The loss of more than 400 planes accounted for 10 percent of the total number of aircraft used by the Luftwaffe that day, and the average loss of a single attack was 5 percent -- most of the planes made two sorties, and the air forces in the Belgian and Dutch directions made three sorties. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The British attack aircraft group and the US Army Newfoundland aircraft group, which came to attack more than 1,400 kilometers across the sea and more than 2,000 kilometers across the sea, inflicted certain losses on the German offensive forces.

In response to the first wave of British attacks, the main German fleet dispatched more than 170 fighters, and the escort fleet composed of 8 Rhine-class escort aircraft carriers dispatched more than 140 fighters, and they intercepted more than 800 attack aircraft groups of the British Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy (at different speeds, arriving at the battlefield one after another), and shot down more than 170 planes of the opponent at the cost of losing 54 planes, plus the planes lost by the opponent who could not return home, causing a total of more than 400 losses on the British side.

In the process of defense, the Rheinland-class R3 aircraft carrier was hit by two 1,000-pound and one 500-pound bomb, and was overwounded and sunk, and three victory ships carrying army forces and materials were sunk, plus the losses on other ships, the army suffered more than 700 casualties (including direct casualties and drowning), and one auxiliary cruiser and one destroyer were sunk, and the navy lost more than 1,000 people.

Because the sunrise time in Newfoundland was two hours later than Iceland's, and because of the expedition of more than 2,000 kilometers, it was already about 2 p.m. local time when the US army aviation arrived at the attack area, but the US imperialists dispatched more than 600 B-29s in one breath were still terrifying, and the German air defense fighters themselves had already lost once, so the losses on that day were even greater.

In terms of the main fleet: the heavy cruiser Lützov (German-class) was heavily damaged, the aircraft carrier Hyuga was damaged, the beveled deck was partially blown up, and half of the take-off and landing capability was lost; Two 1,000-pound bombs each on the Veneto and Tirpitts, lightly wounded; The battleship Empire and the battleship Rome each hit 1 500-pound bomb, which was lightly damaged.

In terms of escort and landing fleets: the R7 escort aircraft carrier was sunk, 2 Victory ships, 1 Will ship, 2 auxiliary cruisers, and 2 destroyers were sunk, the R8 escort aircraft carrier was heavily damaged and lost its take-off and landing capabilities, and 2 cargo ships were damaged.

However, the losses of the US Army Aviation were also quite staggering: they came from a long distance across the sea, and there were no fighter escorts, so they relied on the bombers' own machine gun defense, and the losses were extremely serious when they attacked at a descending altitude, especially the phalanx on the Hedgehog-class and the twin-mounted electric 128mm anti-aircraft guns on the Rhine-class built a dense fire interception network, which made the US planes tremble. At the cost of losing 77 aircraft, the Germans took out at least 280 aircraft of the opposing side. In fact, the losses of the US military did not stop there, some of the seriously injured planes went to Iceland for a forced landing, and the other part of the damaged planes fell into the sea due to miscarriage and mechanical losses in the process of returning home, and the actual number of planes lost by the US military that day was as high as 347.

What was even more unfavorable to the United States was that after the German plane was shot down, the pilot had a chance to parachute and be rescued, and more than 40 of the more than 130 German pilots lost that day were rescued, while the American pilot was either captured or killed in the parachute jump, and the losses could not be avoided in any way.

The atmosphere in the Supreme Command was very solemn, and everyone felt smacking their tongues after counting today's losses.

"Field Marshal Rommel reported that the total army losses were nearly 2,000 men, and the loss of equipment was about equivalent to a brigade, and some of the rescued army officers and soldiers were soaked in seawater, and there was a lot of trouble in the future.

The situation on the naval side is even more tricky, as Otto Schnewinder, the chief of staff of the Navy, who had just been promoted to senior general a few days ago, reported: "The Lützov is still able to move after emergency repairs, and it is planned to run aground on the beach and be used as a fixed battery, and all the aircraft carriers have deployed all their reserve aircraft for use......"

Hoffman asked, "Are there enough planes?" ”

"It's barely okay, we lost more than 130 planes and another 3 and a half aircraft carriers." Schnewing smiled bitterly, "It's basically balanced, and by tomorrow we won't be able to come up with air defense forces similar to today." ”

"The loss was greater than I expected, and to be honest, I underestimated the determination of the British and Americans to defend Iceland." Hoffman was a little remorseful, this was the first day, the losses were so serious, he felt a lot of pressure on his body, and after thinking about it for a long time, he asked, "What do Marshal Machar and General Ozawa mean?" ”

"What they mean is to hold on a little longer, and to fight for the loss of 2-3 capital ships, 200 aircraft, and 5,000 army casualties to take Iceland down - as long as the army units can go ashore, the follow-up will be easy to fight."

