The Rise of the Third Reich

Just when the plane driven by Kennedy Jr. was hit and crashed into the sea, Hersman Jr. had already arrived at the Buenos Aires military port in a Volkswagen 82 barrel truck, and the car drove onto a high ground. Little Hersman stood in the carriage, raised his telescope and began to observe the battle on the sea.

With the help of flares and searchlights, he quickly spotted a "small glider" spiraling down.

"Is it a remote-controlled gliding bomb? No, that's not right..." Little Hersman immediately rejected his idea, because remote-controlled gliding bombs or missiles usually follow the indicator lights. This is convenient for operators to find bombs or missiles in the air. And it's night now. Although there are searchlights and flares, the visibility is still not comparable to that during the day. If these gliding bombs are remotely controlled, the operators will definitely not be able to see them.

So... the Americans should be using radar-guided glide bombs!

But how did they put the fire control radar on the aircraft? Did they create miniaturized fire control radars and calculation computers? This is a bit troublesome.

Germany now has fire control radars and computers that can be used to calculate azimuth differences. Although they are both primitive and clumsy equipment, they are sufficient to support the radar guidance mode of the "Waterfall" missile. But the fire control radar used to illuminate the target and the missile itself is large, and the computer is also bulky.

Therefore, a set of "Waterfall" equipment needs to be transported by a fleet. This time the German Navy used several Fokker 42 transport aircraft to transport a "Waterfall" system (including two launchers) to Buenos Aires. Leith's. Therefore, it is impossible to install such equipment on an aircraft. If the United States develops an airborne radar-guided missile system, the situation in the war will be turned around...

"Camera!" Little Hersman couldn't understand, but this didn't stop him from taking pictures. A naval aviation sergeant who arrived with him in Buenos Aires handed the young Hersman a Leica camera.

Little Hersman took the camera, pointed it at the target in the air and took fierce shots. Not only did he take pictures of the "Bat" gliding bomb, but he also took pictures of the PB4Y-1 bomber that dropped the bomb, and even took a picture of a "Bat" mounted bomber. "Pictures of airplanes with glide bombs.

…

"Is this an American radar-guided glide bomb?"

On the day after the "Buenos Aires Bombing", Imperial Marshal Hersmann obtained photos taken by German naval and air force officers (not just little Hersmann) at the scene. Looking at the thick and short "little glider" in this photo, I try to recall the immature guided weapons developed by the United States in World War II. It seems that there is a gliding bomb called "Bat" that is claimed to be the world's first "fire and forget" actively guided weapon. It should be the thing in the photo.

However, Hessman is not worried about this "actively guided gliding bomb" at all, because he knew some knowledge about missile guidance technology in his previous life. We know that the "launch and forget" active guidance technology is very difficult and requires extremely superior radar and computer technology to be possible.

The radar and computer technology that Germany currently possesses cannot even achieve semi-active guidance. In the "Waterfall" missile system that uses radar guidance, it can only use two fire control radars to illuminate the target and missile respectively, and then use computers to control the missile according to the two targets. The radar observation results are calculated according to a certain formula.

The American "Bat" guided bombs using radar active guidance technology should be very primitive and immature, but they still have certain reference value.

"Did you get live ammunition?" Hersman asked Navy Commander-in-Chief Raeder while looking at the photos.

"Two of them were caught," Redl said. "The disassembly has been completed and will be transported to the missile test center in Peenemünde tomorrow using Fokker 42 for research. If the cost of this weapon is not very expensive, I hope Can be counterfeited.”

The counterfeiting suggestion was not put forward by Redl, but by several air force and naval aviation experts in Buenos Aires, including little Hersman, pilot officers who were working hard on the front line. , the value of the "Bat" gliding bomb was immediately apparent. Although its lethality is not very high, and its hit rate as a guided weapon is not high, it can attack at night, and its total combat weight does not appear to be very large. The requirements for the aircraft it carries should not be high. Seaplanes like the Bv138 should also be able to carry two. Even if you can't sink any important targets, it's still good to scare the enemy.

"Are the losses of the New Asbanian Navy heavy?" Hessman asked casually.

"It's not very big," Redel frowned, "but the hit rate of this kind of American gliding guided bomb is not low. About 20 bombs hit the ships of the New Asbania Navy, but The damage caused was not very large. Only one light cruiser, four destroyers and one transport ship were seriously damaged, and the other ships were only slightly damaged."

