After Keitel left, Hoffman invited Speer to consider compensation for Japan. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

"The Japanese have not met so many favorable conditions, and they still have to compensate?" Speer frowned at this.

"Horikichi lost 2 battleships and 1 aircraft carrier in the Panama campaign, both of which are capital ships, which has an impact on the combat effectiveness of the Combined Fleet, and will also affect the Indian strategy, given that the results of this battle are very good, especially the results of sinking 5 American aircraft carriers have been confirmed, I think the Japanese should be given a little extra reward." Hoffman muttered, "We don't care about the loss of the battleship, Horikichi didn't speak, he wants the Aquila aircraft carrier, but I can't agree to this." ”

Before the Battle of Panama, the terms of the two sides had been negotiated, and Germany gave a relatively good pay:

1. Germany dispatched 4 Marine Brigades to cooperate with Japan to launch the Indian Raid, and the Combined Fleet assisted Germany in completing the Madagascar landing campaign;

2. Compensate for the possible loss of aircraft by the combined fleet in the Atlantic and Madagascar campaigns, and give an additional 500 carrier-based aircraft, according to the ratio of Bf-219, He-218, Ju-98 and Ar-372, and give another 200 joint attack aircraft;

3. Assist Japan Navy to train carrier-based pilots, with a maximum of 500 pilots;

4. Assist Japan in obtaining the Byan.

"In terms of aircraft, I decided to give another 300-400 aircraft, and this time the seriously damaged Marine Brigade will also be replaced, to ensure that the number of 4 brigades will not shrink, but the aircraft carrier really can't be changed."

Speer thought for a moment and said: "It's not impossible to have an aircraft carrier. You can take the Italian boat to the top. ”

Hoffman waved his hand and said, "This can't work! Let's not talk about whether Mussolini can agree or not, the Harrier Eagle is also of great use in my plan, and it is these aircraft carriers that the Navy can use in the Atlantic Ocean for a period of time in the future, and one less will greatly reduce the combat effectiveness. ”

"It's not the Harrier Eagle, the Harrier Eagle will not be commissioned until the beginning of June, and it will be at least July when the sea trials are completed and it will officially join the fleet, and Japan will not be able to wait for that time, I'm talking about the Bolzano light aircraft carrier."

Hoffman only then reacted, a few days ago he had just ordered the launch of the "Tornado" program, preparing to attack Madagascar, in addition to the two Japanese light aircraft carriers and the battleship Musashi, Italy sent the main naval force, in addition to the three Veneto-class battleships, the most eye-catching was the light aircraft carrier Bolzano - although there was not a single Italian pilot on it.

"Can Mussolini agree?"

"Of course, it is not possible to give it away for free, but I think it is feasible to exchange benefits or equipment." Speer analyzed, "He will get the Harrier Eagle aircraft carrier right away, and then this year there will be two other fast cruise ship converted integrated aircraft carriers in service, this half-way, average performance Bolzano light aircraft carrier is not of great use to him." To be honest, the number of Italian carrier-based aircraft pilots is far from enough, and these three aircraft carriers may not be able to afford qualified crews at that time, let alone add another one. ”

"How so?" Hoffman asked curiously, "Doesn't the Italian Navy also have naval aviation?" Speaking of which, they built up the aviation corps a little earlier than us. ”

Speer sighed: "Yes, just because the Italian Navy now has independent aviation, they can't get together carrier-based pilots." ”

The Italian Air Force is said to be the same as the Luftwaffe is the basic plate of the party, but the problem is that the status of the Italian Navy and the German Navy is not the same:

Germany is a traditional continental country, and the Wehrmacht of the Third Reich ranks first in the army, second in the air force, and third in the navy, and the navy is in the most vulnerable position.

And Italy is a traditional maritime country, the military ranks first in the navy, second in the air force, and only third in the army, in this case, how can the air force be willing to help the navy, which is already stronger than itself? Didn't the Air Force pilots who transferred to the Navy even eat the meat of the belt? Moreover, the Italian Air Force is not very strong, after Germany gave a large number of aircraft and equipment, its total number of front-line combat aircraft has not been able to exceed 2,500 so far, if you exclude some of the old models, it is difficult for the new aircraft to exceed 2,000.

"And the carrier-based pilots they trained on Socotra?"

"This is the only pilot in the Italian Navy who can take the lead, and I can't guarantee that the next batch of Italian Navy pilots will be able to do so. If the pilots of Japanese carrier-based aircraft are a fraction of that of their American counterparts, then Italy is only a fraction of that of Japan. Speer laughed, "Albert (Kesselring) joked with me, he didn't think the Italians could get enough pilots and ground crew, so Mussolini was happy to give us the Aquila, and of course the Navy wanted to see this the most, and it was a big deal to send our pilots on board when the time came." ”

"Okay." Hoffman spread his hands out, Italy has its own national conditions, and he has no problem.

"As for the exchange, I can come forward to talk." Speer explained, "Mussolini had always wanted to get the Tiger tank, and in the past few months he has sent me several telegrams asking for it, and after hearing that the Japanese and Iranians got it, they were even more urgent. ”

"It's not that I won't give it, but it's a complete waste to give it to the Italians." Hoffman sighed.

