The Rise of the Third Reich

The "Tomahawk Plan" was formulated based on the respective missile attack plans of the Air Force and Navy. Because there was a foundation, it was formulated quickly. When Hersman arrived at the General Staff Headquarters on the morning of September 23, the plan was already on his desk.

In addition to a series of technical issues such as navigation and correction, missile transportation and preservation, the content of the "Tomahawk Project" is not complicated. There are mainly two parts. One is to continue to use Me264F long-range missile bombers to carry out the mission of air-launching Reaper 2B cruise missiles to attack Boston; the other is to destroy the US airport on the Bermuda Islands, thus tearing apart the Bermuda-Nova Scotia Peninsula blockade. , allowing the missile carriers of the European Combined Fleet to take turns launching relatively cheap V1B cruise missiles within 500 kilometers of the continental United States.

Compared with using the Me264F long-range missile bomber to launch the Reaper 1B, using the missile type of the "Kesselring" class aircraft carrier to launch the V1B is a cheap and efficient method.

Because the price of V1B is only one-tenth of the price of Death 2B - the engine and fuel used by V1B are very cheap, but the reliability is relatively poor. Moreover, the missile load capacity of the "Kesselring" class aircraft carrier is not comparable to that of the Me264F. The "Kesselring" class aircraft carrier has a large hangar space that can accommodate 48 Fokker 636 or Fw190T. If used to accommodate V1B cruise missiles, it can swallow a full 192 missiles!

If this "Kesselring" class missile aircraft carrier does not use deck tethering to accommodate fighter aircraft on the flight deck, it can also store 58 V1B cruise missiles in the storage box fixed on the flight deck, thus allowing " The Kesselring-class missile carrier carries as many as 250 bombs.

In addition, because the "Kesselring" class aircraft carrier has a mechanical boom, it can replenish missiles and aircraft at sea. Therefore, after the "Kesselring" class missile aircraft carrier fires all the missiles, it does not need to return to the home port for resupply. The new V1B cruise missile can be obtained directly from the ammunition supply ship on the sea.

In the "Tomahawk Plan", each "missile carrier group" should be followed by a "Western Forest" class fast integrated supply ship, which can replenish 250 V1B cruise missiles to the "Kesselring" class missile carrier.

In other words, a "missile carrier group" with a "Kesselring" class missile aircraft carrier can fire 500 V1B cruise missiles in a combat mission, with a firepower equivalent to 500 Me264F bombers!

…

"General, the air attack plan has been formulated."

Bermuda time, on the morning of October 10th, Major Rudolf von Heinsberg-Hersmann, aviation staff officer of the 23rd Task Force of the European Community Combined Fleet, handed the newly formulated air attack plan to the 23rd Task Force. Rear Admiral Hans Karl-Mayer, commander of the task force.

Task Force 23 is the task force used to implement the "Tomahawk Plan". The fleet is composed of the 201st Aircraft Carrier Group (which owns the Joffre and the Banville aircraft carriers), the 202nd Aircraft Carrier Group (which owns the Kesselring, Milch, Udet, Jeshunek and other four Kesselring-class aircraft carriers), the 203rd Missile Carrier Group (which has two missile carriers including the Max and the Anthony Fokker), the 231st Cruiser Group , the 241st Propulsion and Patrol Group, the 281st Fast Supply Ship Group, the 291st Reconnaissance Group (with 1 seaplane carrier) and the 27th Submarine Detachment.

Now little Hersman is formulating a plan for an air attack on Bermuda. Just like the last air raid plan in the Bermuda campaign, Hersman Jr. decided to adopt a strategy of taking off at night + ultra-low-altitude penetration + early morning air raid. However, it was not the Fokker 636 and Fw190 that were dispatched, but the French Br.810 torpedo bombers deployed on the Joffre and Banville.

This twin-engine aircraft that can be mounted on an aircraft carrier has been developed since before the outbreak of the world war. It was originally intended to allow Br.690 series attack aircraft to be mounted on the aircraft carrier. However, because the research and development cycle was suspended due to the "Franco-German Brotherly War", by the time the project was restarted in the second half of 1942, aviation technology had made considerable progress.

Therefore, the Br.810 project was almost pushed back to the drawing board, and was jointly taken over by Fokker and the French company Breguet. The Br.810/Fokker 810 that finally passed the acceptance of the French/German Air Force and Naval Aviation became the "enlarged" Br.690, installed with the 2,000-horsepower land god-Rhone 18M2 18-cylinder air-cooling Engine (the German version of the Fokker 810 is equipped with two 2400-horsepower BMW801F engines). The empty weight of the aircraft has reached 6.1 tons, and the total weight when full of fuel and bombs is as high as 9.6 tons.

