Chapter 971 Nimitz's Counterattack (4)

Although the fourth active period of U-boats has not yet arrived, the U.S. military has already felt this - in the two months since it stopped transporting supplies to Britain, ship losses have begun to appear again. In June alone, 7 ships were lost in the Caribbean ship, and has yet to sink a submarine.

The seven ships carried all the military supplies needed by the South American Army, totaling nearly 100,000 tons. This loss not only caused great disgrace to the Army, but also caused great loss to the Navy, and also slowed down the Army's deployment progress. The originally promised second batch of six additional troop divisions to South America has yet to be completed.

Patton held the two most powerful units of the U.S. Army, the 1st Division (Big Red Division) and the 1st Cavalry Division (Armored Division). However, they suffered from insufficient logistics, insufficient transportation capacity, and insufficient equipment. They could only be stationed in Venezuela. and British Guiana (only these two places had enough fuel to supply the troops). He was so angry that he sent telegrams back to his country every day to curse.

Therefore, Nimitz learned from his experience during the emergency deployment of troops this time and proposed the use of strategic airlift to transport personnel. He hit it off with the top brass of the Army Aviation: It was originally said that since there is no need to maintain strategic airlift in the future, Army aviation funds can be reduced and used more for ground troops. Mitzi's suggestion was exactly what Arnold wanted - Army aviation funding could not be reduced, but could only be expanded.

Marshall and Eisenhower were also quite helpless about this: the loss of equipment was nothing, just treat it as a loss on the British-Canadian route. But if a boatload of army officers and soldiers fell into the sea to feed the fish, how would they fight in the future? It was agreed to use strategic airlift to increase troops in the Recife area.

In private, Turner expressed different opinions to Admiral King: "If we have to use strategic air dispatch forces cautiously in places like the Caribbean and Central America, then the Battle of Brazil will be lost without having to fight."

This sentence sounds harsh, but the data presented by Turner are enough to make people speechless. He does not consider the comparison of the combat effectiveness of virtue and virtue, and only uses materials to derive the conclusion:

"A German ship "Will" has a carrying capacity of 14,000 tons. If it is all transported by air, it will need to be transported by one thousand aircraft. It can carry out strategic airlift missions of one thousand aircraft at most three times a week. It can transport about 12 ships of supplies every month. Will the end of the East The Germans, who are fighting a front-line war and have all the strength in Europe, can’t send 12 ships of supplies to South America in a month?”

In the face of the data, Admiral Jin reluctantly accepted this conclusion, but told Turner not to make any noise. The land-sea relationship had finally eased, but the tension could not escalate again.

However, strategic airlift can only transport personnel, light equipment, and general supplies, but cannot transport heavy equipment and large supplies. Whether this war in South America can be won will of course be the Navy's first, and the Army's even greater responsibility - no supplies, no equipment. How to win?

So Nimitz was nervous about the telegram. After thinking for a moment, he asked the chief of staff, Lieutenant General William Smith: "Suppose this submarine informed the Germans of our arrival. What would you do if you were in that position?"

William Smith served as the commander of the cruiser squadron during the Battle of Midway. After Nimitz was transferred to the commander of the Atlantic Fleet, he was also transferred to serve as the vice admiral's chief of staff. Since the Atlantic Fleet currently concentrates almost the entire main force of the U.S. Navy, so With the same position, Atlantic Fleet officers are more important.

Smith pondered for a moment and then said: "I don't know what the Germans will choose, but if I were in this position, I would definitely send a reconnaissance plane to have a clear look first, and then decide what to do next based on the movements of our troops. If we land in Recife or El Salvador, the German fleet will be concerned about our army's superiority in land navigation and military strength, and should wait for the opportunity; if our army attempts to land in Rio or Santos (the main port in Sao Paulo state), the German fleet can either take the initiative To fight, we can also use land-based aviation and submarine forces to weaken our army first, and then engage in a decisive naval battle. "

After hearing these words, Nimitz looked thoughtful: It is obviously impossible to land in Rio or Santos, because the fleet ships have no landing troops except supplies; but if the purpose is only to safely deliver supplies to the port, , and it was not in line with Nimitz’s idea of ​​fighting a war as soon as possible.

"I still consider fighting the Germans as soon as possible." Nimitz sighed, "The British have handed over those two armored aircraft carriers, and the two sides are very close to signing an armistice agreement. Once the German main fleet is familiar with and has control of After two aircraft carriers, they will soon head towards South America. This window will not be long, and I expect that the German fleet will be dispatched in large numbers in August.”

"You mean, if we don't attack the current German fleet, we will be attacked from both sides by the enemy next month?" Smith shrugged, "But now the initiative is not in the hands of our army, even if I am willing to go Rio or Santos, the Germans could just retreat further south and avoid us completely.”

Nimitz laughed: "The key is that the Germans don't necessarily know that we don't have a landing force. I can completely put on a landing posture and lure the opponent to take the bait."

