In the past two days, the Nimitz fleet (TF46), which Hoffman jokingly called the existence fleet, and the main fleet of the Axis led by Ozawa have circled in the Atlantic, and after several days of high-intensity reconnaissance, they have become very familiar with each other's strength. www.biquge.info Of course, the German reconnaissance of the US military is an Ar-352 carrier-based reconnaissance plane, which is fast and flexible, and can retreat with all its body after reconnaissance; the US military reconnaissance of the German army relies on four heavy bombardments taken off from the airfield in Northern Ireland, or B-17 or B-29, and after the reconnaissance, each time it is beaten down by a number of Do-412s, and it becomes a one-time consumable, but no matter how big the loss is, Britain and the United States have to grit their teeth and stand up.

The main force on the Nimitz side is 3 Essex-class, 2 George V-class and 2 Iowa-class;

The main forces on Ozawa's side are Zeppelin, Dunkirk and Hyuga, which also have 3 aircraft carriers and 1 more battleship, 4 Italian Veneto class and 1 Tirpitz.

From the perspective of the comparison of the strength of the two sides, it is almost equal: Nimitz's aircraft carrier has more carrier-based aircraft, and Ozawa's carrier-based aircraft have strong capabilities; The battleship U.S. military suffered a little, but not to the point of disparity.

This formation should be a fight in the eyes of the staff officers, but whether it is Nimitz or Cunningham, every day is maneuvering, reconnaissance, and never mentioning a single type, which makes everyone feel very strange, and many people are speculating about the reason.

"Sir, do you think the Germans will come to Iceland?" Cunningham asked.

"Yes, I think this is the most likely target for the Germans." Nimitz then added, "Actually, I would have liked them to go to Ireland or simply land in Great Britain, which would have been more beneficial to us." ”

The faces of the British staff officers behind Cunningham suddenly changed drastically: What does Nimitz mean by this? Can't see Great Britain, right?

Who knew that Cunningham actually nodded: "I originally had this suspicion, but after listening to your analysis, I firmly made that judgment." ”

Hearing Cunningham say this, the staff officers were even more surprised, and finally someone had the audacity to stand up and ask the two commanders why they had such a judgment.

"In fact, it is very simple, if the German army wants to land, that is, the level of about 100,000, it will not exceed 150,000 at most. There are 3 million troops on the island of Britain, and 150,000 is not more than enough? Don't worry about it in Ireland, how close to Great Britain is, the Royal Air Force can play a huge advantage! Iceland alone, alas...... Without the assistance of the fleet in defense, it is estimated that 50,000 German troops would not be able to withstand the landing. ”

Everyone looked at each other, there were 80,000 Allied troops and more than 400 planes in Iceland, why were the commanders so pessimistic about the situation?

But for Nimitz and Cunningham, who had experienced the battles between Cape Verde and Newfoundland, this conclusion was completely out of public intentions: the 3rd and 5th Divisions of the US Army were all veteran troops, and they had been participating in war training all the time. It was not that Nimitz looked down on the army, but that there was now an unwritten consensus in the naval circles of the two countries -- excluding individual troops, the British, American, and Canadian armies needed at least 2.5 times the strength of the troops to withstand the German forces under the same conditions. Defy? Just ask the British troops in Bermuda, the Canadian troops in Newfoundland, and the American troops in Cape Verde and the African continent to know if you are convinced!

The armies of the three countries also know this evaluation, although they are full of righteous indignation, but no one dares to slap their faces with data and battle examples, after all, the exchange ratio of the war with Germany is really ugly, everyone used to laugh at Stalin's father was beaten by the Germans 1:5, 1:6, and now everyone's evaluation of the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army has begun to rise, because the Soviet army often plays this exchange ratio with the German army in a disadvantaged situation, and the British and American allies often have the advantage, but what about the battle loss ratio? It is also necessary to achieve exaggerated 1:3 and 1:2.5. That is to say, Li Qiwei led two airborne divisions to fight a record of 1:1.5, which is enough to brag about, but there are only two such airborne divisions in the United States! If it weren't for the planes to wash the floor, the US Army wouldn't have fought at all! Of course, the U.S. Army also ridiculed the Navy for not being able to beat the Japanese, and everyone was really each other in this regard.

As for TF46 not rushing over to fight, in fact, it is the same reason as Ozawa not rushing over to fight, and each side is worried about the other's land-based support.

"Sir, then we're going to spend it with the Germans?"

