Chapter 878 Accident (7, Additional Update for 2100 Votes)

Sitting and waiting for death was obviously not Cunningham's style. Just when the three aircraft carriers had almost released their carrier-based aircraft, he proposed to forcefully prepare for the second attack wave, and Nimitz agreed immediately after considering it.

The second attack wave of the US military consisted of two parts. The first part was the 16 SBDs sent out for reconnaissance in the early morning. Except for the SBD that was shot down for reconnaissance in the Ozawa sector and the farthest SBD that did not have time to return, the remaining 14 aircraft rushed back at the fastest speed; the second part was the backup aircraft owned by the three aircraft carriers. Each aircraft carrier carried 10 backup aircraft (3 F6Fs, 4 SBDs and 3 TBFs). Since there was no loss in the previous operations, the above backup aircraft and crews were all available. Considering that there were few escort fighters, Cunningham decided to extract 6 from the existing escort fighters, and finally formed a second attack wave consisting of 50 aircraft (14 + 30 + 6).

As soon as the order was issued, all the exhausted ground crew immediately moved at a desperate speed again. They first took down the main body of the aircraft and spare parts hanging on the top of the hangar, and then assembled them at a very urgent speed. Most of the staff in the bridge also rushed into the hangar like crazy to assist. Everyone knew that the situation had reached a very urgent juncture. Every additional aircraft would increase the chances of victory for the fleet.

At 13:17, the second batch of 48 fighters from the Azores arrived at the German fleet. They were all Fw-190s carrying auxiliary fuel tanks and rockets. Ito Zhengyi was stunned. He knew that the Fw-190 could not be carried on ships. What did this batch of land-based aircraft mean by reinforcement? Ozawa saw his confusion and explained, "This is not a naval aircraft, this is an air force unit."

"How do they land?"

"Learn the tactics of Commander Hori Teikichi in the South Pacific naval battle, and keep covering the fleet until the fuel runs out and they have to make an emergency landing or parachute."

"How many planes are there in the entire Azores?"

"To be honest, I don't know. It is said that there are 3 air force wings and 1 naval aviation wing. I guess there are at least 800 planes."

"That's quite a lot."

"Not too many. The total number of German front-line combat aircraft is as high as 25,000, and the Azores It only accounts for a little over 3%. The Eastern Front is the bulk of Germany's air power, with nearly 15,000 German aircraft there. In addition to Germany, there are also some Allied air forces, including Italy, Romania, Hungary, Finland, Ukraine, the Russian Liberation Army, Iran, and Iraq, which all have impressive air forces, adding up to at least more than 18,000 aircraft..." Ozawa sighed, "Although I envy Germany's ability to mass-produce 40,000 aircraft of various types a year, what makes me more excited is the strong reserve of German pilots and the continuous supply of elite frontline personnel to supply the naval aviation All pilots were transferred from experienced air forces, and even newly recruited naval pilots had to serve on the Eastern Front to accept the challenge of the Russian army. In their words, if you can't even beat the Russians, how can you compete with Britain and the United States? "

All members of the observation group nodded to show that they were taught. Ito Zhengyi smiled bitterly: "No wonder Admiral Tsukahara said that your tactics are very good, but Japan can't learn them, or it can't promote them. "

"Yes, I used to think that the Imperial Navy's "800 warships and 3,000 sea eagles" were invincible, and I laughed at the Germans for only having aircraft carriers but Without the Navy, when they really make an effort, we can't catch up. As for the mechanism gap, it is even more serious. "Ozawa pointed to the double swords and gold oak leaves Knight's Cross on his collar, "Have you seen the medal given to me by the Führer? There are no more than 30 soldiers in Germany who can get this medal, 11 of whom are pilots, and even 2 pilots have medals higher than mine. "

Everyone knew that Ozawa's medals had exceeded the vast majority of the German armed forces, but when they heard that there were pilots with higher medals than him, they were shocked.

The Knight's Cross was originally a single level, and there were not so many sub-levels, but due to the prolonged war, Germany added 4 more levels to better commend military exploits, namely the Silver Oak Leaves Knight's Cross, the Double Swords Silver Oak Leaves Knight's Cross, the Diamond Double Swords Silver Oak Leaves Knight's Cross, and the Diamond Double Swords Gold Oak Leaves Knight's Cross. It even clearly stipulated that the highest level of the Diamond Double Swords Gold Oak Leaves Knight's Cross would only be awarded to the 12 most outstanding military exploits after the victory of the war. For the sake of overall beauty, the colors of the swords and oak leaves are usually the same. There will not be such incongruous things as gold swords and silver oak leaves or silver swords and gold oak leaves. The material of the oak leaves determines the material of the swords.

After Hoffman came to power, he thought that the subdivision level was not enough, so he added two more levels: the first level is the Gold Oak Leaf Cross (without double swords), which is between the Silver Oak Leaf Cross and the Double Sword Silver Oak Leaf Cross: the additional level is the Double Sword Gold Oak Leaf Knight Cross (without diamonds), which is between the Double Sword Silver Oak Leaf Knight Cross and the Double Sword Silver Oak Leaf Knight Cross with Diamonds. Ozawa received the latter, which is two levels away from the highest level of the Double Sword Diamond Knight Cross.

