The Rise of the Third Reich

The plane can fly, but can bombs and torpedoes be dropped? Redel personally ordered it before 4:30!

This is probably the most ridiculous order Robert Ritter von Graem has ever heard since he joined the army. Could it be that if Lord Raeder’s order from you didn’t come, everyone’s trip would have been in vain? Is there anyone who fights like this?

But no matter how absurd it is, it is still an order, an order from the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy! As a soldier, you can only choose to obey. Thinking of this, Graeme started to blame Hersman a little. Wouldn't it be okay to put his own aviation team under the Air Force? The Air Force is under the control of the General Staff, and Air Force General Kesselring is one of our own, so he will not issue such a ridiculous order.

"General, the plane is about to take off." An aviation major named Franz Speer, a combat staff officer who had served as an intern in the Japanese Navy, walked to Gram from the cockpit, and then stood next to him with his back against the bulkhead. Sit down in your seat and fasten your seat belt.

Four 1,200-horsepower BMW323 air-cooled engines roared, and the sound in the cabin was very noisy. Graeme's mood became even more irritable. Probably to divert his attention, he suddenly asked the aviation major next to him, "Tell me the air strike plan again!"

"Okay, General." Franz Speer said loudly, "According to intelligence, the British only have one naval airport near Scapa Flow and have very limited fighter jets. 56 Zeros are responsible for solving them. So in During the air strike, there is no need to consider interference from enemy aircraft.”

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Gram thought: it would be a crime to miss it!

"The bomber and torpedo fleets will be classified according to aircraft type," Major Franz Speer continued. "The first to attack will be 110 He-111s. They will form 22 five-plane formations, flying from a low altitude of 500 meters. To penetrate defenses and carry out horizontal bombing, each He-111 carries 4 SC-250 high-explosive bombs. This bomb basically has no armor-piercing capability, so the primary target of these He-111 bombers is ground anti-aircraft artillery positions, and the Navy The base’s ground facilities; the second target is the oil depot at the Scapa Flow base, where according to intelligence at least 100,000 tons of fuel are stored; and the third target is the auxiliary ships in Scapa Flow.”

At present, German aerial bombs are named according to type and weight. For example, large-charge bombs are named SB, high-explosive bombs are named SC, fragmentation bombs are named SD, anti-armor bombs are named PC, and armor-piercing aerial bombs are named PD. Adding a few numbers after these names means the weight of a certain bomb.

Although aerial bombs weigh a lot, many of them have not been put into practical use. Nowadays, there are only two types of weapons that are widely equipped in the army. SC high-explosive bombs, which are actually ordinary bombs. The other type is PC anti-armor bullet, which can actually be called armor-piercing bullet. The difference between it and PD is that the latter bullet has extremely thick wall and slender body, and is used to deal with armored bunkers.

——It was used to blow up the Maginot Line.

The SC-250 is an ordinary bomb weighing 250 kilograms. A He111 bomber can carry up to 8 SC-250s. However, due to the increased range, the bomb load is reduced, and only 4 bombs are carried. However, 110 planes can also carry 440 bombs, which is enough for the British at Scapa Flow base to drink a pot.

Major Franz Speer continued: "The next attack will be 86 Ju.88s with specific dive bombing capabilities. They will use shallow dive bombing to release SC-500 bombs. Although this bomb is high-explosive, It has the ability to penetrate 35 to 50mm of horizontal armor, so the Ju.88 fleet will attack aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers, light cruisers and destroyers in Scapa Flow.”

In fact, there is a big difference between the two weight bombs SC and PC in the level below 500 kilograms. At the levels of 500 kilograms, 1000 kilograms and 1400 kilograms, the difference between the two is not very big. Because the shells of heavy bombs are relatively thick and not easily broken, you can use the SC as a PC by installing a time-delay fuse and replacing it with a solid warhead. As for the serious PC-500, of course there is also one, but its armor-piercing performance is only about 70mm or 80mm. It is also very difficult to deal with British battleships/battlecruisers with rough skin and thick flesh. And against aircraft carriers, treaty heavy cruisers and destroyers with only thin armor, the SC-500 has a better strike effect due to its large explosive charge - at least this is what the German Naval Air Force thinks.

Therefore, the precise calculation result of the staff of the Naval Aviation Command is to equip 86 Ju.88s with 172 SC-500s to kill "lightly armored" or "unarmored" aircraft carriers, heavy cruisers, light cruisers, destroyers, and auxiliary ships. "Target.

