"5,000? So many? "Kennedy was replaced by William. Leahy's report was taken aback. Although he has no experience in the army and fighting, he has made up a lot of military knowledge these days for the sake www.biquge.info of campaigning, of course he knows what it means to have so many fighters?

"Actually," Leahy frowned, looking very worried, "there are more fighters that the Germans can put into the Guyana-Caribbean theater than that." Because they also have a number of aircraft carriers, which can carry about 2000 or so carrier-based aircraft. ”

"That's 7,000 planes...... Kennedy's gaze swept over a few uniformed generals in the conference room, "how many planes do we have deployed in Trinidad?" ”

"There are about 4,000 army, navy and marine aircraft on the island of Trinidad." Admiral Arnold, commander of army aviation, replied that "there are about 6,000 warplanes in Venezuela, the Leeward Islands, the Windward Islands, Puerto Rico, Panama." In addition, we have about 1,500 warplanes in the northern Brazilian theater, 1,300 in the Panama Canal Zone, and no less than 1,200 planes in other Pirates of the Caribbean. ”

Admiral Arnold gave a flurry of numbers, and Kennedy did the math a little, "About 14,000?" It doesn't seem like enough. ”

The 14,000 was of course twice as large as the 7,000, but Kennedy also knew that his forces were scattered on his side, and the performance of the fighters and the quality of the pilots were inferior to those of the opponent.

"We also plan to increase the strength of the Caribbean front." Ernest. King assured Kennedy, "And we also have a large number of carrier forces and carrier-based aircraft, ready to be reinforced." ”

In the last Battle of Bermuda, the American battleship force was nearly wiped out. However, the aircraft carriers did not suffer much loss (carrier-based aircraft were lost quite a lot), and in the three months of October, November, and December, many fleet aircraft carriers and escort aircraft carriers were commissioned one after another, and the current lineup of US aircraft carriers can be described as unprecedentedly strong.

The loss of carrier-based aircraft pilots has also been compensated for in the past 3 months, returning to more than 4000 people (referring to the captain). Although a large number of novices who were replenished to the naval aviation were not satisfactory in terms of technical level and combat experience, the number was sufficient.

The naval aviation also adjusted the composition of carrier-based aircraft forces based on the experience of the Bermuda campaign. Carrier-based aircraft of the SBD and TBF series were largely eliminated, and only the TBM/TBF-20W carrier-based radar alert aircraft with the AN/APS-3 radar installed were retained as the eyes and ears of the fleet. And the replacement of ships are fighters/fighter-bombers such as F4U and F6F. At the same time, the ship-based work of the F7F is also advancing in full swing, and if everything goes well, a carrier-based F7F will appear in the second half of 45.

The development of the two-seater version (combat bombardment) of the land-based F7F Tiger Cat fighter is progressing faster, and its first flight was carried out in early December and it was successful. In the first quarter of '45, it should be ready for trial production, and then the US aircraft carrier force will have a truly powerful attack force.

In addition, the US Army Air Corps has a very strange heavy fighter that is about to enter service. The development designation for this aircraft was XP-82. It was developed by North American Airlines on the basis of the P-51, which had a very large brain hole, and North American Airlines proposed to connect the fuselages of the two P-51s together by a rectangular middle wing segment and a horizontal tail, and retain the outer wing segment of the P-51, forming a double fuselage monster.

Because it was "assembled" by two P-51s, this aircraft had greater extreme range, speed, and heavy firepower than the P-51. The original plan of the U.S. Army Air Corps was that the P-82 would take on a long-range escort mission, covering the B-29 to bomb Japanese targets in Southeast Asia.

However, although the situation is completely different from what was expected, the US Army Air Corps was pleasantly surprised to find that the P-82 was the "heavy long-range fighter-bomber" that they continued, and its range, speed, firepower, and bomb load surpassed that of the P-61, which was originally developed as a night fighter. It was quite possible to take on the task of striking German long-range bombers and the surface fleet during the day. So in the last two months of 1944, this brainy aircraft received a huge amount of orders, and it was included in the list of top priority production.

