Chapter 710 Coral Sea-Beginning

When the news that the navies of the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union would form a combined fleet reached Berlin, Hersman was chairing an arms production meeting in the Ministry of Defense building. Those who attended the meeting included Chief of the General Staff Marshal Kesselring, First Munitions Director General Halder, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Marshal Redel, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force Marshal Weaver, Minister of Economy and Director of the General Administration of Armaments Speer, and several The Director-General of the Armed Forces, as well as the Directors of the Armed Forces Bureau of the Armed Forces of the Navy, Army and Air Force.

Today’s meeting will discuss the arms production plan for 1943. Seeing that the world war is about to enter its fourth year, and Germany’s enemy has changed from Britain to Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, everyone attending the meeting has a feeling of war in 1943. A pretty intense premonition. Therefore, at the armaments meeting, everyone tried their best to win more production shares for their own arms, so the meeting did not go smoothly.

At this moment, Hessmann's adjutant Stauffenberg brought a piece of bad news that had been expected for a long time - Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union had finally finished wrangling and were organizing a joint fleet to seize control of the North Atlantic.

"Allied Combined Fleet Political Commissar Bulganin... Hehe, that's really interesting. Who came up with it?" Hersman seemed very relaxed. He first teased Bulganin about Bulganin's new position, and then said, "It's no big deal. Yes, it’s just a combined fleet, we also have it.”

"Marshal Imperial, this time there are 4 Soviet-class ships and 2 South Dakota-class ships to deal with!" Marshal Raeder said in a solemn tone, "Our two Hindenburg-class ships cannot defeat them! If we were there before The two Soviet-class ships and one Kronstadt-class ship that were able to sneak attack on Molotovsk will no longer be so passive!”

Hessmann smiled and shook his head and said: "Marshal Redl, what we have to deal with now are not battleships with main guns... They are not a problem. If I really want to blockade the British and Irish islands, mines and bombing of ports can also be used." Do it.”

Raeder was stunned. Hersman was right. It was not difficult to block the UK. The Navy proposed a plan in June to lay a large number of mines along the northern coast of Ireland and the northern coast of Scotland. At that time, such an operation was not difficult for the German Navy. But Hirschmann and Kesselring rejected the plan.

"We just want the Americans to come!" Marshal Kesselring said with a smile. "We have to let tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of Americans die in Europe without gaining anything and suffering terrible defeats. Only in this way will they know that Europe is European, not American.”

Hersmann continued Kesselring's words: "The Americans can come to Europe, and we can also go to the Americas! They want to use the fleet for escort, so we will take the opportunity to seize the Azores and Canary Islands and open the way to the Americas. Routes to South America and Africa are becoming safer."

As Germany seized control of most of the Atlantic Ocean, routes to the European continent, South America, and Africa were partially restored. However, these routes were not safe. British submarine activities were rampant, causing great losses to the merchant fleets of various European Community countries and causing a great headache for the escort command led by Dönitz. Seizing the Azores and Canary Islands will allow Germany's anti-submarine patrol aircraft (modified from Ju288 and Fw-200) to expand their patrol and warning range, so it has long been put on the agenda. However, because the General Staff once wanted to launch a landing on the Black Sea coast, it has been delayed so far. However, now that the Black Sea coast landing operation has been postponed, the Navy and Marine Corps have enough strength to launch an Atlantic island seizure operation.

Hessman added: "As for the Americans who arrive in Ireland, just let the Army deal with them... But this matter cannot be rushed. Let them come more, otherwise more people will die!"

The next few months would be relatively quiet on the Eastern Front, and the Army would be able to compete with the Americans on the island of Ireland on the Western Front. And Hessman also knows what tanks the Americans can come up with now - tank development and production is a very complex system engineering, and it must be done step by step. It is very difficult to develop by leaps and bounds. Even the United States, which has strong industrial strength, cannot exception. In the winter of 1942, all they could produce were M4 tanks or M10 tank destroyers. The M26 Pershing tank could not be built no matter what. Therefore, the land war on the island of Ireland is very certain.

In addition, the U.S. Air Force cannot have the upper hand on the island of Ireland, because Germany now has an abundant supply of rare metals, and Germany's aerospace engine development work is proceeding very smoothly. The BMW-801 series engines used in the Fw-190 series fighters have now been developed to the 2,000-horsepower BMW-801S, and another more powerful BMW-801F (theoretically with 2,400 horsepower) has also reached the final testing stage. The BMW-801TS, which has both the power of the BMW-801S and the turbocharging system of the BMW-801T, is now also equipped with the Fw-190B series of high-altitude fighters.

