Ingersoll knew that Turner would definitely not let the sailors land, and even if the sailors were willing, he would not do so, and in a face-to-face battle with the ground forces, let alone the navy, even the US Army was not sure to defeat their German counterparts; Theoretically, starting from the east coast, the 1,000-kilometer sea route is almost a three-day voyage, and now the fleet will arrive in Bermuda in three days, but in view of the speed of the landing force's assembly and loading, the landing may not be able to be achieved in a week. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

So he could only listen to Turner's tricks - although the chief of staff's strategy was often imaginative, he had to admit that there was still a little way.

"Landing doesn't have to be done with ships or marines...... "Turner pointed to the ceiling of the conning tower, "and it can also be done from the air." ”

Ingersoll moved: "In the air? You say the use of airborne troops? ”

Turner nodded: "The 82nd Airborne Division was originally the second batch of troops to fight in South America, and it has basically been assembled, and it is certain that it will be dispatched within 24 hours, Bermuda is not far from the mainland, and a large number of transport planes can be used to transport them to the main island to land, and this has always been the territory under our control, and the country must have complete information about the terrain, climate, wind direction, etc., and the current weather is so-so, and the difficulty of airborne landing will not be too great." ”

"The airborne landing itself may not be very difficult, but how can you cover them?" Ingersoll's mind was opened to Turner's initial belief that this was a good idea and that it was possible to win the landing battle, provided that the airborne forces could gain firepower superiority - if the airborne troops did come out within 24 hours, the fleet would not be able to rush to cover.

"You can't use the fleet as cover, that would fall into the trap of the enemy, you think about it, once the fleet appears near the island, the enemy's aircraft carrier aircraft will soon be able to pounce, it is very dangerous for us, and other means of cover must be used."

"Other means?" Ingersoll asked inexplicably, "For example?" ”

"Air cover, the P51 is a very good ground attack aircraft, and it has a long stay in the air."

"Didn't the Army say that it could only stay over Bermuda for about 10 minutes?"

"That's because it's going to be back, and if it doesn't, the P51 will be able to stay in the air on the island for at least two hours." Turner made a suggestion, "Let the pilot parachute when the fuel runs out, anyway, there are airborne troops on the ground to pick up, they don't take prisoners so quickly, isn't it the loss point P51, we can drop a batch of P51 every 2 hours, and then cooperate with other light bombers, so that we can form a continuous air cover fire network on the island, I believe Boeing or other companies must be happy that someone will place an order for them." ”

"It's a crazy idea, but I agree to send a telegram to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Admiral Kim at once." Ingersoll shrugged, he was not stupid, he immediately understood the essence of Turner, this chief of staff is indeed a bit crazy, but the idea is quite reliable, so that the Germans will be very uncomfortable - Bermuda airport is not available at all now, if the Germans want to fight for air supremacy, they must send valuable carrier-based aircraft to engage the US Army Aviation, no matter how much they lose, it will reduce the pressure of the next fleet engagement, even if the German carrier-based aircraft force can fight again, they cannot afford to fight with the Army Aviation.

At 2 o'clock in the morning, a rapid telephone rang to wake up Matthew Ridg, the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, who was asleep, and he picked up the phone very unhappily, and just said "Hey", a familiar voice came out of the receiver: "Matthew, I'm sorry to bother you at this time, but there is an unexpected situation that requires you to carry out the task immediately, are your people available?" ”

Hearing that it was Boss Marshall who called him personally, Li Qiwei was not angry at all, and replied respectfully: "You can go out at any time." ”

"Very well, inform your officers to gather the troops, you bring your main assistants and core staff to the Pentagon, the sooner the better, I hope to see you after dawn."

"Understood!"

At 5 o'clock in the morning, 15 minutes, Ridgway, who hurried from Norfolk, was fully armed, with two melon grenades around his neck, and swaggered into the Pentagon war room with his subordinates.

Admiral King was curious about Ridgway's arrival from Norfolk so soon to report, and he was still fully armed: "How did you get here?" ”

"Airborne to Washington." Li Qiwei replied.

Everyone gasped: this is also a crazy person, and it is a perfect match for Turner's strategy!

However, this routine was very appreciated by Admiral Jin, and he sighed sincerely: "Yes, very good, iron-blooded soldiers like you are needed at critical moments, how about it?" Is there any interest in coming to the development of the Navy? I'll give you command of an army of marines. ”

Hearing Admiral King digging up the foot of the wall in front of him, Marshall suddenly rolled his eyes and said angrily: "If the Marine Corps is so capable, why do you call my best airborne commander over?" ”

"Hah...... Hehe. ”

"It is the case that last night, in fact, just a few hours ago, German radio published a demagogic broadcast saying that Bermuda was under their control, and that it would use it as a fulcrum to attack the east coast, asking us to be 'prepared'......" Marshall accentuated the word "prepare," apparently extremely annoyed.

