The Rise of the Third Reich

After talking on the phone with Marshal Graham, the commander of the Marine Corps who was responsible for implementing the "Iceberg Plan", Hersman did not leave for the UK immediately. Instead, he immediately rushed to the General Staff Headquarters in Zossen after having a simple breakfast. Preside over the General Staff Operations Meeting.

The General Staff Operations Conference under the chairmanship of Hersman is somewhat similar to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the United States. The leaders of the Navy, Army, Air Force, Naval Aviation, Marine Corps, Airborne Forces and other services will attend the meeting in person or send representatives to attend. The meeting will discuss and make major decisions related to the course of the war.

The issue to be discussed at today's meeting is, of course, launching the most critical blow in the Fort Gotchi plan - Operation Columbus.

All the actions and deployments of the European coalition forces in the Atlantic in the past few months are actually the foreshadowing of Operation Columbus. The purpose is to divert the attention of Americans to other places besides Newfoundland, while also maximizing the consumption of Newfoundland's defense power.

Now, both goals appear to have been achieved, at least partially.

"Because we have launched diversionary feint attacks in all directions, the US military has deployed a large number of aviation forces in the Caribbean battlefield, the southern battlefield of South America, the Bermuda battlefield and the east coast of the United States. Last night, the Americans again launched a fiasco Airborne landings were carried out along the Paradise River in Labrador, dropping approximately 2 divisions of troops. In order to support operations in the Labrador area, the US military will inevitably deploy more aviation forces there. The air force was extremely empty, so I thought the time had come for Operation Columbus."

At the beginning of the meeting, Air Force Commander-in-Chief Kesselring proposed the immediate implementation of Operation Columbus.

Hessman nodded slightly, but did not make a decision immediately. What we have to do now is a major decision, so we must be cautious.

If the operation fails, Germany will have no choice but to accept a peace plan of "crossing the ocean to rule", and it will be impossible to obtain sufficient compensation from the United States. This will make the post-war world slide into a Cold War confrontation that is quite unfavorable to Germany!

After all, Germany's mainland area, population and resources cannot be compared with the United States, the chosen country. Integrating the European Community requires a lot of energy and financial resources. If Germany cannot turn the Euromark into a world currency and cannot suppress the United States in a relatively small space for activity, then over time, the European Community may become another Soviet Union.

"Marshal Reich," Airborne Forces Commander Stuart took over Kesselring's words and continued: "I agree with Marshal Kesselring's opinion. Action should be taken immediately to prevent the United States from noticing that Newfoundland's aviation force is insufficient. problem. But we should also fully consider the possibility of encountering huge difficulties.”

The core of Operation Columbus was the air assault, so the preparations for the campaign and the formulation of specific plans were led by the Airborne Forces Command. As the founder and commander of the German Airborne Forces, Stuart naturally knew that there was a risk of failure in Operation Columbus.

Hersman turned his head and looked at Navy Commander-in-Chief Raeder. Raeder understood what Hersman meant and immediately said: "The Navy and Marine Corps are ready for a forced landing. Once Operation Columbus fails, the European Combined Fleet will The Pizarro Plan will be resolutely implemented... As long as the Prime Minister can approve the use of the 'certain weapon', the Pizarro Plan cannot fail."

The "Pizarro Plan" is a supplementary plan developed for various possibilities of "Operation Columbus" - according to this plan, the European Combined Fleet will transport more than 5 divisions of landing troops to land on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland. .

If "Operation Columbus" succeeds, the landing troops of these five divisions will be the backup for the First Air Assault Army. If Operation Columbus failed or was not entirely successful, a forced landing would be carried out.

The operation to occupy Newfoundland was not allowed to fail. Therefore, in the forced landing plan of the "Pizarro Plan", the German General Staff included a plan to use "certain weapons".

The "certain weapon" is the atomic bomb! In order to ensure the success of the landing operation, the elite staff of the National Defense Forces General Staff thought of the atomic bomb! They planned to drop an atomic bomb with a yield of 20,000 tons on the platform near the landing beach reserved by the Germans in order to completely wipe out the US troops on the platform.

In addition, even if Operation Columbus was successful, nuclear weapons would still need to be used in subsequent operations, but the locations would be different. The landing force used for the Pizarro Plan will become the follow-up force for Operation Columbus and land on Newfoundland.

However, the authority to approve the use of atomic bombs did not lie with the Wehrmacht General Staff, according to the procedures agreed by Hersmann and Hitler. To drop an atomic bomb, a written request must be made by the Chief of Staff of the Wehrmacht, and then signed and approved by the German Chancellor. In other words, the "nuclear button" was jointly controlled by Hitler and Hersmann.

