Alert Disarming ......

"Sir, the enemy reconnaissance plane has been driven away. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info"

"Still haven't caught up?"

"Nope." The aviation staff officer shook his head awkwardly, "The F4U is faster than the F6F, and today we are only close to catching this German reconnaissance plane." ”

"But after all, I still didn't catch it, did I?" Nimitz smiled faintly, "It still doesn't look fast enough." ”

The inability to catch the axis reconnaissance plane has almost become a problem for US Navy fighter pilots, and at any altitude the speed of the F6F carrier-based fighter commonly used by the US Navy is not as fast as the Ar-352 used by the German army, and even if it is improved to the F6F-5 model, it still cannot keep up with the speed of the Ar-352, and it has been repeatedly deflated. Because of this, the Navy made a painful decision to improve the F4U day and night, and finally used the faster main carrier-based fighter. I thought that this time I would definitely be able to beat the German reconnaissance plane, but I didn't expect that the Ar-352 was also constantly improving.

After the BMW 901 series engine matured, the Ar-352, which had a residual interface, took advantage of the situation to upgrade and replaced it with a new turbocharged 901 engine, with a normal horsepower output of 2400 horsepower, and up to 2700 horsepower after taking drugs (only 15 minutes), the improved new model is called Ar-452, which is more than 60 kg heavier than Ar-352, and the maximum speed has been increased from 637 km/h to 649 km/h (6000 meters altitude), and the emergency speed under drug abuse is from 671 km/ hours increased to 688 km / h.

However, the range has shrunk slightly, from 3,000 km to 2,700 km without drop fuel tanks, and from 5,000 km to 4,500 km with drop fuel tanks.

Although the maximum speed of the F4U exceeded 710 km / h, it was the data achieved at high altitude, at an altitude of about 6,000 meters, just exceeding the normal level flight speed of the Ar-452, and when the German pilot activated the MW50 drug system, forcibly increased the power, so that the plane emitted a cloud of green smoke, the F4U could not catch up.

Smith was embarrassed that he couldn't catch up with the reconnaissance plane, but he didn't know that this was the most successful chase of all—American pilots had never even forced the Germans to use drug systems before.

After the US fleet was exposed in the Recife area, in order to have a chance to let the Germans bite this bait, Nimitz deliberately put on a swaggering posture to march towards El Salvador, which was also an anti-submarine exercise, an air defense training, and a Z-shaped anti-submarine route, which took less than 700 kilometers for four days, but these actions were all in vain, and the German fleet he expected did not appear at all. Quite helpless, he could only let Hewitt's transport fleet enter the port to unload, and he continued to lead the main fleet to stay in the open sea.

It is a pity that the German reconnaissance planes came three times in four days, but there was no news of any enemy fleet, and El Salvador and Recife dispatched hundreds of B-29 sorties every day to carry out reconnaissance missions, flying the longest distance all the way to the coast of West Africa and the area of the La Plata River, and saw more than a dozen transport ships leaving the port in the port of Rio and heading in the direction of Argentina, but they could not find the location of the German fleet -- the fleet with three aircraft carriers and three battleships seemed to have disappeared invisibly, but on the contrary, it also lost several planes for this, All of them were beaten down by the Ta-152H - the B-29 couldn't fly as fast as the Ar-452, and the Ta-152 could only die if they were caught by the Ta-152.

"Counting this time, it is the fourth reconnaissance by the Germans, and I bet that this reconnaissance plane just now was by no means a carrier-based aircraft, but a land-based aircraft deployed in Rio." Smith scratched his scalp in annoyance, "You say, will they take a detour to South Africa and return home via the Suez Canal?" ”

"I don't think so, the Germans are playing hide and seek with us, they are stalling for time."

"Procrastination?"

Nimitz smiled bitterly: "They are waiting for the reinforcement fleet from the mainland to arrive in Brazil, where there are at least 4 fleet carriers and 5 battleships - this is a very cunning opponent, he knows our weakness well. ”

What is the weakness of the Americans, it is clear to everyone - time.

Originally, according to the assumption of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, there was no intention of making a big fight until sufficient army forces were in place, and even if the American Republic had in fact been established, the United States was prepared to endure it and buy time for the next stage of defense. In the same way, Truman clearly knew that Churchill had bad intentions in carrying out a coup d'état, and in order to delay time, he destroyed two aircraft carriers and fell into the hands of the Germans, but he still supported the other side head-on.

But both wishes were ruthlessly shattered, and the British coup took Marshal Pound, Task Force 101, and 100,000 American troops; The coup d'état in Brazil was accompanied by an army division and a coup d'état by the aviation of Brazil, especially the latter, whose support by Germany for the Dutra regime seriously shattered the worst expectations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and forced them to jump directly to the forefront, which led to the introduction of the Nimitz rush plan.

Now he finally got the chance to attack, but the target he was about to attack was gone, which made Nimitz feel as sick as a fly.