After introducing the development plan for the new fighter, Admiral Arnold assured Kennedy that "as long as the carrier-based version of the F7F Tiger Cat and the P-82 Twin Mustang are in service in large quantities, the security of the East Coast of the United States and the Caribbean will be adequately guaranteed." We will be able to intercept German long-range bombers and surface fleets to ensure that missiles do not fall on the heads of the American people in large numbers. ”

"But the development process of aircraft is very long, isn't it?" Kennedy frowned and asked, "What are we going to do until these two new aircraft are developed and heavily equipped with troops?" ”

"We should defend the Caribbean with all our might," said William. Raisi picked up the conversation and said, "At the same time, continue to bring about the collapse of the new Asbanian Federation through major bombardments and ground offensives...... This is the best option that the Joint Chiefs of Staff considers. ”

The president's chief of staff was a little reluctant to answer Kennedy's questions, as the door to a "humiliating peace" was temporarily closed by Roosevelt's death and the November election.

Therefore, as the president's military staff, the Joint Chiefs of Staff can only make a plan to fight hard. However, judging from the current situation, the situation seems to be better than expected.

The Germans are also showing some signs of weakness, and perhaps the more than 5-year-long war has also made these "blonde supermen" feel difficult, right?

"The key is to defend the Caribbean, right?" Kennedy did not have much hope for the dismantling of the new Asbanian Federation - the Germans were mobilizing the Russian Air Expeditionary Force there! It is said that a few hundred more Fw190 fighters will be added, and the loss rate of the next 1,000-plane bombing will probably break 20%.

Several generals in military uniforms exchanged glances with each other and nodded in unison.

"That's right! The key is the Caribbean! ”

"We're going to hold it there!"

……

When Kennedy returned to Washington, D.C., the Chief of the General Staff of the German Empire, Marshal Hersmann, with his private secretary Natalie and Chief Adjutant Heinz Anderson. Colonel Brandt had just arrived in the icy city of Petrograd.

He had a "secret visit" to Petrograd, so Empress Olga did not give him a grand welcome, so he was able to see the true face of the Russian Empire under the Empress.

The capital of the Russian Empire seems to have recovered somewhat from 1943, but it is still in depression.

Supply in the city is still very tight, with very few shops open for business. In the minus 20 degrees Celsius, Hersman saw elderly men and women in fur hats or turbans lining up in front of one of the few shops still open on Nevsky Prospekt — a food supply point that was supposed to sell brown bread, margarine and milk.

In addition to the people queuing up to buy food, there are many men and women on Nevsky Street who walk to work in thick cotton clothes against the Russian wind and snow.

Prince Yusupov, who greeted him at the airport, told Hersman that there were very few buses in Petrograd (as a whole of Russia) and that fares were too expensive for wages, and that most people preferred to walk more to work.

However, Hersman felt that even if the Russians were willing to pay for a car, Petrograd would not necessarily have enough cars for them, because there were really few cars on the road, most of them were made in Germany and France, and there was hardly a Russian car - the Russian automobile industry was almost non-existent now, the Soviet Union's years of accumulation and development were destroyed in the war, the Volga Automobile City, which had been built at great expense, was in ruins, and most of the engineers and workers went to Siberia and Central Asia. But even if they don't leave, the factory won't be demolished, and nothing can be produced now. Because most of the factories that supply automobile factories have been devastated.

The industrial system of the USSR, which was not inherited by the Russian Empire, collapsed because of the war!

The factories built under the planned economic system on the dictates of the state are very dependent on this large and comprehensive industrial system -- the factory managers have no idea how to find markets, materials, and technologies.

So apart from some arsenals, shipyards, oil fields and mines that were actually taken over by the German military industry, as well as vodka distilleries that could not be stopped in Russia, there were almost no industrial enterprises in operation in the Soviet Union.

However, the Russian empress and her government, who cherish her current position, do not dare to use any "shock therapy" to push a large number of unsustainable state-owned enterprises into the market at once.

Instead, the Russian Empire now follows the Soviet system of management, relying on the limited financial resources of the government to barely keep those enterprises afloat. So that most adult Russian city dwellers would have a place to go for a modest salary – but not in rubles, which will soon depreciate, but in the more reassuring Euromark.

And for ordinary Russians, the opportunity to earn a little more money is not out of the question. Now there are two ways to "get rich" in front of the Russians. One is to go to Western Europe to work - this requires some skills or some German or French; The second is to participate in the Russian Expeditionary Force and go to the Germans as cannon fodder to attack the United States.