Because the Ju.88 has a certain dive bombing capability and the bomb delivery accuracy is relatively high, 172 SC-500s should be able to overturn most of the "British boats" in Scapa Flow.

As for the battleships and battlecruisers in Scapa Flow, they were all dealt with by 84 He-115 torpedo attack aircraft.

Major Franz Speer said: "84 He-115 torpedo attack aircraft will attack while the Ju.88 is conducting dive bombing, using a low-altitude horizontal penetration method to form a formation of 5 aircraft to attack Scapa Flow. battleships and battlecruisers."

The torpedo launched by the He-115 torpedo attack aircraft is called the F5 450mm steam gas aviation torpedo. The torpedo weighs 737 kilograms and has a warhead charge of 200 kilograms of Hexanite explosive. This kind of torpedo is not very powerful (as for aviation torpedoes, just nod). For cutting-edge battleships with mine protection compartments (such as the Bismarck, which can protect against 300 kilograms of Hexanite explosives), it is impossible to penetrate the soul with one shot. , it takes more than a dozen rounds to defeat him.

However, dispatching 84 He-115s with 84 F5 torpedoes should have enough firepower.

"General," Major Franz Speer finally said confidently, "Theoretically, the force we dispatch this time is enough to sink all the British ships in Scapa Flow!"

"Theoretically..." Graeme scratched his head and glanced at the powerful airborne radio installed in the cabin, "Now let's see if the higher-ups can be so cruel!"

Historically, when Hitler was attacking Britain, he actually lacked everything, including planes, submarines and troops, everything! What is really lacking is an eye, a ruthless heart!

…

"Leader, it's war now! If I defeat you, I will be hanged!"

General Ludwig von Heinsberg-Hersmann is now ready to rush back to Berlin to launch a coup! He doesn't care about the Polish campaign now - anyway, with the two chiefs of staff, Manstein and Rommel, nothing bad will happen. So from 1 o'clock in the afternoon, he was in his office, arguing with Hitler on the phone.

Because Hitler had serious doubts about dispatching 340 aircraft to attack Scapa Flow - he believed that this bombing would completely break up with Britain, and there would be no possibility of compromise between the two countries.

But Hessmann knew very well: It is impossible for Germany to compromise with Britain! If Germany wants to win, it cannot show mercy to Britain.

"You can't be merciful! If you are kind to the British, you are cruel to the Germans!" Hessmann said loudly, "You are the leader and prime minister of the German people, not the British Prime Minister! Since the British want to fight now, it will be life or death. No way. There is no room for compromise, and Britain must perish! Otherwise, Germany will perish!”

"But Ludwig, we are almost the same race as the British." Hitler was a big devil who was poisoned by racism. He talked about everything, and as a result he harmed the German people and himself. "If there is any country in the world that can partner with us to rule the world, it is Britain!"

"Leader, if there was such a good thing, the last world war wouldn't have ended like that!" Hessman shouted, "And even if you want to negotiate peace with the British, you have to hurt them first! "

Hessman thought to himself: 340 aircraft alone would definitely not be able to hurt Britain, although the HNA Command had made a good calculation and believed that it could destroy the local fleet. But refer to the Pearl Harbor incident - the Japanese were much better at bombing ships than the Germans - it was just a battleship sunk and three damaged.

There may be 5 battleships/battlecruisers in Scapa Flow now, as well as three old aircraft carriers. Even if it hits four sinks and four wounds, it is not a fatal injury to the powerful British Navy. Most of them are still unwilling to negotiate...

Hearing Hitler's silence, Hessmann knew that the other party still couldn't bring himself to break with Britain completely - if Hitler had been half as cruel as he was in beating the Soviet Union when he beat Britain, the world war would have been won!

So he could only persuade according to Hitler's ideas: "Leader, the Polish campaign is going very well now. Our army will be able to attack Warsaw in a few days. There will be another airdrop to Lviv on the 6th. If today If the air strikes are successful, Stalin will definitely join the war, and then it will be the Soviet Union and Germany against Britain and France... This is a war that Britain cannot win, and maybe they will consider peace talks. "

There was another long silence on the other side of the phone, and then Hitler said: "Okay, I approve this operation.

However... any such large-scale action against the UK in the future will have to be planned and deployed with my consent first. Because the war against Britain was not only a military issue, but also a diplomatic and political issue. Ludwig, you must understand that we have no way to use military means to solve Britain. We can only win a more favorable peace from Britain by promoting peace through war. "