Chapter 847: Fighting in the South Atlantic (End)

"Asshole! Asshole! Asshole!"

Spruance, who had been waiting hard in the waters of southern Brazil for Krank to turn around, instead of waiting for news of the German fleet's turnaround, received an emergency telegram from Army Aviation. On the evening of March 30, the German Navy air raided the army aviation base, causing more than 200 aircraft to be damaged to varying degrees, and more than 40 pilots and more than 300 other auxiliary personnel to be injured or killed. The biggest loss was that an oil depot containing 40,000 gallons of aviation fuel was blown up by the Germans. The scene burst into flames, like a volcano erupting. At least half of the losses in personnel and equipment were attributed to the series of explosions caused by this bomb. The German army only lost a total of 6 aircraft!

Together with the losses caused by the previous air attack on Rio de Janeiro and the breach of diplomatic relations, the Allies had lost more than 300 aircraft, more than 30 ships (the breach of diplomatic relations and the losses in the port of Rio de Janeiro) and more than 2,000 personnel. The German losses were only a dozen There is no plane, and what's more terrible is that there is nothing that can be done against the Germans.

The day after the German air raid, the Brazilian Foreign Minister urgently summoned the Argentinian ambassador to protest and threatened: "If your country allows the German fleet to act recklessly again, we believe that your country has violated neutrality and will take decisive measures."

The Argentine ambassador retorted unceremoniously: "Why don't you ask what the stationing of so many US troops and aircraft in your country means? If you want to destroy neutrality, you will do it first! As for drastic measures, do you want to fight? Believe it or not, tomorrow I will Just bring the German armored divisions over to land and let you see who is more powerful, the American soldiers or the German soldiers!"

The world has long known whether the German soldiers are more powerful or the American soldiers are more powerful. In the Battle of Cape Verde, the US military assembled two divisions, fleets, and aircraft, but they could not defeat only 5-6 thousand German troops. Instead, the news of the "pre-battle uprising" in the end has spread throughout South American countries. , the prestige accumulated by the US military through gunboat diplomacy for more than a hundred years was suddenly wiped out. Many Brazilians even believed that if Brazil also had US military equipment, its combat effectiveness would definitely exceed that of the Americans! No one is blind. Just look at the American troops stationed in various countries in South America and you will know the strength of American soldiers.

Moreover, the United States has delayed declaring war on Argentina due to various concerns, while Brazil and Germany have declared war a long time ago. The Germans accordingly attacked Brazil several times and even defeated the remaining strength of the Brazilian navy. All in all, the whole country is complaining about President Vargas, thinking that his ideas are wrong and he has chosen the wrong camp. This makes Vargas hard to say - it was not you who wanted more U.S. aid and American thighs. Are you talking about defecting to the Allies?

Now, as soon as the Argentinian ambassador said that he wanted to declare war, the Brazilian foreign minister retracted - who knows whether the Americans will follow up on Brazil's declaration of war? If they don't follow up, wouldn't Brazil be beaten by the Axis and the La Plata Group alone? Don't dare to take this risk.

The helpless Spruance could only hope that the main force of the Atlantic Fleet, which set out on April 1, could swarm around and block the German fleet.

For the sake of solemnity, Nimitz personally led the troops in this battle. At the same time, uncharacteristically, he did not choose the New Jersey to take command, but boarded the Hornet to coordinate with Cunningham. After the Unicorn was transferred to the TF44 fleet, The Hornet became Cunningham's flagship.

This was not a whim of Nimitz or an attempt to compete with Cunningham for command. He had deep considerations: Firstly, Nimitz had strongly recommended Cunningham as the commander of the aircraft carrier fleet, and Cunningham did not have to buy anyone else. Nimitz still had to give him face; secondly, this battle was very important, as it related to whether the British and American navies could restore their reputations. Faced with this situation that he could only fight well but not defeat, he had to personally go into battle and come forward to deal with obstacles. Ning'an coordination.

In the afternoon of April 3, the fleet had arrived on the sea more than 500 kilometers north of Puerto Rico. The two were speculating with their staff about the possible whereabouts and hiding places of the German fleet. Rear Admiral Macmillan, the new chief of staff of the Atlantic Fleet, suddenly stumbled. He rushed in, waving a telegram in his hand: "Oh no, something big happened in Britain! The Joint Chiefs of Staff asked us to abandon the mission and turn back to Great Britain immediately!"

"What?" Nimitz stood up in shock.

Shao Qing, Cunningham's confidant telecommunications officer also whispered in his ear: "I received a secret message from Marshal Pound. The German army is violently attacking the mainland. There seems to be signs of landing. Be sure to rescue them. Act decisively at critical moments!"

Cunningham nodded calmly to show that he understood, and then looked at each other with Nimitz, and both saw shock in the other's eyes - the Germans are going to land in Great Britain?

Nimitz gritted his teeth: "The fleet will turn around and go to Great Britain!"

