The Rise of the Third Reich

"Admiral, this is the reconnaissance photo just sent by the seaplane."

On the morning of September 6, 1944, a "Catalina" seaplane taking off from the Bermuda Islands delivered some F-13s to the "Iowa" class battleship that was sailing southeast at a high speed of 25 knots. Photos taken at close range by an ultra-long-range reconnaissance aircraft.

It is said to be "close range", but the actual height at which the F-13 ultra-long-range reconnaissance aircraft took these photos was still over 8,000 meters, and it also maintained a high flight speed. Therefore the quality of the photos is not very high.

But even so, these photos are still very precious and timely for Admiral Halsey, who is leading the fleet to prepare for a decisive battle with the Germans. So he immediately took the photo from Rear Admiral Callahan, put it on his desk, put on his reading glasses and studied it carefully.

Looking at the five smoke-belching aircraft carriers escorted by light cruisers and destroyers, his eyebrows gradually came closer: "Unexpectedly, not one of them sank... The German aircraft carriers are really strong!"

Callahan had already seen the photo, so he nodded and said, "Yes, German products are always strong and durable, and they are not the same thing as Japanese products. But... they still can't escape our hands."

As he spoke, Callahan handed another handwritten report to Halsey. Halsey took the report and looked at it, his frown immediately relieved.

"Thank God!" Halsey showed a surprised expression, "They really broke the Zeppelin's rudder!"

"Yes!" Callahan said, "The German fleet has deviated from its course since yesterday evening. It has been traveling southeast and walked out of a straight line. If they continue in this direction, they will reach France. Belongs to the coast of North Africa."

"We caught them now!" Halsey laughed. "If they take this route, it will be difficult for them to get support from shore-based aircraft from the Azores during the day tomorrow."

"They can't run away," Callahan said. "They are only 170 nautical miles away from us now, and they will catch up in 10 hours!"

"Where are the German reinforcements? Where are they?" Halsey asked again.

"They are about 150 nautical miles away from the German aircraft carrier fleet, with a speed of 25 knots." Callahan said, "Considering the speed and direction of the German aircraft carrier fleet itself, they can converge after 6 hours."

"Are there any pictures of the German reinforcements?"

"No." Callahan said, "The F-13 was expelled by the Fokker 636 as soon as it approached, but the radar detection results were still the same as before."

"Can we launch an air strike?" Halsey asked thoughtfully, "How many more aircraft can the 30th Task Force send?"

The U.S. 30th Task Force launched several consecutive air attacks on the German 21st Task Force in the early morning of September 5th and 6th. Although the Zeppelin, Prussia, Bohemia, and Seidlitz were It caused some damage to the Sekt, and also caused the aircraft carrier Bohemia to lose the ability to take off and land aircraft. However, the air raid group itself also suffered great losses. More than 200 fighters were shot down by the anti-aircraft artillery used to directly cover the Fokker 636, Fw190 and surface ships!

"The 30th Task Force still has about 400 carrier-based aircraft." Callahan said, "But most of them are F4U and F6F. The SBD and TBF suffered extremely heavy losses in the previous rounds of air strikes!"

Slow "air tanks" such as SBD and TBF are capable of bullying the Japanese Navy, which has insufficient anti-aircraft firepower and fighter aircraft firepower. However, when encountering powerful firepower fighters such as the Fokker 636 and Fw190, as well as the European Community surface fleet whose anti-aircraft firepower is no less than that of the US Navy fleet, it will inevitably suffer heavy losses.

Most of the slow SBDs and TBFs didn't even have a chance to drop bombs, so they were shot down by the Fokker 636, which was the king in mid- and low-altitude performance!

Although the F4U and F6F fly faster and can easily escape the pursuit of the Fokker 636, driving a single-seat fighter-bomber to dive and drop bombs is a difficult technical task (general dive bombers are two-seat aircraft), and it is not ace to play. Do not turn. Almost all the aces of the U.S. Navy died in the Pacific. The fighter pilots transferred from the Army were fine in air combat, but the sea attack was much worse. In this time and space, because the U.S. Army did not fight the German army in North Africa and Europe, the U.S. The fighter pilots of the Army Air Forces also lacked experience in ground attack, let alone sea attack.

Therefore, in the air attack on the European Community Task Force 21, although the F4U and F6F could successfully drop bombs, their hit rate was about the same as that of the shore-based F7F, both at about 10%. However, the F4U and F6F are both single-engine aircraft, and their bomb load cannot be compared with the two-engine F7F. Therefore, they drop 500-pound aerial bombs, which cannot cause a fatal blow to the Zeppelin-class and Prussian-class aircraft with armored flight decks. The Sederitz class, which had thrown away most of the flammable and explosive items, could barely withstand it.

