"Why is there such a big loss?" Someone muttered discontentedly. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"Gentlemen, this result is okay, at least we only use 5 jeep aircraft carriers and more than 130 planes to exhaust Cape Verde's air power, and tomorrow we will bomb it for another day, and the day after tomorrow the ship will bombard it for a while, and the navy will wait to see the army successfully go ashore and capture prisoners."

"Okay, can the Navy blow up those 14-inch shore defense guns?"

"Can't!"

"Why?"

"Because the planes on the Jeep aircraft carrier can only carry 500 pounds of bombs at most, and they are not powerful enough to destroy those shore guns protected by heavy reinforced concrete.

Marshall nodded: "This has to trouble the navy, the threat of these giant cannons is too great, and at least half a company of the army will be reimbursed for one cannon." ”

"Isn't there any news from the German fleet yet?"

Admiral Kim shook his head in annoyance: "The Germans have become turtles with shrunken heads, that is, they do not move, and there is nothing they can do about it." ”

Since the Axis fleet has been hiding in the Azorean air defense protection circle, the US fleet does not dare to rush north, according to Turner's arrangement, tomorrow the fleets will continue to press forward, but Admiral Cunningham's aircraft carrier formation is still focused on the Axis fleet and properly cover the other fleets. The artillery fleet, the landing fleet moved forward in preparation for the landing, and the escort fleet continued to carry air strikes on Cape Verde, trying to clear the ground fortifications and defenses and create the conditions for the landing, although it was impossible to clear them completely.

Although Turner's temperament was a bit "wild," he was still quite cautious in fighting the war, and there were many methods, and now even if this combination punch could not deal with the German fleet, he could at least eat Cape Verde relatively safely -- this was also a great victory.

It is relatively easy to reach the opinion of the Cape Verdean side, but it is impossible to reach a consensus on what to do in the Falkland Islands when the Joint Chiefs of Staff study and dismiss the meeting: the navy believes that if the intelligence is true, it will definitely not be able to take it with its original strength, so it will either increase its troops or adjust its battle plan -- it is recommended that the ground forces first bulldoze Argentina; The Army believed that the ground forces were too slow, too costly, and too bad for the international impact to push South America, and demanded that the supply lines of the Falkland Islands be blocked as soon as possible before considering increasing forces to attack.

In the end, the two sides agreed that the second group of troops would arrive in Brazil by the end of November and be deployed as planned, that the third group of troops leaving for South America would include eight divisions, including at least two armored divisions, that the Navy would commit to sending two more fleet carriers and 10 escort carriers, and that the Army would commit all forces to be ready by December 15 -- this effectively overturned the binding requirement to launch the Falkland Offensive before Christmas, but now that the enemy situation has changed, they believe that they can get the president's understanding.

In addition, the two sides also agreed that in the eventful season of South America, the aid to Brazil should be increased, so that the Lend-Lease Act applies to Brazil, as long as the latter agrees to open more bases and areas to the United States, the US military should arm the Brazilian army as much as possible to maintain order in South America, and it is generally believed that although the enthusiastic and unrestrained characteristics of the Brazilian people are more suitable for performing circuses or playing football, it is still possible to arm 300,000-400,000 Brazilian troops, if there are 400,000 Brazilian soldiers plus 100,000 US Army towns, The situation in South America will be very different. The crowd also said that they would try their best to win over Chile, although the latter now plays Tai Chi every day without any truth, but those who have dealt with it believe that the Chilean army is much more reliable than the Brazilian army.

Both sides avoided talking about the opening of the Anglo-Canadian route -- the army and navy had already expressed their weary of the endless bottomless pit of Great Britain, and out of "political correctness" and in order to avoid extraneous complications, Admiral King pinched his nose and promised to give the soon-to-be-commissioned Hornet (Essex-class) to the British, in order to comfort the wounded hearts of the British.

These opinions were recorded one by one to form the minutes of the meeting to be presented to President Roosevelt, as the weather became colder, he had some physical problems, and he happened to be hospitalized in the hospital for the past two days and was again absent from the meeting, and all the senior generals had the same wish: to occupy Cape Verde as soon as possible and report the good news to the president! In any case, at present, the Anglo-Canadian route cannot be opened, and the Azores and the Falkland Islands cannot be won for a while, and if they do not get the results they can get their hands on, no one will be embarrassed to face the president.

However, they never expected that the remaining 9 escort aircraft carriers were expected to be missing 2 more after the meeting.

Under the cover of night, the German S-boat troops deployed in Cape Verde made a decisive attack, and 12 S-boats were like daggers directly into the US anchorage, although the US radar soldiers observed the traces of the S-boats on the radar screen, but the ripples reflected by these boats were too small, even the larger S-168 class used for offshore operations was inconspicuous on the vast sea, and often dodged in the waves, making people mistakenly think that it was a misstatement and did not pay attention to it. It was not until it approached about 10 km of the outer line of defense that it was spotted by vigilant destroyers and frigates.