"The Prime Minister will approve it," Hersman nodded. "The transportation of non-critical components of the atomic bomb (excluding plutonium-239) will begin immediately, and the bombing crew will be stationed at the Porto Heroi base in the Azores. But even if the atomic bomb is used, it cannot Ensure the elimination of U.S. troops on the coastal platform... A hard battle is still inevitable, so the Navy and Marine Corps must be fully prepared!"

Redl said with confidence: "The Imperial Marshal, the officers and soldiers of the Navy and Marine Corps are ready for the final battle, and victory will belong to Germany!"

After listening to Redl's statement, Hessman nodded heavily: "Now I declare: Operation Columbus has officially begun!

At the same time, the first phase of Pizarro's plan began to be implemented. All landing forces board the ship and sail out of port into the Atlantic Ocean!

God will be with Germany, and victory will belong to Germany! "

…

When Rudolf von Heinsberg Yusupov Hersmann hurried into the joint command center of the aircraft carrier Adolf Hitler, it was already crowded with officers from the navy and naval aviation. He had just completed a combat mission (commanding a fleet of aircraft to cover the Me264), so he was delayed for some time and was the last officer to arrive at the combat command center.

Seeing Rudolf's arrival, General Helmut Haye, who was originally sitting on a chair, stood up and took a document with a swastika and an iron cross printed on the white cover from the hands of the chief of staff, Major General Christiansen. document. "Okay, let's talk about an important thing now. I just received a top-secret order from the Atlantic Front Command and the European Combined Fleet Command: execute Operation Columbus."

The specific implementation plan of "Operation Columbus" has long been sent to the aircraft carrier Adolf Hitler. As the fleet commander, Helmut Heyer, Chief of Staff Christiansen and all fleet staff have also carefully studied it on the aircraft carrier Hitler. .

However, little Hersman, who was transferred to the fleet aviation operations officer, did not know this - although the aviation operations officers and carrier-based air wing captains are not small officers, they are no less important than the fleet staff. But because he is a frontline commander, there is a certain possibility of being captured, so the secrets he can know are limited.

"Let me briefly describe the general situation of Operation Columbus.

1. The goal of Operation Columbus was to capture the island of Newfoundland.

2. The mission of Task Force 20 in the first phase of Operation Columbus is to achieve air superiority.

3. The air superiority capture mission must be completed in the early morning of D-Day when Operation Columbus begins.

4. We may engage in fierce combat with enemy air and underwater forces.

This is the general situation. If you have any questions you can ask now, please ask. "

Little Hersman was the first to ask the question. He is the fleet aviation operations officer, and he is required to perform the task of achieving air superiority.

"Sir, will the task of achieving air superiority be accomplished through fleet air defense operations or air strike operations?"

"Air strike," Chief of Staff Christiansen replied. "The combat airspace captured by air superiority will be over the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland. At that time, Me264 will be dispatched to destroy the airport, and the carrier-based aircraft part of our fleet will perform escort missions."

"Use Me264 to destroy the airport?" Little Hersman asked, "In what way?"

"Mainly using Reaper 1 air-launched anti-ship missiles," Christiansen said, "More than 320 Me264s will be dispatched. There will also be 90 Br.810 fighter-bombers, which can be hung on Hs293 remote-controlled glide bombs."

The power of 320 Reaper 1 air-launched missiles and 90 Hs293 remote-controlled gliding bombs is still very impressive. If an average of 10 missiles and guided bombs can destroy one runway, these missiles and bombs can destroy a full 41 runways. Almost half of the airports on the island of Newfoundland will lose most of their aircraft take-off and landing capabilities - it is impossible to completely lose the airport's take-off and landing capabilities through air strikes, because a considerable number of aircraft these days have very low requirements for the airport. You can barely take off and land on flat grass.

However, the destruction of the runway will still have a great impact on aircraft taking off and landing at the airport. It cannot be used as long as the visibility is slightly poor, and accidents are prone to occur during takeoff and landing. It is also difficult to take off with full fuel and bombs, and the efficiency of taking off and landing the aircraft will be greatly reduced.

Little Hersman already knew what was going on. He thought about it and asked the last question: "Sir, only the carrier-based aircraft on the nine aircraft carriers of our 20th Task Force and the Me264 bombers taking off from the Azores Islands are conducting air operations." You want to seize the mission?"

"The eight Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers of the 10th Task Force will operate with us." Kristiansand looked at his watch and added: "Colonel Heinz Bahr, the aviation operations officer of the 10th Task Force, this afternoon They will arrive by seaplane and discuss collaborative operations with us.

Therefore, the total number of fighters and bombers participating in this operation will exceed 1,400, which is enough to suppress the US military aircraft on Newfoundland. "