Chapter 865: War Is the Highest Realm of Politics (Part 2)

"This position..." Jodl had a toothache after reading it, "It's not easy to deal with. No matter how we fight, it won't work."

The others nodded in agreement.

The main fleet led by Ozawa is currently about 1,150 kilometers west-southwest of Ireland. This is not a random location, but a carefully planned center point. From this location, the distance to the Azores, Spain and Portugal, France, Britain, Greenland, and even Iceland is about the same, all about 1,400-1,600 kilometers. Draw a circle with a radius of 1,600 kilometers with this location as the center. The main combat support points and enemy points will all be included, and they can respond to various enemy situations, especially transport fleets, in a timely manner.

The German army is fully confident that it can monitor the surrounding area, because the reconnaissance radius of the Ar-352 on the aircraft carrier is exactly equivalent to 1,600 kilometers. In other words, the fleet that wants to enter the North Atlantic cannot hide.

Nimitz was no ordinary man after all. He probably sensed the danger. He actually let the fleet pass at a high speed of 24 knots when circling the southern tip of Greenland at night, breaking the German reconnaissance vision and submarine blockade. Now the US fleet has slipped into the Denmark Strait (between Iceland and Greenland), backed by the Icelandic land base and supporting each other. The next step is a bit tricky to deal with, at least the original SEAL plan cannot be implemented.

According to the original strategic guidelines, this wave of political and military offensive against Great Britain will not end with only air strikes. The next step is landing - that is the climax. The landing commander and troops have also been selected, that is Rommel. Joseph Kennedy knew that the Germans were going to land and witnessed the training of German troops, but it was not comprehensive. The landing point considered in the first step of the SEAL plan was not the British headquarters, but one of the three islands around Great Britain - Ireland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

This fully reflects Hoffman's caution: Although the British Empire has performed very mediocrely on the battlefield in recent years, it has accumulated more than 3 million land forces, nearly 10,000 aircraft, and decent coastal defense works on its homeland, and its strength should not be underestimated. The English Channel is indeed very narrow, but it is easy to cross the channel, but it is not so easy to gain a foothold on it. Even if the German army can reach 100,000 in the first wave, it will be difficult for the British to push over with five times the force. If they use 10 times the force, I am afraid that the German army will eventually be driven into the sea.

Moreover, he believes that the combat effectiveness of the British army fighting on the homeland cannot be measured by the combat effectiveness shown in the colonies and on the European continent. In order to defend their country, they will burst out with different passions - any idea of ​​underestimating the enemy is very dangerous.

After careful consideration, he came to a conclusion: the current comparison of British and German forces is not as big as the gap during the Normandy Landing in history. If they rashly land in Great Britain, they may be hit head-on and bloody. At that time, the German army was too slow to react to the Normandy landing because its main force was concentrated on the Eastern Front. In addition, the US military had too obvious air superiority and did not gather enough strength to push back, allowing the other side to succeed. Now the entire British army is stockpiled on the island, and the defensive capabilities are completely different.

But not landing is not an option. With Fatty Qiu's character of not crying until he sees the coffin, if the German army does not show its landing strength and the United States does not give up aiding Britain, the stone in his pit will probably continue to be smelly and hard. Landing around Britain is the most cost-effective way to suppress Great Britain. It does not require too many deaths and can deter the other side - using fighting to promote talks and using pressure to promote peace is the best political choice. Even if the landing fails, it will only cost Germany a few hundred planes, tens of thousands of people, and a few ships, and it will not hurt its vitality. If the landing on the British mainland fails, the Second Battle of Britain can be completely put to an end.

After repeated weighing and discussion, the Supreme Command, the Army General Staff, and the Navy General Staff unanimously decided to choose Iceland as the ideal landing site: the Faroe Islands are too small, even if they are captured, they are not enough to deter Britain, and they will be attacked from both sides from Iceland and Britain; although Ireland is large enough and has a good mass base (Irish people are generally pro-German), it is too close to Britain, and Northern Ireland borders Ireland, which will cause many inconveniences in the landing war; Iceland is about 1,000 kilometers from the north of Britain and about 1,200 kilometers from Norway, and the support forces that the two sides can get are basically similar.

So the feasibility of landing in Iceland is simplified to such a topic: Can the German landing force land successfully and defeat the Icelandic garrison?

The number of enemy troops on Iceland has long been clarified: less than 60,000 US troops, more than 20,000 British troops, and about 400-500 aircraft, tanks but no armored divisions, some coastal fortifications but the defense strength is far less than that of Norway. In 1940, the British occupied Iceland with only one battalion, and later gradually increased their troops to more than 20,000. The US military landed in Iceland after 1942 and gradually increased its troops, but at most it was more than 3 divisions plus a garrison headquarters, with a total force of less than 60,000.

Iceland's residents originally belonged to Denmark, and later became independent with the support of Britain and the United States. The total population of Iceland is only 120,000, with less than 40,000 adult men, even less than the number of British and American garrisons. The capital Reykjavik concentrates more than one-third of Iceland's population.

