The Rise of the Third Reich

From the Valparaiso Bay in the distance, there was a faint sound of gunfire. After dozens of nautical miles, it was already as weak as thunder. This is the ship of the 56.1st Battle Patrol Group, the 56.2nd Heavy Patrol Group and the 56.8th Destroyer Group bombarding the New Asbania Navy's fort in Valparaiso Bay - Valparaiso was originally the commander-in-chief of the Chilean Navy. The home port of the Ministry and fleet is located. Now that the Chilean Navy Fleet has been reorganized into the New Asbania Navy Pacific Fleet, Valparaiso is naturally the location of the Pacific Fleet headquarters and home port.

However, the New Asbania Navy Pacific Fleet in the Port of Valparaiso disappeared long before the U.S. Navy arrived. Not even a single merchant ship or fishing boat remained inside, leaving only an empty harbor for the United States. Fleet bombardment.

The forts of the New Asbania Navy in Valparaiso Bay are also very old antiques. Although there are several 170mm caliber K18 cannons purchased from Europe, how can cannons of this level be installed? Can it deal with the American "Alaska" class battlecruisers (lead cruisers)? The latter's 305mm (12-inch) main gun can destroy the old coastal forts effortlessly.

After the New Asbania Navy's fort was destroyed, it was the landing formation of the 56th Task Force.

Although it cannot be compared with the previous fleet that counterattacked the Hawaiian Islands, the landing formation of Task Force 56 is still very large, with hundreds of landing ships, as well as a large number of minesweepers, escort destroyers, and inshore fire support ships (comprised of landing ships). ship conversion) and various work ships (mostly converted from flat-deck destroyers). Like a floating city on the dark sea, it slowly approaches Valparaiso Bay illuminated by bursts of gunfire. At 3 a.m. on August 10, 1944, the landing formation commanded by Vice Admiral Turner arrived at the offensive launch line on time. The entire fleet began to circle and rearrange their formation. The U.S. sailors, who were well-trained and experienced the baptism of war in the Hawaiian Islands, were skillfully preparing for landing operations under the command of their officers.

Small minesweepers clear the way, and coastal fire support ships and light escort destroyers cover large and small landing ships as they move toward shallow water. Occasionally, water columns will rise from the sea and a loud noise will be heard. This is the mine deployed by the New Asbania Navy exploding! Some were detonated by American minesweepers, and some happened to hit landing ships or small ships near the beach, causing casualties.

However, compared to the huge size of the US landing fleet, this loss is really negligible!

If this is all the damage that the New Asbania Navy can inflict on the American landing formation, then there is no doubt that the landing operation was a success.

But the U.S. fleet on the sea still dare not be careless, because the U.S. Navy knows that the Germans have deployed submarines in Valparaiso Port, and they are still new submarines that are difficult to deal with!

In the past six and seven months, the number of U.S. merchant ships and warships sunk by submarines in the Atlantic and Caribbean suddenly began to rise significantly! The number of German submarines sunk has been greatly reduced, which shows that the Germans have invested in a powerful new submarine.

Many escort destroyers carefully guarded the landing ship, and fired a bunch of hedgehog bombs into the sea from time to time, making the calm sea water seem to be boiling.

Vice Admiral Turner and Major General Alexander Archer Vandergrift, commander of the 1st Marine Division, were riding on the battlecruiser USS Hawaii, watching the landing with binoculars.

The two people's hearts were in their throats. They had both fought in the bloody battle on Niihau Island. It seemed that when the landing on Niihau Island began, everything was as peaceful as it is now.

But then...it turned into a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood.

At this time, many officers and soldiers of the 1st Marine Division of the U.S. Marine Corps were already fully equipped on landing ships and landing craft. They were holding their breath and waiting for the moment when the ships rushed to the beach. Countless life-threatening ammunition were fired from the beach. Go to a hidden place and call!

But when the bottom of the landing craft really hit the beach, and the front hatch was lowered, the beach in Valparaiso was still quiet, and the shells and bullets that were more dense than the raindrops as imagined did not appear. Not even a speck of firepower!

"No... no one is defending?" Major General Vandergrift seemed stunned by this scene. He was stunned for a long time before uttering a sentence.

Vice Admiral Turner saw the red flares symbolizing the successful landing rising up all over the beach, and he exhaled: "It seems that there is really no one to defend! It seems that we overestimated the Chileans, they simply lack the courage to fight... … Valparaiso will be ours soon, and then Santiago!”

