The Rise of the Third Reich

"What? American bombers flew across the Atlantic and dropped bombs on Ireland?"

In the Chancellery, Hitler, who had just spent an hour chatting about world peace with Mussolini, the "peace messenger" who was about to fly to Washington, at Berlin's Tempelhof Airport, was shocked by the news reported by Hessmann.

"Do the Americans have ultra-long-range bombers that can bomb across the ocean?" Hitler quickly asked.

"It should be a B-29. It may be some improved model with increased range." Hersman said, "But they dropped the bomb in the farmland of County Mayo, Ireland, indicating that its range may not be enough to support it." Prolonged operations over the island of Ireland in search of more valuable targets.

In addition, the number of craters found was not large. This shows that the aircraft carries very little bombs, perhaps only a few hundred kilograms of bombs, and does not pose much of a threat. "

Adolf Hitler looked at Hersmann and sighed softly: "Marshal Reich, I think you know what a bargaining chip in diplomatic negotiations is, right?"

"Of course," Hessman nodded, "Of course I know! The Americans are showing off their capabilities to us, and it is necessary for us to retaliate!"

"The first thing is to ensure the absolute security of Europe!" Hitler pointed out seriously, "This is related to Germany's prestige."

"Prime Minister, there is no absolute security." Hersman dared not promise not to let the B-29 come again.

He told Hitler: "I have ordered the Navy to dispatch SP reconnaissance cruisers to the west coast of Ireland, and also asked the Air Force to deploy air defense warning radars in the west of Ireland."

Germany has already deployed radars on the island of Ireland. However, the German radars in Ireland are concentrated in the southwestern part of the island. They are mainly used to provide air defense warning for the Cork base. For Germany, the entire island of Ireland is also Only the base in Cork Bay is of any value, so there are not many radars and fighter planes deployed.

And because the war on the European continent, especially in Western Europe, has ended with the surrender of the British mainland. Therefore, the German Wehrmacht did not invest any more money in the air defense warning system in Western Europe-military funds are limited and must be spent wisely. It would cost a lot of money to build an air defense warning system that would cover Iceland all the way to Gibraltar. With this little money, it is better to invest in the Air Force to build a few more Me264s that can defeat Reaper 1B missiles.

Besides, from a military perspective, Ireland is not of much value, and using long-range heavy bombers to bomb Ireland is a complete waste.

As for the US carrier-based aircraft, it is impossible to get close, because there is a blockade composed of naval ships, reconnaissance aircraft and submarines from the Azores Islands in Iceland, and there is no possibility of being quietly broken through by the US Navy aircraft carrier fleet.

"Retaliation is necessary!" Hitler did not appear particularly annoyed. He said, "Roosevelt's purpose of sending B-29s to bomb Ireland should be to obtain favorable conditions in the peace talks. This shows that he really wants to negotiate with us."

"I understand," Hersman also agreed with Hitler's conjecture. "A brigade of Me264F long-range missile bombers has been deployed to the Azores, and can launch Reaper 1B missiles towards Boston as soon as the evening of September 20."

Launching Reaper 1B missiles from the air at a distance of 500 kilometers is a systematic project. In addition to the aircraft and missiles themselves as carriers, reconnaissance submarines and camouflaged radio navigation ships will also participate in the battle.

In order to ensure that the air-launched Reaper 1B missile can accurately hit the target city, the Me264 must launch the missile from a specific position - the specific position includes the altitude of the aircraft, the direction of the nose alignment and the location of the aircraft. The height and nose direction are easy to determine, but it is not easy to locate the position of the aircraft itself. There is no GPS positioning these days, so it is very common for planes to deviate during night flights.

In order to help the Me264 in the air locate the missile launch position at night, the German Air Force and Navy adopted X-beam navigation. Send 10 radio navigation ships (two navigation ships are not enough, because the transmission distance of the Lorenz beam is limited, and multiple navigation ships must transmit beams continuously) to send out two Lorens beams that intersect at a certain position at the designated location. The intersection point of the two beams is the position where the Me264 launches the missile. The aircraft will first fly along a beam and hear a specific series of sounds through the receiving device on the aircraft. When the plane reaches the rendezvous point, it will hear two specific sounds. At this time, you can find the right direction and height, and then launch the missile.

The missile will be guided by a simple navigation system and hit Boston after flying 500 kilometers. At the same time, the large observation submarine U-4001 will secretly sneak near Boston, dispatch several captured American OS2U "Kingfisher" seaplanes, and pretend to be US Coast Guard aircraft to approach Boston from ultra-low altitudes for observation.

