After cutting off the tracking contact with the submarine, Machar was quite helpless, but he did not dare to act rashly, nor could he let the broken fleet return casually, but fortunately, Hintz said that the fleet's fuel could be supported for at least half a month, and Machar breathed a sigh of relief. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The judgment of the next move of the US military has become the focus of controversy in the German fleet, and there are two core issues: First, are the British and American aircraft carrier formations and the battleship formations together or separated? Second, whether Britain and the United States wanted to go south to attack the Falklands or use this as a bait to lure the Germans south.

On 8, 9, and 10 November, for three consecutive days, the Germans did not get any valuable clues, and spent three days in an atmosphere of anxiety; the pilots took advantage of the opportunity to carry out repeated drills and run-ins with the new carrier-based aircraft, and the top echelons and staff officers of the fleet carried out round after round of deduction and simulation, but they never got the essentials, and only one opinion was unanimous, and the "Atlantic Inspector" must intensify its reconnaissance of the waters south of the Azores.

Machar did not hesitate to reduce the intensity of surveillance on the Anglo-Canadian route, and devoted more attention to the Central Atlantic, expanding the reconnaissance circle to 3,000 kilometers - almost the limit of Atlantic inspection. On the 11th, even worse news came, two German submarines discovered a huge American transport fleet in the waters north of Brazil, including more than 120 cruise ships, cargo ships and oil tankers of various types, at least more than 20 escort aircraft carriers and more destroyers and cruisers accompanying them, and the mighty team lined up for nearly 100 kilometers. Due to the tight defense of the US military, the two submarines failed to find a chance to get off the phone, and only sent the information back.

If the U.S. military really ignores the Anglo-Canadian route and insists on dealing with the Falklands, the Germans have no way at all, and some staff officers speculate that the disappeared U.S. main fleet has gone south to attack the Falklands, and that what was found in the waters north of Brazil should be the U.S. ground troops, and it is recommended to immediately pursue them south, even if they can't catch the main force of the U.S. forces and eat their troop carriers. Machar doubted this, but did not dare to categorically deny it, and was very depressed in his heart, the main general Kranke suggested continuing to hold on to the Azores, and Ozawa suggested pursuit, and Machar hesitated and decided to hold his troops for the time being, but immediately reported the situation.

After the news reached Berlin, Hoffmann was also very nervous, but he knew that the more critical the situation, the more he could not mess with himself, and in the face of incomplete and insufficient information, he was not sure which countermeasure was more logical, so he sent the information he had collected so far and the speculation of the fleet to two departments, one was the naval staff and the other was the red staff, to listen to their suggestions.

Paulus sent back his feedback early the next morning, and although most of the comments only elaborated and analyzed the various possibilities, a few sentences were clear: "Whether the American army feints or really attacks, one thing that cannot be ignored is that the Anglo-Canadian route is always cut off, and unless the United States is determined to abandon the British, they will definitely return to the Atlantic." What if you lose the Falklands? If we can get 3-6 months of cutting off the import of supplies from Britain, we will be closer to victory. ”

This sentence made Hoffman suddenly feel the bottom of his heart.

The feedback from the Naval Staff was very interesting, and it gave Hoffman two choices: one was to hold on to his troops and break diplomatic relations with peace of mind, believing that even if the Falklands were lost, it would not affect the overall situation; Another opinion is to strike decisively and attack the enemy's flank, at least not to make it so easy for the enemy to attack the Falklands. The words were clear, but they did not clearly express their tendentious opinions, and insisted that the decision should be made by the front-line commanders, which made Hoffman angrily scold "Slippery head!" ”

In the end, Hoffmann, who was also the commander-in-chief of the navy, could only give an order to the fleet to continue to stand by in the waters near the Azores, wait for the order to attack, break the fleet and submarines to completely block the sea area, and not let any suspicious ships enter the North Sea.

To tell the truth, the Americans are also very uncomfortable in this state now, Turner is not really going to hit the Falklands, he hopes to lure the Germans out to fight once, but now the German planes have not found him at all -- in the past, they went to sea in the hope that they would not be discovered by German reconnaissance planes, but now they hope that the Atlantic inspectors will be able to see themselves a little brightly, so that they can have a chance to let the German fleet come out of the protection of the Azorean air defense ring.

On the night of 13 November, a submarine finally caught the US troops, and in the early morning of the next day, the "Atlantic Inspector" taking off from Cape Verde finally found a rapid reconnaissance force composed of four light cruisers and six destroyers, the vanguard of the US military.

"What, the vanguard of the American fleet appeared 1800 km west of Cape Verde?" The first reaction of those who received the information was surprise, and the second reaction was that they thought that trouble was coming

Compared with the Azores, although Cape Verde was also controlled by the German army, due to its less important position, it was not the focus of German construction at this time, and only a certain amount of armed reinforcement was carried out: there were only 2 regiments of marines on the island, 3 twin 356mm naval guns (dismantled from Ise) as the core of the coastal fortifications, and about 60 aircraft, which were several times stronger than when the Portuguese were stationed, but they were nothing compared to the Azores, at most a little better than Bermuda.