"200?" Keitel was stunned, "How can the navy withstand so many losses?" ”

"Have you forgotten that more than 100 naval fighters were mobilized in advance in the Norwegian direction? They can provide aircraft through cross-platform operations. Schnewynd explained, "As long as the army establishes a solid position on the island and gets an airfield, a steady stream of land-based forces can be replenished!" ”

The muscles on Hoffman's face twitched: "Do we still have the strength to support the landing force?" ”

"General Cranke still has 2 escort aircraft carriers available, but the Ise and the Gnaisenau are both injured and are undergoing emergency repairs, and the repairs will be completed as soon as June 1, and they are currently unusable." Dönitz smiled wryly, "I still have a lot of submarines in my hand, but unfortunately I can't help." ”

In order to concentrate on the Icelandic campaign, the wolves made a large build-up: 60 ships were deployed in the waters between Iceland and the United Kingdom, ready to deal with the Royal Navy, which dared to rush over; In the waters off Greenland and on the Anglo-Canadian route, wolves ambushed more than 120 ships, preparing to lay siege to the likely U.S. fleet.

"The naval strength is still a little weaker, and if the combined fleet is here, the landing battle is very certain."

"Führer, it's 5 p.m. Icelandic time, Vice Admiral Bey has commanded the artillery fleet to attack, and the first landing force, an armored battalion mounted on the Sibel-class landing craft and a grenadier battalion mounted on the integrated aircraft carrier Xapeuy, will soon come ashore!" Yodel suddenly rushed in and reported, "The telegram says that the Lützov has successfully seized the beach and is suppressing the American artillery position with 283mm naval gun fire. ”

"Alright! There is no easy way to fight a world war, let the soldiers grit their teeth and hold on! I'm sure they can succeed. Hoffman gritted his teeth and said, "Also, send a telegram to Sauken, don't wait for the landing, launch an attack in advance, I'm going to set fire to Brazil and put a little pressure on the Americans!" ”

On May 28, there was a panic in Washington: the huge losses of the Army today were too shocking, but even more shocking was Arnold's report.

"Today, a total of 746 B-29s were arranged to carry out attack missions, and there were more than 90 planes that returned one after another after departure, and more than 40 planes reported that they broke away from the formation and did not find their targets during the flight and then returned, and about 607 actually went on attack, and only 260 returned home, except for 27 planes that were convinced that they had made a forced landing, crash or parachute jump in Iceland, the rest were all lost at sea and could not be sav......ed," Admiral Arnold's voice trembled when he reported to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, "This is not the most terrible, The most terrible thing is that the morale of the army has been shaken. The reason for the more than 90 planes that returned ahead of schedule today was all mechanical failure, but after landing, after investigation, only 13 planes really had serious failures, and the failure of other planes was very slight or non-existent, and even 7 planes found traces of vandalism - the kind that only the members of the plane had a chance to start! ”

Everyone's faces changed drastically, and Truman knocked on the table: "So, everyone is not optimistic about the Icelandic campaign?" ”

"The distance is too far, and there is no fighter escort, once an accident occurs, it is a dead word, which really discourages many people, and everyone can see the nearly 60% battle loss rate." Arnold cried with a sad face, "The pilots' quarters in the base were empty, and there was a lot of crying, and General Spartz told me that this was the same situation after that air raid on Berlin, and that time it was even worse, and morale collapsed directly." ”

Marshall's face was bruised: "This can't be done, we can let the cowards go first, but those who deliberately destroy must be dealt with by military law first." ”

"I've arranged it this way, only a small number of people have been imprisoned, and the rest are still mainly admonished by the commander, but tomorrow's sortie mission is not easy to send." Arnold choked up and said, "An attack of more than 2,000 kilometers across the sea is also a relatively difficult operation, tomorrow it will be farther away from the German fleet, the distance consumed and the price paid will be greater, we really can't pull such a large team, and if we continue to fight at a high intensity, the entire long-range combat force of the army aviation will be broken." ”

"How many more can be sent tomorrow?"

"At most 300 aircraft, many of the officers and men who returned today are exhausted and can no longer attack."

There was silence.

Truman's brow furrowed, but the situation did not allow him to hesitate, the Icelandic side reported two hours ago that the Germans had launched an artillery bombardment, and as time went on, more and more German warships would join the shelling team.

"Tomorrow is the first day of the landing, and we still have to find a way to go to the air raid again, to wipe out the Germans on the beachhead as much as possible." Truman said, "Today's air raids still have some results, and the British have also exerted their desperate efforts, and if we work harder until General Nimitz arrives on the battlefield, the situation may improve, and we will not have to completely destroy these enemy forces, as long as we drive them back and thwart their landing attempts, we will be considered victorious." ”

"Yes." Arnold replied with a dejected head.

"Sir......" Turner suddenly rushed in from outside, and before he could say anything, he couldn't help but cry first.

"What's going on?" Admiral Kim didn't speak just now, and when he saw Turner's appearance, he suddenly became anxious, which clearly looked like something big was happening.

"TF44 fleet, it's over!"

Seeing the bad news from the telegram, Admiral Kim was furious and fell to the ground......

ps: The update will be completed tonight, and it will be updated regularly at 9 am tomorrow, welcome to watch......