Chapter 1194 Landing in North America 10

April 11, 1945, Reykjavik Port, Iceland.

The weather was not very good. It had been drizzling since the evening of the 10th, and there was a little wind and waves in the North Atlantic. In the midst of the storm, neat Russian troops were silently boarding the Bremen and Europa.

On the starboard amidships of these two giant ships with a standard displacement of more than 45,000 tons, a huge hatch was opened, and a gangway for driving vehicles was lowered. Under the gangway, a long queue of vehicles were waiting to board the ship. They were mainly trucks, wheeled command vehicles, wheeled armored vehicles, and a small number of "Oliga" tank destroyers, but there were no heavier ones. of tanks and other tracked combat vehicles.

The Steyr wheeled command vehicle that Ribbentrop Jr. and Reinhardt were riding in was also in the queue, waiting to board the Bremen amphibious assault ship. Reinhard, who knew nothing about the "Iceberg Project", was looking around, looking at the troops and equipment boarding the ship. He also noticed that not far from the dock where the Bremen was docked, another dock was docked with the Bremen's sister ship Europa. There were also many vehicles and soldiers waiting to board the ship. Reinhardt discovered that those people belonged to the SS. Military Finnish Brigade - all wearing the unique military uniform of the SS Finnish Brigade.

The SS Finnish Brigade is a well-known winter combat unit. During the Soviet-German War, it had been fighting the Red Army in the alpine zone north of Petrograd (Leningrad), earning its reputation as the "Winter God of War."

How could such a unit be regarded as Marines and put into the Caribbean battlefield? It's a tropical place there. Will the God of War not suffer from heatstroke if he goes there?

Just when Reinhard was wondering, the Steyr armored command vehicle he was riding in started to move, rumbled over the steel plate, and drove into the "belly" of the Bremen. When the car stopped in a parking space near the bulkhead, Reinhardt asked little Ribbentrop: "Rudolf, are we really going to the Caribbean? I just saw the 'Winter Ares', there won't be any above." Send them to fight in the tropics?"

"Of course not." Little Ribbentrop opened the car door and got out of the car with his luggage. "We are not going to the Caribbean, but to the coast of Labrador."

Now that Ribbentrop Jr. and Reinhardt were on board the Bremen, according to regulations, they could give the latter military secrets about the attack on the coast of Labrador.

"Coastal Labrador?" Reinhardt thought hard, "Labrador Peninsula in North America?"

"Yes!" Little Ribbentrop nodded, "It's the east coast of the Labrador Peninsula...it's very cold there."

"Oh God! We are going to land directly on the east coast of North America!" Reinhardt took a breath, "Now there will be a real hard battle."

Although there are actually no American soldiers defending the coast of Labrador, no one dares to take the landing on the North American continent lightly.

"Yes, there will be a hard battle!" Little Ribbentrop raised his finger and pointed to a passage in the cabin, "But before that we have to live on this ship for a few days... This is a very good ship. , it was converted from a super cruise ship. Reinhardt, let me take you to the cabin to settle down."

At the same time, in the joint intelligence command center on the island of the amphibious assault ship Bremen, Marshal Graeme, commander-in-chief of the German Wehrmacht Marine Corps, was talking to Admiral Burchardi, commander of the landing fleet, and the commander-in-chief of the landing operations, En. Vice Admiral Ste. Xue Allen discussed the upcoming battle.

Both intelligence and reconnaissance by the Me264H-2 long-range reconnaissance aircraft showed that there were no signs of heavy troops stationed along the coast of Labrador. So the danger of the landing was not in the landing itself, but in the journey to the Labrador coast. Or, to be more precise, just off the coast of Greenland and Labrador.

According to the "Iceberg Plan", the landing fleet will converge with Task Force 21 off the coast of Iceland, and then be escorted by Task Force 21 to land on the coast of Labrador.

The main force of Task Force 21 is four Wilhelm II-class guided missile cruisers (modified from P-class armored ships). Two of them participated in the Battle of Bermuda, but they underwent a minor modification after the battle. The W-10 "Waterfall" ship-to-air missile was installed - a twin missile launcher was installed on the original missile deck amidships. The other two William II-class ships, which had not participated in the Battle of Bermuda, had already been equipped with W-10 "Waterfall" missile launchers before completing the major modifications.

In addition to the "William II" class equipped with ship-to-air missiles, ship-to-ship, and ship-to-surface missiles. Task Force 21 also has three Admiral Hipper-class heavy cruisers and one Deutschland-class heavy cruiser. They also underwent minor modifications and were equipped with twin W-10 "Waterfall" ship-to-air missile launchers - installed on the original seaplane deck, which is now a missile deck.

