The Rise of the Third Reich

September 5, 1944, 2:30 in the morning.

In the hangar of the USS Zeppelin aircraft carrier, several air crewmen slowly pushed an Fw190T fighter-bomber with folded wings onto the elevator. With the help of the hydraulic oil pump, the fighter plane was slowly lifted onto the deck. The roar of the sea breeze It rushes towards you and instantly refreshes your mind.

The multi-day voyage has finally come to an end. The European Community Task Force 21, with the aircraft carrier Zeppelin as its flagship, has arrived in the waters less than 300 nautical miles away from the Bermuda Islands - arriving at this position in the early morning of September 5th, it was It was called for in the air raid plan drawn up by Hersman Jr.

The purpose is to allow the air strike group to fly over the Bermuda Islands to launch air strikes when the sky is just getting brighter on the 5th. The advantage of this is that there is a high probability that US aircraft can avoid launching a strike first, and there is also a certain probability that the Bermuda airport can be destroyed in the first wave of air strikes.

The type of aircraft dispatched in the first wave of attacks in the early morning of the 5th was also decided by Major Hersman. All dispatched were Fw190 series fighters, including 88 Fw190T fighter-bombers, 36 Fw190TE reconnaissance bombers and 16 Fokker 636 fighter-bombers, for a total of 140 fighter-bombers.

All aircraft were equipped with two 250-kilogram high-explosive bombs, which were used to destroy the runway of the US military airport in Bermuda.

While dispatching all the Fw190 series carrier-based aircraft, Hersman retained most of the Fokker 636s to cover the aircraft carrier - today's attack on the Bermuda Islands was ultimately a feint attack, so There is no need to put all your effort into it.

"Colonel, don't get entangled with the American fighter planes on the Bermuda Islands. Just leave after dropping the bombs."

In the No. 1 hangar of the aircraft carrier, little Hersmann found his old boss, Colonel Heinz Bahr, now the commander of the Zeppelin flight team and the commander-in-chief of the 2nd Fleet aircraft carrier flight team, and repeatedly told him: : "That's American territory. If you're shot down, you won't be able to come back."

"I know..." Heinz Barr patted Hessmann on the shoulder, "I know best how capable those Americans are. As long as I am here, the air raid group will not suffer much loss, and our The Fw190 is not that easy to shoot down!”

After being equipped with a 2,400-horsepower BMW801F engine, the Fw190T carrier-based fighter jet has improved all flight performance and has more empty weight to distribute. Therefore, the latest model of Fw190T-9 fighter-bomber is stronger than previous models and is indeed difficult to shoot down.

Little Hersman nodded and continued: "The navigation submarines are already in place. There are two in total. They will float on the sea 35-45 nautical miles west of the Bermuda Islands and send out radio signals in turn."

It's still dark, and the plane has to fly over the Atlantic Ocean. It's not easy to find the location of Bermuda. It is still easy to get lost if you rely solely on instrument navigation, so two Type 21 U-boats were arranged to use radio to guide the attack group near the Bermuda Islands.

"That would be great." Colonel Barr smiled, "This way we can penetrate from ultra-low altitude after approaching the Bermuda Islands."

"Colonel, it's your turn to go." Colonel Barr's bombardier/telegraph operator had already sat in the cabin at this time and shouted at him.

It turned out that all the aircraft in the hangar had been lifted onto the flight deck one by one, except for the Fw190TE reconnaissance bomber piloted by Colonel Heinz Baer that had not yet been pushed onto the elevator.

"Okay, it's my turn to go, wish me good luck!" Colonel Heinz Bahr ended the conversation with little Hersman and strode towards his plane.

Little Hersman stood at attention, raised his right arm high and gave a German salute to Colonel Barr's back, and then watched Colonel Barr's plane being pushed onto the elevator by the air crew.

"Did you find the American fleet?"

When the Fw190T-9 and Fw-190TE fighters one after another were arranged neatly on the flight deck of the Zeppelin, in the command center on the second floor of the bridge, Lieutenant General Erich Bay asked the same question again The problem.

"Not yet." Chief of Staff Major General Christiansen replied, "Neither the Bv138 nor the submarine found any trace of the American fleet, and the Ju188 dispatched from Georgetown Island also did not find it. It seems that the American fleet is well hidden!"

"They will definitely appear!" Erich Bay was slightly disappointed, but Christiansen's report was also expected. This is already close to the mainland of the United States. As long as the U.S. Navy fleet is slightly closer to the east coast of the United States, it can be covered by shore-based aircraft. Seaplanes like the Bv138 are not easy to get close to.

