Iron Cross

Due to the time difference, Washington time is 5 hours behind London time and 7 hours behind Cairo time. When the fierce fighting in El Alamein was already in the afternoon, Washington had just woken up from the morning and was bathed in the sunshine of December 10th. Under the sun, even though it was a bit cold.

In the White House, in the Office of the President, President Roosevelt is carefully studying the transcripts of telegrams and intelligence summaries sent from various parties. This is the practice of past presidents, especially during the war. This world war is in its third year for Europe and its second year for the United States, but judging from the current situation, the situation does not seem to be ideal. The optimism that emerged after the Battle of Midway was hit to the bottom by the disastrous defeat in the Battle of the Solomons. In addition to the intelligence on the Pacific battlefield, what particularly worried him was the report from the Army Air Force about the Eighth Air Force deployed in the United Kingdom. The situation shown inside and outside the words is not optimistic.

"...Since Germany launched the general mobilization system and increased its propaganda about the 'European Union', Germany's industrial capabilities, especially the sound production and manufacturing capabilities related to the military industry, have grown rapidly, while consumer-oriented civilian industries have expanded to neighboring countries. Transfer and penetration, intelligence shows that the monthly production volume of Germany's major equipment has increased sharply, and the output of individual products such as tanks and aircraft has doubled. This poses a great challenge to the idea of ​​using strategic bombing to weaken Germany's military potential - currently through strategic bombing The weakened losses are far less than the increased production in Germany.”

Roosevelt knew that this report did not exaggerate the facts. On the contrary, the facts were worse than what the report said. The United States' assumption of destroying Germany's economic potential through strategic bombing was in great trouble. In addition to accelerating the development of its military industry on its own territory, Germany also tried its best to The relatively low-tech supporting industries in the military industry were transferred to Western European countries, and basic orders were distributed to a series of industries including steel, metallurgy, chemicals, machinery, military supplies, medicine, etc., and even many less important industries were directly transferred to Western European countries. Parts have also been transferred to France, the Netherlands, and Belgium for production. These developed industrial countries can easily produce the products Germany needs based on German drawings, and the quality is no worse than those produced in Germany. For example, several major steel conglomerates in Belgium received an order last month to produce 10,000 sets of wheels and tracks for the German Panzer IV tanks, while France also received a large number of orders for aluminum alloys and aerospace engines - there is no doubt that these products will eventually It will become tanks and planes that race and fire on the battlefield.

In addition to parts, Germany also directly orders complete sets of products from these industrial countries, such as Swedish Bofors anti-aircraft guns, Belgian FN pistols, and French field rations. Not to mention that after the Italian industrial system fully shifted to Germany, it has begun to compete with German standards. The requirement is to produce arms. More importantly, the Germans placed so many orders at almost no cost - by releasing prisoners, reducing the area of ​​directly occupied areas, and partially allowing them to rebuild their defense forces, Germany obtained a large amount of military expenditures from the governments of the above-mentioned countries. Moreover, due to the success and illustrious performance of Germany's military power, these countries consciously or unconsciously imitated German preparations and adopted German equipment when rebuilding their national defense forces - which also made Germany money.

Now, the industrial machines of several major industrial countries in Western Europe are recovering and are providing basic and auxiliary help to Germany's war machine, and their role is increasing.

For this reason, the report specifically stated: "... We are deeply worried about the above-mentioned situation. Frontline commanders have repeatedly requested to increase the intensity of attacks on these places and factory facilities, but we have been subject to many restrictions. We hope that the President can give us more More, greater empowerment.”

Roosevelt knew that although these countries were producing for Germany, they were doing so through normal trade practices. Even if Germany used prisoners, military expenditures in occupied areas and other means to serve as payment capabilities, the countries concerned actively accepted it. This behavior not only eased the relationship between Germany and The tense relations between the occupying powers in Western Europe also eased the occupied countries' own economic difficulties - it was better to produce for Germany than to starve! This incident clearly shows that Germany is preparing to promote the European Union-from a political standpoint, it should be completely attacked.

But as a seasoned politician, Roosevelt knew that politics and military affairs are never pure actions, and must fully consider public reaction. If the Eighth Air Force launches unscrupulous air strikes against Western European countries, civilian targets will inevitably be involved, even if they are precise. Attacking factories will also cause unemployment and displacement of workers - this can easily arouse the hatred of the local people. If the German military takes the opportunity to dress itself up as a military force that resists the US Air Force, and takes the opportunity to provoke conflicts between Europe and the United States, it will lose political points. Just more - the people will not understand why the Americans drop bombs on their own heads instead of directly attacking the Germans. If it arouses widespread opposition from the local people, there will never be a day when we can counterattack Europe.

