On August 23, 1944, the night covered the mouth of the Demerala River, and the cloudless night sky was full of stars and was almost connected with the surface of the Atlantic Ocean reflecting a little sparkle in the moonlight. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info Such a night with good weather is really suitable for a landing battle that can change the fate of mankind.

On the south bank of the Demerala River, the shantytown-strewn city of Georgetown seems to have completely become an empty city with no people. The whole city was dark, and there was not the slightest sign of arming on the beachhead suitable for landing. It was only a few old bulk carriers that were scuttled in the estuary and near the small port of Georgetown, with the superstructure still exposed, and the dismantled and destroyed wharf facilities, that the European Community army did indeed take some defensive measures.

The "Fletcher"-class destroyer "William Brown" belonging to the 31.8th Destroyer Group of the US Navy. D. Porter", at about 9 p.m. on the 24th, under the cover of night, ventured close to the mouth of the Demerala River.

The bow of this "Fletcher"-class destroyer is now equipped with a "Minesweeper" specially designed to deal with anchor mines, and three or four kilometers in front of it, there is a "Sea Raven"-class minesweeper with a degaussed hull. The 890-ton hull is not only equipped with a "Mine Breaker" that can cut the anchor and mine chains, but also an electromagnetic minesweeper that can simulate the magnetism emitted by the hull.

These two US warships formed a small mine-sweeping formation, and together with a dozen other formations of the same composition, they had to clear a sea area that could be attacked by the US landing formation that was preparing to launch a landing operation in the shortest possible time.

In "William. Inside the bridge of the USS D. Porter, Wilfred. While Captain Walter was at the helm himself, he silently prayed to God Almighty in his heart that nothing bad would happen to him again.

His fears were not unfounded, because "William. The destroyer "D. Porter" has often encountered all sorts of bad luck since it entered service, either colliding with friendly ships, accidentally dropping depth charges in the sea and causing a false alarm for the entire fleet, or a torpedo that almost sank the Soviet Union (which happened at the end of June 1943 when the Soviet Union broke through the Danish Strait and ran to the United States), or the ship's guns fired at the naval base by mistake......

In short, all kinds of bad luck have happened, and if it weren't for the rapid expansion of the U.S. Navy in recent years, and the shortage of officers who can serve as captains, Captain Walter feels that he has probably been expelled from the Navy.

But this time "William. The "D. Porter" was on an unlucky minesweeping mission! If there is a little mistake, it is not as simple as losing your job, but it is about giving away your life.

And Captain Walter and "William. D. Porter", all the crew of the "Potter" need to pay attention now not only to the German mines that will explode under the water, but also to be careful with the elusive torpedo boats and submarines of the Germans, and of course, the Krupp cannons that I don't know where they are!

With "William. The thin hull of the destroyer D. Porter will probably not end well in the face of mines, torpedo boats, submarines, or shore defense guns of more than 200 mm.

Just in "William. D. Potter" everyone on the bridge held their breath, nervous enough to faint. The telephone rang suddenly, and then the second mate of the destroyer was heard shouting: "Sir, the radar has detected enemy aircraft!" Distance 80, Azimuth 200, Quantity 10, Altitude 800......"

"What? What the? Azimuth 200? Captain Walter was stunned, "Over the land of British Guiana?" The height is only 800 ...... Did you fly towards us? Hurry up and ask clearly. ”

A few minutes later, the second officer again reported loudly: "Sir, the enemy plane disappeared from the radar screen, perhaps a false alarm." ”

"It must be another false positive!" Captain Walter shook his head and said, "The briefing says that the Germans have no airfield near Georgetown. ”

"Sir, do you need to report it?" The second officer of the destroyer was somewhat uncertain.

"Report to ......" Captain Walter couldn't make up his mind, when a loud "boom" suddenly came from the front, startling everyone. Captain Walter didn't bother to consider the "radar false alarm" incident -- the kind of thing that would have a negative impact on "William Brown." D. Porter" was not an accident at all - quickly squinted his eyes and looked ahead.

There was no fire on the sea, and by the moonlight, you could see that the minesweepers ahead were slowly turning. At this moment, another loud bang came. Captain Walter exhaled softly, "Turn, the 'Little Branch' is dropping depth charges, let's turn to dropping depth charges." ”

Dropping depth charges is a method of rapid mine clearance that can be used in relatively narrow sea areas - dropping depth charges all the way along long routes is impossible and too costly. Moreover, there is a high probability that the detonation of mines with depth charges will be missed, so it can only be used as an emergency measure.

