Chapter 721 Atlantic Strangulation War (30)

Newfoundland is a special island. Although it is large in area (about 111,000 square kilometers, equivalent to 9 Falkland Islands or half of Great Britain, and there are famous Inuit people on the island), it has a sparse population, with a total permanent population of less than 200,000 - this was restored with great difficulty.

Like Canada, Newfoundland was an independent dominion during World War I. It also sent troops to Europe to fight. As a result, it lost a full quarter of its young and strong men in World War I. In the end, its autonomous status was difficult to maintain and it retreated to become a direct British colony. St. John's is the capital and main port of the island, and it is also the main population gathering place. Originally, Newfoundland was not so important, but because the traditional Atlantic route was cut off, Newfoundland began to play an important role as the largest island base closest to Great Britain and close to Greenland and the North Atlantic route.

With the help of the United States, the island finally became the starting point of the British-Canada route and the distribution center for the transportation of major materials in North America. According to the joint memorandum between the three parties, Newfoundland's defense and transportation capabilities need to be strengthened. The aviation force is obviously provided by the United States. The United States originally proposed that the army should also be provided by the US military, and Churchill basically agreed. However, the Congress based on the traditional power of the Conservative Party believed that this was very "dangerous" for Newfoundland's future - economically and defensively, it was completely dependent on the United States. After the victory of the war, would Newfoundland still belong to the British Empire?

Canada also has territorial expectations for Newfoundland and hopes to incorporate the island into its own country. Once the United States controls Newfoundland, it will be equivalent to forming a clamp on the eastern coast of Canada - now everyone is good to each other during the alliance period, and they almost want to wear the same pants. What should we do in the future? So it was proposed that the Canadian Dominion send an escort fleet and the United Kingdom send an army, but the United States would not do it. After much discussion, it was finally agreed that the escort warships would be jointly sent by the United States and Canada, and the army would be sent by Canada to send two divisions to undertake defense tasks. At the same time, some US Army aviation was also stationed in Prince Edward Island, Canada, and everyone was finally happy.

After this adjustment, although the British are still nominally the controllers of the Newfoundland government and also serve as the chairman of the Maritime Commission, all expenses of the British Empire have to rely on the United States and Canada. This title can basically do nothing except asking for help.

From a military perspective, if Newfoundland is really to be built into a huge military base, its airports should be scattered to avoid being completely destroyed in a single attack by the enemy. However, due to the urgency of opening up strategic air transport routes and the relatively primitive nature of other areas of Newfoundland Island, more than 70% of the airports are concentrated around St. John's, and another 30% of the airports are concentrated in the west of the island, facing Canada, Corner Brook and York Harbor, and the two Canadian divisions are also deployed one on each side. This distribution is very particular. The western base mainly receives supplies from Canada and the Great Lakes region of the United States, and the eastern base mainly receives supplies from the east coast of the United States and South American countries, so they must be managed separately to avoid confusion.

The German intelligence agency knew about this distribution and informed the fleet. When the combat plan was drawn up, it was theoretically necessary to attack both places. However, Ozawa considered that the fleet could only dispatch more than 200 attack aircraft in total, and it had been divided into two attack waves. If the first attack wave was split up, the strength would be too weakened. So he persuaded other senior officers of the fleet to attack St. John's in the first attack wave, and then attack Corner Brook in the west in the second attack wave.

In order to achieve the goal of paralyzing the airport as much as possible, most of the bombers dropped by the German bombers were small bombs and incendiary bombs weighing 100 kilograms, which ensured a wider coverage area under the same load. However, what the German pilots did not expect was that they had just dropped dozens of bombs on a parking area, and a chain explosion occurred below. The rumbling sound spread one after another, and the wing fragments, engine parts, airborne weapons and material components were lifted into the sky by the air waves.

Several attack aircraft flying lower were even shaken by the flames and air waves.

"Wow... Great... So exciting... These planes are fully fueled, all time bombs!" A bombardier shouted excitedly on the radio, and was echoed by a lot of people.

They didn't know at all that in addition to the full fuel of the plane, the cabin was also filled with precious aviation fuel - all supplied to the British. The British-Canada route was blocked, and food and general fuel could still be made do. The most important aviation fuel had to be provided by the United States. The materials were loaded one after another on Sunday afternoon, and now they all became bombs that exploded.

The chain reaction of explosions swept the hangar and runway, and the incendiary bombs dropped by the German army ignited one after another. Looking down from the sky, it seemed like a flowing sea of ​​fire below, and then this dragon of fire continued to engulf other fuels, materials, and ammunition to explode and burn fiercely, detonating all other fighters and attack planes, and even the anti-aircraft artillery positions near the airport could not be maintained.

