Iron Cross

The attack by British and American aircraft in the twilight ended dismally. Nearly 150 aircraft were shot down by German and Italian aircraft and more than 60 anti-aircraft firepower. Only the Lützow was unlucky to be hit by a 250-pound bomb, and several other ships were shot down. The warships were hit by some near-misses. The most powerful Hedgehog-class was considered by the enemy to be a battleship's artillery fire, so it paid more attention to it. Especially the heavy bombers dropped their bombs against the fire below. They did not expect that there were mobile anti-aircraft towers below. The destroyer was shot down by 128mm anti-aircraft guns using proximity fuses. The destroyer itself was not damaged except for being strafed by machine gun bullets.

The important targets that the British and American aircraft really wanted to deal with - the battleships and aircraft carriers - had either accelerated towards Bermuda at this time, or they had stayed away and were not affected at all.

At 7:09, the British and American aircraft groups that completed the air attack began to return. The German attack aircraft groups that had been circling and waiting at high altitudes in the distance immediately followed. However, after flying more than 100 kilometers, they discovered that something was wrong. The enemy's flight direction clearly deviated from the direction of Bermuda. See The momentum seems to be heading toward the East Coast, which is clearly misleading.

The news reported by the flight commander was quickly transmitted to the Zeppelin. Ozawa was slightly nervous, but Marshal and Krank seemed very relaxed: "Don't worry, Ar-352 and the specially modified water reconnaissance will find them."

The reason why the two are so confident is that Ar-352 and some modified water reconnaissance have a new navigation and positioning system developed by the German army, referred to as the T system. This is an upgrade based on the German army's traditional bent-leg navigation system (including its subsequent improvements). It also draws on the hyperbolic positioning method originally used by Britain and the United States in strategic air strikes and combined it with the new system formed by the German army's own navigation experience. The main principle is still to use multi-beam radio waves for cross-positioning. However, countries originally used radio signals from ground radar stations to provide positioning for aircraft. Now Germany can use mobile ship-based radars at sea for positioning assistance.

The positioning method of the mobile process is the same as that of the fixed radio station. The main difficulty lies in the calculation of the large amount of data caused by the change of its own position. In the past, it was definitely impossible to complete such a system because the new amount of data did not wait for the old data to be processed. They are pouring in again, and it is impossible to guide them in time. But now, with the assistance of the Z4 computer system invented by Mr. Chu Ze, the efficiency of their relevant calculation processes has doubled, and a set of data is processed every 3 minutes - this time is equivalent to the moving speed of a ship, which is still acceptable.

At present, the artillery formation and the maneuvering force have formed an obvious position angle. The relative positions between the two are known, and the positions of the two on the map are also known. The airborne T system receiver only needs to follow the radar signals they emit. Waves can use trigonometric functions to construct a target orientation, confirm where they are and correct their course. At the same time, the airborne T system receiver can also detect radar waves used by the United Kingdom and the United States. Now the Bermuda defenders are afraid of the German army attacking overnight, so they have long opened the radar scanning range to the maximum extent. With the addition of this beam of radar waves, the T system The parameters used are even richer and can guide the fleet to a location close to the target location within a range of no more than 50 kilometers.

As for the last 50 kilometers, the situation is easy to handle. Even if the enemy forces blackout, there is still a way to detect it, because the Ar-352 (Caiyun modified) has been equipped with an airborne radar, and the sea detection range exceeds 80 kilometers, and the error does not exceed 5 kilometers. , the error of the last 5 kilometers or so can be corrected with the naked eye by specially trained pilots. Therefore, the huge attack aircraft group accurately found the location of Bermuda at 8:15. The British radar station immediately sounded the air defense alarm, but it was of no use. There were no night combat aircraft on the island. The only fighter jets followed the attack group to perform twilight attacks. Now there were no aircraft to intercept the Germans.

German and Italian carrier-based aircraft pilots were inferior to their Japanese counterparts in their ability to skim the sea to find targets, but they made up for this shortcoming with their equipment advantages. After the introduction of magnetrons from Japan, and due to Hoffmann's attention and high investment, the level of Germany's electronics industry, including radar, has made great progress. Overall, the gap with Britain and the United States has almost completely narrowed. In some areas, even There are more, which makes it possible to attack the island target at night.

The ensuing attack basically entered a routine process. The guidance aircraft opened the way first, ignoring the anti-aircraft firepower below, and used flares to open the channel for the following groups of aircraft. Then it was a textbook bombing action, but this time the Germans played new tricks. Along with the high-explosive bombs were butterfly bombs, which were previously exclusively used by the Luftwaffe during bombing raids on Britain. As air force personnel transferred to the navy in batches, this habit was also brought into the navy. This small explosive, codenamed SD-2 and shaped like a butterfly, is quite strange. It has five different fuses, including impact fuses, air explosion fuses, delay fuses and counter-operation fuses. Its goal is not to destroy concrete fortifications, but to The enemy soldiers and civilians who accompanied the killing and preparation for rescue obstructed the repair of the airport.

