Sink the Bismarck! by C. S. Forester

Author:C. S. Forester [C. S. Forester]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ibooks, Inc.

The New York newspapers carried vast headlines. Bismarck SINKS Hood. WORLD’S BIGGEST BATTLE CRUISER BLOWN UP…. And in a New York building a news commentator was explaining to his audience what had happened.

“The news has already reached you by our instant service, and at the moment there is no further bulletin at hand. It’s quite obvious that the Bismarck was on her way to break out into the Atlantic, and the British tried to stop her. And it’s also obvious that the British have suffered a stunning defeat. The Hood has blown up. That means the loss of an important ship and a great many lives. The dead will number a thousand at least, perhaps two thousand. Two thousand men killed in a single moment. And that’s not all. The German bulletin goes on to say that another British battleship was badly damaged, possibly sunk. There’s no reason to doubt the truth of this. The British have suffered a very serious disaster. And the question is, what happens next? The Bismarck has complete freedom of action—the British make no claim to having damaged her in the least. What will she do? We can be sure that there is no British ship within hundreds of miles of her who can fight her. She can come south into the Atlantic and smash the British convoys—no convoy escort could stand up to her for a moment. There are probably German tankers waiting for her at a secret rendezvous—she may go raging round the Atlantic for months disrupting British commerce. You must remember, besides, that there are also in Brest two German battlecruisers, the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau. The British have to watch them all the time in case they break out too, which means they have to fight the Bismarck with one hand tied behind them. What are the chances of catching her? My information is that now that the Hood’s gone there is no British battleship to compare with her in any way for speed or size or fighting power. The damage she may do is quite in­cal­cu­lable, even if she might be caught at last—and she may never be. And there’s something else she can do, too. She can turn round and return to Germany, round Iceland either to the east or to the west. If she turns up at home safe and sound after a victory as tremendous as this, Dr. Goebbels will be able to make a fine story out of it, especially as there appears no reason why she should not come out at any time and repeat the exploit. I’ve been a good friend to the British, as you know, but this time they seem to be really up against it. It’s not only in the Atlantic that they’re having their troubles, but over in the Mediterranean, in Greece and in Crete and in North Africa…”

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