"What if you don't take the bait?" Smith spread his hands. "Although Montero fell to the Germans, the Germans do not necessarily have to defend Rio or Santos."

"Then I will attack Florianópolis. The Germans can ignore the life and death of the Brazilians. They may not even care about the Germans in the American Republic, right?"

"This..." Smith muttered, "Theoretically it's possible, but can we discuss with the army to allocate a division to us? Even if it's pretentious, we have to put on a landing posture."

Nimitz had just nodded in agreement with this judgment when he unexpectedly received a second telegram.

The second one was sent by Clark, notifying that the southern part of Mato Grosso declared independence and applied to join the American Republic. The conflict between the north and south of Mato Grosso has always been great. The south has been trying to establish an independent state for many years. This time it is updated. Well, they directly declared independence and joined the American Republic, and then the telegram also mentioned in passing: The Bolivian government requested to recover the lost territory on the grounds that it had been deceived and coerced in the delivery of the Akre area with the Brazilian government. Not only did it send troops to invade Afghanistan, Clay area, and also intercepted and invaded the territory of Mato Grosso state.

Nimitz and Smith couldn't help but sigh: After the Brazilian Expeditionary Division was wiped out by the German army, Brazil entered a dangerous state. After the Montero coup occurred and the division and instability of the North and South Brazilian regimes, the entire South American situation faced collapse. Bolivia's Action is just the tip of the iceberg.

Prior to this, Argentina signed a treaty establishing diplomatic relations with the American Republics and obtained more than 10,000 square kilometers of land originally belonging to Brazil. Then it reached agreements with Bolivia and Paraguay, taking away more than 20,000 square kilometers of land from each of them. After this adjustment, Argentina’s territory will expand by nearly 60,000 square kilometers. However, in the future, Argentina will no longer border Brazil, and the American republic will become a country separated between Brazil and Argentina.

The reason why Paraguay is willing to cede more than 20,000 square kilometers of land to Argentina is because it can obtain nearly 60,000 square kilometers of land from Bolivia and Mato Grosso do Sul. The reason why Bolivia is willing to surrender to its neighboring country is that it has nearly 60,000 square kilometers of land. 40,000 square kilometers of land is because Argentina, Germany, Paraguay, and the American Republic support its recovery of the Akre region with an area of ​​more than 100,000 square kilometers and "free movement" in the Mato Grosso Norte region.

In other words, all countries bordering Brazil have benefited from territorial changes, and the only one paying the bill is Brazil.

Brazil first lost more than 800,000 square kilometers of land in four southern states, and will then lose at least 200,000 square kilometers of land to Bolivia and Paraguay - but Brazil currently cannot care about either faction.

If this continues, all South American countries will benefit from Brazil. No matter how strong the United States is, it cannot go against all South American countries. It can only deal with the American republics and German forces. In Nimitz's eyes, in the foreseeable future, even if Brazil can regain its unification with the support of the United States, it will never be as large as before.

Smith asked in a low voice: "Do you think the Army will be able to drive the Germans into the sea after this batch of equipment and supplies comes ashore?"

The reconnaissance information sent by Recife Army Aviation yesterday was very clear: no German fleet was found near Rio, but German troops have basically landed in the rebel states. Currently, multiple intelligence shows that the number of German troops is around 70,000-80,000 (actually 60,000). .

It stands to reason that there were originally 3 American divisions near Recife, but 4 new divisions were added this time, and there are 4 additional divisions on the northern coast. The total strength of the US military exceeds 200,000, and they are completely at an overwhelming advantage. Nimi Ci Ben should be full of confidence. But for some reason, his performance was completely unexpected. He only whispered: "To be honest, I have no confidence. If Patton or Ridgway are here and can mobilize the main forces to push over, I think we will win." The probability can exceed 65%, but with only 7 divisions at present, I really can’t say who will win. Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to wait leisurely for the Army to dispatch troops, so I can only hope that they can rely on what they have. Fighting with strength, so I felt hesitant and uneasy, which was the reason why I did not consider launching an amphibious landing campaign. "

Smith was stunned.

"Although I know it's harsh to say this to the Army, the Battle of Cape Verde was enough to change all beliefs about the Army - 2 divisions with nearly 40,000 people could not take Cape Verde, which was only guarded by 5,000 people. After that, all the troops Comparisons and calculations of victory have become unreliable. Similarly, the Navy has not played well. Everyone has been frustrated and frustrated. No one should laugh. "

After thinking about it, he felt that this was too pessimistic and desperate. Nimitz added: "But if you can't defeat it, why don't you just fight? If you can't defeat it, you have to learn from the enemy, improve your tactics, work hard to improve, and grit your teeth to withstand it. Be independent." During the war, we were unsatisfactory at first, but in the end we turned around little by little. I believe there will be a chance. The Germans are not invulnerable monsters.”