The Rise of the Third Reich

Chapter 1146 Election and War VII

Just when the plane driven by Kennedy Jr. was hit and crashed into the sea, Hersman Jr. had already arrived at the military port of Buenos Aires in a Volkswagen 82 barrel car, and the car drove to a high ground. Hersman Jr. stood in the car, raised a telescope and began to observe the battle on the sea.

With the help of flares and searchlights, he soon found a "small glider" hovering and descending.

"Is it a remote-controlled gliding bomb? No, that's not right..." Hersman Jr. immediately denied his idea, because remote-controlled gliding bombs or missiles generally follow indicator lights. This is to facilitate operators to find bombs or missiles in the air. And it's night now. Although there are searchlights and flares, the visibility is still not comparable to that during the day. If these gliding bombs are remotely controlled, the operators will definitely not see them.

So... the Americans should be using radar-guided gliding bombs!

But how did they install the fire control radar on the plane? Did they build a miniaturized fire control radar and a solution computer? This is a bit troublesome.

Germany now has a fire control radar and a computer that can be used to solve the azimuth difference. Although they were primitive and clumsy equipment, they were enough to support the radar guidance mode of the "Cascade" missile. However, the fire control radar used to illuminate the target and the missile itself was large, and the computer was also very heavy.

Therefore, a set of "Cascade" equipment needed to be transported by a convoy. This time, the German Navy used several Fokker 42 transport planes to transport a set of "Cascade" systems (including two launchers) to Buenos Aires. So such equipment is impossible to install on an aircraft. If the United States develops an airborne radar-guided missile system, the situation will be reversed...

"Camera!" Little Hersman couldn't figure it out, but it didn't stop him from taking pictures. A naval aviation sergeant who arrived in Buenos Aires with him handed a Leica camera to little Hersman.

Little Hersman took the camera and took a burst of photos of the target in the air. He not only took photos of the "Bat" glide bomb, but also took photos of the PB4Y-1 bomber dropping the bomb, and even took photos of an airplane carrying a "Bat" glide bomb.

“Is this the American radar-guided glide bomb?”

The day after the “Buenos Aires bombing,” Imperial Marshal Hersmann got a photo taken by German naval and air force officers (not just Hersmann) on the scene. Looking at the thick and short “little glider” in the photo, I tried to recall the immature guided weapons developed by the United States during World War II. It seems that there is a glide bomb called “Bat” that claims to be the world’s first “fire and forget” active guided weapon, which should be the thing in the photo.

However, Hersmann was not worried about this “active guided glide bomb” at all, because he knew some knowledge about missile guidance technology in his previous life. He knew that the “fire and forget” active guidance technology was very difficult, and it must have extremely superior radar and computer technology to be possible.

The radar and computer technology that Germany currently has cannot even do semi-active guidance. In the “Waterfall” missile system using radar guidance, only two fire control radars can be used to illuminate the target and missile respectively, and then the computer can be used to solve according to certain formulas based on the observation results of the two radars.

The American "Bat" guided bomb uses radar active guidance technology, which should be very primitive and immature, but it still has a certain reference value.

"Did you get the live bomb?" Hessman asked Navy Commander-in-Chief Raeder while looking at the photos.

"We got two," Raeder said, "We have completed the disassembly, and tomorrow we will use Fokker 42 to transport it to the missile test center in Peenemünde for research. If the cost of this weapon is not very expensive, I hope it can be imitated."

The suggestion of imitation was not made by Raeder, but by several Air Force and Naval Aviation experts in Buenos Aires, including little Hessman - these pilots and officers who have been working hard on the front line saw the value of the "Bat" glide bomb at a glance. Although its lethality is not very large, and its hit rate as a guided weapon is not high, it can attack at night, and its combat weight does not seem to be very large, so the requirements for the aircraft carrying it should not be high. Seaplanes like Bv138 should be able to hang two. Even if it can't sink any important targets, it's good to scare the enemy.

"Did the New Azbanian Navy suffer heavy losses?" Hessman asked casually.

"Not very much," Raeder frowned, "but the hit rate of the American gliding guided bombs is not low. About 20 bombs hit the New Azbanian Navy ships, but the damage was not very large. Only one light cruiser, four destroyers and one transport ship were seriously damaged, and the rest of the ships were only slightly injured."

