The Rise of the Third Reich

"Great." Roosevelt was obviously very satisfied with the arrival of B-29s. He nodded and said, "General, we need more B-29s. Before the end of June 1944, the Army Air Force should at least have them." Can 500 combat-ready B-29 bombers do it?”

"500? Or...the Army Air Force?" William Leahy was stunned for a moment. "Mr. President, where are we going to use B-29s to bomb? Are they taking off from Newfoundland to bomb the British mainland?"

The B-29 has a very long range, slightly exceeding the German Me264's range of more than 9,000 kilometers. But that is the ultimate range, and the combat radius after attaching bombs is usually around 3,000 kilometers. Even if we adopt the method of carrying less bombs and removing some self-defense weapons and armor to increase the range, bombing the British mainland, which is more than 3,000 kilometers away from Newfoundland, is still the limit.

"Of course not," Roosevelt shook his big head, "Britain is our ally after all. How can we kill the British people in occupied areas from the air? Moreover, the air defense forces in Europe are very powerful, and our B-29s will suffer heavy losses. of."

William Leahy breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked: "So where are we going to bomb? Is it the Hawaiian Islands?"

"No." Roosevelt looked at William Leahy with a question mark on his face, smiled slightly and said, "I want to bomb the oil fields controlled by Japan!"

"Bomb... bomb the oil fields controlled by Japan?" William Leahy's eyes widened, "Where did the plane take off from?"

"From Port Hedland in northwest Australia... Admiral, have you heard of this place?" Roosevelt laughed.

Of course William Leahy had heard of Port Hedland, an important stronghold of the US-Australian coalition forces in northwest Australia, which was almost as important as the Port of Darwin. And it is only 2,400 kilometers away from the Japanese-controlled Palembang Oil Field (the most critical oil field)! Completely within the ideal combat radius of the B-29 long-range bomber. In addition, almost all Japan's oil fields in Southeast Asia can be covered by the combat radius of B-29 bombers taking off from Port Hedland and Port Darwin!

In other words, the United States only needs to deploy a few hundred B-29 long-range bombers in northwest Australia, and it can drop 500-1,000 tons of bombs or solidification weapons every day over the Japanese's most precious oil fields.

In addition, the reconnaissance version of the B-29 long-range bomber taking off from northwest Australia can also be used to search for the Japanese fleet in the South China Sea. Although it is not convenient to use the B-29 to break the diplomatic relationship, it can telegraph the location of the fleet to the United States. Submarines (most of the submarines operating in the South China Sea also depart from Australia). This will greatly improve the efficiency of U.S. submarines in breaking diplomatic relations.

"Admiral, I think this is the Achilles' heel of the Japanese," Roosevelt continued. "B-29 bombings, searches, and the destruction of submarines will definitely significantly reduce the amount of oil Japan obtains from Southeast Asia, at least More than 80% reduction!”

Japan now has about 8 million tons of oil production per year in Southeast Asia. An 80% reduction would mean 6.4 million tons (a decrease of almost 100% in history). In this way, Japan's oil acquisition will drop significantly to less than 2 million tons. This is simply impossible to sustain a war!

"But Mr. President, the B-29 only has a maximum transit range of 9,654 kilometers, and the distance from the United States to New Zealand is more than 10,000 kilometers. It is difficult for the B-29 to reach it."

In this time and space, Japan performed mightily in the first two years of the Pacific War. Not only did it capture the Hawaiian Islands, but it also won successive victories in the South Pacific. The U.S.-Australian coalition's strongholds in the South Pacific have also been significantly reduced, and the only island that can accommodate B-29 takeoff and landing is New Zealand.

"Isn't there Christmas Island?" Roosevelt raised his eyebrows. "It is a very flat coral island, and there is a large airport built by the Japanese. As long as we can capture it, the B-29 will have a foothold." Yet?"

Fortunately, the Japanese have 731, otherwise they really would not be able to force the United States to attack the impregnable Hawaiian Islands - Americans never like to fight such tough battles with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Their style is to throw money at them and burn them with oil! Transport the B-29 thousands of miles to Australia, and at the same time load bombs, gasoline, parts, and everything else by ship. Regardless of the consumption on the road, just use B-29 to bomb the Japanese oil fields regardless of the cost.

Moreover, the B-29 also has three major advantages: high altitude, high speed and heavy firepower. The current main model of the Japanese cannot deal with it at all. They could only watch their precious oil fields being blown up. If the Japanese did not want to wait for death, they would have no choice but to take the risk and invade Australia. This played into Roosevelt's hands. After more than a year of operation, Australia's defense has become very stable. A large number of P-51s and P47s have been deployed to Australia. These two aircraft are not comparable to Japanese carrier-based aircraft. If Japan wants to take advantage of Australia, it will definitely lose very ugly.

"Admiral," Roosevelt asked, "are we confident that we can capture Christmas Island by early 1944?"

"That's no problem," Admiral Leahy replied. "The fighting from late September to the present not only cost Japan a lot of precious fuel, but also lost many very good pilots. This was very fatal to them. Strike, as long as we adhere to the correct tactics, Japan can only give up the North Pacific, and judging from the current situation, they are indeed shrinking. "

"Won't Japan train more pilots?" Roosevelt seemed a little unsure. "They have trained many good pilots, right?"

"Yes, but that is a thing of the past." Admiral Leahy said, "Our current tactics, in the final analysis, are to compete with Japan for fuel... Not only does dispatching a fleet burn a lot of fuel, but excellent pilots actually Burned with oil.

Except for a very few geniuses, for most pilots, success is just a matter of practice and flying more. 300 hours is just a chance to pass (not 100% qualified, a 50% pass rate is good), and another 200 hours of training with the team before going to the battlefield. If you want to go to the aircraft carrier, you will need at least 200 more hours of training. After becoming an official fighter pilot, there will be a lot of daily training and adaptation training (adapting to new aircraft types or new combat environments), so most of the truly outstanding pilots have experienced thousands of hours of flight training. and flight missions (not necessarily combat) of approximately the same duration...and every promotion in pilot training is accompanied by a considerable proportion of elimination rates. "

William Leahy smiled proudly: "So we can regard a truly excellent pilot as hundreds of thousands of gallons (Lehy said US gallons) of high-quality aviation gasoline (fighter pilots save some, bomber pilot training It consumes more fuel, which is about the same amount on average)... Japan has lost at least several billion gallons of aviation gasoline in the past less than a month. As long as we continue to burn it, Japan will definitely lose!"

What William Leahy said was a reality that the Japanese could not even imagine. The pilots they had lost in the past few weeks were worth at least 1 million tons of aviation gasoline. The experience of the pilots was gained in war, but the technology was. Burned by burning oil... and without oil, there is no technology. Without technology, the most you can gain is the experience of parachuting and being shot down, and you cannot become an ace.

One million tons of aviation gasoline is not a problem for the United States at all, but for Japan it is a loss that cannot be compensated in any case. For Germany now, one million tons of B4 or C3 gasoline means It is possible to capture Moscow and Stalingrad after next spring!

Therefore, while Hessmann agreed to provide Japan with 200 "Silver Reapers" and 2 Me262 jet fighters (the engines were also Rolls-Royce W1B), he refused to provide Japan with a large amount of fuel and only gave 2,000 tons. Aviation kerosene is used by the "Silver Death" and two Me262s.