The Rise of the Third Reich

As Japanese balloon bombs flew over Los Angeles, anti-aircraft guns manned by California National Guards roared for hours, knocking out tens of thousands of shells. According to subsequent investigations by the U.S. Army, most of the casualties and house destruction in Los Angeles were caused by the Americans' own anti-aircraft shells - the fuses of anti-aircraft shells are not 100% reliable, and there will always be some that fail to explode in the sky, and then It exploded when it hit the ground.

In short, because of the arrival of dozens of Japanese balloons hung with bombs, the American people in Los Angeles finally experienced the true taste of war.

Different from the situation in another time and space when the Americans strictly blocked the Japanese balloon bomb attack, the United States now has no way to completely block the news because Germany has many neutral allies, such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Switzerland, etc., among which Some countries have also established consulates in Los Angeles. Thanks to many diplomats who tipped off the news, by noon on the 23rd, the German High Command had basically figured out the general situation of what the Japanese called the "Sailboat Attack on the United States."

"600 balloons, 1,800 bombs and incendiary bombs caused chaos in Los Angeles and San Diego for half the night..."

Hersman threw the report sent by the Intelligence Bureau of the General Staff on the conference table and said with a half-smile: "Although this loss is insignificant to the United States, it is a good way to attract hatred... Al Bet, what do the Japanese want to do?”

The reason why this question was asked to Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Kesselring, is because the General Staff of the National Defense Forces has just received the outline of the "Yama Operation Plan" provided by Japan - Hiroshi Oshima specially selected the "Sailboat Attack on the United States" to achieve a great victory. On the day of , this top-secret plan was submitted, obviously to increase the chance of the plan being accepted by the German High Command.

"Your Excellency, Imperial Marshal, the Japanese have laid a big plan." Kesselring had already studied the general outline. He said, "They want to build an American encirclement network to trap the United States in North America."

Hitler, who had just returned from Fort Europa (the original Strasbourg), snorted contemptuously: "Their ideas are the same as ours, but how to do it? The Americans are now building aircraft carriers like crazy... …They can build an aircraft carrier faster than we can build a destroyer!”

Recently, the German intelligence agency and navy have not only detected many U.S. aircraft carriers under construction, but also discovered many already completed aircraft carriers - excluding old aircraft carriers that were in service before the United States entered the war and modified aircraft carriers obtained from the United Kingdom. It is confirmed that there are 3 Essex class ships in service, 4-5 Independence class ships, and an unknown number of 12,000-15,000 ton escort aircraft carriers!

According to reliable information provided by the British (Queen's British) Navy, Americans are currently building aircraft carriers using the "assembly line" and "mass production" approach, which is similar to building cars.

The Americans have designed several standardized aircraft carriers, among which the large aircraft carrier is the "Essex" class, the light aircraft carrier is the "Independence" class, and the escort aircraft carriers are the "Borg" class and "Casablanca" class.

The aircraft carrier is then broken down into many large components, and then subcontracted to domestic factories in the United States for mass production. After production, the shipyards assemble them.

Under normal circumstances, it takes one and a half to three months to assemble a "Borg"-class escort aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of 15,000 tons, a maximum speed of 18 knots, and a capacity of carrying 28 carrier-based aircraft!

Moreover, the Americans not only build aircraft carriers super fast, but their latest carrier-based fighter jets are also very powerful. The F4F, which was not widely used, has basically been eliminated, and the latest F4U and F6F are very difficult aircraft. The British Royal Navy has tested these two aircraft and believes that the F6F is better than the Fokker Zero in speed, climb, dive and It has great advantages in various performances such as firepower!

The F4U has very good high-altitude performance, which is enough to deal with the Fw-190T series of carrier-based aircraft, and can also be used to destroy the Ju288.

In addition, the F4U can also carry 500-1,000 pounds of bombs to attack surface ships. It is a carrier-based fighter-bomber with excellent performance. In actual combat, this is a very difficult aircraft because it can both air combat and Air strikes, you can also use height to avoid enemy fighter jets!

"Leader," Marshal Kesselring replied, "the Japanese Renshan plan proposed a concept of 'refueling tactics'."

"Gas?" Hitler couldn't understand. "Gasline, diesel or butter?"

"I don't know what kind of oil it is." Kesselin shook his head. "The general idea is to let the Americans gradually, rather than devote enough strength to the Pacific battlefield at once."

"Oh," Hitler nodded, "The Japanese think that if the Americans invest dozens of aircraft carriers in the Pacific at one time, they will definitely not be able to defeat them, so they want the United States to invest less at one time?"

