There is a conclusion that everyone agrees on first: if Rio Grande do Sul really has only this number of troops, it will be easy to take it, and even Rommel will not need to appear at all, and any division commander will be settled. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoThe key issue is how to withstand the subsequent counterattack of the Brazilian army and the US army, because limited to the transport force, the first wave of the attack can only go up to 1 division and 1 brigade, even if you add the Marine Brigade already in Argentina, that is, 1 division and 2 brigades, not counting the strength of the US army in the mainland and Central America, the US army has 3 divisions in Brazil alone, plus Brazil has more than 200,000 troops, and the balance of forces is still relatively large. If Argentina and Uruguay do not fight directly, even if they lean towards the Germans and provide some logistical support, the pressure on the first troops will still be high.

But Rommel carefully looked at the map and thought that this battle was fought, the terrain of that place was too good, the west and north were plateaus and hills, and the infantry could pass, but the mechanized troops had trouble to move, the east was the sea, and only the south bordering Uruguay was a plain. In other words, if Britain and the United States wanted to rely on their superiority in troops, they could either attack from the sea, or they could only use Uruguay - which would be tantamount to forcing Uruguay and the Argentines to side with Germany, or they could only use mountain infantry. The southern part of the state is a plain again, and the mountain infantry is equivalent to sending food to the German armored divisions, not to mention 1-2, even 5-6 mountain divisions can be swept away by armored divisions.

Moreover, Rommel believed that there was a home advantage in local warfare - 60% of the German or Italian population had their own home aura, and with the assistance of local national social forces, he believed that 2-3 thousand adult men would not be a problem, and that a little concurrent weapons training would be a good reserve and logistics team, and the worst could ensure that there would be no annoying security war.

He even took the initiative to ask: "Führer, if you give me 1 armored division and 1 marine brigade, I can assure you that even if the enemy overwhelms all the Brazilian forces (60,000 US troops + 200,000 Brazilian troops), I will hold out until the second batch of reinforcements arrives!" ”

Hoffman smiled, "Erwin, you don't understand what I mean. There are people fighting in Brazil, and I just need you to show your face and borrow your name; Iceland still has to be fought by you, but for now, you'll have to put someone else's name on it. ”

"This ......" Rommel was confused, what did the Führer mean by this move? Random names are a little unbearable for German soldiers who regard honor as their life.

"You are the best amphibious landing commander in the Empire, and the enemy knows it." Hoffman nodded, "Do you remember the time I asked you to host an American?" ”

"Joseph Kennedy?" Rommel blurted out, and then laughed after he figured it out himself, "Führer, I understand, I understand." ”

Everyone present knew that the US envoy had been allowed to visit the SEAL Group training, and that Keitel, Yodl, and others had privately complained that the Führer should not have released the news, but now it seems that this is really a good move -- the Führer has played all the tricks of the real and the false.

"This time you have to work harder: first go to Brazil with the troops and land, meet with the local German leaders, boost morale, and show solidarity with the Germans in Brazil; Then go to Argentina and Uruguay to meet with the leaders of the two countries, show up, meet the next report, unite the allies, and then return as quickly as possible on a naval warship. ”

"Got it! We're here to help. ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, do you now think that the plan of action for sending one armored division and one brigade to Brazil can be implemented?" Hoffman smiled, "Now that the enemy has only one aircraft carrier in the South Atlantic, do you still think it is difficult to let the guerrilla fleet cover the landing in Brazil and pick up Admiral Cranke and his fleet to return home by the way?" ”

Dönitz calculated for a while, and there was basically no problem in terms of troops: in terms of capacity, more than 100 ships were captured in the last Newfoundland campaign, and this time Crank brought nearly 40 ships, and it was a big deal to go to Brazil, which could be drawn at any time; In terms of troops, the naval guerrilla fleet has two aircraft carriers, the Jean-Bar and the King, and two battleships, the Richelieu and the Scharnhorst, which are also not weak. What's more, in order to carry out the landing battle in Iceland this time, the navy also mobilized four Rhine-class escort aircraft carriers, which were more than enough to deal with the US South Atlantic detachment with only one aircraft carrier and one battleship -- no one knew that Spruance's fleet was about to leave for India.

The Rheinland-class was developed by Hoffmann according to the experience of using American escort aircraft carriers and the increasing needs of the axis control sea area, the main hull is the same as that of the Will wheel, but the power is not the 9,500 horsepower diesel engine used in the Will wheel, but is replaced by a steam turbine with nearly 14,000 horsepower, the maximum speed can reach 21 knots, the flight deck length is 142 meters, and it can take off and land all kinds of carrier-based fighters and light-loaded attack aircraft (no more than 250 kg of bombs). If it is equipped with a combination of Bf-219C and He-218, the overall carrier capacity is 32 commonly used + 4 spare, such as the combination of Do-412 and Ju-198, the carrier capacity is 30 commonly used + 4 spare (all folding wings), the maximum range of 9,400 nautical miles at 18 knots economic speed, and the full load displacement is more than 12,000 tons.

