PS: There is a change later, thank you for your support. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Cape Verde time, at about 10 o'clock in the morning on December 8, 1943, the reconnaissance planes sent by the fleets of all sides did not find anything, Cunningham and Ingersoll's fleet reconnaissance field of view is 600 kilometers, while the German fleet benefits from the excellent performance of the Ar-352 and Ar-372, the reconnaissance line of sight reaches nearly 900 kilometers, the range is much larger than that of the US military. In fact, it is feasible for Ozawa to extend his field of view to more than 900 kilometers if he wishes, but this does not have much practical significance - it basically goes beyond the combat range of conventional carrier-based aircraft.

The results of the reconnaissance supported a preconceived assumption that the U.S. fleet evaded and abandoned support for U.S. ground forces on Sal Island.

"Good, it's time for the next step." From a quarter past 10 o'clock, the German fleet began to move according to the preset plan: Ozawa led the main fleet to advance gradually north-east, and the broken fleet advanced south-east under the leadership of Admiral Paul Winneck, the trajectories of the two fleets became more and more scattered and the distance became more and more distant, and the ground crew was ready to launch an air attack on Saar Island in the afternoon to provide support to the defenders of the marines as much as possible. What made the fleet even happier was that news came from the direction of Dakar that some of the planes of the KG-48 bomber wing of the Air Force had arrived in Dakar and would be under the command of the Navy and would be put into battle in coordination.

Although Germany had won the African campaign and easily established the territory of German West Africa, compared with North Africa and German East Africa, German West Africa was quite weak in strength and poor in all aspects, with a total of less than one division, far inferior to the Dakar, which the French had operated for many years. Although there was an agreement between France and Germany that the Germans could use the French military bases, the French colonies in North Africa largely followed this strategy, and the Germans still have troops in Casablanca and Algiers. But even so, Casablanca and Algiers were too far away from Dakar for the Germans to reach.

Driven by Hoffmann's Franco-German rapprochement and economic cooperation, France became closer to the Axis and declared war on Britain in a low-key manner, but Petain's government was always reluctant to declare war on the United States, and the independence of the Dakar defenders from Paris made it wishful thinking to engage them in the war against the United States. The American side has always adopted a deceptive attitude towards the French army: it told the French that it would not move the Dakar, and also hoped that they would not provide convenience for the German army, otherwise the status of the Dakar would not be determined in the future, which further aggravated the wait-and-see attitude of the French side, and the acceptance of S-boat supplies was an exception.

However, this ambiguous attitude of neutrality was soon untenable, because the French defenders intercepted the Free French representatives who had come to subvert and act as internal responses, which made the French authorities anxious: the Americans themselves stated that they could not move the Dakar, which did not mean that the British or the Free France could not move the Dakar, in fact, it can be seen in the case of French Guiana: the German troops entered French Guiana purely as a "courtesy" visit, and after the American military took control of French Guiana, it completely replaced the local authorities with Free French personnel. This could not but keep Petain and Darlan on their toes and prevent another "peace-evolution" from the Americans.

What finally overwhelmed the judgment of the French authorities was the result of the interrogation of the Free French representatives, who frankly "recognized" the US military's plan of military action against Dakar - that the British army and the Free France would be used as a reason to occupy Dakar! In fact, this is just the deputy's face plastered gold on his face in order to attract attention, not to mention his level, even De Gaulle himself did not know the next plan of action of the US military, and the bigwigs of the Joint Chiefs of Staff simply sneered at Free France. In other words, the attempt to act as a "Belt and Road Party" is nothing more than a shaved shoulder of the Free French and a gratuitous speculation -- although it is not far from the truth, it can only be a disservice to the Americans to be exposed now.

This crucial telegram immediately evoked old and new hatreds in Darlan: the French Navy had lost nearly half of its naval ships to the treacherous British attack during Operation Ballista, and the most powerful battleship, the Richelieu, had been almost incapacitated by the attack. He persuaded Petain to invite Germany to send air forces but not ground troops on the grounds of strengthening defense capabilities, and the KG-48 wing, which happened to be drawn from the Mediterranean Sea, was also prepared, so 48 Ju-188s were escorted by 24 Fw-190s, and after four successive transfers, they were deployed from the Atlantic coast to Dakar.

By 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the group of aircraft painted with the Iron Cross logo finally began to storm Sal Island again......

"Sir, reinforcements are coming! Here it comes! The telecommunications staff officer excitedly told Link, the commander of the defending forces on the island of Sal, that "it is the Navy and Air Force planes, and they will arrive on the island in a moment......"

"Very well, let them fry as much as they want."

"They asked us to inform the troops of their current position and indicate the target of the attack so as not to inadvertently injure them."

"No, we're all hiding underground, and the rest of the world is full of enemy troops." Link sneered, "Just let them blow up, we'll hide under the air defense tower, don't worry about us, the more violent the better." ”

Half an hour later, the German troops on the island learned what had happened: Together with the planes that took off from Dakar, a total of more than 240 planes attacked Saar Island, and some time ago, the US military plane group that flaunted its might disappeared, and the plane group recklessly dropped 1,500 incendiary bombs and more than 100 bombs, bombing the Saar Island, which covered a small area, and quickly ignited a raging fire. Although the attacking aircraft group had deliberately avoided the anti-aircraft tower in the center of the island when the bombs were dropped, and although the German defenders had taken refuge in the ground and covered all kinds of gaps, they could still feel the heat wave outside one after another, as if it was burning hellfire.

Soon the German soldiers found that the stunned Americans were in a daze and headed for the core position, and then did not hesitate to knock them all down with MG42, and even then, many American soldiers panicked and moved to what they thought was safe - in fact, it was a dead end.

Listening to the muffled sound of explosions in my ears -- this was the sound of ammunition detonation, coupled with the heart-rending sound of the US troops, all the German troops had a hearty feeling, and the depression of suffering from the bombing in the past few days was swept away.

The 3rd Division and the 5th Division of the Army knew that the Germans might bomb today, so they not only established an air defense position, but also urgently built a part of the air defense bunkers, hoping to drag out the bombing, and at the same time deployed some ships in the distance to attract the German bombing......