to Europe. The various industrial products produced by France are not worried about the lack of markets.

There is no doubt that the French will have an era of prosperity and happiness because of the emergence and victory of the European Community.

But this also means that France will always live in the shadow of Germany!

The three French naval generals knew these truths and were relatively speechless for a moment. I don’t know how long it took, but Darlang said, “Let’s go, go to my headquarters to sit, I’ll treat you to a big meal… All we can do now is to hold knives and forks in our hands and wait for death!”

...

"We're here, Major General!"

The leaders of the French Navy were scrambling to die, while the British Royal Navy was all fulfilling their duties and trying to save their empire. At 7 pm on May 12, the aircraft carrier "Ark of Royal" and the USS Royal aircraft carrier "Glory" were under the escort of the USS Balum battleship, four cruisers and four destroyers, and finally arrived at a position about 170 nautical miles south of Toulon Port.

"Okay, sound the combat alarm!" Major General List, who was flagship of the "Glory", issued an order, "The carrier-based aircraft is ready to go out, the aircraft carrier is sailing against the wind, and sails 28 knots!"

After a series of orders, the two aircraft carriers immediately began to turn, and soon 28 knots arrived, and strong winds blew on the flight deck.

Major Williamson, the captain of the carrier-based aircraft brigade on the "Glory", was the commander of the air strike fleet. His 14a "Swordfish" aircraft had been on the deck by the elevator platform, and the howling sea breeze hit him, which immediately made him feel refreshed.

The moonlight tonight is very bright and the visibility is not too bad. It seems to be a good day for attacking.

However, even if there is a good weather, it is still very difficult to complete the mission of surprise attack on Toulon. Because in addition to the two difficulties of taking off and landing and sailing in the dark, the shallow water depth of Toulon Port is the third and biggest problem.

The water depth of Toulon Port is only about 10 meters, which makes it easy for aerial torpedoes falling from the air to plunge into the seabed. In addition to a slight improvement to the torpedo, the most important thing is to reduce the height of bomb drops. The "Swordfish" torpedo aircraft that participates in the attack must complete low-altitude sea-skipping flights and bomb drops at night!

In addition, there are usually three crew members of the "Swordfish" aircraft, namely the pilot, the navigator/buzzerman and the post-machine gunner. There are only two crew members on the "Swordfish" aircraft that attacked this time, and a 27o-liter fuel tank is installed on the seat of the Navigator/buzzerman in the middle. This means that the pilot must serve as both the navigator and the bomber.

It is already difficult to fly at a low altitude and at night. There are fewer individuals on the plane. Except for the carrier-based pilots of the Royal Navy in the world, no one in the world can complete such a task.

Thinking of this, Major Williamson suddenly felt proud and loudly said to Sergeant Larson, the radio clerk sitting behind him, who said: "Sergeant, we are making history! We are doing things that no one has ever done before!"

"Yes, Major," replied Sergeant Larson, "It would be better if we were not the French who were going to attack!"

"That's a bad thing for the Germans," said Major Williamson. "They don't have a ship themselves and want to steal the French. They are simply a group of robbers!"

...

At 7:45, all carrier-based aircraft on the two aircraft carriers of the fleet were ready.

The two aircraft carriers were galloping in the wind with a 28-kilometer flight. The fierce deck wind made many sailors stagger. The deck pilot at the front held a red flag and was waiting for the command of the flight console.

"Boxer, shoot!"

Suddenly, the code name for the operation to begin sounded in the flight officer's headphones. The flight officer waved his arm suddenly. Under the illumination of the searchlight, the "Swordfish" torpedo bomber driven by Major Williamson was the first to rush out of the deck.

One after another, one after another!

All 36 swordfish planes on the two aircraft carriers were launched in a blink of an eye, and they will form the first assault wave. Among these 36 aircraft, 26 each carried 1 545 kilogram aerial torpedo, 8 each scraped 6 112 kilogram bombs, and 2 each carried 3 bombs and 12 flares.

The 36 swordfish aircraft of the second assault wave will take off at 8:45 pm and arrive at Port Toulon, France after 0:00 am on May 13.

...

"The general, Italian submarines, have appeared a British fleet, east of the Balearic Islands, and they are heading north."

At the headquarters of the German Southern Line in Rome, General Halde, who had attended a boring but very sumptuous dinner, came back and received a piece of news that surprised him.

"When is it present? What is the scale?" he asked Chief of Staff Air Force General Vall T. Weaver.

"4 p.m.," replied Lieutenant General Hans Yeshunnek, "there are at least two aircraft carriers and one battleship, as well as several cruisers and destroyers."

"Two aircraft carriers and one battleship? Are they going to bomb Toulon?"

"I think so," Valt. Weaver nodded, "The target could only be the French fleet of Toulon. General, I think the British may be able to launch a night attack tonight. Although this is difficult, their slow biplane (referring to swordfish) may do it. We have stationed several night fighter squadrons equipped with BF-11O in RNaya, so they can help reinforce Toulon."

Admiral Valt. Weaver was the chief of staff of the Luftwaff. Although he was not a flight expert, he was very familiar with the performance of various aircraft because he participated in the establishment of the Luftwaffe. He knew that the British "Swordfish" aircraft (not only the United Kingdom, but the Netherlands also equipped this aircraft) had very good low-altitude and low performance.

"The news of the British fleet has been reported?" Halder did not make an immediate decision, but asked further.

"Yes," Weaver said, "Martyr Hessman should have received the news."

Although there are channels for communication between the German Southern Front Headquarters and the Italian Navy in Toulon, without Halde's order, Valt. Weaver could not contact the French without authorization, so he just reported the news to the General Staff.

"Okay," Halder paused, "Then we'll keep waiting...The Italians have destroyers outside the Port of Toulon, right?"

"Yes, that's used to monitor the French fleet."
Chapter completed!