Iron Cross

The reconnaissance aircraft reported that everything was normal, and Marshall and others finally put their minds at ease. When he thought that it was only mid-October and there were still two weeks to early November, he was extremely anxious and wanted the second batch of troops to reinforce the Falkland Islands to go faster and faster.

Hoffman really spent a lot of money to reinforce the Falkland Islands this time. On the one hand, he sent ground forces mainly composed of the 7th Armored Division and the 92nd Infantry Division. They will form the South American Expeditionary Force (also known as the "Manteuffel Battle Group") together with the first two Marine Brigades that have arrived. On the other hand, he also sent an entire air wing, but this time it was not an ordinary air wing, but a force that had been stationed in the Mediterranean and North Africa and had rich experience in sea attacks. Hoffman hoped to effectively play the role of the unsinkable aircraft carrier of the Falkland Islands, so he transferred it to the navy as a whole.

After the series of actions are completed, the Falkland Islands base will be officially put into operation, with a frighteningly large number - the German Empire South America-South Atlantic Theater Joint Command, which sounds like it is at the same level as the Western Europe-North Atlantic Theater Joint Command (in fact, the latter is Germany's real Western Front Command, with the old commander Rundstedt as the commander-in-chief). In fact, it is only about the size of an army group, with Marshal serving as the commander-in-chief. In addition to these two theaters, the North Sea-Homeland Theater, Mediterranean-Africa Theater, Eastern Europe Theater, Russian Theater, Middle East-Indian Ocean Theater and other joint commands have been established accordingly.

This is not Hoffman's brainstorming to play word games or to make official wishes for the military system, but has a profound intention. Up to now in the world war, Germany's battlefield control range has been too large, far exceeding the dispatching capabilities of the General Staff, and it is not something that the Supreme Command can directly control. It is necessary to establish a theater system for division of labor and coordination. As the war progresses, the coordination of the army, navy and air force becomes more and more important. The joint command of the three services in the theater system can better exert the synergy effect, especially in the peripheral theaters, which are originally weak. If there is friction between the army, navy and air force again, the consequences will be disastrous.

As the front-line theater against Britain and the United States, the South America-South Atlantic Theater has a small number of troops, but they are all elite. In addition to various commonly used aircraft, the aviation force also brought the latest Me-262 jet fighter this time. After several months of production adjustments, the output of Me-262 has been steadily increasing. More and more excellent troops have begun to equip it. It has a more deterrent effect on the battlefield of the Falkland Islands and is easier to stabilize the military morale of South American countries. After the political turmoil in Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia, Paraguay finally had a military coup a few days ago. Coupled with Chile, which has an ambiguous attitude and has been wavering, the forces that are close to or show goodwill to the axis countries have now swept nearly half of the countries in South America. Hoffman urgently needs to boost their confidence.

For example, Marshal did a good job in beating the Brazilian Navy and forcing the US Navy to become a turtle. Now he has done a good job in raiding Bermuda and deterring the East Coast. Hoffman still doesn't understand why Marshal is in trouble.

However, the day when jet aircraft dominate the world is far from coming. Considering the pressure from P47\\P51, Germany has continued to exert its strength in the field of traditional propeller aircraft. Dr. Tank's Ta-152, which has been built for a long time, has finally made significant progress. It was fully finalized in September. If the trial production goes smoothly, the aircraft can start mass production in the spring of 1944. It is 10 months faster than in history, and the production quantity will be greater.

As for the Do-412 (Shiden Kai), which has been stumbling due to its engine, it has finally seen the light of day. The first batch of 24 trial production models have been produced and are undergoing rigorous testing and training. Everyone is optimistic; although the Gale Kai project led by Jiro Horikoshi started the latest, it has absorbed the lessons of many previous models and bypassed the engine pit, so the overall progress is not slow, and the progress gap with Do-412 has been narrowed to about 4 months.

The industry has different views on which model should be used for the next generation of carrier-based aircraft. The Shiden Kai has excellent interception capabilities and is more advantageous in air defense warfare; while the Gale Kai has very balanced performance in all aspects and is expected to perform better in escort operations. Therefore, the navy and the air force have different opinions, but in any case, the high-level ideas are consistent. In the future, it is best for the navy and air force to be interchangeable. The main air superiority fighter should not exceed 3 models at most. When equipping, not only performance but also productivity should be considered.

In the morning, the US Army Air Force once again dispatched a large number of heavy bombers for reconnaissance. Although the Axis fleet had left the Bermuda Islands, it was restricted by the Bermuda garrison and could not really go far, so the specific location was still discovered - about 1,270 kilometers away from the US mainland. But what surprised the fleet was that after the US military discovered the location of the fleet, it did not launch a large-scale attack like it did yesterday, which puzzled several senior officials. The answer was not revealed until 3 o'clock in the afternoon.

