The Rise of the Third Reich

"Mark, if Newfoundland is attacked by the enemy, I mean a landing, how long can you resist with the strength available on the island?"

On April 9, 1945, the day after the "First Air Battle over Newfoundland", General Henry Arnold, who went to Montreal to investigate the reasons for the failure of the air battle, suddenly asked a question that surprised General Clark.

Henry Arnold was the commander of the Army Air Forces, not the Army Chief of Staff or the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff. It seemed that he should not ask this question that had little to do with the Army Air Forces.

"Henry, what are you worried about?" Admiral Clark asked, looking at the worried Arnold.

"Mark, don't you think there are big loopholes in the defense line in eastern Canada?" Henry Arnold said, "In the original plan, aviation was an important force in defending Canada's eastern coastline. But now, the aviation forces in the northeastern region of North America have encountered If the enemy attempts to land in eastern Canada, is it possible for them to succeed if they land on Newfoundland?"

"Oh," Clark nodded, seeming to agree with Arnold, "There is indeed a loophole in eastern Canada, but it is not on the island of Newfoundland, but on the long coastline of Labrador."

The Labrador region is located in the northeast corner of Canada, facing the Atlantic Ocean and across the sea from Greenland. It has a long and winding coastline and many natural harbors. Moreover, most local residents make a living by fishing, so there are many fishing ports in the coastal areas of Labrador that can be used by attacking European armies.

Due to the excessive number of natural harbors and fishing ports, Admiral Clark did not have enough troops to deploy defenses and could only rely on minelaying and aviation forces for defense. Now the Allied aviation in northeastern North America has not only suffered heavy losses, but has also been proven unable to defeat German carrier aviation in actual combat. Therefore, the defense of Labrador's coastal areas is ineffective.

"There really won't be any problems in Newfoundland?" Henry Arnold was still not reassured.

Unlike Admiral Clark, he was not too worried about Labrador because he knew there were no existing large airfields for heavy bombers and jets. Even if the German troops landed there and established a stronghold, they would not be able to deploy Me264 and Me262 for a while.

Moreover, the harbors in the Labrador region are frozen half the year and thawed half the year. As soon as the autumnal equinox (September) passes, the harbors are full of ice floes.

"No, there are no loopholes in the defense of Newfoundland. The terrain there is too conducive to defense." Clark assured Arnold, "There are now more than 250,000 fully armed Allied officers and soldiers defending it, equipped with a large number of tanks and artillery. , torpedo boats, and also built very strong fortifications. Even without air cover, the Germans would not be able to land there. Moreover, our aviation can still play a great role, even if it is impossible to compete with the Germans for air supremacy during the day. Use the night to drop 'bat' bombs."

After the "Bat" radar-guided glide bomb was "conquered" in Buenos Aires, it became the darling of the U.S. Army and Navy aviation and was quickly equipped with all medium and heavy bomber wings. Although this kind of radar-guided bomb has weaknesses such as insufficient power and poor reliability, it is still very useful for dealing with unarmored or lightly armored transport ships and landing ships. Just use the cover of night and drop the bomb horizontally at an altitude of 3,000 meters above the target. As long as the quantity dropped is large enough, it can severely damage the landing fleet on the sea.

Night fighters with excellent performance are usually heavy-duty aircraft with two engines and two seats or two engines and multiple seats. It is difficult to convert them into carrier-based aircraft. Even if they want to be mounted on a ship, they must be on a super aircraft carrier like the "Midway" class. carry. Therefore, it is impossible for the German army to deploy too many night fighters near the landing site on Newfoundland. This makes it difficult to defend against American medium and heavy bombers carrying "Bat" bombs.

"Since that's the case, I'm relieved." Henry Arnold exhaled softly, his brows still furrowed tightly, not showing much "relief".

At this moment, a red telephone on Admiral Clark's desk suddenly rang. Clark immediately picked up the receiver and heard the voice of Lieutenant General Harmon, commander of the North American Northeast Aviation Command.

"Admiral, they are out again. F-13 found that more than 200 aircraft have taken off from the airport in the Azores and are flying west. In about 5 hours, they will depart from the airspace 500 kilometers south of Newfoundland. pass!"

Admiral Clark put down the phone receiver and looked at Admiral Arnold: "Henry, they are here again, more than 200 Me264s, and they will fight in five hours...if we are still prepared to intercept them."

