Iron Cross

At 4:15 a.m. on April 19, 1943, under the continuous illumination of flares, the beachhead in the Panama Canal Zone was as bright as day. The 2nd German Marine Brigade began to land under the personal command of Colonel Remer. They were earlier than scheduled. The time is a full 15 minutes earlier - these are 15 minutes more precious than gold.

In order to gain time and reduce losses, the Panamanian landing battle completely broke the convention of amphibious landing battle: instead of trying to hide and test the defender's weaknesses, it used all its strength from the beginning. The battleships approached as close as 8,000 meters and fired, and the heavy cruisers fired at 8,000 meters. Rushing to within 4,000 meters to provide fire cover, the destroyer even rushed forward to 2,000 meters to provide direct firepower, suppressing the artillery fire of the US military's deep positions - hitting them when they emerged. The few 155mm howitzers in the hands of Lieutenant General Ross were basically there. This onslaught was reimbursed. As for the firepower points on the beachhead, they had long been completely destroyed.

The organization of the German Marine Corps is rather peculiar. There are no regiments under the brigade, but directly manage the battalions. The whole brigade includes a total of 6 battalions, namely 1 armored battalion, 1 panzer grenadier battalion, 2 amphibious infantry battalions, and 1 artillery battalion. battalion and 1 air defense battalion, as well as 8 directly affiliated units (company level) including the guard company, engineer company, and reconnaissance company, plus the total strength of the brigade headquarters is about 6,000 people. It is much smaller than the U.S. Marine Division, but much stronger than the Japanese Marine Corps. As a new unit of the German Navy, the Marine Brigade has its own unique advantages - it is drawn from the entire Wehrmacht. The original naval guards and marine troops account for no more than 15% of the troops, and the level of beach landings will be poor. Some, but once they get a foothold ashore, their land combat capabilities are much stronger.

The first batch of troops to land was very strong. In order to seize time and gain an advantage, Reimer directly pushed forward the armored battalion, armored grenadier battalion, 1 amphibious infantry battalion and engineer company. As for other troops, they stayed put for the time being, such as the artillery battalion, Heavy units such as air defense battalions simply do not deploy and rely on fleet air defense to float in the outer sea. But everyone knows that the danger of floating on the sea is no less than landing on the beach. Enemy planes will come to attack after dawn. They can't deal with the thick-skinned battleships, but it is a piece of cake to deal with landing craft and transport ships.

The establishment of the armored battalion of the Marine Brigade is smaller than that of the armored battalion under the armored division. It is the same as the independent heavy armored battalion. It also has 54 tanks, but they are all No. 4 tanks. However, the reason why Remer's 2nd Brigade was specially selected by Horikichi from the 4 Marine Brigades to undertake the Panama invasion mission was because the brigade's armored battalion had an armored company of 17 Tiger tanks, and the remaining two companies still Equipped with Panzer 4. This batch of Tiger tanks has been specially modified for amphibious use. There are only 3 of this special organization among the 12 marine brigades, one is deployed on the Azores Islands, and the other is still in the country waiting for final reorganization to be completed.

While the German offensive was rapidly unfolding, the US military base in Nicaragua was also brightly lit and busy. Ground crews were replenishing fuel and bombs for the attack fleet that was about to depart. In order to prepare for the Axis Air Force's night attack, all operations were carried out in the hangar. In addition to the anti-aircraft guns that were ready, the entire base also adopted strict light control. From the air, it looked like an ordinary wilderness, with basically no light. come out.

Yesterday afternoon, the first air strike caused heavy losses, but the Army Air Forces received 75 additional aircraft from China, and Hainan Airlines also provided 12 F4U fighter jets. Together with the base's remaining forces, the entire base's strength reached 145 combat aircraft. , and with the arrival of daytime, reinforcements will continue to be provided from home.

Major General Cohen, commander of the 3rd Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Forces, personally rushed from Florida to Nicaragua for on-site command. After listening to Lieutenant Colonel Pfister’s report on the first air strike and the description of the surviving pilots, he couldn’t help but frown: The enemy fighter pilots were surprisingly skilled - much better than the top pilots currently serving as flight instructors in the United States! The performance of the Bf-219 also far exceeded that of zero combat. When the fighter pilots tried to use the Saatchi scissors tactics to deal with them, the enemy's two-plane formation easily killed themselves directly with a small radius cut.

After studying the entire combat process, the surviving pilots also admitted that using the Saatchi scissors tactic was actually wrong, because the P-47 or F4U were faster than the Bf-219, and there was no need to imitate the slow F4F. Saatchi scissors, but should give full play to the speed advantage and use energy tactics-the problem is how to keep the attack fleet. Because these enemies are so calm and terrifying, they pay no attention to thick and bulky bombers like the B-25. Apart from being unable to avoid them, they are also unwilling to waste ammunition on fighter jets. Their attack targets always revolve around SBD and TBF. release, and the offensive efficiency is quite high.

