One of the main purposes of this naval and air force alliance is to enable the German forces near Basra to withdraw peacefully to Europe. This is directly related to the situation of both sides in the next one year, if this force can escape and ascend to heaven, then it is not impossible for Germany to rebuild the defense line in Turkey with the help of the terrain, and even the Eastern European theater can get some troops.

"Give me two weeks, I'll take all the aircraft carriers to the Indian Ocean, and it will take time for the transport ships to assemble, and it will be a large-scale operation, and the total number of ships involved in the operation will exceed all previous operations. Before the departure of the main fleet, I will send some warships to the Persian Gulf to provide fire cover for the army. In the end, Raeder relented.

"So can the Air Force increase its air power over the theater of operations? The heavy artillery of China can already attack the port, and we need to pull out this nail. Kruger asked, looking back. The Navy has already made assurances, so now it's up to the Air Force, their support will be faster, and more direct and effective!

"I'm afraid this is difficult, we are about to cooperate with the Navy to carry out this plan, we will fight against the most powerful fleet in the world. The Navy's air force is limited, and it is already difficult for us to maintain the current level of support, and it is unlikely that we will increase it. The red baron shook his head and said helplessly.

The meeting set the tone, then it will be implemented, originally according to Raeder's original plan, he planned to cooperate with the Air Force and the Huaxia Fleet in 2 months, when the time comes, 3 armored aircraft carriers and 3 medium light protection aircraft carriers will be in service, these aircraft carriers can provide at least 600 or so carrier-based aircraft, if the time is tight, 1 month later can also start, when the time comes, although there are only 2 armored aircraft carriers and 2 medium light protection aircraft carriers, at least the carrier-based aircraft can be matched. However, the current situation is that the fight will start in two weeks. It would be nice to have 4 aircraft carriers with 300 aircraft! Compared to the German Navy when it participated in the Battle of Gibraltar, its strength was at most equal. And the strength of the Huaxia fleet should have increased again, the German navy was the strongest when it was a brick to death, and even if the current situation is helped by land-based aviation forces, Raeder still has no bottom in his heart. The Huaxia Navy put too much pressure on the Germans!

"In this campaign, we will thoroughly become an auxiliary force of the Air Force. Our planes provide cover for the magic box of the Air Force, and our fleet will become a magnet for attracting Chinese bombs. No matter how many Chinese warships the Air Force can sink, some of the fleets participating in this operation are destined to not return, and it is very difficult for our and the planes of the Army Aviation to hold up an air defense umbrella for the fleet while ensuring the supply of forces. Before leaving, Raeder had said this to Count Luckner more than once.

It stands to reason that a fleet backed by land-based aviation should be able to receive support. However, the current situation is that Germany does not have many remaining air forces in the entire Middle East, and after a long period of attrition with China and the transfer of part of its air force to Eastern Europe, the Luftwaffe is only one-third of its heyday, and a considerable part of this one-third of its strength is still used against the Chinese Air Force. Although the Luftwaffe was planning for a long time. However, the only planes that can be drawn out in the entire German Middle East theater are 2 magic box wings and 5 fighter wings, and these fighter wings are still scattered and deployed, and it is difficult to concentrate on one battlefield.

When the Red Baron told Raeder the news, the latter was surprised and even planned to abort the plan. What does the strength of 5 wings mean? This means that even with all its might, the Luftwaffe will be able to concentrate a maximum of 4 wings for engagement, excluding two wings for escorting the Magic Box group, and only 2 wings of additional air defense that can be provided to the German fleet! And the advantage of the Huaxia fleet is simply too great. Even with the addition of the German Navy's direct guard fighter unit, this strength is not enough in front of the aviation of the Chinese fleet.

In a word. After some deliberation, Raeder decided that the victory in this war would be a pyrrhic victory at best. The Luftwaffe, with a bit of luck, could inflict heavy losses on its opponents. But the German fleet would definitely pay a heavy price. "Both sides are like two eggs with hammers, neither side can defend against the other's attack." Privately, Raeder had complained about this more than once.

