The Rise of the Third Reich

"Major Mussolini, the Faroe Islands are only 50 kilometers away."

The voice of Lieutenant Colonel Castellana, the captain of the P.108S heavy bomber in charge of the pilot, reached the ears of Major Bruno Mussolini through the airborne radio. Because his father was Mussolini, the great Italian leader, Bruno Mussolini, although only a major, served as the commander of the 10th Bomber Regiment of the Italian Air Force in Bergen, and was also responsible for today's air strike on the Faroe Islands. 60 P.108S bombers, 48 ​​Ameo 357 bombers and 48 Fokker Zero D-1 fighters serving as escort missions (the latest model of shore-based high-altitude Fokker Zero, equipped with a secondary two-speed machine supercharger and MW-50 injection combustion system).

The military rank is one level higher than Bruno Mussolini, and the seniority is even more senior than Bruno. Lieutenant Colonel Castner is the captain of the 23rd Group of the 10th Bomber Regiment and Bruno's deputy. During today's air raid During operations, he serves as the pilot of the entire fleet.

"Okay, thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Castellana." Bruno Mussolini then gave the order first in French through the airborne radio, and then repeated it in Italian.

Bruno Mussolini said: "I am Major Bruno Mussolini, the commander-in-chief of today's air raid. Now I take over the command. I order that the order of entering the air raid area is the Italian 23rd Bomber Group, the Italian 24th Bomber Group Group, French 11th Bomb Group, French 12th Bomb Group. Now the altitude is raised to 10500 and the direction is 290. Come with me... let those arrogant British guys have a taste of our European bombs!"

"As you command, Major!"

The French and Italians flying the plane shouted in response to the Italian leader's son, but all of them were very doubtful about the effectiveness of today's bombing of the Faroe Islands.

None of the P.108 heavy bombers participating in the bombing carried the Hs293V3, a high-tech bomb capable of precise strikes, but only ordinary CP-500 high-explosive bombs. Dropping bombs at an altitude of 10,500 meters is nothing more than carpet bombing, killing ground targets indiscriminately. This kind of bombing may be useful for cities and factories with large targets, but is it useful against military fortresses like the Faroe Islands?

The British artillery positions, barracks and various fortifications are scattered and concealed. Using high-altitude horizontal bombing, I really don't know how many bombs will be wasted to destroy those targets!

I really don’t know what General Richthofen, the commander of the German Second Air Force, who issued the order, and Major Bruno Mussolini, who was responsible for carrying out this wasteful bomb mission, thought?

…

"Mr. Prime Minister, the Italians and the French have just bombed the Faroe Islands. The bombs fell on Tórshavn and Weigel Airport. Some casualties were caused, but the damage was not serious..."

Lieutenant General Fraser once again walked into the conference room of the War Cabinet Command and reported with a frown on the bombing of the Faroe Islands by French and Italian aircraft.

"What's the height?" Churchill didn't care how many residents of the Faroe Islands were killed or injured in the bombing. Anyway, they were not British. All he cared about now was the altitude at which those planes were flying.

"It's 10,500 meters. Those are indeed high-altitude bombers." Lieutenant General Fraser continued, "The anti-aircraft guns we deployed in the Faroe Islands, including the 3.7-inch anti-aircraft guns (94mm), cannot hit them. And we are in There are no high-altitude fighter jets in the Faroe Islands, and a small number of Mosquito aircraft did not attack because the enemy was escorted by high-altitude Fokker Zero aircraft. Therefore, no aircraft was shot down by us in this air attack. ”

108 high-altitude bombers and 48 Fokker Zero high-altitude fighter jets swaggered into the sky over the Faroe Islands from an altitude of 10,000 meters, and then left in a swagger after dropping their bombs. This made members of the British war cabinet feel a little uneasy - this was probably the beginning of a large-scale German air attack on Britain!

And a large-scale air raid is likely to be a precursor to landing on the British mainland!

"Prime Minister, now, the Rolls-Royce Merlin Merlin 60 engine has excellent high-altitude performance, and we have installed this engine on the Spitfire 10 fighter jet." Minister of Defense Production Oliver. Littleton finally said something comforting.

Rolls-Royce is an excellent liquid-cooled aircraft engine manufacturer like Germany's Mercedes-Benz and Umo. Historically, because the UK has an abundant supply of rare metals and high-octane gasoline, Rolls-Royce has Royce's "Merlin" series engines eventually developed into the best liquid-cooled engines during World War II, no one!

