Chapter 1168 Gao Qibao Plan - Blockade First, Then Occupy?
"The opportunity has come! Follow me... Remember, don't get close to the coastline!"
Radsch saw the flickering fire on the land in the distance and knew that now was the most critical moment, so he carefully flew the plane while reminding his men to stay away from the coastline again through the throat communicator. This is not only to avoid anti-aircraft guns, but also to prevent the plane from crashing on Trinidad Island after being hit - if the plane crashes on the island, the "oyster mine" on the plane will fall into the hands of the Americans. By studying the "oyster mine", the Americans will quickly find a way to crack it and imitate it.
The plane flew for a few more minutes and got closer to the southern entrance of the Gulf of Paria. The navigator suddenly reported in a shrill voice that the radar found two fast-moving ships at the entrance of the bay! Almost at the same time, a fan-shaped blue light from the searchlight was released from the sea, but due to the distance, the searchlight did not illuminate Radsch's plane.
"That should be the entrance to the strait." Radshi pressed the throat communicator with his gloved fingers, "Attention, 8th Squadron, you lay mines 5,000 meters south of that American destroyer (he guessed it was a destroyer)."
"Okay, okay... It's a pity that there are no torpedoes, otherwise we can kill it."
The captain of the 8th Torpedo Bomber Squadron came from the headset with a somewhat regretful voice - just two American light ships will definitely not be able to escape the pursuit of more than ten Ju188E-2 torpedo bombers!
However, in order to carry as many mines as possible - so that the operation of laying mines to blockade Trinidad Island can be completed with as few missions as possible - tonight the 100 aircraft of the 11th Torpedo Bomber Aviation Regiment did not carry torpedoes.
"Boom boom boom..."
The two American destroyers on the sea began to fire desperately with 10 127mm guns, as if trying to prevent the low-altitude German planes from rushing into the bay. Two Ju188s flying at low altitude were hit by shrapnel fired by 127mm. One of them turned into a fireball in the air, and the other had an engine on fire. They could only drop mines and fly to the nearby Amacuro Delta region in Venezuela. The area was sparsely populated, full of swamps and tropical rainforests, and was not suitable for large-scale military garrisons. However, the jungle warfare troops of the United States and Germany had established bases in the rainforest, and each of them bribed several Indian tribes with small gadgets such as bayonets and daggers to act as helpers. Therefore, it was still very likely that German pilots would be rescued after parachuting or forced landing in that area.
The remaining aircraft, except for 12 Ju188E-2s belonging to the 8th Squadron of the 11th Torpedo Bombing Aviation Regiment that dropped mines and left, all flew over the two American destroyers and rushed into the open Gulf of Paria.
"See the fire on the right, Lieutenant Colonel? It seems that the bombers covering us have really hit a lot of valuable targets." Radsch's navigator found that Trinidad was full of fire and smoke. Obviously, many missiles hit targets that could cause fires. However, he did not know that the German Air Force adopted the tactic of low-cost aircraft guiding missiles in this operation, and thought that the bombs dropped by the bombers had achieved good results.
"At least it made a lot of noise and attracted the attention of the Americans." Lieutenant Colonel Radsch said, "Now it's our turn to show off our skills!"
He pressed the throat communicator again and began to assign tasks. The northern entrance of the Gulf of Paria is the main channel for American ships to enter and exit, and it must be blocked with the most mines, so Radsch sent 4 squadrons to perform the task. The remaining 3 squadrons dispersed to lay mines in the shallow water area near the coastline in the bay. The reason why all mines were not laid at the two entrances of the bay was to increase the difficulty of minesweeping.
The essence of mine warfare is not to sink as many enemy ships as possible, but to block the enemy's waterways and make their ports unusable or difficult to use. Therefore, "anti-sweeping" must be considered when laying mines - 180 "oyster mines" scattered in the bay are definitely a nightmare for the US Navy's minesweeper force. I don't know how many depth charges will be dropped to clear them out!
While hundreds of "oyster mines" were thrown into the sea, more than a thousand night fighters were fighting over Trinidad. The biggest difference between night combat and day combat is that it is difficult to distinguish between enemies and friends. Although there are radars and searchlights on night aircraft, radars cannot distinguish between enemies and friends, and searchlights dare not be turned on easily. Therefore, the fight between the night fighters of both sides is very challenging for the pilots. In this kind of battle where there is a possibility of accidental attack at any time, recruits with superb skills but who have not participated in any actual combat are sometimes more dangerous than the enemy. Because they are nervous, they often fire blindly after distinguishing the target, and about half of the targets they hit are their own aircraft!
