To tell the truth, at the beginning of the preparation of the American and British forces for the Azores campaign, the Germans really did not discover the strategic purpose of the American and British navies. Originally, if nothing else, the army from England should have taken the Germans by surprise, but this time, luck was on the side of the Germans again. An American submarine on a mission near the Azores was destroyed by a German destroyer, and German divers accidentally discovered a cipher machine that had not been destroyed while searching deep inside the submarine near the island shelf!

The cipher machine used by the U.S. Navy is essentially similar to the dumb puzzle machine used by the Germans, both of which are studied under the Huaxia, a machine that combines numbers and gears. With the help of this cipher machine, the Germans successfully deciphered several important telegrams between the American and British reconnaissance forces and the headquarters, and the information provided in these telegrams unanimously pointed to the possibility of a big operation by the United States and Britain in the Azores!

The vigilant Germans decisively dispatched high-speed reconnaissance planes to conduct aerial reconnaissance of the ports of the British Isles, and after throwing away two squadrons of reconnaissance planes in a row, looking at a pile of photos of the troops assembled in the port and the information provided by the inner line, the Germans were surprised to find that the Americans were now bold! Dare to cross a distance of thousands of kilometers to do it at the doorstep of the German Navy! However, looking at the more than 2 dozen aircraft carriers with the US and British fleets gathered in the southern ports of Britain, Raeder also has to admit that the US and British navies at this time already have a certain numerical advantage, and they are no longer the weak chickens that were casually beaten by the Allied fleets back then!

"Meiying also wants to see us! They would really look for an opportunity, and if they followed the teacher's plan, the best outcome for Nimitz would be to take his broken fleet to repair ships in some military port! "The embarrassing situation ahead. Count Luknall said angrily.

Now it's ready to be struck! In any case, the German Navy had to strike immediately. Even if the losses that may result this time are greater than the losses caused in the battle with the Chinese fleet, the German Navy still has to stop the opponent's offensive! The reason for this was that a general balance of power could be maintained between the Entente and Germany. The key is not how Germany can fight, but the limited number of stations available to the other side.

When everyone concentrated their forces on France, the Allies were able to suppress their opponents with ease, and when China opened up a battlefield in the Middle East, the Allies' offensive ended and the whole turned to the defensive. And if the Entente opened two more fronts on the Eastern Front and North Africa at the same time, Raeder really didn't know how Germany would respond at that time! Therefore, no matter what the strength of the German fleet is now, this battle will be fought even if it is lost! The result is no worse than staying in the harbor!

And when the popular baron learned the news. He agrees with Raeder. That is, Germany has reached the point where there is no way to retreat this time! The U.S. and British fleets are aimed at the core defense circle of the Empire, what are you hesitating about in this situation? Either you die or I live! The Red Baron immediately assigned his most proud younger brother, Kesselring, to Crete to negotiate with Raeder, and appointed Kesselring as commander-in-chief of the Allied Air Force on the Ibilisi Peninsula to cooperate with Raeder's actions. And hinted that if the navy has a strong will to fight, the air force can contribute its long-cherished family funds! That includes Pandora's Box!

"After the loss of 6 aircraft carriers and dozens of other ships of various kinds, after wasting more than half a year of precious time, after my teacher was forced to leave the navy to which he had dedicated his life for external reasons, we are back to square one! Don't you want to say something? Count Luknar's opening remarks when he saw Kesselring embarrassed the latter. Half of the blame for today's situation lies with the miscalculations of the German leadership. The Air Force, represented by the Red Baron, naturally cannot stay out of the matter!

"I'm here today to make up for the damage caused in the past! It belongs to the responsibility of the Air Force, and we will not shy away from it! Field Marshal Richthofen has already awarded me enough full strength that we will teach the megalomania and the stereotypical British in the Azores together with the Navy! In the not-too-distant future, we will be dealing with tougher adversaries in the Indian Ocean. There's no point in dwelling on past grievances right now, and I don't think your teacher wants to see our differences widen further, right? Kesselring replied calmly.

