Chapter 568: All-Out Air Raid (II)
Even the tarmac, oil depots, ammunition depots and other heavy places were patronized by such 500-kilogram bombs. The entire Paris military airport was soon plunged into a sea www.biquge.info of fire, and more than a dozen B29s on the tarmac were all turned into various parts, and the flames from the explosion of the fuel depot and ammunition depot rushed directly into the air for more than 1,000 meters.
The guards of the airport would never have survived such a violent explosion, and the Paris airport was finished.
Other airfields of the Anglo-American coalition were also successfully raided by the German army's decoys, and 70 percent of the more than 100 airfields repaired by the Anglo-American forces in France were successfully blown up, and less than 50 airfields were spared.
At the beginning of the air raids, the German planes lost very large, and in the first wave of sorties, the Germans lost more than 1,000 planes of various types, because the British and American coalition forces had more than 13,000 planes, more than twice as many German planes, but the Germans used this decoy tactic to make their airfield assault on the British and American coalition forces very successful.
As soon as the final results were counted, Eisenhower was stunned, and the first wave of air raids by the Germans blew up more than 3,000 bombers parked on the ground by the British and American forces, including more than 200 B29 strategic bombers of all the British and American forces.
The loss of fighters was not large, only more than 1,000 aircraft, which was about the same as the losses of the German army. However, the Anglo-American coalition forces that have lost their bombers are like flies that have lost a wing, and countless other airfields have been blown up, and the scope of activities of the Anglo-American coalition air force will be greatly limited.
Eisenhower hurriedly redeployed the intact planes to the remaining airfields in preparation for the second wave of German air raids.
But they waited left and right, but they did not see a single German plane flying over the Maginot Line. At this time, Rommel was looking at the results statistics and laughing! As long as the Anglo-American forces lost the vast majority of their bombers, then they would not have much threat to the armored forces under their command, and their own blitzkrieg would be smoother.
Of course, the Anglo-American coalition, having lost most of its bombers, could no longer carry out large-scale air raids on industrial facilities in Germany, and this was the crisis that Rommel feared the most, and now that it has finally passed, even if the Anglo-American coalition has this comprehensive national strength, it will replenish the bombers of the Anglo-American coalition forces in France at an extreme time.
It will take at least two or three months! After all, the United States has almost more than 20,000 nautical miles from Britain to Britain, which is a very long distance, and even if the United States is strong, it is impossible to have so many bomber stocks!
Rommel's refusal to order the German Air Force to carry out a second air raid also gave Eisenhower a wrong judgment, making Eisenhower think that the German Air Force had suffered heavy losses and was not capable of fighting the attrition of the air force with the Anglo-American coalition.
If the Germans really defeated all the air forces of the Anglo-American coalition, then Eisenhower would definitely leave the Patton Corps and escape, and if the Anglo-American coalition really pulled more than 2 million people to Britain, then these two hundred elite troops were a sharp knife placed on the back of Germany, and the Anglo-American coalition forces could stab Germany in the back at any time.
Therefore, Rommel definitely did not want Eisenhower to escape, in order to prevent Eisenhower from escaping, he could only continue to give the Anglo-American air force a chance to live, although this would make the Luftwaffe pay more costs, but this price was very necessary for the entire strategy.
……
"Damn the Nazis...... Damn Rommel, that bastard...... Touching ......"
Eisenhower, who was originally polite, looked at the battle damage table in his hand, and was completely angry, just one day of fighting, the British and American coalition forces lost more than 4,000 aircraft, it turned out that Germany still had such a terrifying strength, which made Eisenhower begin to calm down in anger.
"Report, urgency message...... Nian ......"
"General Patton called, they were surrounded by more than 1.5 million German troops, and now the German army is already attacking the border between Belgium and France, the German army's intention is to completely encircle and annihilate the 550,000 British and American troops in Belgium and the Netherlands, General Patton asked the commander-in-chief for immediate reinforcements."
"Ahh Go to the operational command room......"
It is impossible for Eisenhower to see death without help, and the tradition of the US military is also like this, even if only one soldier is trapped in the rear of the enemy, he will send rescue troops, not to mention that this is a 550,000-strong army, no matter how much Eisenhower wants to retreat, it is impossible, which is contrary to the tradition of the US military not to abandon its comrades and troops.
After Eisenhower's deliberations, and after his telegram communication with Roosevelt and Churchill, it was agreed that every effort must be made to save the besieged 550,000 Anglo-American troops, and that the United States would immediately transfer the lost planes from home by sea.
The United States took out more than 3,000 aircraft of various types in its inventory at one time, and at the same time placed orders for domestic factories, so that there was no problem in producing 5,000 planes a month.
This is the comprehensive national strength, Germany can not be compared in any way, the comprehensive national strength of Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union is almost inexhaustible, inexhaustible, how can Germany's little territory and human resources fight with these three countries for a long time, can only establish absolute strategic superiority in an extreme period of time, and then force Britain and the United States to negotiate.
……
Rommel handed over the 300,000 German troops blocking the Anglo-American coalition to General Viller, and went to Army Group D, which was the 800,000 elite German army commanded by Manstein, which concentrated 60 percent of Rommel's Panzer Divisions, reaching the size of 16 Panzer Divisions.
And the Leopard tanks of these armored divisions are the main configuration, even the fourth tank is a very few, these armored divisions are Rommel's heart, but also the essence of Germany on the Western Front, the entire Western Front war process, to a large extent, depends on the performance of the 16th Panzer Division.
Maninstein's headquarters is located in a natural cave near the border of the Ardennes Forest, which is safe enough to have no problems, but the cave is just a little damp, which is a common phenomenon in the Ardennes Forest.
"Marshal Manstein, how is the situation?"
"My Führer, this pocket formation of yours is really wonderful, and what impresses my subordinates the most is that you let us have no British and American planes in the sky, and our tanks can be said to be unstoppable."
"That's good, where did our troops assault?"
"Here, there are still thirty kilometers to reach the border between the Netherlands and Belgium, and the British and American forces in these two places will soon be unable to escape."
"Marshal Manstein, you are the father of the blitzkrieg, I want to annihilate the 550,000 Anglo-American troops that is certain, but I must make it clear to you, I can only give you ten days.
So you must spare no effort to annihilate these Anglo-American coalition forces with the most fierce attacks, we don't have much time, because intelligence came from the United States, and the United States began to transport a large number of planes to Britain again, we can't afford to consume it, everything for Germany, fight hard! ”
"Hey! Rommel, guaranteed to complete the task. (To be continued.) )