The overall combat effectiveness of the ship is stronger than that of the American Borg-class, and it has its own advantages with the Casablanca class -- the Rhein-class class has a high cost (the wheel of will itself is more expensive than the victory wheel), is fast, carries more aircraft, has slightly stronger defense, and the length and width of the flight deck exceed the benchmark; The Casablanca class has a long range, low cost, and a slightly smaller carrier capacity (28 aircraft).

However, if you compare the speed of construction (the Casablanca-class completes one ship in an average of 15 weeks), the Rhein-class is much slower, taking 6 months to retrofit the basic hull and about 220 days to start construction from scratch. The Germans did not build the first ship until September 1943, and only completed a total of 4 ships by the end of that year, but Speer's promised goal of 12 ships per year was basically well advanced (the Casablanca class in the United States required 40 ships to be completed in a year, and more than 50 ships were actually expected to be completed).

Second-rate European maritime countries (referring to Spain, Portugal, Greece, Belgium) and other countries have first accumulated experience through the construction of the Rhine class and then learned to build the Axis class, as for Italy, France, and the Netherlands, they have now directly started to build the Axis class.

Of course, the strength of the army is also readily available, and the SEAL Army, which has been trained in professional amphibious landing operations, is stockpiling in Italian ports to prepare for embarkation, and now the order is given that boarding can begin in ten minutes.

Everyone talked about it, and found that although there was no clear and complete plan for Raider Brazil, there were no unforeseen major risks. Keitel now changed his position and came out to agree with Hoffmann's proposition: "The Führer is extremely considerate, the situation of war is changing rapidly, and the opportunity must be seized immediately, how can he be stuck in wasting time without a complete plan?" It is not that there is no time to draw up a more detailed plan for the sea voyage, and besides, I believe that if Marshal Rommel goes out in person, he will definitely succeed! ”

The others really couldn't pick out any opinions, and finally agreed with them one by one. Rommel ordered the troops of the Flying Fortress Panzer Division and the Navy's Ceylon Brigade to take them on a mission to attack Brazil, and the Chief of the Air Staff, Admiral Jeshunek, promised to send a wing to cooperate with the mission. At 4 o'clock, the battle order was issued on time, and the army began to board the ships -- for the sake of secrecy, they only knew that they were going to fight a landing battle, but they did not know where it was, and it was estimated that no one would have guessed that they were going to Brazil, which was a long way away.

Hoffman smiled and concluded: "Actually, when I look at the current position of the American fleet, I think of the situation in the Ferghana Basin -- it seems to be very safe, but in fact the enemy only needs to block the mouth, and it will not be possible to get out at all without a little effort, it is nothing more than that Schellner is blocked in Central Asia, and we are blocking the Americans in the North Atlantic." If you think about it, isn't this just an existing fleet? We've been playing this game 30 years ago......"

Everyone laughed, thinking the metaphor was too graphic.

After the meeting was dismissed, Hoffmann first returned to the Chancellery to deal with other official business, except for Rommel who hurried to Italy to meet with the staff team to explain the situation, and the others continued to implement the meeting arrangements and battle plans -- it would take several days to complete the boarding of the ship, and there was still a little time to draw up an urgent strategy. Several admirals in their fifties and sixties took advantage of the absence of the Führer to be "rampant" and leaned back with laughter -- there is a fleet! This name is enjoyable to hear, and the British Empire actually has today!

Although it was decided that the South American attack would be launched, in order to confuse the enemy, the air raids against Britain would naturally continue, but the pace was slowed down. The first Battle of Britain lasted half a year, and this time the attack intensity in the first week alone exceeded the last three months, and I had to give Qiu Fat a breather, didn't he?

Beginning on 11 April, although the German army still maintained a high frequency of sorties, the pace slowed down significantly compared to the first stage of the storms, at least the thousand-plane bombing was gone, and the high-flying jet lightning bombardment was also reduced -- many aircraft engines had reached the point of life and needed to be refurbished.

The British, who clearly felt the slowing down of the tempo, adapted to it very quickly, believing that the German air raids, though far more violent than they had been during the First Battle of Britain, were not incapacitable. In particular, the powerful and breathtaking rocket only appeared on the first day and then never appeared, and it seems that Prime Minister Churchill also had a point in saying that there are not many such advanced weapons in Germany, which are only used to scare people, and there is hope if they stick to it. The rapid arrival of the fleet led by Nimitz also reassured the cabinet, and it seems that the Americans are sincere in their assistance to us, and with this strong backing, everyone will feel a lot more at ease.

The public opinion, which had been noisy, began to settle down in a tame manner, and the army seized the opportunity to rest and repair the facilities - the airfields, aircraft manufacturing companies, and air defense facilities in the south were so badly damaged that they urgently needed to be rectified.

Time flies, and days pass in the blink of an eye......