ps: In the past two days, readers' opinions have been relatively large, so I will spend a little pen and ink to explain, and the book review area will not reply one by one:

1. The plane hit a torpedo. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info I haven't seen it, see the historical Dafeng Aviation Komatsu Guan Xiongbing Cao Chang's suicide collision and crash into a torpedo, but Baidu, no need to look at the professional war history;

2. The number of torpedoes. The second attack wave of the US army has 176 aircraft, 58% of the attack aircraft, most of which are BTDs that can carry 2 torpedoes, and the German army has 95 aircraft, 55% of the attack aircraft, with only one torpedo, I am not very good at math, please help me calculate the difference in quantity.

3. Hit rate. If you don't understand the lightning strike rate section, please make up the scene of machine gun strafing infantry, is it easier to hit a group of companies or stragglers of squads? Is it easy to hit with a large number of enemy ships or easy to hit with a small number of enemy ships? Is it a fast warship that is easy to hit or a slow warship that is easy to hit?

Frank had indeed arranged a submarine formation for Nimitz at night, but after listening to the pilot's report that Nimitz's fleet route had been changed to southeast, he suddenly understood his opponent's thoughts at that moment, but he understood that he was completely powerless to intercept it, and even if the US army attacked again during the day tomorrow, he would not even be able to send a single plane.

Although he instructed the warships to turn on the lights to guide the planes to land until more than 8 o'clock in the evening, there were too few pilots who finally returned, and only 82 of the 176 attack planes that attacked left the German fleet alive, and as night fell, the formation was scattered and some of the planes were still injured, plus the pilots had been engaged in a day's battle, and their physical strength and energy had reached the limit, and they did not know where they would fall when they drove and drove them. Only 54 aircraft eventually returned to the USS Franklin, and together with the remaining fighters from the air defense operation, the entire fleet had 82 aircraft left.

After the ground crew pushed all the damaged and unusable planes into the sea, the TF48 fleet was left with only 73 planes - before the departure of Nimitz, it had a huge system of 3 fleet aircraft carriers, 6 escort aircraft carriers, and a total of nearly 500 aircraft, and finally only one-seventh (the personnel retention rate was one-fifth).

Smith was afraid that Nimitz would not be able to accept this reality, so he specially told several adjutants and staff officers to pay close attention to the movements of the commander to prevent him from thinking about it.

Although the German fleet was scarred, the German aircraft suffered little losses (although Kranke also lamented the high 30% battle loss rate), and now it has taken refuge in the Rio land-based protection circle, and the TF48 has no ability and capital to fight again, and will be completely wiped out if it is forced to attack again tomorrow.

"Sir, let's go."

"No, wait, maybe there are pilots who haven't come back, I said I'll wait until the end."

Smith looked at the wall clock, it was past 9 o'clock in the evening - it was almost impossible to have any more surviving pilots, but he could not say it directly, so he had to persuade: "We must go, in case the German submarine touches ...... again"

Nimitz looked in the dark direction of Brazil with infinite melancholy, sighed and gave the order to retreat, and then locked himself in his room without saying a word.

The adjutant winked at Smith, meaning that he had collected all the bullets from Nimitz's rifle, and even "dangerous items" such as ropes and fruit knives.

"You can find an excuse to go in every half hour or an hour to see if there is a problem, and report it to me in time if there is a problem." Smith explained, "We can't do without the chief, we have sacrificed too many people in the past two days, but we can't sacrifice the commander too." ”

In the evening, the Joint Staff received a detailed telegram from the fleet and the details of the battle, and everyone was slightly relieved to hear the news of the destruction of five German aircraft carriers (the pilots thought that Jean-Bar was sinking, so it was sunk), that all of its battleships had been severely damaged, and that one aircraft carrier was still left of itself.

At the same time, Turner reported: "General Nimitz has offered to go to South Africa to recuperate and then return home via the Pacific route. ”

Truman didn't understand why he did this, but Lehi immediately figured it out and pointed: "If you return home, you may run into a German submarine formation." ”

After discussion, the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed to this request.

Truman believed that the Navy had done its best, and Marshall also admitted that if Nimitz had turned around and left only the transport fleet to the Germans, the Navy's three main aircraft carriers could have been retained.

"We have to have positive propaganda for the people, and the army and navy have thwarted the enemy's attempt to take control of Brazil, and after paying a heavy price, they have inflicted heavy damage on the enemy's naval fleet, and have bought precious time for the United States to deploy its defense of Central America." Truman pondered, "We will send more troops to defend the free world with our allies." ”

Marshall nodded, the president's meaning was very clear, and the next thing to look at was the Army.

"The army strength will be increased by another 50,000, the army aviation will increase the number of combat aircraft to more than 3,000 aircraft, all important areas must be covered by aviation, and the navy's transport fleet must get a good grasp of transporting supplies and supplies." Truman's order was clear: "The United States' guidelines for war have inevitably entered a phase of strategic contraction, and the enduring defense capability must be strengthened to the greatest extent." ”

After a pause for a long time, he came up again: "You guys do a good job, don't have any worries, I will not evade the responsibility that I should bear, and I will communicate with the party's top leaders today about the idea of withdrawing from the election." ”

"Withdrawn?" Everyone was taken aback.

