Knowing that the four escort aircraft carriers in the British fleet in the south had all been sunk, and by the way, three cruisers had been killed, Richthofen's face finally relaxed, and after a few days of fighting, he already knew that these so-called light aircraft carriers were actually escort aircraft carriers converted by the Americans with cargo ships, although they were very cheap and looked weak in combat effectiveness, but they could also carry about 20 aircraft, and he really didn't dare to take them lightly when the four were used together, if it weren't for the poor performance of the British aircraft, these merchant aircraft carriers could exert a lot of striking power.

He couldn't help but frown when he heard that the British had taken off a group of planes to attack before the air raid - which meant that the fleet would inevitably be attacked by an air raid, and he prayed that he would not be in line with the land-based air forces in Iceland.

At 8:48, the high-speed fleet had reached a distance of 630 kilometers from Iceland, the wheeled air defense array was arranged, and even the first He-218 to complete the attack began to land on the Zeppelin, and the expected Icelandic land-based attack aircraft was still nowhere to be seen.

"The British, they can't find us, do they?"

"There can be no luck, the fleet continues to drive towards Greenland, and the speed of the Zeppelin is reduced a little, so that it is convenient for the dive bombers to land."

As he spoke, the third He-218 landed again, and the pilot reduced his speed, accurately lowered the ship's hook, and after rushing more than 30 meters on the deck, he grabbed the arresting cable, and with this reaction force, the plane rushed forward more and more slowly, until finally it slowly stopped.

"Quick! Hurry up and refuel my bombs, the British still have an aircraft carrier......" The young pilot pulled open the cockpit canopy and couldn't wait to yell below.

"Don't worry, take a rest first, you'll be fine in a moment......," the ground crew comforted him, "There is also an aircraft carrier that has been sunk by a lightning striker." ”

"Really?"

"Of course! The captain has just announced the news! ”

"Then hurry up, the British still have 2 battleships, I have to taste what it's like to sink a battleship......"

At 9 o'clock, the last He-218 landed steadily on the deck, the ground crew carried out the supply operation like crazy, the Icelandic land-based attack team still did not appear, the atmosphere in the Zeppelin Commander Tower began to be optimistic, everyone was glad to get rid of the blow of the British, but after observing and thinking for a long time in front of the chart table, Ozawa, who had been silent, suddenly turned blue: "Everyone, I'm afraid the fleet will have a big crisis soon!" ”

"Why?" Marchar asked rhetorically, puzzled.

"The reason for the delay in the appearance of the British planes is probably not that they cannot find us, but that the enemy wants to gather all his forces to deal a fatal blow to the fleet." Ozawa explained the reason for his concern, "We are now about 640 kilometers away from Iceland, and the enemy planes have confirmed that it has been a full 90 minutes now, and if it is a mosquito bomber attack, it should have already arrived, and the reason why the enemy has not arrived is that I am afraid that they are waiting for other slow attack planes to come with them." ”

The staff officers at the scene made an urgent calculation: according to the current distance, if the skua came to attack, it would take about 2 hours on the road; If TBF comes to attack, it will take about 100 minutes; If it is a mosquito attack, it will take about 80 minutes; As for the swordfish or the big mackerel, no one bothered to count such surprisingly slow planes.

"If I were the commander of the British Air Force, I would release the Skua attack group first, the TBF attack group after 20 minutes, and the Mosquito attack group after 40 minutes...... Although there is a large interval between departures, it is possible to arrive at the battlefield at the same time. ”

Based on this time, it was easy for everyone to calculate that the attack wave after the enemy planes assembled would arrive at about half past nine.

Richthofen was taken aback: "What do we do if this inference is true?" ”

"Immediately let the first fighters in the morning land on the Europa to refuel, and if possible, change pilots to the sky." Ozawa pondered for a moment, "It has been nearly three hours since these planes took off at 6 o'clock, and both fuel and the energy of the pilots need to be replenished. Of course, there are risks associated with this - if enemy aircraft appear on the battlefield within 20 minutes, the fleet's defenses will be greatly weakened......"

"Immediately follow General Ozawa's method." Richthofen thought for less than 10 seconds before making a decision.

"Sir......" Marcial watched at him, his face full of worry, but he could not say a word - although he was the commander-in-chief, Richthofen had a higher rank than him.

"Don't worry, the fighters covering the mine-strike formation are about to return, and if there is a real problem, you can let them withstand it for a while." Richthofen reassured him, "There is no one-size-fits-all approach on the battlefield, and I think the 20-minute adventure is worth it." ”

"Inform the Europa that the fighter is immediately accepted and the resupply operation is completed; The Zeppelin quickly completed the dive bomber resupply and took off again......"

