The young naval lieutenant had no intention of letting the four seemingly disheartened local patrolmen board the ship. He walked down from the bridge with arrogance but hesitated when he reached the gangway connecting the minesweeper's deck to the dock. The minesweeper's freeboard was 2.5 meters high, almost equivalent to that of a two-thousand-ton destroyer, while the dock of Port Broughty appeared to be designed for smaller vessels. Although the morning tide had receded, there was still nearly a meter of height difference between the ship's deck and the dock, creating an angle of almost thirty degrees due to the moist sea air. Just a moment ago, two sailors slipped while disembarking!
For someone accustomed to life at sea, this might not pose much of a challenge. However, the young Royal Navy lieutenant was dressed in a neatly washed and pressed uniform, and he had just led his men to win a significant naval battle, which was quite important to him. How could he afford to lose face in front of his subordinates and a few local patrolmen?
"Send someone who can speak up!" he said casually, committing his second fatal mistake.
The even younger Logan had already discarded the conspicuous red military cap along with the shoulder patches, collar badges, and emblems on his uniform. He climbed aboard the minesweeper using both hands and feet, wearing a face of mixed emotions.
During the evacuation at Dunkirk, Logan had seen similar small warships amidst the vast rescue fleet. Each of them carried at least a hundred retreating Allied soldiers upon departure, and their decks were not as spacious as they were now. Just a few minutes ago, it seemed that their war journey had come to an end, but now, the door of hope had reopened to this German captain, who regarded "patience" and "wisdom" as his creed.
"Thank God, I thought I wouldn't survive today! Captain, I am immensely grateful to you!" Logan tidied his deliberately disheveled hair and reached out his dirty hand to shake hands with the proud British naval lieutenant.
The lieutenant reluctantly shook hands with him and said coldly, "Don't mention it! Where is the officer of your patrol team?"
"I am... the deputy commander of this patrol team, Jim Sterling. Our commander, Anna Feck, was away when the Germans attacked us. I suppose he has gone to call for reinforcements!" Logan tried to speak with a tone of gratitude mixed with uncertainty.
"Reinforcements? It seems that the Germans are much more efficient than you. They brought a submarine as reinforcement!" The British naval lieutenant's tone remained icy, with a touch of sarcasm.
Logan deliberately wiped his nose with his sleeve, trying to avoid his previous Scottish accent. "Yes, we all saw it! It's embarrassing. We were caught off guard at the beginning, so we were captured by them!"
The lieutenant looked disdainful at his rough and uncouth behavior. "How many of them are there in total?"
"A armored car and a truck arrived, no more than ten people, all wearing Royal Navy uniforms! They seemed to want to take something away. I'm not sure of the details! I can only understand a little German!" Logan intentionally added some chaotic words in his response while discreetly observing the situation on the dock: with just himself and three paratroopers disguised as patrolmen, they couldn't confront the enemy "empty-handed".
Shortly afterward, another group of people finally appeared on the dock. Through the thin mist formed by the smoke, it was not difficult to see that five British soldiers armed with rifles had "captured" four dripping wet German sailors. Two sailors who had disembarked earlier blocked their way, and after some negotiation, one of them led them to the gangway.
At this moment, Logan pretended to look pleasantly surprised and said to the naval lieutenant, "Look, it's our captain! They... ha, caught a lot of Germans!"
The lieutenant stared and said, "Those are German sailors, not the ones who attacked you earlier!"
Logan pretended to take a glance and waited until they approached a little closer before saying, "Yes, those guys aren't wearing this kind of clothes. They had a car; maybe they ran away when they fired just now! For details... you can ask our captain! Hey, Captain!"
He waved his hands vigorously towards the team below.
The leader of the team waved back in response. This time, the role of the patrol team leader was played by Linsen Fritz. Despite being twenty-six years old, he looked the most mature and weathered among the team.
"Can we let our captain come up?"
Logan looked at the British naval lieutenant beside him with an unusually eager gaze. His face was pale, his beard cleanly shaved, not particularly handsome, but exuding a special aura akin to that of a vampire count.
"Let him come up!" The naval lieutenant was completely unaware that he was stepping into the huge trap prepared for him by the other side.
Following Logan's arrangement, Linsen had already torn off any badges related to the military police, leaving only a slightly newer-looking khaki military uniform. Before boarding, he casually tucked his revolver into the holster around his waist.
When Linsen stepped onto the deck, Logan took the initiative to introduce, "This is the naval lieutenant who just sank the German submarine and saved Port Broughty. Um, sorry, I don't know your name yet..."
Receiving praise, the naval lieutenant's face finally warmed slightly, and he arrogantly stated his name, "Karl Svensen!"
Linsen earnestly extended his hand, "Nice to meet you, Lieutenant Svensen. On behalf of the entire Port Broughty, we thank you!"
After shaking hands, Lieutenant Svensen said, "You're welcome, I just did what I should do. You captured these German sailors, well done! But what I want to know most now is, where did those Germans who attacked you earlier go?"
"I don't know either, maybe they ran away, maybe they're hiding nearby!" Linsen replied while giving Logan a meaningful glance.
Logan knew that after Linsen boarded the ship, it would be the third phase of this risky plan.
Sure enough, gunshots suddenly rang out from the streets to the south of the dock. When the British naval lieutenant and his sailors all turned their attention in that direction, Linsen quickly drew his revolver from the holster and fired at the four gunners nearest to him in succession. At the same time, Logan decisively took action, using his slight height advantage to grab the lieutenant's neck, pulling him backward and knocking him to the ground, then elbowing him in the face. This move would still be considered a serious foul in a martial arts competition, but in a bar fight, rules didn't matter!
Under the gangway, the disguised British patrolmen and the feigned German sailors easily took down two British sailors and quickly climbed aboard the ship.
On the deck, Linsen's shots were accurate, and four shots took down the four gunners at the main gun position. The British sailor at the bulwark turned the machine gun and was about to open fire when, at a critical moment, a bullet from a distance struck him accurately in the chest!
In terms of marksmanship at a hundred meters, Logan believed that little Scott Cob had already reached the level to compete nationally, which was why he trusted him to be positioned on the opposite roof. Seeing that the machine gunner had been taken out, Logan left the unconscious British lieutenant behind and pulled out his dagger from his boot, leading the charge towards the stern!
On the dock, the armored car that had previously concealed itself in the alley reappeared and mercilessly slaughtered the seemingly tough British sailors with its machine gun. The remaining German paratroopers also discarded their British military police uniforms and joined the battle. The few remaining German sailors also joined in, and the war quickly turned into a one-sided affair...