When the Japanese balloon bombs flew over Los Angeles, anti-aircraft guns manned by California National Guard soldiers roared for hours, knocking out tens of thousands of shells. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 According to the investigation of the US Army, most of the casualties and houses destroyed in Los Angeles were caused by the Americans' own anti-aircraft shells - the fuses of anti-aircraft shells are not 100% reliable, and there will always be some that do not explode in the sky and then fall to the ground.

In short, thanks to the arrival of dozens of Japanese balloons with bombs, the American people in Los Angeles finally truly experienced the flames of war.

Unlike the situation in which the Americans tightly sealed the Japanese balloon bomb attack in another time and space, the current United States has no way to completely block the news, because Germany has many neutral friends, such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Switzerland, etc., and some of them have also set up consulates in Los Angeles. Thanks to the presence of many diplomats who sent messages, by noon on the 23rd, the German High Command had basically figured out the general situation of what the Japanese called the "windboat attack on the United States."

"600 balloons, 1,800 bombs and incendiary bombs, making Los Angeles and San Diego noisy for half the night......"

Hersman threw the report from the Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff on the conference table and said with a smirk: "Although this loss is insignificant to the United States, it is a good way to attract hatred...... Albert, what do the Japanese want to do? ”

The reason why this question was asked to Marshal Kesselring, chief of the General Staff, was that the Wehrmacht General Staff had just obtained the general outline of the "Mountain Operation Plan" provided by the Japanese side -- Hiroshi Oshima had deliberately chosen the day when the "windboat attack on the United States" would achieve a great victory, and submitted this top-secret plan, apparently to increase the chances of the plan being accepted by the German High Command.

"Your Excellency the Imperial Marshal, the Japanese have laid out a big game." Kesselring, who had already studied the general outline, said, "They want to create an American encirclement network to trap the United States in North America." ”

Hitler, who had just returned from Europaburg (formerly Strasbourg), snorted contemptuously: "They think the same way as we do, but how can they do it?" The Americans are now crazy about building aircraft carriers...... They build an aircraft carrier faster than we build a destroyer! ”

Recently, the German intelligence department and navy have not only detected many US aircraft carriers under construction, but have also discovered many aircraft carriers that have already been built -- not counting the old aircraft carriers that were in service before the United States entered the war and the modified aircraft carriers that were brought from Britain, and now it is certain that there are 3 Essex class aircraft carriers in service, 4 to 5 Independence class aircraft carriers, and I don't know how many escort aircraft carriers of the 12,000-15,000 ton class are in service!

According to the reliable intelligence provided by the British (Queen's) Navy, the Americans are now building aircraft carriers on the path of "assembly lines" and "mass production", which is similar to building cars.

The Americans have designed several standardized aircraft carriers, among which the large aircraft carrier is the "Essex" class, the light aircraft carrier is the "Independence" class, and the escort aircraft carrier is the "Borg" class and the "Casablanca" class.

The aircraft carrier is then disassembled into many large parts, which are then subcontracted to factories in the United States for mass production, and assembled by shipyards after production.

Under normal circumstances, one and a half months to three months can assemble a "Borg"-class escort aircraft carrier with a full load displacement of 15,000 tons, a maximum speed of 18 knots, and a carrier-based aircraft that can carry 28 carrier-based aircraft!

And the Americans not only build aircraft carriers super fast, but their latest carrier-based fighters in service are also powerful. The F4F, which is not much used, has basically been eliminated, and the latest F4U and F6F are very handy aircraft - the British Royal Navy has tested these two types of aircraft, and believes that the F6F has great advantages over the Fokker Zero in terms of speed, climb, dive and firepower!

The F4U has very good high-altitude performance, which is enough to deal with the FW-190T series of carrier-based aircraft, and can also be used to expel the JU288.

In addition, the F4U can also carry 500-1000 pounds of bombs to attack surface ships, and is a carrier-based fighter-bomber with excellent performance - in actual combat, this is a very handy aircraft, because it can not only fight in the air, but also attack in the air, and can also use the altitude to evade enemy fighters!