"It seems that the Germans want to repeat yesterday's victory, but we won't be fooled again." Henry Arnold stood up, adjusted his military uniform, then picked up his military cap from the desk and put it on his head. "Mark, I have to go to Air Command."

…

Just when General Henry Arnold went to the North American Northeast Regional Aviation Command to discuss countermeasures with Lieutenant General Harmon. Inside the Pentagon, U.S. Secretary of War Wallace is chairing an emergency military meeting to discuss how to respond to a new round of missile attacks by the German army.

Since Army Air Forces Commander Henry Arnold was in Montreal, Army Air Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Carl Andrew Spaatz attended the meeting on his behalf.

At the meeting, Lieutenant General Spaatz made a formal proposal on behalf of the Army Air Corps. He told Wallace: "Mr. Secretary, until we find out the reasons for the failure on April 8 and come up with countermeasures, we should not blindly dispatch fighter planes again to intercept the enemy's bomber group."

"Are we going to watch the enemy's missiles fly to New York and Boston?" Wallace asked with a frown.

"No," Spaatz said. "We still have many means of intercepting missiles, such as using fighter jets to intercept. We will send out F-13 early warning aircraft to detect the course of German missiles, determine their targets, and then mobilize enough Fighters will be deployed to intercept. At the same time, a number of air defense balloons will be deployed urgently, and air defense sirens will be sounded in the cities targeted by the missile attacks..."

Thanks to the United States' own large-scale high-altitude early warning aircraft F-13, Americans can now determine the target through the position of the Me264 fleet and the direction of the missile flight when the German Me264 fleet launches missiles.

In other words, the Americans have at least 40 minutes to one and a half hours (depending on the missile model) to mobilize fighter planes to intercept them layer by layer. And because the Me264 fleet was discovered by F-13s (taking off from Newfoundland) a few hours before launching missiles, the Americans had sufficient time to arrange for fighter jets to take off. Before the missile's flight direction is determined, theoretically all fighter jets in the northeastern United States can take off with full fuel and be ready in the air at any time.

"How many interceptors can be sent?" Wallace asked.

"At least 1,500 can be dispatched." Spaatz replied. "On average, each German missile can be assigned to 5-8 interceptor aircraft. In addition, at least 30 F-13 early warning aircraft will be dispatched to command the interception operation. It should be able to shoot down a considerable number of missiles. German missiles.”

"How much is a substantial portion?" Wallace asked.

"This depends on the speed of the missile." Spaatz said, "According to our reconnaissance, there are two types of German missiles: fast and slow. The maximum speed of fast missiles is close to 1,000 kilometers per hour, which is difficult to intercept. And slow missiles The maximum speed is only 600 kilometers per hour. If 5-8 interceptors are used to intercept a missile, the success rate is as high as 80%-90%.”

"Is there such a high success rate?" Wallace's brows suddenly widened.

He also knows that German missiles have high-speed and slow-speed types, and he also knows that slow-speed missiles account for more than 80%, and fast missiles are only a minority - this is related to manufacturing costs. High-speed missiles use high-end jets. The price of the engine is naturally not cheap.

"Yes." Spaatz replied, "Because the missile will not fight back. To the interceptor, it is just a fast-flying target, and its flight direction is also fixed. As long as it is discovered, the speed is not fast enough. , is very easy to shoot down... If it encounters a slow-speed missile with a speed of less than 600 kilometers per hour, the aircraft can follow it, increase the distance to 200-300 meters, and then fire. "

Wallace nodded and glanced at Presidential Chief of Staff William Leahy. Leahy said: "Mr. Secretary, I agree with the Army Air Force's plan. Now our aviation force has suffered a great loss. Although we have enough aircraft, But pilots are not unlimited, especially experienced veteran pilots are simply valuable assets, and this wealth must not be squandered. "

Due to the successive outbreaks of fierce air battles in Buenos Aires, Trinidad and Tobago, and Newfoundland, the U.S. Army Aviation and Naval Aviation were somewhat unable to hold on. Although Americans have a large number of pilots, they can't help but consume such a huge amount of money!

Moreover, the exchange ratio in air combat is too disparate, causing the United States to rapidly lose the air war.

Therefore, before the final decisive battle is approaching, the Joint Chiefs of Staff can only use air power cautiously and choose the location of the air battle over one's own control area as much as possible. Intercepting missiles should be quite safe. After all, missiles will not fire back. U.S. fighter planes will at most fail to intercept and cannot be shot down by missiles... Theoretically, there is absolutely no such possibility!