The Rise of the Third Reich

"Your Excellency, Marshal, the situation here in Guyana is very simple right now. There is no way to fight and there is no one to build the roads."

The one who was complaining to the feared Marshal Kesselring was General Nicholas von Falkenhorst. He commanded the invasion of Guyana (Dutch Guiana) and the subsequent occupation of French Guiana and British Guiana.

After capturing British and French Guiana, he was promoted to General of the Army and became commander of the European forces in Guyana (the three Guyanas were merged to form the Republic of Guyana).

However, as a commander, he did not have many troops under his command. Before Marshal Kesselring arrived, the only European troops stationed in Guyana were the German 8th and 9th Mountain Divisions and the 950th Gurkha Infantry Regiment (recruited from prisoners of war). Spain's Blue Division, Italy's 1st "Toronfes" Mountain Division, SS-Portuguese Regiment (Portugal is still a neutral country, but has sent volunteers), French Foreign Legion 5th Infantry Regiment (Indochina Regiment), etc. A bunch of motley crew.

The total strength is only 50,000, of which two German mountain divisions and one Italian mountain division each have less than 8,000 men (both have only 2 regiments). The 950th Regiment, the Portuguese Regiment and the 5th Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion each have There are 3,000 people, and the Spanish Blue Division has about 20,000 people, which is the main force of the European coalition in Guyana.

The small number of soldiers is not the most helpless thing for General Falkenhorst. What makes him most helpless is that he seems to have nothing to do in South America - he has no way to attack Venezuela, and he does not seem to need to defend the Americans. Attack from Venezuela.

"It is impossible to attack at all. We and the American ground forces have the same problem. There is no way to attack. We can only stare at it from hundreds of kilometers away! And we do not have enough labor to build roads for the army to pass. "

After General Falkenhorst invited Kesselring into the newly prepared South American Front Headquarters (which is located in the New Amsterdam Fortress near Paramaribo, the capital of the Republic of Guyana), he pointed to the large military map and said: " Because there are almost no roads from Georgetown (formerly the capital of British Guyana) to the city of Guyana in Venezuela, which is more than 500 kilometers away and is covered with forests and plateaus. Even if we take the city of Guyana, it will be of little use. From there to the oil-producing area of ​​Venezuela, that is, between Lake Maracaibo, there are still 900 kilometers. Most of the road is in the tropical savanna. Near Lake Maracaibo, it is blocked by the dangerous Merida Mountains. , very difficult to pass.

Moreover... the Americans are very concerned about the gains and losses in the Lake Maracaibo area, and have stationed heavy troops at various passes in the Merida Mountains. Therefore, it is impossible for us to capture Lake Maracaibo from land. "

"We can't go...then will the Americans come over?" Marshal Kesselring asked, looking at the map.

"Normally not." General Falkenhorst shrugged. "Is there anything in Guyana that attracts Americans? Although there is gold, bauxite, diamonds, manganese, molybdenum, copper, tantalum and many more. non-ferrous metals and rich forest resources. But the United States does not lack these things. Their local resources are very rich, and they also need Canada and Central America. In addition, other countries in South America will not cut off trade with the United States. "

Marshal Kesselring nodded. He also knew the behavior of a bunch of great people in South America. Moreover... Americans hold the oil that every country in South America needs!

Currently, about 350 million tons of oil are dug out in the world every year, of which 260 million tons are controlled by the United States, while Germany only controls more than 40 million tons. Before the British mainland surrendered, these more than 40 million tons could still meet the needs of Europe under German control, but now that there is another Britain, the oil supply has once again become tight.

According to the plans of the German General Administration of Arms and the Ministry of Economics, the tight oil supply caused by the surrender of the British mainland will not be significantly relieved until at least 1944 - because of the investment and construction of oil tanks by the European Community countries in Iraq (including Kuwait), Persia and Saudi Arabia. New oil fields will not be put into production until the second half of 2043. The synthetic gasoline plant opened using Lviv's coal resources will not be put into use until early 2044.

By 1944, Germany's controlled oil production (including synthetic fuel) will increase to about 50 million tons. But this can only meet the economic and war-maintenance needs of the European Community countries, and there is still no share that can satisfy South America.

Under such circumstances, even if the South American countries wanted to embrace Germany's lap, Hitler and Hessmann would not dare to have them. This is also the reason why countries such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal and Turkey can continue to remain neutral.