On 15 November, the US fleet moved closer to Cape Verde for more than 500 kilometers, and the situation began to become clear, and Berlin judged the enemy situation to be as follows: The US forces divided their forces into two routes, one to the south to attack the Falklands and the other to Cape Verde, and since the main forces of the Axis Fleet were in the North Atlantic, the US forces should attack Cape Verde with the main fleet and cover the escort fleet to attack the Falklands.

"The enemy is going to attack Cape Verde?" Hoffmann summoned Joddle and Dönitz, "Do you think it's possible to hold the island?" ”

The two shook their heads in unison, "Führer, this is impossible, Cape Verde can hold for 3 days, judging from the size of the fleet in the Caribbean direction, we estimate that the US army has at least 6-7 divisions, plus the firepower and air cover provided by his main fleet and escort aircraft carriers, as long as 1-2 divisions are taken to attack, it can be taken." ”

The German top brass has not yet realized the local tyrant style of the US military, and is only judging the number of people according to the scale of Germany's own transportation, and if this scale is replaced by the Japanese army's transport troops, it can transport at least 10 or more first-class divisions, but on the US army, it can only transport 4 divisions. However, their judgment was basically close to Turner's plan - even if he was forced to launch offensive operations in Cape Verde and Dakar, he was only prepared to call up one division, and the remaining three divisions would still be deployed to Brazil as planned. The Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed to add 1-2 more divisions to the third group if necessary.

"And then the enemy will take advantage of the weakness and attack Dakar?"

"I don't rule it out." "The enemy has gained a foothold in Brazil and built an air base, and the last time the fleet attacked and destroyed it, it was nothing more than for the Americans to spend some more effort to repair it, and once the enemy took Cape Verde and Dakar, it would have a foothold in West Africa, and the difference between the two places is about 3,500 kilometers, and considering the air power of Britain and the United States, its bomber group can completely and effectively cover the entire sea area, and the chance of our fleet wanting to quietly cross is almost equal to zero," Yodel explained. ”

"Don't they know that we're actually shipping from Madagascar?"

"They don't necessarily know it, but now that they're doing it, they're at least creating a blockade between the North and the South Atlantic. If the U.S. forces occupy Dakar, will they take the opportunity to launch a counteroffensive in West Africa and threaten German West Africa? Dönitz asked worriedly.

At this point, Hoffman was a little uneasy, because it would probably mean a second Torch Operation, a situation he would try to avoid.

But Jodel was obviously much more optimistic than Dönitz: "I'm not worried about the Americans landing in West Africa, the situation is much better now than when the Afrika Korps went to North Africa, we have complete control over the entire Mediterranean, the supply lines are much shorter than the Americans, is it a big deal to let General Guderian go to Africa and fight a land war?" The US aircraft carriers will not be able to go ashore again, and their army will not be our opponent for another 100 years. It is easier to eliminate an American on land than in the air or at sea, and I don't think they will have the courage to continue fighting if the Americans are killed or wounded in Africa by hundreds of thousands. Moreover, South Africa has ready-made counteroffensive bases, so why didn't the Americans launch a counteroffensive from South Africa and push it up layer by layer? ”

Hoffman nodded, as Yodel said, putting the Americans up to fight is also a way of thinking, so as to give the Americans a quick bloodletting, as long as the Anglo-American strategic air raid is not successful, the European materials and industrial production under the integration of Germany can fully support the long-term war with the United States, and now the oil problem has been basically solved, and even the last weakness has disappeared.

"But wait a little longer to see the actions of the US military, they are only dispatching reconnaissance troops now, and the main force and the landing force will not show up for at least 2-3 days, and we still have time to judge what their real movements are. My suggestion is: If the enemy really attacks the Falklands, don't worry, our army on the island and the Argentine mainland now has 1 armored division, 1 infantry division, 2 marine brigades and 2 Argentine brigades, in addition to more than 400 aircraft and a number of S-boats and submarines, and at the same time some of the fortifications have also been newly built, Britain and the United States will not be able to gnaw us without sending the main fleet and paying more than 100,000 casualties, not to mention that even if the Falklands are lost, it will take at least three months for the US troops to return to the North Atlantic. Dönitz concluded, "The Americans and we can afford to wait three months, but the British may not be able to suffer for three months without American aid." ”

On November 16, Hoffmann, in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the Navy, issued an order for the Axis fleet to complete all preparations for the attack and continue to wait for orders in the Azorean air defense circle. He had made up his mind that the Falklands defenders would be sacrificed as a last resort...... (To be continued.) )