The theoretical airlift capability of 250 or more ZSO532 air assault transport aircraft is staggering, and if all used to carry tanks/tank destroyers and paratroopers, up to 250 E-25 tank destroyers or Type 4H tank (including crew members) and 3,000 heavily armed paratroopers can be sent to the battlefield 2,500 kilometers away at a time!

Of course, it is not possible to use all ZSO532 aircraft for transporting tanks/tank destroyers in practice. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Because tanks and combat soldiers alone cannot form a battalion or regimental battle group with real combat effectiveness, there are not so many tanks/tank destroyers actually loaded on ZSO532 to fly to Newfoundland, only about 150, of which 90 are E-25 tank destroyers and 90 H tank No. 4, which belong to 5 air assault battalions.

The so-called air assault battalion is actually a composite battalion that includes tank, infantry, artillery and engineer detachments, and is the official version of the combined battalion-level battle group and regiment-level battle group that appeared in this war. An air assault battalion usually consists of a tank company (armed with tank No. 4H), a tank destroyer company (equipped with an E-25 tank destroyer), a motorized artillery company, a combat engineer company, and two motorized paratrooper companies, as well as a battalion headquarters platoon. The total number of troops is not much, less than 800 people, but it has a lot of technical equipment. Including 30 tanks/tank destroyers, 4 Schneider 1943 105mm mountain guns (this is a new product developed by the French on the basis of the 1919/1928 105mm mountain guns, with a column weight of only 750 kg and a maximum range of 9.8 km), 2 Bronde M1943 120mm mortars (this is also a French artillery, in terms of artillery manufacturing technology, France and Germany now have their own advantages), 12 LG44 105mm recoilless guns and 40 wheeled vehicles of various models.

Before the start of the combat operation, these 800 heavily armed Germans and so much heavy equipment, a large amount of ammunition, some fuel, supplies, etc., will be stuffed into 50 "big-bellied" ZSO532 air assault transport planes. And 250 ZSO532s can transport 5 synthetic air assault battalions to the battlefield at once.

According to the plan, the five air assault battalions will be dropped into the terraces on the eastern shore of Concepson Bay on the island of Newfoundland and the Vavarong Peninsula. In addition to these 5 composite battalions with strong combat effectiveness, there were 18 other elite paratrooper battalions that landed on Newfoundland on the day of the landing operation, that is, on D-Day, all of which belonged to the 2 paratrooper divisions under the 1st Air Assault Army. The paratroopers will fly more than 2,500 kilometres from the Azores in a Fokker 42 transport plane before parachuting to Newfoundland.

If all goes according to plan, 18 paratrooper battalions and 5 air assault battalions will be able to occupy a large area of the eastern shore of Concepson Bay before dark on D-Day, clear the U.S. forces guarding there, and establish a truly useful beachhead for the large-scale landing that will follow.

All the staff officers in the Wehrmacht General Staff were convinced that as long as 23 battalions of elite German troops and 180 tank/tank destroyers were parachuted into Newfoundland, even 10 times the number of American troops would not be able to drive them away. And they only had to hold out for a few days on the terraces near Concepsin Bay, and a fleet loaded with a German marine division and a White Russian tank division would arrive.

At that point, Operation Columbus could not have failed.

And the key to the success of this "Operation Columbus" is undoubtedly to seize air supremacy around Newfoundland.

According to the reliable information of the German General Staff, the ground strength of the US (Allied forces) on the island of Newfoundland is not sufficient, but there are quite a few fighters on it. Even with some of the moves to the Caribbean, there are still more than 1,300 warplanes (including U.S. and other allied warplanes) in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island.

No less than 1,000 medium- and heavy bombers/attack aircraft capable of delivering "bat" radar-guided gliding bombs and 300-400 reconnaissance aircraft are deployed in the above-mentioned areas.

Compared with the Allied forces in Canada with more than 3 million troops (not only the American army, but also the British army and the exiled armies of Free Poland, Free Belgium, Free Norway, Free Denmark, Free Czech Republic, Spanish Republican Army), it was the 26,700 shore-based aircraft that really made the General Staff of the German National Service feel prickly.

As far as the European coalition forces, which do not have shore-based airfields to take off fighters, the transfer of a considerable part of these 2,6700 planes is the guarantee of a victorious landing.

