Chapter 718 Atlantic Strangulation War (27)
Of course, the US reconnaissance planes could not find the main force of the Axis fleet. After nightfall, Ozawa adjusted the route to 25 degrees again and slowed down the speed to 17 knots. After a night of raiding, the center of the fleet has now moved to 1,600 kilometers northeast of Bermuda and about 1,500 kilometers from Boston. The reconnaissance planes that have been circling around Bermuda within 800 kilometers obviously cannot catch the exact location of the German fleet.
Moreover, in order to prevent the German assault, all the planes in the direction of Bermuda took off at 4 a.m. After a long search and patrol, they had to return to land and refuel at 9 o'clock, and the search force was further reduced. Taylor asked the B-24 to search for about 1,000 kilometers, but still reported no discovery. The reconnaissance planes that took off from the east coast also reported no discovery.
The closest land airports to the Axis Fleet are Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland Island in Canada. Both are about 800 kilometers away from the fleet. Unfortunately, although there are US Army Air Forces deployed on the two islands, their energy is not focused on this battle. The former is the main base of the Canadian Air Force. The US military has only stationed a small number of liaison officers. The total number of aircraft on it is less than 100, and the current route of the German fleet has gradually turned 60 degrees, and the distance from Prince Edward Island is also increasing.
Newfoundland Island is the core base of the alliance. The total number of aircraft on it exceeds 1,500, but this is useless, because more than 1,000 are heavy transport aircraft, specializing in cross-sea strategic transportation, more than 200 fighters, mainly used for island defense, and the remaining more than 300 are various types of attack aircraft, mainly 4-engine heavy bombers. There are not many sea attack aircraft, probably more than 100. The island has relatively complete defense measures, including 4 twin-mounted 8-inch coastal defense artillery turrets, and 2 Canadian infantry divisions are responsible for defense tasks. The main force of the Canadian Navy fleet is also in the port. From the Canadian point of view, it can be said to be impregnable.
Since the German army occupied the Azores and formed an Atlantic black hole to cut off the main transatlantic route, the British-Canadian route has become the only main route, and Newfoundland Island has become the starting point of this route - not only transatlantic shipping, but also transatlantic shipping by sea, becoming an increasingly prosperous place - materials sent from South America, the United States, and Canada to the United Kingdom are assembled here, and personnel retreating from the United Kingdom are also assembled here. Various personnel, materials, troops and ships have merged into a prosperous movement of the Allies.
The German intelligence department had long noticed the special features of Newfoundland, and sent agents to collect relevant information three times by submarine. Although the information obtained was not complete, it was enough to surprise people:
Newfoundland handles about 4-5 million tons of materials per month, and sends about 2 million tons to the outside, including fuel, food, military supplies and equipment. Since the island is not adjacent to the North American continent, all materials are sent by sea, with many ships, and the average daily detention of more than 100 ships, with a large number of transportation and storage operations. This is mainly due to the strong German army. Generally, cargo ships in South American countries are afraid of losses and dare not undertake transportation operations to the UK. They only transport goods to Newfoundland and then rely on the fleets of the United States and Canada for transportation.
From the perspective of shipping, this is also beneficial. South American cargo ships are basically small in size and slow in speed. They are exhausted when they arrive in Newfoundland, and it is unimaginable to go to the UK again. The US and Canadian fleets have now been replaced by the Victory, an upgraded version of the Liberty, which is faster and larger than the Liberty. The construction of the Liberty has basically ended, so its proportion in the fleet is getting lower and lower. The main products that need to be stored and transported ashore are agricultural products and military supplies. The military equipment made in the United States is directly loaded on the Victory and added to the fleet.
In order to manage the huge fleet, the United States, Britain and Canada authorities formed a joint shipping management committee. Although the United Kingdom sent a naval general to serve as the chairman, the power is undoubtedly in the hands of the Americans.
Newfoundland also has a joint shipping management committee, which is mainly responsible for coordinating transatlantic strategic air transport. Needless to say, this organization is basically completely controlled by the US Army Air Force. The former 8th Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz serves as chairman and supreme commander. He also serves as the commander-in-chief of the US Army Air Force in Newfoundland.
Although the strategic air strikes of the 8th Air Force in Europe ended in heavy losses, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the independent congressional investigation committee, after in-depth investigations, believed that there was no major problem with his command and that it was not caused by a simple intelligence leak, so he escaped without any danger. Looking at the commanders of the US Army Air Force, he was the only one who had experience in commanding, dispatching, and organizing large formations of aircraft. In addition, he was relatively familiar with the British side and his experience was irreplaceable, so he was determined to take on this role. The surviving officers and soldiers of the 8th Air Force also transformed themselves from strategic bombing to strategic air transport executors, and the morale of the entire force gradually began to recover.