Through spies in Iceland, Hoffman also learned that Icelandic society had undergone major changes after the British and American troops were stationed. A large number of Icelandic women were attracted by the freedom and openness of the United States, and began to be obsessed with American soldiers, performing various ethics and passions. Fragments (which constitute Iceland's unique war literature after the war), in the nearly four years since the British occupied Iceland, except for the Bismarck's one-shot sinking of the Hood, no major war has occurred near Iceland. In other words, Iceland's defense is lax and fragile, and he thinks the army is not much stronger - it has never fought a war! As for the current atmosphere of busy talking about love, I am afraid that the combat effectiveness will be lowered to a higher level.

Rommel believed that if Iceland really had more than 80,000 troops and 4-500 aircraft as the intelligence showed, he hoped that the first wave of landing troops would have a fleet, an armored division and an armored grenadier division. Occupy the complete landing site within 3 days. If we can reinforce another parachute division in the second phase, that would be ideal. The problem is guaranteed to be solved within a week. If not, it’s no big deal. It will be a tie in 10 days.

But Hoffman prepared more troops for him than he asked for: 2 armored divisions (Type 1944 Armored Instructor Division and Flying Fortress Armored Division), 1 Panzergrenadier Division (Type 1943 Brandenburg Special Forces Panzergrenadier Division), 1 Airborne Division (22nd Airborne Division), and 3 Marine Brigades (troops withdrawn from the Indian battlefield) were gradually put in place, and they were given priority status for reinforcements, even higher than the SS A few armored divisions in the army are still high.

Everyone knows that no matter whether it is the Wehrmacht or the Waffen-SS, anyone with a brand name is an untouchable force. The Flying Fortress Armored Division fought from North Africa to South Africa and made great achievements. Considering its predecessor, the "Hermann-Göring" paratrooper armor The title of the brigade comes with an airborne effect; in addition to the normal armored grenadier skills, the Brandenburg Special Division has additional penetration and destruction functions; as for the armored instructors, they are drawn from the 30 armored divisions and 24 independent heavy armored units of the National Defense Forces. It is composed of the best leaders selected from the battalion units.

Seeing these forces and configuration, Rommel was satisfied that the head of state was not fooling him - he was indeed preparing to deal with the British, and he happily took up the post of commander of the SEAL Group with the rank of marshal. Marshal Rommel has always been treated as the commander of an army group, but the troops under his command have never exceeded one army group. Fortunately, all the troops are aces, and there is no place to complain if he wants to. In the end, even he got used to it and laughed at himself It's not about having more soldiers, but about being skilled!

Everyone agreed that if Rommel led the landing force and the navy and air force cooperated well, it would not be a problem to capture Iceland. The trouble was that the U.S. fleet slipped near Iceland. If this fleet is not destroyed, landing will be a luxury. If it is destroyed, then the main fleet will have to risk rushing over to fight - it is likely to be attacked by British and Icelandic aviation forces, in case the fleet losses are too large. , the login will also be in vain.

So this position is so stuck that it's hard to get out of it and it's so uncomfortable.

"We must find a way to lure this fleet out, whether it is driven away or killed, but we cannot let it destroy the overall situation near Iceland." Yoder analyzed fiercely, "It is best to kill it, even if it means losing 1-2 The aircraft carrier is also worth it.”

"How can this fleet be mobilized?" Keitel asked, "In other words, what other goals can make this American fleet abandon the British and go to rescue at all costs?"

Newfoundland?

Bermuda?

These two targets are sharp enough, but unfortunately they also require the deployment of their own troops to perform the task, which is not enough to suppress the US fleet. Moreover, these two important places were hit twice. It would be a hell for the Americans to be unprepared.

Zeitzler frowned and said: "Or should the landing be delayed in advance? Wait until the war in the Caucasus comes to an end before deciding on the overall situation of the Western Front? Or simply coordinate with Japan before launching the Second Western Expedition."

It is certainly an idea to deal with the Soviet Union first and then Iceland. However, solving the problem of the Soviet Union mainly depends on the army, and solving the problem of Iceland mainly depends on the navy. Just now a US squadron was killed by Krank with 3 aircraft carriers. The British aircraft carriers and battleships are not in service. The British and American The naval strength is at its weakest. If we wait until June-July to completely resolve the Eastern Front (this thing is not completely guaranteed yet), then the British and American naval forces may recover and overwhelm the axis.

As for coordinating with Japan, nothing has been said about it yet. Even if Horikichi agrees to send troops, it will take more than a month to reach Europe. Time is too late! What's more, the Japanese are busy attacking their own Xiaojiujiu and are not yet ready to send troops to coordinate. Hoffman can promise to support and assist Japan, but this does not mean that the Japanese lion will be free to take and ask for anything.

There was silence.

After thinking for a long time, Hoffman slowly stated the plan he was considering... Everyone was stunned.

ps: The monthly ticket is very tight. For the sake of my hard work in updating, please give me some rewards...