The Rise of the Third Reich

On the anniversary of Lenin's birthday, British Prime Minister Churchill spent most of the day flying in the sky. It was not because Churchill had wings, but because he took a modified Lancaster bomber and ventured all the way from northern Scotland to Newfoundland, then refueled in Newfoundland and continued to fly to Washington.

After leaving the combat radius of the P-38 fighter jets that took off from Iceland, this Lancaster plane carrying Churchill and three other Lancaster planes carrying entourage flew over the North Atlantic, where Germany had long controlled 70% of the sea power, without any air escort.

Fortunately, the confidentiality work in advance was good, and the Germans did not know that Churchill passed over the North Atlantic on this day, otherwise Roosevelt would be attending Churchill's memorial service now.

"Mr. Prime Minister, are you okay on the way? Did you encounter any German planes?" President Roosevelt asked with concern in the White House conference room.

"If I had, I would be a ghost now." Churchill said half-jokingly as he staggered into the room with a cigar in his mouth. "And this possibility does exist. There are fewer and fewer safe areas in the North Atlantic now... Mr. President, do you know? We have discovered another very dangerous German aircraft, which was discovered on April 15. A twin-engine bomber that can dive and drop bombs, or attack with wire-controlled bombs. And it has an amazing range and can fight over the sea area more than 1,000 kilometers west of Iceland!"

In the battle on April 15, Germany's Ju.288 long-range medium bomber made its debut. It did not attack American warships, but sank many British merchant ships. As a result, it was reported to the Royal Navy by the surviving merchant ship crew.

These Ju.288's actions certainly have their reasons. Those merchant ships were full of military supplies. If they were all transported to the British mainland, the landing battles in the future would be even more difficult to fight. Moreover, the Germans did not find two more valuable American aircraft carriers at that time. As for those old battleships that could only be used to bombard the coast, they were all garbage in the eyes of the generals of the German Naval Aviation Force. Merchant ships full of weapons and gasoline were not valuable at all.

"Is the news accurate?" Roosevelt frowned. "The place where the battle took place that day was 2,000 kilometers away from the European continent, right?"

"It has been verified repeatedly." Churchill shook his fat head, sat down on a sofa in the reception room, and lit a cigar for himself. "The combat radius of this aircraft should be 5,000 kilometers! And it is a twin-engine fighter. We estimate that the Germans have made a breakthrough in the 2,500 horsepower engine. Now I don't know whether this German long-range aircraft uses an air-cooled engine or a liquid-cooled engine."

This is definitely not good news! Because the engine is very important to the performance of the aircraft. Without a good engine, no matter how good the design is, it will be useless. For example, the American P51 was not outstanding when it was equipped with the United States' own engine, but after using the British Merlin 60, it immediately became the best fighter in the British and American camps.

Churchill went on to say: "In the Battle of the Faroe Islands, the Italian P.108 was still flying very fast at 11,000 meters, which shows that the German turbocharger has also passed the test..."

2500 horsepower first-level engine, plus turbocharger, plus wire-controlled glide bomb... It seems that it is still difficult to stop the Germans' progress!

The atmosphere in the conference room was a bit dull, the fat man couldn't speak anymore, and the lame man looked a bit depressed. Marshall, the Chief of Staff of the US Army who participated in the talks, broke the silence at this time and said: "Mr. Prime Minister, now that our two countries are fighting against the German-Japanese-Italian group at the same time, the US Army believes that there should be a Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee as the highest military decision-making body for the United States and the Commonwealth countries."

"This is as it should be. If you don't propose it, we will propose it..." Churchill nodded, and then looked at Viscount Brooke, the Chief of the Imperial General Staff who came to the United States with him.

"Mr. President, Admiral," Viscount Brooke said, "Based on the current situation, the Germans will soon land on the British mainland, and will take action before the autumnal equinox at the latest. Since the Royal Navy has no way to defend the Channel, we expect that 1.5 million Germans will land on the British mainland... and we can only resist for 6-8 months at most." Roosevelt and Marshall looked at each other. The US Joint Chiefs of Staff were not as optimistic as the British. They believed that the British could hold out for 3 months... This was actually a high opinion of the British. No one had ever been able to hold out for more than a week under the attack of the German Army without being defeated! As for wanting to hold out for 6-8 months, this was so optimistic that it was unscientific. No one with a brain would believe it. "The situation will not be that bad," but Roosevelt still said confidently, "Moscow will not watch the last country in Europe that can contain Germany's military power fall. And we in the United States will not let Britain, the bridgehead of democracy, be occupied by Nazi Germany... If we lose Britain, it will mean the loss of the bridgehead for counterattack. The entire European continent will be ruled by dark and evil forces." Roosevelt said "the whole of Europe"! This included the lands under Bolshevik rule.