"There is no way back for the Navy. We will concentrate our efforts on this crisis, but we have limited air forces in the Canary Islands and the Azores, and there is an extreme shortage of long-range air units. The location of the Azores is still a bit out, and the range of our heavily equipped medium bombers such as the JU88 and DO217 is simply not enough. Long-range fighters are also lacking. Raeder spoke out about his difficulties.

"We now start by strengthening the defense forces and material reserves of the island of the Azores. The number of aircraft on your side is relatively small, especially now that priority is needed to supply the fleet. And in order to show sincerity. Our Air Force can first provide your country with 2 wings of TA152 fighters and 1 group of cause reconnaissance/electronic warfare aircraft. "Kesselring offered what he thought was a very high price.

"No, no, no, I need the ME262 fighter group of the Air Force, we are an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers, if the defenders of the Azores can't consume the opponent well, my fleet and your long-range bomber group will suffer heavy losses, I think, now the Air Force's HE177 Gryphon bomber is still declining, right? I need at least 200 ME262 fighters and 3 or so wings of BF109K fighters. And that's just the beginning, and we need to keep investing. "Raeder's asking price is a bit higher.

"I can't decide that the number of jets is still very small, and the number of pilots is even smaller. You may wish to summarize your needs and present them to His Excellency the Air Marshal. The defense of the Azores can be completely handed over to the front-line commanders, and I am more concerned about how we can work together to inflict heavy damage on the incoming American fleet, and if we cannot defeat the opposing fleet, the crisis in the Azores cannot be solved, this is a crisis, and it is also an opportunity! Kesselring replied.

"Huh? Now the Air Force still has the ability to attack targets almost 2,000 kilometers away? If I'm not mistaken, the number of four-engine large aircraft in the entire Ibilisi Peninsula is already very small. And most of them are reconnaissance and electronic warfare aircraft. I'm afraid that a pure bomber can't even make up 2 wings, right? And such a distance requires air force cover, even if taking off from the closer Canary Islands. It is definitely not the range of the FW190 fighter, which is used for interception operations. Such a hastily assembled group of aircraft is to die. Raeder was a little surprised.

"I heard. This time, the naval side encountered a large aircraft in the Indian Ocean equipped with both propellers and jet engines? Kesselring suddenly brought up a topic that surprised Raeder a little. And after getting a positive reply from the other party. Kesselring continued: "We also have this kind of thing, but it's the Air Force's own plan. We call it Pandora's Box, numbered the AR234 long-range bomber. Subordinate to the direct units of the Air Force, don't think that under the heavy pressure of the United States and Britain, we will not have the strength to attack, we will just streamline and integrate the troops to make it even more terrifying! ”

"So, we don't need to accompany the escort, the speed of the magic box can completely allow him to avoid most threats! Just at the final stage. The Navy's fighter jets can tear through the air defense network over the US and British fleets! His Excellency the Air Marshal is very concerned about this campaign, and we can concentrate at least 2 wings of AR234 (non-historical) bombers to attack. Your Excellency's fleet can even bring fewer bombers and more fighters, and our attack will be sufficient. ”

Although the new AR234 bomber has a longer range and faster speed, considering the actual combat distance, the group of aircraft that have completed the attack mission will first turn back to the Canary Islands for refueling and replenishment. And then back again. In this way, each AR234 bomber can have a bomb load of about 3 tons. If it weren't for the fear that the US Navy would have detected these terrible black boxes, the Air Force would have even wanted to set up its departure base on an island in the Atlantic!

After some consultation and coordination, the Luftwaffe Navy and Air Force also sorted out a rough plan. First of all, there will be aviation on the Azores that will be responsible for attrition and delay the offensive of the American and British fleets. Subsequently, the Navy and Air Force will organize a wave of joint operations in due course! The navy is mainly responsible for tearing apart the opponent's defenses. And the magic box of the Air Force and part of the HE177 bombers will be responsible for anti-ship operations! The Navy's HE177 bombers deployed in the Canary Islands will also be in operation, according to naval and air force estimates. This wave of attack clusters will have more than 300 large bombers! This is also all the strength that the Navy and Air Force can muster at present.