Most of Germany's night fighter pilots were veterans. They had been fighting the British and Soviets in the European night sky for nearly five years. They had long since developed a calm mentality and would not fire indiscriminately in a night melee.
Because many American night fighter pilots were shot down by their own people, the exchange ratio of this night air battle was definitely greatly unfavorable to the Americans. About 4 American planes were shot down to exchange for 1 German plane. However, because the battle area was over the U.S.-controlled island of Trinidad, American pilots were easier to rescue, and the loss of American and German pilots was about 2.5:1, which was not too bad for the United States. Moreover, because it was a night battle, and it was a night fighter against a night fighter (both sides were more flexible and easy to dodge), the intensity was not comparable to the daytime battle, so the total loss was not too much.
But the next morning, the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who were meeting in the Pentagon were still shocked.
What surprised them most was not the loss of night fighters, but the new tactic of "aircraft covering missiles" adopted by Germany. Although the missiles that attacked Trinidad last night did not cause much damage, this tactic undoubtedly increased the difficulty of night interception operations. Because the attack was not a clumsy heavy bomber, but a powerful and flexible night fighter and a missile that was difficult to shoot down.
This means that the night fighter has lost the ability to protect the city from night bombing - because if they choose to attack missiles, they will become targets of enemy night fighters, which is equivalent to exchanging the lives of pilots for missiles!
If they do not attack missiles, then these missiles will fall on American cities or bases, causing losses and panic.
In addition, there was another piece of bad news that shocked the members of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff - American military technicians on Trinidad found a device suspected of a radio remote control device on the unexploded German missiles they picked up, and no other guidance devices were found.
This shows that the incoming missile was guided and remotely controlled by an aircraft - this guidance method is more reliable to think about, if it is used in attacks on major cities on the East Coast, it will be troublesome.
When several American generals looked at each other, and were a little overwhelmed, a Pentagon staff member hurried into the conference room.
"Sir, the Third Fleet Command (currently stationed in Port of Spain, Trinidad) reported that the Germans may have dropped new mines in the Gulf of Paria."
"New mines?" Admiral Ernest King, the Chief of Naval Operations, asked hurriedly, "Did the minesweepers get hit?"
The staff nodded and said, "After the airstrike, the Third Fleet Command immediately dispatched 10 minesweepers to clear the waterway with electromagnetic minesweepers and minebreakers. As a result, no mines were swept, but 6 minesweepers were sunk..."
It is common for minesweepers to be sunk by mines, but 6 minesweepers were sunk at once, and no mines were swept. There is no doubt that they encountered new mines.
"Damn it, the Gulf of Paria is blocked!" William Leahy, who was sitting at the head of the conference table and presiding over the meeting, immediately understood what happened.
"William, when will the Gulf of Paria be open to navigation?" Army Chief of Staff Marshall asked with a frown.
The Gulf of Paria is the main channel to Trinidad. If it is blocked, how can the logistical supply of nearly thousands of aircraft and hundreds of thousands of American soldiers on the island be solved?
"It's hard to say," William Leahy shook his head. "If we can get their new mines, maybe we can find a way to crack them in a few weeks. Otherwise... we don't know the detonation principle of the fuse of this mine, so we can only use depth charges to blast a channel. This not only wastes ammunition, but also takes a lot of time and requires repeated bombing. In the process, the Germans are likely to lay more mines."
"So what about the supply of Trinidad?" Marshall asked. Of course, there are many reserve materials on Trinidad, but due to the large garrison on the island, the daily consumption is also an astronomical figure. If the island is blocked for a few weeks, it is not a big problem. If it is blocked for a few months, the army on it may surrender without a fight.
"Let's use air transport first." William Leahy glanced at Arnold, "Henry, can the Army Air Force complete this mission?"
Henry Arnold was stunned. There were so many people, so much equipment, and so many planes on Trinidad Island. The daily consumption was an astronomical figure. Just the Spam luncheon meat cans that made American soldiers hate consumed hundreds of thousands a day. How could they be transported by air?
Moreover, Trinidad Island was very close to Guyana controlled by the Germans. The German Fokker 63219 could come and visit at will. Wouldn't it be a death sentence for a transport plane that could only fly slowly to encounter them?