After a two-month absence, General Wolfgang von Richthofen returned to the Eastern Front, and his heart was in turmoil and he couldn't contain his excitement. It's only been two months, but it feels like two years have passed in his mind. Two months ago, due to Hoffmann's order, the air force veteran, who had played all the battles since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, stepped down from the post of commander of the Southern Air Force on the Eastern Front and became the commander of the German naval aviation and began to undertake the construction of the German naval aviation, and even the rank of air general was changed to admiral.

If it is peacetime, it is estimated that two months will only be enough for the bureaucrats to complete the handover procedures and farewell ceremonies, especially for the crucial transition from the Air Force to the Navy, which may be delayed for a long time. But this speed of war was obviously unsatisfactory, but no one could do it as perfectly as Richthofen, who in two months did three things that would have been admired by all:

First, a complete contingent of naval aviation was formed. Although Hoffmann promised a 400-man naval aviation force as soon as he opened his mouth, the navy had just been allowed to obtain resources from the air force to form an independent pilot corps, and Hoffman was writing a completely empty check, and it was the veteran Richthofen who used his charm and influence in the air force for many years to attract (and also openly rob or induce) a large number of air force pilots to become HNA pilots, and so far there are not only 316 front-line pilots with actual combat experience. A reserve contingent of nearly 500 people has also been formed, with the exception of a small number of reserve pilots who are junior rookies who have just completed theoretical studies independently recruited by the navy itself. The rest were students he had racked his brains to poach from the Air Force Flight Academy—a point that made the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Senior General Jeshunek, very distracted.

Second, a complete naval aviation training base has been built. Although the Zeppelin aircraft carrier would not be commissioned until at least January 1943, Richthofen did not want to waste his time. On the basis of Hoffman's suggestion and soliciting opinions from all quarters, he set up aircraft carrier simulation training bases at two well-known naval bases, the port of Kiel and Sevastopol, -- built the aircraft carrier deck and ancillary bridge command facilities with steel plates on a flat land, so that the pilots could familiarize themselves with the environment of the aircraft carrier taking off and landing as soon as possible, instead of spending a lot of effort to practice onboard training after the aircraft carrier was officially put into service. Fortunately, most of the pilots were experienced veterans, and many of them were particularly skilled but unruly, but under Richthofen's tutelage, their personal personality became a paranoid pursuit of technology.

Third. A preliminary command and operation system for naval aviation has been established. Although you were the commander of naval aviation, Richthofen himself was in charge of naval aviation operations, and this feeling was back to the era when the Luftwaffe was rebuilt. He had to worry about everything personally, and the command and operation of the HNA and the Army Airlines were completely different things, and Germany lacked professionals in this field, and at the beginning there was not even a normal command structure and talent team. The commander of the Navy, Marshal Raeder, undoubtedly gave strong support to the construction of the HNA. Supplies and resources are skewed. But when it comes to talent, he is blind, and he can only give a guarantee -- he will definitely help him get a deal of which officer Richthofen likes, but the problem is that the introduction of naval officers is enough with a paper order, and the introduction of air force officers is not as good as Richthofen's own signboard. Finally, with the experience of the British and Japanese systems in the use of aircraft carriers, the command doctrine of the Japanese Navy sent before and during the war, coupled with Hoffmann's blind command that he often did not understand (for example, he suggested the introduction of a multi-color vest system and a command gesture system), Richthofen slowly entered the door and built the prototype of the sea shipping transfer system, but it was really not complete. At best, it can be considered preliminary.

In addition to the high sense of responsibility and mission of a German soldier, there was also an accident: shortly after he transferred to the Navy. During a routine physical examination, I suddenly found out that I had cancer, and the tumor was still growing in the brain, and it was almost impossible to cure. Although the lesion is still small and does not affect his normal life and work, the doctors judged that he would continue to grow, and gave him advice that he may have about 3-4 years to live, and advised him to spend the rest of his life in his spare time. After much deliberation, Richthofen asked the doctor to help him conceal the results of the examination, and he devoted himself to his work with even greater enthusiasm. He wrote in his diary: "I was told by the doctor that I have 3-4 years to live, and I am determined to further increase the intensity of my work, requiring myself to work more than 15 hours a day, and strive to use 3-4 years to do the performance of others in 7-8 years...... I want to build a good German naval aviation - only then will the name Richthofen be worthy. ”

It turned out that the potential of a blank sheet of paper was the greatest, because it could paint the most beautiful pictures in the world, and the navy of the Third Reich got off to a staggering start, and all kinds of innovative spirit in it were refreshing because of the fearless spirit of the ignorant, and even the newly arrived Japanese Vice Admiral Jizaburo Ozawa was full of praise. After unexpectedly losing the post of commander of the mobile fleet, the aircraft carrier command expert in the Japanese naval system did not have a particularly ideal place to go, and out of the need for close German-Japanese relations, according to Germany's request and reciprocal exchange (Germany sent tank officers and radar experts), Ozawa Jizaburo hung up the rank of German admiral and assumed the post of general adviser of the German navy.