"Leader," replied Marshal Kesselring, "the concept of a 'refueling tactic' was proposed in the Japanese Mountain Plan. ”

"Fuel?" Hitler didn't understand, "Gasoline, diesel or butter?" ”

"I don't know what kind of oil it is." Kesselring shook his head, "The approximate meaning seems to be to let the Americans put enough strength into the Pacific theater gradually, not all at once." ”

"Oh," Hitler nodded, "the Japanese think that if the Americans put dozens of aircraft carriers in the Pacific Ocean at a time, they will definitely not be able to defeat them, so they want the United States to invest less at a time?" ”

"yes, that's what it means." "That's probably the key to the success of the Mountain Plan." The purpose of the Japanese bombing the US West Coast last night was not only to mobilize US planes to deploy defenses, but also to mobilize some of the US aircraft carriers that had just entered service to the Pacific Ocean, and then try to annihilate them all, so as to prevent the United States from building up an aircraft carrier force that is so large that it is difficult to confront it. ”

"It's a beautiful idea," commented Admiral Raeder, "but the Japanese are probably not sure that they will completely annihilate the American aircraft carriers that have been transferred to the Pacific theater...... At present, the United States can probably transfer 15-20 aircraft carriers of various types (mainly escort carriers) to the Pacific Ocean. ”

"Yes, the Japanese think so too." "So the Japanese hoped that we could launch a naval campaign near the Caribbean Sea to attract a part of the American aircraft carriers." At the same time, cooperate with them in their attack on the Panama Canal. ”

"They want to wait for part of the American aircraft carriers to pass through the Panama Canal and destroy the locks of the canal?" Raeder asked.

"Actually, they want to strike at the passage of the American aircraft carrier!" Kesselring said.

"Well thought out!" Hersman nodded and asked Raeder, "Marshal, does the Navy have the strength to fight with the Japanese in the Caribbean?" ”

"Yes." "At present, in the Atlantic, we have two Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers, three aircraft carriers converted from large cruise ships, three Mackensen-class aircraft carriers (Mackensen, Prince Fitrerick, Goltz) converted from Etheuza-class battlecruisers (formerly part of the Netherlands), and 12 escort carriers," Raeder said.

In addition, we have a number of Ju-288 and DO217 bombers with strong anti-ship capabilities. We also had a big advantage in the number and quality of battleships. Therefore, the Main Command of the Navy proposed to seek a decisive battle of the fleet in the first half of 1943. ”

In fact, the superiority of the combined European fleet in terms of the number and quality of aircraft carriers is also difficult to maintain. If you don't count the aircraft carriers converted from cruise ships, now the European Combined Fleet has only 5 large aircraft carriers, and there will be no large aircraft carriers left for service in 43 years.

Because Germany had a large advantage in remote-controlled gliding bombs (missiles) and high-altitude and high-speed bombers, it was able to maintain its superiority in the Atlantic.

However, if the US "dumpling ships" do not stop being launched without losses, it is difficult to say whether the European Combined Fleet will be able to continue to control the Atlantic Ocean by 44 or 45.

Therefore, Admiral Raeder was still in favor of a decisive battle with the American Navy when the European Combined Fleet had superiority.

……

"Where are these damn balloon bombs flying from?"

At the same time, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt convened the heads of the Navy, Army, and Army Air Corps in an oval conference room to discuss balloon bombs.

"Mr. President," replied Admiral Lacey, Chief of Staff of the President, "these balloon bombs may have come from Hawaii or from Japanese ships...... They may have been powered by high-altitude currents over the Pacific Ocean. ”

"Is there anything we can do to defend ourselves?" Roosevelt asked, "Can't you let them keep harassing the West Coast?" ”

"Absolutely not!" Army Chief of Staff Marshall said, "According to intelligence, the Japanese have been engaged in bacteriological weapons research, and if they drop bacteriological weapons on the west coast, I am afraid that there will be huge casualties." ”

Roosevelt looked at Chief of Naval Operations Ernest.

"Mr. President," Ernest said. "If we want to put an end to this balloon bomb, we have to take back Hawaii!" Kim said. But...... At the moment we don't have that strength. ”

"How many aircraft carriers do we have?" Roosevelt asked, "Including escort aircraft carriers and British aircraft carriers." ”

"Mr. President, now there are 3 ships in the Essex class, 5 ships in the Independence class, 2 ships in the Yorktown class, and the Raider and the Vespa." Ernest. "The British have 3 cruise converted aircraft carriers that are now fighting for us, and 22 escort aircraft carriers," Kim said. The total number is 35 ships, but ...... There are only 3 Essex-class, 2 Yorktown-class, 5 Independence-class, and the Raider and Vespa that can really be used to fight the fleet battle, a total of 12 aircraft carriers. “

"Can you counterattack the Hawaiian Islands?" Roosevelt asked again.

"Something difficult," said Ernest. Kim replied, "The premise of the counterattack on the Hawaiian Islands is to gain sea supremacy, then it is necessary to fight a decisive battle between the aircraft carrier fleets." With only 12 aircraft carriers capable of fighting a decisive battle in the fleet, we are not sure enough to defeat the Japanese Navy and seize sea supremacy near the Hawaiian Islands. ”

William. Admiral Lacey added: "And we can't use all the aircraft carriers in the Pacific either, because Germany is currently increasing its forces in Guyana, deploying many aircraft and ground troops, and is also courting Brazil and Argentina." (To be continued.) )