Chapter 914: Encirclement (6)

The telegram was sent by Lieutenant General Walter Smith, commander of the Icelandic garrison. The content was not long, but the news revealed made everyone sit still.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff originally believed that there were more than 400 aircraft in the direction of Iceland. Whether the British were willing or not, they could send at least 1,000 more aircraft, which was more than enough to deal with the German fleet attack. Even if the exchange was a little worse than this, they planned to exchange 3 aircraft for 1. This time The Icelandic campaign could last for a long time—it might even be an opportunity to frustrate the German army.

But the air raid by the Norwegian Air Force directly shattered this dream!

The air raid formation composed of thousands of Ju-188s, Ar-234s and Ta-152s fully summarized and carried forward the British air raid tactics, ignoring the interception by US fighter jets and roaring Hs-393 and hail bombs at the intended target. Focus on attacking US military airports, radar stations, oil depots, ancillary facilities (such as searchlights) and other places.

The U.S. Army Air Forces deployed in Iceland is considered to be the unit with the highest combat readiness and the best military discipline among the Icelandic defenders. It also understands that sending fighter jets to climb blindly under the high-fighting tactic is an unfavorable tactic. The fighter jets are required to stay in mid-altitude as much as possible to wait for the German fleet. Descending height. But the tactics are changing day by day. This time Germany used Hs-393 for precision attacks and hailstones for anti-radiation attacks. It did not have to lower the altitude. Waiting at mid-altitude could only wait in vain. It was too late to watch the airport facilities and storage areas. The bomber taking off was destroyed.

A few U.S. pilots who couldn't help but pounced on were beaten down by German pilots - the high-altitude combat capabilities of the P-47 and P-51 were not much different from the Ta-152, but the experience of the pilots on both sides was too different. Many pilots were experiencing large-scale wars for the first time. They lacked adaptability and combat experience, and their numbers were small. The opponents they faced were veterans who had repeatedly fought strategic air attacks on the Western Front in the past few years. The one-sided results were not disappointing. People are surprised.

It was dusk when the first round of air strikes ended and the German troops returned. When the American pilots tried their best to find a good airport and a flat land, the German heavy bomber formation unexpectedly arrived again. Since most of the radar stations had been destroyed in the first round of air strikes, The German formation was destroyed, so the German formation was only discovered very close. Only a few lucky ones were able to replenish fuel and ammunition and take off again to meet the enemy. But even if they flew up, it was of no use. The sky was pitch black, and a few searchlights could not keep up with the German army. Air raid formation.

What was dropped this time was not Hs-393 and hailstones, but a large number of butterfly bombs, incendiary bombs and conventional aviation bombs. The focus was still on the airport - the German army was determined to paralyze the US military's aviation capabilities on the ground. As for the Iceland garrison The Army's strength was not in the eyes of the Germans. In Jeshunek's words, "I believe Marshal Rommel can handle those tens of thousands of people!"

After the second round of air strikes, Lieutenant General Walter Smith told London and Washington in horror: Although the military casualties were less than 1,000, only a fraction of the more than 400 aircraft were left - the aircraft that were intact and still usable were gone. There were less than 50 aircraft, and the aviation facilities on the island were almost completely destroyed. What was even more troublesome were butterfly bombs. Engineers who tried to repair them at night were repeatedly injured by bombs. Even if planes were temporarily transferred from the UK, they had nowhere to stay.

Poor Smith didn't know that Washington had rejected London's request for naval assistance. He believed that Iceland was in an important position and there were 60,000 American officers and soldiers on it. The country would definitely rescue him, and London would definitely send planes to assist him, so he hurriedly sent a telegram. , hoping that the Royal Air Force will support him with 300 fighter jets tomorrow.

The truth is 1,000 times crueler than he thought: there is no navy! There are no planes!

Churchill agreed to provide a batch of aircraft to the Americans, but Air Force Chief of Staff General Porter disagreed: "I want to keep the aircraft and fuel to defend the British Empire. Even to defend the Faroe Islands, we need aircraft."

At the same time as the second round of air attacks on Iceland, the Faroe Islands, which were only more than 300 kilometers away from Norway, were also attacked: some were planes taking off from Norway, and some were Imperial Air Force planes taking off from Denmark. The most important thing that cannot be ignored is that More than 150 V2 missiles were fired from the direction of Bergen. These missiles with a range of 400 kilometers relied on speeds above Mach 4 to blow up most of the Faroe Islands aviation facilities and aircraft with lightning speed. Then the air strike group arrived and recklessly destroyed the remaining facilities. They also evaluated the rocket's offensive effectiveness and the level of cooperation - perfect!

Only then did the British remember that the Germans also had rockets. It seemed that the range of this thing was much farther than they expected: Does it mean that the Germans could not only hit London, but also the central Manchester line? If it is revealed, it will cause great panic. The middle class may run to Scotland again, but the military situation is urgent and no one wants to talk about it.

"Without Iceland, we cannot defend our homeland." Churchill sighed, "This is another sense of defending our homeland."

