Chapter 708 Scheer and Hipper

"Marshal, you're looking for me!" Franz Hipper pushed the door open, saluted Tirpitz and Scheer, then sat down and said, "What's so urgent? Why are you looking for me so quickly?"

"Now that Hipper is here, we can talk about the whole plan." Tirpitz smiled and asked Hipper to sit down. Looking at the two important generals in the German Navy, he felt infinitely gratified. But when he thought of the British domestic fleet that was like a watchdog, his mood turned heavy. This contrast is difficult to explain in a few words.

Scheer and Hipper sat in a serious state. Hipper was even more confused than Scheer, having been summoned by Tirpitz. He knew nothing about the whole plan, but from the heavy mood of Tirpitz and Scheer, he could feel that he would hear something extraordinary today.

"The war has been going on for a year, and the army has gained the upper hand on all fronts, but I believe you can see that it is unlikely to end the war in a short period of time." Tirpitz began to explain the current situation. Scheer and Hipper both nodded in agreement. The German victory was unquestionable, but as time went by, how long could the citizens hold on?

If the British mainland was not threatened, this tug-of-war would not end in the foreseeable future. During the Napoleonic era, while ensuring the security of the British Isles, Britain organized anti-French alliances again and again.

"Now we must find a way to make the navy's contribution to this war." Tirpitz's words made Scheer and Hipper look serious. No one understood what this meant better than them.

"Marshal, are we going to have a decisive battle with the British Navy?" Hipper asked hurriedly, his hands clenched tightly under his sleeves. Unlike other generals of the German Navy, Hipper had fought against the British Royal Navy.

When the war broke out, Hipper led his battlecruiser fleet to lurk in the dangerous North Sea. He commanded his troops to carry out many hit-and-run attacks on the British coast in the early days of the war, especially the bombardment of Scarborough and Hartlepool, which was very successful. However, these sneak attacks also killed and injured many British civilians, so much so that he was called the baby killer of the German Navy by the British.

After the attack on Scarborough, the British military, under pressure from public opinion, decided to try to find Hipper's fleet and destroy it when it was negligent. This effort led to the subsequent Battle of Dogger Bank.

The first battle between the British and German fleets broke out at the Dogger Bank in the North Sea. The German fleet retreated in defeat. This battle was the first confrontation between British and German battlecruisers in the North Sea. The battle did not end with a more decisive British victory. In this naval battle, the German Navy's "Blücher" armored cruiser was sunk, and the "Seydlitz" battlecruiser was severely damaged, with 1,034 casualties. Only the British Navy's "Lion" battlecruiser was severely damaged, with 15 deaths and 80 injuries.

"General Hipper, we did gain something in the last naval battle. For example, the British seem to be able to find our movements. In the past six months, through a certain number of attacks, I have confirmed one thing. For some reason, our navy's code book was leaked. This is why the British Royal Navy seems to be able to see us." Tirpitz paused here and continued, "And this is what I want to say now. With the successful experience of the previous naval battle, I believe the British are confident in their intelligence."

"Is that so?" Hipper muttered as he sat there. If there was one thing that made people uneasy about the Battle of Dogger Bank, it was only that the British Navy had foreseen his attack. Either there was a British spy in the German naval headquarters, or there were other reasons. But now Tirpitz's words had shown that the navy's radio code had been leaked.

"Okay, generals, let's talk about this operation." Tirpitz started to focus the attention of the two important naval commanders. "The comparison between our two navies is now more unfavorable than the comparison in August last year. Our overseas raw material imports are blocked by the British Navy. Although it has not been completely cut off, the situation is not optimistic. The speed of launching warships on the British slipway has not been affected, but there are advantages. There are Austrian and Italian fleets in the Mediterranean, and Britain has carried out amphibious landings in the Ottoman Empire. Some warships went to the Mediterranean. Therefore, compared with a year ago, the situation we are facing has not deteriorated much in terms of the strength comparison between the British Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet. The warships of the British Grand Fleet that are now in combat readiness are..."

Tirpitz knew all about the British battleships in front of Hipper and Scheer, as if the British battleships he mentioned did not belong to Britain but were stationed in German naval ports.

"General Hipper, now I set a premise. When you are sure that our radio code has been leaked, you lead a battlecruiser formation to attack. What kind of force do you think will ambush you?" Tirpitz asked Hipper with a burning gaze.

