Nine Hundred and Ninety-Three Bombing Costs

? In the command center hall of the Luftwaffe General Staff, a group of generals are watching their planes fly from the easternmost Soviet-German front line to their hinterland airport on the map. Those butcher bombers with huge bodies are the most powerful strategic weapons they can find in their offensive force.

These planes traveled long distances to the newly built airport in southern England, and then entered the state of maintenance, in order to maintain a high attendance rate in future battles, compared with the 340 B-17 bombers that the United States managed to get together. , the Germans pulled out as many as 608 Butcher strategic bombers they could find from all over the country.

There were almost twice as many troops as the Americans, and after the Americans lost 84 planes in bombing Norway, the Germans mobilized twice as many bombers as their American counterparts. Their bombing range is also more concentrated than that of American bombers.

On the other hand, in terms of combat literacy, the German strategic bomber unit, which has been in battle for a long time and has strategically bombed Britain, the Soviet Union and other regions, is obviously more experienced than their American counterparts. They gather in formation, navigate and command Both have more or less advantages.

However, after such a long-distance mobilization, it is obviously too idealistic to engage in a counterattack that night. These German generals also have dispatchers, radio communication personnel, radar operators, document rooms, logistics support offices, and the mobilization and distribution of ammunition, fuel and other materials. The messy departments and personnel have been busy for a whole day, and they have not been able to complete the plan proposed by the head of state. The battle plan for an immediate counterattack that night.

"Long live Führer Akado? Rudolph!" Holding the phone, General Dirk, the number two figure in the Luftwaffe in France, stood at attention even though he was not standing face to face with Akado. , Facing the photo of Akado on the wall, he gave a German salute.

Afterwards, he opened his mouth, and regretfully said to Akado on the phone: "My head of state, you have issued a plan to test the strategic bombing of Iceland immediately tonight. The Air Force has technical problems in its implementation. So I ask you Give our frontline troops some time to prepare, we will go into battle tomorrow night, this is the fastest speed."

Akado was silent on the phone for a while, and then he said: "Since you have said that, even if I disagree, there is nothing I can do. To execute the counterattack plan tomorrow night, this is the guarantee you gave me, then I will Trust you, and fulfill your promise to me!"

"Yes! Head of State!" Dick stood at attention again: "Tomorrow night, I will dispatch at least 350 bombers to carry out a cover bombing of various military bases in Iceland that we have detected. Then I assure you that if With enough fuel, we can bomb there again every other day!"

Akado, who was far away in Berlin, didn't say anything, just hung up his phone. Then he silently looked at the Norwegian iron ore production loss report sent to him by telegram on the table, staring at the name Kleist at the end. He deliberately dealt with the general,

However, he felt that it was not wise to change generals just before the battle, so he hesitated for a while, and finally grabbed the phone in front of him.

"Connect me to the Eastern Route, Wolf's Lair, Marshal Brauchitsch." Akado ordered calmly into the microphone.

Just a few seconds later, a voice came from the phone: "My Führer! I am Brauchitsch!"

"Marshal Brauchitsch! I really want to know what you think about Norway being attacked by the Allied forces this time." Akado said softly, and while speaking, he reopened the loss report in front of him with his hand, The pages were turned gently, and the eyes kept scanning the pages.

Brauchitsch didn't keep Akado waiting too long, and he answered the head of state's question: "My head of state! I personally think that the defenders and generals have done their best to deal with the problem of Norway. The means are limited, and it is impossible to be foolproof..."

Akado heard Brauchitsch's words, and at the same time turned to the last page of the document in his hand, his eyes fell on the name that he had read several times - Ewald von Kleist. Brauchitsch wanted to balance the number of noble officers and head of state factions in the entire army. This general, who was born in a traditional noble family, was a senior member of one party after all, and he was an important bargaining chip that the Army Staff Headquarters was unwilling to give up.

Akado was silent, thinking repeatedly in his heart, finally he closed the stack of documents, and said to Brauchitsch: "My Marshal, I understand what you mean, General Kleist is in Norway. I will continue to support my work, but I also hope that neither you nor he will let me down again!"

He had to let his subordinates continue to fight for him with peace of mind. After all, maintaining a wonderful balance in the army is a prerequisite for most generals to fight without any worries. The head of state's compromise on Kleist's matter should be exchanged for the absolute support of the Army General Staff in other aspects.

"My head of state! The army will always be your most loyal supporter!" Sure enough, Brauchitsch heard Akado's overtones, and immediately said: "Please rest assured that before the Atlantic air battle is decided, Here on the Eastern Front, I will guarantee nothing will go wrong!"

