When the U.S. and Japanese fleets were fighting white-hot, a white-hot war on a larger scale was staged in Europe. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

At 5:20 a.m. Reykjavik time, the German fleet dispatched more than 200 planes to attack Iceland again, bombing the planes and airport facilities that the US military had managed to clear out at night into ruins again, and more than 20 US fighters that had taken to the air to resist were torn to pieces by German escort fighters. Before the battle was fought, Smith had lost almost all of his combat planes -- only six planes remained intact, and the aviation facilities were so badly damaged that only a few dozen of them could be kept undiscovered and restored through emergency repairs.

After hearing the news, London had to temporarily change the battle plan, Pound originally dispatched 300 fighters as promised to go to Iceland for reinforcements, the Royal Navy in addition to the short-legged Spitfire, Sea Spitfire and the introduction of American fighters, in the past two years has also made several kinds of cutting-edge fighters, the performance is good, the range is also large, such as fireflies, storms are in this list, especially fireflies can not only be on the ship but also act as an all-rounder, the British side believes that it is stronger than the American F6F, is the main aircraft carrier aircraft scheduled to be the main aircraft carrier, It's a pity that now there is not a single aircraft carrier that can be carried, so we can only intensify training on land.

The Storm fighter using the saber engine is improved on the basis of the Typhoon fighter-bomber, which was originally intended to improve the high-altitude and high-speed performance and range of the Spitfire, and the German development of the Ta-152 is basically the same idea, with a maximum speed of nearly 700 km / h, and the development process is similar, but it cannot be equipped in large quantities because of the limited input of materials.

If we make a fair evaluation, these kinds of aircraft are stronger than the same type of American aircraft, and compared with their German counterparts, the British Empire still has a foundation in the field of aviation, but it is nothing more than because of the restrictions of various factors such as raw materials and fuel, which make it difficult for all kinds of new equipment. In Hoffman's mind, in addition to the Merlin engine, there are a lot of good things hidden behind the British aviation industry: Fury (sea rage), sea fangs, Griffin (griffin) engines, etc., are all good things, but Germany does not seem to have much technical reserves in the field of propeller fighters after the Do-412, Ta-152 and Bf-319 are now created.

But the Americans don't think the British are how, they still just toss the P-47\P-51, and shamelessly always use the 12.7mm heirloom that has not changed for thousands of years, and don't see the British find a way to change their Sispanor cannons as soon as they get their hands?

Of course, Pound still has reservations, he will not take out the most valuable carrier-based aircraft pilots for consumption, and the troops are all naval land-based fighters. It was when the Americans pressed Britain to provide 100 carrier-based aircraft pilots, but he refused to take out the hole cards in his hand, and vigorously declared that there was no, and even if he had, he would leave it to two armored aircraft carriers! Even Churchill didn't have a problem with him, and finally forcibly transferred 100 pilots from the Royal Air Force to deal with the Americans, and this incident caused a lot of trouble in the Royal Air Force to this day, but Pound also had his own statement: The Navy gave the most valuable fleet, shipbuilders and technicians to the Americans, what else do you want? The old marshal had a bad temper and had a high degree of internal support for him.

This statement has also been supported by a large number of parliamentarians, the British Empire has always been the first navy, the world's status is all played by the navy, pro-naval parliamentarians are much more than pro-air force parliamentarians, and the army with the largest number of members has little right to speak, when competing for budget and resources, the army congressmen dare to say a few more words, and the navy parliamentarians immediately retorted: "Who rescued you when you were surrounded in Dunkirk?" ”

Therefore, after hearing that the navy promised to provide 300 planes to support and agreed to hand over 20,000 tons of aviation fuel to the air force, the navy and air force did their best to release their previous suspicions, and last night Pottel prepared more than 1,600 planes of various types in one go, intending to make up the scale of 2,000 planes to carry out coordinated operations. The tactics are all disrupted.

"No, let the pilot go to Iceland for a forced landing or parachute jump." "Air supremacy is the key to containing the German offensive, and attacking the landing fleet is the key to whether or not Iceland can be held in the end—as long as the Germans land successfully, there will be no further fighting." ”

As soon as this sentence came out, the faces of the two changed greatly, this is equivalent to treating the plane as a one-time consumable, and the plane is still there, but the pilot's inability to come back means that there will be fewer and fewer planes that can be dispatched in the next few days, and this kind of long-distance attack is very dependent on the quality and experience of the pilot, and it is not a casual recruit who can go into battle.

"Okay." Pound gritted his teeth and said, "The navy 300 planes are still photographed, whether it is a parachute jump or a forced landing, I admit it." Offered in 2 days, but no more! ”

"With this tactic, the Air Force can only send 500 planes, and the rest must be kept for local air defense, what if the Germans go to Ireland or land on the mainland?" "Iceland is important, but no matter how important it is, it is not a native ......"