"But Mussolini himself didn't think so, he still counted on the tiger style to go to the African continent to show off, or stay in Rome as a guard of honor."

"I hope I don't give the Americans prisoners." Hoffman finally showed a helpless expression, "How much does he want?" ”

"No more, no less 2 battalions - at least to overwhelm the Iranians."

"The price of 2 battalions is more expensive than the Bolzano, but I can promise, isn't it just two heavy armored battalions, if you want to open a point, it will be half a month's production, give it to him! Mussolini also needed something to fill the façade. Hoffman laughed, "This time the combined fleet has lost a number of warships, and it is estimated that there are more people who can be freed up to drive the transport ship, prepare a few more ships and supplies, and add an additional 50,000 tons of special steel, so that Japan can taste some sweetness, so that next time it will come actively." ”

"Mussolini and Petain were the most positive in this matter."

"Haha, can they not be positive!"

When Hoffman asked the Combined Fleet to "help", he promised to deliver 1 million tons of ship tonnage to Japan, but in fact, Germany's own merchant fleet was confiscated by the Allies after World War I (as a retaliation for the sinking of the German Navy in Operation Rainbow), and the country itself did not have so much merchant tonnage, and even if there were, it could not break through the British blockade in the North Sea, so it tried its best to collect from the Mediterranean countries, and the main targets were France, Italy, Spain, and Greece, of which France was the main force. The package provided for France to compensate Germany for the delivery of 50 willingness.

However, Speer obviously couldn't wait for the French to make the willwheel, so he discounted these futures at a ratio of 1:1.1 - whenever France delivered a 10,000-ton qualified merchant ship (a single ship with a deadweight of more than 2,000 tons, a maximum speed of not less than 12 knots, and an age of no more than 25 years), the compensation claim for the 11,000-ton will wheel would be reduced accordingly, which would be greatly beneficial to France:

On the one hand, the French shipowners can exchange 11,000 dwt merchant ships for 11,000 tons of will, which has a deadweight of 14,000 tons, which is cheaper than ships of several thousand tons in transportation, and they also take advantage of the situation to replace old ships with new ones; on the other hand, the construction of these new ships has stimulated production and employment in France, which is of great benefit to maintaining stability -- accidents will occur if they are idle.

It is also a win-win situation for Germany -- instead of waiting for the long delivery period of futures, it is better to directly get enough old ships at one time, and when the merchant fleet adopts all unified freighters in the future, it will be very convenient to supply and repair, of course, in addition to obtaining a batch from France free of charge, Italy and Spain are waiting for German shipbuilders to use Italian shipyards to build willwheels and then replace them, so France, Italy, and the three western Mediterranean coastal countries are eager to replace them, and even Portugal is eager to replace them. Who wouldn't want to take advantage of this shareholder wind to exchange their old ships for more and better new ones?

"Roosevelt bragged on the radio two days ago that every time we build an aircraft carrier in the future, he will build four, six, or even eight to deal with it, what do you think about this?"

"Americans are left with the ability to brag!" Speer dismissed this, "There is no doubt that the United States has a stronger shipbuilding capacity than us, but it is impossible to say that the aircraft carrier construction capacity is several times that of ours." Not counting the Harrier Eagle, this year we still have 5-6 regular aircraft carriers to serve (Ise, Hyuga, Dunkirk, 2 Italian fast cruise ship rebuilt aircraft carriers, Jean-Bar construction schedule until the beginning of 1944), these are fleet aircraft carrier level, not to mention 8 times, 6 times, that is, 4 times, he can come up with 24 ships? ”

"In addition, there are two auxiliary aircraft carriers on the mainland this year, the Elbe and the Yad, which can be completed, and Italy also has the Xiafei auxiliary aircraft carrier that can be completed at the beginning of next year, which is another three."

The Elbe is an aircraft carrier modified by the Potsdam cruise ship, mainly imitating Chitose and Chiyoda to become a water engine carrier, and the Yad River is rebuilt by using the cruise ship Gneisenau, the ship of the same class as the cruise ship Scharnhorst has been rebuilt into the Condor aircraft carrier in Japan, Germany has obtained all the reconstruction drawings, saving a lot of design time, and is ready to transform it into a training aircraft carrier; The Xapé was a semi-finished product towed back from Toulon, and the French man-made aircraft carriers were less reliable than the Germans - the Zeppelin was at least modeled on Akagi to imitate and borrow, but the Xapé was completely indiscriminate.

It would take a lot of effort to transform the ship into a full-fledged aircraft carrier, and the Japanese designers scratched their heads, but the use of the Commander Turst greatly inspired everyone to prepare to convert it into a supplementary aircraft carrier - a supplementary aircraft carrier with a speed of up to 33 knots, which could fully keep up with the fleet's movements, and the capacity was not small, the hangar could hold 48 aircraft, and the deck could hold an additional 16 aircraft, and if it was fully loaded as an aircraft carrier, the whole could exceed 100 aircraft, and if necessary, it could be pulled out and confusing. (To be continued.) )