Akado nodded, and looked away from the loss report. He clamped two fingers on the bridge of his nose and rubbed the inner corners of his eyes vigorously. He didn't close his eyes last night, but what he was waiting for was no longer news of victory. This made him feel a little uneasy, because Germany's defeat began when the war turned into a stalemate. The stalemate war is not the rhythm that Germany is good at.

After a night of fighting, even if the Americans make a big move on the second night, they will not be able to achieve the effect of the first night. First of all, the number of aircraft cannot be guaranteed. After all, after the loss of 84 aircraft, the Americans' aircraft reserves in Iceland have dropped to a meager 200 aircraft, and only 200 aircraft can take off at most.

Then there was the help of the Norwegian resistance organization that lost its ground guidance. The German and Norwegian defenders who had no worries about the future could organize air defense operations with confidence, and the bombing effect would inevitably be weakened. When these two situations are added together, one can imagine the results of the American bombing the next night.

Although the U.S. bomber force that was eager to fight finally flew to Norway on the second night, they were closely intercepted by more night fighters. The two sides scored 4-62 in air combat. At the cost of 4 JU-88G night fighters, a total of 62 American B-17 bombers were shot down.

On this night, the German army took off a full 90 JU-88G night fighters, facing 198 American B-17 bombers. Although they are still at a disadvantage in number, compared with the first night, the ratio of German aircraft to American aircraft has been reduced, and the battle is easier.

This time, only 107 of the 198 American planes flew back to Iceland. In other words, the US bomber force in Iceland was shot down by 175 B-17 bombers in two days. Even the wealthy U.S. Army Aviation Corps despaired of such an unbearable loss.

If they knew that the next day they only accidentally bombed a section of the railway leading to the mine and a transit station, the rest of the bombing could only be regarded as ineffective. Then the senior generals of the U.S. Army Air Corps must be jumping and cursing in anger, because of the gap in the plane, any British and American planes that try to scout Norway during the day will be intercepted by German Ta-152 fighter jets, so the U.S. and the U.K. can only rely on old maps and rough navigation The indiscriminate bombing, coupled with the deliberate interference of the lights on the ground in Germany, was lucky enough to hit a section of the railway and a small station.

The high-altitude bombing for two consecutive days, although the United States' interference with Norway's iron ore production has had a certain effect, it has also paid a heavy price. German steel production was threatened, and the war machine that was originally running at high speed appeared to be stuck.

The maximum production capacity utilization plan carefully designed and debugged by Speer was slightly disrupted, which led to the shelving of the new aircraft carrier construction plan that Germany would have started this month. After several days of hard work, the German industrial management superman made the important German fighter jet The tank production plan was not disrupted by these two days of raids.

By the end of the second night, 20 U.S. fighter jets and 70 additional B-17 bombers had flown to Allied airfields in Iceland. The number of planes lost in half rose back to 200.

It is a pity that when the evening of the third day came, the US Army aviation commanders were frightened by their huge losses and decided to temporarily cancel the bombing plan for the night of the day-another reason that prevented them from moving was that the Norwegian resistance organization was experiencing After a catastrophe, an intelligence station finally resumed operation, and they sent a piece of valuable information back to Iceland: stop the bombing immediately! You hit nothing!

This information has been repeatedly verified. In the end, although the Americans still did not believe the content of the intelligence, they still cautiously decided to abandon the third bombing plan. After all, the 70 B-17 bombers that had just arrived in Iceland needed to rest. If they continued to bomb, there would be less than 80 of them that could take off that night.

Using 80 B-17s to go to Norway to carry out bombing missions, everyone knows that there is no difference between sending them to death: those ghostly German night fighters will definitely make these planes go forever! So after a brief hesitation and discussion, the Americans bowed their haughty heads before Hugh Dowding.

"Maybe what you said is right! General Dowding!" The general of the U.S. Army Aviation said in a desolate tone: "We must change our plan and adopt more threatening offensive methods!"

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Happy New Year to everyone! Thank you all for your support and love! Thanks to Chen Yingbu, Mr. Yu, ♀, slowly awakening ★, night madman, so sweet, sad, 14247435, 丨风彡, Nazi D, 1051336740... Too many people have accompanied Long Ling to write until now, It is you who accompanied the Third Reich all the way to today! If we say long live my Third Reich, then Long Ling should also shout long live to you! You are the soul of the empire, with you this year, Long Ling will have no regrets!

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