On November 14, 1940, at 7:05 pm, a sharp air defense alarm suddenly sounded over the city of Coventry, England.
5 minutes later, the German "Heinker" plane opened the dark side of death over the moonlit city. Locust-like bombs fell into the building areas and houses, and dazzling fires soared into the sky.
Luxury carried out a 10-hour bombing in Coventry. The city was flooded by a sea of fire. The huge explosion shocked the city and the mountain shook the city, and the city instantly turned into ruins.
British Prime Minister Churchill was full of anger when he heard the report, but he didn't say anything. People would not have thought that Churchill had known in advance that Germany had planned to attack the air strike on Coventry City, but he did not take any defensive and transfer measures.
Afterwards, when people learned the truth, they were all stunned. Why did Churchill do this? What exactly did he think?
In the European battlefield during World War II , Germany's strength has always worried its neighbors, and neighbors are also racking their brains to get German intelligence.
If a little sacrifice is made and its military secret can be obtained, it is not hesitant to do so. Coventry is a victim of this situation.
As early as the late 1930s, the leader of the Nazi Party, Hitler , announced to the whole country that he would build an empire in Europe, which means that war could break out at any time for his neighbors.
. Once the war breaks out, what is the strength of the other party? How many tanks are there? How many planes? How many submarines are there? What is its oil and steel production capacity? ...These are all the information that the British were eager to get.
In the Battle of Britain , about 86,000 residents were killed and injured by bombing in the UK, more than 1 million buildings were destroyed, and many cities were destroyed.
As a big country, once the secret is stolen and leaked, its ending will be to be passively beaten everywhere and accept the result of failure.
Hitler knew the importance of keeping secrets very well. The German government began to replace the password system as early as 1934. Under extremely confidentiality, Germany developed a cipher machine called , which is called "dumb puzzle".
This machine has many advantages. It is very cheap, strong and durable, and is very easy to operate and maintain, and is easy to carry. What's more magical is that whether the other party can get such a machine is relatively irrelevant, because if the coded program is not known, this machine will be of no use to the confiscator.
Therefore, Hitler attached great importance to "dumb puzzles" and believed in it to the level of superstition. He believed that no country could decipher its password.
is a strong psychological dependence and conceit. Hitler did not hesitate to let all the troops of the German Wehrmacht adopt the "Mumbo" in .
German "Mutual Mystery" password machine
After the publication of "Mutual Mystery", it did bring difficulties to the intelligence departments of other countries.
The British racked their brains to decipher the password of the "dumb puzzle". They knew very well that once the German password was deciphered, they could easily understand all Hitler's decisions and military action plans, which was of great significance to winning the battlefield and even the entire war.
. As for local battles, with it, you can be proactive, attack first, and deploy defense in advance.
The British imitated the Germans and created a machine that was the same as the German "Missiveness". However, it is useless to have machines alone. First of all, we need to understand the program of the encoding system.
However, it is very difficult to get the encoding system and encoding programs from the Germans. The Germans protected them with great care. Even if the British got them into their hands, the Germans would quickly and easily replace them after they knew it, making the programs and encodings obtained by the British useless.
Nothing is absolute. The so-called super secret is not absolutely safe. The efforts made by the British in studying the passwords and systems of "dumb puzzles" have finally paid off.
First of all, they start by developing machines that can imitate or explain every "mummy" way of the German Wehrmacht, so that they can introduce coding programs that are often changed when the German main commands issue orders day and night, and in adulthood.
After difficult research, the British finally made a machine with the above functions, and the British named it "bomb".
At the end of 1939, the "bomb" deciphered the German password, and the British were ecstatic and regarded this decipher as "super secret", trying every means to prevent the Germans from knowing this "super secret".
The Germans naturally would not know, because they still retain their past mentality and are still so conceited. It was ignorant of the British having stolen their cryptosystems, so that the British took the initiative. The "super secret" deciphered by
"bomb" was used on the battlefield for the first time. It was the " Sea Lion Plan " that Britain smashed Germany.
British "bomb" deciphering machine
On July 2, 1940, Hitler issued the "Sea Lion" combat plan, that is, to begin the order to invade Britain. At the beginning of the battle, British Prime Minister Churchill and the Air Force General Staff learned through "super secrets" that most of the Luftwaffe's sometimes even all plans.
In response to the command of the Luftwaffe Commander Goring , the Luftwaffe Air Force has formulated a plan to concentrate superior forces to attack the enemy.
