By the evening of April 19, 1945, the beach line of Hare Bay Island and its vicinity, which stretched for several kilometres, was full of supplies and troops, and the sappers had even built a very rudimentary field airfield in the wilderness of Hare Bay Island. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The Russian and Finnish military personnel showed a rare spirit of cooperation on this occasion, and together with the crews of the landing fleets from Germany and France, they had been transferring for thirty or forty hours in a row, and they had also built a number of defensive positions and antiaircraft artillery positions. Each of them is overdrawn by their physical strength and spirit, and they are doing super physical labor. But the landing force of the two brigades was still not finished, not to mention the large number of vehicles and artillery they had, as well as the light "Olga" tank destroyers.

In order to make the troops on the expedition to North America a little more comfortable on the road (because the landing force used is not a Marine Corps that is accustomed to the wind and waves at sea, so the comfort on the way must be considered), in this "Iceberg Plan", the landing force flew on two amphibious assault ships of the "Bremen" class. The amphibious assault ship of this class is not completely refitted, and there is no stern hatch and landing craft cabin, so it is very troublesome to carry out the landing of vehicles and heavy equipment, and the vehicle can only be hoisted onto the landing craft with the crane on board. This kind of hoisting operation must be carried out when the visibility is good and the wind and waves are not large, and the efficiency is very low.

As a result, the transfer and landing operations took almost 40 hours, and only about 40 vehicles and 50 artillery pieces (including heavy mortars) were actually transported to the beachhead. Relying on this heavy equipment and less than 2 brigades of officers and men, they could not withstand the Yankees' large-scale counterattack.

And just as the transfer landing operation was racing against time, a fierce air battle was going on over Hare Bay Island and Hare Bay. Under the clouds, hundreds of fighter planes strangled together, large, small, single, double, and quadruple, strings of bullets and shells, bombs and rockets, drawing their own lines in the sea and sky, and from time to time fighters that were quickly planted after being shot and umbrellas with pilots descended from the sky.

This was the third wave of large-scale air strikes launched by the Americans on April 19, and like the previous two times, more than 500 warplanes were dispatched. Not only air strikes were inflicted on the beachhead where the landing, but also the 21st Task Force and the landing fleet on the surface of the sea were attacked.

At this time, the bombs of the Americans continued to fall on the beachhead full of armed weapons and equipment, and each bomb came down, splashing huge pillars of sand. At the same time, everything that could be affected by the shock wave in the vicinity was overturned and blown up, and it also caused a lot of casualties to the officers and men of the Russian and Finnish troops operating on the beachhead, and made the beachhead landing operation even more chaotic.

In addition, in the ocean near Hare Bay, the 21st Task Force and the landing fleet, which were in anti-aircraft formation, also suffered considerable losses. The Americans' F7F has finally proven its worth once again in today's operation. With their sturdy fuselage and extremely fast dive speed, they broke through the air defense of the European Combined Fleet again and again, dropped many heavy bombs on the decks of two large amphibious assault ships, deprived the two giant ships of the ability to take off and land aircraft (the Fokker Zero fighters on the ship had long been transferred to the field airfield on Hare Bay Island), and also blew up the heavy cruiser Deutschland to serious damage.

However, US fighters also paid a high price on the 19th, and in the first two waves of air raids alone, more than 200 fighters were shot down by German fighters, antiaircraft guns, and ship-to-air missiles.

Both Reinhardt and Ribbentrop the Younger had not closed their eyes for forty or fifty hours, and Reinhardt was one of the first officers to land, and his task was to provide a forward station for the brigade headquarters of the 1st Panzergrenadier Brigade of the Russian Royal Guards. And the younger Ribbentrop also took part of the personnel of the 1st Panzergrenadier Brigade of the Russian Royal Guards to the island of Hare Bay in the later period. The brigade headquarters set up a temporary command in a wooded area selected by Reinhardt. Now the brigade commander, Colonel Levizo, had not yet come ashore, so Ribbentrop the Younger took command. For more than 30 hours, he kept urging the troops to build fortifications and camps on Hare Bay Island and the northern beachhead of Hare Bay, and also sent a reconnaissance detachment to search the vicinity, but he did not find any Allied troops, and there was not even any trace of troops participating in the stationing here.

However, little Ribbentrop still did not dare to let down his vigilance, and stayed up until the night of April 19, still sitting on a pile of ammunition boxes with red eyes, listening to the Russian staff officer's report on the landing and reconnaissance.

"Colonel (Russian rank), on the twenty-fourth, our 1st Royal Guards Panzergrenadier Brigade will be able to land all."

"During the day today, several companies in charge of reconnaissance have advanced 10-15 kilometers inland, and more than a dozen fire positions have been established. And in the process, no enemy troops were encountered. It seems that the Americans did not deploy any defensive forces in this area. ”

Little Ribbentrop exhaled and turned his head to look at Reinhardt, who was already a little drowsy.