Roosevelt gently covered the report and said kindly to General Henry Arnold, commander of the Army Air Forces, who came to report in person: "I can understand your mood, but expanding the strike range requires long-term consideration, at least the Joint Chiefs of Staff A unified understanding should be reached at the level of the meeting and the Joint Chiefs of Staff Meeting of the United Kingdom and the United States.”

Arnold nodded: "We are well aware of the difficulty of your decision on this matter, but the losses of the Army Aviation are too great. The losses of the Eighth Air Force have been increasing rapidly in recent months. The bombers were shot down/irreversible. The proportion of losses continues to rise. It was 9.74% in September, 11.97% in October, and soared to 15.86% in November. Just over a week has passed in December, and the loss rate in the first week is close to 18%.”

Roosevelt was also startled by this number. He frowned and asked, "What is the cause of this terrible ratio?"

"There are many reasons. First of all, the Germans have strengthened the construction of their air defense system - called 'Skynet' in their words. This is a set of ground observation posts, dense radar networks, core air defense headquarters, anti-aircraft gun positions, and fighter wings. The air defense system, which is constructed with a series of facilities, covers the area from the English Channel to the entire German mainland, and the density is getting higher and higher. Especially in the past few months, they have used the 'Tod Organization' and local labor, oh, there are many more Jews have increased construction efforts in various parts of Western Europe; secondly, they have adjusted the priority production order of some air defense equipment and increased the production of fighter jets and anti-aircraft guns. In the past, the order of German aircraft production was bombers first, then fighter jets, but now it is Priority is given to fighter jets - especially the Fw-190. This heavy-fire fighter with high speed, solid defense, and 4 cannons poses a particularly great threat to us. Intelligence personnel have obtained information about the internal production of Germany, including the Do-217, He-. 177, several models of He-111 bombers were completely discontinued, while the production of Fw-190 surged. It is said that the number of Fw-190s scheduled to be produced in December will be as high as 800, and will eventually increase to more than 1,200; again, the Germans The air force strategy has been adjusted. The bombing of Britain has been completely terminated. There are still sporadic air raids in September and October. After November, German aircraft will no longer be seen in the skies over Great Britain. At the same time, the Germans have also carried out drastic reforms in the air force system. The establishment of the aviation force and division level was cancelled, and the composition of the wing was expanded. The direct consequence was to reduce redundancy and increase the proportion of pilots. Those outstanding ace pilots, such as Marcelo, were forcibly brought back from the front line. After joining the aviation school to teach, the number of reserve pilots has greatly expanded to 5-6 times the original size.”

"Marceiu? Wait, I think I heard this name before."

"This is the so-called hero figure that the German Propaganda Department has been promoting in recent months. This guy is known as the Star of Africa. He once shot down more than a dozen British planes in one day, all of which were fighter jets. His personal total score exceeded 200. He is The ace among aces! There is also Rank, who is known as 'always with us'. The guy behind led the commandos to blow up the British super secrets. The Germans made a movie based on his experiences and stories. ——"Rank Commando", intelligence personnel said that apart from the verbose fascist propaganda, the whole film has distinct characters, twists and turns of the story, and fierce battle scenes. Although the specific plot and what they actually did in the UK It's ridiculously bad, but it's super good. It's so popular that it's the best movie of the year if it's kept in Hollywood - Damn it! Why isn't this guy from our side?" At this point, Arnold couldn't help but curse.

Roosevelt did not mind his subordinate's foul language, but instead enlightened him: "This is also a good thing. At least the Germans stopped air raids, the British can concentrate on domestic production, and Prime Minister Churchill completely won the British Air War. As for super secrets... Originally I think the British should bear half of the responsibility. After knowing about Rank, I think the British should bear at least 60% of the responsibility."

"But this comes at the cost of a large number of losses to our bombers. In the three months from September to November alone, we lost more than 600 aircraft and 3,000 crew members. In addition, in addition to daytime bombings, the British also lost a lot of money in night air raids. It was straight up, maybe a little better than we were... Now Goebbels's propaganda machine was attacking us for deception, saying that no crew member could complete the mission and survive."

"What does this mean?"

"The British stipulated that bombing crews can be transferred after completing 30 air raid missions. Our current number is 25. But from a probability calculation, assuming a 15% battle damage rate, the probability of executing 25 missions and surviving is less than 2 %, and 30 times is less than 1%. The frontline commander is suggesting whether to reduce the number to 20 times or less to avoid affecting morale.”