"The enemy airborne on a large scale, with nearly 3,000 troops, and there were land-based aircraft for air control. The firepower was fierce, and the headquarters was in urgent need of air cover..." After receiving the telegram, Machar, Ozawa and Krank knew that the fleet We are in trouble. The current situation is very uncomfortable - if we do not send carrier-based aircraft to support, the Marine Corps lacks air cover and can easily be established by enemy airborne troops; if we go to rescue, it will greatly consume the carrier-based aircraft. Although the fleet has many spare aircraft, the number is not unlimited. Any aircraft and ammunition must be used sparingly. If all the troops are exhausted with the enemy Army Aviation, what will happen when the US fleet comes up? When the time comes, the fleet cannot win, the Marines cannot escape, and everyone will have to be dealt a blow.

This was the second major mistake Machar made. The first mistake was not to seize the opportunity to eat the leading troops of the US military in the Caribbean Sea. He originally hoped to use the Marine Corps to force the US fleet and landing troops to show up first, so that he could use planes to fight. Now that the United States has used airborne troops to contain his attempt, the Axis has become difficult to get off.

In order to solve this difficulty, he thought hard for a while and then said: "The fleet is temporarily unable to provide air support. I hope the Marines will use armored forces to launch a counterattack after dark and drive the enemy into the sea."

Krank advised him: "If the American airborne troops can gain a foothold in Bermuda, they will send more airborne troops down tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. One day we will be unable to withstand it and must think about ways to retreat."

"Pull the main fleet over to respond?"

"Use the darkness to pull the artillery fleet over, and let the destroyers pick up the marines. No, it's the same method as the combined fleet retreated on Guadalcanal." Krank said with a bitter smile, "As for the equipment, we can only give up, saving people is important. "

"Tokyo Express?" Mashar said clearly.

Ozawa nodded slightly awkwardly, but his suggestion was different from Krank's. He suggested abandoning these three battalions of Marines and letting them attract the attention of the US military. The fleet would use the night to turn northwest, and then find a way to launch an air strike on the mainland of the United States. , which was more shocking than rescuing people, and then turned around and returned to South America - he believed that the strategy of luring the enemy northward and forcing the US military to divide its forces had been completed, and these battalions could be decisively abandoned.

Marshal shook his head: "This won't work. It doesn't matter if you abandon the equipment. People must be rescued. Saving people is of great significance. There are many heroes from the Battle of Holm. I can't easily leave them on the island of Bermuda, otherwise there will be no trace of them in the future." France and the Army have stated that once the enemy captures a large number of Marines, it will be a huge blow to our army."

"We will wait and see for another day. There are 3 battalions and armored forces on the island. The enemy is about 3,000 people. I think the Marines are capable of fighting. We can consider preparing for the response tomorrow night. We still need to move positions today to avoid being attacked. The enemy discovered..." Krank offered a compromise.

Of course, this compromise was far from ideal. It was nothing more than delaying the situation for another day to see how things would turn out. Machar took a chance and agreed to this approach. Although Ozawa wanted to object, he could not think of a way to get out quickly without giving up the Marines, so he agreed to take another look at the situation. Maybe a miracle would happen - what if the Marines wiped out the Americans at night? ?

"Chuchu!" This is the roar of anti-aircraft artillery fire.

"Chichi!" Hearing such an unpleasant sound, he knew it was the MG42 firing.

Just as the fleet's top brass was discussing how to respond, the battle on Bermuda had reached a fever pitch.

Although the Marine Corps described the situation as very serious in the telegram, they would not show any mercy if they really wanted to fight. Ridgway's 82nd Airborne Division suffered enough during the landing process: Because the island of Bermuda is too small, part of the troops were dropped during the airborne landing. They were blown directly into the sea by the wind. Many people died inexplicably like this. The lucky ones who swam to the shore almost lost half their lives. However, the troops who successfully airborne on land had nothing to do at first because they did not get the equipment. The ability to fight back was swept to the ground by the German firepower like autumn leaves. What caused the most damage to them was not Germany's most famous 88mm anti-aircraft gun or the No. 4 tank, but the MG42 machine gun and the main anti-aircraft equipment Tornado self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. Especially in the latter, many airborne troops were shot in half by fiery 20mm shells in the air before landing. The scene was extremely bloody.

Although the German army also suffered fierce air attacks, they resisted the fierce artillery attack and wanted to kill all the American airborne troops.

It was not until the equipment was obtained and the army aviation aircraft desperately provided cover that the airborne division established a foothold in the southern part of the island. When the bazooka's muffled voice sounded, it often meant that the German armored forces were being blocked. .

The intensity of the battle was beyond Li Qiwei's expectation. The situation was several times worse than he expected. In just one afternoon, he lost 2 battalion commanders and 4 company commanders. The airdrop team of nearly 3,000 people finally gathered together completely. By the time there were 1,500 people, the others either fell into the sea and died, or had been killed by the Germans, or were hiding in unknown corners. Fortunately, the island was full of British and American residents, and the lone paratroopers could still get some treatment and cover.