"What do you think? Reinhardt? ”

"Oh, it looks like we can stand our ground," Reinhardt said, "and we seem to have taken the Americans by surprise." ”

"Really?" Ribbentrop Jr. shook his head, "I'm not as optimistic as you, I always have a hunch...... We're going to lose a lot on the beachhead in North America! ”

"Heavy losses? Why? ”

"Isn't that obvious?" Ribbentrop Jr. frowned, "That's our mission, we're the bait...... That's why they landed on the most remote beachhead in North America. Now we can't go anywhere, we have to stay here and wait for the Americans to come to the door themselves. And they will definitely be fooled, just like the bait operations planned by the General Staff in the past.

So we will inevitably have a bitter battle, which will attract the attention of the Americans and create the conditions for a landing in the Caribbean. ”

Ribbentrop Jr. guessed his mission, but he didn't guess the real target. Like everyone else, he still thinks the real attack will take place in the Caribbean.

Like Ribbentrop Jr., the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the night of April 19 agreed that the main attack would take place in the Caribbean.

If it weren't for Truman's request, the Joint Chiefs of Staff would not have even sent a part of the 18th Air Force (the 18th Airborne Army has five airborne divisions, namely the 101st Airborne Division, the 82nd Airborne Division, the 11th Airborne Division, the 13th Airborne Division, and the 17th Airborne Division) to the coast of Labrador to fight back.

"Mr. Secretary," Army Chief of Staff Marshall reported to Wallace at the Joint Chiefs of Staff meeting on the evening of April 19, "that the 82nd Airborne Division and the 101st Airborne Division are ready, and that tomorrow morning the 82nd Airborne Division will be airborne near Hare Bay." The 101st Airborne Division will be airborne on April 20 or 21. Throwing 2 divisions at once should be enough to drive the Germans who landed in Labrador into the sea. ”

"2 divisions should be enough." Wallace had the same view of the German troops who landed in Labrador as the Joint Chiefs of Staff - it must have been a feint, it was impossible to attack the main attack there, and as for building a large airfield there to take off and land the Me264 to bomb New York and Boston, it was easier said than done.

There is not even a decent port there, how can construction machinery and building materials go ashore? Moreover, the air raids of the Army Air Corps were not vegetarian, and during the day on the 19th alone, more than 1,500 warplanes visited Hare Bay.

Under such circumstances, it is enough to build a few field airfields that can take off and land small planes like the Fokker Zero, and it is simply a dream to build a large airfield.

"Then let's act," Wallace said, "and the American people need a morale-boosting victory." ”

In fact, the morale of the American people who do not know the truth is quite high, and the morale is low because of the high-ranking government officials and monopoly chaebols who know the truth.

"Okay, okay." William. Leahy nodded repeatedly.

At this time, Wallace suddenly saw the solemn face of Admiral Arnold, the commander of the Army Air Corps, who had just returned from Canada, so he asked, "Henry, is the air force still enough?" ”

"A little nervous." Henry. Arnold shook his head, "The Germans are advancing too fast, and their combat effectiveness is even stronger than we imagined...... And the losses of aviation forces in Canada are too great. If you don't add to it, I'm afraid there will be problems. ”

"Questions?" Wallace asked, "Henry, do you think the Germans will land on Newfoundland or Nova Scotia?" ”

"This ...... Not likely. "Henry. Arnold shook his head. "But we still have a gap in our strength in eastern Canada. I propose that the 14th and 15th air forces stationed in South America be immediately withdrawn and strengthened to Canada. ”

The 14th and 15th Air Forces, which were mainly responsible for air strikes on Buenos Aires, were stationed in Chile and Brazil, respectively, and the latter were mainly responsible for supporting the Brazilian army in operations.

If these 2 air flotillas were to be completely withdrawn, it would mean a total rout of the United States in South America. Because as soon as the American air force is gone, the ground forces in Chile will naturally have to be withdrawn. Without the support of the U.S. Air Force, the Brazilians would have had no choice but to lose. As a result, the already precarious new Asbanian dictator Juan . Peron would become a figure at the level of the Father of the Nation.

"Mr. Minister," Arnold certainly knew Wallace's thoughts - the "loss" of South America was very painful. "Compared to South America, North America is our foundation, and the risk should be minimized."

Wallace nodded, and just as he wanted to agree, a phone on the conference table suddenly rang, Wallace picked up the phone receiver, and the voice of Donovan, the director of strategic intelligence, came.

"Henry, I just got news from Buenos Aires that today at noon there was a massive protest in front of the Plaza de la Rosary, where more than 100,000 people gathered to oppose Juan. Peron's militaristic line! ”