The light damage to the New Azbanian fleet is related to the structure and hit angle of the "Bat" gliding bomb. This gliding bomb has no armor-piercing warhead, and it will not dive to attack the deck of the ship, so it often hits the ship's solid side armor belt or the side of the turret or command tower, or hits some unimportant superstructure. Although it looks quite impressive when it explodes, it will not cause a fatal blow to the ship.

...

"Great, great, publish these photos immediately, and announce our great victory in the Buenos Aires air raid!"

Washington, White House. U.S. President Wallace also got a lot of photos at this time, all taken by bombers that attacked the Buenos Aires military port. The content, of course, is that the New Asbanian ships on the sea are shrouded in flames. To an expert, a picture like this does not represent a great victory, as one must consider what ammunition hit the target.

If more than 20 aerial torpedoes or 1,000-pound armor-piercing bombs hit the battleships of New Asbania, Juan Peron's navy will almost be finished. However, the "Bat" gliding bomb does not have that kind of destructive power, which means it just looks more lively.

But it is enough to use these hilarious photos to deceive American voters who are very unfamiliar with maritime warfare.

"In addition," Wallace added, "it is announced that the U.S. Army will soon liberate Santiago, the capital of Chile... This will be the beginning of the collapse of Peron's fascist empire! The United States will regain the initiative in South America!"

The Monroe Doctrine still has some market in the United States, and the American people have long been accustomed to treating South America as their own backyard. Therefore, as long as the Democratic government led by Wallace gains an advantage in South America, it will definitely boost the Democratic Party's electoral support.

"Yes, yes, sir."

Presidential Chief of Staff William Leahy, who reported the war situation to Wallace, repeatedly agreed.

In fact, he was not a pure soldier, because his military career ended once in April 1939 - when he reached the retirement age stipulated by the Navy, he resigned as Chief of Naval Operations. However, after retirement, he did not go home to report to his grandson. Instead, under Roosevelt's arrangement, he served as governor of Puerto Rico and ambassador to France. Both positions are civilian government appointees, and his current position as the Presidential Chief of Staff is not the Chief of General Staff (and later the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff), but the President’s personal representative on the Joint Chiefs of Staff . Therefore, William Leahy is not a soldier without a political stance, but a Democratic politician in military uniform, so he must comply with the will of Democratic President Wallace.

"By the way, Mr. Kennedy's son has not been found yet?" Wallace suddenly remembered the disappearance of little Kennedy.

"Not yet." William Leahy shook his head regretfully. "Someone saw that his plane was shot down. He was probably either captured or died for his country."

"Oh." Wallace nodded, "Put this news out... let people know that the son of the Democratic vice presidential candidate died heroically in battle! But it can't be too deliberate, it should be natural. Is there any way?"

"Yes," William Leahy certainly knew how to establish war heroes - this was a means of military mobilization. "All the soldiers who lost their lives in the Buenos Aires air raid can be hailed as national heroes."

"Okay!" Wallace nodded, "That's it!"

General William Leahy stood up from his chair, picked up his white hat from the coffee table and closed it on his head. Then he gave President Wallace a military salute and turned around to leave the President's Office.

At this time, in addition to President Wallace, there was also Harry Hopkins who had just returned from Rome.

President Wallace sighed and said to Roosevelt's think tank: "There are still a few days until the vote. Before then, we must hold high the flag of battle."

Harry Hopkins smiled tiredly. His health was almost as bad as Roosevelt's, and he knew he would have little role in the administrations of Wallace or Truman. Today he came to visit Wallace. In addition to reporting on the latest progress of the "peace movement" - in fact, there was no progress - he wanted to resign on the grounds of poor health.

"Of course, we must hold the battle flag high now," Harry Hopkins said, "but what about after the election? When can we put the battle flag down?"

Wallace shrugged: "That's Mr. Truman's business...but I don't think we need to put down the fighting flag."

"Oh." Harry Hopkins nodded with some disappointment. He is the one who knows the unspoken rules of domestic politics in the United States best - the choice is the last word! And whoever can play a key role in the general election is the leader of the party and will naturally be rewarded.

Therefore, given the huge role played by Wallace in this year's election, he will definitely have a prominent position in Truman's administration, either Secretary of State or Secretary of War (Secretary of the Army), and he will also be in Truman's administration. Exerting huge influence and becoming the de facto number two...

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