Because Stalin's policy of "refugees on behalf of soldiers" forced Hoffman to scramble, the scheduled summoning of Machar on the evening of July 16 was postponed by two days, and it was not until the evening of July 18 that Hoffman had the opportunity to summon the main officers of the operation. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"I have read the full report on the results of the interrogation of the captured British civilians, and I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions?"

"First of all, we can be sure that the United States has launched a huge shipbuilding program at home, and there is no shortage of resources, slipways, and funds, but there is a lack of enough shipbuilders, which is a prerequisite for Britain to arrange the immigration of ordinary workers." Mashal paused and said, "We have also found that many dignitaries and nobles have moved to the New World under this name, which also shows that the confidence of the Churchill government has been shaken, and they may have the idea of going to Canada to establish a government-in-exile. ”

"This shows that our blockade strategy is effective, and Churchill is overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of tons of oil transportation every month......," Hoffman said with a smile, "We can't make the Americans too comfortable, let alone let them hide at home and build warships, we have to lure them out to fight, you know the meaning and importance of this operation, right?" ”

"Yes, Führer, I understand perfectly."

Hoffman turned to Ozawa and said, "General Horikichi is fighting very well in India, and if we open up a battlefield in South America, it will be very beneficial to support and help him." ”

"Thank you! I will do my best! ”

"That's good, be careful all the way! Although I am also the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, I cannot go to Italy to see you off. The Ministry of Armaments has also prepared some new gadgets that the fleet may need at that time. However, the smile on Hoffmann's face slowly faded as he said the next sentence, "Before you go, visit Field Marshal Richthofen, he is sick." ”

Marchar and the others were taken aback, they knew that Richthofen was actually just to make room for Ozawa under the pretext of illness, and later after Marshal Raeder retired, this strategy was actually unnecessary, but they didn't expect him to be really sick this time, and it sounded like he was not lightly ill from the Führer's tone.

"Serious?" Mashal subconsciously asked, "I remember the last time he came back from Socotra, he was still in good spirits. ”

Hoffman nodded and pointed to his head: "It was very sudden, the doctor found that he had cancer here, and it was very difficult to surgically treat, so he could only take conservative treatment at present......"

In real history, Richthofen was only diagnosed with brain cancer in 1944, and although it was discovered a year earlier, it was basically useless for the medical technology of the 40s. Richthofen usually doesn't see any problems, and behaves like an ordinary person, but only he knows that the interval between the onset of symptoms such as headache and dizziness is getting closer and closer, and the duration and course of the attack are becoming more and more painful.

Everyone is very grateful to Richthofen, and it is because of his efforts that HNA has grown from scratch and from small to large. The next day, they saw Richthofen in the hospital, who was being treated, and although he looked like an ordinary person, Mashal and the others clearly felt that he was a lot haggard and a little lacking in energy.

"I'm relieved to hear that you're playing well in the North Atlantic, and that Churchill is ready to run away to Canada." Richthofen said regretfully, "I was actually very interested in this operation and wanted to go, but the doctors stopped me, and the Führer did not agree, ha...... They didn't know that I was actually in good health, even if I was flying into the sky now. ”

Looking at the marshal who was still holding on, everyone felt sad in their hearts, and Ozawa's feeling was the deepest.

"Okay, okay, you're glad to see me, I'm not going to Italy to see you off......"

Masal and Ozawa and others left the ward with a heavy heart, and they privately asked the doctor that if the marshal recuperated properly, the life expectancy of the marshal would be about 2-3 years, and if the situation worsened, it might be only 1-2 years.

In addition to a bunch of medals and promotion orders, the top echelons of the fleet who returned from Berlin also brought back new types of aircraft, which were what the Führer called new gadgets, including the newly developed AR-352 carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft. Don't look at the AR-352 is smaller than the AR-372 in terms of model numbers, but these are actually two different models, AR-272, AR-372 is a water reconnaissance aircraft in the same vein, while AR-352 is an out-and-out carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft.

Aladao company than the Dornier company that wants to break the big news is really much, there is no high ambition to use 901 on the new model, directly is to start 801, and reserved the interface to install MW-50 system, while leaving room in the system design, in case of the future replacement of 901 engine, can be more convenient to transform. After several months of verification flights, prototype manufacturing, the whole process was very smooth and completed in one go.

AR-352 flew out of a speed of 637 kilometers per hour without drugs in the test flight, and can continue to fly at a maximum speed of 15 minutes after taking drugs, with a speed of up to 671 kilometers, which seems to be average, but considering that this is a 3-seat reconnaissance aircraft, and according to the size of the Germans, it is slightly enlarged compared to the original version of the Japanese Saiyun, which is very commendable. It has been verified internally, at an altitude of 4000 meters, except for the ME-262, other active fighters can't catch up with Caiyun at equal altitudes, and even the drugged FW-190A8 can only barely follow behind to eat ashes, and once Caiyun starts the drug mode, it will disappear from the sight of the fighter pilot in a few minutes.

What is even more rare is that Caiyun not only flies fast, but also has a huge range, more than 5,000 kilometers as a whole, and if it is deployed on the Azores and with auxiliary fuel tanks, the southern part of Britain and the Canadian island of Newfoundland are all within the reconnaissance coverage, which makes everyone overjoyed -- this range is much longer than the range of the most bullish joint attack aircraft at present, and it is almost catching up with four professional patrol planes.

The overjoyed Admiralty sent a letter of inquiry to the company asking if it could be converted into a torpedo attack aircraft, and Aladao's reply was more encouraging than expected: work on improving the model of the torpedo machine is currently under way and is expected to be completed in December.

In addition to the all-new AR-352, the fleet received two mid-term modifications of two other aircraft: the BF-219C and the HE-218D. (To be continued.) )