"Marson, are we really going to take down the Shetlands or just launch a feint?"

Marshal Raidel, commander-in-chief of the Navy, still didn't seem to understand Hessman's intentions. He said: "Now the Americans have taken over control of Iceland from the UK, and there are also reports that the United States is pushing to turn Iceland into its overseas territory. Once the U.S. Congress and the Iceland Parliament passed a resolution, the supplies shipped to Iceland will no longer be subject to the neutrality bill. Iceland will become a transit base for the United States to export supplies to the UK.

In the future, British ships will only need to be responsible for the transportation tasks of the Iceland Scotland route. This section of route is only more than 500 nautical miles long, and the strength of the British local fleet is enough to carry out strict escort. At that time, the submarine warfare will not be carried out."

Redel frowned and continued, "If we still want to attack Britain with sea blockade and break the war, we must occupy the Shetlands and the Faroe Islands."

The Americans' entry into Iceland is actually a policy of war on the edge of war, with the purpose of forcing Germany to launch an attack first. If Germany does not dare to take action, the United States will turn Iceland into a frontier stronghold for supporting Britain. In the future, the materials sent to Britain will be transported through Iceland. In this way, the threat of German submarines to the British maritime lifeline will be greatly reduced and will not even play any role.

Occupy Shetland Peninsula and the Faroe Peninsula became the best and only way to effectively block the UK.

"In addition," Redel continued, "Now Britain has deployed a large number of shore-based aircraft in northern Scotland, the Faroe Islands and the Shetland Islands. The United States has deployed aircraft and squadrons in Iceland. It is very difficult for the high seas fleet to break through the blockade and enter the Atlantic to join the Atlantic to join the French and Italian fleet, unless it chooses to make a breakthrough during the Arctic Polar Night. Otherwise, it can only occupy the Shetland Peninsula and the Faroe Peninsula."

Obviously, Marshal Redel tends to occupy the Shetlands! He actually always had this idea, but because the airport of the German shore-based aviation force is too far from the Shetlands, it cannot provide effective air support for the attack fleet. Therefore, occupying the Shetlands is just a thought.

But now Norway will soon join Germany to join the war. With Bergen and Stavanger, two bases near the Shetland Islands, Germany's shore-based air force will be able to take advantage of the Shetland Islands.

"The primary goal is to attract the British local fleet and create favorable conditions for the Battle of Gibraltar," Hessman said in a pondering manner. "The second goal is that the British aircraft carrier will finally occupy the Shetland Islands."

Hessmand for a while and said, "Considering the importance of the Shetland Islands and its only 200 kilometers away from the British mainland, the action to seize the islands will inevitably be difficult and long, and there will be repeated struggles. Therefore, this action can also be regarded as the beginning of the capture of the Shetland Islands. The battle to capture the Shetland Islands will be a long war of attrition. The German high seas fleet must be mentally prepared to engage in a long and arduous battle!"

Since air forces have begun to dominate naval warfare, suppressing the British shore-based aviation around the Shetland Islands has become the key to seizing the archipelago. To achieve the goal of suppressing the British shore-based aviation, repeated tug-of-war and consumption must be carried out, so the Battle of Shetland must be very long.

"Mr. Gisling, on behalf of the Head of the European Community and Emperor of Germany, I welcome the Kingdom of Norway to be a member of the European Community."

While Hessmann and the German Navy leaders were discussing the battle of the Shetlands, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler was in the capital of the European Community, and Europa Castle in Alsace was the original Strasbourg.

The Norwegian National Unified Party led by Vedkongjislin launched a bloodless coup not long ago, forcing the Norwegian Parliament to pass a special authorization law, giving the Gislin government legislative power.

In other words, the Gisling government can now allow Norway to request to join the European Community at any time.

Joining the European Community is quite attractive to the current Norwegians. Because the North Sea oil field has not been discovered yet, Norway is not a wealthy country with high welfare, but a poor country in Europe. Its economic strength and people's living standards are far inferior to those of European rich countries such as Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium.

Therefore, joining the European Community can get the support of most Norwegians. However, joining the European Community now means participating in a war led by Germany! It means going to war with Britain, and there is also the possibility of a war with the powerful United States.

So before the Battle of the Mediterranean, although Gislin had become Norwegian Prime Minister, he still had no way to drag Norway to Germany's chariot.