In other words, there are a total of 8 twin ship-to-air missile launchers on the 4 guided missile cruisers and 4 heavy cruisers, which can launch 16 W-10 "Waterfall" ship-to-air missiles at the same time.

In addition, Task Force 21 also has two "Kesselring" class aircraft carriers and two escort aircraft carriers (C ships). Together with the two "Bremen" class amphibious assault ships, it carries a total of 216 carrier-based fighter jets.

Among them, there are 144 Fokker 636s (configured on 2 Kesselring-class aircraft carriers and 2 C aircraft carriers), and 72 Fokker Zero Ds (configured on 2 Bremen-class aircraft).

However, the eight ship-to-air missile launchers and 216 carrier-based aircraft were not the only air defense forces that the 21st Task Force and the European Joint Landing Fleet could rely on. There were also two full regiments of shore-based fighters (one of which was a night fighter regiment) deployed to the Nuuk base in Greenland.

In this way, the number of German fighters that could be used for operations over the Atlantic Ocean between Greenland and Labrador reached more than 450.

On April 12, two brigade-level groups - the 1st Armored Grenadier Brigade of the Russian Royal Guards and the SS Finnish Brigade, all completed the boarding operation. More than 10,000 officers and soldiers and most of their weapons and equipment (without carrying heavy armored vehicles) boarded the Bremen and Europa.

That night, more than 20 ships, including two Bremen-class amphibious assault ships, left the port of Reykjavik in Iceland under the cover of night. And they joined the 21st Task Force that had been waiting there for a long time off the coast of Iceland, forming a huge fleet of hundreds of ships, and then heading west.

On the night of April 14, when the fleet passed through the south of Greenland, the radar of an F-13 long-range reconnaissance aircraft patrolling nearby discovered the huge fleet heading west on the sea.

The news reached the Pentagon. Wallace and William Leahy, who had just finished a day's work and were about to get off work, felt that the situation was serious - the German fleet was only more than 400 nautical miles away from the coast of North America, so they immediately drove to nearby Washington, D.C.

The capital of the United States of America, which has entered spring, has become more depressed. The streets are empty, with almost no pedestrians and vehicles. The houses on both sides are all closed, and most of the shops are closed.

The reason for this is certainly not because of the economic depression. On the contrary, the United States is now in a "super boom cycle" driven by war needs. But the only drawback is that the enemy is approaching the US border step by step, and they have atomic bombs.

The capital of the United States of America is undoubtedly the city most likely to be bombed by an atomic bomb, no doubt. So from January 1945 when Truman was officially sworn in, Washington, DC began to evacuate.

Now most government departments only have a ministerial office in the capital, and the main staff have gone to Chicago. The US Congress is also ready to move and can move to the Chicago Art Museum building at any time. The "Pentagon" led by Wallace himself has also prepared a migration plan. Once the Germans successfully land in Trinidad and Tobago, Bermuda or somewhere in eastern Canada, they will move to Catoctin Hills. The US President will also go to Catoctin Hills with the "Pentagon".

By then, Washington, DC will really be an empty city!

But even if Truman stays in the White House, there is no need to worry too much about him being killed by the German atomic bomb. Because the White House bunker has been built and can be used at any time, the president can work and live more than ten meters underground.

On the evening of April 14 (Eastern Time), Wallace still met President Truman, who looked very haggard, in the Oval Office.

"What? Another German fleet was discovered... Only a few hundred nautical miles away from the North American continent?" After listening to Wallace's report, Truman took a breath, "Could it be that the Germans' target is Newfoundland?"

"It's possible." Wallace nodded, "The enemy's target may also be the coastal area of ​​Labrador, of course... This possibility is not great. Because the temperature there is very low, many bays are still frozen."

He paused and added: "Newfoundland is also unlikely. The terrain there is too rugged. If the Germans want to land there, they will suffer heavy losses."

"Then, where are their targets?" Truman felt a little strange.

"It may be a feint attack," said William Leahy, "This is the biggest possibility, but it cannot be completely ruled out that the Germans will attack Newfoundland."

"So do we need to strengthen the defense of Newfoundland?" Truman asked.

"The Joint Chiefs of Staff believe that Newfoundland is adequately defended," said General William Leahy, "but there is a strong possibility that the Germans will land and establish a permanent foothold in Labrador, north of Newfoundland."