Chapter 460 Expensive Bait

"Roosevelt!"

Hysterical roars came from the Chancellery office, almost shattering the glass windows of the Chancellery.

Reich Marshal Hersmann, who was walking and discussing with Defense Minister Schleicher how to give William II a grand funeral, was also startled. It's not that he had never heard a more piercing sound than this, but he was afraid that Hitler would want to attack the United States on impulse.

Of course, the United States must be attacked. But not now, the British Empire is to be dealt with now. Now the British Royal Navy will be defeated, and then the Japanese devils will be united to deal with the US Navy. As long as the US Navy is defeated, the victory of the world war will be basically achieved.

Hersmann and Schleicher looked at each other, and then both quickened their pace and walked into Hitler's spacious and luxurious Chancellery - this is not the old Chancellery at 77 William Street, but the newly built Chancellery at 2 Voss Street.

Compared with the old Chancellery in Bismarck's time, it is much more luxurious and extravagant, and it also has a very sturdy and spacious bulletproof bunker! However, this "leader bunker" has not been used so far, because the harassing air raids on Berlin by British bombers are really not a threat, and most of the time they are dropping paper bombs.

And the latest "paper bomb" dropped from the sky has the entire content of the Atlantic Charter!

Hitler was obviously angry about this. When Hersmann and Schleicher walked into Hitler's office, this guy was tearing a "paper bomb" into pieces, then crumpling it into a ball, and then throwing it heavily. I don't know if it was intentional, but it almost hit the head of a certain imperial marshal.

Hirschmann dodged the paper bullets, and then asked knowingly: "Leader, are you angry because of the declarations issued by Roosevelt and Churchill?"

"Of course! I am very, very angry!" Hitler waved his fist and roared, "Roosevelt is the most insidious, cunning, and shameless villain I have ever seen in my life! He did not dare to declare war on the German Empire openly, but used a broken declaration to provoke the German Empire..."

"Leader, in fact, Roosevelt used more than just a broken declaration to provoke the German Empire." Hirschmann told Hitler calmly, "According to reliable intelligence, he also sent a task force to Iceland."

"Fleet?" Hitler was stunned, and then the anger on his face intensified a little, and his facial features were distorted. "Does he think we dare not sink American battleships? Imperial Marshal, is this a great opportunity?"

"No." Hersman shook his head and said, "The Americans are not that stupid. They sent the old Arkansas battleship and the small Raider aircraft carrier, which are not of much value."

If the Americans dared to send the main force of the Atlantic Fleet to Iceland, Hersman might want to make a sneak attack.

But a pre-World War I dreadnought plus a small aircraft carrier that cannot take off and land aircraft in slightly higher sea conditions is really not worth letting the United States join the war in advance for them-this may help Japan get out of trouble and prevent the Pearl Harbor incident from happening!

Hitler took a deep breath and suppressed his anger, "But with such an American fleet near Iceland, can we still defeat the British on the high seas?"

"That's no problem," Hersman assured, "This time the navy will definitely win a decisive victory!"

As he spoke, Hersman took a thick file bag from the adjutant Schnetz who was following him and placed it on Hitler's desk. The file bag contained the operational plan just submitted by the Navy General Command - "Storm Plan".

Unlike the "sea-based" operations that the German Navy used to, this "Storm Plan" uses aircraft as the main force. The leaders of the plan were General Hans Jeschonneck, commander of the Navy Aviation Force, Admiral Wolfgang von Richthofen, Chief of Air Force Staff, and Lieutenant General Helmut Heyer, commander of the Navy's aircraft carrier force.

"Storm Plan" was formulated with reference to the situation of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea Battle. It is planned to deploy all 3 battleships, 2 aircraft carriers, 4 heavy cruisers and some other lighter ships to form a huge "feint attack force" - the First High Seas Fleet.

According to the plan, after leaving Kiel Port, the First High Seas Fleet will sail along the coastline of Denmark and Norway, and there will be 10 large transport ships and tankers to go to Bergen Port in Norway. After the fleet arrives in Bergen, the transport ships and tankers will temporarily stay in Bergen, while the main force of the fleet will bombard the Shetland Islands under the cover of the aircraft carrier, creating the illusion of preparing to occupy the Shetland Islands. The purpose is to use the main fleet as bait to attract the British home fleet and the British Navy and Air Force to come to fight.

"You want to use precious battleships and aircraft carriers to attract enemy aircraft?" Hitler carefully read the outline of the "Storm Plan", then looked up at Hessmann, "Isn't this too risky?"

