Iron Cross

Britain and the United States have always paid close attention to the whereabouts of the German and Italian fleets. They were greatly relieved when they heard that they did not appear in the direction of India, but they turned to be more vigilant about the Axis attack on South Africa. Although the specific location of the German and Italian fleets is unknown, the Navy estimates that the German army will launch an attack on South Africa in early September based on the time when the German and Italian fleets passed through the Suez Canal.

Generally speaking, this is bad news, but it is good news for the US military who are determined to launch Operation Overlord - it means that they can rely on the South African direction to hold back the German and Italian fleets and not give them the opportunity to support the Azores. The attack of the combined fleet on Australia and New Zealand deeply hurt the Allied authorities, prompting them to start the transfer and evacuation of people in the South African direction in advance, and no longer stand stupidly in the coastal area to be beaten.

After serious discussions, the British and American sides pretended to be unaware of the possible attack of the Axis on South Africa in order to eliminate possible interference in the "Overlord" campaign, and waited until the enemy clearly launched an attack to prevent the German and Italian fleets from being scared back. Since it was confirmed that the Axis fleet was not in the Mediterranean or around the Azores, the transportation of materials to Britain through the North Atlantic route returned to normal. Of course, the losses of the transport fleet are still continuing - mainly caused by aircraft and submarines at the Azores base.

Now the German army has formed a new idea to deal with the merchant fleet: one is blockade, and the other is to disrupt trade. The blockade mainly relies on the main aircraft carrier formation, which is effective but unsustainable; disrupting trade mainly relies on aircraft and submarines, which have a long-term effect but cannot cut off the transportation line, and at best can only increase the losses of Britain and the United States.

In the disrupting trade operation, large aircraft are first dispatched for reconnaissance and positioning, and finally summoned and aircraft and submarines for group attack. The Ju-290H, which is upgraded from the Ju-290C, covers the patrol area. It is faster (maximum speed 455 kilometers/hour) and has a longer range (nearly 6,600 kilometers). The nose is equipped with the latest developed sea search radar. The patrol area can completely cover the sea area centered on the Azores, north to Greenland, west to Newfoundland, and east to Ireland. The British and American routes must pass through the net without any leakage, which is simply invincible and has become a new generation of "Atlantic Monitoring" that makes people terrified.

Once the merchant fleet is discovered by the "Atlantic Watch", it will enter the processing process: those close to the Azores will be attacked by joint attack aircraft, and those far away and with submarines will be notified to deploy the Sea Wolf troops in advance to ambush on the opponent's route. If the distance is really far and there are no submarines, the German army also has a trump card - dispatching American bombers from the French base.

The American bomber was originally a bidding project of the Armament Department, requiring it to be able to attack the east coast of the United States and return safely. Therefore, the range requirement is an almost abnormal 13,000 kilometers, which greatly restricts the design of the airline. However, after occupying the Azores and obtaining a reliable forward base, coupled with Hoffman's temporary lack of interest in strategic bombing of the United States, and the "super bomb" is also far away, the Armament Department used the American bomber project to bid for heavy bombers for other purposes.

On the basis of absorbing the B-29\\B-17\\Lancaster related models, Germany's design concept and use of heavy bombers have become more mature, and the main indicators have been changed to: a range of more than 9,000 kilometers, and can carry 4 Hs-293 ​​anti-ship glide bombs or 2 anti-ship bombs + 1 torpedo for sea attacks. The first to break out of the siege was Messerschmitt's Me-264, and by July, 36 had been deployed on the Atlantic coast of France, followed by Ju-488, and the first batch of 16 aircraft were deployed in early August. Both aircraft have reached a range of 9,000 kilometers under the premise of 5 tons of load.

According to the requirements, the two products were directly put into the Atlantic stranglehold war, and in actual combat, they were determined by who had the most results and the most stable performance, and then became the German strategic bomber.

The Allied anti-destroying tactics were constantly improving, and the German stranglehold tactics were also continuously improving. From a practical point of view, the anti-ship effect of heavy bombers carrying torpedoes is not ideal - high-altitude delivery directly fails, and low-altitude delivery is prone to attack. Finally, it was decided to use all Hs-293 ​​guided anti-ship bombs. After the outstanding results of this bomb in the Battle of the Mediterranean, the German army promoted its large-scale use, but later found that the conditions for the use of guided bombs were too harsh: not only did it require airspace control, but it also had high requirements for the speed, evasion ability and anti-aircraft firepower of enemy warships. Therefore, it withdrew from the front-line team attacking enemy warships and focused on attacking merchant fleets in the Atlantic - they were slow, large, and had almost no anti-aircraft firepower, making them the most handy targets for Hs-293.

