This short, flat and fast style of play made the Allies very uncomfortable, and it also completely disrupted the battle plan of the Allied air force, just imagine such a situation, last night, an air commander received an order to take off from an airfield in northern Spain to attack the French area of Saint-Nazaire. Then you worked all night to arrange the battle plan and the order of attack, and then sent it to the various air wings below by telegram, and you were full of confidence and waited for the next day's big fight, only to be the next morning, when you had just been busy all night and were about to rest, suddenly the staff officer pushed open your door and told you that a group of American planes had blown up your X airfields in a mess at dawn, what would you think? Maybe there is no other way than to curse the fighter unit for not being powerful, after all, you can't organize a group of planes to retaliate against the opponent, because the opponent is mobile and has strong defenses! It's definitely not something that an air force can move!

If that's all it takes, it's quite bearable, after all, you can't fight and can't dodge an enemy who is far stronger than you and has a mobile advantage, or rather, a battle of this scale is no longer something that an air force can manage, and this has to be handled at the theater level, so it's the little Richthofen that really hurts the brain. As the Supreme Commander of the Allied Air Force in the Ibilisi Peninsula, he must face this change, and he needs to face this most fatal problem and solve this most terrible enemy! It's not that the Germans haven't practiced sea-based aviation against land-based aviation, and in many battles, the air force finally has some small advantages, but this time the situation is different, the other side is simply too cunning and hateful!

First of all, the opposing side has the support of shore-based aviation. This made the already very strong Allied fleet almost invincible! According to the words of a German reconnaissance pilot, when the Entente fleet released a batch of aircraft. The Allied land-based air fleet, which flew from the northeast, took over the task of air defense of the fleet, and hundreds of aircraft formed an airtight barrel defense system over the fleet. At high altitude is the P47 fighter, at medium altitude is the Flying Bat twin-engine fighter, and at medium and low altitude is the Hellcat of the Navy! Facing a supposedly ironclad defense, it is enough to make most opponents have no idea. Second, the Entente's attack was not intended to hurt the Allies, but to interfere with and deplete the adversary. I don't want to hit you hard, but I use the method of ants to move to weaken you little by little, interfere with you, and make you unable to carry out the set plan. Here's an example. The Allied Air Force in Spain is like a pack of lions ready to hunt for prey, but on your side is a very fast-moving cheetah, always going up to bite you when you want to hunt, or scratching you, maybe not very bad, but it brings the lion hunt to a standstill.

Therefore, Richthofen Jr. must solve this problem, otherwise, the Ilibis Peninsula Air Group will wait to be dragged to death by the other side. It is unrealistic to want to completely solve the opponent. But it's still okay to find an opportunity to hit the other party hard. If you want to fight wolves, you must at least first understand the living habits of wolves, and Richthofen Jr. specially studied the law of air raids of the naval aviation of the Entente countries, after repeatedly comparing the data. The Germans discovered the following loopholes in their actions. The first loophole is naturally that the movement speed of the aircraft group is too slow, and the speed of a single attack aircraft after carrying a large amount of ammunition and fuel is very slow, which is a shortcoming that limits the speed of the fleet. Although the Americans deliberately shortened the range of the attack. But combined with the speed, the Germans found that the American fleet was not short in the skies over Spain. If the plan is good, it can also be deployed to intercept.

The second point is that the routes of the Entente fleet are almost fixed. It's almost the connecting line between the carrier and the target. They don't choose a specific route for feints and detours like ground air raids, the reason for this is also very simple, it is also limited by the range and navigation of aircraft, sea navigation is different from the ground, the latter can also determine the target through ground marking, and if it is at sea, it can only be by radio, and the Germans will also interfere with the radio navigation signal, so the Americans will simplify and shorten the route in order to avoid problems, which allows the Germans to seize the opportunity!

