Bulgarian Empire

Vol 4 Chapter 116: , Enlarged version of the Battle of Jutland

In addition to the death of the old emperor, a far-reaching event occurred at the end of 1916. Fakingham, who had just won the Eastern Front, was impeached by the German military and was dismissed from his post on December 1, and was replaced by the Junker noble. Hindenburg served as the Chief of Staff of the German Army.

The next day, Prime Minister Teobarden von Batemann Holwig handed in his resignation to Wilhelm II. He also resigned from public office with the German Minister of Finance, Minister of Logistics, Minister of Interior and other senior government officials.

Obviously, in this round of political struggle, the military won a full victory, the German government lost its dominance over the country, and Hindenburg also began the road of military dictatorship.

As for William II, he also became a rubber stamp emperor. Even if he did not express his position in this political struggle, he was still emptied by the military.

After receiving this news, Ferdinand had to admit that an indecisive person was really unsuitable to be an emperor. He and the government could have suppressed the Junker aristocracy.

The result was that he was hesitant and undecided to let the military power representing the Junker nobles defeat the government. Even at this time, as a king, he still has the ability to intervene!

But William II still chose to remain silent, sitting and watching the government fall, and then the larger military took advantage of the situation and took him empty!

Of course, this is not comprehensive, and William II also made efforts, such as promoting Hindenburg, who was a Junker aristocrat, as the chief of the general staff. He tried to reconcile the conflicts between the two sides through such efforts.

Needless to say, as in history, people joined forces with the Junker nobles as soon as they came to power, and emptied him as a king.

The German military's coming to power had a huge impact on the world war. First, the high seas fleet left port, ready to find the British for a decisive battle.

This is also inevitable. With the end of the Eastern Front War and the start of the Southern Front, the German Sixth Army has fallen into the predicament of protracted combat, and the dream of trying to end the war on the Sixth has been shattered.

The German financial community and the Junker nobles did not agree to end the war, and the German Supreme Command had to change its original intention and shift its strategic focus to the sea.

In order to break through the British naval blockade, ensure Germany's freedom of movement at sea, and reverse the passive situation, the German ruling authorities decided to find opportunities at sea for a decisive battle with Britain.

So on December 1o, 1916, the German High Seas Fleet and the British Royal Navy's home fleet broke out in the Atlantic Ocean, which felt the biggest battle in the history of war!

Well, Ferdinand was directly stunned by this shocking news. If the Germans had the courage earlier, they would have a big battle with the British when the war broke out.

Not only can it severely damage the Royal Navy, but it can also save the navy's huge expenditure. This funding can at least allow Germany to add another fifty infantry divisions. Maybe the history of the world war can really be rewritten!

As for whether the Germans might win, Ferdinand had never thought about it. The difference in strength between the two sides is too great. The Navy is not the Sixth Army that can make up for the gap with courage and tactics!

The eyes of the whole world are now paying attention to this great battle, and even the news of the decisive battle between the Allies and the Allies on the Western and Southern Fronts has been concealed by this naval battle.

Ferdinand knew that, if nothing else, this would be a replica of the great battle in Jutland in history. Even the location did not change significantly, it was all near Jutland, Denmark.

...

When the war broke out, the British main fleet squatted like a watchdog at Scarpaflo, fixed on the German High Seas Fleet and trapped it in Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven. The German High Seas Fleet became a veritable name. The "existence fleet".

Due to Ferdinand's butterfly effect, the German High Seas Fleet now has 21 battleships in this time and space, an increase of 3 more than in history, while the Royal Navy's home fleet has 35 battleships, an increase of 2 more than in history.

There is no doubt that these battleships are dreadnoughts or dreadnoughts, in addition to a series of large and small warships on both sides.

Germany has more than 400 large and small warships, while the British own more than 700 large and small warships. The Germans are less than half of John Bull in the total tonnage of warships.

Admiral Reinhard Scheer, then commander of the German High Seas Fleet, was frustrated and faced with the powerful Royal Navy fleet. He had only one realistic choice in front of him. Either stay in the harbor and do nothing, or kill John. The main fleet of cattle.

After receiving the domestic decisive battle order, Admiral Scheer's mood was not better. In the end, he made the same decision as in history, inducing part of the Royal Navy to come out and kill them. If the time is right, he will lead the High Seas Fleet and Part of the main battle of the Royal Navy!

After hesitating again and again, Admiral Sheer decided to hand over this task to Hipper to complete. At 5 pm on December 8, Hipper led five battlecruisers and twelve cruisers out, and the High Seas Fleet The main force set sail in more than three hours.

Contrary to the fanfare sailing of the Hipper fleet, which served as the "bait," the main formation led by Scheer maintained strict radio silence.

At the same time, the radio station in Wilhelmshaven continued to use the call sign of Scheer's flagship "Frederick the Great" to communicate with the outside world, creating the illusion that Admiral Scheer and the main force of the Ocean Fleet were still in the port.

In fact, winter is not a good time for a decisive battle, but Admiral Scheer has no choice. If the conditions are really suitable for naval operations, the British will not be fooled.

