On the evening of April 30, 1943, when the main fleet led by Horikichi to complete the Panama campaign was about to enter the port of Sangra Sangra, Tsukahara 243 led the mobile fleet to quietly touch a place less than 700 kilometers from New York. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

After crossing the Puerto Rican Channel and bypassing the Bermuda air defense circle, the mobile fleet made a stealthy march all the way, and finally arrived at the starting point that Tsukahara hoped to arrive at without danger. Tsukahara did not participate in the Pearl Harbor attack, but Pearl Harbor veterans, including Minoru Genda and Mitsuo Fuchida, said that this voyage was far easier and simpler than the last one, and there were not even any merchant ships to be seen on the traditional routes.

In fact, everyone did not realize that after the German occupation of the Azores, the balance of power in the Atlantic Ocean was greatly changed, posing a huge threat to the Anglo-American sea route, not only did no ship dare to enter within the 800-kilometer air defense circle of the Azores, but even the Central Atlantic route was almost completely cut off.

There were merchant ships that were lucky, relying on the cover of escort warships and their own speed, so they planned to pass more than 1,000 kilometers from the Azores, but they were ruthlessly attacked by joint attack aircraft, and after the Germans built large airfields and bases on the islands, the traditional Atlantic route was even more threatened - because of the deployment of Ju-290C on the island.

This large four-engine patrol aircraft is the upgraded equipment of the "Atlantic Condor" FW-200C, which is faster (maximum speed 440 km / h), longer range (more than 6000 km), and can completely cover the sea area around the Azores within 1000 nautical miles. Compared to the headless flies in the past, I don't know where Gao Ming is. According to Dönitz's idea, if a carrier squadron could be stationed near Angra Sangra Heroísmo, there would be almost no chance that the merchant fleet would be able to escape the pursuit -- this is also the essence of the joint operation of the Navy's five-in-one strike force, which Hoffman has always emphasized.

With the JU-290C as a monitoring post, the process of breaking diplomatic relations with the German army was greatly simplified and the efficiency was doubled, and the American merchant fleet was forced to have no choice but to take a winding sea route - first along the east coast of the United States, to the vicinity of Prince Edward Island, Canada, then turned west, crossed the Gulf of St. Lawrence from the waterway behind Newfoundland Island, and then headed for Greenland, and then took the North Atlantic route to the United Kingdom to unload cargo, the overall distance was more than 4,500 nautical miles, a quarter of the distance farther than the original distance. It also has to deal with the windy North Atlantic climate. As a result, the Central Atlantic route, which was originally densely populated with merchant ships and frequent traffic, became deserted, and finally facilitated the assault of the mobile fleet.

"Sir, we have received a long telegram from Berlin, but the telegram is strangely signed, not from the German High Command, but in the name of Minister Speer, who, from the point of view of an architect, tells us what New York is worth bombing and which he thinks is easy to grasp."

Tsukahara smiled slightly: "The Germans guessed? ”

"That name sounds familiar, architect?" Minoru Genda raised his head in confusion, "He's not from a military background?" ”

"He was the Minister of Armaments of the Third Reich, the Führer's most trusted cabinet minister, but he used to be an architect."

Minoru Genda sighed repeatedly: "Even architects in Germany can dictate military operations now?" ”

Kusaka Ryunosuke shook his head: "This is not an ordinary architect, he controls the production of armaments throughout Germany, and is known as the head of the economy. Under his management, the arms production of the Third Reich more than doubled after the general mobilization, and Governor Hori Tsukichi held him in high esteem, believing that Japan lacked such a soul figure, so that the economy and production were in a mess -- the Minister of Finance did not deserve to be a student of him, but he still thought very highly of himself and was arrogant. ”

"Hey...... Don't mention it. He took this opportunity to go to Germany to visit the production of military enterprises, and he only drooled when he looked at the planes, tanks, and trucks that came off the assembly line, and thought of those domestic industrial giants.

While the upper echelons were chatting, the pilots on deck also gathered intently to read the information.

"New York travel brochure?" A veteran pilot was stunned on the spot, turned his head and asked Mitsuo Fuchida, "Is this thing wrong?" We're going to bomb New York, what does it mean to give a tourist brochure? ”

Mitsuo Fuchida laughed wickedly on the spot: "Of course it's not wrong!" The tourist brochure has a map on it, which is clearly marked, and there are all kinds of pictures in it, all of New York's most famous landmarks, and the chief is afraid that you will recognize the wrong target! ”

"Okay, let's take a good look then." The crowd cheered.

The leader of a HE-218 formation, Jun Cao, immediately shouted: "The Statue of Liberty is the target of our group, don't grab it!" ”

"We want the Empire State Building!"

"We want Rockefeller Center in formation!"

"I'm going to blow up Long Island with incendiary bombs, it's full of big capitalists!"

Just when the bomber pilots were happily competing for the assigned targets, Mitsuo Fuchida approached Shigeharu Murata: "The commander has a special explanation, and you will be asked to pick six pilots with the best skills to hang torpedoes and attack." ”

"Torpedo?" Shigeharu Murata thought he had misheard, "Didn't you say to bomb New York?" Isn't it a heavy bomb with 800 kg? ”

"It's not." Mitsuo Fuchida pointed to the tourist map and said, "There is a bridge on the East River in New York called the Brooklyn Bridge, and Minister Speer pointed out that there is a bridge pier not far from the main channel of the river, the water depth is nearly 30 meters, and the bridge deck is about 40 meters from the water......

Murata Shigeharu knew that this matter was risky, otherwise Mitsuo Fuchida would not have asked to pick the most skilled pilot by name, he looked at the atlas carefully, closed his eyes and thought silently for a while before saying, "Okay, I'll complete this task." ”

"Stay safe and be careful!"

"No problem, don't worry."

At 9 p.m., the mobile fleet began to gallop westward at a speed of 24 knots, ready to risk closing the distance to about 400 kilometers...... (To be continued.) )