The Rise of the Third Reich

"Sir, telegram from European Combined Fleet Command: Operation 'Amazon Queen' begins now."

A fleet staff officer handed the telegram just received to Admiral Helmut Haye on the "Zeppelin" aircraft carrier. The latter is currently the commander of the 1st Fleet under the European Combined Fleet, and also serves as the commander of the 10th Task Force.

The current European Combined Fleet has a total of 9 squadrons. Among them, the 9th Fleet is stationed in the Far East and its headquarters is located in the Japanese Kingdom of Vietnam (this country is a puppet state established by Japan after occupying French Indochina. The ultimate goal is of course Japan Cam Ranh Bay (Vietnam Union); the 8th Fleet is stationed in the Indian Ocean, with its headquarters in Mumbai; the 7th Fleet is stationed in the Mediterranean, with its headquarters in Piraeus near Athens, Greece; the 6th Fleet is responsible for the Baltic Sea, North Sea and Norwegian Sea, The headquarters is located in the port of Kiel, Germany; the 5th Fleet is responsible for the Caribbean and the waters near Guyana, and the headquarters is located in Cayenne, Guyana; the 4th Fleet is responsible for the North Atlantic, and the headquarters is located in Port Heroes, Azores; the 3rd Fleet The fleet is responsible for the South Atlantic, and its headquarters is located in Puyala, Cape Verde Islands; the 2nd Fleet and the 1st Fleet are the mobile forces of the European Combined Fleet and are also the main forces. Large fleet aircraft carriers and main battleships are basically placed here. Among the two fleets, the home port of the 2nd Fleet is in Brest, France, and the homeport of the 1st Fleet is in Gibraltar, Spain.

However, if the European Community wants to launch an offensive in South America, it will not work if the home ports of the two mobile fleets are located in Europe. Gibraltar is more than 3,100 nautical miles away from the Caribbean Sea, and Brest is more than 3,300 nautical miles away. Even if it travels in a straight line at a high speed of 20 knots, it will take several days for the fleet to rush to the war zone (the Atlantic battlefield is full of American submarines, and it is impossible to travel in a straight line, so it actually takes longer). This is a big delay. .

Therefore, to start a war in the Caribbean, the home port of the mobile fleet must be moved to South America. Guyana, which was under German control, did not have a suitable place to establish a home port for the Grand Fleet - although the three strongholds of Cayenne, Paramaribo and Georgetown had ports, these ports were all on the Atlantic coast, and there were no bays or wide rivers. Anchor the Grand Fleet.

Moreover, these three places are too close to US-controlled Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago, and are easily vulnerable to night attacks by B-17s and B-24s. Therefore, Kesselring and Lütjens only placed a patrol group, lightning strike group, submarine group, shore-based aviation and shore artillery units in Guyana (now the European Community Navy has an independent submarine command, all responsible for breaking diplomatic relations. All submarines are under its direct jurisdiction, but the submarines whose main tasks are anti-ship and reconnaissance form a submarine brigade, which is under the jurisdiction of each command fleet) as the main force of the 5th Fleet.

Therefore, if Germany wants to make major moves in South America and the Caribbean, it must find a large home port for the main force of the European Combined Fleet (1st Fleet and 2nd Fleet). The Port of Belém, located at the mouth of the Tocantins River in the Amazon estuary region, is probably the only suitable port.

Although the Port of Belém is not at the mouth of the Amazon River, it has always been a maritime trade transit port in the Amazon River Basin. Agricultural products from the Amazon Basin are exported to all parts of the world through this port. Therefore, the port facilities of Belem Port are relatively good. The total length of the terminals in the port is more than 1,500 meters, with 9 general cargo terminals, 1 grain terminal and 1 oil tanker terminal. The maximum water depth of the port is 9.2 meters, which is enough to berth large surface ships.

In addition, the Port of Belém is an inland river port. Outside the port is the very wide estuary of the Tocantins River (tens of kilometers wide), which is equivalent to a large bay, enough to "swallow" the entire European Combined Fleet. At the same time, as long as dozens of kilometers of anti-submarine nets are deployed at the mouths of rivers and carefully patrolled by submarines and seaplanes, sneak attacks by U.S. submarines can be avoided.

Moreover, the distance between Belem Port and the Caribbean Sea is just right, about 1,000 nautical miles. The distance is far enough for the American B-17s and B-24s. For a fleet advancing at a speed of 20 knots, even taking into account anti-submarine routes, it can reach the front line in 70-80 hours.

Therefore, capturing Belen is the first step to attack the United States mainland from the Caribbean Sea - even if it does not reach the end, the strategic significance of capturing Belen is unquestionable!

Therefore, after the German General Staff of the Wehrmacht was convinced that Japan and the United States would engage in a desperate battle in the Hawaiian Islands, they immediately formulated the "Operation Amazon Queen" plan aimed at seizing Belem Port and controlling the Amazon River estuary area.

"Okay," Admiral Helmut Heyer took the telegram, read it, and then ordered, "give orders to the 10-4 Heavy Cruiser Group and the 10-9 Amphibious Assault Group that the landing operation will begin now. At the same time, the ship The aircraft is ready to attack!"