This was part of Machar's strategy, fearing that the American fleet would ignore Bermuda's loss and attack the Falklands single-mindedly, so he immediately followed Hori's approach and tried to put pressure on the American side - a democracy, the will of the people must not be violated. The problem was that Horiyoshi's reputation was loud, and Machar's reputation was not enough, so he sent a telegram to the country overnight asking for help, and the "Voice of Europe" immediately cooperated with the rolling broadcast:

"Warning U.S. citizens that our Axis Fleet occupies Bermuda, 1,000 kilometers off the east coast, and is about to launch a surprise attack on the east coast, please immediately move to a safe area 300 kilometers inland to avoid accidental injury to ......"

"I would like to inform all U.S. ships that our Axis Fleet is carrying out combat readiness patrols on the east coast of the United States, and all ships will be sunk as soon as they are discovered, and in order to ensure safety, please do not leave the port......

These two news reports, although it was late at night, were chaotic everywhere, and the members of Congress called the Joint Chiefs of Staff like a flood to ask for details, and the people called the newspaper offices, and then the streets were full of middle-class people who were rushing to flee by car...... It's still late at night, and who knows what will happen tomorrow during the day, and it's not long before the bombing of New York.

"No wonder I flew all the way to the car that wanted to drive west, and the lights ......of the car were still very clear at night," Li Qiwei replied casually.

"The situation is very bad, the population will be in chaos, we have to come up with a way, because the navy has at least three days to arrive, so the fleet has put forward a proposal that the airborne division can be dispatched today to seize Bermuda."

"Only us?"

"Yes, only you are the fastest and the most able to meet the requirements."

To tell the truth, Marshall was reluctant when Admiral King first came to negotiate Turner's proposal, he did not want to risk his ace division, but as soon as the "Voice of Europe" broadcast was released, the situation deteriorated greatly, and while he asked the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense to argue with the news media and appease people, on the other hand, he quickly made up his mind to adopt Turner's suggestion, and as for General Arnold's army aviation, it had already begun to prepare - didn't he just plan to lose more than 1,000 planes, nothing remarkable, that is, the production of the United States in a week!

"How many enemies are there?"

"About 1,000-2,000 people."

"When?"

"Is it okay to drop 1 group before 2 p.m. today?

"It's okay to be airborne, but can the Army cover us? I know the Navy can't catch up yet. Li Qiwei immediately grasped the key point.

"I will do my best to cover you, the army plane is not going to return, and the fuel is running out and parachuting on the spot, but the airborne division must help us protect the pilots and not let them fall into the hands of the German devils as prisoners."

"Yes, I'll do my best."

"The preliminary plan is as follows: The army aviation will dispatch around noon to clear the field and control a relatively safe landing ground for you, and then the airborne troops will land quickly, and a steady stream of planes will continue to cover until sunset, and you can only rely on yourself to hold on at night, and the army aviation will continue to send a second wave of covering planes to cover the landing of the second batch of airborne troops early tomorrow morning, and then you will find a way to control the whole island after the entire division has gone up." Eisenhower said embarrassedly, "The time is very urgent, there is no time to formulate a particularly perfect battle plan and details, and it is highly dependent on the ability of the commander, I wonder which officer can lead the first wave of airborne troops to land?" ”

"I decided to lead the team myself, sir, I have to go on such a big task myself."

"Matthew!" Marshall stood up and patted him on the shoulder, not worried about the 2 melon grenades at all, and said movingly, "It's all up to you, stay safe." ”

"I'll come back alive, I haven't landed in Europe yet, I can't die until then." Li Qiwei saluted and quickly took his leave.

Seeing Ridgway's departure, Marshall said with emotion: "It is a pity that there are too few such brave and steady senior officers in the United States troops. ”

"It's going to be more, isn't it?" Admiral Kim said with a smile, "This is the beginning of our counteroffensive, the fleet will arrive in three days, and the airborne division will not be left alone for too long." ”

As the sun rose on October 15, the German Marines on Bermuda were in full swing deploying anti-aircraft installations, and the main forces of the Axis Fleet, which had completed the unloading of supplies and refueling, had left the harbor for due north a few hours earlier, and they would later turn due east...... (To be continued.) )