The Rise of the Third Reich

On January 1, 1945, the Georgetown Island base in Guyana was immersed in the joy of victory.

In the final weeks of 1944, the battle of Georgetown, which dragged on for more than three months and was almost forgotten, was finally decided. Exhausted by the brutal jungle warfare and the blockade of the German navy and air force, the American landing force chose to give up, leaving behind a city razed to the ground by the war, countless damaged and destroyed equipment, and more than 20,000 American troops. With his life almost empty-handed, he boarded a fast troop carrier converted from a flat-deck destroyer and retreated to the island of Trinidad 500 kilometers away at the risk of being sunk by mines, submarines and missiles dropped by German aircraft at any time. .

On the last night of 1944, more than a thousand U.S. Marines who stayed behind in Georgetown were ordered to surrender to the attacking German troops. So far, this event has been almost ignored in subsequent historical records of World War II. The battle finally came to an end with the victory of the European coalition forces.

However, for Air Force General Cam Huber, the commander of the Georgetown Island Command, holding the forward base of "Georgetown Island" is only the beginning of success.

While most people in the Georgetown Island base were celebrating victory and the arrival of 1945, Kamhuber was leading his staff to watch several potbellied Me323 transport aircraft at the heavily guarded Georgetown Island Airport No. 1. , slowly landed on the green "grass airport".

The cabin door of one of the Me323s opened and a gangway stretched out. Then a lieutenant colonel wearing a dark blue naval aviation officer's uniform emerged from the cabin, then quickly walked to Kamhuber and said a German present.

"Günter," Kamhuber raised his right hand in return, then asked, "Have all the mines been transported?"

"They've all been shipped, a total of 800 new 'oyster mines'. Now the Yankees on the island of Trinidad will have a taste of being blocked."

This Air Force lieutenant colonel's name is Günter Radsch, who is the commander of the 11th Torpedo Bombing Aviation Regiment of the German Naval Air Force stationed on Georgetown Island. This regiment was transferred from German Europe on September 10 to replace the previous aviation regiment that suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Bermuda. The regiment has two groups equipped with 40 Ju188E-2 torpedo bombers and an escort group equipped with Me410 night fighters, and its combat capabilities are very strong. In addition to carrying out night torpedo bombing missions, it can also carry out night mining missions in waters behind enemy lines.

After the Battle of the Bermuda Islands, the aircraft of the 11th Naval Aviation Torpedo Bombing Aviation Regiment mainly performed minelaying missions, dropping an unknown number of magnetic mines on the waterway from Georgetown to Trinidad.

However, magnetic mines are now a bit outdated. The magnetic minesweepers developed by the Americans have good performance and can already minimize the damage of magnetic mines. Therefore, it is impossible to successfully blockade Trinidad with magnetic mines. Fortunately, the German General Staff has been prepared.

"The 'Oyster Mine' is very easy to release," Gunter Radsch told Kamhuber. "Its appearance and operation are exactly the same as those of magnetic mines, but the detonation principle is different."

How the "Oyster Mine" detonated, Günter Radsch also didn't know, because no one told him - this is a military secret, and the personnel responsible for dropping the bomb do not need to know.

While Radsch and Humbel were talking, they walked into a headquarters hidden in the woods next to Airport 1 on Georgetown Island. In addition to the new "Oyster Mine", Radsch also brought the latest airdrop mine plan.

In a dark room within the headquarters, Humbel and several officers wearing Air Force and Naval Aviation uniforms listened carefully to Radsch's speech. Lieutenant Colonel Radsch used a long wooden stick to point to the gray and grainy aerial photo of Trinidad reflected on a large screen, and explained the areas and precautions for airdrop mines. The officers listening to him were all familiar with Trinidad, many of them having flown multiple bombing missions or laying mines around the island in the past two years.

However, the intensity of this minelaying mission still surprised them. According to the order conveyed by Lieutenant Colonel Radsch, from now on the 11th Naval Aviation Torpedo Bombing Aviation Regiment will go all out to carry out night minelaying missions. As long as weather conditions permit, starting from January 2, 70-80 Ju188E-2 sorties will be dispatched every night to drop mines around Trinidad. And not only the 11th Torpedo Bombing Regiment will dispatch Me410 night fighter escorts. The Luftwaffe stationed in Cayenne and Belem will also dispatch a large number of bombers and night fighters to raid facilities on Trinidad to cover the minelaying operations.

