Chapter 1217: Will the Americans Win?

The counterattack and pursuit operations commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Schwarzenegger were due to 54 self-propelled howitzers (3 self-propelled howitzers and 18 M12 155mm self-propelled howitzers) belonging to the 16th Armored Division of the US Army, and 18 temporarily assigned to the 16th Armored Division of the US Army. It ended with heavy fire from the M1 howitzer (M1 155mm howitzer).

Although these raindrops of American artillery shells did not destroy any precious tanks and tank destroyers, they still destroyed four wheeled vehicles and caused dozens of German paratrooper casualties!

When the somewhat embarrassed Lieutenant Colonel Schwarzenegger retreated from the battlefield with the smell of gunpowder smoke, his angular face already looked quite dignified.

The battle on Newfoundland has been going smoothly so far, but difficulties have gradually emerged.

First of all, the combat effectiveness of the US military is stronger than originally expected! Although their combat experience is somewhat lacking, they are obviously well-trained and fully master the advanced weapons they possess.

Secondly, the German army on the island was too weak, with no heavy tanks, and a serious shortage of artillery, with almost no heavy artillery. At night when air superiority is difficult to exert, there are almost no effective means of fire support.

The third is that the German air superiority is not as great as it is on the Eastern Front battlefield, and there is also a lack of professional ground attack aircraft. They are "unavailable" at night, so they cannot effectively support ground operations and suppress U.S. military firepower—— If this was a Soviet-German battlefield, the medium bomber group composed of Do217 and Ju188 would have already blown up the cannons that just fired at Schwarzenegger's cluster.

However, on the island of Newfoundland, the German ground forces did not receive support from the medium bomber force at all. The only ones that can provide air support are German carrier-based aircraft and heavy bombers such as the Me264.

After returning to the headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Schwarzenegger immediately found his superior, Major General Haidt, and first reported the pursuit operation, and then told his superior Haidt his thoughts.

Finally, he said: "General, now we must get more favorable fire support! The number of people can be supplemented by airdrops. Today (it is already past midnight and it is the early morning of the 26th) there can always be thousands to ten thousand more. But The main difficulty we encounter now is the lack of firepower. If this problem is not solved, it will be difficult for us to capture the entire Newfoundland Island."

Haider nodded and said to Schwarzenegger: "Gustav, the higher ups are thinking of a way. We will get reinforcements... The three assault battalions 102, 103 and 104 are on the way. They will be on board the ship after dawn. counterattacked with the support of aircraft.”

Schwarzenegger did not show much joy. He said: "But the enemy will also increase its troops... The shelling just now on my people was more violent than ever before, which shows that they have received reinforcements (18 M1s) 155 howitzers have just arrived), we will face more enemies after dawn, and the battle below will be very difficult. "

Insufficient firepower is the biggest difficulty facing the German army on Newfoundland, because the landing operations have not yet begun. The troops are all transported by air, and supplies and heavy equipment are also transported by plane from the Azores, a distance of more than 2,500 kilometers. This severely limited the capabilities of the German Air Transport Command and was unable to deliver enough heavy firearms to Newfoundland. On the American side, although many fighter jets were transferred from Newfoundland, which caught the German army by surprise, they did not transfer tanks and artillery - these two things were not a problem for American productivity. There are as many as there are!

In this case, the German army faced a serious lack of firepower on Newfoundland and was suppressed by the opponent.

It was not only Lieutenant Colonel Schwarzenegger who was aware of this problem. The senior command leaders of both sides had already discovered this problem by the early morning of April 26 (Newfoundland time).

"Mr. President, the situation on the island is generally favorable to us." At the Cabinet Military Meeting at the White House, Army Chief of Staff Marshall told the president, "Our 16th Armored Division is engaged in a fierce battle with the German armored forces and has achieved some results. The result shattered the myth of the invincibility of the German armored forces.

Moreover, Lieutenant General Collins, commander of the Army's 6th Army, also found that the German army on Newfoundland lacked sufficient firepower (this is what Major General Ross, commander of the 16th Armored Division, and British Navy Vice Admiral Fraser told Collins). We have overwhelming Sexual firepower advantage. "

"Overwhelming firepower advantage?" President Truman finally heard some good news, "So we can win?"

"Yes." Marshall said with great certainty, "We will win, as long as the Germans cannot send enough artillery and tanks to Newfoundland... Although they have air and sea superiority, Newfoundland is a small island after all. The Germans cannot defeat a large island with an area of ​​more than 110,000 square kilometers without sufficient army firepower.”

"Where are our reinforcements? When will they arrive on the island?" President Truman still felt unsafe and asked about the reinforcements.

