Iron Cross

In order to deliver supplies to Patton's army, Eisenhower returned to his most familiar role as a staff officer in his early years, mobilizing all bombers and transport planes available in the African theater, and even the TBM carrier-based aircraft on the "Fury" aircraft carrier anchored in Mombasa were used to undertake transportation responsibilities. Even so, it was still very difficult to rely on airdrops to meet the supply of a force more than 1,600 kilometers away. The challenge was almost as difficult as the Hump Route in the Far East. Fortunately, Somalia did not have the harsh terrain and weather like the Himalayas, which enabled the Mombasa transport cluster to maintain a high dispatch rate. As Patton's team moved further and further south, the distance for airdrop supplies became shorter and shorter, and more aircraft could be used for airdrops.

The feat of airdropping supplies and Patton's fearlessness in leading his troops on foot to the south became stories that all major American media outlets competed to report. Although the specific details could not be disclosed due to wartime confidentiality, the image of Patton, a tough guy with a cane and high morale, leading his men on foot on the land of Somalia was forever captured in photos by the accompanying reporters. Whether it was Eisenhower in Mombasa or Roosevelt and Marshall in Washington, everyone cast their eyes on the distant East Africa - a land they were not familiar with at all. Every day when Roosevelt woke up, the first thing he would pay attention to was where Patton's team had gone. Like a primary school student who was just learning geography, he marked the places and routes that Patton had passed through on the map bit by bit, and personally calculated how long it would take to reach Mombasa.

"Sir, a telegram came from the front saying that the first batch of transport vehicles has been contacted with General Patton."

"Great!" Eisenhower stood up ecstatically, "How is the situation? How is the morale of the troops?"

"The overall situation is OK, and the morale is good, but they are very weak. The accompanying doctor checked the physical condition of some officers and soldiers. Their weight was reduced by an average of 10-15 pounds... The number of casualties due to various reasons along the way is about 300."

"Very good, very good, pull them back as soon as possible to rest..." Just as he was rejoicing that the rescue work had basically come to an end, a shrill air defense alarm suddenly sounded. He frowned and asked, "What's going on?"

The staff looked at each other, and before they could react, the phone had come in, and a panicked voice reported: "Sir, our radar station has discovered an unidentified group of aircraft, and it is probably less than 100 kilometers away from us... …”

“What?” Eisenhower was shocked, “It’s the Japanese? How big is the group?”

“It’s hard to tell at the moment, the number of aircraft is more than 100, the fighter unit has been notified to take off to meet the enemy…”

“Okay, I see, you guys carry out air defense according to the plan.” He put down the phone and said to the officers around him, “Come on, let’s continue…”

“Sir, do you want to go to the air defense shelter first?”

“Isn’t that necessary?”

“You should go, it’s for your safety…” Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel White dragged and pulled the guards to take Eisenhower away, because he was very familiar with the situation in Mombasa. Although there were more than 50 fighters on the surface for defense, most of them were relatively backward Hurricanes and Tomahawks, and there were only 9 more advanced Spitfires. Although the USS Fury was still carrying a squadron of carrier-based fighters, the total number was only 14 F4Fs.

The US military's estimate was quite accurate. The aircraft that came to attack were German and Italian naval aircraft that took off from Japanese aircraft carriers. For this operation, the three Axis powers formed a joint fleet, with Admiral Hori Teikichi of the Japanese Combined Fleet as the commander-in-chief. The main tactical core of the Axis Combined Fleet was the four aircraft carriers of the mobile fleet: Shokaku, Hayabusa, Zuiho and Ryuho. After Tsukahara Jishizo led the First Guerrilla Detachment to complete the pursuit in the Mozambique Channel, he returned to Socotra Island for replenishment and formation reorganization. Most of the carrier-based aircraft formations of Shokaku and Zuiho stayed on the island to receive new aircraft and conduct targeted exercises, while the injured Zuiho rushed to Italy for repairs through the Suez Canal under the protection of a team of heavy cruisers and destroyers.

When the fleet was reorganized, the flight force carried by the aircraft carrier was temporarily changed: the Japanese naval aviation pilots who had completed the training and running-in tasks in the early stage were mainly stationed on the Hayabusa, Zuiho and Ryuho to fly new aircraft, while the German naval aviation pilots who were carefully selected in the early training and first adapted to the ship were all assigned to the Shokaku, which had a wider deck and easier take-off and landing. In order to carry as many aircraft as possible and give pilots actual combat opportunities, Richthofen also temporarily moored the aircraft on the Shokaku - there were 9 more fighters, and the number of aircraft carried by the Shokaku increased from 72 to 81.

This decision attracted great attention within the Japanese Navy. The decks of Japanese aircraft carriers have always been clean, while American aircraft carriers have carried a large number of moorings - it is not that the Japanese Navy does not know the benefits of carrying more aircraft, but in reality there are indeed difficulties that are difficult to overcome - for example, Japan does not have a catapult, so it must leave more and longer flight decks, and for example, Japanese aircraft are relatively delicate and expensive, and open-air mooring can easily cause aircraft failures. But after the new carrier-based aircraft were put into use, these problems no longer existed - the Bf-219 had more horsepower than the Zero fighter and could take off from a shorter deck runway; German aircraft and engines were very reliable, not only did they not have the oil leaks common in Japanese aircraft, but the failure rate after being exposed to the sun and rain was also very low, and there was no pressure to safely moor them.

The last and most important point is that Japan will take the opportunity of Zuikaku's maintenance to install a catapult for it this time, and the three aircraft improved by Germany have greatly exceeded the Japanese level in structural strength and can fully withstand the impact of catapult takeoff - this means that it is possible to moor more aircraft.

"Sir, I have calculated that if the catapult factor is not considered and only a large-scale mooring strategy is adopted, the five aircraft carriers of the mobile fleet can carry at least 27 more Zero War Kai (Bf-219 is called Zero War Kai by Japan, and it is comparable to Comet Kai and Tianshan Kai). If the catapult factor is considered, it can carry 47-51 more aircraft in total, which is equivalent to an additional medium-sized aircraft carrier." Kusaka Ryunosuke said excitedly, "This is a calculation based on the premise of ensuring absolute safety, and the additional aircraft are reasonably organized. If only moored fighters are considered, the number of moored aircraft can exceed 60."

But Tsukahara Jishisan's subsequent words poured cold water on him...