Chapter 442: Hornet's Nest (Part 1)

On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt delivered a public address to the nation via radio in a low tone. On the one hand, he acknowledged that the Axis Fleet was attacking, and on the other hand, he called on the people to strengthen unity, maintain stability, and obey commands.

"...The United States has never needed further unity as it is now." He also talked about the losses in an evasive manner. "Although we lost some warships in the previous stage, we also dealt a heavy blow to the enemy and sunk Japan. The navy's battleships Fuso and Yamashiro, the German navy's Scharnhorst, Admiral Scheer, Zeppelin, the aircraft carrier Europa and other warships...recaptured the Aleutian Islands, Solomon Islands and New Guinea Islands, We repelled the enemy's attack attempts on Australia and South Africa, and defended the free world. More importantly, the United States has the most powerful industry in the world. We can easily replace these losses, and the enemy simply cannot afford it... If the enemy. If you dare to drop a bomb on the east coast, we will make them pay a heavy price. We will drop 1,000, 10,000 bombs on Germany and Japan in the future!"

After listening to all the speeches on the radio, Horikichi turned off the radio with a bang. His English was very good and he could fully understand what Roosevelt was talking about. The Japanese Navy was much stronger than the U.S. Navy in this regard. They basically They all understand English, and some can even reach the level of diplomats. However, almost no one in the U.S. Navy understands Japanese.

Cao Deer Renyi on the side smiled and said: "Sir, the hornet's nest you poked has now been angered, and even the queen bee was forced to come out to speak - although she is full of bragging."

The commander-in-chief, Horikichi, usually has a sense of humor and does not have much airs, so the atmosphere in the fleet is very relaxed and everyone can joke around. Hearing what the chief of staff said, the young staff officers couldn't help laughing.

"Very good, that's what we want." Horikichi nodded with satisfaction, "Where is the fleet now?"

"It's still 1,400 nautical miles from the east coast of the United States and about 1,000 nautical miles from Bermuda."

"What did the reconnaissance plane gain?"

"We sent four waves of reconnaissance aircraft with 72 sorties, and the Germans sent three waves with more than 50 sorties. Nothing was found. The area was empty and there was nothing. There was no report from German submarines either. By the way..." Kusaka Ren As soon as he remembered something, he said, "Those new water reconnaissance aircraft are very useful, and the pilots are full of praise."

The new aircraft mentioned by Kusaka is the Ar-372, which is the German version of the Aichi company's "Zuiun" water reconnaissance aircraft. It encountered many difficulties when it was developed in Japan. After it was introduced to Germany, the idea of ​​​​dive bombing was canceled. The body structure was simplified and strengthened, and the design requirements were quickly met after matching with the German BMW801G engine. The aircraft has a top speed of more than 475 kilometers/hour (75 kilometers/hour faster than the Ar-272), a range of 2,500 kilometers (500 kilometers further than the Ar-272), and has two 20mm aviation cannons and a 13mm rear-firing machine gun ( Much stronger than the Ar-272 which has only one 7.92mm aviation machine gun), it was put into use last month. While in Europe, all aspects of the Combined Fleet's equipment were fully upgraded. Not only were radios, radars, and carrier-based aircraft replaced with new ones, but even the water reconnaissance equipment was not left behind. Six Ar-372s were obtained as soon as they came out.

"That's good. Keep moving forward. By sunset, we will turn due south-southwest."

"Zhengnan? Aren't you going to the east coast?" Caolu Renyi asked in surprise.

"Haha, let's not go... Let the Americans be busy for a while. We can't go to fight just after issuing a warning. That would be unfriendly. We must leave enough time for the Americans to respond. Let's go to the South Atlantic to break diplomatic relations. In other words, break I haven’t learned this craft yet, and I don’t know if it’s difficult to learn.”

"Ha..." A group of staff members laughed again.

Although it was strange that the commander suddenly changed course, everyone thought it was normal. In war, there are not so many things that should be done step by step. After receiving the order, the German fleet was obviously relieved from top to bottom. This time the battle in Berlin was clearly stipulated to be under the unified command of Horikichi. Therefore, Machar and others had insufficient understanding of many policies. Fortunately, the North Sea Fleet aircraft carrier formation The commander is now Ozawa, and there are Japanese advisory groups on top of other formations. This situation is not serious.

Machar was impeccable in his obedience, but he always had doubts about attacking the east coast, especially since the newly commissioned aircraft carrier Skyhawk was actually participating in large-scale combat for the first time. Although the carrier-based aircraft pilots were all Top, most of the naval officers and soldiers on the ship are also experienced. Many of them transferred directly from the Europa, and their skills are absolutely excellent. However, he was vaguely worried about getting used to it. He was afraid that there would be problems if he entered the fierce battle. When he heard that he was transferring to the Europa, he immediately broke the relationship. Don't worry - breaking up relationships is his specialty. He originally wanted to break off the relationship near South America last time, but was forced back by Spruance. This time he started again, and he was full of expectations.

