516 flotilla at sea
American-flagged transport ships sail across the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean toward their destination.
There were probably more than 100 ships, each of which was loaded with a variety of military supplies.
There are tanks and armored vehicles, there are various weapons and ammunition. The rifle case was full of 1903 Springfield rifles, one of the best infantry weapons the United States could now come up with.
The later famous M1 has not yet been equipped with American infantry on a large scale, so it cannot be deployed in time to support the British in the war.
However, the first batch of 100 pilots had already piloted various planes, passing through air stations in Iceland and Greenland, and flew directly to Britain to participate in the war.
But the situation they faced was somewhat complicated, Germany had already established a backup airfield on British soil, so the time of German fighters in the air was doubled.
Many of the German fighters flew from France to refuel at field airfields in the German-occupied zone of Britain if the war became tight.
In this way, although Britain promptly replenished 120 fighters of various types, the time that German fighters spent in the skies over Britain increased, which indirectly increased the number of German fighters participating in the war.
There are now 100 Luftwaffe fighters stationed in Britain, and the rest are flying back to France, but they can dock at home during the day.
The only thing that constrained the scale of the Luftwaffe units in the British mainland was actually the shortcoming of sea transportation. Even this shortcoming, Germany is doing its best to make up for it.
Compared with such large maritime powers as Britain and the United States, Germany certainly could not immediately concentrate its large transport forces.
Even if it is concentrated, it cannot withstand consumption and loss. Britain is now working hard to clear the mines in the English Channel, presumably to expand the scale of naval warfare.
Therefore, the German response was to build small ships as soon as possible to supply the German landing force.
These 1,000-ton small ships are very easy to build, and can be optimized to run on diesel engines, although the capacity is small, but not large.
Once one is sunk, the corresponding losses are relatively small, and Germany can afford it. And the corresponding diesel consumption, Germany is no longer afraid.
The route through Malta to transport oil resources directly to France allowed Germany to obtain a large amount of oil supplies.
Now, Germany has basically achieved the optimal choice of refueling nearby. The battlefields on the Western Front used Libyan oil, while the garrisons on the Eastern Front were supplemented with Romanian oil nearby.
In this way, the time and money wasted on the road, as well as the consumption of oil itself, are correspondingly reduced. As long as Britain could not cut off Germany's oil supply routes, then Germany's advantage in this war was very obvious.
It is precisely because of this that the United States can't wait for the end. This time, the United States used the pretext of transporting supplies to the Soviet Union to prepare to rush a batch of supplies to Britain.
"The British lost even the English Channel...... What a bunch of idiots. Standing on the deck of his huge transport ship, facing the sea breeze, an American captain said to the U.S. Army officers who followed.
"You can't blame them entirely, I've heard that the Germans are really good." The army officer came prepared, and of course had read most of the analysis of the German battles.
In his opinion, the Germans won a series of battles that were almost impossible to win. Including the sweep of Belgium and France, the siege of the Allies at Dunkirk, sounds a little incredible.
Later, the Germans attacked Malta, and then Rommel conquered Egypt like a god.
The Führer commanded his troops, shattering the United States' prediction of the European battlefield in one fell swoop, and causing all kinds of accidents to occur in the war situation that everything was already under control.
Now, the accident had spread to the point where the United States had to intervene to correct it, so he was sent to England to learn as much as possible about America's future enemy, Germany.
In order to defeat the enemy, you must first understand the enemy. Originally, the United States thought that it knew Germany, but now it seems that it does not understand it thoroughly.
"The Germans may intercept us." As the captain of a transport ship, the American captain was most worried about the German submarines and the almost invincible fleet.
It was precisely because of fear that this time the United States dispatched more than 20 destroyers and two cruisers to escort this huge fleet.
The powerful United States, at the time of the Washington Naval Treaty, gained almost equal power to build a powerful navy as Great Britain.
So the US Navy is now also a strong enough navy, not much different from the British Royal Navy.
What's more, the British Navy has now lost too many battleships, so in terms of overall strength, the US Navy has completely surpassed Britain and become the world's navy worthy of the name.
