Chapter 993: The Two Countries Will Have a War

No one expected that the battle for Emden Harbor would be fought between minesweepers and minelayers.

Major Bernhard became famous in one battle.

After his minelayer approached the enemy's minesweeper, he hung counterweights on the 150 mines it was carrying and dropped them all into the sea.

The mines sink and float downstream under the push of wind and water currents.

The ten minesweepers of the British Army that were carrying out minesweeping operations did not notice them at all and continued to sail back and forth on the sea.

…

Mines are usually hung on the seabed with anchors and hooks, keeping the mine body suspended at a certain depth in the sea water.

In this way, nothing can be seen from the sea surface and it seems calm, but when a warship with a deeper draft passes by, it will be hit by a mine and sunk.

Minesweepers have a shallow draft and will not detonate a mine even if they pass over its top.

Therefore, they can safely travel back and forth with the "drag knife" on the stern.

The "drag knife" will cut the torpedo cable, and the mine will then float to the surface, where the minesweeper can detonate it from a distance.

The "Racecourse" class minesweepers are very good at this job. They have been "battle-hardened" since the war began and can be said to be veterans.

But this time they capsized in the ditch.

"boom".

A minesweeper was lifted several meters high by the huge explosion and huge waves, and then fell heavily down.

A big hole was blown in its bow, and less than a minute after it fell into the sea, the tail was lifted high due to severe water intake from the front, and then the whole ship plunged straight into the seabed.

In less than 5 minutes, only a string of bubbles and strange water disturbances remained on the sea surface. The speed was so fast that the crew did not even have a chance to jump into the sea to escape.

"What happened?" Lieutenant Colonel Valentine, commander of the British Army's 7th Minesweeping Brigade, looked at the location where the "Urho" disappeared in confusion.

"Maybe it was the water current." The staff officer gave an explanation: "Some mines were cut without them noticing, and they were carried off course by the water current, so they crashed into the mines."

Lieutenant Colonel Valentine hummed, and that was the only explanation.

"Order." He said with displeasure: "All units should pay attention to the situation on the sea surface and detonate mines in time if found."

"Yes, sir!"

Before he finished his words, there were two loud bangs.

One of the other two minesweepers hit a mine on the bow and the other hit a mine on the hull.

Since they were civilian ships with poor sinking resistance, they all sank to the bottom of the sea before they could be rescued. The one that hit a mine even broke in two.

"Is this all because of the water current?" Lieutenant Colonel Valentine cursed, running to the bow and raising a telescope to observe the sea.

He thought there must be something they hadn't discovered.

Sure enough, in the aperture of his telescope, there were many black objects in the sea water, floating up and down with the sea water, and one of them was right in front of him.

"Mines!" He turned around and shouted to the staff officer anxiously, "Avoid them!"

However, the staff and helmsman could not see the mines hidden in the water, so they had no way to avoid them.

Lieutenant Colonel Valentine could only turn around and watch the mines in front of him getting closer and closer...

The German 29th Mine-laying Squadron won a great victory. Not only did they sink six minesweepers to hinder the British minesweeping process, but also two destroyers and a cruiser of the British main fleet parked a few nautical miles away were sunk.

…

Then the air war began.

The British sent their proud "SE5a" fighter planes to fly over the port of Emden, trying to completely control the sky over the port, but they were defeated by the German "Fokker D.VII" that rushed to the scene after hearing the news.

The British Army did reach the port of Emden, but suddenly two German tank divisions penetrated into the rear of the Ruhr area and cut off the British army's retreat.

As a result, the British Royal Navy was blocked by minefields and could not attack the port, while the 30,000 British troops who attacked the port were surrounded by the German army.

…

War Houses, London, England.

Telegram after telegram was delivered to the Minister of Munitions, who was in charge of the overall situation behind the scenes.

The Minister of Munitions was furious and held the telegram loudly questioning General Winter:

"The penetration of two German tank divisions?"

"Where do they get the fuel? Where do they get the ammunition?"

"Is this like the German army that is on its last gasp after being blocked by us?"

General Winter replied: "Your Excellency, I have reason to believe that it was Charles who provided the supplies to the Germans."

"Charles?" The Quartermaster General was stunned.

"Yes." General Winter nodded. "The prisoner exchange program between Germany and France has led to frequent train traffic between the two countries in Belgium."

The Quartermaster General understood instantly.

If these trains stopped transporting prisoners of war, they would immediately become supplies sent to Germany.

Fuel and food could be sent from France to Germany, and weapons and ammunition could be delivered to the army from the Ruhr industrial area.

Of course, it’s not “giving away” but selling.

Charles made huge profits from this and also used it to drain Britain.

The hateful thing is that Britain cannot blame Charles.

The supplies changed hands through Belgium and the Netherlands.

Belgium may be an Allied power, but the Netherlands is a neutral country and is free in principle to sell supplies to any country.

And whether it is Belgium or the Netherlands, they have trade relations with Germany and it has nothing to do with the Shire.

The only area of concern is the industrial Ruhr.

But Charles used the excuse of "Germany maintaining law and order", but the supply had long exceeded the demand for "maintaining law and order".

"In addition," General Winter said, "one of the reasons why our army suffered a disastrous defeat at Emden was that the supply line was blocked."

"The supply line is blocked?" The Quartermaster General looked at General Winter in confusion: "Isn't our supply line the Ruhr where the French are stationed?"

The Ruhr, where French troops were stationed, was the safest because it was now a "neutral country" in principle.

"Yes, sir," General Winter replied, "it is indeed safe, but we cannot stop the French from building a road there."

The Minister of Munitions suddenly realized.

If the French wanted to block a road, it would be "under maintenance" and could easily block the British supply convoy for several hours.

The Quartermaster anxiously lit a cigar.

He understood Charles' intention:

Charles used the Ruhr industrial area to strangle Germany by the throat and forced the German army to fight according to his intentions.

The German army was used to consume the British army, while France developed rapidly in the process.

As one grows stronger, the other shrinks. It won't be long before France surpasses Britain to become the world's number one power!

No, this can't be!

The Quartermaster General stood up and took a few steps.

If this continues, Britain will be doomed, its colonies will collapse like dominoes, Britain will become a second-rate country, or even a puppet of France!

And all of this is because of Charles, because of France.

It was the root of the problem; attacking Germany would only be a pointless waste of resources.

In order to change this outcome, we must attack France and defeat Charles. Only in this way can we deter all other countries!

This cannot be avoided!

(End of this chapter)