The American P51 and the British "Spitfire" and "Mosquito" and other superior performance aircraft are inseparable from the strong power provided by the "Merlin" series engines. The Merlin 60 engine is an epoch-making product. In history, it was from the Merlin 60 that Britain's liquid-cooled engine technology surpassed Germany's. The biggest design highlight of this "Merlin" 60 is a two-speed supercharger. This supercharger can change the impeller speed according to altitude (air pressure), allowing pilots to obtain different boosts at different altitudes. pressure effect.

After being equipped with the "Merlin" Type 60 engine, the British "Spitfire" and "Mosquito" have excellent high-altitude performance (high-altitude aircraft must of course have special aerodynamic shapes), enough to fight against German high-altitude bomber.

"Let Rolls-Royce speed up the production of the Merlin 60 engine!" Churchill thought for a while and then said, "Give this engine to the Americans and let them install it on the P51. "

The suggestion to install the Merlin 60 on the P51 was put forward by British fighter pilots, and the Royal Air Force also conducted tests and found that the P51 Mustang aircraft equipped with the Merlin 60 could immediately achieve 760 km/h. Extreme speed!

"Prime Minister, the Americans haven't restored our supply yet." Minister of Defense Production Oliver Littleton said with some dissatisfaction, "If they don't restore the supply, we will soon be unable to produce the Merlin 60. "

No matter how powerful Rolls-Royce is, it is impossible to forge the best engine in the world out of steel. Manufacturing aero engines requires aluminum and various rare metals. Now there is no shortage of aluminum and rare metals in Germany, but the British inventory is about to bottom out. If the Americans don't ship more to the UK, it won't be long before Rolls-Royce will have to cut corners even if it doesn't stop production.

"Recovery," Churchill emphasized, "President Roosevelt promised me!" His eyes slowly swept over the faces of everyone in the conference room, and found that everyone was a little downcast, obviously not believing Roosevelt's guarantee.

"Moreover, we will soon win a key naval battle!"

Prime Minister Churchill said in a passionate tone, "The bombing of the Faroe Islands by the Germans with more than 100 high-altitude bombers is meaningless...the bombs dropped from an altitude of more than 10,000 meters are not accurate at all. This shows that they are targeting the Faroe Islands. The attack on the islands is just a feint, the purpose is to attract Sir Cunningham's fleet to the combat radius of Ju88 and S.M.79. However, we have seen through their plot, so it is impossible for the German fleet to break through the Denmark Strait. If they insist on doing this, we can wipe out the main force of the German High Seas Fleet. This will be the turning point of the war!"

…

"Bombing the Faroe Islands with high-altitude bombers? This is a meaningless bombing..." On the battleship King George V, Commander Cunningham of the British Home Fleet was not as optimistic as Churchill. "Why are the Germans doing this? "

"Maybe it's a feint attack?" Lister, chief of staff of the Home Fleet, said, "Maybe it's to lure us to rescue the Faroe Islands."

Cunningham looked at Lister, shook his head and said: "We won't be fooled, that's obvious!" He thought for a while, "If the Germans really want to seduce us, they should let Ju88 and S.M. 79 to bomb, and at the same time sent out a landing convoy... Did the Mosquitoes and Sunderland 'Shot' seaplanes detect the landing convoy?"

"No." Lister shook his head and said, "What we can confirm now are 2 Hindenburg-class ships, 2 Barbarossa-class ships, 2 Zeppelin-class ships, and 3 aircraft carriers that are suspected to be converted from cruise ships. , as well as 20-25 light cruisers or destroyers, and 4-5 fast transport ships and military tankers.”

It is necessary for a fleet of more than 30 combat ships to bring 4-5 supply ships and tankers, so it is unlikely that these transport ships and tankers will be filled with soldiers. And even if there were soldiers on these ships, there would be at most six to seven thousand people. How could it be possible to capture the Faroe Islands with such a small number of people?

"They want to attract us to rescue the Faroe Islands, and then rush to the Denmark Strait themselves?" Cunningham still shook his head, "Admiral Lütjens has not just graduated from the Naval Academy in Kiel Harbor, how could he make such a plan at a glance? Can you see through the plan?"

While the two were discussing, the communication staff officer of the Home Fleet walked into the commander's office.

"Commander, the Faroe Islands were bombed again. This time the Germans dispatched about 100 Ju88s and Z.1007s and launched a horizontal bombing from an altitude of 6,000 meters."

Cunningham and Lister looked at each other. Cunningham still shook his head and whispered to himself: "I still don't understand. Is it really trying to attract us to rescue the Faroe Islands?"

Lister smiled and said: "Commander, it seems to be a low-level feint attack... How about we send a few escort carriers to test it out?"