I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 792: Breaking Through the Blockade

Bicangxi Training Base.

Tijani had dry bread with coffee for breakfast. He was very dedicated to the training of motorized infantry, even more than his initial enthusiasm for mechanized infantry training.

Shire was puzzled by this, but Tijani’s answer was quite convincing.

"The motorized infantry is the only unit equipped with long-range artillery, General," Tijani replied. "Look at our armored and mechanized units, they are mostly equipped with 75 guns. However, the artillery of the motorized infantry has developed into air-ground coordination. I believe this kind of artillery can play an unexpected role on the battlefield."

This made sense.

In the future, armored units and mechanized troops will also develop long-range artillery and may even replace them with more expensive, better-defended, and faster-firing self-propelled howitzers.

But at this stage, enemy infantry-artillery coordination and artillery accuracy have issues. There’s not much necessity to develop to this extent.

If it really doesn’t work out, borrowing the motorized unit’s 105MM "truck gun" would suffice.

"Look at this!" Tijani struggled to swallow the bread and handed today’s newspaper to Shire.

"The Germans and the British had a naval battle," Tijani took a sip of coffee to ease his dry throat: "The interesting part is that both sides claim they achieved victory."

Shire responded with a "hmm," took the newspaper, and browsed through the battle report.

"But what they said seems to be true," Tijani continued analyzing: "The Germans achieved a tactical victory, exchanging 4 light cruisers and 5 destroyers for 14 British warships, including 3 battlecruisers."

In the era of gunboats and dreadnoughts, the number and loss of battleships were the most important factors in naval warfare. Other warships were merely supplements to battleships.

Therefore, in this naval battle, Germany won a great victory with a casualty ratio of 0:3.

Tijani sat back in his seat, with a tone of regret: "Meanwhile, the British achieved a strategic victory by successfully blocking the breakthrough of the German Fleet."

Shire smiled lightly: "Is that what you think?"

Tijani, who was about to review a stack of documents, paused and looked up at Shire: "Isn’t it?"

Shire raised the newspaper in his hand: "The Germans, like us, successfully installed torpedoes on aircraft, Major General, and they were seaplanes. Do you understand what this means?"

Tijani looked confused: "But they only have about 30, not enough to form a scale."

"The key is that these planes can easily sink battleships," Shire replied.

Indeed, attacking with torpedo planes is not easy, and can even be challenging, with requirements such as stable flight and not flying too fast.

If enemy warships have complete anti-aircraft firepower, torpedo planes are highly likely to be shot down during the attack.

However.

It’s currently WWI, torpedo planes have only been recently invented, and the Royal Navy has not realized the importance of anti-aircraft capabilities on warships, nor do they have suitable anti-aircraft firepower.

Thus, torpedo planes are almost invincible at sea.

Tijani suddenly realized: "You mean the Germans can already break through the blockade of the British Fleet, relying on seaplanes?"

Shire nodded gently.

The reason why he wanted to showcase torpedo planes to the Germans was precisely for this reason: to enable the German Fleet to break through the blockade of the Royal Navy, allowing them to purchase supplies from neutral countries in Northern Europe.

It’s just that, for now, the Germans haven’t realized this.

At this moment, a communications officer approached with a telegram report: "General, there’s new information on the naval battle. German seaplanes have sunk 3 more warships, including a battleship, near Bergen Port in Norway."

Tijani stared at Shire with his mouth half-open, as if this guy had the foresight.

Shire quietly praised, admiring Admiral Scheer’s good understanding, quickly grasping the crucial point.

...

This was the result of Admiral Scheer’s night of contemplation.

Because the German Navy was too inferior compared to the Royal Navy, Admiral Scheer withdrew after a successful hit, immediately redeploying the fleet back to Hamburg Port.

Hamburg Port has always been Germany’s largest warship repair base, where damaged warships could quickly recover combat readiness. Admiral Scheer did this to prepare for the next attack.

However, Admiral Scheer was not satisfied with this, nor was he satisfied with the original "attrition" strategy.

Today’s victory still involved an element of luck.

If the British Fleet had not retreated and chose an all-out "decisive battle" with the German Fleet, the German Fleet might still be annihilated due to numerical inferiority.

Germany needs supplies and trade with neutral Northern European countries.

A victory without breaking through the blockade cannot truly be considered a victory.

Is there a way to change all this?

Suddenly, a bold idea formed in Admiral Scheer’s mind: Seaplanes, why not use seaplanes to break the blockade?

Admiral Scheer excitedly jumped out of his chair: "Yes, this is what Shire really wanted to tell us, this guy has helped us tremendously!"

(Above is the route from Hamburg to the important Norwegian port of Bergen. This route is far from the British mainland, beyond the range of British "Camel" fighter planes, so the German Army’s "UWD" with torpedoes is almost invincible, capable of attacking the British Fleet appearing in nearby waters at will.)

(Above, the red circles mark the Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands in the UK, where Britain has established ports. Its main fleet bases these two archipelago ports to implement a blockade on the German Navy, with the primary blockade target being Bergen Port in Norway.)

Admiral Scheer, filled with excitement, reported his plan to William II:

"We are too foolish, Your Majesty, we are like immature children."

"Shire has long given us the answer, but we didn’t know how to use it."

"We can break the blockade with planes, without needing to eliminate the British Fleet like the navy must. We just need to drive them away."

William II didn’t understand: "Drive them away? Even to drive them away, don’t we have to defeat them at sea?"

This was an inertia thinking from long-standing naval battles without aircraft. William II always felt that only fleets could "drive away" enemy fleets.

What can 36 seaplanes do? They can only carry 36 torpedoes at a time.

"No, Your Majesty," Admiral Scheer replied, his usually calm voice trembling at this moment: "Planes alone are enough. Although they can only carry 36 torpedoes, as long as they patrol the sky, the British Fleet wouldn’t dare to approach."

William II suddenly realized, paused for a moment, then burst into laughter:

"Correct, General, a genius idea! As long as the enemy fleet approaches, it will inevitably be attacked by aircraft. While it might not be much, it’s very dangerous."

"So, they can only avoid it. They can only be driven away by us."

"God, I didn’t expect the answer to breaking the blockade to be so simple!"