Half of the US escort aircraft carrier group that has lost half of it now has only half of its planes left, and the number is less than 200, and the fleet of planes that can really be used for ground attack is more than 140 planes, and the cautious Rear Admiral Bode has left more than 50 planes to deal with unexpected situations, and at the same time sends telegrams to the rear, asking for the main force of the fleet to support, and these 140 or so planes alone will not be able to sweep away the German fortifications and positions in Cape Verde. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although Cape Verde is not as ferocious as the Azorean anti-aircraft firepower, and there is no phalanx or anti-aircraft rockets, it has a small anti-aircraft tower, a simplified version of the Berlin anti-aircraft tower, which is one-eighth the size of the overall and less powerful than the original version, but the twin 128mm electric anti-aircraft guns on it and the surrounding 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns still remind the enemy of its power. This is the version designed by the Ministry of Armaments specifically for overseas islands, and is designed to speed up construction - usually completed in 5-6 months.

There are a total of 6 such simplified anti-aircraft towers on the islands of the Azores, and even the main island of Angra de Heroísmo has a full version of the anti-aircraft tower under construction, which is expected to be completed in the spring of 1944, and there are basically only 1-2 simplified versions on the relatively minor islands such as the Canary Islands, Madeira, and Cape Verde. After taking the Falklands, the construction of the island's air defense towers began at the same time, and Peron visited one of the four.

The Argentine sappers who assisted in the construction were most envious of the endless array of automated machinery of their German counterparts, and in their opinion almost every engineering vehicle could be converted into a tank, Perón was also very curious about this: could Germany have grown to the point where the tanks could not be used up? In the end, it was Mandolfer who uncovered the mystery and told him that these were all engineering vehicles converted from American Sherman tanks captured in the African campaign with their turrets removed, and that he had brought at least half of them with him in order to speed up the repair of the Falklands fortifications. This pleased Peron, and at the same time he was eager to see the arms that were about to arrive in Argentina - he exchanged beef and agricultural products for a lot of bargains from the Führer, more than 120 T-34 tanks alone, plus a batch of armored vehicles and the Stalker assault gun and the No. 3 assault gun, and the racks of the two Panzergrenadier divisions were immediately erected, and he was determined to hand them over to his most confidant men - in this part of South America, it was far more useful to form two Panzergrenadier divisions with the same technical weapons than one.

The Azores air defense towers have long made the British bombers suffer enough, and now it is the turn of the US air raid aircraft group to begin to suffer; yesterday because there were still their own planes in the air, the German antiaircraft artillery units were still a little constrained in fighting, and today they were able to fly all the American planes, so they simply opened up to fight, and the results of the two rounds of air raids in the afternoon and afternoon were not remarkable, but on the contrary, they lost 17 US planes, which were already overstretched.

The surface of Cape Verde was bombed ugly, and important places such as airports, docks, dock warehouses and other important places were covered by American firepower, but none of the S-boats that were bent on finding were found, as if they had disappeared out of thin air, and the losses suffered by the defenders were not large: tall and sturdy anti-aircraft towers provided the main barrier, and the bomb shelters on the positions also provided good protection, and the total number of casualties of the marines on it was less than 300, which was completely within the bearable range compared to the total strength of nearly 6000.

Rear Admiral Bode, who was helpless, could only send a telegram to Turner, who was in command behind, asking the artillery fleet to arrive for support as soon as possible, otherwise it would be difficult to inflict greater damage on the Cape Verde defenders by relying solely on the escort aircraft carrier group.

"How far is Admiral Cunningham from Cape Verde?" Ingersoll asked.

"About more than 900 kilometers."

"Do you need him to draw out 2 Independence-class light aircraft carriers to support the air attack fleet? I am concerned about the shortage of ground support aircraft. ”

Turner shook his head after thinking for a moment: "You can't weaken the strength of the main aircraft carrier force, in case the German fleet is passive at this time, it's better to draw warships from the army escort formation in the direction of Brazil, there are 25 escort aircraft carriers there, and I think it's no problem to transfer 7-8 ships, and they are not far from Cape Verde." ”

"It's not far, but it's not close, even if you run at full speed, you have to run for more than four days to get there, and the landing campaign will be launched tomorrow." Admiral Ingersoll frowned and said, "Will it not be able to catch up?" ”

"Four days?" Turner smiled bitterly, "Don't say 4 days, I'll be satisfied if I can win it in 8 days." ”

"What?" Ingersoll was taken aback, looked at the staff officers around him, and the general, who was afraid of bad influence, lowered his voice and asked, "You are so optimistic about the army?" ”

Turner smiled bitterly: "In the Battle of Tarawa, the Pacific Fleet had sufficient fire cover, and the Marines fought for more than a week and suffered countless casualties before occupying the island; In the Battle of Bermuda, the elite 82nd Airborne Division of the army fought so hard against the German army of less than 2,000, do you think that the army units assigned to us are so capable of fighting? ”

"Then you should have a little more troops, if 1 division is not enough, 2, if 2 divisions are not enough, 3." Ingersoll complained a little about his conservatism, "It's all like this, and no matter how bad it is, it will be piled up." ”

"Cape Verde is so big, it's the limit to go to one division at a time, and it's a waste to have more."