At this moment, Churchill, Marshal Brooke, Marshal Pound and even a large number of senior officials were hiding in the basement of Downing Street to hold an emergency meeting.

In the morning of April 3, the German army suddenly launched a fierce offensive against Great Britain. After more than a year of silence, German aircraft, which had barely crossed the center line of the Channel to attack, suddenly came in overwhelming numbers. What horrified the pilots who flew Spitfires and P-51 fighter jets on interception missions was that they were unable to stop the opposing enemy aircraft at all. After several months of production and preparation, Hoffman finally accumulated 400 Ar-234 jets. The bomber began to carry out the lightning bombing he had always dreamed of.

The maximum level flight speed of the Ar-234 is nearly 900 kilometers per hour. It has a range of nearly 1,000 kilometers when carrying 1.5 tons of bombs. Accompanying these 400 Ar-234s are more than 200 Me-262s with 500 kilograms of bombs. More than 600 aircraft formed the first wave of attacks and flew towards their respective targets. They ignored all interceptions and whizzed over the Royal Air Force at an impressive speed, and then attacked airports, radar stations, railway trunk lines and key factories in southern England with bombs or incendiary bombs, turning dozens of important targets in the south into ruins or seas of fire.

After the bombing was completed, this batch of lightning attack aircraft continued to fly high and high. In addition to leaving a string of exhaust clouds in the air, the intercepting fighters could only sigh in despair at their figures. Although the United States has begun the production of Meteor jets, Britain has not yet obtained them, and even has only trained dozens of pilots, and is simply powerless to do anything about it.

Many British fighters that took off were unwilling to fail. They gritted their teeth and chased after them, even crossing the channel to chase them, hoping to hit the weak stage of these jets when they landed. However, they were intercepted by the well-prepared Fw-190\Do-412\Ta-152 fighters. Hundreds of fighters fought in the air, and the German army with more numbers obviously had the upper hand. Moreover, even if the German pilots were shot down, they had the opportunity to parachute to their own controlled area, and they could change planes tomorrow, while the British pilots had only one way to die in battle or become prisoners of war.

When the first batch of British fighters ran out of fuel and made an emergency landing, and the British air defense interception force was greatly weakened, the second wave of German attacks followed. The main force of this bombing was Ju-188, He-218 and Do-412, with nearly a thousand aircraft. They carried out Germany's first thousand-plane bombing mission, and carried out an overwhelming carpet bombing on the second round of targets and the places missed in the first round along the offensive route of the first wave of attacks. Although Ju-188 and He-218 were not as capable as B-29 in carrying large amounts of bombs, their bombing efficiency was amazing and their destructive effect was equally strong.

This was not the most devastating fact for the British. In the afternoon, a German radio station suddenly broadcast, "Our army will launch a groundbreaking new weapon! British citizens, especially those in London, are requested to take shelter in air-raid shelters to avoid accidental injuries." The British did not believe this fact, and the BBC even broadcast that the Germans were making false threats, but they suffered the consequences in the evening.

The German army used iron-clad facts to tell them that this was by no means a pale and powerless threat, but Germany's trump card - the weapon-grade V2 missile.

In the evening of that day, the launch sites secretly deployed in France, Belgium and the Netherlands received orders to launch at the same time. A total of 34 rocket companies and 119 launch devices participated in the launch, and a total of nearly 500 V2 missiles were launched.

Unlike in history, due to Hoffman's emphasis on scientific research in his speech in Peenemünde and the interruption of the development and mass production of the V1 rocket, the team headed by Braun focused all their attention on the medium- and short-range V2 and long-range V6 missiles. In addition, due to the cessation of British and American strategic air raids and the great enrichment of Germany's raw material supply guarantee, Peenemünde has made more and faster technological progress than in history! By the end of 1943, the V2 missile with a kerosene and liquid oxygen engine had a range of more than 450 kilometers when carrying 800 kilograms of explosives, and the guidance combined gyro inertial guidance with radio hyperbolic positioning. Although the accuracy deviation still reached more than 1 kilometer, it was basically enough for a big city like London.

These 500 missiles are stocks produced continuously in the past few months. Each missile is sold for more than 60,000 Reichsmarks. But for Hoffman, the 30 million marks are worth spending. Weapons must be tested in actual combat to see if they are effective. He will not use V2 as the only means to determine the situation of the war, but at least he can tell some British leaders who are still hesitating that he has many ways to deal with Great Britain. The end of not surrendering is total destruction.

General Jeshunnek, who was inspecting on the front line, watched missiles flying into the sky one after another with orange flames in the twilight. He knew that these missiles would eventually land and explode at a speed of more than Mach 4. They could not track, intercept or defend. He couldn't help but sigh that an epoch-making war change is coming - the V6 missile developed by Braun is said to be able to reach more than 2,800 kilometers in the future, and can even be installed in the giant submarines currently built in Germany!

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