Such a giant twin-engine carrier-based aircraft naturally has a huge bomb load. It can carry 8 100-kg bombs inside the body, and 2-4 250-kg aerial bombs can be mounted on the belly and wings at the same time.

Moreover, the Br.810 is also equipped with high-performance airborne radar and radio altimeter, which can conduct long-term low-altitude sea-skimming flights at night or in poor visibility conditions. It is used to attack enemy island airports in the early morning. Sharp weapon.

The German version of the Fokker 810 is even equipped with remote control guidance equipment, which can launch the powerful Hs293A2 air-to-ship missile!

"Rudolf, are you going to take a Bv138 seaplane to command this air strike?" Major General Meyer read Hessmann's plan and discovered a new tactic that he had never seen before - the aviation commander would take a Bv138 to go there. Conduct command near combat airspace.

"Yes, sir." Little Hersman replied, "The 291st Reconnaissance Group has just added two Bv138E long-range waterborne early warning aircraft. This aircraft not only has high-power S-band radar, but also has high-power communication equipment. , can conduct remote air command.”

Air command aircraft actually appeared very early. During the bombing of Scapa Flow in September 1939, the German naval aviation dispatched air command aircraft. However, it was quickly discovered that the command aircraft that relied on visual command at the combat scene had poor survivability and was very easy to be shot down. So after the bombing of Scapa Flow, the dedicated command aircraft disappeared from the battlefield.

However, the German Air Force and Naval Aviation did not give up their efforts to seek special command aircraft. With the continuous advancement of radar and communication technology, in the second half of 1944, the "special command aircraft" that had disappeared from the battlefield for five years reappeared. . It is a long-range waterborne early warning aircraft called Bv138E.

Although the air combat command capability of this aircraft cannot be compared with that of later generations of early warning aircraft, the emergence of the Bv138E and another long-range early warning aircraft based on the Me264 can still make it possible to attack the North American continent. The EC coalition has asymmetric advantages.

Their emergence could theoretically allow EC bombers to conduct low-risk air strikes on large cities and military bases in the United States without escort. Because the detection range of the high-power S-band radar is far longer than that of the radar on the night fighter, as long as there is an early warning aircraft following it, the bombers of the European Community coalition can evade before the American night fighter finds itself (the radar on the night fighter cannot see it) Too far, usually within 10 kilometers) - The Me264 is very fast. As long as it can detect American night fighters in advance, it can completely evade them with its own high speed. In this way, the Me264 carrying atomic bombs or conventional bombs can penetrate into the US airspace alone without considering the range of the escort aircraft...

In the air attack plan formulated by Hersman Jr. on the Bermuda Islands, the role of the Bv138E waterborne early warning aircraft was to observe the situation over the Bermuda Islands from a distance. If the American aircraft flew up to fight, then the Br.810 that went to make a sneak attack He immediately dropped the bomb and retreated. If there are not a few American fighter planes over the Bermuda Islands, it means that the Americans have not discovered that 60 Br.810s can break into the sky over the Bermuda Islands from ultra-low altitude to bomb the airport when the sky is just getting light.

As long as the US military airport in Bermuda is destroyed, Task Force 23 can safely pass through the Bermuda-Nova Scotia Islands blockade and go to the missile launch position 500 kilometers away from the mainland of the United States to release V1B cruise missiles.

…

"Admiral, Bermuda reports that approximately 60 twin-engine medium bombers have just raided Kindley Airport..."

"What? 60 twin-engine medium bombers?" In the early morning of October 11th, Eastern Time, Admiral Ernest King, who was on duty at the Naval Operations Department, suddenly received news that surprised him.

The staff officer replied: "Yes, according to the report, the air attack on Bermuda was 60 twin-engine medium bombers. The logo on the aircraft was red, white and blue concentric circles. It should be a French aircraft. From the appearance, it seems to be a Breguet Br. .690, but much bigger.”

"Bregey Br.690 is actually on the aircraft carrier?" Admiral Ernest King was not too surprised, because the United States also had plans to put the F7F on the aircraft carrier. He thought for a while and asked, "How about Kindley Airport? How many Br.690s did we shoot down?”

"General, the losses at Jindeley Airport are relatively large, and it may take several days to resume normal aircraft takeoffs and landings. During this period, the P47s, P51s and P61s we deploy there will not be able to take off and land with full fuel and bombs.

In addition, because the enemy aircraft penetrated from ultra-low altitude, and at the same time a Br.690 approached from high altitude, it attracted the attention of the four P61s responsible for direct cover. Therefore, when the enemy plane broke into the sky above the airport, it was not blocked by our aircraft. Therefore, only 2 Br.690 were shot down by anti-aircraft guns. "