Obviously, this time Raeder was in the same predicament as the Earl of Spee, and he was forced to take his fleet into a treacherous battle. If there is a difference, it is that Germany had other options in the original strategic form. It's just that the top management chose the wrong one. And this time, Raeder had no other choice! Even if you know that the kilometer is the Longtan Tiger's Den, you must take the lead and jump inside!

After hastily preparing for this, Raeder set out on another journey with his fleet, this time replenished with two new 30,000-ton armored aircraft carriers, the Mackensen and York. and two medium light protection fleet carriers, the USS Bear and the USS Wasp. These ships were incorporated into the fleet of the Count of Luckner. Just before departure, though. Another thing arose, the Spanish and Austro-Hungarian fleets could not take part in the operation!

At this point in the war, both Spain and Austria-Hungary were left with only one fleet aircraft carrier, and Admiral Holden became a veritable commander of the bare-bones. The two countries refused to attack on the pretext that they could not complete the rearmament ahead of time, and now that the German fleet had to send arrows, even if the problem could be resolved through diplomatic means, it was impossible for Raeder to delay the whole plan for the sake of two battleships!

And this accident caused Raeder to lose two more aircraft carriers and about 200 carrier-based aircraft! For the first time, the German fleet could only be organized into three aircraft carrier battle groups, namely the First Aircraft Carrier Battle Group under the command of Raeder himself, and had five Caesar-class super aircraft carriers, namely Caesar, Frederick the Great, Catherine, King Albert and Regent Louitbolt. There are two 35,000-ton aircraft carriers, namely the Hamburg and the Bremen. Because this time the Luftwaffe provided the main output, this time the seven fleet carriers were mostly equipped with fighter planes, and the hangar originally intended for twin-engine bombers would be too rich if it were equipped with fighters, so that each aircraft carrier was equipped with about 135 aircraft (including spare aircraft). There are 7 carrier-based aircraft on these 930 aircraft carriers alone! Among them, the number of FW190DT accounted for 6 percent, in addition to some BF109KT fighters, and the number of twin-engine carrier-based attack aircraft, which was originally used as a big killer, was reduced to 120! Not even half of the original!

Although the Second Fleet commanded by Count Luckner, who had been watched by strong onlookers in two naval battles, was replenished, its combat effectiveness was still not as good as before the outbreak of the Battle of Ceylon. At present, the Earl's fleet still has four 30,000-ton armored aircraft carriers, namely the battle-hardened Septitz and the Hindenburg. and the Mackenson and York, which have just been commissioned. The four aircraft carriers carry a total of 420 carrier-based aircraft of various types, of which about half are FW190DT fighters, in addition to a number of twin-engine reconnaissance aircraft and electronic warfare aircraft carrying radars. The main purpose of this fleet was to provide cover for Raeder's main fleet. When necessary, use yourself as a target to attract the opponent's attack.

As for the last fleet? According to the standards of the Germans, it is not a regular decisive battle fleet at all, this fleet is almost a patchwork of a group of non-capital ships! There was only one armored aircraft carrier in this fleet, and that was the only remaining Serim Sultan of the Turks! The other three aircraft carriers are medium light protection aircraft carriers! The Von der Tann, the Bear and the Wasp! A total of 380 carrier-based aircraft were equipped!

The German fleet, which was once able to easily make up 2 dozen aircraft carriers, now has only 15 fleet aircraft carriers. And these 15 fleet aircraft carriers also carry nearly 1,800 aircraft. But this attack power is much worse than before, according to the words of Count Luknall, this fleet is a purely defensive fleet, and the attack power is not even as good as the German fleet during the first Atlantic War, when the Germans were able to make up about 300 twin-engine attack aircraft, and this time, the number of twin-engine attack aircraft of the Germans was not even half! It has to be said that the German High Seas Fleet has reached a situation where it is getting weaker. If it weren't for the fact that the American and British fleets had just been severely damaged, I'm afraid that the German Navy would have collapsed long ago!

Look at the somewhat sparse fleet. At the beginning, under the leadership of Count Spee, the strong German fleet rushed to the Bay of Bengal in high spirits, and was beaten back by the other side. Raeder's heart was called nervous! Although the Air Force's magic box performed well in the Battle of Gibraltar, this time it was the Chinese fleet! There seems to be a kind of magic in this fleet, since his predecessor, the Beiyang Fleet, he has always been able to defeat his opponents when the other side thinks they must win! This is how the Japanese lost, the Russians lost like this, is it the turn of Germany this time?

