Iron Cross

"Due to the special location, the key to capturing the Azores lies in air superiority and overwhelming the enemy's air power!"

At the operational decision-making meeting held by the U.S.-British Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Azores campaign, Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly-Turner, former assistant chief of staff of General Kim and commander of the amphibious operations force in the South Pacific, was the first to speak. It's very direct.

This was a reinforcement specially transferred back by Admiral Jin, not only because he knew Turner personally, but Turner also had rare amphibious landing command experience - he commanded the Guadalcanal campaign, and the Azores Islands were standard amphibious Landing battle. Although after the Battle of Guadalcanal, the United States successively attacked Bougainville Island, Munda Island, and Lae under the command of Halsey, in Admiral Kim's view, with the main force of the Japanese combined fleet deployed, Harbin The Pacific Fleet under Ersey has not been seriously challenged, and these few victories are not of sufficient quality. It seems that Turner is more reliable.

In fact, Turner's superior in the Battle of Guadalcanal was Lieutenant General Fletcher, but poor Fletcher first lost the Lexington in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Yorktown in the Battle of Midway, and the USS Yorktown in the Battle of Guadalcanal. In the early stage, the Enterprise was damaged again, and in the eyes of Admiral King, he was an "ominous person". In addition, due to the old grievances from the rescue of Wake Island, he disliked Fletcher so much that the hero of the Battle of Midway was highly praised. Hanging up, he became the commander-in-chief of the navy on land. He could not command any fleets, and he had no share in this battle.

Although Halsey was completely defeated in the South Solomon Sea, firstly, Nimitz protected him, and secondly, Spruance, the successor chosen by Admiral King, had a special relationship with Halsey (the latter was the former's brother-in-law and good friend) , unwilling to give another push when the opponent was in trouble, Halsey finally took advantage of the opportunity of taking advantage of the combined fleet to go out and regain the lost ground, and the shaky position was stabilized again.

In fact, under the current circumstances of repeated setbacks, Fletcher's loss is actually nothing. But now that the bad feeling has been formed, whether it is due to habit or to maintain the face of General Jin, it cannot be easily changed, so in the end he chose Special Na took the lead, and he served as the chief of staff of the US-UK combined fleet and presided over the formulation of combat plans. Originally, Spruance could have taken this position, but considering that the huge aircraft carrier fleet needed someone to command, Fletcher did not want to use it, ha. When Ersey did not dare to use it, Spruance was temporarily transferred from the position of Chief of Staff of the Pacific Fleet by Admiral Kim and appointed him as the Commander of the Grand Fleet Aircraft Carrier Group, commanding all aircraft carriers, while the Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Fleet Admiral Ingersoll, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Atlantic Fleet.

In this battle, the British Royal Navy is scheduled to dispatch four battleships (2 George V, 2 Elizabeth) and three aircraft carriers (2 Glory-class, 1 Indomitable), accounting for half of the total force. However, neither the Commander-in-Chief nor the Commander-in-Chief of the Aircraft Carrier Fleet, nor even the Chief of Staff, were appointed. The new Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Navy’s Home Fleet, Admiral Fraser, was given the nominal title of Deputy Commander-in-Chief. Although the British have been taught Admiral Kim's tough style many times, they really can't sit still in the face of this arrangement.

There are rumors in the Admiralty that Field Marshal John Greer Dill, the chief representative of the British side of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee stationed in Washington, visited the Admiralty a few days ago and asked Admiral King unhappily why he made such an arrangement. There was an argument in the office.

Unexpectedly, Admiral King, who had no control from Roosevelt, was even more aggressive than Marshal Dill. He slapped the table on the spot: "Why? For two points: First, the Royal Navy sank 3 battleships supported by me. Admiral Tovey Take the blame and resign. Considering that you have suffered repeated defeats since the North African and Indian Ocean campaigns, I have deep doubts about your command ability; secondly, since the purpose of this campaign is to help you open up the British transportation line, if you think you are capable After doing this, believe it or not, I will move the main force of the fleet to the Pacific and let the Royal Navy fight the Germans on its own? "

The first one is okay, but the second one hits the British weak spot. If Dill was a politician and a slut, he might even be able to give something like "If the United States doesn't care about us, we might as well surrender." Answer, but he was of a standard military background, so he couldn't say this. In the end, he rolled his eyes in anger and could only complain angrily to Roosevelt.

In the end, Roosevelt criticized Admiral King for a few words, but did not put forward any opinions on the adjustment of appointments. He only comforted the British by giving him the position of deputy chief of staff of the fleet to assist Turner in coordinating the communication between British and American ships. Communicate, now the British finally understand - this is probably what President Roosevelt himself meant.