"Sir, the first attack wave has been prepared!" The fleet's aviation staff officer, Hersman Jr., had returned to the command center at this time. "Requesting permission to attack!"

Erich Bay waved his hand, "Attack! Aviation...attack!"

On the sea, five aircraft carriers were galloping into the wind at a high speed of 30 knots. The fierce deck wind shook the people on the deck. The deck flight officer at the front held a red indicator light and suddenly waved it down, and a Fw190TE reconnaissance bomber appeared. Be the first to rush out of the deck.

Almost at the same time, four aircraft carriers including "Prussia", "Bohemia", "Seidlitz" and "Sekt" also released their first aircraft.

…

"Admiral, telegram from Bermuda, about 150 German carrier-based aircraft are bombing there!"

At about 6:10 in the morning on September 5th, Admiral Halsey, who had just finished washing and came to the command tower, received exciting news!

"How is the situation? Has the shore-based aircraft in Bermuda taken off?" Halsey immediately asked.

"It took off, but there may not be many in number." Major General Callahan replied, "Because the German attack aircraft group penetrated from ultra-low altitudes, there was insufficient warning time."

"Damn German carrier-based aircraft pilots..." Halsey shook his head. He knew that there were a lot of aces among the German carrier-based aircraft pilots - they had not gone through such a big attrition as the Second Battle of the Hawaiian Islands!

"But it doesn't matter!" Halsey quickly smiled. "They dispersed their forces. This was a huge mistake. Most of their naval power cannot be used in Bermuda now."

"Yes," Major General Callahan replied with a smile, "The F-13 reconnaissance plane taking off from Trinidad discovered a large German fleet approaching Guyana two hours ago.

In addition, our troops in Valparaiso Bay were attacked by more than 200 German carrier-based aircraft yesterday afternoon. "

What was discovered by the F-13 (B-29) was the 30th Task Force of the European Combined Fleet, and those who were bombing Valparaiso Bay yesterday afternoon were the 10th, 11th and 12th Task Force of the European Combined Fleet. Task Force.

"Haha," Halsey laughed and lit a cigar. "The Germans divided their fleet into three, while we concentrated the main force of the fleet and had a large number of shore-based aircraft to utilize. It seems that The Battle of Bermuda was the real turning point in this war.

Dennis, give the order to the Norfolk base to dispatch all F7Fs now. Then give the order to Lieutenant General Mitchell to have his aircraft carrier send out the first attack wave in 2 hours.

Also, we are now heading towards Bermuda at full speed! Maybe we'll have a chance to fight the Germans with the battleship's main guns! "

"Yes, General!" Major General Dennis Callahan responded loudly.

And just when Halsey issued a series of orders to prepare for a fatal attack on the German aircraft carrier formation, the Americans actually did not know the specific location of the German aircraft carrier formation. Although an F-13 ultra-long-range reconnaissance aircraft had discovered them before, after nightfall on September 4, Task Force 21 of the European Combined Fleet had never been discovered again.

However, this will not affect the American air strikes, because as early as 2 hours before Halsey issued the order, Bermuda sent hundreds of "Catalina" seaplanes and B-17 and B-24 The reconnaissance model formed a dense search network and spread out towards the Atlantic Ocean east of the Bermuda Islands.

At 6:30, the air defense siren sounded in the command center of the "Zeppelin" aircraft carrier, followed by an urgent and fast report from the staff.

"Sir, the enemy aircraft was detected by radar, number 1, bearing 265, altitude 3000, distance 110."

"It's an American reconnaissance plane!" Aviation Staff Officer Hersman Jr. immediately made a judgment. "There are four Fokker 636s in the air now, and radar can guide them to shoot down that plane."

"Shoot it down!" Lieutenant General Erich Bey gave the order to attack without a word. After little Hersman conveyed the order to the flight controller via phone, he asked, "When can the first attack wave return?"

"About an hour," Hersman Jr. replied, "all the planes can be recovered in 90 minutes."

"Lieutenant General, do you need to evacuate?" Chief of Staff Christianson interjected and asked.

"No need!" Erich Bey thought for a while, "Each brigade should set up an air defense formation and prepare for an air defense battle." He paused and asked again: "Have you not discovered the enemy fleet yet?"

"Not yet." Aviation Staff Officer Hersman Jr. said, "At present, we have strengthened our investigation intensity in the west and south directions."

Erich Bei nodded and did not continue to ask any more questions. He knew that the so-called enhanced reconnaissance intensity was actually not that strong, because the Fw190TE on the aircraft carrier had already been used to conduct air strikes on the Bermuda Islands, and the aircraft currently used to search were just 10 Bv138s sent by the seaplane carrier, and these aircraft were also Responsible for providing airborne early warning for the fleet.