Although the ground forces regained the upper hand, the result of the air duel was very unfavorable to the US military, consisting of 92 Do-412, Ta-152, Bf-219, Fw-190 axis aircraft group (early morning counterattack airborne loss of 6 aircraft) and more than 250 P51, P47, F4U, SBD, A26 Allied fighter group full of fighting, in the performance of the two fighters is generally close, the German flight ace advantage was quickly reflected, defeated the US army, The Navy's troops lost 97 of the more than 250 US planes, while the Germans had only 15, and they easily fought a 6:1 -- this was still based on the fact that there were almost twice as many US planes. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoIf the two sides are equal, a disparity of 8:1 or even 10:1 may occur.

In addition to the reason for the superb skills of the German pilots, the combination of high and low layers and reasonable collocation of German fighters also occupies an absolute advantage: the Ta-152H is in charge of the altitude above 8,000 meters, which is fast and has fierce firepower; The mid-altitude of 3500-7000 meters is the main combat airspace, which is joined by Fw-190 and Do-412, which can circle and BZ; At a low altitude below 3,500 meters, the Bf-219 has the first maneuverability and is invincible in dog fighting. The US pilots, who were already inferior in skill, could not bargain for a battle in the airspace at any level they fell to -- they were killed by the Ta-152 when they flew up, and they were killed by the Bf-219 when they flew downward, and they had to face the dense firepower of two MG213 + two MG151 cannons in the middle of the altitude. Even if the 12.7mm aviation machine gun in their hands is replaced with M series armor-piercing shells, the power is still not enough compared to the 20mm German thin-shell bullets, especially the thin-shell shells used by MG213 have huge lethality, and they will hit heavy bombers with 8-9 rounds, and the US fighters and attack planes known for their defense will be killed directly if they encounter 2-3 rounds. The U.S. fighter jets still had a little room to struggle, and the SBD and A26s were almost sent to their deaths - they couldn't escape if they couldn't fight.

Hartmann, who was in a hot state, took out four more planes in the air battle, and by noon it had 12 shootdowns, and the overall record had climbed to 110. Unfortunately, the victory in the air did not help to reverse the situation on the ground, and the US-Canadian forces, under the command of Ridgway, advanced 5 kilometers in one breath with a sharp attack, and the under-armed German marines were forced to retreat to the deep defensive line.

"Sir, the retreating fleet was attacked by heavy American bombers, the aircraft carriers Luigi Cardonal (Italy) and Aquila were sunk, and the Veneto and Roma each received one bomb and were not seriously injured...... In addition, two cargo ships were lost, but they were both ships transporting supplies, and the casualties were acceptable. In addition, after the US airborne troops entered the battle, the enemy's offensive was sharp, the pressure on the ground troops increased sharply, and our troops were forced to shrink the defensive line due to insufficient troops, and the commander requested to speed up the pace of retreat. ”

Machar nodded and said that he knew: In the early morning, the carrier-based aircraft of the aircraft carrier formation heading all the way to the southeast could only protect themselves, while the land-based aircraft on the island of Newfoundland and the US army fought two battles in a row, and they were indeed unable to cover the retreating troops, so they could only rely on the hard top of the fleet's anti-aircraft firepower, and the losses were completely reasonable. Fortunately, the US military did not send out attack planes against the sea, but only used them

"Let the flotilla step up its retreat, arrange for 2 more battalions of marines, pilots without aircraft, and other unrelated personnel to retreat, and attack aircraft to carry out a final ground attack to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the chaos to attack......"

At noon, taking advantage of the retreat of the American planes, the German attack group counterattacked the Allied ground forces and contained Ridgway's short assault, but the battle in the morning had established Ridgway's command, although the 101st Airborne Division had the least troops, but the Canadians admitted that the American troops were stronger than them, and willingly accepted Ridgway's command.

"The air attack fleet was fruitful, and the attack on Newfoundland failed? And almost 100 aircraft were lost? How many planes does the enemy really have on the island? How many have you laid down? ”

"Nearly 100 of them, and the pilots reported that in addition to the usual Bf-219 and Fw-190, they had seen two other new aircraft, which were fast, powerful, and seemed to have good defense...... We shot down about 30 of them, but the air raid mission had to be abandoned. ”

"Hell, so the enemy still has 70? Forget it, I'll report the situation to Washington and let them decide, it's really impossible to move here......" Lieutenant General Delos Emmons, who rushed to Prince Edward Island overnight, looked depressed, the transport plane formation of more than 500 planes returned in the morning, and the troops attacking Newfoundland Island at noon were severely damaged, whether it was the army or the navy, the whole base was a desperate wail, and the morale was extremely low, and after these planes were gathered, he still had more than 300 planes in his hand to form an attack group, Do you really want to drag these tired teachers out and consume them again? He really couldn't make up his mind.