Tactics were progressing day by day, and after the failure of the previous air attack, Admiral Fraser was criticized from all sides, and after learning from the pain, he made a deep reflection and came to an important conclusion: the German escort fighters were strong and numerous, coupled with the notoriously long time in the air, and the successive throwing of attack groups into a tactic of refueling in fact, each attack could not take advantage, but was broken by the enemy one by one, resulting in nothing. In order to fight today's battle well, he did a lot of homework, and the most important point was to absorb the suggestions of the staff officers, not to rush into the offensive force after discovering the enemy's situation, and to be prepared to make proper use of the time difference and the difference in the speed of the attack wave, grasp the offensive opportunity, and carry out a wave of attacks after achieving the advantage of gathering to the greatest extent.

Of course, no one stupidly accused the admiral of not using this tactic on the first day, because the German army left the battlefield at high speed that time, and the speed of the swordfish and the big mackerel was too slow, and the Germans had already slipped away when they pounced in front of them.

Fraser's strategy was similar to what Ozawa had envisioned, the only difference was that the cover group that was eventually dispatched was different - because the German fleet was found far away from Iceland, and it was expected to be more than 650 kilometers each way, and the range of either a Spitfire or a Hurricane was not up to par, even if it was equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks, so the dozens of Spitfires transferred from the mainland could only watch the attack group depart but could not be used, and finally used handsome soldiers and European swallows with enough range.

The fastest handsome warriors are used to cover the mosquitoes, and the slower European swallows are used to cover the skapas and TBFs, but this distance is also a big challenge for the European swallows, who can only try it after attaching the auxiliary fuel tank, and they are expected to stay in the war zone for no more than 10 minutes.

Ozawa's strategy of "replacing people without changing planes" was proposed based on the current situation of the German HNA and was very confident in doing so: due to the limitation of the number of Zeppelin and Europa aircraft, the fleet could only bring a total of 82 standing + 18 spare aircraft, but the pilots (crew) brought a total of nearly 120 people (groups), especially the fighter pilots, all of whom were Richthofen's air force flight aces under his command using his many years of contacts and prestige - in the air force system, The name Richthofen alone has a bunch of admirers.

Since it is relatively easy for the navy to be promoted, all air force pilots (groups) who are willing to join the navy will be promoted to one rank regardless of whether they are promoted to the next rank or not, and after successfully completing the ship's training, they will be given an additional three months' salary as a bonus, so a bunch of people screamed and pounced. The reserve pilot team of the Japanese Navy is very weak, let alone the extravagant hope that the army aviation can be transferred, the German Navy has the air force as a base camp to replenish blood and self-training, and can harvest a steady stream of new forces.

The Air Force did not complain about the HNA doing this, but since the Führer himself was also the commander of the Air Force and supported the vigorous development of the HNA, the Air Force had always been a strong bastion of National Socialism, and the matter could only end in the victory of the HNA. In any case, Richthofen was regarded as a high-ranking officer of the Air Force, and because the officers and men of the Navy had not received a systematic naval culture, more often than not, it was like a branch of the Air Force in the Navy, and everyone privately spread that if the battle was fought well, General Richthofen would be promoted to field marshal, and the Air Force would also feel honored.

At 9:15, 15 He-218s completed their replenishment and quickly lifted off, and at 9:18, the efficient Europa completed the replenishment of the last fighter and re-flefed, and the British fleet had not yet arrived - Richthofen's decision was won.

1 minute later, the lookout post found that the organic group appeared in the south, causing a commotion on the bridge, but after careful observation, it was found that it was the Ju-98 group that had returned from the mission, and everyone was heavy in their hearts, and now there are only 2 possibilities for this situation, first, the British group lost the fleet; Second, the British are coming in large clusters, and when the time comes, there will be a stormy attack, and everyone hopes for the former, but the deterrence of the latter is chilling.

Richthofen was still able to calm down: "Inform the group that the fighter will go to the Europa for refueling and supply, and the lightning fighter will go to the Zeppelin for refueling and resupply, and we must hurry up and take off again as soon as possible." ”

At 9:30, the pointer slid to the key point of the air raid time, seeing that the Ju-98 formation had landed and replenished one after another, and the fleet still did not see the arrival of enemy aircraft, everyone couldn't help but become suspicious. However, the top brass prayed that the British would appear a little later and later, so that the Thunder Strike Formation would have enough time to complete its supply and take off again.

Since the intelligence showed that the British fleet in the south had no available aircraft, and the He-218s had been assembled, Richthofen gritted his teeth and made the decision to let the dive bomber formation go alone without escort fighters, and he also thought about the second wave of attack of the lightning strike formation - he was going to let six water fighters accompany the attack, and he wanted to keep the escort fighters to the maximum. (To be continued.) )