"Your Excellency, will the British be fooled?" the chief of staff asked worriedly

Scheer replied without hesitation: "I don't know! If we are unlucky, we ran into a British reconnaissance plane as soon as we came out, and we might turn from hunters to prey!"

The chief of staff smiled bitterly and said: "Well, I originally wanted to seek comfort from you. I didn't expect that you, the tactical maker, would be even more pessimistic than me!"

Scheer sighed and said: "I'm not pessimistic, but a fair truth! What if the British are fooled, as long as they are cautious enough to come out, we are not going to run away!

Or maybe he only sent a fleet of troops, and the commander is a coward who takes advantage of it and accepts it, and he doesn't pursue it at all. What can we do with them? "

After a moment of silence, the chief of staff said: "It seems that now we can only expect God to bless us!"

The two ended the dialogue. This is a gamble. If the Germans simply won this big battle, there will be another big battle waiting for them. John Bull’s navy will not be able to solve them all at once!

If it loses, or both lose, then there is no more, the German Navy can announce its withdrawal from this world war in advance!

The Germans had good luck this time. The British reconnaissance planes returned directly after they found their cruiser fleet.

Of course, their good fortune will end here. Because of the weather, the British pilots mistakenly turned the battlecruiser into a battleship and reported it!

After receiving the news, Admiral Jerich, the commander of the British Ocean Fleet, immediately made the decision to lay out a large net and send a decoy fleet to lure the Germans into the pit!

At 21:30 on the evening of the 8th, Jericho led a huge fleet of 26 battleships, 3 battlecruisers, 20 cruisers and 50 destroyers out of Scarpa Bay.

After that, Betty led an avant-garde fleet consisting of 4 battleships, 6 battlecruisers, 14 light cruisers and 27 destroyers to leave Port Roseith.

A few hours later, the German submarine ambushing outside the port of Rosses returned a telegram of "the enemy fleet sailing" to the Ocean Fleet. The German "decoy fleet" was also under the surveillance of the British.

The two fleets that came out almost all thought their "bait tactics" were successful. At this time, neither Sher nor Jerich had expected that the opposing fleet had been dispatched. Even more unexpectedly, they will personally participate in the world's largest fleet battle in the near future.

……(Forget the same big sea battle, everyone doesn’t want to watch it, I don’t bother to watch it)

Time flies quickly, and in a flash, three days have passed since the battle of the British and German navies on December 13, and the Bulgarian intelligence agency finally figured out the outcome of the war.

The intelligence chief Sim delivered a document to Ferdinand and said: "Your Majesty, the results of the Battle of Anglo-Germany Jutland have come out, please have a look!"

Ferdinand took the document and read it carefully. There is no doubt that the British and German governments are bragging.

If according to the results they announced before, they are all victors, but there can only be one victor in a battle, or there is no victor!

The British claimed that they had sunk 3 German battlecruisers, 3 dreadnoughts, 1 dreadnought, 2 pre-dreadnoughts, 7 light cruisers, 9 destroyers, and 8 torpedo boats (tonnage 366,000 tons). Injured 8 German Dreadnoughts, 2 battlecruisers...

The Germans claimed that they had sunk 2 British battlecruisers, 5 dreadnoughts, 2 dreadnoughts, 3 pre-dreadnoughts, 2 armored cruisers, 1 light cruiser, 9 destroyers, and 5 torpedo boats (gross tonnage) 485,000 tons), damaged 12 British dreadnoughts and 8 cruisers...

Ferdinand received intelligence that the Germans did take advantage of this great battle, but both sides were exaggerating the outcome of this battle.

The Royal Navy sank 2 former dreadnoughts, 3 battlecruisers, 3 armored cruisers, 6 destroyers, 2 cruisers, and 5 torpedo boats (about 178,000 tons in gross tonnage~www.wuxiahere.com~The High Seas Fleet sank 1 battlecruiser, 1 former dreadnought, 4 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, 5 torpedo boats (about 89,000 tons in gross tonnage).

Although the losses on both sides are much greater than in history, they are still not to the point of breaking one's muscles and bones. A major battleship has not sunk in a navy battle, which can only be a tickle for the British and German navies. Up.

Of course, the small loss of warships does not mean that the loss of personnel is not large. At least their total casualties are close to the total number of Bulgarian navy!

The total strength of the British army was about 65,000, with a casualty rate of 10.472, with a casualty rate of 16.1%; the total strength of the German army was about 50,000 with a casualty of 4,356, with a casualty rate of 8.7%.

This is also a sequelae of the decisive battle in winter, falling in the cold water, the survival rate dropped sharply!

Fortunately, the two countries have a bottom line. After the war, they sent rescue boats. The two sides worked together to rescue the people who fell into the water. Then they exchanged their soldiers and went home!

For this result, Ferdinand is satisfied. The Germans won a tactical victory, and the results were even more brilliant than in history; the British won a strategic victory, albeit with heavy losses.

From the standpoint of Bulgaria, Ferdinand only cares about whether the Royal Navy can continue to block the Germans. As for the size of the casualties of the British Navy, this is not worth mentioning.

Look at the countries participating in the war on the European Big Six. Whoever does not move can cause hundreds of thousands or even millions of casualties. The mere 10,000 people still cannot keep up with the casualties on the Western Front!

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