"Mr. President, is ready for the reprisals that will ensue against the Germans if they dare to mess around." Army officers were not worried about the Germans short-circuiting their brains.
What he was most worried about now was not the interception by the Germans, but the fact that these supplies were completely insufficient for the British to consume.
You must know that fighting air and naval battles is completely different from the consumption of fighting land battles. The total tonnage of ammunition consumed every day on land may be enough for the Air Force to fight for a week.
It was precisely because of the lack of ammunition, the shortage of heavy weapons, and the problem of food that the British army took the initiative to cede a large area of territory.
This batch of supplies seems to be a lot, but according to the data sent by Britain to the United States before, these weapons and equipment are enough for Britain to consume for a week at most.
Of course, with this batch of supplies, although it can only take a week, but in this week, Germany will not be able to move forward.
As long as the war becomes a stalemate, the consumption of these supplies is definitely worth the price. The top level of the United States is determined that as long as the battlefield on the Western Front enters a stalemate stage, the Soviet Union will definitely take advantage of the fire to rob it.
The Soviet Union's entry into the war was a variable that the United States hoped to delay. As long as the Soviet Union went to war with Germany, Germany's attention would certainly be drawn back to the Eastern Front, and the problem on the Western Front would be completely solved.
Until then, leaving Britain undefeated is the best option in America's interests.
"I hope the Soviets will act quickly, so that they can take advantage of the fire and loot time is running out." The American Army officer sighed and looked at the battleship in the distance.
One American transport ship after another, forming a huge transport fleet. The most secret destination of this convoy is the port of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
And their declared shipping target is the Soviet seaport of Murmansk. It's a pity that the Germans didn't know this, this was their best hope for success.
On the rough sea, after the American fleet went to sea, a submarine on German patrol discovered the whereabouts of this fleet.
After the American fleet went to sea, Lütjans's guerrilla fleet was ordered to leave Brest in France and wait for the British open sea.
The location they chose was very close to the British mainland, just outside the combat radius of the British mainland's fighter jets.
This time, the German fleet did not take the initiative, but took the approach of waiting for the American fleet to come to the door.
After all, it was claimed that the target port of the American fleet was Murmansk, the Soviet Union, so it was impossible for this fleet to appear on the route to Liverpool, England.
While the two men in the U.S. fleet were discussing, Ruetjens was also answering Hines's question: "They will definitely appear on this route...... The Americans are planning to go to war. ”
"The Führer is ready? Planning to go to war with the United States? Hines looked at Lütjans and asked puzzled.
"Today I realized how far-sighted the Führer's move was." Lytjans stared at the distant sea and said to Hines beside him.
He apparently liked his unique analysis, and continued: "The Führer is not allied with Japan, and Japan is not really in the Axis bloc. This seemed strange before, but now it seems to be an extremely clever calculation. ”
"If the United States declares war on us now...... There would be no way for them to declare war on Japan at the same time. Seeing that Hines didn't understand, Lütjans explained.
He stretched out two fingers, gestured and said, "If the United States declares war in the Atlantic, it will inevitably draw military forces from the Pacific. At this time, Japan seized the initiative, and the previous preparations of the United States in the Pacific Ocean were all invalid. ”
Listening to this halfway strategist analyze the Führer's strategy, Hines, with a cult of personality, hurriedly nodded. He believed in the Führer's foresight, so he was convinced of Lütjans's analysis.
But in fact? Li Le did not form an alliance with the Japanese, but on the contrary, he extorted a lot of benefits from Japan, and one of the reasons was that Japan, an ally, was not enough to succeed and more to lose.
Another reason, which is also the most core one, is that the current person in the position of head of state does not have the slightest good impression of Japan, and what he has always been thinking about in his heart is the monstrous hatred of Japan.
In Li Le's view, if Germany can win World War II, then after taking out the United States and the Soviet Union, the two most threatening countries, it will be Japan that needs to be cleaned up.
No way, this is determined by the most fundamental position that crosses the soul, and it is also determined by Japan's many cheating performances in the history of World War II.
When it comes to the technology of dismantling each other, the Axis powers are stronger than the other. They are simply here to talk about cross talk, not to fight......