"If the enemy doesn't come, we'll go." Nimitz pondered for a long time, made up his mind, and ordered, "Bring a batch of landing craft and pretend, and let's go out to land in Santos and see if the Germans come." I don't believe he can hide to the ends of the earth! ”

"Sir, General Patton has sent a telegram."

"George? What did he send me a telegram for? ”

"Your Excellency Admiral Chester William Nimitz: I am very pleased and relieved to hear that you have led the Atlantic Fleet to fight in Brazil......"

The title and content at the beginning are decent, but the words at the end make people spit rice: "...... Can you find me a batch of ships to land in Rio with the 1st Red Division and the 1st Cavalry Division? We've been squatting in Guyana and Venezuela for more than half a year, we're going to have calluses under our buttocks, we're here to fight in South America, we're not here to bask in the sun, I'm going to go crazy if I go on like this, I'm going to Rio to beat the Germans! I'll go wherever there are Germans! ”

Seeing such "vulgar" words, Smithton blushed and scolded: "This George is too unreasonable......

Nimitz didn't care about Patton's foul words -- this guy is a ruffian, whoever is more serious with him will lose, what he cares about is why the Joint Chiefs of Staff will not let Patton come to fight, the Joint Chiefs of Staff clearly discussed that Patton will be in charge of the South American military, and Clark will be in charge of politics, but now that the political situation is obviously erosive, it is time for the military commander to shine, why would he rather let Patton squat in Venezuela than let him come to Rio to fight?

"Send a telegram to General Turner, tactfully asking the Army, why don't George come to war?" Nimitz pondered, "This is not necessarily the same as what we discussed in the first place. ”

"And here George?"

"Call him back, we are unloading, let me think of a way, and reply to him tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."

Turner, who received the telegram of Nimitz's inquiry, did not dare to slack off, and went directly to Marshall to ask about the situation, who knew that Marshall was also very angry about this, and said: "Who won't let him fight?" It's his own disobedience to orders that is messing around! ”

After in-depth questioning, Nimitz finally understood the cause of the incident: Marshall did intend to transfer Patton to the Recife area to command the troops, but Patton proposed to let the 1st Red Division and the 1st Cavalry Division go with him, which required Marshall to agree, but now the equipment and materials of these two divisions are not complete, and he wants to let Patton go to Recife to take up his post first, and then transfer to Recife or El Salvador after the supplies of these two divisions are replenished.

But Patton didn't think there was any need to go to such trouble, and that the troops should be transported directly by plane from Venezuela and Guyana to El Salvador, and as for the equipment, "the Hewitt ship would be fine," the problem was that the equipment was for other divisions. Barton decided it didn't matter and asked the others to wait a little longer, "We've waited so long in Venezuela and Guyana, even if it's our turn to come first and come first!" In addition, the combat effectiveness of the 1st Red Division and the 1st Cavalry Division has been strengthened by South American adaptability, and they are obviously more suitable for the first batch to be put into battle. ”

If he did what Patton asked, of course he would be happy, but the other troops should also go crazy, and after careful consideration, Marshall, who was deeply afraid of causing instability in the troops, did not dare to take Patton's suggestion, and even withheld the order to transfer Patton to Recife to take office, and only let Eisenhower coordinate.

I thought that this thorn would retreat in the face of difficulties, but I didn't expect that Patton, who had not changed his nature, would actually stab Nimitz here with a shot - if Nimitz dared to agree to his request, Patton would really dare to lead his troops to land in Rio tomorrow.

Can the Army still play like this? A bunch of naval staff officers of the Atlantic Fleet looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

"Nonsense!" After holding it for a long time, Chief of Staff Smith finally squeezed a word out of his teeth - he thought it was the most appropriate assessment of Patton's move.

"I don't think so, although George's temperament is a little anxious, but his nature is not bad, he is a rare army general with ideals and courage to fight, and he has experience in dealing with the Germans." Nimitz sighed, "Do you know how the Army people in the Army explained Brazil's temporary immobility when the Joint Chiefs of Staff were in session? ”

"How do you explain it?"

"The German army has relatively strong combat effectiveness, and we should concentrate more than three times the superiority of our forces, and at the same time, we must obtain air supremacy in order to calmly launch an attack."

Smith was drinking water, and when he heard this, he almost didn't squirt out of his mouth, swallowed it with difficulty, and said with a strange expression, "This...... The Germans have at least 6 million troops, according to the meaning of the army, they can win with 3 times the advantage, and they have to raise 18 million troops? ”

Nimitz spread his hands: "So you can also see, yesterday I solicited the army volunteers to land in Rio, and none of the generals signed up, and they all said that they would wait for the order of their superiors - who is their superior?" Isn't that Clark? ”

But he didn't say anything, only said that he would discuss further.

"After discussion, a division of the Army in Rio was defeated by the Germans, and if it weren't for the Japanese regiment (422nd regiment) desperately blocking and responding, this division would basically have to be taken prisoner." As soon as he remembered that the large amount of military supplies and equipment hoarded in Rio had fallen into the hands of the German army, especially the planes and a large amount of fuel and ammunition on the suburban air bases, he felt a pang of annoyance and slapped the table fiercely.