The operation to seize Belem was not easy, because the port of Belem was a port tucked inland, 100 kilometers away from the mouth of the Tocantins River. The 10-9 Amphibious Assault Group, responsible for the landing, and the 10-4 Heavy Cruiser Group, responsible for covering the landing, must risk going deep into the river mouth, and may be attacked by torpedo boats and mines. And the whole process is estimated to take several days or even a week!

In this process, it is hard to say whether the U.S. Navy will rush out from the Caribbean Sea to intervene.

Therefore, the main force of Task Force 10 must remain vigilant at all times and prepare for a decisive battle in the air and sea!

…

"Mr. President, our embassy in Brazil reports that a German fleet has entered the Tocantins River and is heading towards the port of Belem. In addition, this morning, German carrier-based aircraft dropped hundreds of thousands of leaflets over the city of Belem."

In the Cabinet Meeting Room of the White House, Secretary of State Cordell Hull was reporting to Roosevelt on the situation in Brazil.

"Do you know the content of the leaflets?" Roosevelt asked, taking a puff of Camel cigarettes.

"It's about the Amazon Republic. The Germans claim to be liberators, and the purpose of the invasion is to return the land plundered by the whites to the Indians and Indo-Europeans. So they will support an Amazon National Party to establish a country representing the interests of the Amazon nation in the Amazon River Basin and Guyana in northern Brazil. In addition, the Germans also promised to divide the land in the Amazon River Basin equally between the Indians and Indo-Europeans..."

Roosevelt took a few more puffs of cigarettes, and then looked at Admiral William Leahy. The latter smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. President, the main force of the navy is now near the Hawaiian Islands, and no troops can be withdrawn to support Brazil."

Although the strength of the US Navy is very strong, the current European navy is not vegetarian. Whether it is battleships or large fleet aircraft carriers, they are ahead of the United States in quantity and quality.

Moreover, Europe's shipbuilding capacity is not much worse than that of the United States. Now the three "cheap ships" represented by the "Kesselring" class light aircraft carrier, the "Munich" class anti-aircraft cruiser and the 1936 D-type destroyer are accelerating mass production.

If the number of ships is to be competed, Europe will not suffer as much as Japan!

In addition, in the two decisive aspects of carrier-based aircraft and carrier-based aircraft pilots, there is almost no gap between Europeans and Americans.

Now the main carrier-based fighters of the United States, F4U and F6F, have no advantage over the European Fw-190T and Fokker Zero D.

And the United States now has about 4,000 carrier-based aircraft pilots (captains), who are the elite of the aviation force carefully cultivated since the outbreak of the war.

The number of pilots who can fly carrier-based aircraft in Europe is estimated to be no less than 2,000... This is only the number of German carrier-based aircraft pilots, without the unreliable calculation of British pilots, otherwise the number will be around 2,500.

Although there are not as many as the United States (the United States has more oil and no land battlefield, so most of the excellent pilots flying single-engine aircraft can be put on board), Europe has Ju288 and various remote-controlled anti-ship glide bombs/missiles, and the anti-ship means are much more powerful than dive bombers and torpedo planes.

So without concentrating the main force of the navy, William Leahy and Ernest King did not dare to fight a decisive battle with the European Combined Fleet.

"Then we should at least make sure to keep the Germans out of the Caribbean, right?" Roosevelt did not dare to make too high demands now. After all, his presidency was almost over, and he was satisfied to ensure that Japan was defeated before leaving office. Therefore, in the Caribbean direction, defense is still the main focus.

"Yes, Mr. President," Ernest King replied, "Although Belem can be used to station a large fleet, its infrastructure is poor and it will take several months to build it up before it can become a base for a decisive battle. In addition, Germany will need time to deal with the Soviet Union. So we believe that the final decisive battle in the Caribbean-Atlantic battlefield will take place in 1945-1946." Roosevelt thought to himself: Thank God, he will no longer be the President of the United States by then! "Can we win?" Roosevelt asked. "Yes!"

"What?"

"Battleships!" Ernest King said, "Five Montana-class battleships under construction and six Iowa-class battleships!"

"Oh?" Roosevelt put out his cigarette butt in a ceramic ashtray, "I thought the current navy was centered on aircraft carriers."

"Mr. President," Ernest King explained, "before the Battle of Christmas Island, most naval personnel thought so. But in the Battle of Christmas Island, our fleet was left there for the Japanese planes to bomb, and we ended up exchanging dozens of ships that could be produced quickly for hundreds of Japan's best pilots. The result of this battle showed that relying solely on aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft could not defeat a surface fleet with powerful anti-aircraft firepower, but would instead cause a large loss of valuable carrier-based aircraft pilots. Therefore, the Navy believes that battleships are not outdated, and as long as they have sufficient anti-aircraft cover, they are still a deadly weapon. In 1945-1946, we will rely on six powerful Iowa-class battleships and five even more powerful Montana-class battleships to defeat Germany!"