Hersman was referring to the B-29 long-range bomber!

Historically, the strategic reason for Japan's defeat in the Pacific Ocean was, of course, a huge gap in national strength. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info And the tactical reasons, in addition to the defeat at Midway, the attrition in the South Pacific, and the success of the American submarine breaking engagement, are probably the strategic bombing of the B-29 - the last blow to Japan, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was also the B-29!

And at the moment, it is impossible to bomb the Japanese mainland with B-29s. The United States simply could not find an airfield that would have access to the Japanese mainland, unless the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. But where did Stalin, who had long been a "clay father" now, have the strength to compete with Japan?

But that doesn't mean the dreaded B-29 bomber is out of use. The B-29 can take off from northwest Australia to bomb the oil fields of Southeast Asia! And with the high-altitude and high-speed performance of the B-29, it may be difficult for Japan to defend itself.

And once Japan's oil fields in Southeast Asia are destroyed by American bombers, Japan's war potential will decline rapidly.

"Is it the kind of long-range aircraft that is no less powerful than the Me264?" Kesselring frowned deeply, he had been having a headache with this kind of plane. "Although it is not known how effective they are as bombers, they can also greatly improve the combat effectiveness of American submarines as long-range reconnaissance aircraft. Once deployed to Australia, the Japanese oil tankers will probably suffer heavy losses! ”

The tactic of using reconnaissance planes and submarines to fight together was invented by the Germans and achieved good results in the North Atlantic.

At that time, the Germans were using reconnaissance planes modified from the Fw-200, which were not only inferior to the B-29 in speed, ceiling, and combat radius, but also inferior to the B-29 in terms of on-board electronic equipment -- at that time, Germany's airborne radar was still the first generation, but there was no high-performance airborne sea-to-sea search radar that could detect several hundred kilometers today.

However, even the Fw-200, whose performance is not very satisfactory, also plays a very key role in the North Atlantic.

Because the most ideal submarine tactic is to set up ambushes in groups, with the anti-submarine capabilities of Japan's escort destroyers (Japan's destroyers are too small in number, and most of them are concentrated in the main fleet), if they are ambushed by wolves of dozens of submarines, they will definitely suffer heavy losses.

And the difficulty of the cluster ambush is, of course, to detect the enemy's escort ship group in advance. If the enemy cannot be discovered early enough, it can only set up ambushes in a few key sea lanes (the Taiwan Strait and the Bass Strait), but Japan still has a certain number of antisubmarine patrol planes (most of them are modified with land attack planes and seaplanes, but there are also some "East China Sea" antisubmarine patrol planes with good performance), which are sufficient to blockade and patrol key sea areas -- submarines are not without the power to resist in the face of antisubmarine patrol planes with superior performance, and submarines have antiaircraft guns. Moreover, there are specially designed anti-aircraft submarines in the Atlantic theater (invented by the British in this time and space, and the Americans now have this thing), which have knocked out many German anti-submarine patrol aircraft (modified with Fw-200), and Germany has also used the same means to fight American planes on the east coast of the United States......

However, submarines are relatively weak in the face of aircraft. Therefore, once the B-29 (reconnaissance type) appears in the South China Sea, it will become a great threat to Japan's anti-submarine operations!

"Now our Japanese friends are going to be out of luck." Marshal Kesselring, who has been fighting on the front line of the anti-American war for a long time, knows how difficult it is for the United States to deal with, so he also knows the value of Japan very well, "Ludwig, we can't let the Americans destroy the oil fields in Southeast Asia, and we can't let them succeed in breaking the war. ”

Hersman nodded, noncommittal.

Kesselring added: "Japan can be provided with the Fw-190C/D model for high-altitude volley operations. ”

At this time and space, although Germany had not been strategically bombed, under the instructions of Hersmann, Germany had always attached great importance to the development of high-altitude and high-speed interceptors. At present, the main high-altitude and high-speed interceptor of the Luftwaffe is the Fw-190C/D series, and the Me262 jet aircraft, which is not mass-produced, is actually a high-altitude and high-speed interceptor.

Now it is impossible for Germany to supply a large number of Me262s to Japan, and Japan cannot afford to equip them (2 tons of high-quality aviation kerosene for 1 hour, 2 ultra-expensive jet engines for 100 hours), but Japan can still afford to use the high-altitude interceptors of the Fw-190C/D series.

"No," Hersman thought for a moment, but rejected Kesselring's suggestion, "let's have our air force and radar stationed in Surabaya...... Let the Japanese hand over the port of Surabaya to us, and we will block the American bombers for them. ”

"Surabaya?" Kesselring didn't understand Hersmann's intentions for a while, but Admiral Canaris reacted quickly and immediately asked, "Imperial Marshal, do you want to help Britain recover Australia?" ”

Located just over 1,600 kilometers off the northwest coast of Australia, the port of Surabaya in the eastern part of Java is a springboard for attacking Australia from Southeast Asia.

