Originally, Logan loved the sea, but since his experience on White Island, his feelings about the sea had subtly changed: if naval supremacy fell into enemy hands, it would be a headache for ground forces engaged in coastal or island warfare!
Pommer Bay, located in the southeastern part of the Baltic Sea, had long been regarded as a holiday resort in northern Germany. The weather here was mild in winter and cool in summer, with calm seas all year round. Nearby were the two major ports of Wolfsburg and Steding, making transportation extremely convenient. During wartime (whether World War I or World War II), due to the British Navy's blockade of the North Sea, the main German naval vessels often conducted training exercises in the Baltic Sea. Their appearance in Pommer Bay was almost as frequent as in another important harbor—Butzow Bay.
September 2, 1940, Monday.
In the tranquil bay, the two largest active-duty German naval vessels, the "Bismarck" and the "Gneisenau," sailed slowly. The former was considered the most powerful battleship in German history and one of the top heavy battleships in Europe at the time. Just eight days ago, it had been commissioned (on August 24), and everything from equipment to weapons on board was brand new; the latter was the second ship of the Scharnhorst-class battleship, known for its speed, although its guns were not large, they were precise and fierce. Its sister ship, the "Scharnhorst," was injured in the Norwegian campaign and would not be back in service until the end of October.
Surrounding the two German battleships were more than ten destroyers and large torpedo boats (which could be considered small destroyers). They formed a vigilant formation, with the ship's guns pointing diagonally toward the sky, as if anticipating an aerial attack.
In the distance to the southeast, a group of silver-gray dots soon appeared on the horizon, accompanied by a restless buzzing in the air.
On the sea surface far from the German fleet, several white yachts, along with their sun umbrellas, deck chairs, and round tea tables, seemed out of place amidst the atmosphere of war. Fortunately, there were no male or female tourists in bathrobes or swimsuits on deck. Standing or sitting, using binoculars to observe from a distance were all German naval and air force officers.
"General, I'm curious... if the Bismarck suddenly appeared near the mouth of the Thames, would the British go crazy?"
Wearing sunglasses, Logan finally found a touch of modernity—this was an era of great upheaval, but also an era without computers, networks, or even televisions. Although sunglasses had been popular in Europe for more than a decade, they were expensive, with few styles available and were relatively traditional.
The naval captain beside him had a tall figure and a sunny appearance. His dark eyes gave off a sense of mystery and wisdom—Helmut Heye, once hailed as the most creative young officer in the German Navy, had long served in the Navy Staff, earning admiration from figures like Raeder and Göring. In order to gain war experience, he had served for a period as the captain of the newly commissioned heavy cruiser "Prince Eugen," but this cutting-edge warship collided with the heroic British destroyer "Glowworm" during the Norwegian campaign, causing damage to its main armor belt and forcing it to be sent back for major repairs. Afterwards, Heye returned to the Naval Staff as Deputy Chief of Staff, responsible for coordinating the naval forces in the White Island campaign, where he had a pleasant collaboration with Logan and together they received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves.
"Yes, the British would go crazy, but so would our Colonel Lindemann! You see, the mouth of the Thames is now filled with mines. Although the Bismarck has strong armor, if it hits a few mines in a row..." Heye shook his head, the implication clear.
"True! It has just entered service, and the crew are still not very proficient!" With that, Logan turned his gaze back to the sea monster. Since the day it was laid down, the Bismarck had been regarded as a symbol of the German Navy's revival. Whether launching or commissioning, the Fuhrer would personally attend the ceremony with senior military officials, underscoring its importance. Consequently, when Logan proposed using the Bismarck as bait for Operation "Wrath of Poseidon," he was strongly opposed by all naval officers led by Raeder. Even today's aerial dummy exercises were almost rejected by the naval high command on the grounds of morale impact.
The German aircraft approaching from the southeast—where they would also appear during combat—were divided into two groups. The group gaining altitude advantage had a unique seagull-like silhouette, and they were the highlight of the German Air Force during the Polish and Western campaigns. The other group flying at low altitude over the sea consisted of medium-sized aircraft with twin engines and light aircraft with single engines. When they were preparing to "attack" the fleet, people on the yachts could clearly see their torpedo bays bulging under their bellies, painted white at the head.
