The Rise of the Third Reich

Northeast of the Bermuda Islands, seven battleships flying the Stars and Stripes are rising and falling on the vast Atlantic Ocean. The one in the middle is the battleship Belorussia with a huge mountain-like hull - it is the No. 3 Soviet-class ship, in the Bermuda Islands At 5:50 on September 7, 1944, it was the only surviving battleship among the four Soviet-class battleships, and it was also the only super battleship currently owned by the U.S. Navy.

The tall ship body rides the wind and waves on the sea, looking majestic and majestic. At any time in the past, the Belarus's huge tonnage and size alone were enough for its captain to feel extremely proud and confident.

But the current captain of the battleship Belorussia, Colonel Warner Robert Edsell, wanted to use some magic to shrink the huge hull of the Belorussia by 70 to 80%.

Because all eight battleships with huge hulls like the Belarus have been sunk by the Germans!

Belorussia is the last survivor! But Colonel Edsel never believed that the Germans would let go of his battleships. Eight of them had been overturned, and the last one was still missing.

Warships carrying missiles, aircraft carrying bombs or torpedoes, and the elusive submarine must all be chasing the Belorussian.

As long as the Belarus has not entered the "absolute protective circle" of the shore-based aircraft on Newfoundland, everyone knows that this majestic-looking battleship may be sunk by the Germans at any time!

As a naval captain who was obsessed with the cannons of giant ships, Edsel had never thought that the Germans had so many ways to sink a battleship!

Use missiles, use submarines, use shore-based night bombers to drop torpedoes, and of course use carrier-based aircraft on aircraft carriers, oh, you can also use battleships. At least the Ukraine "died" quite normally, being sunk by three German battleships.

Don’t you know now what a tragic fate awaits the Belarus?

In the extraordinarily tall command tower of the battleship Belorussia, when Edsel was trying to drive away the ominous thoughts from his mind, a panicking phone ring suddenly rang, followed by a report from the electronic officer on the battleship: "Colonel , the enemy aircraft was detected by radar, bearing 218, number 60, distance 120, altitude 3000..."

coming!

fine……

The people in the command tower of the Belarus were nervous at first, and then relaxed a little.

I was nervous because the Belarus was about to be attacked by an air attack soon, but I was relieved because there were not many incoming enemy planes, only 60.

With the powerful anti-aircraft firepower and solid armor of the Soviet-class battleship, it is not impossible to deal with 60 enemy planes, right?

"When will the planes covering us arrive?" Colonel Edsel asked immediately.

The communications officer immediately replied, "The 24 F6F fighters taking off from the USS Bunker Hill will arrive around 7:10."

Of course, Halsey, who has now been captured, will not forget to send aircraft carriers to cover the five precious battleships that escaped. Among them, the formation used to cover the Belorussian is the Essex-class Bunker Hill aircraft carrier as the core.

However, this formation did not operate with the Belorussian-Halsey did not want the aircraft carrier and battleship to be sunk by the Germans together-but was 200 nautical miles west of the Belorussian. Because the sun always rises from the east, when the first ray of sunlight in the morning shines on the battleship Belarus, the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill, 200 nautical miles away to the west, is still shrouded in darkness.

Taking off from an aircraft carrier at night was originally a required course for U.S. carrier-based aircraft pilots, but unfortunately, the U.S. Naval Aviation lost too many elites in the Second Battle of the Hawaiian Islands. Although the skills of the pilots transferred from the Army Aviation were not bad, they still did not master the ability to take off from the deck of a small aircraft carrier at night.

Therefore, we can only wait for the sky to lighten up a little before sending planes to cover the Belarus. However, he never expected that little Hersman, who had mastered the actual situation of the U.S. Navy's carrier-based aircraft force by consulting some Japanese naval pilots, would have a time lag. If a carrier-based aircraft is dispatched at 3 o'clock in the morning, the bomb will be dropped on the deck of the American battleship at almost 6 o'clock!

Gotta take the bomb for an hour! Colonel Edsell took a sharp breath: "Sound the alarm and get into anti-aircraft formation!"

Less than 15 minutes after Edsel's order was issued, 24 Fw190TEs and 36 Fokker 636s led by Colonel Heinz Barr personally approached the air near the Belorussia.

At this time, Colonel Heinz Barr was surprised to find that there was not an American fighter jet in the sky!

And there are only 7 ships flying the Stars and Stripes on the sea!

"Thank God!" Colonel Barr crossed himself on his chest and pressed the communicator on his throat. "There is not a single enemy plane, and there are not enough escort ships! This is a good opportunity given to us by God... No matter what No matter what, we must sink that Soviet-class ship!"

