Chapter 1181 European Combined Fleet, Attack!

The theoretical air transport capacity of 250 or more ZSO532 air assault transport aircraft is very amazing. If all of them are used to carry tanks/tank destroyers and paratroopers, up to 250 E-25 tank destroyers or Type 4H tanks (including crew members) and 3,000 fully armed paratroopers can be sent to the battlefield 2,500 kilometers away at a time!

Of course, in actual use, it is impossible to use all ZSO532 aircraft to transport tanks/tank destroyers. Because tanks and combat soldiers alone cannot form a battalion-level or regiment-level battle group with real combat effectiveness, there are not so many tanks/tank destroyers actually loaded on ZSO532 to Newfoundland Island, only about 150, of which there are 90 E-25 tank destroyers and Type 4H tanks, which belong to 5 air assault battalions respectively.

The so-called air assault battalion is actually a composite battalion that includes tanks, infantry, artillery and engineering units. It is the official version of the composite battalion-level battle group and regiment-level battle group that appeared in this war. An air assault battalion usually includes a tank company (equipped with Type 4 H tanks), a tank destroyer company (equipped with E-25 tank destroyers), a motorized artillery company, a combat engineer company, two motorized paratrooper companies and a battalion headquarters platoon. The total force is not large, less than 800 people, but it has a lot of technical equipment. Including 30 tanks/tank destroyers, 4 Schneider 1 mountain guns (this is a new product developed by the French on the basis of the 1919/1 mountain gun, with a deployment weight of only 750 kilograms and a maximum range of 9.8 kilometers), 2 Brand M1 mortars (this is also a French artillery. In terms of artillery manufacturing technology, France and Germany now have their own strengths), 12 LG44 105mm recoilless guns and 40 wheeled vehicles of various models.

Before the combat operation begins, these 800 fully armed Germans, so many heavy equipment, a large amount of ammunition, some fuel, supplies, etc. will be stuffed into 50 "big-bellied" ZSO532 air assault transport aircraft. And 250 ZSO532s can transport 5 synthetic air assault battalions to the battlefield at one time.

According to the plan, these 5 air assault battalions will be dropped on the plateau on the east coast of Conception Bay on Newfoundland and the Vavalon Peninsula like a god's descending from the sky. In addition to these 5 powerful synthetic battalions, there are another 18 elite paratrooper battalions that will be airdropped on Newfoundland on the first day of the landing operation, that is, D-Day. They all belong to the 2 paratrooper divisions under the 1st Air Assault Army. These paratroopers will take the Fokker 42 transport aircraft, depart from the Azores, fly more than 2,500 kilometers, and then parachute to Newfoundland.

If everything goes according to plan, 18 paratrooper battalions and 5 air assault battalions will be able to occupy a large plateau on the east coast of Conception Bay before dark on D-Day, clear out the U.S. troops guarding there, establish a truly useful beachhead, and support the subsequent large-scale landing.

All the staff members in the Wehrmacht General Staff believed that as long as 23 battalions of elite German troops and 180 tanks/tank destroyers were airdropped to Newfoundland, even if there were 10 times the number of U.S. troops, it would be impossible to drive them away. And as long as they persisted on the plateau near Conception Bay for a few days, a fleet carrying a German Marine Division and a White Russian Tank Division would arrive.

By then, "Operation Columbus" would not fail.

The key to the successful implementation of this "Operation Columbus" was undoubtedly to seize air supremacy around Newfoundland.

According to the reliable intelligence held by the German General Staff, the U.S. (Allied) ground forces on Newfoundland were not sufficient, but there were indeed a lot of fighter planes on it. Even if some of them were transferred to the Caribbean, there are still more than 1,300 fighters (including those of the United States and other allies) distributed in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Prince Edward.

There are also no less than 1,000 medium and heavy bombers/attack aircraft that can drop "bat" radar-guided glide bombs and 300-400 reconnaissance aircraft deployed in the above areas.

Compared with the more than 3 million Allied troops stationed in Canada (not only the US military, but also the British army and the exiled troops of Free Poland, Free Belgium, Free Norway, Free Denmark, Free Czech, and Spanish Republican Army), what really makes the German National Service General Staff feel daunted is these 2,600 to 700 shore-based aircraft.

For the European coalition forces that have no shore-based airports to take off fighters, transferring a considerable part of these 2,600 to 700 aircraft is the guarantee of a successful landing.

