The Rise of the Third Reich

On the morning of March 17, the U.S. Task Force 19, led by the flagship heavy cruiser USS Wichita, was slowly advancing westward along the coast of Panama at a speed of 12 knots.

The reason why the speed is so slow is that there are three Borg-class escort carriers in the fleet with a maximum speed of only 18 knots. Due to their existence, Task Force 19 could only advance slowly. From setting sail from Panama City at 7 o'clock last night to 10 o'clock this morning, we only traveled 180 nautical miles in 15 hours. We have just left the Gulf of Panama not long ago.

"Commander, B24 has discovered the Japanese fleet. It is in the S1 waters, about 600 nautical miles away from us."

The communications staff of Task Force 19 reported the intelligence just received to the commander, Rear Admiral Smith, at 10:12 a.m.

"S1 sea area?" Major General Smith looked at the chart, "We are almost reaching El Salvador... What do the Japanese want to do? Go to El Salvador to fight with the United Fruit Company?"

The Republic of El Salvador is also one of the "banana republics" in Central America controlled by the United States. Although it has joined the Allied Powers group, no one in the country really wants to go to war with Germany and Japan, and of course there is no armament. If the Japanese landed there, probably only the United Fruit Company's farms would be able to resist - by the way, the Americans' United Fruit Company owns millions of acres of land in several banana republics and also operates, railroads, shipping, docks , telephone, telegraph, broadcasting, publishing, power generation, beverages, sugar refining, wood processing, etc., and there are mercenaries to protect all this wealth. In fact, it was the American version of the "East India Company". If the Japanese wanted to land there, it would be this big fruit-selling company that would fight them. But even if Japan defeated the United Fruit Company, could they still stop the U.S. military from counterattacking from the Caribbean?

"It can't be El Salvador," said Captain Stanup Lin, chief of staff of the 19th Task Force. He was a naval pilot and once served as the captain of the Hornet's carrier-based air wing. "It should be to bomb the Panama Canal... now They are only 700 nautical miles away from the Panama Canal, and the Japanese carrier-based aircraft have a relatively long range, so they should be able to launch an attack. "

700 nautical miles is almost 1,300 kilometers. Whether it is Zero 52, Comet ship explosion or Tianshan ship attack, it can basically be obtained.

Since the emergence of a bunch of high-performance fighters such as the P51, P47, F4U and F6F, Japanese aircraft in the Pacific no longer have any performance advantages to speak of. The only thing that is sure to overwhelm American aircraft is their larger range.

In addition, the Zero's low-altitude performance still has certain advantages. Except for the shore-based P51 and the ship-based F6F, which can compete with the Zero at low altitudes, other types of fighters are no match.

"But the Japanese will attack us first!" Major General Smith shook his head. "We are now a target. As long as the Japanese reconnaissance planes find us..."

I don’t know if it was because of the crow’s mouth. As soon as Major General Smith finished speaking, the radar officer of the Wichita loudly reported: “Sir, the radar has detected an enemy aircraft, one in number, altitude 6,000.”

Major General Smith and Colonel Lin looked at each other. Colonel Lin said: "Major General, Japan has a very fast carrier-based dive bomber. Their attack group may arrive in two and a half hours."

He is talking about the Comet carrier-based dive bomber. After installing the BMW801 series air-cooled engine that is imitated or produced by the French Land God Company, the maximum speed of this aircraft can still reach more than 520 kilometers per hour when fully loaded with bombs. If the bomb is thrown away, the speed of the Comet ship will be as high as 580 kilometers/hour, which is only 31 kilometers/hour slower than the American F6F, and even 15 kilometers/hour faster than the Zero 52.

Therefore, this high-speed Comet carrier-based dive bomber has become another trump card of the Japanese combined fleet after the Zero fighter. At 10:18 a.m. on March 17, it was discovered that the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft of the US 19th Task Force was also a Comet carrier-based crit aircraft (a reconnaissance type).

"Your Excellency, Commander, a reconnaissance plane has discovered a US aircraft carrier, 3 light aircraft carriers, 3 cruisers and 6 destroyers near the Gulf of Panama!"

Jisaburo Ozawa, who had a good sleep last night and was now full of energy, showed disappointment when he heard the news.

Although the Panama War has not officially started yet, there are unexpected things happening one after another.

The first was that an American fleet entering the Caribbean did not pass through the Panama Canal according to the Japanese schedule.

Then the U.S. military in Panama did not send P51 escort B-17s, B-24s and B-25s to bomb according to the principle of "discover first, attack first" as Ozawa imagined...at least not yet.