In fact, Hessmann was also shocked when he saw the "Storm Plan". Although the idea of ​​feinting to attack the Shetland Islands was proposed by himself, he did not expect Jeschonnek and Richthofen to be so bold as to use super battleships such as Bismarck and Tirpitz as bait. If this is sunk by the British, how can we fight naval battles in the future?

However, Air Force Chief of Staff General Richthofen told Hersman at the time: "According to recent air combat results, we have a huge advantage in terms of exchange ratio. Our Fw-190 and Fokker Zero The coordination is almost impeccable. The British have to use 3-5 fighter jets to get 1 of our fighter jets.

Therefore, as long as we can dispatch a sufficient number of Fw-190s and Fokker Zeros, the ships on the sea will not suffer too much losses. And since the air battle will be fought over our side, every time a British aircraft is shot down, it means that at least one British crew member is killed or captured. Such a shootdown is more valuable than our shooting down an enemy plane over the English Channel. "

For Britain now, the loss of aircraft is nothing. They can produce it in large quantities themselves, and Americans will continue to lend it to them. What is truly valuable are pilots, especially veteran pilots with good skills.

If British pilot training is as rigorous as that in Germany, a fighter pilot will have to undergo at least 24 months of rigorous training before entering the training group of the aviation regiment. If you are a carrier-based aircraft pilot, after completing the regiment training, you have to participate in 6 months of special aircraft carrier training - if such an experienced pilot can kill or capture more than 1,000 people in a battle, he will be " "Gneisenno" is worth losing!

As for the "Bismarck" and "Tirpitz" being impossible to sink, the German Naval Command has already confirmed that these two super battleships are very durable and have powerful anti-aircraft firepower. They have air superiority. Under such circumstances, it is impossible to be sunk. At most it would only be a little superficial injury, and after a month or two of repair, it would be as good as new again.

In addition, General Hans Jeshunek also told Hersman, "Before we dispatch the fleet, we will first dispatch aircraft to conduct devastating bombings of the airports and radar stations on the Shetland Islands. Therefore, the British aircraft They can only take off from Scotland and the Onik Islands, which will prevent their Spitfires from staying for a long time, which is extremely beneficial to us. Moreover, the more valuable the bait we put out, the more likely it is to attract the real big ones. fish!"

This is the German version of not being able to let go of your children and trap the wolf!

After Hessmann's explanation, Hitler gritted his teeth and said: "The two Bismarck-class ships must not be lost, and the two aircraft carriers must not have any accidents!"

"There will be no surprises," Hessmann said. "Seidlitz and Sekt will adopt an all-fighter configuration this time. Each aircraft carrier will be equipped with 2 squadrons with a total of 32 Fokker Zeros. All All piloted by the best pilots, they can definitely save the battleships and aircraft carriers."

Among these best pilots is Hessmann's precious son Rudolf. He now has 20 kills in hand, and he can get the Blue Max Medal with 5 more. This kind of record is considered outstanding among the German Air Force and Naval Aviation, so his military rank was promoted in March and he became a Naval Aviation Lieutenant.

A month ago, due to adjustments to the 1st Carrier Air Group on the aircraft carrier "Seidlitz", the dive bomber squadron was temporarily transferred, so his squadron was sent up and four more aircraft were added. Since he had the highest rank among the 1st Carrier Aircraft Group (the original captain was transferred with the dive bomber squadron) and had the most number of kills, he was asked to act as the commander of the 1st Carrier Aircraft Group. team leader.

At 2:10 pm on the same day that Hersman explained various details of "Project Tempest" to Hitler, little Hersman had just completed a beautiful landing and transferred a brand-new Fokker Zero that he had just received. The C-3 aircraft stopped steadily on the flight deck of the Seydlitz.

Prince Philip Weisenfeld, now a second lieutenant in the naval aviation force, had already been waiting for him on the deck. When he saw little Hersman emerging from the cabin of the plane, he quickly ran over.

"Rudolf, Lieutenant General Haye wants you to go to the conference room immediately. It is an emergency meeting." The prince said to little Hersman.

Lieutenant General Heye is the commander of the aircraft carrier force of the German High Seas Fleet and the captain of the "Seidlitz". Although his military rank is much higher than Hersman Jr., Hessman Jr. is the acting captain of the carrier-based aircraft group, so he is considered a direct subordinate of Lieutenant General Haye.

"Emergency meeting?" Little Hersman patted Prince Philip Weisenfeld and said with a smile, "It seems that we are going to the battlefield again. This time I can get enough kills to get the Blue Max Medal!"