Nimitz said: "Don't worry, that is, these months have been hard, and when the new warship is commissioned in May, we will be able to slowly overwhelm the opponent in strength, and the Germans are not opponents in terms of shipbuilding!" ”

Cunningham shook his head: "I don't think it will be that long, in two weeks the Germans will be withdrawn." ”

"Retirement?" Nimitz was a little strange, and subconsciously asked, "How can you see it?" ”

"Because of those 4 Veneto-class." Cunningham said with a smile, "I used to serve in the Mediterranean for a long time, and I know best what the virtues of those Italian ships are, the guns are very fierce, and the defense is not bad, but it is a pity that Italy can use German planes, but the short-legged disease of Italian warships cannot be cured - at the most economical speed, its fuel can only maintain more than 4,000 nautical miles of maneuver, if it is a long-distance attack, it can also rely on oil tankers for replenishment, but now such a blockade and breaking mission, with oil tankers is a burden, and reconnaissance planes also report that no German oil tankers have been found, if there is any, I would have no hesitation in suggesting that long-range bombers go for the risk of bombing. ”

Nimitz chewed it carefully and thought that this was very true, although the battleship could no longer play a decisive role in the era of aircraft carriers, but it was more or less a powerful bodyguard, without 4 Veneto, the German fleet could not hold on and could only go to replenish, and then it was an opportunity.

He finally laughed—a smile he hadn't seen in days: "Very well, your judgment is too constructive, we should study how to seize this opportunity to fight." ”

Although Nimitz and Cunningham were very determined, but the cabinet did not dare to take it lightly during the war, although there were fewer planes, but the situation of the blockade of the British mainland did not change at all, many people hoped that Pound could come forward to urge the fleet to fight a war with the Germans, and it was not a way to dry up every day, not to mention anything else, the high-grade aviation fuel consumed by air defense fighters every day in the past two days was calculated in the thousand-ton class, and in order to save fuel, Great Britain obviously had a large number of Halifax and Lancaster four-engine bombers and did not dare to let go of it. You can only use some mosquitoes to go to Germany at night to retaliate.

In response to this urging, Nimitz patiently explained the reason, and Cunningham also sent a telegram to Pound to explain, trying to make the other party feel relieved and at the same time tell the other party the real situation: the current situation is clear, if the German army comes to attack the British and American fleet, they will be attacked by their own carrier-based aircraft and Icelandic land-based attack aircraft, but if Nimitz takes the initiative to attack the German fleet, he will be double-flanked in turn. Both of them knew the outcome of the South Atlantic Campaign, and it was completely worth the loss to fight the Germans without absolute superiority.

After receiving this telegram of explanation, the London side was indeed relieved, and if it was convinced that the German army would automatically withdraw after half a month, it did not matter whether it was fought or not. Brooke even thought that the Germans were messing around, and they didn't have a plan to solve the problem in a package at all, just thinking about where to fight, probably with the two new toys, the rocket and the jet, Hitler inevitably had to show off.

The thunder and rain of the German army and the small development of the situation seem to verify Churchill's judgment that "the Germans are bluffing", he has always believed that this fierce offensive is only part of the German army's political blackmail, is used to scare the cowards at home, when the parliament reported to the parliamentarians of the war bureau, Churchill, who is in his 70s, could not help but raise his arms and shout: "Hold on!" Just hold on! Keep it up! We will be able to win the second Battle of Britain! In the end, victory must belong to the brave and fearless Britons who persevered to the end! The parliamentarians stood up and applauded him as if their side had won the battle.

In addition to the Amazon plan, but in terms of the air attack on Britain, are the Germans messing around? On the surface, it seems to be so, but in fact the German army has successfully accomplished its goals: the destructive power of the V2, the hit rate, and the reliability of the railway mobile launch are clear at a glance, laying a solid foundation for subsequent development, at least the Ministry of Armaments is much more relaxed when it allocates funds. Hoffman never thought that he could conquer Great Britain with V2 alone, it was just a political intimidation, telling the British or the Americans that I have a lot of means to scare you to death. Perhaps this didn't work for Churchill, but others were scared to death, and Ribbentrop said that Edward VIII, the "black cat", was much more honest in the negotiations.

In Hoffman's words, it is not cost-effective to fight a war with the Americans, especially a war of attrition, and other effective deterrence methods must be used: an air raid on New York raised the air defense level of the east coast of the United States by several levels, and at least tens of billions of dollars were consumed; After fighting Newfoundland once, the Canadians trembled, and they had to find the Americans again to equip and demand air defense systems, which was also to bleed the Americans; To put 500 V2 rockets in London, Germany only spent 30 million more Reichsmarks, and the United States had to spend at least $3 billion to build it from scratch; Using jet bombers to bomb them is estimated to make the Americans waste a little more money in this regard, saving them from going to great lengths to engage in the "crooked ways" of heavy bombers -- jet lightning bombing, I can bomb you, you can't hit me is the king (note: hahaha); The last infrared radiation missiles and night-vision equipment also caused great difficulties to the US side, and it is estimated that there are headaches for them.

What's more, the air raid on London was to cover up the landing in Iceland, and since Iceland is temporarily impassable, then the Amazon plan will be implemented first - Germany has time to slowly open the gap.

On 16 April, when the time for the showdown finally came, Allied spies lurking in Portugal sent a telegram that the enemy's huge fleet had sailed out of the Strait of Gibraltar, apparently with four light aircraft carriers, more than 40 freighters, and a large number of auxiliary ships and torpedo boats, presumably landing forces.