And now, Comet reconnaissance bombers have discovered three American light aircraft carriers outside the Gulf of Panama!

"It should be the Borg class, or it may be the Independence class." Furumura Keizo said, "Commander, are you going to dispatch carrier-based aircraft?"

Ozawa Jisaburo was a little worried. This time the Americans seemed to behave a little strangely!

"Have you found any enemy-seeking planes in other directions?" Ozawa Jisaburo not only sent out one Comet, but 18 Comets to conduct a careful search around hundreds of nautical miles.

"No," Furumura said, "but the Comet aircraft heading northeast and due east was intercepted by US military aircraft and returned without success."

The current location of Japan's First Fleet is relatively close to the Central American coastline, with a straight-line distance of only three to four hundred kilometers. Therefore, the Comet aircraft sent for reconnaissance in the east and northeast were intercepted by US shore-based aircraft deployed in Nicaragua and Honduras.

"What plane was intercepted?" Ozawa asked.

"It's a P40," Furukura replied, "It should be a U.S. Army aircraft. Commander, would you like to send a few more Comets?"

Ozawa Jisaburo was silent for a moment and nodded, "Send two more planes and let the Zeros escort them. We must search the west coast of the Caribbean Sea so that I can rest assured."

Japan's First Mobile Fleet is now located in a very special sea area. The narrow Central American Corridor separates the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Without the Panama Canal, the U.S. fleet cannot travel to and from both sides of Central America. But American carrier-based aircraft can come, so Ozawa Jisaburo sent a Comet aircraft to search this morning.

"Your Excellency, Commander, are we going to send carrier-based aircraft to bomb the US aircraft carrier now?" Furumura Keizang asked again.

"Now we will sail south for 2 hours at a speed of 25 knots." Ozawa Jisaburo said, "Then the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Air Forces will send out two attack waves. The first attack wave will be composed of the Comet ship and Zero The target is the U.S. aircraft carrier; the second attack wave is composed of the Tianshan attack wave, 45% of the aircraft carry torpedoes, 40% of the aircraft carry bombs, and 15% of the Tianshan attack wave carry flares, and the target is the Panama Canal lock! "

Going south at 25 knots will cover 50 nautical miles in 2 hours. If the U.S. fleet stays put, the distance between the two sides can be shortened to 50 nautical miles at most, and the distance between the First Mobile Fleet and Panama has also been shortened to 50 nautical miles.

In this way, the first attack wave can fly 550 nautical miles (about 1,000 kilometers) to attack the US fleet. The second attack wave can fly 650 nautical miles (about 1,200 kilometers) to attack the Panama Canal locks.

In addition, time and weather are also factors Ozawa Jisaburo considers. It's 10:20 am now. If the second attack wave is released after 3 hours (the first attack wave should start to be released after 2 hours), taking into account the time of takeoff and formation, when the second attack wave flies to the Panama Canal, it will be almost 7 pm .

In the 10-0 degree north latitude area where day and night are relatively even, it is already dark at this time. Therefore, the attack on the Panama Canal was considered a night attack. It is understandable how difficult it is to find the locks of the canal at night and to drop bombs at ultra-low altitude.

However, in this time and space, the Japanese Navy has not suffered the fiasco at Midway or the attrition of Guadalcanal, and most of the older generation of flying elites are still there. Therefore, such a difficult attack can be completed, and only in this way can the canal locks be blown up by surprise.

Jisaburo Ozawa paused and then said: "Notify Captain Hersman again and ask him to arrange for Ju288 to attack the Panama Canal Zone from a high altitude around 6:30 tonight!"

Using the Ju288 to raid the Panama Canal was a long-established plan, and Japan and Germany had already negotiated specific plans. A group equipped with Ju288 bombers has long been deployed to Guyana and can attack the Panama Canal at any time. However, the bomb will definitely not hit the target, because the Americans have deployed night combat models of P47 and P38 in the canal zone. Both of these aircraft have powerful firepower and extremely superior high-altitude performance. They pose a considerable threat to the Ju288 and can often force the Ju288 to throw away its bombs and escape.

Ozawa's request for the Ju288 deployed in Guyana to attack immediately was actually the result of careful calculation.

According to the results of the war game conducted by the Combined Fleet Command, when the Ju288 attacks at dusk and close to night, the U.S. military in Panama will definitely send day-type P47s and night-type P38s to intercept at the same time.

When the Japanese Tianshan attack planes attacked, it should be the time when the American P47 returned to land. At this time, most US military airports in the Panama Canal Zone will turn on searchlights to help the P47 land.

In this way, these airports will become targets for Japanese Tianshan attack aircraft attacking from ultra-low altitudes!