Chapter 1193 Landing in North America 9

"Marshal Imperial, the Americans gave up interception and allowed our bombers to launch cruise missiles."

Berlin time, late at night on April 9, Hersmann, who stayed in the General Staff Building in Zossen, received the latest report from the Air Force Command, which was about the "Air Battle over Newfoundland".

"How many were shot down yesterday?" Hessmann, who looked a little tired, took a sip of coffee and then asked Kesselring.

"230-260, this is the result after checking the camera gun." Kesselin said with some worry, "There are still a large number of US military fighter jets in Newfoundland and its surrounding areas, the total number is no less than 1,000."

"There are so many more?" Hessman frowned.

"Yes," Kesselring said. "Yesterday, the Americans dispatched more than 500 fighter jets, all of which were day interceptor aircraft. There should be a considerable number of night interceptor aircraft and day air superiority fighters that remain untouched."

"The Yankees have so many planes!" Hersman gently turned the coffee cup in his hand, "And their night fighters are enough to deal with the Fokker 42 and ZSO523."

Night fighters do not mean that they cannot fly during the day, but such aircraft are generally relatively large in order to carry radar and searchlights and cannot compete with day fighters. However, there is no problem in flying transport aircraft.

If the US military in Newfoundland and its surrounding areas can still produce 1,000 fighter jets, then the probability of failure of the air assault operation is very high.

"It appears that 'Project Iceberg' must be implemented to distract U.S. forces in eastern Canada."

Admiral Redl, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, made the proposal. "Iceberg Plan" is part of the "Fort Gottsch Plan", which is to conduct a small-scale landing in the Labrador region of eastern Canada to attract aviation forces on the island of Newfoundland for attack. This will weaken the defense capabilities of Newfoundland and create conditions for the execution of air assault operations.

However, this plan also has a big drawback, which is that it will easily draw the main attention of Americans from the Caribbean to eastern Canada. If the Americans massively increased their troops, the landing on Newfoundland would have turned into a disaster.

Therefore, there are special regulations in the "Fort Gotchi Plan". The "Iceberg Plan" must be carried out with caution, and not too many troops are invested in the "Iceberg Plan"... This operation must be made to look like a diversionary one. Offensive, this situation is quite difficult to grasp.

"Is Project Iceberg now possible?" Hersman asked. "Has the coastal area of ​​Labrador thawed?"

The coast of Labrador is affected by the Labrador Cold Current and freezes for a long time. In the coldest years, the freezing period in some bays can last as long as 9 months!

"It's not completely thawed," Redl shook his head, "but we have the Russian Royal Navy's icebreaker force, and a little ice floe won't trouble us."

The shipbuilding industry in Russia and the original Soviet Union is generally relatively weak, but it is not without its unique skills. The unique skill of Russian shipbuilding is icebreakers, because Russia's coastline is mainly along the Arctic Ocean. Without good icebreakers, the traffic capacity of many ports will be greatly reduced.

Before the signing of the Soviet-Russian Armistice Agreement, some ships of the Soviet Red Navy Atlantic Fleet anchored in Molotovsk (now Severodvinsk), including all icebreakers, rebelled collectively and turned against Olga. The Queen pledged her allegiance.

Therefore, Queen Olga now has the most powerful icebreaker fleet in the world, which can even deal with the solid ice of the Arctic Ocean, let alone the little ice along the Labrador coast in spring. Moreover, the cold current along the coast of Labrador is not too cold for the "polar bears" and is completely adaptable.

In addition to the "Polar Bear", Germany now also has a trump card in the Winter War, which is the Finnish Brigade of the Waffen SS, all of whom are veterans of the Winter War. As long as they board the coast of the Labrador region, the U.S. military, which is several times larger, is no match for them.

The question now is how to get on board! However, this is not what Hessmann has to consider, but the problem of Marshal Graeme, Commander-in-Chief of the German Wehrmacht Marine Corps (he is Air Marshal) and Admiral Theodor Burchardi, Commander-in-Chief of the Landing Fleet.

When Marshal Hersman signed the order to implement the "Iceberg Plan", the ground troops preparing to launch the North American landing operation had already been secretly concentrated in Iceland and the Azores.

Among them, the air assault troops all arrived in the Azores, while the troops landing by sea were concentrated in Iceland. The headquarters of Marshal Grimm and Admiral Burchardi are also located in Reykjavik Port in Iceland.

The Russian Royal Guards Tank Division, where Hersmann's son Reinhardt belonged, also arrived in Iceland, a military hub in the North Atlantic, on a Russian Navy transport ship in early April 1945.