"You must have heard of the names of these two pilots. One is Marseille and the other is Hans-Rudel. They received the Double Sword Silver Oak Leaf Knight Cross with Diamonds (the highest level currently awarded). One of them killed nearly 300 planes and the other killed more than 300 tanks. Dr. Goebbels made a movie for them."

Everyone in the observation group nodded. They had heard of these two names before - these were the two movies they planned to watch within a few days of arriving in Germany, and the other one was Rank Commando. After seeing this, everyone finally understood the origin of the impact of the domestic movie "Commander of the Combined Fleet". However, they did not find any movies praising the "grand and majestic" governance of the country and the dedication of Germany. The senior officials laughed loudly: "Everyone has seen what the Führer has done for the rise of the empire. He himself has repeatedly instructed that there is no need to deliberately publicize, but to focus on publicizing front-line officers and soldiers and outstanding figures who have made special contributions to Germany, so as to build consensus among the entire nation. Maybe wait. Next time when the head of state is running for election again, you can film and show it to boost morale.”

Ozawa's next sentence is even more thought-provoking: "What kind of medal did the head of state who made such a great contribution to the rise of Germany give himself? None! Not even one! He only has the medal he received as a corporal during the last world war. Cross. Think about some people in our country who have no merit and are eager to wear the Grand Chrysanthemum Medal and the Grand Rising Sun Medal on their chests. They are even higher than Commander Yamamoto, Chief Hori and General Tsukahara. , Isn’t it embarrassing? There is no necessary connection between medals and official ranks. The bigger the official, the higher the medal. If this idea is not eliminated, how can the grassroots be motivated? "

Ito thought of Prince Fushimi Miyahiro Kyoto who had a medal on his chest. He used to take it for granted, but when Ozawa said it, he immediately felt uncomfortable. Originally, he wanted to explain the fact that the medal level that Horikichi received was no longer low, but when he thought that most high-level medals were awarded after "revolting against rebellion", he didn't know what to say - instead of talking about these The medal is "reward for the merits of revolt and reinvention". It is better to say that the palace was forced to recognize Horikichi's status reluctantly. The majority of the people do not know the specific truth of the revolt. Doesn't he, Ito Seiichi, not know it?

"Sir, the second attack wave is ready and is taking off..."

"Sir, the radar reports that the German aircraft fleet is approaching, with an altitude of 7,500 meters, more than 160 aircraft in number, and a distance of 175 kilometers. They are expected to contact the enemy in 15 minutes..."

At 13:21, the bridge of the USS Hornet issued two enemy intelligence reports.

"It's this high-flying tactics again!" Nimitz felt heavy, but he didn't delay in issuing the order. "Air defense fighters be careful not to be fooled, and don't fall into the trap of climbing!"

"Attack the second attack wave quickly, quickly! Must be fast!" Cunningham hurriedly gave the urging order. Although he knew that the German army would arrive soon, it was unexpected that the German army would arrive so quickly. If we were slower, the second attack wave would be I just stayed at home and couldn't get out.

The staff roared and commanded the fleet to take off quickly while ordering the ships to form a tight circular anti-aircraft formation. This time the fleet not only had the anti-aircraft firepower of four battleships, but also the anti-aircraft guns of each ship were equipped with VT fuses. The officers and soldiers seemed to be confident. A little more than enough.

"The aircraft must be changed when returning to China. First, the F6F must be equipped with turbocharging to cope with high-altitude tactics; second, the SBD and TBF must be replaced as soon as possible with new attack aircraft that integrate dive bombing and torpedo attacks; third, We must be equipped with excellent carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft with high speed and long range." Nimitz told the confidential staff, "Send the telegram immediately. Regardless of whether we can make it back alive, we must let them know."

"Sir, please take care..."

Nimitz waved his hand: "Anything can happen on the battlefield. Who dares to say that he is invulnerable? Tell these idiots in the Arms Bureau that if they can't make it, ****** give me imitations of German products - follow Others will always follow the same example, right?"

After seeing the Do-412 and Ta-152, British and American pilots all reported that the new German aircraft gun (MG213) was extremely powerful. The British still had Hispano to support the scene. The US military only saw their 12.7mm heirloom that had not changed for thousands of years. Want to cry...

Cunningham smiled bitterly: Now the Americans are also in a hurry. Jets, high-performance liquid-cooled engines, and aviation cannons are imitating British goods. Tanks have taken IS-1 to imitate Soviet goods, and rockets and assault rifles are imitating goods. German goods, shouldn’t the next step be to imitate German ships?

"By the way, let the Joint Chiefs of Staff promote the research on that weird angled deck aircraft carrier. I think it is necessary to build one to study. I have an intuition that this thing can release aircraft groups faster than previously estimated! If not! Research will suffer greatly in the future!" Nimitz added, "We should have everything the Germans have."

Ten minutes passed by in a blink of an eye. Less than 2 minutes after the second US attack wave left, a dense group of German aircraft appeared not far away...