According to Hoffman's request, Cole went crazy to search for all available Japanese naval personnel, and Taijiro Aoki, who served as the captain of the aircraft carrier Akaisei in the Battle of Midway, was also invited by him to Germany and hung up the rank of rear admiral, anyway, after the defeat in the Battle of Midway, these people were regarded as scapegoats by the top of the Navy and successively incorporated into the reserve - except for Ozawa Jizaburo, who was obviously instructed by the top of the Navy that he would return to China as the commander of the second wave of aircraft carrier fleets once the new aircraft carriers were put into service in the future. Therefore, he is very interested in this secondment to Germany. In addition, senior aviation staff officer Masasa Okunomiya also went to Germany and hung up the rank of naval colonel, and together with Ozawa and Aoki, he formed the leadership core of the Japanese expert group, and there were a number of middle and low-ranking officers under them, all of whom were dragged by Kohl from the reserves, and even the unlucky ones who were picked up from the wounded soldiers in the naval hospital. Originally, Cole wanted to recruit a few meritorious naval pilots to serve as flight instructors, and he was even optimistic about the candidates, but he did not expect that Yamamoto Isoroku, who had always been very good at talking in other aspects, refused to let him go this time, saying that Japan itself would also train new aircraft carrier pilots -- so Cole's performance was completely worthy of the rank of colonel and the knight's cross awarded to him by Hoffman.

"Although the Germans are still relatively clumsy in command of aircraft carrier operations, they are very hardworking, especially some pilots, who can be called elite in the Imperial Navy......" At the exercise site, Okumiya Masasa praised again and again.

"Let's not underestimate the Germans, although they don't have any experience, they don't have any rules and regulations, any innovative ideas can be used quickly, you look at the commanders in multi-colored vests and the gestures ......," Ozawa Jizaburo praised, "so that the pilots can understand at a glance the duties of the ground crew and the essentials of the next step, I suggest that we can do the same, but I don't know if the conservatives in the country can accept it." ”

Taijiro Aoki, who was on the side, couldn't help but be silent after hearing Ozawa's comment, he was born as a captain, he knew how difficult it was to introduce a new command system and command gestures in the fleet, and this innovation was first made by the Germans, considering the gap in German aircraft carrier operations, this kind of improvement would only make the Japanese Navy, which thinks very highly of itself, sneer. Seeing that the atmosphere was a little embarrassing, Okumiya Masatake quickly changed the topic, pointed to a plane and praised: "This, Germany's scientific and technological strength is very strong...... Yesterday they had already tested the new aircraft, and the results were surprisingly good. ”

"Is it better than what we've improved?" Ozawa frowned and said, "The country has been trying to find a way to improve, but with little success, I communicated with the designer Horikoshi Jiro once, he regretted that he did not use the large model in order to meet the requirements of the military, although at that time ******** caused a sensation and occupied a dominant position, but for the limit of use is too sufficient, resulting in little room for improvement now, he really wants to go back and pick up the large model." ”

"It's better than ours, and I even think it's an idea for improvement, except for the range. The aerodynamic layout is exactly the same, the weight of the Germans is still heavier than ours, but even it is faster than us, and it is not limited by the dive speed, of course, the range is still not as good as the Zero Combat 21. Okumiya Masatake sighed sincerely, "The key to the difference in performance is the engine technology, and the Germans are not a little bit better than us." The engines they made were not only more powerful than ours, but they also did not leak oil, and our pilots there said that if they did not leak oil, they would not be Japanese planes, but the German pilots were so nervous when they heard about the oil leakage that they could still fly if there was an oil leak? Doesn't this cost human life? ”

Taijiro Aoki sighed: "Don't think about it, you can't pass this route alone, the country can pay attention to this, 200 kilometers less is like killing them." ”

"This notion should be reversed, Special Envoy Cole is right, the plane can hold out for 5 hours, can a person hold out for so long? Is it okay to do it one day, every day? "Even the ultra-long-range attack technology we originally designed should find a way to update our thinking." (To be continued.) )