So now Ireland is a noose around the neck of American imperialism - it must be saved, but it cannot be saved, and human lives can only be lost in vain.

"So how do we deal with the Allied Combined Fleet?" Redl asked. "This fleet will control the shipping lanes near the Arctic Circle for 6 months! During this period, a large amount of supplies will be exported to the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union, which is very detrimental to us."

Fighting an ice sea night battle with an enemy with superior battleship numbers and firepower during the polar night is not an easy task. Although the Germans also have a killer weapon - the V3 remote-controlled missile, the V3 remote-controlled missile can only hit the enemy ship when the enemy's position can be seen clearly, which means that the "Wilhelm II" class missile cruiser must be close to the opponent, which is very dangerous.

Moreover, the "Wilhelm II" class is a missile cruiser that was born halfway, and the missile firepower is not strong, and it is also very troublesome to load. Therefore, it is very unsafe to rely on only three "Wilhelm II" class ships to fight against the powerful Allied Combined Fleet.

However, the German Naval Armament Bureau has long had a solution, which is to develop a dedicated light missile attack ship - that is, using the hull of the 1937 torpedo ship (standard displacement 853 tons, speed 35.5 knots) as the basis, carrying 2 V1 remote-controlled missiles stored in the launch tube and a small number of self-defense weapons, forming a missile attack ship that can hit and run.

The development of this new type of small ship, code-named "V-type attack ship", is not difficult. The construction work started in June, and the No. 1 and No. 2 ships will be completed in December. From 1943, two ships will be completed every month. However, these V-type ships are new ships after all, and it may take some time to truly form combat effectiveness.

"Marshal Raeder, don't worry, the Allied Combined Fleet will not control the Arctic Circle route for too long." Hersman smiled and said, "Because we still have a very powerful ally Japan in the far east, the Japanese Navy will hit the US Navy for us. Now we just need to wait for good news."

...

The fact that Japan plans to attack Australia is definitely good news for the Germans, regardless of whether the Japanese can achieve their wishes. However, for Suzuki Sadaichi, the Minister of State and President of the Planning Institute of the Japanese Cabinet, it is undoubtedly a headache.

Suzuki Sadaichi is now doing a job similar to the director of the State Planning Commission of the Soviet Union or the Minister of Economy and Director of the General Armaments Bureau of Germany. He is an important person in charge of wartime resources and production. However, he was not from the Japanese civil service system, but a retired lieutenant general of the army, a graduate of the Army Academy, but unlike other earthy army generals, he also studied economics at the Department of Economics of Tokyo Imperial University after graduating from the Army Academy, and was an army idiot who understood economics.

So before the outbreak of the Pacific War, he became the president of the Planning Agency as an economic expert supported by the army, specifically responsible for Japan's wartime economy. The Japanese Imperial Army's southward attack on Australia was closely related to Japan's wartime economy.

Because the army's idiots could not walk south, they had to go by ship. The Japanese army and navy did not have so many ships available, so they had to requisition civilian ships to maintain the wartime economy, and the number was huge!

"What? Are you going to use 15 divisions?" Seeing the battle plan sent by the Deputy Chief of the Navy General Staff, Ito Seiichi, Suzuki Sadaichi felt like he was hit by a club.

15 divisions! And it is not a light-equipped configuration, but an overweight configuration with at least 2 tank battalions (equipped with Type 97 medium tanks or Type 97 tank destroyers) in each division - without this configuration, they cannot defeat the mechanized US military even if they go to the Australian continent.

But if such a division is fully equipped and loaded with baggage, 300,000 tons of ships are not enough, at least 400,000 tons are needed! 15 divisions are 6 million tons... How many merchant ships does Japan have now? If 6 million tons are taken out, can the wartime economy still be maintained?

"This is impossible! Ito-kun, Japan does not have so many ships. You are a navy, you know this situation better than me." Suzuki Sadaichi shook his head desperately.

"Suzuki-kun, why are you in such a hurry?" Ito Seiichi was confident, "It's not like we need to transport so many troops to Australia at once... The battle at sea has not yet been decided, so it's too early to land in Australia.

And these 15 mechanized divisions are just the troops needed for the final victory on land, and they don't have to be transported to Australia at once. So the Planning Agency only needs to have enough confidence and determination, and make a plan for a total mobilization of shipping when necessary."

Suzuki Sadaichi nodded in embarrassment. Tojo had already greeted him - the battle in Australia was imperative!

"So, when will the battle to Australia begin?" Suzuki asked at last.

"It has already begun!" Ito smiled, "The first phase of the battle to Australia, Operation Mi, has begun now!"