Although the troops have already arrived at the starting point for attacking North America - Iceland and the Azores are two major bases for the attack. In addition to gathering a large number of troops, they have also built a large number of airports, military camps, and warehouses, and hoarded a large amount of supplies. ——But almost all the officers and soldiers did not think that they were about to go to the battlefield, because they all knew that the attack would be launched in the Caribbean... This is no longer a secret to everyone, everyone knows it.

However, the training and preparations for the landing were still going on step by step. A group of Russian soldiers were arranged to conduct training on boarding, rowing and beaching in the bay full of ice floes every day. Moreover, a lot of equipment for fighting in winter and cold areas has been distributed, as if they will land in some cold place next.

However, this very obvious sign was not taken seriously. No one, including Reinhardt and Ribbentrop Jr., thought that they would go to the battlefield soon, let alone that they would embark on the war with Siberia. The same desolate, cold eastern coast of Canada.

At noon on April 10, Reinhardt, who had just landed on the beach in Reykjavik with a panzer grenadier battalion, suddenly saw little Ribbentrop wearing a winter field uniform.

Little Ribbentrop stood in a tall Steyr command car, raised an arm and pointed at the somewhat chaotic troops on the beach, and said something to a man wearing a German coat and a military cap next to him. Seemingly seeing Reinhardt, Ribbentrop stopped explaining and began to wave to Reinhardt vigorously.

Reinhardt ran over quickly. He was carrying a backpack weighing 20 to 30 kilograms and an MKb42 automatic carbine in his hand. However, he still ran very fast and obviously had very good physical strength.

When he ran up to little Ribbentrop, he discovered that standing in the compartment of the Steyr command car with little Ribbentrop was Marshal Graeme, commander-in-chief of the Marine Corps. He quickly put the automatic carbine on his back and gave a German salute: "Your Majesty Marshal."

Marshal Graeme and Hessmann were good friends, and of course he knew Reinhardt, so he smiled and raised his hand: "Reinhardt, I didn't expect to see you here... Oh, and you became a major."

Reinhard smiled sheepishly: "Marshal, this is... a ridiculous military rank. I am not qualified to be a major."

His rank of major was that of the Russian Army, not the German Army. Among the Germans, he was still a second lieutenant.

"Qualification is not the same as qualifications," Gram said with a smile. "Whether you are qualified or not depends on this North American campaign." He glanced at the chaotic Russian soldiers on the beach, "How about it? Can they carry out the mission of landing on the beach? ?”

"Them? Seizing the beach?" Reinhardt was stunned when Gramm asked him, "Marshal, they are armored soldiers. Shouldn't they go ashore after the Marines successfully seize the beach?"

Graeme did not answer Reinhardt's question, but asked: "If we ask them, this combined battalion, to carry out the beach grabbing mission, do you think it is possible to complete it?"

"Them?" Reinhard thought seriously for a while, "I'm not sure. Maybe they can get ashore, but they certainly can't immediately engage in high-intensity combat. They might be beaten to pieces by the Americans on the beach."

"Oh, I understand." Graeme nodded and did not continue to ask questions. Instead, he sat back on the chair in the Steyr command car and then waved to Ribbentrop. Little Ribbentrop got off the command car and onto the ground, then the car started and drove away.

"Reinhardt, we are going to North America!" Looking at Marshal Graeme's car, Ribbentrop said in a calm tone, "The Royal Guards Tank Division will allocate some troops to form an advance group. The first batch Let’s go tomorrow.”

"What? Tomorrow?" Reinhardt was stunned, "Where are you going...can I ask?"

Little Ribbentrop nodded and said, "You can ask, but I won't answer. The target area will not be disclosed until we board the ship." He looked at Reinhardt, "Are you going?"

The first batch of troops to set off was only a part of the Russian Royal Guards Tank Division, forming a brigade-level advance group. The commander was German Army Colonel Werner von Levizo, and Ribbentrop Jr. will serve as the chief of staff. If Reinhardt wants to go, Hersman Jr. can arrange a temporary position so that he can go to the coast of Labrador to broaden his horizons and accumulate some credits that will help him rise to prominence in the future.

"Go, of course I will go." Reinhardt replied without hesitation.

"Okay, then go get ready." Little Ribbentrop said, "The temperature has been very low these two days in the North Atlantic, so you need to bring winter clothes... In addition, the weather in the Caribbean is very hot, so you must also bring summer military uniforms. ”

The order to bring summer clothes was actually an attempt to deceive everyone into thinking they were heading to the Caribbean before boarding the ship. Although the ground forces assembled in Iceland were already isolated from the outside world, Marshal Graeme decided to keep the secret until the troops boarded the amphibious assault ship Bremen and the amphibious assault ship Europa.