Although Admiral King hated the British, there was applause within the U.S. Navy. Everyone thought he was right. The business-minded Americans calculated the account like this: a few British warships were admitted to form the main force, but the two Elizabeth-class ships One of the battleships was repaired with money and effort from the United States. The two George V-class battleships were replaced by the U.S. Navy with three sunken battleships. The carrier-based aircraft on the three aircraft carriers are all American pilots - if there are no aircraft, the aircraft carriers have them. What's the use? Taken together, all the British forces are provided by the United States, and it is natural for the United States to serve as the coach.

If the Battle of Pearl Harbor gave the U.S. Navy a feeling of shock, then the occupation of the Azores gave them a feeling of panic - they had never realized that they were so close to defeat. After the fall of the Azores, Germany effectively grabbed the throat of the British transportation line. Although the relevant supplies were not completely cut off, they seemed to be on their deathbed.

The current domestic merchant ship manufacturing volume in the United States has been steadily increasing, but the rate of improvement cannot keep up with the number of German submarines sunk. In February, Britain and the United States lost a total of 1.15 million tons of merchant ships in the Atlantic. During the same period, American shipyards produced 1.1 million tons. Fortunately, Canada and the United Kingdom also produced hundreds of thousands of tons themselves, so the total tonnage owned by the Allies barely increased. But it takes several months to build a ship, and only a few minutes to sink a ship. Once the German Azores is given the fulcrum, more terrifying scenes are waiting behind.

In addition, as Britain's Mediterranean routes and colonial routes have been cut off, more and more supplies are required to be provided by the United States. The monthly transportation volume of fuel alone exceeds 1 million tons, and the supplies and ships of the United States are not endless. , so seizing the Azores as soon as possible has become an overriding priority!

Thanks to the intelligence sent by the "Crow" and the information obtained by Britain and the United States from other channels, they fully realized that since the German army had deployed a large number of land forces and built fortifications on the island, an amphibious landing battle was necessary to occupy it. Only with sea control can we talk about a landing attack. The prerequisite for obtaining sea control is not only to defeat the German main fleet, but also to obtain air superiority in the corresponding sea area.

Although the strength of the German main fleet is quite good, and the Richelieu was recently added, the overall strength is still only average compared to the main fleet of the British and American Allied forces in the Atlantic. Therefore, seizing air supremacy is the solution to all problems. Key key.

"The Azores is only 1,600 kilometers away from Portugal and the westernmost tip of Spain. According to the intelligence we have, the main German aircraft, whether they are Bf-219, Fw-190, He-218, Ju-98, Ju-188, Joint Attack Aircraft and other aircraft When the weather is good, we have the ability to transfer directly (some of which require mounting of auxiliary fuel tanks), and the base we can use has recently exceeded 2,000 kilometers (Hughton, UK). Therefore, there must be two ways to solve this difficulty... Either concentrate as many aircraft as possible on the sea, or we find a close base." Turner pointed at the map, "The problem is that the closest land to Port Heroes is the Madeira Islands, which is also controlled by the Germans. It’s not big and it’s difficult to deploy enough aircraft on it.”

"In view of this situation, I devised the idea of ​​seizing air supremacy: in the first step, the Royal Air Force dispatched heavy bombers from the UK to bomb the Azores Islands, destroying and obstructing the German construction operations and killing the enemy's effective forces; in the second step, Assemble the most possible aircraft carriers, whether they are escort aircraft carriers or regular aircraft carriers, deploy the most aircraft and participate in the battle for air supremacy." Turner shook the telegram in his hand, "Intelligence shows that the German army has deployed at least 200 aircraft on the island. There are also 100 on the aircraft carrier, so we must far outnumber him."

"But even so, the distance is too far for heavy bombers. There are no heavy bombers deployed on Huyton Island. If you take off from the southern airport of the mainland, the straight-line range of the round trip will be more than 4,500 kilometers... The 4-engine Lancais Extra heavy bombers can only fly 4,000 kilometers. If they need to add auxiliary fuel tanks to reach more than 5,000 kilometers, the bomb load in a single trip will be reduced. "

"How many?"

"The bomb load is 3 tons at 4,000 kilometers. If it is 5,000 kilometers, the bomb load can only be 1.5-2 tons."

"Prepare 2 tons of bombs based on 5,000 kilometers." Before the British could express their objections, Turner added, "If you think you can't fly back at this rate, just don't go back to the UK and go directly to Portugal for an emergency landing - that distance must be enough. ”

Everyone was in an uproar! An emergency landing in Portugal means that the plane has completed one mission. Portugal will definitely seize the plane. The pilot may not be in any danger, but it is almost a hard loss for the Allies.

Only Admiral Jin nodded happily: This courage and style are the generals I like. Losing a few planes is nothing. Since the strategic bombing, which month has not lost hundreds of heavy bombers?

"Don't worry about airplanes. The United States will provide more and better airplanes in the future." Turner added, "This is just a small step. If you can't bear this loss, you just don't listen to my plans later."

Everyone was defeated by this tone, and they all calmed down to listen to what other heroic words Turner had to say, but when they heard the follow-up plan, even Admiral Jin was stunned.