The two groups of aircraft gradually approached, and the anti-aircraft guns on the battleships roared, and the speed of the entire fleet also noticeably increased. Logan, who was ignorant of naval weapons technology, had extensively studied naval knowledge in the past few days, and specifically consulted Heye to understand the air defense situation of the navies of both Germany and Britain: Double-barreled 105mm and 37mm anti-aircraft guns were standard equipment for large German warships at the time, with decent firing rates, range, and accuracy, but lacked radar fire control and proximity fuzes; British battleships mostly used 127 or 152mm guns paired with pom-poms, with slightly higher firepower intensity than their German counterparts of the same class. In addition, both large surface vessels of the two countries were equipped with a large number of 20mm machine guns and heavy machine guns for close-range defense.
Due to the use of dummy rounds, smoke enveloped the German warships, but there were no visible flashes flying, and Stuka dove down from the air. They dropped soft training bombs, and then a formation of more than 30 He-115 and Ar-95 torpedo bombers conducted torpedo strikes. In the absence of real anti-aircraft fire, almost one-third of the water-filled torpedoes successfully hit the German ships on the surface.
After completing the bombing mission, the attacking aircraft departed, and the German fleet on the sea surface also ceased roaring. The simulated data was quickly delivered to the naval and air force officers on the yachts who were eagerly awaiting it: the Bismarck was hit by two torpedoes and five bombs, judged to be "moderately damaged"; the Gneisenau took one torpedo and six bombs, judged to be "seriously damaged"; the other ships suffered more losses, with three destroyers and two torpedo boats "sunk."
In the simulated results, about a fifth of the dive bombers participating in the attack were lost, and nearly half of the torpedo bombers were lost. In Logan's eyes, such data seemed to hint at "favoring" the naval surface fleet. After all, in history, even with the Germans' full efforts, they failed to shoot down more than a few old
Swordfish bombers during the Battle of the Bismarck!
The exercise did not end there. Subsequently, more than 30 He-111 medium bombers painted with air force insignias, each carrying torpedoes, arrived, along with a squadron of Bf-109 and an equal number of Bf-110 carrying 50kg bombs for limited-angle dive bombing (such modifications did exist in history). Obviously, when attacking sea targets, the aerial pilots were clumsy and sluggish, and their hit rate was much lower than that of their naval counterparts—nevertheless, the "fierce" bombing turned the Bismarck from "moderately damaged" to "heavily damaged," and in a real battle, whether it could hold on to return to port was still unknown, while the Gneisenau unfortunately "sank." Of course, the naval officers had reasons to console themselves: if the two large warships had been at full speed from the beginning, the bombers' hit rate would have been much lower than the calculated figures!
The last wave of aircraft from the air, comprised of mixed formations of Ju-88 bombers carrying torpedoes, Do-22 naval torpedo bombers, and Stukas, totaling more than 50 aircraft, carried out a so-called "joint attack" in a disorderly formation. There were even several instances of near collisions during the attack, and the bombs and torpedoes dropped were fewer than in the previous two batches.
The exercise ended, and although all the naval vessels continued to float unscathed, the entire process only resulted in two rookies on the Bismarck being injured by shell casings. The dummy torpedoes used in the exercise would not leave a mark on the sturdy hulls of these warships. However, the simulated results jointly completed by the technical officers of the naval and air forces made the naval officers somewhat unhappy. Perhaps some of them had realized that the era of giant battleships and big guns would sooner or later be replaced by these aircraft, and the battleships constructed at enormous expense were like trapped beasts in front of relatively small, inexpensive planes; or perhaps they simply did not like those buzzing bombers circling around their "kings." Exercises were always just exercises, and real battles were still fought with courage and luck.
To Logan, all of this was irrelevant—the results of the exercise were not indicative of the combat capabilities of the navy or air force. In the following week, regardless of the weather, the pilots of the air force and naval aviation units would continue to conduct repetitive and tedious drills until they mastered air cooperation and attack tactics proficiently and raised their hit rates to as high as possible.
The Japanese liked to shout "The fate of the Empire depends on this battle" before going to battle, a slogan that made everyone familiar with history extremely disgusted. But as Logan watched the planes return one after another under the setting sun, he suddenly realized that the fate of the entire country and even the war was now closely linked to the "Wrath of Poseidon."
Victory, glory in one battle, a triumphant cross-Channel landing in Britain, the shadow of two-front warfare completely lifted.
Defeat, stalemate, the Sea Lion plan faced many difficulties, and the shadow of two-front warfare once again hung over their heads.