If there are professional engineers to investigate, the impact of butterfly bombs will be relatively easy to eliminate, but at least it will restrain the opponent's personnel and energy. Since we plan to take over the island within 24 hours, we must do everything possible to delay it. Delaying it for one more hour will be a waste. is good. After 40 minutes of air strikes, Bermuda was enveloped in flames.

While the war was raging in Bermuda, senior officials of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Roosevelt's confidants were visiting the deteriorating president in the hospital. As the war continued to go unfavorably, Roosevelt was depressed. Although he handled the heavy daily work with strong perseverance, his health was obviously deteriorating. Doctors visited more and more often, and he spent more and more time in the hospital. long. At first, I only went in in the morning and came out in the afternoon, then I went in in the evening and came out the next morning. Later, I started to leave my work and stay in the hospital. It progressed from 1 day and 2 days to 5 days and 1 week. The doctors were helpless about his condition. Although they used the best medicine and invited the best experts for consultation, the results were not ideal. Some doctors even believe that the president's life span may not exceed three years, and they express their utmost admiration for him still taking on the heavy workload.

Although Roosevelt vowed to express his determination to run for re-election and fight the war to the end in front of his subordinates every time, everyone was worried that he would not even last until the end of his term, let alone go on a nationwide speaking tour. Everyone really wants to stop bothering him about these things, but it is impossible to bypass the president for major decisions like the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What's more, the president won't know if he doesn't tell him? He had to watch the intelligence summary every morning, even when he was hospitalized. He couldn't hide it at all. Seeing people swarming over to visit him, Roosevelt immediately asked alertly: "What happened in Washington? Are the Germans coming?"

"The Axis Fleet is attacking the Bermuda Islands. After discussion at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, we are preparing to attack..."

"Are you sure you can defeat them?"

"There is a certain degree of certainty, but the enemy should not use a false shot to escape." Marshall reported, "The army and navy held an emergency meeting and reached a consensus. Do you want to take a look at it first?"

Roosevelt waved his hands and said in a weak tone: "I believe in the opinions you discussed together. I just want to know what our chances of winning are. The United States can no longer afford to lose. Even if the enemy escapes, at least we can exclude them from attacking the east coast. For those who understand strategy, the Falkland Islands are much more important than the East Coast, but for the American people, the East Coast right before their eyes is far more important than the Falkland Islands..."

Everyone nodded silently.

"Our comprehensive homeland defense system has not been established for a long time. I think there may be loopholes and flaws, and there are also problems with personnel training and equipment, so I hope you can control the impact and not let panic spread unchecked."

Roosevelt's words were very cryptic, but the meaning was still very clear. He was trying to reduce pressure on the army and navy - the navy might not be able to intercept the German and Italian fleets, and the army might be attacked by the enemy and unable to defend itself. Roosevelt himself was concerned about this. He knew it well, but he also made a request that the scene should not be too ugly, at least it should not cause any more trouble for the American people.

The generals nodded sternly.

After coming out of the hospital, everyone immediately received the news that the Bermuda Islands had been attacked and the airport was almost paralyzed. After several people met, they thought that the president's situation was not ideal. Such unfavorable news would not be reported for the time being. They would report it at any time when the battle begins tomorrow. No matter what, we must deal with the immediate difficulties first.

At 3 o'clock in the morning on October 14, Lieutenant General Bei rushed to the vicinity of the Bermuda Islands with a high-speed artillery formation. Now the target was so obvious that the 380mm caliber naval gun directly aimed at the fire and launched a violent bombardment. As a large number of naval gun shells landed, the small Bermuda Islands shook the ground. The defending British and American officers and soldiers finally tasted a similar feeling to the night on Guadalcanal. From time to time, fuel or ammunition depots were directly hit and exploded.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, Ingersoll, who had cold hands and feet, received the battle report. When his leading fleet was still 2,100 kilometers away from the island, the desperate and helpless defenders chose to surrender. Although the heavy bombers flying from the United States in the early morning were extremely They tried their best to help the defense, but their horizontal bombing was not effective at all. Instead, some of them were shot down because they flew too low. In order to cover the bomber group, General Arnold's Army Aviation tried their best and used a large number of P51s to carry out accompanying attacks. But it is limited to this. The attack distance from the mainland is often more than 1,000 kilometers. Even the P51, which is famous for its long range, feels unbearable. At most, it can only stay above the war zone for 10 minutes, and has no ability to find more. The German and Italian aircraft carrier formation attacks in the distance.

Historically, Japan's HNA's difficulties in the Guadalcanal Air War have now also been applied to the U.S. Army Air Forces.