Iron Cross

"We want to attack the UK, but not directly land on the British mainland. They still have at least 3-4 million troops on the mainland. It would be disadvantageous for us to hit them head-on. What I want to do is to cut their wings and choke them. The plan is called SEAL Project. "The initial idea is to carry out amphibious landings at one or two places around Great Britain in Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Ireland, to further strangle the fat man Churchill and force his internal peace forces to make peace with us."

Hoffman only mentioned an idea, but Rommel had no doubt that he had it. He felt that it was completely in line with the head of state's unbridled strategic thinking. Moreover, the head of state was very cautious this time and did not attack the British mainland directly. Instead, he targeted three places. , he didn't need to look at the map to know that any of these three places was a place where Great Britain must not lose control.

"You go back and think about it carefully, rest for a few days, get better in health, and then prepare to take up the new position - Commander-in-Chief of the North Sea-Imperial Joint Theater, which specifically includes the jurisdictions of the mainland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands, covering all Land, sea and air force, but this position is only superficial. Your real identity is the commander-in-chief of the SEAL Project. Just like the original implementation of the Kungunir Plan, it requires advance preparation and careful planning." Hoffman smiled, "If the opportunity arises. Mature, I plan to launch the SEAL operation at the turn of the spring and summer of 1944, for example, from May to June. By then, our naval strength will have further increased, the combined fleet will once again march westward, and the strength will be relatively sufficient. "

"At that time, I won't be afraid of sea battles or air battles, nor land battles... Hahaha... With you here, it won't be a problem. You are the leading amphibious warfare expert in the empire!"

Hoffman's optimistic mood infected Rommel, and he seemed very happy: Central Asia is at best a defensive war situation, and the SEAL Project is to destroy Britain. Anyone with no brain damage knows which is more important. He saluted respectfully: "I misunderstood the head of state. I thought someone was suing me behind my back and saying bad things about me. I feel very sorry..."

"This is impossible. Everyone knows that you are one of my most trusted marshals. How can you just listen to other people's slanders? Erwin, I'm not that old yet, am I?"

"Of course, the Führer is the wisest and most outstanding leader the German people have ever had. I personally hope that the Führer will continue to lead the empire for 30 years, not 40 years!" Rommel said a lot of flattery, and then said sheepishly He added, "Well...the leaders of Central Asian countries sent a lot of things after independence. They were so kind but had no choice but to accept them. Knowing that I was going back to the country for an audience, they entrusted me to send you a bunch of gifts and some instructions." It’s for Madam…”

Hoffman was stunned, then laughed: Who said Rommel couldn't flatter him? Rommel was also very good at flattering him. After the engagement, when other old-school Junker officers still called Eva "Miss Braun" in a serious manner, Rommel not only called Eva "Mrs." himself, but also asked his wife Lucy and Eva to They became good friends, which made the latter very happy. He patted the other party's shoulder, and the discomfort caused by the substitution was over.

"I have to go to General Yodel to apologize. I misunderstood him. He is not a villain, he is a rare gentleman." Rommel said happily, "Someone gave me a fine handmade wool tapestry. , just as a gift.”

Yodel in the room next to him not only smiled when he heard this, he almost laughed out loud, but suppressed himself from making any sound.

After walking out of the Prime Minister's Office, Rommel, who was blown by the cold wind and felt a little hot in his head, suddenly calmed down: No, what's the plan for May-June next year? Why did you transfer yourself here so early? It's too late to wait until the Central Asian campaign is over? But the words had been spoken in front of the head of state just now, and the intention to welcome Scherner to take over was also expressed. Of course, it was inconvenient to refute it. Moreover, the head of state had so solemnly explained the "Seal Project". How could it be done without careful preparation? He must have at least 20 plans! It's a pity that Gauss won't be back until Christmas, so let's take a few days off to spend some time with Lucy, and get some treatment on the way.

After Rommel left, Jodl quickly came out of the next room. While giving a thumbs up to Hoffmann, he expressed admiration for the head of state who quietly completed the great personnel adjustment, while expressing concern: " Head of State, do you really want to implement this SEAL plan?”

"I'm serious, but the premise is that we can effectively control the sea. You don't want to watch our soldiers get beaten up by British and American warships, right? This time is not like the Kungunir plan. It will definitely not work without an escort, at least Concentrate the main force of the Axis Navy, 500,000 troops, and 5,000 of the latest aircraft to crush them at once." Hoffman waved his hand in an imposing manner, "Let the other side have a taste of the power of jet bombers. Don't think that they are the only ones who can bomb us. "

Thanks to the rapid development of jet engines, the Ar-234, a lightning bomber developed by Aradao Company for several years, was successfully developed and finalized a few days ago. Due to the successful development of the HeS-011 engine launched by Heinkel Company, a single engine With a thrust of up to 12.7 kilonewtons, the Ar-234 did not follow the historical path of specially designed take-off and landing facilities. Instead, it adopted a traditional retractable landing gear. Moreover, because of the large thrust of the engine, the finalized aircraft data exceeded the design specifications: Max. The speed is 870 kilometers per hour, the maximum bomb load is 3 tons, and the maximum range of 2262 is nearly doubled when carrying 1.5 tons of bombs.

