The Rise of the Third Reich

The Reaper 1E long-range cruise missile, which has a maximum speed of only 630 kilometers per hour, is indeed equipped with a high-power radio proximity fuse on the tail. As long as there is an enemy aircraft within 400 meters behind the butt, it will detonate the cruise missile. The warhead of the Reaper 1E long-range cruise missile is loaded with up to 600 kilograms of explosives. When detonated, it is powerful enough to shoot down or damage American fighter jets 400 meters away.

This design is actually not to turn the cruise missile into an air-to-air missile, but to increase the difficulty of shooting down the Reaper 1E.

Now the Americans' first round of "rear-end attacks" paid a heavy price with 51 P-51B/Cs shot down and 9 damaged. This shocked Major General McConnell, who was commanding this "aircraft-bomb war". Everyone was dumbfounded.

But no matter how surprised he was, he couldn't cancel today's operation and let more than 200 death missiles fly to Boston. Moreover, he must also find out the reality of these damn death missiles - he must understand how they explode, otherwise he will be in trouble when encountering these things in critical air battles in the future.

"We must find out clearly," Major General McConnell gritted his teeth. "Ask the 120th Fighter Wing to... open fire at a distance of 400 meters." He paused, "Send a plane to try first, and fire at a distance of 400 meters. Fight, if that doesn't work, try another one and go 500 meters away..."

This is an experiment on human life!

Davy Jones was stunned, but did not raise any objection, but immediately gave the order through the radio.

Five minutes later, another 60 P-51B/C fighters cautiously approached the Reaper missile in flight. No aircraft dared to move forward 3,000 meters away... When the "tragedy" happened just now, the 120th Fighter Wing was nearby and everyone saw it. Who dared to get close to it? This is taking life for granted!

After a while, a P-51B/C reluctantly flew out of the fleet. It did not dare to fly within four to five hundred meters of the Reaper missile. When it reached 700 meters away, it stopped approaching the Reaper missile in front and began to use 12.7mm machine gun fire.

However, the distance of 700 meters is a bit far for air combat. It is difficult for a non-experienced bird to hit the target, so a string of bullets went out, and the missiles in front were still flying arrogantly.

"Let that plane come closer and fight!" McConnell was watching from less than 5,000 meters away. He was very dissatisfied with the cowardice of the P-51B/C and shouted an order.

But that P-51B/C let people go its own way and opened fire from 700 meters away.

"Damn it!" McConnell was a little annoyed. "Tell that bastard to stay 400 meters away, or I will have him go to court-martial!"

Under the threat of court-martial, the poor P-51 had no choice but to get close to the Reaper missile. As a result, it hit the missile's radio proximity fuse at a distance of about 400 meters. A violent explosion fired several shrapnel into the missile. The pilot was shot dead on the spot inside the cabin hood of the plane - if he had known this, he might as well have been court-martialed.

Looking at the plane dragging black smoke towards the sea, McConnell's face turned livid: "Get another one, get to a distance of 500 meters and then fire!"

"Yes!" Major David Jones gritted his teeth and nodded in response.

…

"Mr. Minister, we shot down most of the German missiles. In the end, less than 30 missiles landed in Boston..."

When Lieutenant General Carl Andrew Spaatz, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Air Forces, reported to Secretary of War Wallace, his face was so ugly that U.S. Secretary of War Wallace also became nervous.

"What's going on?" Wallace frowned and asked, "Did the missiles that landed in Boston have biological and chemical warheads?"

As soon as his words came out, everyone gathered in the Pentagon conference room was startled, and twenty or thirty eyes were directed at Lieutenant General Spaatz.

These people all know that in addition to possessing atomic bombs, Germany also has powerful poison gas. If the Germans dropped poison gas bombs in Boston this time, the United States would be embarrassed. Is it better to retaliate or swallow your anger? If it wants to retaliate, the United States will use biological and chemical weapons to attack Europe. So will Germany intensify its retaliation for the use of atomic bombs? If this battle really ends like this, it will be the end of the United States.

"We lost 52 fighter jets to intercept these missiles!" Lieutenant General Spaatz said unexpectedly bad news.

"What?" Wallace was stunned again and again, "What's going on? Met a German jet again?"

"No, it's not." Lieutenant General Spaatz shook his head, "Our plane was shot down by a German missile."

Shot down by a missile? What kind of black technology is this? Did they encounter air-to-air missiles?

"The Germans may have installed radio proximity fuses on their missiles, and our aircraft will detonate the missiles when they get close to 400 meters."

