Before guided bombs were used in actual combat, dive bombers were undoubtedly the most accurate battlefield killers, and the German-made Ju-17 was the most outstanding and stable mass-produced dive bomber in the early 30s. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 In the four months from May 18 to September 17, 1933, Germany and Ireland dispatched Ju-17 and its carrier-based Ju-17T to make a total of 70,000 sorties, dropped more than 20,000 tons of bombs, killed and wounded tens of thousands of enemy soldiers, destroyed countless military installations, directly sank 133 American and British ships, damaged 954 ships, and helped the Allied forces win a series of important combat operations such as the Cohen Peninsula Landing Campaign, the Battle of Birmingham, and the Battle of SouthamptonThe "Thunder Heavy Artillery" has created a group of ace pilots with outstanding achievements.

Since ancient times, there has never been a perfect presence on the battlefield. Dive bombers have both the ferocity and clumsiness of the osprey, and the sharpness of the attack cannot hide the shortcomings of their slow maneuvering and weak defenses. In the four months since the outbreak of the war, the Luftwaffe has lost more than 1,100 dive bombers of all types, ranking first among all types of aircraft. On the day when the "Fisherman" operation was cancelled halfway through, the Allied air force deployed on São Miguel Island flew 680 sorties, of which Ju-17s accounted for nearly half of them, and such a large-scale sortie paid remarkable results as scheduled -- damaging two US and British capital ships and two cruisers, and severely damaging one Northampton-class heavy cruiser of the US Navy, but also paying a heavy price -- 39 were shot down and 15 were damaged by US and British fighters and sea surface anti-aircraft guns, which was equivalent to the loss of an entire dive bomber group.

In addition to the return of the mine-strike ship group headed by the "Mackensen" to São Miguel, the 1st and 2nd task forces and the two attack ship formations continued to undertake their respective combat missions, guarding the sea lanes between the Azores and North American ports, and strategically weakening the combat strength of the US and British forces on the Atlantic front.

All military secrets have their shelf life, and after a little longer, the news that King Joachim I of Ireland had returned to the territory and was the commander of the Allied fleet and the Azores theater gradually spread, and even so, Natsuki instructed the German military top brass to officially announce his appointment and dismissal, and as soon as the announcement came out, the news related to it was overwhelming, and most of the military and civilians in Germany and Ireland responded positively to it. Natsuki struck while the iron was hot and personally visited the garrison units of São Miguel and Santa Maria to inspect them, which greatly boosted the morale of the soldiers at the front.

A few days later, the German-Irish army joined forces to conquer Tyne, an important stronghold of the British Native Army in northern Scotland, so that the large-scale defense of the American and British camps in Britain had completely failed, the British royal family, government and military institutions were all transferred to Canada, and the remnants of the troops left in Britain were forced to turn to guerrilla warfare and island defense, and the German General Staff could not wait to announce to the world that they had won a brilliant victory in the Battle of Britain with their Irish allies, and the war in Europe would be completely extinguished in the next few weeks. And the combat operation for the full recovery of the Azores has begun, and it will not be long before the front will move from the middle of the Atlantic to North America......

Stimulated by this favorable situation, the Kingdom of Italy, which had hesitated and delayed for a long time, finally made the decision to enter the war, and the Italian military immediately signed the German-Italian military memorandum agreed with the German General Staff, which meant that at least 200,000 Italian troops and a powerful task force would leave for the Middle East within a few weeks to join the German, Turkish, and Irish armies against the forces of the Great Persian State supported by the United States and Britain -- in the presence of Ottoman Turkey's neutrality and Soviet Russia's continued wait-and-see posture. The US and British troops stationed in British India and the eastern shores of the Arabian Sea and the German-Irish forces in the Persian Gulf region have neither room for a big fight nor the motivation to fight to the death, but the special geography and great value of the Middle East are there, and once the attention of the US and British camps is diverted from the Azores, this will certainly be the next battlefield of fierce confrontation.

Not surprisingly, the entry of the Kingdom of Italy into the war immediately set off a chain reaction, and the Habsburgs, who had also hesitated for many days, announced their entry into the war, and the Austro-Hungarian Chief of the General Staff, Archduke Joseph August, signed a German-Austrian military memorandum in Berlin on September 24, and the dual monarchy with a standing army of 300,000 will carry out two echelons of military mobilization in the next three months, sending no less than 200,000 elite troops and a certain number of ships and aircraft to fight abroad.

In the eyes of many, the entry of Italy and Austria-Hungary into the war has long been a foregone conclusion, but they do not know the twists and turns behind it. Now that the dust has settled, the ensuing political repercussions are undoubtedly far-reaching, and at the military level, although the two navies will not send capital ships to participate in the battle of the Atlantic, a certain number of cruisers and destroyers will be sent to the Atlantic to assist in the operation, greatly easing the pressure on the German and Irish navies to protect shipping lines and implement coastal guard.