The Allies quickly developed jamming equipment for the wireless Hs-293. Although the German army repeatedly improved the wireless frequency, it would not take long for the Allies to improve the electronic countermeasure technology. Finally, they simply abolished the wireless and directly upgraded to the wired type, and added a TV guidance system for the missile nose. Observing the real-time battlefield situation through the wire facilitates the control personnel to see the situation below clearly at high altitude and in bad weather conditions, and enables the aircraft to launch air strikes at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters. Although the weight of the bomb has increased to more than 900 kilograms, it is still more than enough for both the Me-264 and the Ju-488 to carry 4 Hs-293Ds.

Since the escort aircraft carriers often take off fighters to drive away the "Atlantic Surveillance", the German army used land-based aircraft for forced reconnaissance after the Ar-352 carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft (Caiyun Kai) was put into use. The Ar-352 not only flies fast but also flies far, and often uses the fire line teasing tactics, leaving all the Allied carrier-based fighters trying to catch up.

Once the reconnaissance aircraft found that the merchant fleet had no escort aircraft carrier, it would be responsible for continuous tracking while directly summoning heavy bombers to attack with gliding bombs, and they would hit them accurately one by one; if an escort aircraft carrier was found, it would first use submarines to ambush and knock it down, and then repeat the same method the next day.

Under the joint stranglehold of German submarines and aircraft, the loss rate of British and American merchant ships rose sharply, basically stabilizing at 30-35%. For this reason, the United States desperately increased the manufacturing of Liberty Ships, hoping to offset the losses with more ships and cargoes, but the ships and materials could be continuously increased, and the sailors and personnel on the fleet could not be accumulated. The Eighth Air Force had lost only 15-20% at the beginning, which was unbearable. In the face of the fleet's 30% loss rate, it meant that the probability of successfully completing 10 voyage missions and retreating unscathed was no more than 3%!

Even so, in order to make up for the backlog of material needs in the previous few months, the relevant transportation had to be pushed forward - the monthly supply demand of 1 million tons of refined oil alone was a life-threatening one.

However, the German army could not find a better way to deal with the strategic air transport of Britain and the United States for the time being. As the preparations for the "Overlord" campaign were fully advanced, the strategic air transport entered a saturation stage. Thousands of British workers, army, navy, and pilots arrived in the United States from England to participate in preparations for war, or to receive equipment for training, or to engage in targeted training for the US military, or to engage in vigorous mass production.

In major shipyards on the East Coast, workers simply could not stop and rushed to build Casablanca-class escort aircraft carriers like crazy. The construction speed was constantly being refreshed, and the relevant construction period was updated almost every hour. The supervisor also quietly relaxed the project quality requirements and let go of all the defects that were not principled and decisive. They thought that the superiors temporarily lowered the quality standards in pursuit of quantity, but they did not understand that in the minds of Admiral King and Turner, these escort aircraft carriers worth tens of millions of dollars were just cheap consumables for the Overlord campaign-there was no need to pay too much attention to the quality of warships that were destined to sink.

The training of carrier-based pilots for these 50 aircraft carriers is also progressing rapidly. After adding a large number of British pilots, there is still a shortage of skilled personnel. Those rookie pilots who have just obtained qualified take-off and landing certificates are also stuffed into the escort team. The requirements for them are very simple. Make sure to master the take-off and combat essentials, and be able to take off from the escort aircraft carrier and participate in the combat.

A novice pilot named George Bush asked: "Sir, what should I do if I need to land after the combat? With so many aircraft carriers and planes, I may not be able to find the way home by then."

"If you are sure, find an aircraft carrier to land at random - as long as it is an Allied aircraft carrier."

"What if you are not sure? It always feels very difficult to land in such a small place."

The commander shrugged: "Then parachute, and hope that a destroyer will just pick you up..."

Washington continued to add weights to the war scale, trying to win for itself, and to ensure that the power and materials for Operation Overlord were increasing.

At the same time, Nimitz, who was resting in Pearl Harbor, found himself in a dilemma: from the perspective of combat requirements and situation, he should deal with the main force of Hori Teikichi's Combined Fleet; but from the perspective of domestic requirements, he should be more cautious. Admiral King sent him a special telegram. Although there was no "ship protection first", he could understand the hint between the lines: once the Azores suffered a setback, the Pacific Fleet would be the only hope for the US Navy to turn around. He hoped that Nimitz would control Halsey and not act recklessly.

In fact, Halsey's carefree and reckless character was just an illusion. This guy was more cunning than anyone else. Anyone who believed his nonsense would be fooled and lost his mind - he suggested that Nimitz be cautious and wait for the Langley light aircraft carrier (Independence class) coming from Cape Horn to join the main force of the fleet.

Since Australia had been reporting that the Combined Fleet had 5-6 aircraft carriers, Nimitz, who was deceived by the intelligence, combined his own strength, Admiral King's hints and Halsey's suggestions, and finally made a decision not to attack for the time being, and wait for the domestic reinforcements to arrive and join forces.

He didn't know that at this time, Hori Teikichi was also waiting for the two light aircraft carriers under Kakuta to return to the team.