The lighter damage to the New Asbania Fleet is related to the structure and impact angle of the "Bat" gliding bomb. This glide bomb does not have an armor-piercing warhead, and it will not dive to attack the ship's deck, so it often hits the ship's strong side armor belt or the side of the turret, conning tower, or some less important superstructure. . Although it looks quite impressive when it explodes, it will not cause a fatal blow to the ship.

…

"Great, great, publish these photos immediately and announce our victory in the air raid on Buenos Aires!"

Washington, White House. U.S. President Wallace also obtained a large number of photos at this time, all taken by bombers that attacked the Buenos Aires military port. The content is of course all about the New Asbanian ships on the sea being shrouded in flames. To an expert, a picture like this does not represent a great victory, as one must consider what ammunition hit the target.

If more than 20 aerial torpedoes or 1,000-pound armor-piercing bombs hit the battleships of New Asbania, Juan Peron's navy will almost be finished. However, the "Bat" gliding bomb does not have that kind of destructive power, which means it just looks more lively.

But it is enough to use these hilarious photos to deceive American voters who are very unfamiliar with maritime warfare.

"In addition," Wallace added, "it is announced that the U.S. Army will soon liberate Santiago, the capital of Chile... This will be the beginning of the collapse of Peron's fascist empire! The United States will regain the initiative in South America!"

The Monroe Doctrine still has some market in the United States, and the American people have long been accustomed to treating South America as their own backyard. Therefore, as long as the Democratic government led by Wallace gains an advantage in South America, it will definitely boost the Democratic Party's electoral support.

"Yes, yes, sir."

Presidential Chief of Staff William Leahy, who reported the war situation to Wallace, repeatedly agreed.

In fact, he was not a pure soldier, because his military career ended once in April 1939 - when he reached the retirement age stipulated by the Navy, he resigned as Chief of Naval Operations. However, after retirement, he did not go home to report to his grandson. Instead, under Roosevelt's arrangement, he served as governor of Puerto Rico and ambassador to France. Both positions are civilian government appointees, and his current position as the Presidential Chief of Staff is not the Chief of the General Staff (different from the later Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), but the President’s personal representative on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. . Therefore, William Leahy is not a soldier without a political stance, but a Democratic politician in military uniform, so he must comply with the will of Democratic President Wallace.

"By the way, Mr. Kennedy's son has not been found yet?" Wallace suddenly remembered the disappearance of little Kennedy.

"Not yet." William Leahy shook his head regretfully. "Someone saw that his plane was shot down. He was probably either captured or died for his country."

"Oh." Wallace nodded, "Put this news out... let people know that the son of the Democratic vice presidential candidate died heroically in battle! But it can't be too deliberate, it should be natural. Is there any way?"

"Yes," William Leahy certainly knew how to establish war heroes - this was a means of military mobilization. "All the soldiers who lost their lives in the Buenos Aires air raid can be hailed as national heroes."

"Okay!" Wallace nodded, "That's it!"

General William Leahy stood up from his chair, picked up his white hat from the coffee table and put it on his head, then gave President Wallace a military salute, turned and left the President's Office.

At this time, in addition to President Wallace, there was also Harry Hopkins who had just returned from Rome.

President Wallace sighed and said to Roosevelt's think tank: "There are still a few days until the vote. Before then, we must hold high the flag of battle."

Harry Hopkins smiled tiredly. His health was almost as bad as Roosevelt's, and he knew he would have little role in the administrations of Wallace or Truman. Today he came to visit Wallace. In addition to reporting on the latest progress of the "peace movement" - in fact, there was no progress - he wanted to resign on the grounds of poor health.

"Of course, we must hold the battle flag high now," Harry Hopkins said, "but what about after the election? When can we put the battle flag down?"

Wallace shrugged: "That's Mr. Truman's business...but I don't think we need to put down the fighting flag."

"Oh." Harry Hopkins nodded with some disappointment. He is the one who knows the unspoken rules of domestic politics in the United States best - the choice is the last word! And whoever can play a key role in the general election is the leader of the party and will naturally be rewarded.

Therefore, given the huge role played by Wallace in this year's election, he will definitely have a prominent position in Truman's administration, either Secretary of State or Secretary of War (Secretary of the Army), and he will also be in Truman's administration. Exerting huge influence and becoming the de facto number two...