Iron Cross

Just as the Axis Fleet left the Falklands and headed for Brazilian waters, the whole country of Brazil was in panic. Especially after Admiral Kim pulled the South Atlantic Squadron with two American battleships as the main force back to the country, the panic reached an even higher level. vertex.

On the one hand, President Vargas was forced to declare a national state of emergency. On the other hand, he appealed to Argentina, hoping that they would not introduce European power to destroy the balance that was not easy to form in South America. But the newly dispatched ambassador to Brazil by the Peron government choked back this opinion with one sentence: "At the Rio de Janeiro conference last year, my government proposed that South American countries strengthen unity and form a southern bloc to form a unified body to jointly oppose the United States. You did not accept it at all. You hesitantly refused. Not only did you rashly reject the good intentions from your neighbors, you also complacently introduced American power, including troops and equipment assistance. Why didn't you consider destroying the balance in South America at that time? Were you only allowed to bring in North American power and not us? Bringing in European power?”

After the Brazilian authorities hit a wall with Argentina, they could only turn their attention to the United States again, hoping that the United States would send sufficient military reinforcements. However, at this time, the "Joint Elements" operation was being intensively planned. The United States itself should attack the Azores or the Falklands. As the dispute continued, it was naturally impossible for the Brazilian government to promise anything. It only vaguely stated that it would "never sit idly by", but after hearing too much talk, the Brazilian side also felt that it was unreliable. The desperate Vargas authorities turned their attention to Germany and Italy, hoping that the Axis would be open to Brazil.

Since Brazil has gone to war with Germany and Italy, it only maintains diplomatic relations with Japan. The news was conveyed through Japan, but the telegram sent back from Berlin made Vargas lose his temper at all: Germany agreed to make peace with Brazil, as long as it fulfilled the following requirements Opinions:

First, several states in southern Brazil, dominated by residents of German and Italian descent, declared autonomy and lifted the ban on the local National Socialist Party;

Second, Brazil announced its withdrawal from the Allied Powers group, changed to neutrality, and expelled the US military within its territory. If Brazil has difficulty in expelling it itself, the Axis can expel it on its behalf;

Third, relevant Brazilian materials (mainly agricultural and mining products with military uses) are only exported to Europe and are not allowed to be exported to other countries without the consent of the Axis. In exchange, the Axis announced that it will underwrite Brazilian products.

These opinions pushed the Brazilian authorities into a corner. If Vargas announced that he accepted these opinions, his rule in Brazil would be completely over, so he could only refuse.

Berlin did not have high hopes for Vargas, and it would be better for a walleye like him to step down as soon as possible. Hoffman knew that the Brazilian Army was pro-Axis and the Navy was pro-British and American - as long as these navies were destroyed, Brazil's strength would be greatly reduced. What's more, without launching a thunderous military shock, how can the South American countries realize the strength of the Axis? Didn't Uruguay force the German Navy to sink the Graf Spey and detain the crew because of the strength of Britain and the United States?

Now the situation is reversed. The British and American forces have shrunk greatly in South America, but the Axis forces are at their peak. As soon as Machar commanded the fleet to occupy the Falklands, the Uruguayan authorities immediately released all the crew members they had detained and apologized. He apologized and gave each crew member a lot of travel expenses and compensation - this is an act of respect.

On the one hand, the attitude of the United States was unclear, and on the other hand, the Axis was unyielding. Vargas, who was forced to panic, not only ordered to strengthen the alert, but also ordered all ships in Brazilian waters and merchant ships flying the Brazilian flag to quickly enter the port and take shelter. In his opinion, the Axis Fleet cannot stay in South America for a long time. As long as it avoids the limelight, everything will be calm after a while. But he never expected that Machar came to the door with the Axis fleet in a swagger.

In the early morning of September 26, the second phase of the "Peace Pearl" project began. A group of attack aircraft took off from an aircraft carrier formation 400 kilometers away and raided Rio de Janeiro with lightning speed. Perón was fully informed of the Axis Fleet's next move and spared no effort to cooperate. Not only did he provide a large number of maps of Brazilian ports, target distribution, contact information and other intelligence, the Argentine Navy also directly sent observers to the German fleet to watch the battle.

While South American countries were still intoxicated with the era of naval guns, the world's powerful countries had taken the lead in entering the age of aviation. Seeing the pilots of German and Italian carrier-based aircraft skillfully flying their planes to take off on the dark sea, the Argentine navy observers were all stunned. Staring out - their pilots were terrified to take off from the aircraft carrier in broad daylight, how could they dare to do such a dangerous and crazy action. Moreover, they also expressed envy of the cooperation of the Axis countries: the commander of the fleet was a German, and the commander of the mobile fleet was a Japanese officer. In addition to the German staff group, there was also a Japanese advisory group, and the Italians dispatched several capital ships. Participate in the battle together.

It now appears that it was certainly not a fluke that the Axis paralyzed the Panama Canal during the Caribbean Campaign.