Now a group of 36 Me264F long-range missile bombers has been deployed to the Port of Heroes Airport in the Azores Islands. However, the two camouflaged radio navigation ships (disguised as merchant ships of the neutral Roman Empire) and the U-4001 large reconnaissance submarine responsible for navigation are still there. It is not in place, so the American people in Boston need to wait patiently for a few more days before they can experience the power of German cruise missiles.

…

September 18, 1944 at 2 p.m.

On the tarmac of the large airport of the Port of Heroes Air Force Base, 3e264F long-range missile bombers have long been lined up, waiting to attack. Ground crew members belonging to the 1st Missile Aviation Regiment of the German Air Force drove a bomb/missile tractor and dragged the Reaper 1B air-launched cruise missile placed on a flatbed truck under the belly of the aircraft. Then raise the flatbed of the flatbed truck, then fix the missile on the electric rail launcher, unplug the safety pin on the missile, plug the line used to transmit the ignition signal into the dedicated electrical socket, and finally put a It is inserted into a socket on the missile with a special duct - this is used to transport exhaust gases generated by aircraft engines to preheat the missile.

Since this is the first actual combat application of air-launched cruise missiles in history, the German Air Force attaches great importance to it. Commander-in-Chief Marshal Kesselring and Chief of Staff General Jeshunek as well as the newly established Commander of the Missile Aviation Forces General Kolten We arrived at the Port of Heroes ahead of schedule.

At this time, the three of them were talking with Colonel Helmut Boller, the commander of the 1st Missile Aviation Regiment.

Colonel Helmut Poehler is a veteran bomber pilot and participated in the Scapa Flow bombing in the early days of the World War. At that time, he was the captain of a Ju88 squadron and personally flew a 500-kilogram bomb. The bombs were dropped on the British battleships.

However, Colonel Helmut Boller, who had rich combat experience, found the missile attack he was about to lead a bit boring.

If you launch a missile in the air 500 kilometers away from Boston and then leave, you will not see Boston being bombed, and you will probably not see an enemy plane. Such a mission is not an actual combat at all, but a training flight.

"Colonel, do you know what to do?" Marshal Kesselring asked.

"I know," Colonel Helmut Poehler said, "take off, then fly along the Lorenz beam, lower the altitude to 2000 meters when reaching the intersection of the two beams, and then aim at 95.86 degrees and shoot the Reaper 1B The missile can return."

"Air Marshal, this is a very safe mission. The location where the missile was launched is 500 kilometers away from the mainland of the United States and more than 200 kilometers away from Canada's Nova Scotia Peninsula. It is basically outside the detection range of the enemy's air defense early warning radar. , it is impossible to get lost with Lorenz beam navigation, so there is no need to fly in formation.”

The reason for not forming a formation is not only that combat operations are very safe, but also to increase the combat radius.

Because there is a distance of more than 3,200 kilometers from the Port of Heroes Airport to the "X" point where the missile is launched. For the Me264F that carries a 2.5-ton Reaper 1B cruise missile, it is definitely a very long distance. If the target of Me264F is New York, then point "X" is 3,400 kilometers away from Port of Heroes.

Therefore, the Me264F must save every drop of gasoline. Not only is the formation flying omitted, but all the machine guns and cannons on the aircraft are also removed. Of course, the gunner does not need to board the aircraft. The engine used by the aircraft does not have a turbocharger, which can reduce the empty weight by thousands of kilograms.

All the weight saved was used to carry gasoline. Not only were all the fuel tanks in the aircraft filled with fuel, but more than a dozen barrels of gasoline were also placed in the cabin. This will ensure that the aircraft has enough fuel to travel to and from point "X".

"The cruising speed of the Me264F can reach 400 kilometers/hour, and the voyage of about 3,200 kilometers takes eight hours," Colonel Helmut Poehler continued. "The Reaper 1B missile has a very fast speed, reaching 900 kilometers/hour. It is launched You’ll be over Boston in about 20 minutes.”

Marshal Kesselring nodded, then turned to the commander of the Missile Aviation Force, General Kolten, and said: "In other words, you can know whether the missile hit or not at most 8 and a half hours after the first Me264F takes off."

"Air Marshal," General Kolten replied very confidently, "there are still 30 minutes until the first Me264F takes off, so in 9 hours, you will definitely get the news that the missile hit the city of Boston."

"One hundred percent?" Kesselring asked.

"Yes!" Admiral Kolten nodded, "The Reaper 1B missile is extremely reliable, almost reaching a 100% failure-free rate, and its flight speed is very fast, up to 900 kilometers per hour, and it is almost impossible to be Interception."

"Okay!" Kesselin laughed, "Then Hans (General Jeshunek) and I will wait for the news in Heroes' Harbor!"