While he was speaking, the 127mm high-level and flat dual-purpose cannon was already firing.

The density of anti-aircraft firepower is still quite high. There are 20 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns on the Belarusian battleship, 12 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns on a Cleveland-class light cruiser, and 5 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns on each of the 6 Fletcher-class destroyers, a total of 62 Door. Moreover, these 127mm high-level dual-purpose guns fired radio proximity fuze ammunition, which immediately unleashed a hail of bullets in front of the attack route of 60 German fighters.

Faced with a solid barrier composed of blooming black smoke, the experienced Colonel Barr did not choose to rush forward. Instead, he led his men in a circle around the U.S. fleet that formed a circular formation on the sea at a speed of less than 400 kilometers per hour.

The muzzle of the 127mm gun on the American ship also moved with the 60 aircraft in the sky, always blocking the charging route of the German aircraft with radio proximity shells.

However, Colonel Barr knew that the Americans could not always maintain such a firepower density because the barrel of the 127mm high-level dual-purpose gun also heated up. Sure enough, less than a quarter of an hour later, the density of black smoke in the sky had become much thinner.

Colonel Barr knew that the opportunity for a breakthrough had arrived, so he loudly ordered: "The 2nd Fighter Squadron breaks in from the starboard side of the Soviet class (Belarus); the 3rd Fighter Squadron breaks in from the port side of the Soviet Union; the 1st Scout Bomber Squadron follows me from the stern of the ship. Break in and launch the first wave of attacks! Now, break up the formation and charge at full speed! "

Following Colonel Barr's order, the engines of 60 fighter planes roared simultaneously in the sky, and the speed of the aircraft quickly increased from less than 400 kilometers per hour to more than 600 kilometers per hour!

After accelerating, the 60 aircraft no longer circled around the U.S. fleet, but suddenly divided into three groups, and suddenly broke into the U.S. fleet's anti-aircraft firepower circle from three different directions from an altitude of more than 3,000 meters.

This series of changes happened in a very short period of time. The 127mm guns on the seven American ships had no time to react, and all the clouds of black smoke exploded behind the butts of the German aircraft divided into three groups.

However, successfully avoiding the radio proximity shells fired by the 127mm gun was only the beginning of success. The sailors on the seven ships on the sea are all experienced veterans and their responses are extremely quick.

While the 127mm gun was emptying, the 40mm anti-aircraft gun and 20mm machine gun began to spit out tongues of fire. The battleship Belarus on the sea also began to twist its body significantly and took an S-shaped avoidance route.

"Come after me!"

Colonel Barr yelled, then retracted the throttle, lowered the speed brake, pushed the control stick to the lowest position, and the aircraft entered from the stern of the aircraft carrier and began to dive rapidly at an angle of more than 70 degrees. Countless 40mm and 20mm bullets dragged the flames past both sides of Colonel Barr's cabin cover, and his plane shook a few times from time to time, but this did not affect Colonel Barr's mind.

Now it’s time to dive! Rush to the bottom and drop the bomb. As long as it can hit, the battleship on the sea is almost finished!

The altitude of the aircraft dropped rapidly, and in the blink of an eye, the alarm indicator light on the altimeter came on. The bombardier (also a telegraph operator and observer) sitting behind Colonel Barr immediately pressed the bomb release button, and a 500-kg armor-piercing The bomb broke away from the belly of the aircraft and suddenly fell towards the battleship on the water!

Then the second, third, fourth... one after another, the Fw190TE reconnaissance bombers completed the dive-dropping action. Some of the planes were shot down by the dense rain of bullets, most of the planes were hit by bombs, and some were covered with bruises.

However, the strong body of the Fw190TE ensured that most of the aircraft were able to successfully drop bombs. In the end, 21 bombs (3 aircraft were shot down) fell from the sky!

Boom!

Just as Colonel Barr pulled up the plane and climbed rapidly, a violent and melodious explosion came from the sea.

The bomb hit the battleship!

Colonel Barr turned around and saw a ball of fire and thick smoke rising from the middle of the giant battleship on the sea.

boom! boom! boom……

Just as Colonel Barr's plane accelerated into the clouds, the sound of explosions followed, and three more 500-kilogram armor-piercing bombs hit the deck of the Belarus and the top of the main gun turret.

After all 21 Fw190TEs completed bombing, this seemingly invincible super battleship was surrounded by fire and smoke.

At this time, there were still 32 Fokker 636 fighters in the sky (4 of which were shot down) that had not completed bombing!

The battleship Belorussia... is finished.