Moreover, the movement of dropping depth charges is very large, and it is very easy to attract the bombardment of shore artillery, and the hull of a ship that drops depth charges to sweep mines before the landing operation is really a big risk.

By the time the sound of depth charges exploding reached the distant Atlantic Ocean, it was so faint that it was almost inaudible. The Grand Fleet, which loaded and guarded the main force of the US 5th Amphibious Army, had already launched a murderous battle array of hundreds of square nautical miles on the ocean off Georgetown.

This is, of course, an unprecedented fleet of unprecedented size, which can probably only be compared with the American attacking fleet in the Second Battle of the Hawaiian Islands. Nine of the world's most powerful battleships (4 Iowa-class, 4 Soviet-class, 1 North Carolina-class), 4 large fleet aircraft carriers and 20 escort aircraft carriers, as well as two or three hundred other combat ships of various types, covering hundreds of transport ships and landing ships, have formed a landing formation on the dark sea. Hundreds of light cruisers and destroyers formed a semicircular warning circle on the periphery, and in the center of the warning circle were battleships and aircraft carriers that were also firmly guarded by destroyers and light cruisers, and in front of the battleships and aircraft carriers were landing ships preparing to rush to the beach, some of which had already laid down large and small landing craft, and the American GIs who were fully equipped or the tanks and cars they drove had already squeezed into the "belly" of the landing craft, waiting to fight to the death against the Germans for the democracy and freedom of the Guyana people.

In order to avoid being discovered by German planes or submarines, all the ships on the sea did not turn on their searchlights, but hundreds of anti-air and sea-to-sea search radars, as well as a large number of sonars, were repeatedly detecting any suspicious targets in the sky, on the sea and under the water.

"Sir, the 31.8th Destroyer Group reports: the mine-clearing operation has been completed, and in the process of mine-clearing they have not been fired at by German shore guns. With the exception of 2 minesweepers, which were damaged by mines, none of the other ships suffered losses, and no personnel losses were reported. ”

At about 11:30 a.m. on 23 August, Admiral Halsey, commander of the US 3rd Fleet and commander of the 31st Task Force of the USS Iowa, received a report that "the mine-clearing mission had been successfully completed." Moreover, the Germans did not bombard or interfere with shore artillery during the mine-clearing process.

This may indicate that Germany really did not deploy heavy troops in British Guiana, otherwise it would not even have large-caliber shore defense guns.

Halsey's nerves, which had been tense after hearing the report, finally relaxed a little, and then he ordered in a loud voice: "Tell Lieutenant General Turner that the landing operation can begin." Before dawn, Georgetown must be taken! ”

At this time, less than 40 nautical miles southeast of the U.S. fleet, near the coastline of New Amsterdam (a small town in Guyana), next to a shoal, 16 S100 torpedo boats had started their diesel engines, put away their anchor chains, and began to move towards the U.S. fleet 40 nautical miles away. This was the 5th torpedo boat detachment of the 16th torpedo boat detachment, led by Colonel Johansen himself. They can reach a maximum speed of 42 knots. If you go full throttle, you can attack in up to 1 hour!

Tonight, though, they weren't the only sneak attackers. In fact, these 16 torpedo boats alone could not break through the warning circle composed of destroyers and light cruisers, and the US destroyers and escort destroyers have good sea-searching radars on board, and it is still possible to detect and tell the approaching torpedo boats.

Moreover, there is no radar on the torpedo boat, and the opponent can only be discovered by relying on the "cat's eye skill". Therefore, in the case of extremely low visibility at night, the probability that the destroyer will spot the torpedo boat first can be much higher than the probability that the torpedo boat will spot the destroyer first.

Therefore, it is unlikely that the US landing fleet with a large number of destroyer escorts will succeed by a sneak attack by torpedo boats alone. Tonight, though, Kamhuber has prepared a combo for the American!

At the same time that the 16 S100 torpedo boats began to quietly move towards the target, under the water closer to the American fleet, six Type 21 submarines were diving at a high speed of nearly 14 knots, aiming at the American landing fleet that had formed a huge formation on the sea surface.

And in the air, at an altitude of less than 100 meters above sea level, 36 Ju188E-2 torpedo bombers, which had just taken off from the airfield of "Georgetown Island", were relying on the guidance of radar and radio altimeters to search for the American Grand Fleet on the vast sea at a low flight speed!

And tonight's surprise attack, carried out by planes, submarines and torpedo boats, is only the beginning of a series of disasters that the US military will suffer off the coast of Georgetown!