On the morning of April 1, 1945, the 20th Task Force of the Combined European Fleet left the port of Brest on the morning of April 1, 1945.

The "task force" under the EC Joint Fleet is not a permanent formation, but a task fleet under a sub-fleet, which is temporarily organized by various ship groups as needed before carrying out combat missions.

And on the morning of April 1, the fleet that left Brest in full view of everyone was also a temporary mission fleet. Unlike the last Task Force 20, the newly formed Task Force 20 has an even greater aircraft carrier combat power!

Forming the core of the task force are the 201st Carrier Group, the 202nd Carrier Group, and the 203rd Carrier Group, which are three twin or triple carrier groups! In total, there are 7 large fleet aircraft carriers, which are Adolf. Hitler, Bernhardt. Feng. HMS Bilo, HMS Sedeliz (Type B41), HMS Seckert (Type B41), HMS Chauffy, HMS Banville and HMS Baenya (this French aircraft carrier is the No. 3 ship of HMS Chauffeur, which was commissioned at the end of '44).

The Hitler and Bülow were armed with 150 standing Me262T carrier-based jet fighters – 20 more than Hirschmann had requested (144 in fact).

The two newly commissioned B41 aircraft carriers, the Sedliz and the Seckert, are loaded with 160 Fokker Type 636 carrier-based fighters on standby. Since the two Hitler-class aircraft carriers are equipped with 144 high-altitude invincible Me262Ts, the two B41 ships are not equipped with Fw190Ts, but are all equipped with Fokker 636.

In fact, by 1945, the Fw190 series of fighters, which had appeared before the outbreak of the world war, had in many ways been out of date. At least it is no longer an air superiority fighter and interceptor with satisfactory performance.

The Ta190 series fighters, the replacement of the Fw152 series fighters, completed all tests as early as the end of 1944 and began to enter the stage of trial production and troop trials. By the end of March 1945, more than 20 squadrons of fighter aircraft in the Luftwaffe had been retrofitted with Ta152H fighters.

According to the Luftwaffe's vision, the Ta152H fighter with excellent high-altitude performance will form a new high-bottom combination with the Fokker 636, which has excellent performance at medium and low altitudes.

However, due to the emergence and increasing maturity of the jet Me262, the fighters of the Ta152 series are destined to be short-lived and cannot shine brightly.

As an expert in air combat in naval aviation, Lieutenant Colonel Hersman Jr., who is now the aviation combat officer of the 201st Aircraft Carrier Group, directly suggested canceling the plan to board the Ta152 aircraft carrier after the test flight of the Ta152.

Because in his opinion, the Ta152, an excellent fighter, came too late, and there was no way to complete the shipborne transformation before the end of the world war. And the post-war sky must belong to jets!

At the thought of jets, Hersmann Jr., who stood on the deck of the Hitler aircraft carrier and waved goodbye to the families of military personnel and civilians on the port docks, couldn't help but look back, as if trying to find the Me262T jet fighter from the deck of the aircraft carrier - but all he saw were 18 Br.810 twin-engine carrier-based bombers on the flight deck on the side of the aircraft carrier island.

The 18 Br.810s, all of which belong to the French Naval Air Force, landed on the carriers Hitler and Bülow on their way back to their home port of Brest after completing their full pre-service intensive training program. At the same time, all the Me262Ts on the two aircraft carriers were put into the hangar, and they have not been seen until they leave the port of Brest.

That is, only 2 supercarriers with beveled decks and twin carrier-based aircraft of the Br.810 project were exposed to the eyes of the French residents of the port of Brest and the American agents. It seems that these two 70,000-ton large aircraft carriers are tailor-made for twin-engine carrier-based aircraft.

In addition, on the flight decks of the three French "Xiafei"-class aircraft carriers belonging to the 203rd Aircraft Carrier Group, there are also 10 Br.810 carrier-based aircraft.

Information that five large aircraft carriers carrying Br.810 carrier-based aircraft, including two supercarriers with a standard displacement of more than 60,000 tons, and two other Zeppelin-class aircraft carriers left the port of Brest together was quickly sent to the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, through hidden American agents.

The already tense atmosphere in the Pentagon soon reached a ignition point because of the arrival of this news. The hearts of all American officers who were qualified to have access to this information sank: the Germans were finally about to attack, and the moment to decide the fate of the United States was about to come!