"The carrier-based aircraft of the 30th Task Force must be allowed to bomb the German fleet." Halsey thought for a while and already made a decision, "The time cannot be too early, so choose 8 hours later... 8 hours and then arrived over the German fleet.”

"Eight hours later?" Callahan's eyes lit up, "Blow up the German battleships?"

Halsey nodded. The German fleet that was escaping eight hours later and the German fleet that came for reinforcements must have converged, and the battleships of the U.S. 31st Task Force were not far away from them.

At this time, the American air raid group could easily find the merged German fleet through the smoke plumes of several wounded German aircraft carriers. But there is no need to bomb the aircraft carrier again. As long as the American battleships can catch up with them, a 406mm cannon will bombard even the strongest aircraft carrier.

"Except for the necessary direct cover aircraft, send out all carrier-based aircraft. In addition, let the Norfolk base send out F7F. If they can come in time...all the fighters will focus on bombing the Hindenburg-class battleships and Wilhelm II-class guided missile cruisers. !”

Halsey waved his fist and said, "As long as they are seriously injured, both German fleets will be destroyed, and we will win the war!"

While Halsey and Callahan were discussing the annihilation of two German task forces, Bernard, a French naval aviation lieutenant who was in the Nazi camp but had a heart for democracy and freedom, was flying his Hawkeye 10 seaplane, quietly Following the large fleet led by Halsey.

Hawkeye 10 found the US Navy's 30th Task Force by tracking the returning US carrier-based aircraft, and then it has been following the US Navy's 30th Task Force about 100-150 nautical miles away since yesterday evening. Landed on the sea to receive refueling from the submarine. In the early morning of September 6, Hawkeye 10's S-band radar also detected the convergence of the two U.S. fleets. After that, Hawkeye 10 still followed the merged U.S. fleet.

At 2 p.m. on September 6, an order was received to “close to within 80 nautical miles and conduct reconnaissance.”

Although Second Lieutenant Bernard was reluctant in his heart, an order was an order! As a fascist soldier, he did not have the guts to openly disobey.

However, when he carefully piloted his Bv138D seaplane and approached less than 100 nautical miles from the U.S. fleet, his navigator, Sergeant Muller, suddenly shouted.

"Oh God, enemy planes! The radar detected enemy planes! They...are flying towards us!"

damn it! In his heart, Bernard cursed the traitorous Prime Minister Darlan who sent him to die. Just as he was about to control the plane to lower its altitude, Sergeant Muller shouted again.

"Oh my god, there are so many of them! There are 30, no, 50, no... more, damn it, do the Americans need to use so many planes to deal with one of our planes?"

"What? There are more than 50?" Second Lieutenant Bernard was stunned, and soon understood what was going on. "They are not here to deal with us, they are going to bomb the 20th and 21st Task Forces! Send a telegram quickly and tell them that the Americans are coming to bomb again!"

News that the U.S. Grand Fleet had once again dispatched an air strike group quickly reached the guided missile battleship "Gneisenau" via radio waves.

"Admiral," Rear Admiral Meyer, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Fleet of the European Community Combined Fleet and Chief of Staff of the 20th Task Force, walked into the office of Commander Admiral Leifman, "Fifteen minutes ago, Hawkeye 10 reported It is discovered that the US fleet is sending carrier-based aircraft, and it is expected to arrive in one to one and a half hours!”

Admiral Leifman looked up at the clock on the bulkhead, "It will be 4 p.m. in one and a half hours... The Americans picked the time really well!"

"Admiral, this time the Americans may choose our battleships and missile ships as the main targets."

"How many Fokker 636s and Fw190s can still fly now?"

"There are 145 Fokker 636s and 112 Fw190s." Major General Meyer answered.

Task Force 21 originally had about 248 carrier-based aircraft (excluding the two submarine hunting groups), of which 128 were the commonly used Fokker 636. Task Force 20 has 2 aircraft carriers (two Kesselrings of the 4th Fleet) and 80 commonly used carrier-based aircraft, including 64 Fokker 636s and 16 Fw190s (both Fw190TE reconnaissance bombers). . A total of 192 commonly used Fokker 636s and 144 commonly used Fw190s. However, after several rounds of fierce naval and air battles, only 257 fighter planes were left flying - this number included all reserve aircraft.

"All take off!" Admiral Leifman said, "All fighters take off with full fuel and prepare to fight enemy aircraft!"