The Rise of the Third Reich

"Marshal of the Empire, something a bit troublesome happened."

On September 15, 1944, when Imperial Marshal Hersmann just entered the Wehrmacht General Staff Building, he was stopped by First Munitions Director Guderian who happened to be walking out of the communications center.

"Something a little troublesome?" Hersman blinked, "Heinz, what exactly is it?"

"There are a lot of large craters in farmland in County Mayo in the Republic of Ireland...probably bomb craters."

"What? Crater?" Hersman was stunned, "Have you confirmed it?"

"It was just confirmed," Guderian shook his head and said, "I personally had a phone call with the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defense Forces. The General Staff of the Irish Defense Forces has sent people to check and confirmed that it is a bomb crater, which seems to be caused by an aerial bomb."

"Aerial bomb?" Hersman also felt a little troubled now, "Are there any casualties?"

"There have been no reports of this yet," Guderian said.

Hersman's brows furrowed: "Do you know who did it?"

"It's still being investigated," Guderian replied. "Albert (Kesselring) also knows about it. He has sent air force staff to Ireland. I believe it will be found out soon."

"If found out, you must be severely punished!"

"Yes! It must be severely punished!"

The two Germanic military gods who had no idea of ​​their direction walked towards Hessman's office while talking. They didn't expect that the bomb that fell on the Irish farmland and destroyed many potatoes was from the United States. They thought it was from the United States. Accidents occurred during training by German aircraft stationed at the Cork base in the south of the island of Ireland or the Brest base in France.

Because now is wartime, the aviation training intensity is very high, and various accidents naturally increase. It is not uncommon for bomber units to drop trainer bombs outside designated practice areas during training.

However, this time he actually threw live ammunition, which was a bit excessive and must be dealt with seriously.

After deciding to severely punish the German pilots who dropped bombs, Hersmann and Guderian discussed the issue of ground operations in the Americas in the office.

Although Germany now has missiles and atomic bombs, ground war is still unavoidable.

Because after all, Germany does not yet have a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a missile.

To defeat the United States using traditional ground wars (including island-seizing operations), there are approximately two routes of attack. One is through the Caribbean; the other is through Newfoundland and eastern Canada.

Both routes are definitely not easy to take. The Caribbean islands and Newfoundland are heavily defended by the US military, not only with a large number of ground troops, but also with a large number of naval and air forces.

The main purpose of the missile attack on the east coast of the United States that the German Air Force and the European Combined Fleet are currently preparing is actually to disperse the U.S. naval and air forces concentrated in the Caribbean and Newfoundland in order to create conditions for landing operations.

"Ludwig," Guderian said, who had unique insights into where to launch an attack, "I don't think Trinidad is a particularly suitable landing target. Newfoundland is the best target. "

"Newfoundland?" Hersman shook his head and said, "But both the Navy and the Air Force recommended landing on Trinidad."

Hessmann was not a particularly capable chief of staff, but he had the "knowledge of people" and knew that both Guderian and Kesselring were relatively reliable military strategists, and according to German Navy Commander-in-Chief Raeder, he I don’t quite believe it. This time, Kesselring, who had served as commander of the Atlantic Front for a long time, had the same views as Raeder, and both advocated attacking Trinidad.

"I know," Guderian said, "They believe that the losses in attacking Trinidad will be much lower than the losses in attacking Newfoundland. Attacking Trinidad may cause 50,000 to 100,000 casualties, while A landing on Newfoundland would likely result in 300,000 to 400,000 deaths.”

"what you think?"

"Same as them." Guderian said, "The General Staff participated in the damage assessment of the war game. But when the war game and assessment were conducted, we had not yet won the victory in the Battle of Bermuda."

Hersman nodded noncommittally.

Guderian said: "At that time, the biggest problem facing the attack on Newfoundland was not casualties, but the possibility of failure. But now, as long as we can invest 8-12 guided missile battleships/cruisers and a certain number of missiles on Newfoundland, A mothership and enough aircraft carriers can ensure victory, even if it costs 300-400,000 lives, it will be more cost-effective than attacking Trinidad.

Because once Newfoundland was captured, the United States was actually defeated. And occupying Trinidad is not enough to force the United States to surrender. We must also occupy a series of Caribbean islands such as the Windward Islands, Leeward Islands, and Puerto Rico, and each island must experience a bloody battle. The number of lives lost in the end will definitely exceed 400,000! "

Hessman nodded repeatedly after hearing this. Guderian's idea was good. Traveling through the Caribbean would involve visiting one island at a time. Newfoundland is an island, and Newfoundland is very close to the essence of the northeastern United States, only 1,200 kilometers from Boston.