"Their number of aircraft is not large. The last time they intercepted us was about 40 aircraft, only half of ours, so they must have a numerical advantage..." Lieutenant Colonel Pfister said, "In addition, find the enemy aircraft carrier formation and take the lead Attack is the overriding priority, otherwise we will be constantly intercepted by enemy planes."

"But where is this damn aircraft carrier group?" Since the Panama airport was destroyed and all reconnaissance aircraft were lost, Nicaragua could only rely on its own reconnaissance power. However, after searching for a whole day yesterday, the location of the Axis aircraft carrier group could not be found. Cohen decided to send more reconnaissance forces. Since the B-25's results were small, he might as well dispatch eight guest reconnaissance planes.

"Sir, Lieutenant General Ross sent us a telegram saying that the German Marines have landed under the cover of naval guns. The offensive is fierce and they are in urgent need of air support."

"What?" Cohen muttered to himself, "This is a big trouble."

There was silence at the scene: Yesterday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff was optimistic that the Axis had no ground troops, so the first target of the attack was the aircraft carrier formation. If they could not find it, they would first airstrike the artillery fleet, but as soon as the enemy landing troops landed, the situation deteriorated greatly - the Joint Chiefs of Staff made an emergency assessment and believed that the damage to the canal caused by simple naval gunfire and bombing was completely different from sending people up there.

In a word, the landing must be contained!

"Sir, General Marshall sent an urgent telegram, hoping that you will launch an attack on the enemy on the beach in the early morning, and make landing the enemy a priority target."

"It seems that our primary attack target must be adjusted." Cohen sighed, "Tell the boys to bomb the ground forces in the Canal Zone first, and then go find the warships and let all the TBFs hang bombs. Also, tell Lieutenant General Ross that we will launch the first wave of attacks at 6:30."

At 5:15 in the morning, the US attack aircraft group from the Nicaraguan Air Force Base filed out and roared to the southeast.

At this moment, the huge Axis aircraft carrier formation was also launching fighters one after another. In order to conceal himself to the maximum extent, Tsukahara Jishizo used the night to pull the main force of the mobile fleet to the triangular sea area at the junction of Panama and Colombia. This location was certainly not chosen casually, but was finally selected after careful calculation: from here, the distance to the Panama Canal Zone is about 300 kilometers, and the air defense aircraft group can arrive in 40-45 minutes; this location is more than 950 kilometers away from the US military base in Nicaragua, more than 1,850 kilometers away from the US mainland in Florida, and nearly 1,500 kilometers away from the US military airport in Puerto Rico - in other words, even if the US military discovered this place, it would exceed the combat range of TBF and SBD. The only thing to worry about is B-24 or B-25, and these two aircraft are not a big threat to the fleet.

As for Colombia or Venezuela in the north of South America, which are within reach of the fleet, he had already sent sea reconnaissance to check the situation. There is almost no air force and no available air base - this is the confidence and confidence he promised Hori Teikichi to reduce the losses caused by air strikes.

The mobile fleet had a total of 278 aircraft when it set out (240 aircraft were normally carried, and 38 aircraft were additionally moored on the deck). Of these, 128 aircraft, or 46%, were moored on the deck because all aircraft were fighters. There were 80 He-218s and 70 Ju-98s. Yesterday, eight Bf-21218s were lost. After emergency calls for backup aircraft and replacement pilots, the total number of aircraft was restored to 275, of which fighters further increased to 130, He-218s were restored to 75, and Ju-98s remained unchanged at 70.

At 5:15, 72 anti-aircraft aircraft carrying auxiliary fuel tanks flew over the canal area. They will provide a vital air umbrella for the fleet. 20 minutes later, Chief of Staff Ryunosuke Kusaka reported: "24 anti-aircraft aircraft have taken off, and the last 34 fighters are all on standby on the deck."

Tsukahara nodded with satisfaction: "Very good, the outcome of today's battle depends on whether the Americans cooperate."

At 6 o'clock, all anti-aircraft fighters flew over the fleet. Seeing the escort aircraft, which were twice as many as yesterday, the officers and soldiers of each warship and the landing troops couldn't help but smile.

At 6:08, the sky began to brighten, and visibility improved rapidly. All flares had stopped firing. Reimer's troops were still accelerating their landing. The beach was full of Sibel-class landing craft, and then the tank tracks rolled into the depths.

At 6:11, the heavy cruiser Hipper, which was on guard outside, sent a telegram indicating that the radar had found a target 135 kilometers away. Two minutes later, the news was confirmed by several warships. The Nagato issued an air defense alarm, and the ships began to sail to the deep water area for maneuvering. The air defense formation was quickly formed.

Cao Lu Renyi stared at the anti-aircraft aircraft in the air nervously. At this critical moment, the safety of the beachhead depended entirely on the fighter jets in the air.