Wallace relaxed a little, "Then don't get so close... I guess it's not a big trouble, right?"

"No, Mr. Secretary, this is a big problem," Spaatz said, "because the Germans are not always going to use these 600-kilometer-per-hour missiles against us during the day. They are more likely to use them at night. A self-destructing missile..."

It is easy to visually detect a distance of several hundred meters during the day, but it is not easy at night - in night air battles, aircraft collisions occur from time to time, not to mention missiles equipped with proximity fuses?

If the pilot wants to increase the safety factor, the firing distance is likely to be extended to 800-1000 meters. This distance is not easy to hit in a night battle. And if you want to close the distance, you will probably hit the missile's radio proximity fuse and get yourself involved.

"If we're going to keep the East Coast safe," Spaatz concluded, "we're probably going to need more aircraft."

More planes? Wallace and Presidential Chief of Staff William Leahy glanced at each other and saw a wry smile on each other's faces. Where are there more planes now? The Newfoundland side had suffered heavy losses and was in urgent need of replenishment. A war is imminent in Trinidad and Tobago, and fighter jets will certainly not be dispatched from there. Bermuda looked like it was about to start a war, so naturally it was impossible to mobilize fighter planes. The number of fighter aircraft in the South American and Pacific battlefields is not large to begin with, and not many can be mobilized.

"It seems that we can't resupply fighter jets to Newfoundland for the time being." William Leahy frowned, "Compared to Newfoundland, Bermuda is more urgent...especially with the addition of jet aircraft, we must add more as soon as possible. Number of fighter planes there in case the Germans actually take it!"

"Will you really occupy the Bermuda Islands?" Wallace looked at William Leahy, "Didn't you say there is no such possibility?"

"Originally it was impossible, but now..." William Leahy shook his head, "Now the Germans have put jets on the aircraft carrier. This is a huge variable."

In fact, the result of the air battle on April 8 was mainly the result of the superb command level of Hessmann Jr. and Molders, and it was not that the Me262T was truly invincible. But William Leahy and most members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff blamed the aviation defeat on April 8 on German jets. However, the conclusion drawn in the end is not bad. With air combat command masters like Hessmann Jr. and Bv138E and Me264H early warning aircraft, the carrier-based aviation of the European Community Combined Fleet can indeed suppress the US shore-based aviation on the battlefield in the Bermuda Islands. Moreover, the Germans now have powerful battleships and missile ship forces, and it is easy to destroy the US military fortifications and turrets on the Bermuda Islands.

Therefore, the German army now really has the ability to capture the Bermuda Islands. However, the Bermuda Islands are too close to the mainland of the United States, and their land area is too small. They are too vulnerable to air attacks by American shore-based bombers and are not suitable for deploying long-range bombers and atomic bombs. ——It would be terrible if it blows up!

Therefore, the German General Staff never thought of occupying the Bermuda Islands from beginning to end, but the US Joint Chiefs of Staff had to guard against it. Because once Bermuda falls, theoretically the entire east coast will be under the threat of German bombers!

William Leahy continued: "According to F-13 night reconnaissance, there is currently a large-scale American fleet rushing from the direction of South America to the Atlantic waters near the Bermuda Islands. They should be the German fleet attacking from Belem Port. In addition, , our intelligence officers also discovered that the battleships/missile ships of the European Community Navy have left Gibraltar and Brest.”

"Battleships and missile ships?" Wallace took a breath, "Are they going to land?"

William Leahy nodded. Now it is impossible for the U.S. Navy to engage in a decisive battleship battle with the Germans, so Germany dispatches battleships to bomb the beaches. The large-scale dispatch of battleships is undoubtedly a sign that the landing has begun actively.

"The target is...Bermuda?"

William Leahy replied: "In order of likelihood, it should be Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda, Newfoundland and their surrounding areas, and finally the east coast."

Of course, the possibility of Germany landing on Newfoundland cannot be ruled out, otherwise there would be no need to deploy troops and fortifications on Newfoundland. However, the U.S. military strength, especially the aviation strength, is relatively tight now, so it is impossible to maintain tight defenses in all places. We can only prioritize and then make key arrangements.

The ranking now given by William Leahy (which is also the judgment of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) determines that Newfoundland and its surrounding areas will not receive any aviation reinforcements for the time being, not even to make up for the losses on April 8. It's possible.

However, this does not mean that the landing on Newfoundland is foolproof, because the existing aviation strength of Newfoundland is still enough to deal a heavy blow to the German transport aircraft carrying air assault troops.

Once the air assault failed, the landing on Newfoundland also failed!