The Rise of the Third Reich

The theoretical airlift capability of 250 or more ZSO532 air assault transport aircraft is very amazing. If all are used to carry tanks/tank destroyers and paratroopers, up to 250 E-25 tank destroyers or No. 4 tank destroyers can be transported at one time. H-type tanks (including crew members) and 3,000 fully armed paratroopers were sent to the battlefield 2,500 kilometers away!

Of course, in actual use it is impossible to use all ZSO532 aircraft to transport tanks/tank destroyers. Because tanks and combatants alone cannot form a battalion-level or regiment-level battle group with truly strong combat effectiveness, there are not that many tanks/tank destroyers actually loaded on ZSO532 to fly to Newfoundland, only about 150. , including 90 E-25 tank destroyers and Type 4 H tanks, each belonging to 5 air assault battalions.

The so-called air assault battalion is actually a synthetic battalion that includes tanks, infantry, artillery and engineering units. It is the official version of the synthetic battalion-level battle group and regiment-level battle group that appeared in this war. An air assault battalion usually includes a tank company (equipped with Panzer IV H tanks), a tank destroyer company (equipped with E-25 tank destroyer), a motorized artillery company, a combat engineer company and two motorized paratrooper companies, and A battalion headquarters platoon. The total strength is not large, less than 800 people, but it has a lot of technical equipment. Including 30 tanks/tank destroyers, 4 Schneider 1 mountain guns (this is a new product developed by the French on the basis of the 1919/1 mountain guns, with a deployment weight of only 750 kg and a maximum range of 9.8 kilometers), 2 Brand M1 mortar (this is also a French artillery. In terms of artillery manufacturing technology, France and Germany now have their own advantages), 12 LG44 105mm recoilless rifles and 40 wheeled vehicles of various types.

Before the combat operation begins, these 800 fully armed Germans, so much heavy equipment, a large amount of ammunition, and some fuel, supplies, etc., will be stuffed into 50 "big-bellied" ZSO532 air assault transport aircraft. . And 250 ZSO532 can transport 5 synthetic air assault battalions to the battlefield at one time.

According to the plan, these five air assault battalions will be dropped on the platform on the east coast of Concepcion Bay on the island of Newfoundland and the Wavallon Peninsula, just like magic soldiers descending from the sky. In addition to these five powerful combined battalions, there were another 18 elite paratrooper battalions that landed on Newfoundland on D-Day, the start of the landing operation. They all belonged to the 2nd battalion under the 1st Air Assault Army. A paratrooper division. These paratroopers will take a Fokker 42 transport aircraft, depart from the Azores, fly more than 2,500 kilometers and then parachute to Newfoundland.

If everything can be implemented as planned, 18 paratrooper battalions and 5 air assault battalions will be able to occupy a large area of ​​​​the mesa on the east coast of Concepcion Bay before dark on D-Day, clear out the US troops guarding there, and establish a truly useful The beachhead position was used to prepare for the large-scale landings that would follow.

All staff members in the General Staff of the National Defense Forces believe that as long as 23 battalions of elite German troops and 180 tanks/tank destroyers are parachuted to the island of Newfoundland, even if there are 10 times the number of US troops, it will be impossible to drive them away. gone. As long as they persist on the platform near Concepcion Bay for a few days, a fleet carrying a German Marine Division and a White Russian Tank Division will arrive.

By then, Operation Columbus would have been impossible to fail.

The key to the smooth realization of this "Operation Columbus" is undoubtedly to seize air superiority around Newfoundland.

According to reliable information obtained by the German General Staff, the U.S. Army (Allied Forces) does not have sufficient ground forces on Newfoundland, but there are quite a few fighter planes on it. Even if some are mobilized to the Caribbean, there are still more than 1,300 fighter aircraft (including U.S. and other allied fighter aircraft) distributed on Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island.

There are also no less than 1,000 medium and heavy bombers/attack aircraft that can drop "Bat" radar-guided gliding bombs and 300-400 reconnaissance aircraft deployed in the above-mentioned areas.

Compared with the more than 3 million Allied troops stationed in Canada (not only the U.S. military, but also British troops and exiled troops such as Free Poland, Free Belgium, Free Norway, Free Denmark, Free Czech Republic, and the Spanish Republican Army), the real German national surrender The two thousand six to seven hundred shore-based aircraft are still the ones that the Army General Staff feels troubled about.

For the European coalition forces, which do not have shore-based airports to take off fighter jets, relocating a considerable part of the two thousand sixty-seven hundred aircraft is the guarantee of a successful landing.