Hipper fell into deep thought, and after thinking for a while, he softly uttered a name, "David Beatty!"

Admiral Reinhard Scheer nodded, thinking that Hipper's judgment was correct, "It must be him."

"Even David Beatty's fleet has a very obvious advantage over Hipper's battlecruiser formation." Tirpitz said with a wry smile, "If we compare the entire Grand Fleet with the High Seas Fleet, or even the entire navies of the two countries, the same is true. You two should be very clear about this."

The Royal Navy's basic advantage over the German Navy was in size, not just in the comparison of the size of the Grand Fleet versus the High Seas Fleet; the Royal Navy's advantage was based on comprehensive global military deployment. At the start of the war, the Royal Navy could deploy or was about to complete up to 35 super-dreadnoughts/dreadnoughts and 16 battlecruisers - note, there were also 41 pre-dreadnoughts; this resulted in the Royal Navy, not the Grand Fleet, having a total of 91 battleships; the number of fleets that could be deployed at any time included 22 dreadnoughts, 41 pre-dreadnoughts, 34 armored cruisers and 52 protected cruisers;

This was not the advantage of the Grand Fleet over the High Seas Fleet, this was the advantage of the Royal Navy over the Imperial German Navy - meaning that even if the Grand Fleet went wrong, for example, it was forced into a costly strategic decisive battle and the Dreadnought Fleet suffered heavy losses, there were still seventy second-class battleships and the experienced officers and sailors on these fleets available.

Whenever I think of this comparison of power, I feel heavy-hearted. In the eyes of the navy, the army failed the trust of William II and did not solve the problem through war on land. But in the eyes of the army, the navy did not even have the courage to look at the British Royal Navy.

"Moltke the Younger said that the navy is very important to Germany, but the navy is also the life of the British Empire to the British." Feeling the solemn atmosphere in the office, Tirpitz's beard trembled and he shouted coldly, "We must seize the opportunity when part of the British fleet is tied down in the Mediterranean and show the courage of the navy to fight for Germany. It is not a question of whether to do it or not, but a question of when to start."

Tirpitz's roar lifted the spirits of the two men. They felt the great responsibility on their shoulders and their eyes became determined.

"In terms of overall strength, we are not as good as the British, so we must find a way to take advantage of an opportunity to cut off a piece of the British Navy, just like cutting sausages, to achieve a relative balance of strength, and then find a way to force the British to withdraw from the war." Tirpitz said to himself, "So now that we know about the code leak, we must take advantage of it. General Hipper, General Scheer, in fact, I know in my heart that although I built the German Navy, it does not mean that I am a very talented front-line commander. I have set the premise, you can speak freely and deduce the situation you are about to face."

"There are only two possibilities! The first is that we get the news of Hipper's attack, and David Beatty's fleet comes to intercept. I will lead the main fleet to follow behind General Hipper and besiege Beatty's fleet. This is a naval battle with a very predictable outcome!"

"Another possibility is that it is not just the Beatty fleet that appears. The British fleet has far more battleships than we expected. However, I think the British only know the strength of Hipper's fleet and will send out a large fleet."

Reinhartscher paused and said, "Of course, I will prepare for the worst possible scenario. I won't put my hopes on wishful thinking."

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Neither Tirpitz nor Reinhard Scheer thought of destroying the British fleet in one battle. From the beginning to the end, their goal was to beat up the watchdog of the North Sea and evacuate before the other side bit them.

The mission of Hipper's fleet was to lure the enemy into battle, thereby allowing the High Seas Fleet to weaken a certain portion of the British Grand Fleet's strength.

If the British knew what the German Navy was thinking now, there would be no doubt that they would also formulate a similar combat plan, except that the Beatty Fleet, which served as bait, was stronger than the Hipper Fleet, and the strength of the British Grand Fleet was also above that of the German High Seas Fleet.

But the British only knew part of the battle plan this time. When leaving the naval headquarters, Reinhard Scheer stopped Hipper and whispered, "This operation is very dangerous for the battlecruiser formation."

"Yes, but I have no choice. This is my chance to take revenge." Hipper said solemnly, "I will go back first. After all, time is running out."

After arriving at Port Wilhelm, Hipper stood on the beach, touched the cold sea water, and said to himself, "I wonder how many people will die at the bottom of the sea." Based on his understanding of this month, once a sailor falls into the water, it is almost impossible to survive until rescue.

(End of this chapter)