"It has to strike again, it is necessary to knock out the German planes on the island of Newfoundland, otherwise what if they continue to get reinforcements in the evening or tomorrow? Will it be consumed forever? The priority is to destroy the airfield! ”

In the face of Marshall, who had already been beaten by the red eye, Arnold reluctantly continued to agree, intending to let the troops launch another attack at 2 o'clock, and at the same time recruit as many troops as possible from the domestic air force - the troops originally prepared for Bermuda had been basically exhausted, and the air defense units originally deployed on the east coast were also being transferred to Maine and Prince Edward Island in batches, and then thrown into the meat grinder of Newfoundland like moths to a fire, and the consumption was so great that he felt deeply desperate and powerless.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, when the attack aircraft group was preparing to take off again, the reconnaissance planes in front suddenly came with shocking news: the German aircraft carrier formation had been discovered, and its center was nearly 750 kilometers south-southeast of Newfoundland, with a speed of 21 knots and a course of 140 degrees.

Ingram immediately rushed to the chart to check and found that Prince Edward Island was about 1,200 kilometers away from the German aircraft carrier group, although it was within the strike range of heavy bombers, but the distance was too far, and it was probably 1,350 kilometers to catch up with the opponent, and it was estimated that the return voyage would be late at night.

"The Germans are going to go back to the Azores? They don't care about the battleships and landing forces in Newfoundland? Eisenhower wondered, "Just those dozens of planes on Newfoundland can withstand our wheel warfare?" ”

Arnold could only smile bitterly: of course, the German pilots could not withstand the wheel battle, but the American Army Aviation could first drain the blood.

In the flash of lightning, another possibility quickly passed through Ingram's mind, and he exclaimed: "No, they must be stopped and delayed......"

"How?"

"What if they pounce on Cape Verde?"

Admiral Jin was also stunned, walked to the chart in three steps and two steps, and immediately came back to his senses: "Yes, how is Cape Verde doing?" Didn't you say that you would take the island in 48 hours? It's been almost 20 hours, but where has the battle been? ”

A staff officer reminded: "General Turner sent a telegram just now, and you haven't had time to read it yet......"

Turner's telegram was very frustrating: on the one hand, it reported that it had been attacked by the Germans again last night, and that it had been tried according to the strategy of domestic experts, and the effect was a little but not the best, and it still lost two escort aircraft carriers, and some unconvinced fighter pilots forcibly took to the air to intercept them, but as a result, they could not find the enemy's position at all, and finally they were forced to land after being lost -- they were rescued by destroyers in the morning; On the other hand, the army's offensive was reported, it was fought very hard, almost yard by yard in advance, and casualties would be paid on every inch of the front, the German army's STG43 with iron fist firepower was too fierce, the army could not suppress the opponent at all with Garland and Thomson submachine guns, and the light machine gun was not the opponent of MG42, Turner believed that his land light weapons had fully lagged behind the opponent, and he pessimistically believed that the task could not be completed in 48 hours, at least another 48 hours would be added......

Marshall was so angry that he couldn't speak: the two main infantry divisions could not defeat the stubborn 5 or 6,000 German troops with the overwhelming support of aircraft and naval guns, which simply disgraced the face of the army.

Ingram immediately asked Holland for confirmation, the latter had a first-line experience in commanding the amphibious forces to assault Tarawa, but the latter quietly told him that his estimate was more pessimistic than Turner's, and that the Japanese army in Tarawa had no automatic rifles, no rocket artillery, no heavy tanks, and night combat equipment, and it was still so tricky that the Germans now had all these equipment, and he thought it was even more difficult to deal with. He held out a hand and waved it at Ingram, meaning that it would take another five days......

In fact, the reason why the defenders of Sal Island were so resilient was that the "Berlin Express", consisting of submarines and S-boats, had already sent two consecutive replenishment of troops and ammunition, and had taken away the seriously wounded by the way, with a total reinforcement of nearly 240 men, which was a drop in the bucket, but it greatly boosted the morale of the defenders - they firmly believed that the Führer would not give up on them.

Admiral Jin sighed: "The situation is not good, if this aircraft carrier force rushes in the direction of Cape Verde, it will be there in 4 days...... With the strength of the enemy, we will either be defeated or will have to retreat from Cape Verde in disgrace. ”

Ingram calculated for a moment and found that Admiral Kim was not alarmist, there were still 4 battleships and 11 escort aircraft carriers in the Cape Verde direction, although the planes seemed to be a little more than the German army, but the escort aircraft carriers could not confront regular aircraft carriers after all, and the fact that carrier-based aircraft could not carry heavy bombs or torpedoes was deadly enough.

"And let the heavy bombers deal with the discovered carrier formations? The problem is too far away, but I am afraid that I will not find the target to make an empty fight. ”

The atmosphere of the meeting suddenly fell into an impasse, everyone look at me, I look at you, I don't know how to express my position, and after waiting for a few minutes, Admiral Kim finally spoke......