…

"The battle report from the Chilean front line has come. The US military used the cover of dim sky to land and beach in the early morning of the 10th, and successfully landed on the undefended Valparaiso beach. The Port of Valparaiso also arrived on the 10th It was occupied by the US military in the morning..." Major General Stauffenberg, who had just been promoted to chief operations officer of the General Staff, was frowning and talking about the battle report to Hessmann who was looking at the map in the war room.

Abandoning Valparaiso was a decision made by the General Staff a few days ago - there is no way to hold it there! Moreover, in the opinion of several marshals and generals who call the shots in the General Staff, it is not a bad thing to put more U.S. troops ashore... Only by letting them ashore, the 10th, 11th and 12th Task Forces starting from Belem (all Belonging to the 1st Fleet) can get the chance for a decisive battle.

However, Rear Admiral Stauffenberg is still a little worried, not that he is worried that the three task forces of the European Combined Fleet will not win - this is a matter for the navy, and he, an army major general, does not have to worry about it.

But whether the throne under Juan Perón will think that the fall of Valparaiso and Santiago has been shaken is a question that the Operations Bureau of the General Staff needs to seriously study.

Because once the United States establishes a foothold in Valparaiso, it will soon deploy B-17s and P51s there. Buenos Aires will be bombed by then... It is very likely that Juan. Peron is out of power!

"Buenos Aires will definitely be hit by bombs!" Hersman suddenly said, "Develop an air defense war plan and mobilize enough 127mm anti-aircraft guns, Fw190s and He219s to Buenos Aires." Ellis...it's not a question of being bombed, the question is how many American planes can be shot down?"

Now Germany's 127mm anti-aircraft guns have radio proximity fuzes and radar fire control systems, and the three series of Fw190 B/C/D are high-altitude types with strong interception capabilities. The He219 is a very good night fighter with fierce firepower. Although the most powerful Me2 anti-aircraft guns, Fw190 and He219 were not dispatched, it was enough for the American bombers.

Major General Stauffenberg asked: "Reichsmarschall, do you want to use Buenos Aires to consume American bombers?"

"That's not the whole purpose!" Hessmann said lightly. "When formulating the air defense war plan, we also made a plan to send several mountain divisions to the Andes... In addition, let the SS people go to Nova Scotia. Spaniard is recruiting volunteers." He looked at Stauffenberg, "Klaus, do you understand what I mean?"

Stauffenberg served as Hessmann's adjutant, how could he not understand?

"Marshal Imperial, do you want to take the opportunity to allow our troops to enter Argentina and then stay there?"

Hessman laughed: "This is the second purpose!"

"Then the third purpose," Stauffenberg asked, "should be to use the U.S. military stationed in Chile as hostages to force the U.S. Pacific Fleet to engage in a decisive battle with our 10th, 11th, and 12th Task Forces in the waters near Chile, right?"

Hersman nodded and said: "It is better to fight in the Pacific than in the Caribbean. The combat bureau will immediately formulate a plan for the troops to move into Puerto Montt (a port in southern Chile). The paratroopers will be transferred there first, as soon as possible. The better. In addition, deploy at least a few more squadrons of Fw190A/D/F/G to Puerto Montt Airport.”

"As you command, Imperial Marshal!"

…

"Mr. President, we have taken Valparaiso!"

United States, White House. On the afternoon of August 10, Admiral Ernest King brought long-awaited good news to Roosevelt.

"Thank God!"

President Roosevelt in the Cabinet Room let out a sigh of relief, "We finally caught the Germans off guard!"

"Mr. President," Admiral William Leahy also looked very excited, "I think the turning point of this world war has finally arrived, because we have just captured an important stronghold that the Germans must recapture! And it is impossible for the Germans to overcome it. The Andes counterattack, and they can only bypass the South American continent by sea, which is very beneficial to us. "

Not to mention the Andes in 1944, even a few decades later it was a natural chasm that was not easy to navigate. As long as a small number of troops guard a few important passes, the German heavy troops will not be able to reach Chile on the Pacific coast. The United States can take the opportunity to transport one or several heavy armored divisions to Chile, so that the Germans can only counterattack by sea - if they don't want their little partner Argentina to be bombed every day!

"If the German fleet really sails into the Pacific," Roosevelt's brows that had just opened slightly furrowed again, "are we sure of defeating them?"

"No!" Admiral Ernest King replied, "Europe's aviation technology is ahead of ours, and it also has powerful remote-controlled missiles."

"Then...what's the point of us diverting them to the southeastern Pacific?" Roosevelt asked.

Ernest King smiled coldly: "This way we can launch an attack on Guyana from the Caribbean!"