"Prime Minister, that's not what you said back then." Portel mocked him. "The French asked for planes, but you said they would keep them to defend the homeland. Without France, we would have to defend the homeland! The situation is the same now. Without Iceland, we would have to defend the homeland. Native!”

At that time, it was Fatty Qiu himself who instructed fighter commander Dowding not to send the plane. Later, in order to cover up, he pretended that Dowding himself did not agree, and sent him to the cold palace to explain to all parties. Now the exact same situation has come. Churchill is really dumb and unable to express his sufferings.

He slapped the table and shouted: "How dare you disobey orders? I will remove you from your post!"

"Withdraw, I don't care." Porter shrugged mockingly, "Believe it or not, I told the Royal Air Force pilots: Washington doesn't care about the 60,000 Americans in Iceland, so why should we send planes? Look at it. No one is willing to die for the Americans in Iceland?”

Pound followed: "If the Americans are willing to send a fleet, I agree with the Royal Navy to send these 300 fighter jets!"

"You!" Churchill was choked and speechless.

"I think it's okay." Aiden stood up and expressed his position. "Send a telegram to Marshal Dill and ask him to be as tactful as possible but to tell the Americans clearly that we can support the aircraft, but the Americans must ensure that they send a fleet to support!"

Attlee asked: "What if the Americans still disagree?"

"Then..." Aiden's face twitched, "We can only let Duke Hamilton come forward to discuss a political solution. It is better than going to Iceland in vain and wasting his life."

After Hess returned to the country, the Duke of Hamilton, who was familiar with Hess and served as the captain of the Royal Air Force, became the second channel of communication between the two countries. He even established an exclusive hotline radio station, with Eden in charge of contact. What is the actual meaning of this sentence, everyone Most clearly.

Churchill was horrified to find that the three military leaders Brooke, Pound, and Porter were indifferent to the news. Instead, they felt a sense of relief. Other members of the cabinet also seemed to have breathed a sigh of relief. Am I the only resistance faction left in the British Empire?

When Ayden spoke out his stance on political settlement, Comrade Stalin slowly turned around. Behind the flickering pipe was a gloomy face: "Comrades, now is not the time to hold someone accountable. Is this war about us invading others? Is it because we take the initiative to fight the Germans? This is clearly a general war by international imperialism to destroy communism, but it is just carried out by the Germans. You think the Americans and Japanese will win. Not to attack the Soviets after the war? It is naive! Now is the time for the whole party and the people of the country to unite and look forward. It is the time to think about where the Soviets will go from a strategic perspective, from the perspective of the overall situation and the long-term interests of the people and the fundamentals of the party. When considering issues from the perspective of interests..."

As soon as he finished speaking, his old comrade-in-arms Marshal Voroshilov was the first to stand up and express his position: "I think Comrade Stalin's warning is very correct. There is no doubt that we lost this war, but from the perspective of the communist movement Consider that we have not completely lost all - our heroic and tenacious resistance thwarted the fascist gangs' attempts to strangle the Soviet power and exterminate the Bolshevik Party, making them realize that there is no way to destroy us, and they have to sit down and seriously think about a political solution. We are the ignition of the world revolution. When the white terror spreads, the most important thing is to preserve the ignition, preserve the vitality, and preserve the possibility of a comeback. The idea of ​​​​fighting against the enemy to defeat them is sheer putschism."

Kalinin, a veteran Bolshevik revolutionary and Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, made the second speech: "I think Comrade Stalin's speech is very crucial. The communist movement is never smooth sailing. There must be peaks and troughs. This is in line with the spiral law of the development of things. At the peak, we should not get carried away and think that the Soviets are omnipotent; at the bottom, we should not lose confidence and think that the Soviets will fail soon. Seeking an armistice is not surrendering to the enemy, nor is it giving up communist beliefs, ideals and paths. It is just a strategy. , in order to seek strategies for better development of communism. We should temporarily break away from the war, restore the economy, recharge our batteries, and wait until the two imperialist countries, Germany and the United States, continue to fight, and attack again when the upsurge of the international communist movement rises again!"

Except for Ganganovich (who also served as political commissar) who assisted Zhukov in managing the Central Asian Special Front, who was not present, the other committee members spoke in turn, highly supporting Comrade Stalin's ideas and believing that talks with the Germans could be held - originally, this war was said to be When it comes to negotiation, it is nothing more than taking the initiative to win and being more passive when losing.

Stalin suddenly called Meretskov's name, who was attending the meeting but had not spoken. "What do you think?"

"I firmly support the decision of the Party Central Committee to send people to negotiate with Germany. At the same time, I suggest that Comrade Tolbukhin lead the Northwest Front Army, the Volkhov Front Army, and the Reserve Front Army with a total of 1 million troops to be prepared to go south to cope with the unfavorable situation in the negotiations. , As for myself..." He stood up and replied loudly, "I will lead the 800,000 commanders and fighters of the Moscow Front and 2 million working class people to hold on to the capital and contain the remaining enemy forces. I will persist as long as the party needs me!"

Stalin patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction: "Very good. When the time comes, please invite other comrades to go to Omsk to take charge of the work. You and I will stay in Moscow."