The 20th Task Force under the European Combined Fleet, which performed this key task of luring the enemy, left the Brest military port in a mighty manner on the morning of April 1, 1945.

The "task force" under the European Community Combined Fleet is not a permanent establishment, but a task fleet under the squadron. It is temporarily formed by various ship groups as needed before performing combat missions.

On the morning of April 1, the fleet that left Brest in full view was also a temporary mission fleet. Different from the 20th Task Force that went into battle last time, the newly formed 20th Task Force has a larger aircraft carrier combat power!

Forming the core of the task force are three dual-carrier or three-carrier groups including the 201st Aircraft Carrier Group, the 202nd Aircraft Carrier Group and the 203rd Aircraft Carrier Group! There are a total of 7 large fleet aircraft carriers, namely Adolf Hitler, Bernhard von Bülow, Seidlitz (B41 aircraft carrier), Sekt (B41 aircraft carrier), Joffre, Banville and Bainya (this French aircraft carrier is the No. 3 ship of the Joffre and was commissioned at the end of 2044).

Among them, Hitler and Bülow are equipped with 150 standing Me262T carrier-based jet fighters - 20 more than the number requested by Hersmann (actually 144 on the ship).

The two new B41 aircraft carriers Seydlitz and Sekt carry 160 standing Fokker 636 carrier-based fighter jets. Since the two Hitler-class aircraft carriers are equipped with 144 high-altitude invincible Me262Ts, the two B41-type aircraft carriers are no longer equipped with Fw190Ts, but are all equipped with Fokker 636s.

In fact, by 1945, the Fw190 series of fighters that appeared before the outbreak of the world war were no longer able to keep up with the times in many aspects. At least it is no longer an air superiority fighter and interceptor with satisfactory performance.

The Ta152 series fighters, the replacement for the Fw190 series fighters, completed all tests as early as the end of 1944 and began to enter the trial production and troop trial stages. By the end of March 1945, more than 20 fighter squadrons of the Luftwaffe had been equipped with Ta152H fighters.

According to the idea of ​​the German Air Force, the Ta152H fighter jet with excellent high-altitude performance will form a new high-bottom combination with the Fokker 636 with excellent mid- and low-altitude performance.

However, due to the emergence and increasing maturity of the jet Me262, the Ta152 series of fighters are destined to be short-lived and unable to shine dazzlingly.

As an air combat expert in the naval aviation, Lieutenant Colonel Hersman Jr., who now serves as the aviation operations officer of the 201st Aircraft Carrier Group, directly suggested canceling the plan to put the Ta152 on the aircraft carrier after test-flying the Ta152.

Because in his opinion, the Ta152, an excellent fighter aircraft, came too late and there was no way to complete the carrier-based transformation before the end of the world war. And the sky after the war must belong to jet aircraft!

Thinking of jet aircraft, little Hersman, who was standing on the deck of the aircraft carrier Hitler and waving goodbye to the military families and civilians at the port, couldn't help but look back, as if he wanted to find the Me262T jet aircraft from the aircraft carrier deck. There were figures of fighter planes - but the only ones that came into his sight were the 18 Br.810 twin-engine carrier-based bombers placed on the flight deck on one side of the aircraft carrier island.

These 18 Br.810s all belong to the French Naval Air Force. They landed on the aircraft carriers Hitler and Bülow on their way back to their home port of Brest after completing all pre-service intensive training programs. At the same time, all the Me262Ts on the two aircraft carriers were put into the hangar and have never been seen again until they left the port of Brest.

In other words, only two super aircraft carriers with angled decks and twin-engine Br.810 carrier-based aircraft were exposed to the French residents and American spies in the Port of Brest. It seems that these two large 70,000-ton aircraft carriers are tailor-made for twin-engine carrier-based aircraft.

Secondly, there are also 10 Br.810 carrier-based aircraft on the flight decks of the three French "Jiafei" class aircraft carriers belonging to the 203rd Aircraft Carrier Group.

The intelligence that five large aircraft carriers equipped with Br.810 carrier-based aircraft, including two super aircraft carriers with a standard displacement of more than 60,000 tons, and two other Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers left the port of Brest was quickly revealed through lurking US agents sent it to the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

The already tense atmosphere in the Pentagon soon reached a fever pitch with the arrival of this news. All American officers who were qualified to have access to this information felt their hearts sinking: the Germans were finally going to take action, and the moment to decide the fate of the United States was coming soon!