stonecrandall Chapter 605
Chapter 605
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: 0.077s Scan: 0.019sAlthough the Friedrich der Grosse and the Tirpitz could not participate in this review, their commanders could.
As outstanding generals that Mainz had dug from the Eagle Sauce at a great cost, Nimitz and Spruance also received medals this time.
Nimitz received the same Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross with Silver Oak Leaves as Lütjens, while Spruance’s military exploits were slightly inferior to those of the two, so he received the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross.
However, even so, the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross is still very rare in the German army. So far, there are only a handful of people who have received this medal. Only some senior officers of the army were awarded such medals because of their outstanding performance in the Gallic Campaign. It is difficult for others to obtain such an honor.
Historically, the medals of the Third Reich before 1942 were still very valuable. In the early days of the war, these medals were really symbols of honor, representing the highest honor for soldiers and generals, so they were issued in small quantities and with very high requirements.
However, in the later stages of the war, as the Third Reich’s army was defeated on the front battlefield, in order to save the morale on the verge of collapse, the mustache began to increase the issuance of medals.
As a result, it became much easier for soldiers and generals in the army to obtain medals. The closer it was to 1945, the more medals the Third Reich issued, which led to a significant depreciation in the value of the medals, and the gold content of the honor was no longer what it used to be!
Mainz does not intend to follow the old path of the mustache. After all, he is not facing the same problems that the mustache faced back then.
When the army of the Third Reich was still advancing on the battlefield, he didn’t need to use medals to motivate morale.
These glittering medals were symbols of honor from the beginning and the highest pursuit of millions of soldiers in the entire army.
Even Mainz was still wearing the Iron Cross awarded to him by President Hindenburg in the first German-Polish War!
Even though he was now the head of the Third Reich, if he wanted, he could wear the most precious Diamond Gold Double Sword Gold Oak Leaf Knight’s Medal on his chest at any time, but he didn’t do so.
Instead, he still treated the inconspicuous Iron Cross medal he got as a treasure.
Whenever he attended formal occasions and needed to show his military uniform, Mainz would wear this medal to show his importance!
So even Spruance had no dissatisfaction. He had earned this medal!
They fought very easily in this battle. The Sun Never Sets was much behind them in weapons and equipment, and the gap between the two sides in intelligence was even greater.
Hans infiltrated the British intelligence system, and with the latest telegraph decryption machine, they could easily decipher the British telegraph and obtain the latest decision of the British government! The
British side was tortured to death by the German Enigma cipher machine. As early as when the intelligence of the Bismarck battleship was exposed, the British had obtained an Enigma cipher machine through their secret line in Hans.
However, getting this cipher machine did not mean that they could decipher it smoothly.
After a long period of research on the Enigma cipher machine, people found that the encryption of this cipher machine involved the concept of quantum mechanics, which required the deciphers to have extremely high attainments in quantum mechanics. Ordinary people were simply helpless with it!
Therefore, the British knew about this cipher machine for four years, but they were unable to successfully complete the deciphering. This led to them not knowing the content of Hans’ telegram even if they monitored it!
Intelligence warfare is extremely important in war. If one side is ahead in intelligence, it is easy to use the intelligence it has obtained to target the enemy, causing the enemy to suffer a major blow without knowing it and pay a huge price!
Just like this North Sea naval battle, the German army did not get the intelligence about the two aircraft carriers, the White Eyed Giant and the Hermes, but the other intelligence of the British army was in its hands!
Before the battle started, the German army knew how the British army marched and how many people they sent.
If it weren’t for the fog on the sea, which led to some accidents, the Royal Navy would have been defeated even more miserably, and perhaps there would not have been a one-on-one battle between the Bismarck and the Hood. The two aircraft carriers in Nimitz’s hands used bombs to wash the ground in minutes, and torpedoes to explode the anus to send the entire British fleet to the bottom of the sea!
The British army had no idea about the enemy they were going to encounter. They didn’t even know that the German army had dispatched two fleets instead of one fleet, and they didn’t even know that the German army had equipped two 50,000-ton aircraft carriers!
From the beginning, the British army had no chance of winning this naval battle!
So when Mainz awarded medals and commended the soldiers who participated in the naval battle so grandly, to be honest, Lütjens and others were still a little uneasy, because they felt that they did not deserve this medal. Except for Lütjens who fought the Hood with real swords and guns, the others seemed to play a game of chess and won easily, which made them feel that they did not deserve this medal!
Of course, this is just their own feeling, Mainz does not think so.
And reporters and military attachés from various countries will not think so!
“Is this the German general who led the German Navy to defeat the mighty Royal Navy by defeating the strong with the weak?”
“They all look very young!”
“I originally thought that only the senior generals of the German army were so young, but I didn’t expect that their navy was also so young!”
After seeing Lütjens, Nimitz and others, the reporters felt that these people were a little different from their imagination.
In their impression, the naval generals who can take charge of a fleet are basically veterans above the level of lieutenant generals, aged fifty or even sixty!
These veterans generally have extremely rich experience in naval service and rich combat experience. Each of them is a veteran of the battlefield!
Hans’s generals are generally around 40 years old, and their military ranks are relatively low, only major generals or even brigadier generals. I have never seen a general above the rank of lieutenant general, which is in sharp contrast to the navies of other countries.
Just when the reporters were sighing at the warships of Hans’ navy and the age of their officers, the appearance of a dilapidated and miserable warship immediately attracted the attention of everyone on the scene!
“Hey, why is this battleship flying the flag of the British Empire?”
“Yes, this battleship looks so familiar, as if I have seen it somewhere before!”
When the reporters saw this dilapidated battleship, they were curious about its origin.
“Ah, I see, this is the Royal Oak battleship of the British Empire!”