The number of aircraft of the British Air Force is not as large as that of Germany, so it can only concentrate the fighter squadron and main defensive forces at the appropriate place, at the appropriate time and at the appropriate altitude to deal with the enemy's main offensive forces. It is not necessary to expel countless German aircraft throughout the day and consume the already weak Royal Air Force.
On August 13, over Sussex and Kent, there were dense clouds. A huge bomber group consisting of 80 Donier-17 aircraft took off to carry out the mission of bombing East Church Airport and Hillness Port. An equal number of "Junker-88" aircraft flew to Audihan and Farnbal, and a large group of "Stuka" bomber aircraft flew along the Hampdu coastline.
Due to the weather, the escorted fighter jets did not take off at the same time as planned, so the German bomber had to attack alone without any fighter jets.
On the air defense early warning radar of the British Isles, the British Air Force Command soon discovered the German aircraft. According to the plan prepared in advance, the commander of the 8th Fighter Group, Parker, ordered two "Spraying Fire" fighter flight squadrons and two "Tornado" flight squadrons to protect a fleet at the mouth of the Thames and the advance airports of Hawkingge and Rosston.
also sent a fleet of aircraft to patrol over Canterbury, leaving 2/3 of the Spitfire and half of the Tornado aircraft at hand to carry out centralized attacks on enemy planes.
At the same time, Brand, commander of the 10th Fighter Battalion, also sent two squadrons of "Tornado" aircraft to patrol over Dorset.
Germany's first attack was the 5th Destroyer Brigade of the First Flight Training Corps. Under the leadership of the captain Captain Linsberg, 23 twin-engine destroyers entered the Scotland South Bank area.
When Linsberg crossed the British coastline, the last aircraft in the formation issued an alarm that a "firebreathing" aircraft appeared in the rear. The alarm of
panics German pilots because they knew that the Messerschmitt aircraft was not as good as the British "Blazerfire".
Linsberg immediately ordered the whole team to line up into a circular defensive formation to cover each other's tail. Linsberg took the lead in starting a turn according to the formation deployment.
Before he could turn completely, the British fighter , who was flying at high altitude, suddenly caught up from behind at high speed. Linsberg's plane immediately turned to the right and cleverly avoided the firepower of the "firebreathing" aircraft. The bullet passed by, and another German aircraft wanted to dodge with dive, but was hit by a British plane. After a while, two German planes were shot down.
In this confrontation, the German Air Force lost 47 aircraft and more than 80 more were injured. The British Air Force lost only 13 aircraft, and the Haikou that Goring made a boast was shattered.
Because he once told Hitler that the air defense in southern Britain would collapse within 4 days, and the British Air Force would be expelled from the UK within 4 weeks, Goering's arrogance was hit hard.
Although Germany achieved some results in the subsequent bombings, the Luftwaffe never gained air supremacy over the British mainland, which was one of the important reasons why Hitler had to temporarily give up his plan to invade Britain.
In fact, the British have mastered the information sent by the Germans through the "Muzzle", but Germany has no idea about this. Regarding the last Air Force failure, Germany did not find out that this is because the "Muzzle" has been mastered by the British, so they still continue to use this system.
On November 12, 1940, the Luftwaffe Command issued a batch of instructions to the headquarters of the Luftwaffe aircraft group stationed in Western Europe .
British scientist
British "bomb" quickly deciphered these instructions. This is the combat plan called the "Moonlight Sonata" by the Germans, that is, from November 14 to 15, 1940, the Luftwaffe will carry out large-scale violent bombings on the Coventry Cathedral and industrial areas in the UK.
Based on the signal intercepted by the "bomb", the British mastered the tactics of the Luftwaffe air strike against Coventry in detail.
This situation was reported to Prime Minister Churchill immediately. After receiving this information, Churchill immediately convened a meeting to discuss countermeasures. At the meeting, many people suggested taking measures to defend Coventry.
Coventry is located in the inland center of England, just 90 miles from London. It has ancient churches, the most beautiful Gothic architecture, and one of the major arsenals in the UK. At that time, there were 410 mobile anti-aircraft guns available in the UK, so of course these anti-aircraft guns could be quickly adjusted to strengthen Coventry's air defense.
However, Churchill made a bold move, allowing the Germans to blow it up. He believes that if Britain strengthens Coventry's defense, the Germans will suspect that the British have been warned of air strikes, which will endanger the security of "super confidentiality". Is
important or an industrial city important? There were major differences at the meeting and I didn’t know what to do.