For the British government, now in London, Australia is a "fallen zone" controlled by the United States that must be recovered. And Germany, of course, wants to turn Australia and New Zealand into the territory of the European Community - that's a lot of territory, and it's rich in coal, iron and uranium!

Therefore, after Leningrad was changed back to Petrograd, the German General Staff began to plan the operation to "recover" Australia, and also tested Japan's attitude. However, there was no positive response -- Japan was certainly not active, and if Germany had taken Siberia and the Far East in the north, India in the west, and Australia in the south, it would have been possible to imagine what the future situation would be for Japan.

And now Hersman intends to take advantage of the presence of American B-29s in Australia to force Japan to allow Germany to occupy the Surabaya base.

In this way, the German and British armies could use Surabaya as a springboard to "recover" Australia.

"I'm afraid Japan won't agree, right?" Canaris shook his head and said that he was not a pure soldier, but a veteran spy, and he was very familiar with the bumps and bumps between Japan and Germany.

"But Australia and New Zealand must also be recovered," Hirschman said, "and how can you not recover such a large territory?" This is non-negotiable. If we don't take advantage of the difficulties encountered by the Japanese now, I am afraid that it will be even more difficult in the future. ”

He paused and said: "We can leak the news of the possible strategic bombing of Southeast Asian oil fields by the United States to the Japanese side and see how they react." ”

……

Now that the Japanese military delegation in Germany has been evacuated, the channels for high-level exchanges between the two militaries are still open.

Therefore, on February 12, Tokyo time, the Japanese base camp learned that the United States might transfer long-range bombers to Australia through Midway.

"Strategic bombing of the South Sea oil fields? Is this a possibility? Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo asked.

"Yes." Takeo Yasuda, head of the Army Aviation Headquarters, immediately gave an affirmative answer, "The Germans Me264 can perform such a task, and the Americans have long attached importance to the development of long-range bombers, and it is entirely possible to have the same product." ”

"So do we have a fighter that can shoot down the Me264?" Hideki Tojo asked again.

"Yes," replied Yasuda Takeo, "the Type 3 'Feiyan' fighter with engines imported from Germany would have enough high-altitude performance to fight the Me264." At present, Kawasaki is imitating and upgrading the DB601E engine of the German Mercedes-Benz company, and it is believed that it will soon be able to come up with a domestic model with better high-altitude performance. ”

In fact, the DB601E is not an engine for extreme altitudes, but for medium altitudes. But its high-altitude performance is better than any Japanese engine, and there is some room for improvement. For example, the use of a supercharger that is more adapted to the extremely high-altitude environment and the addition of a laughing gas combustion system - this will add a lot of weight to the three-type "Feiyan", but it can be reduced by reducing the fuel tank.

In addition, the Japanese Army Aviation Headquarters did conduct comprehensive tests on the Me264, including "interception tests".

In the end, it was concluded that the Type 3 "Feiyan" II fighter could occupy a high-altitude position in advance under the command of the radar, and then smash the Me264 to pieces with a dive attack and powerful firepower (2 20mm cannons and 2 12.7mm machine guns).

Tojo thought for a moment and said, "In this case, the Aviation Headquarters will come up with a batch of improved 'Feiyan' models that can be used at high altitudes as soon as possible for the air defense of the Palembang Oilfield...... It is also possible to concentrate a batch of Type 3 120mm anti-aircraft guns in Palembang. This would give the incoming B-29 a devastating blow that would not dare to peek into the South Seas again. ”

The Type 3 "Feiyan" II has now been partially produced, but it has been transferred to the Hawaiian Islands, and now that Midway Island is occupied by the United States, and Palmyra Atoll is also under the onslaught of the American forces (Task Force 31), it cannot be used as a transfer airfield for the "Feiyan" II Type 3.

Therefore, it is now difficult to transfer the Type II "Feiyan" in the Hawaiian Islands, but the Army Aviation Headquarters still has dozens of DB601 engines in its hands that can be used, and dozens of Type II "Feiyan" II can be assembled immediately.

"There is also a way to intercept the long-range bombers of the US military," Yasuda Takeo proposed another method at this time, "Use jets to intercept!" ”

"Jet?" Tojo was stunned for a moment, "We have such a plane?" ”

"There are 200!" "The Silver Reaper is actually a jet that can be used to intercept high-altitude, high-speed bombers like the Me264 with a little refinement," Yasuda said. And...... The effect is far better than that of the Type 3 'Feiyan' II fighter. ”