If the Me264 is deployed on Newfoundland, then it can rely on fighter escort to drop atomic bombs on big cities in the United States.

"It's a good idea," Hessman said thoughtfully. "We'll ask Albert for his opinion when he comes." He paused, "I'm not worried about ground combat. As long as our army can go up, the Americans are not at all Opponents. At sea, the U.S. surface fleet is not afraid. There are missiles that can deal with them. But it is hard to say in the air. We only have carrier-based aircraft, and the Americans have a large number of shore-based aircraft. "

"We have Greenland," Guderian said. "It is only a thousand and a few hundred kilometers away from Newfoundland. Do217 and Ju288 can fly there and fight as long as they undergo some modifications."

Greenland belongs to Denmark, and since Denmark is now a member of the European Community, it is naturally part of Europe. In 1940, the British occupied Greenland for a time, but the number of troops stationed was not large. After the British mainland surrendered, the British troops there withdrew to Canada. The German army entered Greenland in the summer of 1943 and built a small airport in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.

However, Greenland is too close to the North Pole, has a cold climate, often experiences strong winds, and suffers from polar night phenomena. It is not suitable for deploying a large number of combat aircraft. However, if it is really necessary, these difficulties are not insurmountable.

Hessmann and Guderian discussed for a long time until near noon, when they were interrupted by Marshal Kesselring who came in through the door.

"Ludwig, Heinz, something happened." Kesselring said to Hessmann and Guderian as soon as he entered the door, before he could sit down. "The person who dropped the bomb in Ireland was not one of ours."

"Not one of us?" Hersman asked. "British? French?"

The Royal Air Force now also has a small number of bombers, and the French Air Force is not small, second only to Germany and the Roman Empire in Europe.

"No, not at all," Kesselring said. "People from Air Force Command checked all morning and found that none of the bombers and fighter-bomber squadrons flew to County Mayo in the west of Ireland last night."

"Then they are... American planes?" Hersman asked with his eyes wide.

Kesselring nodded, "I think this is the greatest possibility."

"Then why did they bomb County Mayo?" Guderian was a little surprised. "What's in County Mayo? Potatoes?"

Kesselring shook his head, "The target shouldn't be farmland in County Mayo. They probably wanted to bomb Cork, but they didn't find the target at night, so they just dropped the bombs and returned. This is a common situation in night bombings." ”

Navigation for night bombing has always been a problem. It is commonplace to find the target and throw bombs casually in the wild.

"Damn it!" Hessman couldn't help but cursed. The potato fields in Ireland were worthless, but the bombing could still have a negative impact politically.

At least it shows that the United States has the ability to threaten Europe under German rule!

"Radar stations and interceptors must be deployed in the west of Ireland. We must do it quickly..." Hersman thought for a while, "Let's first deploy a few SP-class cruisers to serve as mobile radar stations along the west coast of Ireland, and then deploy some more He219 goes to Ireland.”

"It's impossible to be 100 percent safe," Kesselring reminded Herschmann. "Night bombers are difficult to intercept. And..."

Seeing that Kesselring was hesitant, Hessmann asked: "And what?"

"And the Americans also have bacterial bombs!" Kesselring said solemnly. "They used a large number of anthrax bombs and plague bombs on Oahu, causing huge casualties to the Japanese."

Hessman took a breath and his face suddenly turned ugly. The Americans' bombing of the island of Ireland was obviously a "warning", showing that the United States did not have any ability to counter atomic bombs.

"Ludwig, the plane that bombed Ireland should have taken off from Newfoundland." Guderian reminded Hersman, "If we occupy Newfoundland, the American B-29s can only fly from Nova Scotia. Taking off from the Nova Scotia Peninsula, the distance to Ireland is close to 4,000 kilometers. And once we control Newfoundland, it will be difficult for B-29s taking off from the Nova Scotia Peninsula or the eastern United States and Canada to fly to Europe. "

"What? Want to occupy Newfoundland?" Kesselin looked at Guderian in surprise.

Hersman nodded, took over the topic and said: "Heinz's idea, Albert, we should seriously study the issue of occupying Newfoundland. Even if the losses are greater, we will conquer it!"

As he spoke, Hersman had already stood up: "I'm going to the Prime Minister's Office... The bombing of the potato fields in Ireland is not a trivial matter. It will probably require a big fight. The Air Force must be prepared, and Me264 may be dispatched soon. Launch missiles."