"Yes, that's what it means." Kesselring said, "This is probably the key to victory in the Yamaha Operation Plan. The purpose of the Japanese's attack on the west coast of the United States with balloon bombs last night was not only to mobilize American aircraft for defense, but also to mobilize American aircraft for defense. And they also want to mobilize some of the newly commissioned US aircraft carriers to the Pacific, and then try to annihilate them all, so as to prevent the United States from building an aircraft carrier force that is too large to resist. "

“It’s a beautiful thought,” Navy Marshal Raeder commented, “but the Japanese may not be sure to annihilate all the American aircraft carriers transferred to the Pacific battlefield... At present, the United States can probably dispatch 15-20 aircraft carriers of various types (mainly escort aircraft carrier) to the Pacific Ocean."

"Yes, the Japanese think so too." Marshal Kesselring said, "So the Japanese hope that we can launch a naval campaign near the Caribbean Sea to attract some US aircraft carriers. At the same time, we will cooperate with them to attack the Panama Canal. "

"They want to wait for some U.S. aircraft carriers to pass through the Panama Canal and then destroy the canal's locks?" Redl asked.

"Actually, they hope to attack when the US aircraft carrier passes!" Kesselring said.

"Good idea!" Hessman nodded and asked Redel, "Marshal, does the Navy have the strength to cooperate with the Japanese army in the Caribbean?"

"Yes." Redl said, "Currently in the Atlantic Ocean, we have two Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers, three aircraft carriers converted from large cruise ships, and three converted from Essay-class battlecruisers (originally owned by the Netherlands) There are 8 large aircraft carriers including the Mackensen-class aircraft carriers (Markensen, Prince Friedrich, and Goltz), and there are also 12 escort aircraft carriers.

In addition, we also have many Ju288 bombers and Do217 bombers with powerful anti-ship capabilities. We also have a great advantage in the quantity and quality of battleships. Therefore, the Naval General Headquarters recommended seeking a fleet decisive battle in the first half of 1943. "

In fact, in terms of the quantity and quality of aircraft carriers, it is difficult to maintain the advantage of the European Combined Fleet. Excluding the aircraft carriers converted from cruise ships, the European Combined Fleet currently has only 5 large aircraft carriers, and there will be no large aircraft carriers in service in 43 years.

Because Germany has great advantages in remote-controlled gliding bombs (missiles) and high-altitude and high-speed bombers, it can still maintain its advantage in the Atlantic.

However, if the American "dumpling ship" does not stop the water and suffers no losses, it is difficult to say whether the European Combined Fleet can continue to control the Atlantic Ocean by 1944 or 1945.

Therefore, Admiral Redl still favors a decisive battle with the US Navy when the European Combined Fleet has the advantage.

…

"Where are these damn balloon bombs coming from?"

At the same time, U.S. President Roosevelt convened the heads of the Navy, Army, and Army Air Forces in the Oval Conference Room to discuss the issue of balloon bombs.

"Mr. President," replied Admiral Lacey, the President's chief of staff, "these balloon bombs may have come from Hawaii, or they may have come from Japanese ships... They may have taken advantage of high-altitude air currents in the Pacific. For motivation.”

"Do we have any way to defend ourselves?" Roosevelt asked. "We can't let them harass the West Coast endlessly, right?"

"Absolutely not!" said Army Chief of Staff Marshall. "According to intelligence, the Japanese have been engaged in research on bacterial weapons. If they release bacterial weapons to the west coast, they may cause huge casualties."

Roosevelt looked at Chief of Naval Operations Ernest.

"Mr. President," Ernest King said, "If we want to put an end to these balloon bombs, we must take back Hawaii! But... we don't have the power at the moment."

"How many aircraft carriers do we have?" Roosevelt asked, "including escort carriers and British carriers."

"Mr. President, there are now three Essex-class ships, five Independence-class ships, two Yorktown-class ships, and the Raider and Wasp." Ernest King said, "The British have Three aircraft carriers converted from cruise ships are now fighting for us, and there are 22 escort aircraft carriers. The total number is 35, but... there are only 3 Essex-class, 2 Yorktown-class, and 5 that can really be used for fleet decisive battles. The Independence-class aircraft carriers include the Raider and the Wasp, a total of 12 aircraft carriers. "

"Can we counterattack the Hawaiian Islands?" Roosevelt asked again.

"There are some difficulties," Ernest King replied. "The prerequisite for counterattacking the Hawaiian Islands is to gain control of the sea, and then a decisive battle between the aircraft carrier fleets must be fought. With only 12 aircraft carriers that can fight a decisive fleet battle, we do not have enough Defeat the Japanese navy and seize control of the sea near the Hawaiian Islands."

Admiral William Lacey added: "And we cannot use all of our aircraft carriers in the Pacific, because Germany is currently increasing its forces in Guyana, deploying many aircraft and ground troops, and is also wooing Brazil and Argentina."