Finally, Churchill decided to give up Coventry and protect "super confidentiality", because "super confidentiality" has more than one city value, and it will be the guarantee for the victory of the entire war.
Someone suggested at the meeting that the secret warning that the city will be subject to a large-scale air strike should be issued in Coventry, and residents in the city and patients who can move in the hospital should be evacuated in advance.
After hearing this, Churchill firmly opposed doing so. He believed that doing so would not only leak "super secrets", but would also cause chaos among the residents, which was greater than the casualties caused by actual bombing.
In the end, the British government did not pass such a message to anyone, but just waited silently for the arrival of this moment.
German's "Moonlight Sonata" worked, and Coventry City became a ruin. The Germans were so proud that they were able to see the implementation of this plan. How could they think that this was the price Churchill paid actively to protect the "super secret"?
Although it was later proved that Churchill's decision was correct, Churchill was under tremendous psychological pressure at that time. Coventry was bombed into ruins, which caused huge losses to Britain. However, compared with the entire war, the cost of Coventry was still worth it and was relatively small.
Soon, the price paid to protect the super secret of "bomb" was rewarded.
Through the intelligence provided by the UK, through the "Super Secret", the German "Bismar" battleship , which is stronger than any British warship.
The Battleship Bismarck is a battleship that Nazi leader Hitler attaches great importance to and is devoted to. It is the battleship named after the famous "Iron Blood" Prime Minister of Prussia , and is also the pride of the German Navy.
In order to realize his dream of dominating Europe, Hitler rebuilt the Great German Empire, ignored the Washington Naval Agreement in 1922 and the 1935 " British-German Naval Agreement " and built the giant ship under extreme confidentiality.
The Bismarck's displacement reached 53,000 tons, a speed of 30 knots, is equipped with 8 381mm main guns, more than 40 small and medium-caliber high-level dual-purpose guns, and is equipped with 4 seaplanes . The thickest part of the side armor is 320 mm, and it is known as the "unsinkable sea fortress."
After the completion of the "Bismar" was completed, Hitler visited this warship and gave this warship a great honor.
Since France's defeat, Britain has been in a critical situation. The Atlantic maritime transportation line on which it relies is extremely fragile. Countless British merchant ships sunk by Germany, rising sharply at a rate of about 500,000 tons per month. Once an island country like the United Kingdom loses its external supply of materials, the only thing waiting for it is destruction!
Churchill knew very well that Hitler wanted to tie the rope around his neck, and then tighten it until he strangled the UK.
Dealing with the elusive German submarines on the Atlantic Ocean has already made the British anxious. The British shipbuilding speed is not enough to make up for the monthly maritime losses. If the Bismarck appears in the Atlantic again, the British sea lifeline will undoubtedly face the danger of being cut off.
Therefore, Britain must destroy the Bismarck before it reaches the Atlantic Ocean at any cost.
Then, the "bomb" kept receiving messages from Germany to the "Bismar" and finally, the British waited for this day.
After clarifying the action plan of the "Bismar", the fast ships of the British Navy local fleet formed only the assault formation and immediately set off from the Scarpa Bay base in northern Britain, took a shortcut and went straight to the southern end of the Denmark Strait to intercept the "Bismar".
This voyage of the Bismarck was carried out under very secret circumstances. The purpose was to enter the Atlantic Ocean secretly and attack the British transport fleet severely to completely cut off the British sea lifeline.
Since Germany does not have the aircraft carrier , the "Bismar" warship is still very taboo to collide with the British naval fleet on the way, especially the aircraft carrier.
During the journey, although the battleship Bismarck implemented light control, it never escaped from the British fleet's tracking. The Germans also knew that any "confidential" telegrams sent from the Bismarck were already known to the British.
So, the moment the "Bismar" sank into the Atlantic Ocean, the Germans never understood why Britain quickly assembled so many warships around it, giving it a fatal blow.
Later, Britain destroyed the German "Etap" fleet. Although Germany once suspected whether the navy's password was cracked after Britain destroyed the "Etap" fleet, a committee responsible for investigating the matter, the results of several investigations ruled out that the "Muzzle" had been leaked.
It can be seen that Churchill was reluctant to sacrifice Coventry and the decision to protect the "bomb" was correct and worth it. This move laid the foundation for Britain's victory in World War II.
Without the information brought to the British by the "bomb", there would be no victory in the Battle of Britain, nor would there be a destruction of the German fleet to ensure the transportation of British war materials at sea.
Churchill's decision to trade a small sinner for a big victory is very courageous.
