With a roaring roar, a magnificent four-engine heavy plane landed on the wide and flat runway after taxiing for nearly two thousand meters, and the huge air currents surged all around, blowing the beards of the ground personnel next to it into the air. The escalator was lowered, the hatch opened, and several senior generals dressed in eagle emblems walked out of the plane slowly; And judging from their gorgeous epaulettes with gold threads and silver stars, the lowest ranks are all lieutenant generals!

"Honorable Admiral Bock and fellow Army Officers, welcome to Havana, Cuba." At the end of the metal escalator, a stocky Kesselring greeted the army general in front of him with a smile on his face. In the face of the presence of the air general, who also wore three silver star epaulettes, all the army generals did not slack off in the slightest, they took off their gloves one after another, and shook hands with Kesselring one by one with sincere intentions. In this realm, the German Empire, which had a long history, still retained the rank and rank of the Prussian era, and was the most honorable general, except for the marshal, who enjoyed the highest honors and could not be awarded unless he had made a historic deed. Although after the end of the Battle of France, several veteran professional soldiers such as Blomburg, Rundstedt, and Raeder were fortunate to receive this supreme honor, but the current German marshals are still very rare.

Despite belonging to different branches of the military, Kesselring's popularity in the army seems to be very good, and even Bock, who has always been unsmiling, began to talk and laugh with each other in mutual greetings. Sitting in the barrel car heading to the headquarters, the conversation naturally turned to the current situation on the front line; And whether it is the stern and rigid Bock or the calm and intelligent Kesselring, their words exude extreme optimism for the future.

On March 7, after a short rest and replenishment, the German armored forces. Once again, it kicked up a flood of smoke and dust on the plains of Cuba. Along the way, they were overwhelmed. Scatter large numbers of U.S. troops, or surround them with fast-forming pockets. The 7th Armored Brigade, commanded by Colonel Rommel, became the brightest star of the later operation: the advantages of his bold, unrestrained, and thoughtful command style were brought into full play in front of the already feared American troops. In five days, his troops drove more than 300 kilometers westward, almost using up the last drop of diesel fuel in the tanks; As a result, more than 70,000 US troops were encircled, and more than 20,000 US officers and soldiers threw themselves at them along the way. One of the unit's most commendable victories was achieved at Morón in central Cuba: two armored battalions under the direct command of Rommel galloped 70 kilometers during the night to raid the American front-line air base here, and the sleeping American troops had no idea that the Germans would rush directly in front of their eyes. They were immediately defeated, and most of the officers and men became prisoners of the other side in a very short period of time. And when the follow-up motorized infantry arrived after dawn, they were pleasantly surprised to find that there were more than 100 intact US fighters of all kinds in this airport!

Although the different industrial systems of the two sides prevented these fighters from being fully used by the Luftwaffe like their own aircraft, a thorough analysis of them alone was enough to make Rommel's surprise attack extremely valuable. If we can find out the shortcomings of these fighters and deal with them-for-tat, it will inevitably make further changes in the air shape faced by the German army. In addition, the US military fighters have also proven their superiority in previous campaigns, with the strong defense and long range of the new P-47 fighter. All made a very strong impression on the German pilots. If Germany can digest and absorb the technology, it will undoubtedly have a decisive boost to the performance of the Air Force fighters!

Due to the rapid advance of Rommel's troops on the island of Cuba. The 7th Armored Brigade, which he commanded, was called the "Devil's Brigade" by the Americans. In the direction of the tank tracks, all the US officers and men are invincible. And this is only a microcosm of the German armored forces on the island of Cuba. On March 14, the Germans captured Santa Clara, and a week later, on the 21st, Havana, the largest city in the west, was also under siege. Seeing that the general situation was gone, the US Army General Staff had no choice but to use the forces at its disposal to withdraw the remnants of their defeated troops on the island of Cuba to Florida on their homeland; However, how could the German army, which had already allowed the Americans to slip away from the island of Haiti once, let these enemies escape from under their noses again? Not only did they send attack planes to bomb U.S. transport ships, but their naval vessels repeatedly intruded into the strait, which was less than 270 kilometers wide, and the Germans obstructed the withdrawal of U.S. troops at a much lower than expected level.