In the early morning of August 13, in the mid-Atlantic waters, a huge fleet was approaching south-west. This fleet possessed the most advanced force on the earth. The main force included 9 battleships (battlecruisers), namely 2 Nagato-class, 4 Kongo-class, 1 Bismarck-class, 1 Richelieu-class and 1 Dunkirk-class; 4 fleet aircraft carriers (Shokaku, Zuikaku, Hayabusa, Aquila), except In addition, it also includes a large number of cruisers, destroyers and accompanying transport ships.

The entire Axis fleet was divided into two echelons, the German echelon in front and the Japanese echelon in the back. Each echelon was centered by an aircraft carrier formation, and the left and right wings were escort formations composed of battleships and heavy cruisers, with a distance of more than 150 kilometers between them.

On April 13, 14, and 15, the fleet found nothing for three consecutive days. Neither enemy ships nor merchant ships were found. The US Catalina seaplane reconnaissance aircraft released from the Bermuda Islands flew as far as 500 kilometers away from the fleet, and the seaplane reconnaissance aircraft sent by the Axis fleet flew as far as 400 kilometers away from the island, but both sides found nothing. At the same time as the Axis fleet turned south, the Atlantic Fleet commanded by Ingersoll also basically arrived at the designated location, but also found nothing. However, Ingersoll and Fletcher did not dare to take it lightly and maintained a high-intensity reconnaissance patrol. The Atlantic Fleet also had many newly commissioned warships, and both sides were conducting actual combat reinforcement. But they never dreamed that the Axis fleet that had been "clamoring" to attack the East Coast had already sailed towards the Mid-Atlantic, getting farther and farther away from them.

After Roosevelt finished his speech, the US homeland defense was officially mobilized. There was a craze for digging air-raid shelters and artillery shelters everywhere in the streets and alleys. Boy Scouts and volunteers began to vigorously promote it, and doctors and nurses all went to work to practice emergency rescue. For those who were overly worried about the attack and insisted on retreating inland, the government did not make it difficult for them. It still sent police to maintain traffic order and provided sufficient fuel to various gas stations along the way to ensure various transportation needs.

Local radio broadcast Roosevelt's speeches and government notices over and over again, on the one hand to popularize knowledge about how to deal with attacks, and on the other hand to encourage people to deal with it calmly - it's no big deal.

The American people have a tradition of keeping their own weapons. The armed men in various communities spontaneously organized guards and pickets to patrol at night. The logistics department was frantically transporting anti-aircraft guns by trucks and trains. The National Guard conducted training overnight. Many recruits who couldn't even goose-step properly learned to operate anti-aircraft guns in a very realistic way - it was unknown whether they could shoot down a plane. For the first time, major cities organized night fire drills and blackouts, and the effect was surprisingly good. When they heard that the public generally expressed understanding and support for the increase in the defense level, the senior officials including Roosevelt did not know whether to laugh or cry: the Axis "Notice" did improve the American people's free and easy habits a lot. I don't know whether to give Hori Teikichi and others a big medal.

However, the news from the African theater was not good. Eisenhower reported that the Germans had new equipment that could accurately see them at night. The troops were caught off guard by the German tanks' night attack and lost more than 3,000 troops and nearly 100 tanks of various types, half of which were American soldiers. He asked the country to develop targeted products as soon as possible; he once again emphasized that the US armored forces, especially tanks, were no match for the Germans and had no way to deal with the Tiger tanks. He asked the country to speed up the production of heavy tanks that could be compared with them; he also reported that the loss of medium tactical bombers was large, and hoped to get another 100-200 supplements, but he was still confident in holding on to Mombasa and believed that he could at least hold on for more than a month as planned.

Roosevelt could neither produce good heavy tanks and night vision equipment nor send him bombers, so he could only encourage him to take steady steps and buy time.

In the early morning of April 16, the huge Axis fleet sailed to a place less than 500 kilometers from the Antilles in Central America.

"Sir, the reconnaissance planes have found that they have found a large number of merchant ships in the sea ahead, some of which are flying the flags of Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Brazil and other countries..."

"Very good, go on a killing spree... I have warned them that the entire Atlantic Ocean is a war zone, but they just won't listen. What can I do?"

At 7 o'clock, a large number of He-218s began to attack. Marshal was shocked to find that the previous experience of breaking up trade was useless this time - the planes were much faster than warships.

The first victim was the Amazon, a passenger and cargo ship with a displacement of 4,500 tons. At 8:15, this unlucky merchant ship was accurately destroyed by a bomb. Before it sank, it desperately sent out warning signals, and merchant ships in the nearby waters that had not yet sailed far away fled at full speed.

But this was useless. If you want to escape from the He-218 with a speed of up to 300 knots, you can only rely on luck.