"Then you have to prepare more, wheel warfare can also be used, there are so many troops in the army - millions! It's not easy to use here, I refuse to use it there, and it's all moldy in the country. ”

"I didn't really want to fight Cape Verde, it was just a strategy to lure the German fleet into sortie." Turner sighed again and again, "Who knows that now the fake will come true, our army will be difficult to ride a tiger, and then the German army will increase in the direction of Falkland, and there will be no ...... there."

Ingersoll was speechless: halfway through the joint element operation, he found that the situation had changed drastically and it didn't work, and halfway through the operation the mousetrap, he encountered practical difficulties, which made people feel uncomfortable. However, there is one thing he is very sober, although the attitude of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is ambiguous, but the tendency is very clear: it is impossible to attack the Falkland Islands, it is not necessary to open up the Anglo-Canadian route, and the capture of Cape Verde has an explanation for all aspects. Therefore, regardless of whether it was a real fight or a fake fight at the beginning, it must be fought now, otherwise it will be difficult to explain to the relevant parties.

"Anyway, the army will not be able to fight the Falkland Islands for a while and a half, so let's just let them send another division to fight Cape Verde, at least we have to express this attitude, unless the army has super self-confidence." Ingersoll said, "The attack on Cape Verde can only succeed, not fail." ”

Hearing that there were two fewer escort carriers, and at the same time the first-line admirals proposed to add one division and eight escort carriers, Marshall could not sit still, and he asked in surprise: "The German troops on the island have increased their troops?" ”

"No, it's still 5,000-6,000 people."

"Then why do you need to increase the troops? The 5th Division of the Army has a large strength of 15,000 men. ”

Eisenhower sighed: "The navy is probably afraid that we will not be able to defeat us." ”

"I ......" Marshall, after all, was a high-ranking officer with self-cultivation, and he didn't scold out the words later, but only said indignantly, "We have air superiority, firepower superiority, and troop superiority, and this can't beat 5 or 6,000 German troops?" The 5th Division is a veteran powerhouse with a glorious tradition! ”

Eisenhower was silent, and a few of his confidants and staff officers around him were silent, and it was obvious that everyone was not so confident.

"Okay, then add the 3rd Army Division! Anyway, they haven't reached the landing point yet. Marshall was made to drums in his heart by a group of subordinates, but he couldn't lose face, "The Navy should simply draw 10 escort aircraft carriers, and use the fastest speed to cover the arrival of the second wave of attack troops, the first wave of troops must be launched on time tomorrow afternoon, the president is in the hospital and can not rest assured about the front-line battle, call me every night, I can't let him down!" ”

On the morning of the next day, Hoffman received an urgent report: the American artillery formation had entered the visual range, and the landing was expected to begin soon.

"Führer, do you need General Machar to bring the fleet to reinforcements? Your feint to move the fleet westward doesn't seem to have mobilized American forces. ”

Hoffman shook his head again: "Tell Machar to prepare to break away from the Azorean air defense circle and continue to advance 1000-1200 km south-west, not afraid of being discovered by enemy troops." ”

"Are you going to coerce the enemy back to rescue Bermuda? But this does not necessarily work, the enemy's main aircraft carrier formation has not yet appeared, and they will try to intercept our fleet. ”

"But at least the enemy battleship units will not be at the interception site." Hoffman smiled, "At present, the comparison is patience, our army can lose Cape Verde, but the US army cannot afford to lose Bermuda." ”

Dönitz wanted to persuade him again, but Yodel glanced at him, meaning not to say more, and after the two of them withdrew, Dönitz asked strangely, "Why did you stop me just now?" Our army may not be able to take Bermuda, but Cape Verde has been lost. ”

"No......" Yodel shook his head.

"Do you think the defenders can hold it?"

"You can't keep it, but you can't lose it."

"What does that mean?"

"If you lose it, you can get it back." Yodel sneered, "From the Azores or the Canary Islands, our army can rush to attack in 4-5 days, and unless the American army can stay in Cape Verde all the time, it will definitely be taken by our army." As for the U.S. military staying in Cape Verde, I don't think there is much possibility, because Cape Verde will not be able to provide such a huge supply needs of the U.S. military after the fierce fighting. How did the Japanese take the Tarawa in the end? As soon as Nimitz's fleet withdrew, the American troops on Tarawa were demoralized and surrendered. ”

Dönitz understood, but did not fully believe it, and only nodded in disbelief.

Although they were full of worries about the situation in Cape Verde, Ingersoll and Turner, who were on the front line in Cape Verde, were also full of worries, because Cape Verde was more difficult than they expected, and they were hit in the face at the beginning of the morning shelling:

Although the three groups of twin 356mm naval guns dismantled from the Ise were old, they were not weak, and they were not relentless in the face of dozens of large-caliber naval guns of the US army.

After a loud "boom", a 356mm shell hit the old ship, which was nearly 30 years old...... (To be continued.) )