Churchill glanced at Roosevelt: "The United States is now on our side, but the Bolsheviks are still waiting and watching! Perhaps... Stalin will finally stand with the Germans and continue their comradely and brotherly friendship."

"This is unlikely." Roosevelt tilted his head and glanced at Commerce Secretary Hopkins, who would soon leave for the Soviet Union to discuss "business issues" with Stalin.

“Stalin needed a route to victory rather than defeat,” Hopkins said. “If such a route existed, the Soviet Red Army would soon attack the Nazis. If the Soviet Union joined our side, we would win! "

"Victory?" Churchill frowned, "We don't think the Soviet Union has such power."

"In fact, they do not have such power," Marshall took over the topic and said, "Although the Soviet Union has a very powerful tank force, their number of trucks is insufficient. Even with our assistance, it is still too few to fully mechanize the army.

In addition, their air force lacks truly high-performance aircraft, and there is a generation gap between their engine technology and ours and Germany's. But as long as the Soviet Union gets our support, it can at least greatly consume Germany's power and lay the foundation for final victory. "

Churchill asked: "You already have a plan?"

"Yes," Marshall replied affirmatively, "we already have a feasible victory plan."

"Allowing the Soviet Union to attack the British mainland behind the German army was a sneak attack?"

Marshall shook his head and said: "This plan is not very sure... Large-scale tank assaults seem to be the specialty of the Germans. We believe that those Germans must also have countermeasures."

The Americans launched a tank assault on Oahu and were severely beaten by the German ally Japan! Therefore, senior U.S. Army generals like Marshall doubted that the German infantry would be able to withstand the opponent's tank attacks like the Japanese infantry.

"So how to win?" Churchill asked.

"Bombing!" Marshall said, "It's still strategic bombing. American and British planes took off from the Soviet Union to bomb the oil fields in the Middle East and Romania. As long as Germany's oil supply is cut off, their armies will become weak."

Strategic bombing was the core of several anti-German combat plans jointly formulated by the U.S. Army Staff and the Department of Naval Operations - without bombing to destroy Germany's war potential, the United States would simply not be able to win.

In the original plan, bombers would take off from the British mainland to level Germany. But now the British mainland is unlikely to be a departure point for bombers, so the Soviet Union is the only option.

Roosevelt said: "Mr. Prime Minister, as far as I know you, Britain, have been preparing to bomb Germany."

Churchill puffed on his cigar. He already understood the Americans' plan. In this plan, Britain needs to use its own bombers and pilots, together with the Americans and the Soviets, to use Soviet land as a base to conduct intensive and repeated bombings of German oil gathering areas until they are completely destroyed. .

"Continuous bombing is a war of attrition!" Churchill said hesitantly.

The reason why he has been reluctant to send planes to bomb German cities is that he knows that Britain, which is now blocked, cannot afford such a war of attrition. There aren't enough planes, parts, pilots and gasoline. If it were to hit the air-tight German air defense net, perhaps the Royal Air Force would have nothing flying in its hands in three or four months.

"We know," said Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lacey, "that we must maintain the Newfoundland-Greenland-Iceland-Murmansk route... It will be a winning route!"

"What to maintain?" Churchill asked.

"Sustain it with the navies of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union!"

U.S. Chief of Naval Operations William Lacey said with his fingers: "Now we have the USS Washington and seven other old battleships, the USS Massachusetts will be commissioned in May, and the USS Alabama will be commissioned in August. And now you have the York. The Duke, Renown, Nelson, five Queen Elizabeth-class ships, and the Anson and Howe will be in service around the autumnal equinox, and the Soviets will also have two super battleships and a brand new battlecruiser by then. So we were fully capable of maintaining the Newfoundland-Greenland-Iceland-Murmansk route and getting enough bombs and planes and pilots to the Soviet Union."