"Okay, let's take a look at the defense map."

The screen showed a picture of Port of Spain, with red and orange signs everywhere. These are the currently identified anti-aircraft gun positions and searchlight areas, which must be carefully avoided during this mine-laying operation.

"Turn on the lights."

After Lieutenant Colonel Radsch finished speaking, Admiral Humbert ordered the lights to be turned on. Several squadron captains and group captains of the aviation regiment blinked, as if they were still digesting what they had just heard.

"Well, this is the situation." Admiral Humbert stood up, faced everyone, and said loudly, "This war has been going on for more than five years, and now the only enemy left that is considered significant is the United States. . From now on, we will march to the United States!”

"March to America!"

"Hail, Germany!"

All the German officers stood up, raised their right hands, and shouted loudly.

…

"Mr. President, Mr. Vice President."

Washington, White House. Late at night on January 2, Director of the Office of Strategic Services Donovan quickly walked into the Oval Office. Seeing Wallace, who is still the president, and Kennedy, who will soon be the vice president, he bowed slightly, and then reported in an urgent and fast tone: "Reliable intelligence from the Soviet Union, the Germans are about to launch an attack!" "

The Germans are about to attack...

Wallace and Truman exchanged glances, both of which were extremely complicated - if they could fully support Roosevelt, the war would surely be over by now. Although the United States lost 200 billion U.S. dollars, its dominant position in North America can definitely be maintained. The future must be a definite revival...

"Do you know where the target of the attack is?" Kennedy took a breath and asked.

"Trinidad."

Donovan's answer was expected, but Kennedy asked again: "Is the source of intelligence reliable?"

"Reliable." Donovan said, "The Soviet Cheka has very high-level spies in Belarus. According to the report, the German Imperial Marshal Hersmann visited Petrograd on that date and informed the pseudo-Russian Empress about the planned start of the Caribbean The situation in the battle also required the Queen to send more cannon fodder to the war.

In addition, he also revealed during the meeting that a new type of mine will be used to blockade Trinidad to prevent our reinforcements. "

"Mine?" Wallace shook his head. In his impression, although the German mines were very powerful, they did not really block any place. On the contrary, the United States used its own mines well and gave the Japanese devils a lot of trouble.

"Inform the Joint Chiefs of Staff of this news." Wallace ordered. Just as he was about to ask Donovan about the situation in Argentina, a phone on his desk rang.

He picked up the phone receiver, and William Leahy's voice came, "Mr. President?"

"Yes, I'm Wallace."

"President, Trinidad is under air attack." Leahy reported on the phone. "The air attack is very large. The Germans have dispatched at least hundreds to a thousand aircraft!"

"1,000? You can handle it, right?"

"Yes, we can handle it." William Leahy gave an affirmative answer.

Hundreds of German aircraft were not much for the American troops on Trinidad. There are more than 300 P-61 night fighters on the island alone, and there are no less than 300 F4U and F6F (both shore-based) that can undertake night combat missions. Although the effect of interception at night cannot be compared with that during the day, the effect of night bombing is also not very good, and it is impossible to destroy the numerous military bases on Trinidad.

However, General William Leahy, who had assured Wallace at this time, never thought that the night bombing launched by the Germans tonight would be very difficult to deal with, and there were not as many as 1,000 aircraft flying. To Trinidad. Although the radar on the island of Trinidad and the radar on the nearby US Navy ships patrolling did find so many targets, these targets were not all aircraft. Almost half of them were air-launched Reaper 1C cruise missiles.

Major General Werner Molders, Chief of Staff of the 1st Luftwaffe of the German Air Force, who formulated tonight's air attack plan, felt that it was too dangerous to send as many as 1,000 fighter planes to bomb Trinidad, especially the Me264 and Ju288. It's not the kind of aircraft that's very durable. Besides, night bombing is not very accurate. So when he participated in the formulation of the "Fort Gotchi Plan" a few months ago, he proposed using night fighters to "cover" air-launched missiles and a small number of Ju188E-2 torpedo bombers (minelayers) to perform missions in Trinidad. "Project Thor" and soon received the support of Air Force Commander-in-Chief Kesselring.

Therefore, all Me624, Ju288, Do217 and other heavy and medium bombers participating in tonight's combat operation fired the missiles they carried at a distance of 300 kilometers from Trinidad.