"But we still have to do something..." Marshal Kesselring crossed his arms and said, "Because now is a critical moment in the Pacific battlefield! The Americans have given up on the strategy of being number one in Europe, and they are redeploying the warships they continue to produce. To the Pacific. If we do nothing, it will be difficult for the Japanese to survive until 1945. Nicholas, is there anything we can do now?"

"We may be able to attack the Trinidad and Tobago region..." General Falkenhorst thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Trinidad and Tobago is the key to seizing Venezuela, and the fight for The key for Trinidad and Tobago is air superiority.

But the Americans deployed many aircraft there, maybe 1,000! These include a large number of P51s, P47s and P38s, so we have no air superiority in the Caribbean battlefield. "

The fighters currently used by the Luftwaffe/Naval Aviation to support their appearance are still Fw-190 series fighters, Fokker Zero D-type fighters and He219 training fighters. These three main models are not weak, and there is no big problem against the American P51, P47 and P38. But there is no overwhelming advantage, and the two sides are only half-matched.

On the battlefield near the Caribbean, because American aircraft have an overwhelming numerical advantage, air superiority is basically on the side of the United States. German aircraft rarely penetrated deep into the skies over Trinidad and Tobago, but American P51s and P47s often covered B-17s to drop bombs at Paramaribo.

The German army's main airport and supply port in Guyana were located near Cayenne, the former capital of French Guiana, which was far away from Trinidad and Tobago due to American air strikes.

After listening to the situation introduced by General Falkenhorst, Marshal Kesselring finally smiled and nodded, saying: "I know what to do. I think we can scare Roosevelt and make him think that we will soon." Attacking Trinidad and Tobago."

"Marshal, what can you do?" Falkenhorst asked.

Kesselring said with a smile: "I have a Me262, and there is also a large airport in Cayenne for the Me262 to take off."

If there is any ace in the hands of the German Air Force that can crush its opponents, it is undoubtedly the jet aircraft!

According to intelligence provided by the British, Americans now also know about jet engines, but in the race to develop jet aircraft, the Americans lag far behind Germany and Britain.

The Germans tested the world's first jet aircraft, the He-178, in 1939, and the British tested the E.28/39 jet aircraft in May 1941. The Americans did not complete the first test flight of their first jet aircraft, the XP-59A, until October 2, 1942.

The prototype No. 1 Me262 jet fighter that could be used in actual combat successfully flew in 1941, and in November 1942, the first mass-produced Me262A-1a was launched.

At the same time, the EK262 experimental flight team, captained by Captain Nowotny, a comrade of Hessman Jr., was also formally established.

By March 1943, the Luftwaffe had 40 Me-262A-1a used for experimental flights, and 6 experienced pilots among them were able to fly the Me-262 jet fighter in combat.

…

"You want to mobilize 4 Me262s to Cayenne?"

Hessmann soon received a telegram from Kesselring from the New Amsterdam Fortress. By this time, he had returned to the post of Chief of General Staff.

"Franz, what do you think?" he asked Marshal Halder, the first munitions director who had just returned from England, "Is it time to expose the Me262?"

"It always needs to be exposed!" Halder thought for a while and said, "And we also obtained another jet engine design from the British... It is said to be very excellent and has great reference value. I think it will be published soon. There are better models out there.”

Historically, the British's achievements in the field of jet engines were not inferior to those of Germany, and their development route was not exactly the same as Germany's. Germany mainly takes the route of "axial flow" jet engines, while the UK takes the route of "centrifugal" jet engines. Both have their own advantages (because there are no restrictions on rare metals, the performance of German jet engines is better now than in history) and they can learn from each other.

Therefore, after acquiring the relevant British technology, Germany (theoretically a joint research and development between Germany, France and Britain) will definitely be able to come up with a better jet engine in the near future, and with a better engine, the performance of the Me262 will also be better. Big improvement. Therefore, there is no fear of exposing this secret weapon, and the Americans are too behind in this regard and it will be difficult to catch up.

"Okay, let the Air Force use Fokker transport aircraft to send 4 Me262s and 4 pilots and corresponding crew members to Cayenne." Hersman said, "Let them put them into actual combat as soon as possible. I think... this should attract enough people." Eyeballs!"