The change in strategic situation gave Lars greater certainty about the island-hopping operation proposed, and although the first Italian-Austrian ships would not arrive at the front line until early October, Natsuki confidently issued an order for battle on 29 September.

In order to capture Corvo, the first problem to be solved was the American and British air forces stationed on the island of Flores. From aerial reconnaissance intelligence, it is estimated that its strength has reached the peak of history, including the fighters transferred from Texel, there are currently at least 300 fighters and 500 other types of aircraft on the island, and in the state of high alert of the defenders, even if all four aircraft carriers are deployed in the main fleet of the Central Powers, it is difficult to seize air supremacy, and the land-based air forces of San Miguel and Santa Maria are the key to victory.

In the early morning of 30 September, the Allied air force units that had taken turns to recuperate were dispatched in a swarm, and with the exception of some wings responsible for the feint, most of the fighters were attacking from Texel Island, which was not far away, to Flores Island, more than 300 kilometers away, and the distance was the first obstacle that the Allied pilots had to overcome. After more than an hour of flight, the first wave of 88 Ju-30 tactical bombers approached Flores Island under the cover of 95 Fokker G-51s and 36 Me-50s, and the airspace ahead was occupied by hundreds of American and British fighters taking off to meet them. For this crucial head-to-head confrontation, the two sides were determined to win, and most of the main aircraft with excellent performance were put into battle, and most of the pilots were the elite of their respective camps, and the fiercest, most exciting and most tragic scene of the Azores campaign was staged.

Under the strong and effective unified command of the Theater Command, the attack of the air force has just begun, and the attack of the naval aircraft carrier is like an arrow from the string. The He-25, Me-50T, and IR-30T that took off from aircraft carriers and auxiliary aircraft carriers went into battle one after another, and the maritime attack echelon composed of 70 carrier-based fighters and 26 carrier-based bombers stepped on a precise rhythm and entered the battlefield. Although most of the carrier-based planes were intercepted by the US and British fighters outside the coastline of the island, and suffered considerable losses in the battle, this kind of wheel warfare-style attack in turn was effective, and by the afternoon of the battle, the Allied bombers had basically paralyzed the three airfields of the US and British troops on Flores Island, and all the hard runways were bombed, and because of the lack of flat and open grass on the island, the US and British fighters could only use the trimmed sandy and dirt roads to take off and land, and the efficiency and safety of the sortie were greatly reduced.

The battle for air supremacy in the northern Azores went well, and by dusk the artillery fleet under the command of the German dreadnought "Elector" approached the island of Flores from the southwest and launched an artillery bombardment from a position about 20 kilometers from the island after nightfall. It is worth mentioning that under the radio guidance of their own ships, Ju-28 heavy bombers took off from San Miguel Island and carried out two rounds of night bombing on Flores Island that night.

On October 1 and 2, the warring sides continued to engage in aerial battles, and American and British fighter planes deployed on various islands joined the battle, shooting down 171 Allied fighters on October 1 alone, setting a new record since the Battle of Texel Island, and losing nearly 200 fighters, more than a third of which were destroyed on the ground......

In the early morning of 3 October, when a group of bombers with the Iron Cross logo painted on their wings flew to Flores Island under the cover of fighter planes, only 21 American and British fighters came to meet them.

On the same day, US reconnaissance planes taking off from Pico Island spotted a build-up of transport ships in the southern part of São Miguel Island and the western part of Santa Maria Island, and thousands of Marine units were on standby at various ports and docks.

Receiving the warning from the command, the British Admiral Chatfield, who had taken command of the fleet, hurriedly adjusted its deployment, and the light ships stationed on the islands quickly assembled on Flores Island to enhance the island's maritime vigilance and defense capability, while the main fleet moved from the waters of Tercel Island to Pico Island, which was not far away, in order to intercept the Allied landing fleet sailing from the southeastern tip of the Azores to the northwest end.

In the view of the US and British generals and even many neutral observers, although the Allied forces have mastered air superiority through high-intensity air raids for several days, they have not essentially changed the strategic posture of the two sides in the Azores, and you must know that the US and British forces have nearly 300,000 well-trained and well-equipped combat troops, more than twice as many as the Allied forces, and before the arrival of the Austrian warships, the number of US and British warships is still more than that of the Allied countries, and the number of aircraft available for combat is still at a scale that the opponent cannot take lightly. It was only confidence and morale that really had the upper hand, and as long as we could slow down and respond correctly, it would not be too much of a problem to thwart the overly aggressive counteroffensive of the Allied forces.

(End of chapter)