The 20th Task Force under the European Combined Fleet was the one that carried out this critical task of luring the enemy. On the morning of April 1, 1945, it left the Brest military port in a mighty manner.

The "task force" under the European Community Combined Fleet is not a permanent organization, but a task fleet under the squadron. It is temporarily organized by various ship groups according to needs before carrying out combat missions.

The fleet that left Brest in full view of the public on the morning of April 1 was also a temporary task fleet. Unlike the 20th Task Force that went into battle last time, the newly formed 20th Task Force has a larger aircraft carrier combat power!

Forming the core of the task force are three dual-carrier or three-carrier groups including the 201st Aircraft Carrier Group, the 202nd Aircraft Carrier Group and the 203rd Aircraft Carrier Group! There are a total of 7 large fleet aircraft carriers, namely Adolf Hitler, Bernhard von Bülow, Seidlitz (B41 aircraft carrier), Sekt (B41 aircraft carrier), Joffre, Banville and Bénya (this French aircraft carrier is the No. 3 ship of the Joffre and just entered service at the end of 44).

Among them, Hitler and Bülow are equipped with 150 standing Me262T carrier-based jet fighters - 20 more than the number requested by Hersmann (actually 144 on the ship).

The two new B41 aircraft carriers Seydlitz and Sekt carry 160 standing Fokker 636 carrier-based fighter jets. Since the two Hitler-class aircraft carriers are equipped with 144 high-altitude invincible Me262Ts, the two B41-type aircraft carriers are no longer equipped with Fw190Ts, but are all equipped with Fokker 636s.

In fact, by 1945, the Fw190 series of fighters that appeared before the outbreak of the world war were no longer able to keep up with the times in many aspects. At least it is no longer an air superiority fighter and interceptor with satisfactory performance.

The Ta152 series fighters, the replacement for the Fw190 series fighters, completed all tests as early as the end of 1944 and began to enter the trial production and troop trial stages. By the end of March 1945, more than 20 fighter squadrons of the Luftwaffe had been equipped with Ta152H fighters.

According to the idea of ​​the German Air Force, the Ta152H fighter jet with excellent high-altitude performance will form a new high-bottom combination with the Fokker 636 with excellent mid- and low-altitude performance.

However, due to the emergence and increasing maturity of the jet Me262, the Ta152 series of fighters are destined to be short-lived and unable to shine dazzlingly.

As an air combat expert in the naval aviation, Lieutenant Colonel Hersman Jr., who now serves as the aviation operations officer of the 201st Aircraft Carrier Group, directly suggested canceling the plan to put the Ta152 on the aircraft carrier after test-flying the Ta152.

Because in his opinion, the Ta152, an excellent fighter aircraft, came too late and there was no way to complete the carrier-based transformation before the end of the world war. And the sky after the war must belong to jet aircraft!

Thinking of jet aircraft, little Hersman, who was standing on the deck of the aircraft carrier Hitler and waving goodbye to the military families and civilians at the port, couldn't help but look back, as if he wanted to find the Me262T jet aircraft from the aircraft carrier deck. There were figures of fighter planes - but the only ones that came into his sight were the 18 Br.810 twin-engine carrier-based bombers placed on the flight deck on one side of the aircraft carrier island.

These 18 Br.810s all belong to the French Naval Air Force. They landed on the aircraft carriers Hitler and Bülow on their way back to their home port of Brest after completing all pre-service intensive training programs. At the same time, all the Me262Ts on the two aircraft carriers were put into the hangar and have never been seen again until they left the port of Brest.

In other words, only two super aircraft carriers with angled decks and twin-engine Br.810 carrier-based aircraft were exposed to the French residents and American spies in the Port of Brest. It seems that these two large 70,000-ton aircraft carriers are tailor-made for twin-engine carrier-based aircraft.

Secondly, there are also 10 Br.810 carrier-based aircraft on the flight decks of the three French "Jiafei" class aircraft carriers belonging to the 203rd Aircraft Carrier Group.

The intelligence that five large aircraft carriers equipped with Br.810 carrier-based aircraft, including two super aircraft carriers with a standard displacement of more than 60,000 tons, and two other Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers left the port of Brest was quickly revealed through lurking US agents sent it to the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

The already tense atmosphere in the Pentagon soon reached a fever pitch with the arrival of this news. All American officers who were qualified to have access to this information felt their hearts sinking: the Germans were finally going to take action, and the moment to decide the fate of the United States was coming soon!