The Americans know very well that it is still possible for their own aircraft group to touch the bombers and bomb the airfield, but if they have a hard fight with the opponent's fighter group, they will not have so much advantage to take advantage of, although there will still be a numerical advantage, but if there are no other factors, the German fighter unit will have a big deal to leave. No matter how bold the Americans are, they will not break away from the formation to chase the German fighters. In response to this characteristic, the Germans responded by a simple way: move the bomber force from the coast to the inland, protect their weakest parts, and then evacuate a large number of short-range fighters such as BF109 and FW190 fighters to some alternate airfields, so that even if the other side smashes the bird's nest, there will not be much problem.

Of course, this kind of approach of just being beaten and not fighting back is definitely not the style of the Luftwaffe, and the Germans also specially concentrated a large number of DO335 twin-engine long-range fighters from the Ibilisi theater, the purpose of which is to chase the US aircraft group from the beginning until the other side retreats into the aircraft carrier air defense circle! DO335 has this range, the Germans also have this patience, and even specially arranged interception forces on the opponent's possible routes, after some preparations, the Germans concentrated about 1200 various fighters and a large number of auxiliary fighters ready to give the opponent a hard blow, which shows how big the resentment of the little Richthofen is!

Once the perimeter was arranged, there was only one bait left, and the bait was also abundantly made, and a convoy of transports from the Mediterranean would reach Lisbon, Portugal. Less Richthofen's choice of this position was well thought out, it was far from the Bay of Biscay, where the American fleet was active, and it would take a considerable amount of time for the fleet to fly over, and even if it took the early morning to attack the Germans, there would be enough time to prepare. Some people may say what if the Allied fleet takes advantage of the night to go to the waters near Lisbon?

It doesn't matter, little Richthofen has already agreed with Count Spee, the count will order the German high seas fleet to make a series of feints, the mighty Allied fleet will blatantly move to the western Mediterranean, and the telegram will also have the news that the German fleet will soon enter the Atlantic, under the influence of these feints. Richthofen the Younger did not believe that the Entente would dare to put their fleet under the flanking of the Luftwaffe! Keep in mind that if the fleet were to enter the waters off the coast of Portugal, then land-based aircraft taking off from France might not be able to provide cover at all. Americans don't have the guts to leave this turtle shell!

But can the Americans give up? Apparently not, Nimitz read the relevant information. The expression was very exciting, some joyful, some worried, and then it turned into helplessness and unwillingness. The intelligence described in great detail this transport fleet, code-named Pillar, a fleet full of various aviation equipment and supplies, whose arrival would change the supply of the Allied air force to Portugal, and the large number of accessories, aircraft, and ground crews loaded on it would greatly enrich the Allied air force and serve as a strong backing for the German navy to enter the Atlantic, as can be seen from the name given by the Germans to this fleet. Pillars! O pillar of the German Navy in the Atlantic!

And the information obtained from other sources also proves that the German high seas fleet may soon be killed! When the time comes, with the support of a powerful fleet and shore-based aviation, it will be impossible for the Entente to move! Therefore, if this fleet can be destroyed and the port of Lisbon can be easily destroyed, I am afraid that it will save a lot of trouble, at least it can delay the time for the German Navy to enter the ocean a lot, and now it seems that the Allied fleet is showing off its might, but in fact, it is also a time difference, so the good time will not be too long!

But in the face of opportunity, Nimitz also saw a crisis. As little Richthofen expected, behind the seemingly rampant Allied fleet was unusual caution and caution, and the Allied fleet was like a cat on the edge of a pond, occasionally reaching into the water to catch fish. But there has always been a bottom line, for fear that I will accidentally fall into the pond. And at this moment, when the Allies let a big fat fish swim to the edge of the cat's paw. Nimitz's mood can be imagined. This feeling of wanting to go up and not daring to go up is really bad!

Just when Nimitz was struggling, an order from the top prompted Nimitz to make a decision. Even take the risk to give it a try! Although this information was not sent to Roosevelt's desk, the deteriorating battlefield situation made Roosevelt feel that a crisis was coming. In order to ensure the safety of the Allied fleet, the United States and Britain have drawn a large number of air fleets from the already stretched battlefield to provide cover for the fleet, which has made the situation on the frontal battlefield even more unbearable.