On March 23, after two days of fierce fighting, the Germans broke through the central defenses of Havana and reached the port, and all the 140,000 American officers and soldiers who had not had time to escape became prisoners of the German army. The personnel responsible for interrogating and managing the captives had scarcely a moment of rest, feeling that the joyful and painful affair seemed to have no end in sight. And in order to clean the countless equipment they threw around from the battlefield, it took the Germans another full week. On 28 March, the defenses of Guantanamo in southeastern Cuba were also defeated by the German attack, and the remnants of the defenders led by Major General Cuomo surrendered to the Germans. In the previous half month of fighting, Guantanamo was in a state of complete encirclement and blockade, and not a single bullet or reinforcement broke through the encirclement and reached the encirclement. Although the U.S. military's fortifications are still quite complete, and the material storage is enough to keep them out for half a year, the morale of the army in a desperate situation simply cannot last for such a long time: instead of dying in a meaningless battle without seeing hope, it is better to save your life and look forward to life after the war!

At this point, the last trace of gunfire on the island of Cuba finally subsided. It took the Germans ten weeks to seize the southern gateway to the United States, and the Caribbean was completely under German control. Compared to the time when the United States seized the land from Spain 40 years ago, Germany today far surpasses it in terms of speed and results; At the cost of 20,000 casualties, the Germans completely annihilated the main force of more than 40 divisions of the American army. Except for the more than 30,000 people who withdrew to the mainland by sea, the remaining 550,000 officers and soldiers were either killed in the battle or became prisoners of war driven by the other side. The U.S. Army suffered an unprecedented crushing defeat in this plains encounter.

Immediately after the capture of Cuba, the Germans began to recover and rebuild. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners, under the supervision of the German army, began to build and renovate Cuba's infrastructure in all aspects. Barracks, airfields, roads, warehouses, bridges, docks and other facilities that had been damaged in the fighting were soon restored to their functions under the labor of the prisoners of war. Even the railway, which runs from Havana to Guantanamo and runs through the east and west of Cuba, was reopened within three days of the armistice. Large quantities of goods unloaded at Guantanamo were quickly transported to Havana in ancient Brazil, where the Germans were increasingly building the island into their strongest frontline for their advance into the United States. At the same time, an attack on the U.S. mainland was finally on the agenda.

According to the plan drawn up by the German General Staff, the army will devote about 70 divisions to the offensive campaign against the continental United States, starting from Mexico and penetrating from Texas into the heart of the United States, and it is expected that the battle in the whole of North America will be finally won in four to six months. Another option would be to start a landing in Florida in the southeastern corner of the United States and travel north along the East Coast to its capital, Washington, D.C. Although the plan had unpredictable risks in the early landing compared to the plan through Mexico, the results would be extremely impressive: the overland distance from Florida to Washington would be nearly one-third shorter than the troops attacking from Texas through Mexico, which would greatly reduce the time required for the German army to fight. More importantly, the German army in the north could sweep all the way to the most developed eastern coastal area of the United States, and greatly reduce the war potential of the other side; As long as the industry that the United States is proud of suffers a major setback, the suspense of the war will be completely lost.

However, whether or not the Germans were prepared to open a second theater in the south-east of the United States, the first transfer of troops to Cuba for advance preparations was a common prerequisite for all invasions. At present, a group of senior army generals led by Bock have come to the front line in Cuba with the troops under their command. Since the Germans had already transported a large number of troops and supplies to Guyana in South America during the previous battles, this process did not slow down significantly with the distance between the German mainland and Cuba. By 11 April, the German army had grown to 55 divisions in the Americas, including 25 on the island of Cuba, and a large number of transport ships were on standby, ready to drop them on Mexican soil.

Two days later, the front command in Havana, Cuba, received a telegram from Berlin that the hunters had been dispatched. For generals at the level of Kesselring and Bock, they understood the meaning of this and immediately gave the corresponding order. Troops in divisions and brigades boarded transport ships and sailed to ports in southeastern Mexico under the cover of night; Thanks to the efforts of German diplomats, the country has finally made up its mind to settle old scores with the Americans, and it will not be long before the American continent will be in full flames of war for the first time in 70 years! (To be continued......)

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