Strictly speaking, the Ar-234 is a horizontal bomber, but it has shallow dive bombing capabilities. Its speed is so fast that all piston fighters are no match for it, and it has won the reputation of a lightning bomber. The overjoyed Armaments Department immediately issued a production task of 1,000 aircraft. It is worth mentioning that the HeS-011 engine used by the aircraft is also the engine to be used by the Raven-Ta-183 jet fighter, which means that the latter's research and development is also close to success. In the context of the gradual reduction of Fw-190 orders due to the emergence of Me-262, Focke-Wulf will soon regain the top spot in the fighter market with Ta-152 and Ta-183.

Ta-183 is Hoffman's ideal second-generation jet fighter, not only because it is the common ancestor of Mig-15 and F-86 in history, but also because Ta-183 has swept wings, high speed and strong firepower such as 4 MG213. More importantly, Raven has only one engine, and the engine adopts an internal structure, and the price is only 55% of Stormbird, so it is easier to produce. Except that the range is slightly less than 262, the other indicators are greatly superior.

Thanks to the encouragement of Ar-234, Arado Company began to prepare to develop 4-engine heavy pure jet bomber. Hoffman, who was very interested, gave them guidance and drew a picture of B-52 for them, claiming that this was the latest bomber being studied by the United States, with 8 jet engines, capable of transatlantic bombing. In fact, the United States is still studying the B-36. Not to mention the B-52, it has not even proposed design indicators. Moreover, due to the pressure from the German jet fighters and carrier-based attack aircraft, the development focus of American aircraft is on jet fighters and a new generation of carrier-based attack aircraft, and the B-36 is far from being a top priority.

Facing the threat of Ta-183, Messerschmitt was very nervous. On the one hand, it tried to equip the Me-262 with a newer Jumo-004E engine for improvement. On the other hand, it also realized that single-engine jets would be the mainstream in the future. It launched two design projects, P.1092 and P.1101, in succession, hoping to take the lead in the third-generation jet after Ta-183. Everyone understands that the jet age is a new aviation age, and its aircraft design will not be like the era of the Bf-109. An aircraft can be used for 10 years after modification, but it is likely to be a generation apart after a year.

The US also felt deeply about this. The Meteor jets they had painstakingly obtained from Britain were about to be mass-produced, but they were optimistic at first that the technical performance advantage of the Meteor over the Me-262 would be eliminated as the technical indicators of the Stormbird were continuously upgraded. What was even more terrible was that Germany had expanded its team with its advantages in the early stage, and had accumulated more than 1,000 skilled jet pilots. It was said that the team was still expanding. The total number of British and American pilots who could fly jets was no more than 50. When the troops were truly equipped in early 1944, it was unknown how many German jets would be besieged.

This was far from the nightmare of Britain and the United States. In the scenario envisioned by Hoffman, if the SEAL plan was really to be implemented, it would have to use overwhelming jet fighters and bombers to overwhelm Britain and the United States, so that Britain and the United States could see what the jet age was. It was a pity that the performance and range of the V2 rocket were not satisfactory enough. Otherwise, missiles would wash the ground first, then jets and remote-controlled bombs would pave the way, and finally tigers and leopards would appear. He was fully confident of launching Blitzkrieg 2.0.

On October 27, the Imperial Headquarters completed the appointment adjustment: in addition to Marshal and Rommel, Field Marshal Rundstedt was appointed commander of the North Atlantic-Western Europe Joint Theater (including France, Spain, Portugal, and the Azores); Field Marshal Blomberg was appointed commander of the Eastern Europe Theater (also commander of the reserve army); Field Marshal Kesselring was appointed commander of the Mediterranean-Africa Joint Theater (focusing on German East, West Africa, and Madagascar); Field Marshal Bock was appointed commander of the Indian Ocean-Middle East Joint Theater (covering Turkey); Field Marshal Manstein was appointed commander of the Eastern Joint Theater (mainly the Eastern Front) in a popular vote.

The original Southern Army Group was commanded by Field Marshal Hoth (in charge of the headquarters and the original Manstein headquarters), and another part of the troops formed the Caspian Army Group, with Field Marshal Kleist as commander (headquarters and the army group left by Rommel).

At this point, a total of six army groups were assembled on the Eastern Front: Northern, Eastern, Central, Southern, Caspian and Reserve Army Groups. There was finally hope of solving the problem with the Soviet Union...