Even General Li May, who was in charge of air warfare in the European theater of operations, said angrily at a meeting: "The Luftwaffe is the first enemy of the US Air Force, and the second enemy is the US Navy. The greatest obstacle to the advance of the Luftwaffe was not the Allied air force but the geographical distance, and if this situation did not change, I am afraid that in a few months France would finally fall. "In addition to the pressure of the Air Force, the American top brass really wanted to delay the German Navy's entry into the Atlantic in order to buy more time for the British, so under the influence of various factors, it was decided that Nimitz had to take some action against this fleet, even if there was a trap ahead, Nimitz's fleet had to jump in and crush the pillar flotilla as bait!

However, despite the determination to give it a try, the first priority was to protect the ships, and the fleet was still cruising around the Bay of Biscay, and the skies still needed to be covered by land-based air forces. The only thing the fleet can do is to attack the port of Lisbon with a long-range rush of carrier-based aircraft! The Americans did not expect that the Germans might have deployed around this consortia, and before the operation, the American fleet had been running in the opposite direction for several hours before nightfall, making a posture to attack the German airfield on the Franco-Spanish border, and then under the cover of night, heading north and then turning to the southwest at full speed, and after a night of wandering, Nimitz thought that they had drawn the attention of the Germans to the north! At the same time, before turning to the southwest, the entire fleet entered a state of radio silence, and all the warships could not receive or transmit, and from an electromagnetic point of view, the radio signal source that was originally like a neutron star explosion disappeared in an instant! Like a black hole, it erases the traces of its existence!

However, the actions of the Americans to hide their tracks were eventually exposed, and although the darkness could cover the visual detection, the Germans' long-range AWACS aircraft carrying radars did not dare to wander around the American aircraft carriers protected by night fighters. But don't forget, when so many warships are sailing at high speed, the noise produced can be picked up by sonar, although because of the protection of many destroyers, German submarines do not dare to attack the fleet, but it is possible to determine the approximate location of the opposing fleet through passive sonar! The Bay of Biscay is too small, but there are more German submarines in this area, and they do not seek results, but only to find each other's traces, which is also one of the cooperative plans of the German Navy and Air Force! The submarine U127 passive sonar found the target, and the peaks displayed on the display screen made people realize that this was a large fleet maneuvering, although it was at the bottom of the sea, but the German captain also knew that there was only one fleet that could make such a loud noise at night!

"There was a telegram from the land-based aviation side that they would take off the first batch of planes at 6 a.m. and fly over the fleet at 8 a.m." A staff officer sent a telegram to Nimitz.

"The Navy Special Aircraft Wing reported that no anomalies of Luftwaffe movements were found during the day's aerial reconnaissance. The capital ships of the German High Seas Fleet should still be in the Mediterranean, and at 5 p.m. that day, the call sign of the flagship of the High Seas Fleet was still issued in the western Mediterranean. Nimitz's hanging heart was finally relieved by the report of another officer, and from the intelligence point of view, the Germans did not concentrate a large number of bombers, nor did they mobilize the high seas fleet, so this at least proved that his fleet was safe. After having no worries, Nimitz decisively gave the order to attack!

With Nimitz's order, the fleet began to make final preparations for the early morning sortie, the pilots concentrated in the intelligence room to receive orders, the ground crew pushed the planes to the designated position and then carried out bomb and refueling operations, because the distance is far, so all the aircraft must be attached to the auxiliary fuel tank or take off with a catapult, the take-off position of the TBF and SBD bombers, which is already too large, is further back, and the number of aircraft that can take off in the first wave has also decreased, according to the estimates of the US military, Only about 35 to 40 aircraft can take off from an Essex-type fleet carrier. But even so, the US military can send about 900 planes in a wave, and in Nimitz's opinion, such an offensive is enough!

Thanks to the book friend 150607052533321, zhouyu1976 for the reward~~~, as well as the book friend Kuaifeng, Tie Tai Chi Medal, and Da Ban's monthly pass support ~~~~~. (To be continued......)