"God knows, if the Huaxia Navy is dispatched this time, they will be equipped with something new." Raeder muttered to himself rather wistfully. The Chinese Navy has never fought a war of indeterminacy. If it is said that the first combat opponent of the Luftwaffe's magic box with the German Navy was Huaxia. Raeder was sixty percent sure of defeating his opponent, but this tactic had already been used once. While defeating the Americans, it also put the Chinese fleet on guard.

If the Huaxia fleet dares to come out, then it will definitely rely on it. After all, the Germans had to rescue the lone army trapped in the Middle East, and Huaxia could also rely on the air force and land-based to solve the Middle East problem, and the navy was not a necessary factor, if it could. Raeder hopes not to fight the Huaxia fleet this time! And if you dodge this engagement. I'm afraid that except for Huaxia to enter the Mediterranean, otherwise, the German fleet will not fight with the Huaxia fleet again!

Raeder's preparations are still in place, and he has even transferred back more than 50 ships from the battle that is breaking in the North Atlantic! Together with the submarine forces originally deployed in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, the Germans concentrated a total of nearly 230 submarines of various types! These submarines are mainly deployed in the following areas. The first area was the Gulf of Aden, which was the retreat of the German Navy and the only way for the German convoy to return home! It is not necessary that these submarines can block the Huaxia fleet that may appear here, but at least they must be able to warn and hold off the opponent.

The second area is the coast of India, where the Germans deployed about 100 submarines! A network of submarine boundaries was formed to cooperate with the Air Force to detect the movements of the Huaxia fleet. The third area is near the Bay of Bengal, where the submarines deployed are mainly used to harass the convoy of transports carrying supplies for the Chinese fleet. The Chinese fleet was too large, and if they wanted to fight in the Indian Ocean for a long time, they would have to need constant supplies from transport ships in the rear.

And just as the German Navy left the Eastern Mediterranean and crossed the Suez Canal to prepare for the Middle East, the Luftwaffe also began to fulfill its promise, and the famous magic box fleet in the Battle of the Strait of Western Gibraltar began to transfer to the Luftwaffe bases on the coast of the Arabian Peninsula through airfields in Egypt, Sudan and Somalia. Along with these terrorist killers, there are also several of Germany's most elite fighter units, the Luftwaffe originally planned to use the fighters of the Middle East theater to carry out cover missions, but the situation on the battlefield was too deteriorating, beyond the Red Baron's expectations, most of the fighter units were either beaten miserably or were entrusted to the battlefield and could not be withdrawn, the army said that it could not tolerate the reduction of the air force again, so in desperation, the Red Baron could only draw a few wings from the already stretched aviation force to participate in this campaign!

I have to say that this time the Luftwaffe also made a bloody investment, the combat effectiveness of these wings is much stronger than that of the Middle East troops, and even exceeds the vast majority of air force units on the home and Eastern Front in terms of intact rate and attendance, and what is even more commendable is that these wings are not temporarily patchwork, but almost complete wings, they are part of the few remaining elite units after the last wave of reorganization, and from the perspective of equipment level, it is almost the highest level of the Luftwaffe! While other front-line wings were proud to have a complete TA152 group, this time the number of TA152 fighters in 4 of the 5 aviation wings accompanying the magic box exceeded half of the total! One of the largest of these, the TA152 of the Mozu United, reached 65%!

The remaining wing is even more terrifying! Known as the Black Lightning, the Combat Wing is one of the few all-jet fighter wings in the Luftwaffe! The main wing has a total of 120 ME262 fighters! When the German bomber forces and navy heard that Black Lightning had joined, the morale of the entire army was shaken, and even Raeder's call back to the air force was full of words of appreciation and gratitude. This can be said to be the friendliest telegram between the two since the Count of Spee stepped down!

Thanks to the book friend First Tank Guards Brigade, unauthorized force, mosquito medicine reward~~~, and book friend near the cutie, the unchanging star of the monthly pass support ~~~~~. (To be continued.) )