However, after the Battle of the Mediterranean, the situation has changed reversibly. Now most Norwegians believe that the British Empire is about to end, and now it is the opportunity to join the European Community. If they do not join now, when Britain is defeated, the European Community may not be willing to accept Norway, a poor country.

"Leader," said Gisling to Hitler, "According to your instructions, we have built 6 regiment-level airports in Bergen and Stavanger, and can enter 6 aviation regiments and 6 anti-aircraft gun regiments at any time. The ports and coastal defense batteries in Bergen and Stavanger have been repaired, and the German high seas fleet is welcome to enter at any time. In addition, the 20,000 Vikings are also ready to fight for victory in Europe at any time!"

Although Norway has not participated in the war in the past year, it has not wasted time. Instead, it follows Germany's instructions and takes the funds provided by Germany to prepare for war. Six large airports were built, the ports of Bergen and Stavanger were repaired, and a Viking with 20,000 people was formed, the Viking Legion.

"Thank you very much to Norway for everything that he has done for European solidarity," Adolf Hitler said with a smile. "Germany and other European Community countries will not forget Norway's contribution. After the war is over, we will definitely help Norway develop its economy. In addition, in order to ensure the security of Norway, you should not announce this news for the time being, let our army first settle in Bergen, Stavanger, Janmayen and Svalbard."

Jan Mayen and Svalbard are both Norwegian territory, one is about 500 kilometers away from Greenland, and the other is in the Barents Sea, close to the Arctic Ocean. Although it is not a strategic location, Germany can set up meteorological observation stations there. If the Soviet Union and Germany start war, then Svalbard can also exist as a submarine supply station.

The news that Norwegian Prime Minister Vadkongslin visited Europaburg was soon spread to London by pro-British factions in Norway. The first reaction of the cabinet during the war was that the big tiger, the German High Seas Fleet, was about to be released!

The island chain blockade line, which is operated by the northern Scotland airport, the Faroe Islands, the Shetland Islands and the Orkney Islands, will soon be subject to the most severe test.

"The news from Oslo that the Gisling government will hand over the ports and airports of Bergen and Stavanger to Germany for use."

Foreign Secretary Aiden reported the bad news he had just received in a low tone.

"Is there any way to stop Gisling?" said General Deer, Chief of Staff. "It's okay to delay it, so that we can concentrate our efforts to fight the Germans in Gibraltar."

"There's no way," Aiden said, "this is the sequelae of our failure in the Mediterranean. Now the pro-British factions in Norway dare not speak, and some people have changed their positions."

The so-called pro-British faction does not mean that they are preparing to go to hell with the British Empire. They are just turning to Britain for interests. But now Britain seems to be about to fail, so pro-British politicians will naturally be alienated from Britain.

During the war, there was silence in the conference room of the cabinet command center. Everyone turned their attention to Churchill. Waiting for the Prime Minister to make a decision, it was difficult to get the idea. The British local fleet had only this strength. If he could take care of Gibraltar, he could not control the Norwegian Sea. If he wanted to block both ends, he might end up missing.

"If the main force of the fleet goes to support Gibraltar, will Germany possibly occupy the Shetland Islands?" Churchill asked.

"There is no such possibility for the time being," replied Pound, "because we have quite strong defenses in the Shetlands, the Oniks and the Faroe Islands. If we count the aircraft deployed in northern Scotland, we have more than 1,000 combat aircraft there. These include 20 squadrons of Bristol Povert torpedo bombers and 20 squadrons of Wellington Heavy Bombers. They will adopt the same tactics as the Germans and Italians, with large clusters of bombing attempts to approach the German fleet in the Shetlands."

Now the British have also learned the trick of large aircraft group saturation attacks, but they still lack a large-range dive bomber similar to 88, so they can only use the "Willington" bomber to make up the numbers and use horizontal bombing and torpedo attacks to deal with the German surface fleet.

"Where are escort fighters?" Churchill asked, "What aircraft do we use to escort? The Germans can have two aircraft carriers."

"If the distance is closer, you can use fire," Marshal Pound replied with a frown, "If it is farther, you can only use 51 provided by the Americans."

"So what if the German surface fleet penetrated from the Norwegian Sea Denmark Strait? This possibility has increased a lot after German aircraft entered Norway?"

Marshal Pound thought for a while and replied: "We can leave Hood, Prince of Wales, King George V and Nelson at the anchorage in northwest Scotland just in case."
Chapter completed!