"Cunningham's troops must rush over and intercept, and even if they can't, they must join forces with Ingersoll's fleet...... As for the attack aircraft group, it is not necessary to attack the enemy aircraft carrier formation, but it is recommended that you divide your troops into two routes, one to attack the enemy transport convoy first, to attract reinforcements from the land-based aircraft on the island of Newfoundland, and then the other way to attack the airfield, without which the Germans will not be able to run wild. "The more complicated the situation, the clearer General King's mind became, and he continued to say it with a straight face, and everyone felt that it was very reasonable, and the situation on Newfoundland Island must be maintained no matter what.www.biquge.info

"In addition, let Matthew and the Canadians send additional troops to rescue the pilots who parachuted in Newfoundland, the planes don't matter, the pilots must save as many as possible! After this battle, many novices can grow into veterans, and we can't afford to lose too many pilots. ”

Arnold nodded hurriedly, the losses suffered by the army aviation in this war were even greater than those in the Caribbean, and the two battles of the Caribbean and Bermuda finally trained a group of experienced pilots, and most of them were lost in this battle, but the staff officer made statistics, in terms of survival rate and construction power, this group of experienced pilots were the best performers, and even emerged 3-4 aces (shot down 5 enemy planes), he raised his hands in favor of Admiral King's strategy.

In the afternoon, the attack planes of the army and navy on Prince Edward Island set off one after another, the HNA was responsible for dealing with the retreating German fleet, and the army was responsible for dealing with the German airfield on Newfoundland. The first wave of the German fleet, discovered in the morning, was nowhere to be seen, and the HNA could only attack the German ships on the outskirts of the harbor, only to run headlong into a group of German fighters who were on standby. At this time, the Germans still had a total of 76 fighters, leaving 16 to cover the direction of the airfield and the Marine Corps, and 60 to intercept the US naval formation.

The performance of the sea aviation is not much better than that of the land aviation, in a fierce offensive and defensive battle, the US military sank the Leipzig light cruiser, the Reich battleship, the heavy cruiser Seydelitz, and sank 2 cargo ships, but the price they paid was extremely high, under the German fleet's anti-aircraft fire and fighter jets, a total of 84 aircraft of various types were lost, and the German army lost 13 fighters, Hartmann was even more familiar with the Do-412 in his hand, and won 5 results in one go, Equalled Marseilleu's record of 17 planes shot down in one day.

Originally, the German army still had a chance to expand the results of the battle, but in the final stage of the offensive and defensive battle, suddenly the airport side urgently called for reinforcements, saying that a large number of enemy planes were coming, so the German army immediately sent 16 fighters to rush over to reinforce it, but even then there were only 32 planes, and it was weak in the face of nearly 200 US army attack planes. The U.S. military raided the German airfield, destroying 17 He-218 and 8 Ju-98 on the ground, while also causing nearly 100 casualties among the marines defending the airfield, 32 fighters desperately intercepted, shooting down 41 U.S. planes and losing 10 of their own. After nightfall, due to the destruction of the airfield and part of the runway, the remaining German planes had to hurriedly rely on half of the runway, steel plates and mud to land, resulting in the loss of seven more aircraft.

In the face of such a situation, even Hartmann, who has always been full of confidence, began to worry: there are fewer and fewer planes, and the pilots who fight continuously are also very tired, and this evening he felt that his eyelids were constantly drooping.

"Sir, we can't go on like this, we must retreat with the whole army tonight, otherwise none of the rest of us will be able to leave tomorrow." The commander of the Marine Corps, Colonel Gort, had a bloody face and contacted Vice Admiral Bei who was sitting in the harbor through a field telephone, the artillery formation commanded by Vice Admiral Bei had been broken in half, the Italian battleship and cruiser units had covered the retreat of the first batch of troops last night, and the German army's own battleship and cruiser units would all retreat this night, originally Ozawa had arranged for four destroyers to undertake the task of retreating the third group, but Gorte believed that the situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, and it was very likely that there would be no chance for the third group to retreat, The whole army must retreat tonight.

"What if there's so much equipment?" Lieutenant General Bei asked hesitantly, "If the explosion is carried out on them, the movement is too great, the enemy will definitely find out quickly, and no one will be able to leave at that time......

"If you equip it......" Gault gritted his teeth, "There are still 4 tigers left, and there are 3 more Himmler organs, all of which can be loaded and left today, No. 4 or other heavy equipment is not cutting-edge technology, it is recommended that you do not need to blast, and leave it in place for the enemy after destroying the engine and gearbox, as for the plane...... Please work hard, take off at dawn, and cover the fleet again. ”

"How did they land? Airplanes can't fly to the Azores, and the fleet doesn't have aircraft carriers! ”

"Don't land, parachute when you run out of fuel, let the destroyer rescue them......"