Although Vargas has repeatedly ordered the military to be more vigilant, and the US military stationed in Brazil has also entered a state of high alert, there is almost no way to prevent carrier-based aircraft from conducting low-altitude raids at night. When the only radar station sends out an alarm signal, The carrier-based aircraft had entered the final stage of attack, and soon all key locations such as airports, military camps, oil depots, and ports were hit by bombs, setting off huge fires, and the entire Rio de Janeiro was shrouded in panic.

Facing the assault of the Axis Fleet, the Brazilian Navy panicked and quickly ordered the main navy and merchant ships stationed at the port to run out desperately, hoping to avoid the unthinkable disaster and avoid being blamed. But their suffering had just begun. At dawn, , the main force of the Brazilian Navy and a large number of merchant ships formed a chaotic formation and rushed out of the port under the leadership of two Minas Gerais-class battleships. However, the fleet that was rushing outwards quickly collided not far from the port. Aboard the Axis fleet, which was ready for battle.

"Tirpitz, Veneto, Strasbourg..." When the observer announced a ship name, Santos, the deputy chief of staff of the Brazilian Navy, twitched on his face, let alone the entire Axis Fleet. , he cannot defeat or escape any of these axis battleships, even the Strasbourg with the weakest firepower. The Minas Gerais-class battleship that the Brazilian Navy is proud of is an old warship that was completed more than 30 years ago. It has only 12 305mm naval guns and a maximum speed of only 21 knots. The main force of the German High Seas Fleet, which is better and newer than them, has With the "Rainbow" all sunk in Scapa Flow, the German and Italian warships that appear now were all built within 10 years, which is two generations apart in terms of seniority.

Lieutenant General Bei also saw the Brazilian lineup. After a few glances, he laughed: "Send a signal and ask them to surrender immediately to avoid unnecessary sacrifices."

"No, we will never surrender!" The stubborn Brazilian Navy chose to open fire. At a distance of nearly 30,000 meters, the two old battleships took the lead in firing salvos with their 12-inch naval guns. Then, while firing, other small fast warships Break through the surrounding areas and return the merchant ships to the port to disembark - only in this way can more people be saved.

Seeing the cannonball falling far into the sea and splashing waves tens of meters high, Lieutenant General Bei was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Since the Brazilians want to die so much, let's let them do it and let each ship open fire!"

At 6:37, the Gneisenau, which had been equipped with a 380mm main gun, fired the first salvo, followed by the Strasbourg, four Veneto-class ships, and the Tirpitz in sequence. The two Brazilian battleships were immediately enveloped in columns of water.

"Sir, the enemy light warship is trying to escape to both wings."

"Let the heavy cruiser intercept them..." Vice Admiral Bei smiled slightly, "Tell the mobile fleet that it is rare for the enemy to cooperate and have the opportunity to practice live ammunition. The carrier-based aircraft should not compete with the surface ships for credit. We will reserve all these enemy ships. , they are only responsible for dealing with enemy aircraft, and if they have the opportunity, they can help us sink those fish that have slipped through the net..."

"It's interesting, it's interesting." After receiving the telegram from the front, Ozawa laughed first, and then handed the telegram to Machar, who also laughed after reading it, "Okay, I agree to the request from the front, as long as It’s a pity that a lot of money flew away.”

It turns out that Machar has already negotiated with Argentina. If a Brazilian warship surrenders and the Germans don't like it, it will be dealt with cheaply on the spot and given to the Argentine Navy. Although the Brazilian warships are all old-fashioned goods, in his eyes they have long become After paying a small amount of money, now I hear that the Brazilians are overestimating their abilities and want to fight, so I can only sigh.

The courage and fighting spirit of the Brazilians only lasted less than 5 minutes. By the fifth round of naval gun salvo, the two sides advancing at full speed had shortened the distance between each other to about 23,000 meters. The Gneisenau and Tirpitz The USS took the lead in launching a straddle attack on the enemy ship. In the eighth round, the distance between the two sides was close to 20,000 meters. Except for the newly commissioned USS Empire, which was still a little bit accurate, the other ships shrouded several larger Brazilian warships in the missile. In the curtain.

With a loud "bang", a 3,100-ton Bahia (Bahia-class) cruiser of the Brazilian Navy was hit by the Veneto's 381mm naval gun. This old warship, which had been in service for more than 30 years, was almost broken into two intercepted, and sank in less than half a minute. A dozen seconds later, two Minas Gerais-class ships were also hit by bombs, four Veneto-class ships were hit by heavy bombs, and Gneisenau and Tirpitz were hit by high-speed bombs. Light shells (the two ships' guns are now consistent), and the strangest thing is that Strasbourg's 330mm shells rained down on the Brazilian warships, and at this time their 12-inch shells had not even hit the axis. The fleet formed a near miss.

An Argentine naval observer who witnessed the entire battle wrote in his report: "...This was not a battle at all, but a one-sided massacre. Just like the world heavyweight boxing champion versus a novice learning boxing on the first day, only destruction awaits the Brazilians. …”

At 6:59, two Minas Gerais-class ships with a displacement of 21,000 tons sank one after another. The total number of officers and soldiers rescued afterward did not exceed 500. The most tragic incident was the Sao Paulo, which was hit by 17 rounds of 380mm large-caliber artillery shells. It was almost torn apart when it sank...