Weather permitting, strategic airlift usually takes off to the UK twice a week. It usually takes off to the UK on Monday, unloads on Tuesday, inspects and repairs supplies on Wednesday, returns to Newfoundland on Thursday, rests and replenishes in Newfoundland on Friday and Saturday, rests on Sunday, and then leaves. Continue on Monday; perform 3 times under special circumstances, fly on Monday, return on Tuesday: fly on Wednesday, return on Thursday; fly on Friday, return on Saturday; rest and supplement on Sunday - this is equivalent to extremely compressed maintenance time, but this situation only occurs After two times, most of the time it can only be maintained twice, because the weather will always be bad once a week in winter.
Spartz also trained more than 300 fighter pilots for the U.S. Army Air Forces, which lacked skilled pilots. Coupled with the addition of British fighter pilots, Arnold received nearly 500 experienced fighter pilots, which greatly relieved his urgent need and enabled him to After the war in the Caribbean, the Army Airline was in decline and the most difficult period. However, the cheating first battle in Bermuda cost him more than 100 pilots (groups). Now, Army Airlines has more than 20,000 pilots (groups) on its books. On average, Nearly 1,000 new people are added every month, but there are less than 5,000 front-line elites (groups) who have actually fought in the war and are experienced. More than half of them are still distributed in the Pacific, and more than 800 are distributed in the Caribbean and South America. The North American continent is not The 2,000 veterans are carrying out missions with more than 10,000 recruits.
The Army Aviation is miserable enough. Due to the continuous and massive losses of carrier-based pilots in the U.S. Navy, especially the carrier-based aircraft pilots, the total number of pilots (groups) is almost the same as that of the Army Aviation, and their proficiency is even lower, let alone unsightly. There are less than LV5 pilots responsible for fleet aircraft carrier operations. 600, there are only more than 1,000 LV4 pilots who can undertake the mission of escorting aircraft carriers and covering combat operations. Although this number is very impressive compared with major powers in the world - for example, the total number of first-line carrier-based aircraft pilots (groups) in Japan is less than 400, but the level gap is too large. The top 100 pilots in the United States can only be ranked among the 400 in Japan. Among the last 100 pilots, if the 1,000 pilots from Japan and the United States were to face off, under the premise of the same equipment, even if the US military had half the strength, the US Navy would definitely lose in the end.
In comparison, the number of pilots (groups) jointly owned by the German Air Force and German HNA is only half of that of the US military, but more than 80% of the pilots have combat experience. Among them, HNA has more than one combat experience because most of its pilots are dispatched from the German Air Force. of more than 90%. However, the training of reserve pilots in Japan and Germany is far inferior to that of the US military. The US army, navy and aviation have more than 1,000 new pilots every month. Germany has only 1,000 in total, and Japan has less than 500 in total. Italy's level is basically close to that of Japan after Germany's support. Others The little brothers of the Axis combined are not as good as Italy. In other words, the reserve strength of the United States is equal to the comprehensive strength of the axis. If the strength of the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand is added to it, even if the Soviet Union is not taken into account, the reserve strength is twice that of the axis.
Therefore, the current ideas for building pilot teams between the Axis and the Alliance are completely different: the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force are required to bear the huge pressure of casualties and strive to use 3 or even 4 rookie pilots to fight for 1 Japanese and German elite pilot; Germany is working hard on the one hand. To increase the number of pilots, on the one hand, it pursues to use quality advantages to overwhelm quantity advantages; Japan, which has neither quality nor is at an absolute disadvantage in quantity, can only hope to speed up the training of the team - but Horikichi's aviation reserve officer strategy has been conservative Pi refused without hesitation.
"The latest submarine reconnaissance found that due to the activity of our military's break-up fleet, the British-Canada route has been completely suspended recently, and a large number of ships are stranded on Newfoundland. The total number may have accumulated to 300, and only a small number of South American ships will be unloading. Then return."
After listening to the situation introduced by Krank, Ozawa nodded: "So the main danger to the fleet now is to collide with planes taking off from Newfoundland and returning ships?"
"Yes, this is our most dangerous moment. If we are discovered by the enemy, we may lose all our efforts..."
Machar shook his head: "It is impossible to waste all your efforts, but you will suffer a lot of losses. I wonder what General Ozawa thinks?"
"We need some luck..." Ozawa nodded, "Once discovered, what alternative plans do you have?"
"If we can't attack Newfoundland, we can only turn around and head southeast to destroy the British and American fleets in the direction of Cape Verde." Machar said, "I believe that the enemy aircraft carrier formation must have received intelligence to intercept us in Bermuda. , if we are exposed, we can only turn around and fight back..."
"I hope I can have the luck of the Battle of Pearl Harbor..." Ozawa thought for a moment and issued the order, "The fleet's course will be changed to 75 degrees, and the speed of the aircraft carrier formation will be accelerated to 24 knots. If our troops are not exposed before 14:00 in the afternoon, the carrier The plane will launch an air strike, otherwise...the entire army will return!"