While the attack aircraft were dropping bombs and firing indiscriminately, the fighter jets were also killing indiscriminately. In order to maximize the offensive effect, at least half of the fighter jets carried small bombs. After dropping the bombs hastily, they began to violently suppress the American patrol planes that rushed to the scene and the fighter jets that took off hastily.

Different from the Battle of Pearl Harbor, there were a total of 24 fighter jets performing patrol missions on Newfoundland at that time. During the emergency, more than 10 aircraft flew, basically all P51 or P47. Unfortunately, their number was too small. They entered the battle in a panic, and after 10 minutes of fierce fighting, they were all shot down by German escort fighters. The Germans paid the price of 4 Bf-21218 and 1 Ju-98. The overall exchange ratio was 1:4.

As the St. Johns air raid went more smoothly than expected, Frank, who was in command in the air, temporarily changed the combat deployment and led more than 50 aircraft in the first attack wave to attack Corner Brook, preparing to pass the subsequent St. Johns attack mission. Switching to the second attack wave, this decision was immediately recognized by the fleet leaders commanding from behind.

The German bombers were fighting fiercely here, and the war room of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was in chaos over there. The combat order had been sent to the Army Air Forces in Maine and the troops stationed on Prince Edward Island. The instructions were executed unanimously, but no It didn't take long for them to send telegrams to complain: What should I do if the plane cannot return after dark?

Everyone looked at each other. Marshall turned and glanced at the wall clock. The time had slowly passed 4 o'clock. There were still 2 hours until dark in Washington, but this was not the case in high latitudes. He sighed: "Let the fighter jets on Prince Edward Island go." Support Newfoundland, even if you shoot down some German planes. If the pilots can't find the airport at night, they can parachute on the island... Newfoundland is so big, and there are two Canadian divisions on it, there is always room for pilots!"

The words were very strong, but they didn't have much confidence. Everyone was helpless. Admiral Jin slammed his fist on the table and said angrily: "It's better for them to attack, so as not to hide and get in the way, let the Cunningham fleet change direction to intercept them, and then transfer the Army Air Force aircraft to Edward at night Go to Prince's Island and Maine, we can catch them and attack early tomorrow morning!"

Ingram added: "We should quickly let the escort fleet cover the freighters to leave the port, and hide as dispersed as possible. If the port supplies explode, they will explode. The people on the ship cannot suffer any more heavy losses..."

Everyone spoke to each other and immediately gathered a large number of countermeasures. Although they were researched during the emergency, the response was quite quick and they were immediately implemented in an orderly manner. In particular, Admiral Arnold was heartbroken when he learned that the land aviation base on Newfoundland Island had been bombed. He couldn't help but blame Spartz for not sending out a reconnaissance plane and discovering the German fleet in time (the latter rolled his eyes: Blame me?).

The time difference between Newfoundland and Berlin is four and a half hours. Shortly after the critical attack campaign started successfully, Machar sent a telegram to the High Command in Berlin. When he heard that at least 500 US military aircraft and airports had been destroyed, Everyone, including Hoffman, couldn't help but smile with satisfaction. Hoffman laughed and said: "Very good, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we attacked Newfoundland, and they did it openly, and the Americans are still so dishonest." Long memory.”

"Once the strategic airlift is cut off, Fatty Qiu will probably have to jump into the sea hungry." Yoder's witty words caused everyone to laugh.

"There will be a tougher battle tonight..." Hoffman asked Dönitz, "Are the Sea Wolves ready?"

"No problem. We have prepared 12 of the latest XXI submarines. As long as the fleet can get rid of those obstructive escort warships, the submarine guys can send all those cargo ships to the bottom of the sea."

Hoffman nodded with satisfaction and discussed the issue of Cape Verde with everyone. Although the total number of defenders had dropped to less than 3,000, Link optimistically said that he could continue to persist. He just hoped to support some troops and medicines, and by the way, Take away some of the wounded. Dönitz arranged for S-boat units and submarine units to respond. Now that the U.S. military is on tight defense, it would be suicide to use S-boats for an assault at night. However, the "Tokyo Express" used by the Japanese army on Guadalcanal inspired everyone, and Germany was determined to activate the "Berlin Express" "——Use S-boats and submarines to replenish supplies for the officers and soldiers guarding the island.

The discussion lasted for nearly an hour, and another news came from the fleet. Ozawa expressed the hope that aircraft could be replenished as soon as possible.

"The air raid suffered a lot of damage?" Hoffman asked with a frown.

"About 20 aircraft and the rest of the air strike group have returned successfully. However, considering that the surrounding areas are surrounded by US military airports and aviation bases, the fleet's air power is limited. In order to maintain operations in the following days, additional aircraft must be added."