"Reinforcements will arrive today." Marshall replied. "Actually, they are already on the way. They are three divisions of paratroopers transported by 1,000 transport planes. They will parachute before dawn. We will wait for Newfoundland later. After the airport was repaired, it was possible to airlift some of the armored troops to Newfoundland.”

"1,000 planes to transport three divisions? There are almost 50,000 people, right?" Truman asked, "Are 1,000 transport planes enough?"

"That's enough!" said Admiral Arnold, commander of the Army Air Force. "Three divisions of officers and soldiers have no weapons and equipment. Because there are enough weapons on Newfoundland for them to use."

"Good, good, this is a good idea." Truman nodded repeatedly. "If the equipment on the island is enough, we should airdrop more troops there." The president suddenly thought of something, "But the Germans still have air superiority, right?"

The land advantage of Newfoundland undoubtedly belongs to the Allied forces led by the United States, but the air superiority is in the hands of the Germans, otherwise there would be no airborne landing.

"We have a way." Naval Operations Chief Ernest King took over the question, "Mr. President, we can use the fleet to lure the German aircraft carriers away from Newfoundland, and then launch a general attack on land."

Although the US Navy was seriously injured in the Battle of Bermuda, it is still an extremely powerful maritime force. In addition to the aircraft carrier force with more than a dozen powerful Essex-class aircraft carriers as the main force, the No. 5 and No. 6 ships of the Iowa-class battleships also served in the first quarter of 1945. In addition, the 4th, 5th and 6th ships of the Alaska-class battlecruisers (Americans call them large cruisers) were also commissioned between the end of 1944 and March 1945.

In other words, excluding the old battleships of the World War I era, the US Navy now has 2 Iowa-class and 6 Alaska-class, a total of 8 new battleships/battlecruisers.

In addition, the first ship of the Midway-class aircraft carrier, the Midway, was launched in March 1945 and is currently being fitted out. It will be commissioned as early as September 1945. The second ship of the Midway-class, the Roosevelt, will also be launched in the New York shipyard in the next few days and will be commissioned as early as the end of October.

While the two "Midway" class aircraft carriers are about to be commissioned, the US Navy is also stepping up the training of the F7F carrier-based aircraft unit. Because the F7F is relatively large, it is not convenient to take off on the Essex-class aircraft carrier, so it is a carrier-based aircraft specially prepared for the "Midway" class.

As for the main force of the US aircraft carrier force, the "Essex" class aircraft carrier will soon attract a brand new and powerful carrier-based aircraft F8F. This naval fighter used to replace the F6F completed its first flight as early as August 21, 1944, and the first production model was also rolled off the assembly line on December 31, 1944. On February 17, 1945, the F8F began the shipboard test, and the test proved that the aircraft has good adaptability to aircraft carriers and shows good landing, take-off and deck control characteristics.

As the war became increasingly tense, the process of F8F boarding was greatly accelerated. In early April, the Navy promulgated the flight operation procedures of the F8F, and began to form an F8F carrier-based aircraft training squadron, and began to use training aircraft carriers to train F8F carrier-based aircraft pilots.

At the same time, the US Navy also placed an order for up to 10,000 F8Fs. According to the plan, by the end of 1945, the main carrier-based aircraft of the US Navy will change from F6F and F4U to F7F and F8F. By then, the US Navy's carrier-based aircraft force will regain the strength to compete with the European Community's carrier-based aircraft force in the Atlantic.

However... it is not the end of 1945 yet.

"President," Ernest King said to Truman, "Task Force 56 will get several battleships and battlecruiser squadrons originally belonging to the 3rd Fleet, and then approach Newfoundland. This will ensure that Task Force 56 has a strong enough air defense capability.

In addition, Task Force 56 will be deployed close to the east coast of the United States to ensure that it can get support from shore-based aviation. Moreover, they will be far away from the combat radius of the Me264 based in the Azores."

Since the Germans have mastered missiles, the Me264 has become a formidable anti-ship weapon! Especially with TV-guided anti-ship missiles, the Me264 can launch missiles at an altitude of 10,000 meters and far away from the range of the US surface ship's air defense firepower.

If the Me262T is deployed for escort at the same time, the US carrier-based aircraft with weaker high-altitude performance will hardly be able to fight against it. Therefore, the 56th Task Force can only avoid the Me264 with a long range, which is really a bit frustrating.

However, even if it avoids the Me264, the 56th Task Force is still a formidable and huge maritime armed force. Their existence is an absolutely not negligible threat to the European Community Navy attacking Newfoundland.