After 6 o'clock, the mosquito reconnaissance plane that served as the pilot reconnaissance mission took off first, and the large group of the Royal Air Force also began to take off in the early stage, in order to deal with the landing battle in Iceland, the air force took out all the guys at the bottom of the box, all kinds of B-17 \ B-29 \ Halifax \ Lancaster \ P-47 \ P-51 \ B-24 \ B-25 \ Blenheim \ handsome soldiers poured out of the nest, with the intention of cutting down the German fleet with great momentum.

But trouble soon came, and before 7 o'clock, before the reconnaissance planes had returned to the distance position of the German fleet, the radar station indicated that a large number of German planes were crossing the strait.

"How large?"

"300 in the direction of France, 500 in the direction of Belgium, 400 in the direction of the Netherlands, judging by the speed, at least 400 jets......" This side has just finished reporting, and the phone is ringing again, it is the news reported by the radar station on the front line in Aberdeen, Scotland, "The Norwegian Luftwaffe has invaded ......"

"How many planes?" Potter asked, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

"More than 600 of them, very fast, some of them are jets......"

The scale of 1,800 planes had already been reached, and several military commanders glanced at each other and quickly made a decision: all the fighters took off to intercept them, and the attack planes then took off to attack in the direction of Iceland, waiting for the correction of the direction halfway.

Hoffmann, who is the commander-in-chief of the Air Force, also listened to Jeshunek's report at the Supreme Command: "Today, the Norwegian Air Force (5th Air Force) made a total of 2 sorties, mobilized more than 1,200 aircraft, and is expected to make 2,000 sorties; The Imperial Air Force (mainland) made a total of 2 sorties, mobilizing more than 1,300 aircraft and making 2,200 sorties; The Western European Air Force (3rd and 5th Air Forces) made a total of 3 sorties, mobilizing more than 1,700 aircraft and making 4,000 sorties; At the same time, the Southern Air Force (2nd Air Force) and the Italian Air Force are also used as reserve forces, with more than 1,000 reserve aircraft, which can dispatch one wave in case of emergency. ”

"Are you sure?" Hoffman asked uneasily.

"It will be difficult to completely suppress the British Air Force, but I think it is quite certain to contain it and prevent the other side from attacking the fleet on a large scale."

After the adjustment of the general mobilization system, according to the deployment of Marshal Kesselring, first deputy commander of the Air Force, the Air Force was divided into three theaters (the Eastern Front, the Western Front, and the Southern Front), and the mainland was under the unified management of the Western Front as a second-level independent defense zone, and the establishment of six air units was adjusted and expanded to 10 air units.

Field Marshal Kesselring was appointed Commander of the Joint Mediterranean-African Theater of Operations (with a focus on German East and West Africa and Madagascar) and was also in charge of the 2nd and 12th Air Forces; After Field Marshal Bock became the commander of the Indo-Middle East Joint Theater of Operations (covering Turkey), the Führer's Austrian compatriot, General Alexander Lehr, was in charge of the commander of the 10th Air Force under his command and acted as the theater commander during Marshal Bock's "recuperation".

The North Atlantic-Western European Joint Theater (including France, Spain, Portugal, and the Azores), where Marshal Rundstead was the commander, is the top priority of the Air Force on the Western Front, with a total of 4 air forces, and the former Air Force Commander of the Western Front, Jürgen-Stumpf, is in charge of the 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 11th Air Forces, of which the 3rd Air Force is mainly in the French direction, the 5th Air Force is on the Netherlands and Belgium front, the 8th Air Force is on the Portuguese front, and the 11th Air Force is mainly in the Azores, Cape Verde and the Canary Islands. Due to the special importance of the position of the 11th Air Force, Hoffman personally assigned the responsibility of Air Force General Günther Corten (this old man was historically the chief of the Air Staff and was killed in the 720 incident for the Führer to block a bomb).

Originally, Western Europe also included the 9th Air Force, which was stationed in the direction of Norway in Northern Europe, but at the very moment of the British landing campaign, the 9th Air Force and the Imperial Air Force were placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Supreme High Command, and the Air Force was under the command of Alfred Kohler, and the Imperial Air Force and the attached training air force were under the command of Jeshunek.

The Eastern European Theater of Operations, of which Marshal Blomburg was commander, and the Eastern Joint Theater Air Force, of which Marshal Manstein was commander, were both under the responsibility of Graeme, former commander-in-chief of the Air Force of the Eastern Front. Due to the exploits of the past few years, Admiral Graeme of the Air Force, Admiral Moder of the Army, and Admiral Machar of the Navy were promoted to marshal in the same batch, and the promotion order was officially issued, but the official promotion ceremony was postponed to the end of June due to the fierce preparations for the war. Field Marshal Graeme was in charge of the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, and 10th air forces, a total of 6 air forces, accounting for half of the air force of the Third Reich. Of these, with the exception of the 7th Air Force, which served as a reserve on the Eastern European front, the remaining 5 all fought on the Eastern Front.