"Your Excellency?" Lehi was not mentally prepared at all, he had expected Truman to package this crushing victory.

Truman did think so at first, but Kennedy later reminded him that it was dangerous and that it would have unforeseen consequences if it was communicated to the media and the families of the war dead by competitors, so Truman's tone was much more conciliatory now.

Truman waved his hand: "Many people have communicated with me many times in private, and have put forward various arguments euphemistically, but the purpose is the same, and I understand everyone's wishes, but this desire is not in line with Mr. Roosevelt's ideals, nor with my ideals. The only thing I can do is to carry the burden of responsibility for the disadvantage of the war, no matter what history says - I am at best a president who has lost, not a president who has led the American people to surrender. ”

The crowd was speechless for a while.

Lehi stood up and apologized: "President, I'm sorry, we ......"

"The army and navy have done their best, and now I hope that you can do a good job in the defense of the homeland, and through this war, I have fully understood that if we do not retain a strong national defense strength in peacetime, do not conduct in-depth research on various cutting-edge technologies, and do not train and train a high-quality officer corps, once we face a large-scale war, we will be in a hurry and unable to deal with it. The United States has the world's largest economy, and it has industrial capacity far beyond that of other countries, but this potential has not been able to be turned into capacity in a short period of time, so we are in the current situation. Truman said slowly, "I think there is still hope for us to fight and hold on, we have had a worse exchange with the Germans in the past, and this time we have at least inflicted heavy damage on the enemy fleet." There will be a turnaround if you stick to it, but the people are not necessarily willing to endure it. ”

Everyone nodded: the American slipway was still stacked with these dozens of aircraft carriers and battleships, hundreds of cruisers and other auxiliary ships; There is a steady stream of tanks and planes in the factory, but they just can't find a way to win and seem lost.

"The people still have illusions that after the armistice between us and Germany we can reap a decent peace and live as freely as before, I would like to say that this good old life is gone forever......," Truman's voice was very sad and indignant, "In the future, our relations with Germany will be a state of confrontation without war and discord, and we will be restricted and excluded by them everywhere, and the Germans do not choose to stop war with us because they sympathize with us, they are temporarily unable to destroy and conquer us so they make a choice of last resort." After the armistice, Hitler will continue to maintain a huge armament system to put pressure on us, and on the other hand, he will openly and covertly support Japan to consume us, and if he has more powerful and ferocious weapons, he will even go so far as to launch a third world war to destroy us. ”

"So...... This is not real peace, it is just a short truce like the last war, because freedom and totalitarianism, democracy and dictatorship are in the final analysis completely opposite, and there is no communion between us and National Socialism. Truman paused, "No matter who the president is in the future and which officers are in charge of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I hope that the top brass of the army and navy will always be vigilant against Germany, always pay attention to the improvement of military strength, and let the new leader lead you to win the next war." This kind of preparation should be considered from today! ”

"We have entered the strategic contraction of this great war, but the prologue of the next great war has only been reopened, and I believe that we will not be the losers in the third world war!"

On the night of the "Führer's ......", Keitel and Dönitz reported on the situation in South America, and when they heard the news that the Kranker fleet had been severely damaged, Hoffman also expressed deep regret, but fortunately, compared with the results of the battle, this loss was still bearable.

He nodded: "General Cranke fought well, we have successfully achieved the campaign goal of excluding the interference of the Atlantic Fleet, and in the coming months, the US Navy will not pose a threat to us." ”

"We deliberated, and in view of the changes in the situation in South America, we decided to start the troop surge in advance." "The Navy is dying and must come to the aid as soon as possible, and General Marcal agreed to leave Europe for reinforcements a week earlier, on August 7, with a little Army supplies and equipment at the moment," Dönitz said. ”

"How are the sea trials of 2 British aircraft carriers going?"

"Everything went smoothly according to the schedule, there was no problem with the overall quality of the warship, and some sea trials were adjusted to the middle of the voyage." The main fleet of reinforcements in South America this time will include a huge cluster of 4 aircraft carriers, 5 battleships, 8 escort aircraft carriers.

"Since you all think it's okay, I agree with your choice."

Field Marshal Keitel interjected: "South American supplies are not actually impossible to muster, but they will affect the preparation of operations to South Africa. ”

"The South African campaign will be pushed back for half a month, and priority will be given to the South American theater, how many troops do you plan to send this time?"

"2 heavily armored battalions, 2 panzergrenadier divisions, 1 general infantry division, 1 mountain infantry division, 3 marine brigades, with a total strength of about 120,000 ground troops, with Field Marshal Rommel as supreme commander; The Air Force has transferred about 700 planes from three wings, and Lieutenant General Garland has offered to lead the team, and I intend to agree. ”

Hoffman wondered: "Don't go to the armored division? ”

"Don't go for the time being, Sauken sent a telegram saying that the terrain in northern South America is more complicated, the heavy armored division cannot be used for the time being, and he needs more panzergrenadier divisions and artillery."

"Add a little more troops, draw 200 transport planes and the 1st Airborne Division."

"As you wish, Führer."