The 168 class S boat is a new product developed in early 1943, which is the result of the comprehensive reinforcement of armor, range, speed and firepower on the basis of the S-100, with a tonnage of 168 tons, so it is called the S-168 class, with 3 new supercharged diesel engines developed by the MAN company, with a combined horsepower of 4800 horsepower, a maximum speed of 44 knots, and a maximum range of 850 nautical miles. The entire boat is equipped with a set of triple torpedo tubes and two quadruple 20mm high-level dual-purpose guns (the same type of equipment as the Tornado self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, one on the front and one on the front and one on the fore deck), in addition to sea detection radar and a complete radio system.

The original German torpedo boats were generally 533mm caliber, but after the successful production of G9 oxygen torpedoes, the new ones were all replaced with 610mm caliber. The new Class 168 is the result of the latest German industrial research, with sectional manufacturing, combined final assembly and rail transport, which can also be towed by large freighters, and can also be used as river fast cargo ships or ocean-going lifeboats after removing the torpedo tubes.

By October 43, more than 300 such speedboats had been built, which had adapted to the needs of the expansion of Germany's war range, and most of the S-boats were deployed on the islands of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the Azores, Cape Verde, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Socotra, Madagascar were deployed, and they were also common on the Eastern Front, the Northern Sea Route, the Black Sea Route were involved, and the Caspian Sea Route in the Central Asian Theater of Operations also began to be used in batches, and transportation, lightning strikes, anti-submarine, escort, rescue, anti-smuggling, and reconnaissance can do any work, It greatly compensated for the embarrassment of Germany in the field of destroyers and frigates. It is simply hopeless to fight the speed of destroyer construction with the United States, but if it is to build a speed of destroyers, Germany is not afraid. Except for the few diesel engines on the boat, the rest are all jointly produced in Europe, and even the Italians are effortless to make them.

The power of the S-boat is already powerful enough, and it is even more powerful with the G9 oxygen torpedo, which weighs 2.85 tons.

In the dark night, the S-boats ignored the artillery fire of the enemy destroyers, and continued to advance at a high speed of 44 knots, so fast that they could not even keep up with the firing speed of the US searchlights or flares, until they were close to the core of the US escort fleet and fired torpedoes at a distance of about 3,200 meters -- this was the G9 flying spear method practiced by the German Navy after obtaining the oxygen torpedoes, and 36 powerful G9 oxygen torpedoes with a caliber of 610 mm were fired in a semi-arc fan-shaped plane under the noses of the US officers and men. Like the assault knights who frantically threw throwing spears in front of the two armies in the Middle Ages. Then the boats turned around in a dashing manner, scattered and broke through, without checking the results - if the arrogant swordsman had drifted away after a peerless blow, at a speed of 44 knots, no one but the planes could catch up.

The U.S. military has been on guard against the surprise attack of German submarines at night, so the formation is relatively tight -- the loose formation is easy for the submarine to find an opportunity, but the tight formation is very fatal to the torpedo assault, and what is even worse is that the track of the oxygen torpedo is very inconspicuous except for the initial section, and it can only be seen at a very close range, and it is simply blind to clearly distinguish and evade it at night, and the destroyer is still so-so, and the Casablanca class has a speed of less than 19 knots, which is simply unavoidable.

At the top speed of the G9 torpedo of more than 50 knots, it only took more than two minutes to run 3,500 meters, and although the US military tried its best to dodge it, there was still an escort aircraft carrier in front of it that was hit by a mine, and after a loud "boom" sound, the G9 torpedo with a charge of more than 800 kilograms directly blew the crispy jeep aircraft carrier into two pieces and sank, and there was no chance of escape -- only 13 lucky people survived the entire warship in the end. Even more terrifying than the charge was the range of the G9 torpedo, with a range of more than 20,000 meters at a speed of more than 50 knots, and one torpedo penetrated the front layers of the front line, until it hit another escort aircraft carrier after 15 kilometers, and the result was naturally a thunderbolt.

The final result of the 36 torpedoes was the sinking of 2 escort carriers, 1 Atlanta-class light cruiser and 1 destroyer, which was slightly worse than the Japanese in the night battle of Tassafarunga, but it was also very satisfying, and what is even more incredible was that the Germans lost only 2 S-boats. Although the price of 36 G9 torpedoes is expensive, it is only a fraction of the sunken American ships.

Turner received a report on the results of the night battle early the next morning, and he was so angry that he almost spewed out a mouthful of old blood: half of the 14 escort aircraft carriers were lost before they could fight, although it was harmless, but after all, it was also a month's domestic production. In desperation, he could only give a death order, and today's air raids will carry out an all-out attack on Cape Verde's warehouses, docks, warships, and other key places...... (To be continued.) )