Chapter 422 Shelling

The 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron of the German Navy not only has six battlecruisers, but also four light cruisers and six destroyers. This kind of strength is already very good. With the strength of the battlecruisers of the German Navy, as long as they do not encounter the main force of the British Navy, there is almost no danger.

What's more, the 2nd battlecruiser squadron also includes three "Derfflinger class" battlecruisers. The performance of this class of battlecruisers has long been tested in actual combat. Its 380mm main gun with 50 times the caliber has extremely powerful armor-piercing capabilities. No capital ship in active service in the British Navy can resist it.

On the battleship "Derfflinger", the flagship of the 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron, Lieutenant General Spee looked serious. Although, this task is not a difficult task at all for the 2nd battlecruiser squadron he leads. However, attacking the ports and shipyards of a big city would inevitably cause many innocent casualties, which made him feel a sense of guilt. As an aristocrat of the German Empire, doing so made him somewhat uncomfortable.

"I did this for the German Empire and for the Empire to win the war. In addition, the British are also to blame! They are already in this war and have no chance of winning. But they still insist on refusing to surrender , want to continue the war. That's why we had to adopt such a method. All of this was caused by the British themselves. If they want to blame, blame their government!" Lieutenant General Spee secretly said in his heart think. After thinking about this, he felt a little better.

People are often like this, as long as they find a reason, they will no longer be afraid of the condemnation of their conscience.

The 2nd Battlecruiser Squadron of the German Navy headed straight for Edinburgh. At the moment, the British know nothing about it. The main force of the Royal Navy's large fleet is all huddled in Scapa Flow. Except for a small number of light warships conducting reconnaissance, the rest of the warships are hiding in the port and dare not go out to fight at all. They also seem to realize that if they go to sea to fight the German navy, they must lose.

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is the largest city in northern England. Here, it is not only the political and economic center of northern England, but also an industrial center. The chemical industry and shipyards are very well developed. The large shipyards here even have the ability to build battleships. However, for the sake of safety, the British Navy generally places the construction of battleships in the southern shipyards. The defense of the south is undoubtedly better than that of the north.

On the evening of the 20th, the workers in the Edinburgh port area all got off work. The major shipyards are continuing to work overtime. Of course, what they built was not a warship, but a merchant ship. Under the attack of German submarines and the breakaway fleet, British merchant ships suffered great losses. In order to restore Britain's maritime capacity, they had to build a large number of merchant ships. This situation changed only after the German Navy's blockade was completely completed, and in order to save resources to build warships. The major shipyards can no longer get new orders for merchant ships. They only need to finish the existing orders. Of course, this also means that many shipyard workers will lose their jobs as a result.

It's just that, because of the blockade of the German navy in the whole of Britain, their industrial products cannot be shipped out at all. Therefore, many factories have stopped production. Except for factories related to the military industry, many other workers have lost their jobs. These people live entirely on government relief. Of course, the British Army also took the opportunity to absorb a large number of young and middle-aged men into the army. Greatly solved the problem of insufficient soldiers. In the case of not having enough to eat, many people are naturally willing to join the army they despised before.

"Damn it, this battle has been going on for more than half a year, when will it end! I never want to live through such a hard life." A worker in a shipyard received his bread after get off work, cursing go home.

In the UK now, prices are skyrocketing, and the pound is worthless. The wages of the workers are distributed directly in bread. Of course, workers are also happy to accept this kind of wages. The food on the market has begun to be in short supply, even if you have money, you may not be able to buy it.

"Okay, Jack, don't complain. We still have jobs anyway, and our family can still live because of it. Compared with those beggars who starved to death on the streets, it is already much better." An older worker said.

Indeed, the current British economy is very bad. After many workers lose their jobs, they have no way to find a job again, which makes many people become beggars. Since everyone has no extra food, naturally there will be no kind-hearted people to give them alms. This has caused many British cities to starve to death every day. In a big city like Edinburgh, more than a hundred people starve to death every day.

Hearing such words, Jack couldn't help but nodded. Indeed, although their lives were a little bit harder, they still wouldn't starve to death. Compared with the corpses that were transported out by the corpse truck every morning, they were considered luckier.

"May God bless the British Empire and win this damn war as soon as possible!" Jack couldn't help praying.

"boom!"

Suddenly, an earth-shattering explosion sounded. Jack and the others couldn't help being stunned.

Afterwards, dense explosions sounded continuously.

"It's from the direction of the port." Jack's expression changed involuntarily.

"Quick, let's go see what's going on."

They came to a high place with a view of the port, and saw a disaster in progress.

On the sea, several huge battleships like hills were firing at Edinburgh. Huge shells exploded in the port, the flames collided, and the smoke and dust shot straight into the sky.

The buildings in the port were destroyed one by one. Countless people are running for their lives in all directions.

"My God! Our shipyards are hit."

"Damn the Germans, our shipyard is just a shipyard that produces civilian merchant ships, won't they let it go?" Jack cursed.

If the shipyard is destroyed, it means that they will lose their jobs immediately. Their lives will immediately become unreliable, and they may even follow in the footsteps of beggars who were starved to death.

The faces of those who worked in the shipyard like Jack turned pale.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The sound of explosions continued, the German warships were firing fiercely, and the port of Edinburgh was being turned into ruins at a speed visible to the naked eye.