That's all the help provided by the Air Force, and the rest depends on the Navy's own capabilities. Although Kesselring said, you kick the door open, and the rest is up to us, but the Navy still retains some of its attack power, after all, the opportunity is rare, what if the Air Force messes up? With such a long-range attack on the sea, who can say what will happen?

After several months of rearmament, the strength of the German Navy recovered quite quickly, almost all the damaged capital ships were repaired, and the fighters were replenished in place, and during this period, the Navy accepted two 20,000-ton medium fleet aircraft carriers, although the overall strength was worse than when it fought against China, but in Raeder's opinion, it was enough to deal with the American and British Navy, after all, the American and British fleets now have no supercarriers! It is impossible to have a lot of twin-engine aircraft and guided weapons. The attack power will not be as ferocious as that of the Huaxia Fleet.

When the American and British fleets departed from England, the Luftwaffe Navy and Air Force also began to make final preparations, they strengthened the defenses of the Azores and the Canary Islands, and the Germans rebuilt the runways to accommodate jet take-offs and landings. Almost all the key airfields were 20 kilometers away from the coastline to avoid being hit by naval guns, and although the Germans deployed a lot of aircraft, they were mainly fighters, with little experience in ground attack and almost zero experience in sea attack.

In addition to these regular airfields, the Germans also prepared a number of field historical airfields, which were used as alternate airfields and also as take-off airfields for BF109K, which were scattered next to standing airfields and were specially used to take off BF109 fighters to defend regular airfields and cover the take-off and landing of ME262 fighters. Jet planes take off and land with poor maneuverability and take a long time.

The U.S. and British fleets have absolute numerical superiority, and jet aircraft may have obvious superiority at medium and high altitudes, but not at low altitudes. It is precisely because of this that Raeder chose the BF109K fighter with more low-altitude performance and easier take-off and landing, rather than the FW190D. The Germans are using the last period of time to strengthen their defenses in order to meet the coming storm!

In parallel with the strengthening of the defense of the Azores, the German Navy also cleaned up the waters near the Strait of Gibraltar, with a large number of anti-submarine aircraft and destroyers hovering nearby to counter the submarine boundaries that the Entente might deploy. All the German fleet needed to do was to surprise it by surprise, and if the American fleet realized that the situation was not good and chose to withdraw, then all preparations would be in vain.

"If I could, I would like to launch an attack after the U.S. forces have launched a landing operation, and it is impossible for the U.S. fleet to abandon the troops that have already landed. The other side can only choose to fight us to the death. Count Luknall suggested.

"Then we have to make the Americans feel that we are more vulnerable, or that we are powerless! I thought that part of the fleet could be transferred to the Red Sea, or even to the Persian Gulf for feints. The main force of the Huaxia fleet should be east of the Strait of Malacca, and our detachment will be very safe. Raeder further refined the count's plan.

So, in order to confuse the Entente, Raeder sent another detachment to the Red Sea to carry out the so-called escort mission. And when the formation of 4 armored aircraft carriers passed through the Suez Canal, the Americans were finally relieved that in Nimitz's opinion, the German fleet would not be able to confront the American and British fleets in a short time. However, at the last moment, Nimitz still kept an eye on it, and the landing force was not sent all at once, but a part of it first, and the reconnaissance unit carrying long-range seaplanes was deployed to the eastern side of the Azores to cooperate with the submarines in place to carry out the mission. At the same time, in order to make up for the battle-damaged aircraft, Nimitz once again requisitioned 12 escort aircraft carriers to serve as aircraft carriers!

"Even if the German fleet could suddenly concentrate and then parachute into the waters near the Azores, I would definitely be able to find enough aircraft to cope with the situation!" Nimitz repeatedly reviewed this plan and felt that there should be no loopholes, 26 aircraft carriers of various kinds plus 12 Jeep aircraft carriers, the number of carrier-based aircraft almost exceeded the Germans by more than 50%. If you lose again, it will be too unreasonable!

Thanks to the book friend's most powerful army, zhouyu1976's tip~~~, and the book friend's most powerful army, canned submarine, and the monthly ticket support of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade ~~~~~. (To be continued.) )