Chapter 730 Atlantic Strangulation War (39)

A strange scene appeared on the island of Newfoundland: In the face of the German army's intensive firepower and the overwhelming air-ground offensive, a whole division of Canadians was suppressed by a far smaller number of German troops. They were helpless and suffered only one daytime casualties. The total number was more than 3,000 (including losses from air strikes, artillery bombardments, and German ground troops), and the German casualties were less than 300.

There is no harm without comparison. Also faced with the enemy's overwhelming air superiority, the German troops on Sal Island fought to the death with their perfect fortifications and inflicted heavy damage on the U.S. Army. After the 5th Army Division was crippled, the newly replaced Army 3rd Division The teacher is also struggling.

What makes the Joint Chiefs of Staff even more upset is that after struggling for a whole day, they did not find the exact location of the German aircraft carrier formation - the reconnaissance plane sent either lost its way or found something that was not an aircraft carrier formation at all, or else there was no news at all. I don’t know if it was shot down by the Germans. There were only two days until Cunningham's aircraft carrier formation arrived in the designated sea area. If the Germans were still not found, the fleet might be in trouble. Arnold got angry on the phone and told his men to find the German aircraft carrier formation at all costs tomorrow. .

At this time, the missing German aircraft carrier formation, under the command of Ozawa, turned to the southwest at a faster speed after the long-awaited nightfall. Tonight, they were going to destroy the US military base on Prince Edward Island. Ar-352 has ascertained the configuration and distribution of relevant forces on the base, and noticed that US military reinforcements are arriving continuously, which makes Machar and others even more anxious.

A few hours before the launch of the attack, good news came from Newfoundland: Engineers not only used old facilities to organize a usable airport at the US military airport, but also discovered an underground aviation gasoline depot nearby, which contained at least 10,000 tons of high-grade Fuel is enough.

"Well done! It seems that early tomorrow morning the Joint Strike Fighters and Ju-188s will be able to land directly from the Azores to Newfoundland. Even Bf-219s and Ju-98s can fly after they are equipped with drop tanks." Krank He gave a high five and said, "Using land-based aircraft to cover directly eliminates the need to occupy precious carrier-based aircraft. If the British and American fleets really dare to come, they will be more confident of annihilating them."

Ozawa's heart moved: "Can heavy transport planes be used to supplement some Marine troops? Unarmed soldiers will do. There are many captured weapons, ammunition and even tanks on the island. There is also a large amount of equipment and supplies on the ships stranded at the port. 3-4 can be transported by air. Camped and armed with no problem.”

Machar asked doubtfully: "Air transport is probably possible, and it is not difficult to mobilize troops. But how will we retreat in the future?"

"As long as we defeat the British and American fleets, we will undoubtedly be very safe. Will we have the final say whether we want to fight or withdraw at that time?" Ozawa smiled faintly, "Both Britain and the United States and we only have this fleet. Whoever has the upper hand will win." We have the upper hand in the entire war. One thing cannot be ignored. As long as we occupy Newfoundland for one day, the British-Canada route will never be restored. Churchill has been blocked for 2 months, can he be blocked for another 4 months?"

Machar nodded with satisfaction: "Allow me to report to the head of state and request reinforcements."

Machar's aircraft carrier formation was not the only one to launch an attack under the cover of night. Hoffman's black technology troops, which had been carefully prepared for a long time, also launched a powerful attack. The target was still the US military around Cape Verde, and the trump card they relied on was one that had not been seen for a long time. Hs-293 ​​anti-ship missile.

After becoming famous in the Battle of the Mediterranean, Hs-293 ​​seemed to have disappeared and was never used in actual combat on a large scale. Because an internal review of the German army found that due to the current use method of Hs-293, it is very difficult to achieve major results. Just maintaining absolute air superiority on site is a big problem.

But this does not mean that this new weapon is completely ineffective. Hoffman believes that there is room for further improvement, and when inspecting the Peenemünde base, he proposed two improvement ideas: a small improvement plan and a large improvement plan. The so-called small improvement plan refers to changing the usage scenario, moving the usage scenario of Hs-293 ​​to the night; the big improvement plan is to change the guidance method, changing Hs-293 ​​from the existing manual precise guidance to automatic precise guidance. Give it different tactical attack methods through improvements.

The former is easy to achieve. Inspired by the night combat use of the Tiger tank's "Owl" system, scientists are determined to equip heavy bombers with such a weapon. The heavy bomber has a total of four 2,000-horsepower engines, which can provide farther and more powerful infrared search means. This searchlight is installed on the belly of the aircraft. By projecting from top to bottom, it can achieve detection of more than 6,000 meters. According to the distance.

The latter is much more difficult, because the sign of its success is that it needs to be equipped with an infrared seeker for Hs-293 ​​- scientists have found that radio signals are easy to interfere with, while infrared radiation is not so easy to conceal, especially on the sea, maneuvering Warships with stronger capabilities and faster speeds are more likely to radiate powerful infrared rays, which is very beneficial for guidance.

Germany has ready technology reserves for infrared seekers. When Germany first explored proximity fuzes, it tested a variety of seekers, including infrared. However, it was obviously too difficult to insert the infrared seeker into a small 88mm shell or a 128mm shell, so It has never been possible, but there is no problem at all when placed on the huge Hs-293. The German army has tested it many times and found that the effect is extraordinary when used at night, even better than during the day.

After nearly a year of arduous development, the new generation Hs-293 ​​was put into use. In order to distinguish it from the previous generation, the model was changed to Hs-393.

Eight Me-264 heavy bombers tore through the dark night and rushed towards Cape Verde. They did not have any escort fighters, and the only thing that could cover them was the rich night. The fleet had moved to the Canary Islands a few days ago, and according to the flight range, they could have hit the US fleet long ago, but the German army, knowing the weakness of horizontal bombing, did not want to waste the precious attack opportunity, but formed a unique night owl team and rushed towards the target.

"Course 225 degrees, speed 230 knots, altitude 7000 meters, distance 145 kilometers... about 8 large aircraft."

Ingersoll and Turner learned from the radar that there were planes coming from a distance. There was no doubt that they were Germans, but what puzzled them was why the Germans launched an attack at night? This posture was obviously a heavy bomber. Could it be that the Germans had mastered the trick of horizontal bombing at night? This is really horrifying...