"Well, that's all we have to do."

In the middle of the night, Ridgway was also meeting with MacDonald and others to give a face-to-face lecture: "Today the army aviation has destroyed the enemy's airfield, and tomorrow morning it will launch another attack on the enemy. So we're going to make a little bit of a detour to the wings tonight......"

After the arrival of Ridgway and the 101st Airborne Division, the Allied troops were greatly boosted, not only recovering the positions they had lost a few days earlier, but also rescuing a group of pilots who had parachuted after being shot down.

In the early morning, the bigwigs of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who had been in full swing all night, yawned and continued to deduce the trend of the battle in the war room.

The battle plan for December 4 was very clear: first, the concentrated Cunningham fleet rushed east, preparing to intercept the German aircraft carrier group; second, the army and navy sent troops to bombard the German fleet and positions in the early morning; Third, the 101st Airborne Division and Canadian troops were responsible for outflanking and cutting off the retreat of the German marines; Fourthly, constant pressure is exerted in the Cape Verde direction, and the enemy must be taken as soon as possible.

By half-past seven, an urgent telegram came from the front.

"What? The Germans slipped away? Marshall yelled angrily, "When did you slip away?" ”

"It must have been last night. The 101st Airborne Division launched an attack early in the morning, but did not meet resistance, and broke through to control the harbor only to find that the enemy had slipped away, and by the way, they also rescued a group of Canadian prisoners who were being held near the dock. ”

"Didn't the Canadians say that the German army was at least 5,000 men? How did you slip away so fast? It's not scientific! ”

Eisenhower smiled bitterly after reading the telegram: "What is 5,000, Matthew made it very clear in the telegram, the German army invested a total of 3,000 troops before and after, and about 800 people were killed in the battle - some of the corpses did not have time to completely converge, and there may be 400-500 wounded and more than 500 people who retreated the night before yesterday, and the marines who held on to St. John's yesterday were about 1,000 people, they abandoned all their heavy equipment and supplies and fled, and there were many German No. 4 tanks on the position. Tank destroyers and artillery, and there are a lot of ammunition, wreckage and spare parts left on the enemy-controlled airfield, but there is no complete aircraft ......"

"Didn't you catch a captive?"

"Like, how many of them...... Oh, 2, it's the German pilot who got lost after a parachute jump. ”

"Damn, let the planes chase after them, they won't be able to run far!"

This order does not need to be deliberately given, after discovering the air in the early morning, the US attack formation quickly adjusted its course, after a search has found the German fleet, but finding it does not mean that it can be easily dealt with, there are still more than 40 German fighters on it to undertake the cover task, after a fierce battle, the German formation lost the light cruiser Muchio-Attendolo (Italy), the light cruiser Emden and the Z49 (hedgehog class) destroyer, the Imperial battleship ate 2 bombs and lost a main gun, However, it was still able to maintain a speed of more than 20 knots, and the freighter lost one more ship, and all the Tiger and Himmler organs that Gault had worked so hard to take with him were sunk, but it was much better to sink here than to be captured by the American troops on the island, for which the American army lost more than 50 planes - even if the pilot succeeded in parachuting, he could only be captured.

Of course, the fate of the German aircraft group was not much better, or it was shot down on the spot, or it crashed due to running out of fuel after the US plane retreated, but fortunately, the pilot could parachute to save it, and Lieutenant General Bei could be regarded as breathing a sigh of relief. Now there are only 11 planes left in the entire fleet, and in a few hours they will all run out of fuel and crash into the sea. Hartman landed three more planes early in the morning, and then pulled the plane to a forced landing after running out of fuel - he didn't want to soak in the icy North Atlantic, but that didn't last long, and after he boarded the rescue boat, a few waves hit and the Do-412 finally sank into the sea. After the strangulation of Newfoundland, the Germans lost all their Ta-152 and Do-412, and Lieutenant General Bey estimated that Minister Speer's face would be very exciting.

The faces of all the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were very ugly: the task of recovering Newfoundland was barely completed, but could such a heavy loss of the island be accounted for? And another blow about the victory that repelled the Germans? Everyone's skin is not thick enough to this extent.

Ingram asked reluctantly: "Can we continue to send planes to attack the German fleet?" ”

Arnold shook his head: "The attack aircraft group has returned early in the morning, and the Newfoundland airfield is not yet usable, and it can only attack again in the afternoon, but the distance is too far, the pressure and physical strength of the pilots have reached the limit, and the horizontal bombing effect of the 4 bombers is not very good......"

Marshall waved his hand: "Forget it, save some effort, this batch of pilots finally has actual combat experience, and they can't be easily consumed." Send a telegram to Matthew and the Canadians, immediately restore order on Newfoundland, repair the airfield, count the losses, and the next battle will depend on the navy. ”