In the hall of the command center of the Luftwaffe General Staff, a group of generals watched their planes fly from the easternmost Soviet-German front back to their hinterland airfields. The Butcher Bombers, with their massive bodies, were the most powerful strategic weapons they could find in their offensive forces.

The planes made the long journey to a newly built airfield in southern England, and then went into a state of maintenance in order to maintain a high attendance rate in future battles, and compared to the 340 B-17 bombers that the United States had managed to muster, the Germans pulled out 608 Butcher strategic bombers they could find from all over the country.

The Germans had nearly twice as many troops, and after the U.S. bombed Norway and lost 84 aircraft, the Germans mobilized more bombers than their American counterparts twice. They also bombed more intensively than American bombers.

On the other hand, in terms of combat quality, the German strategic bomber units, which have been in battle formations for a long time and have strategically bombed Britain, the Soviet Union, and other regions, are obviously more experienced than their American counterparts, and they have more or less advantages in formation assembly, navigation, and command.

However, after such a long-distance mobilization, it was obviously too idealistic to engage in a counterattack that night. These German generals also had dispatch personnel, radio communication personnel, radar operators, document rooms, logistics support offices, and the mobilization and distribution of ammunition and fuel, and the chaotic departments and personnel were busy all day, and they were not able to complete the Führer's battle plan for an immediate counterattack that night.

"Long live Führer Accardo, Rudolph!" Carrying the phone, General Dick, the No. 2 man in the Luftwaffe in France, still stood upright and saluted the photo of Accardo on the wall, even though he was not standing face to face with Accardo across thousands of mountains and rivers.

Only then did he speak, and said regretfully to Accardo on the other side of the phone: "My Führer, you have ordered a plan to immediately try strategic bombing against Iceland tonight, and there are technical problems in the implementation of the air force. So I ask you to give our troops on the front line some more time to prepare, and tomorrow night we will be in battle, which is the fastest speed. ”

Accardo was silent on the other side of the phone for a moment before he spoke, "Since you've said so, there's nothing I can do if I don't agree. Tomorrow night to carry out the counterattack plan, this is the promise you gave me, then I trust you to fulfill your promise to me!"

"Yes! Führer!" Dick said again, "Tomorrow night I will send at least 350 bombers to carry out a covering bombing of the various military bases we have already detected in Iceland." And then I promise you that if there is enough fuel, we can bomb there again every other day!"

Accardo, who was far away in Berlin, didn't say anything, just hung up his phone. Then he silently looked at the report on the loss of production of Norwegian iron ore that had been telegraphed to him, staring at the name Kleist at the end. He had the intention to dispose of the general, but he felt that it was not wise to change the generals on the spot, so he hesitated, and finally grabbed the phone in front of him.

"Give me the Eastern Front, the Wolf's Lair, Marshal Brauchitsch. Accardo commanded in a calm tone into the microphone.

A few seconds later, a voice came from the other side of the phone: "My Führer!

"Field Marshal Brauchitsch! I would like to know what you think of the Allied air raid on Norway this time. Accardo said softly, as he spoke, he reopened the damage report in front of him with his hand, turning the pages lightly, his eyes constantly scanning it.

Brauchitsch did not make Accardo wait too long, and answered the Führer's question: "My Führer, I personally feel that the defenders and the generals have done their best, after all, we have limited means against night attacks, and cannot be foolproof......

Accardo heard Brauchitsch's words, and at the same time turned to the last page of the paper in his hand, and his eyes fell on the name that he had read several times, Ewald von Kleist. Brauchitsch wanted to balance the number of aristocratic officers and the Führer's faction in the entire army, and this general, who was born in a traditional aristocratic family, was after all a senior member of the party, and was an important bargaining chip that the army staff headquarters was unwilling to give up.

Accardo was silent, thinking back and forth in his heart, and finally he closed the stack of papers and said to Brauchitsch: "My marshal, I understand what you mean, I will continue to support General Kleist's work in Norway, but I also hope that neither you nor he will let me down again!"

He had to let his men continue to fight for him with peace of mind, after all, maintaining a good balance in the army was a prerequisite for fighting without worries for most generals. Kleist's compromise in this matter should be exchanged for the absolute support of the Army General Staff in other aspects.

"My Führer! the Army will always be your most loyal supporter!" Sure enough, Brauchitsch heard Accardo's overtone, and immediately spoke: "Please rest assured, until the victory or defeat in the air battle in the Atlantic is decided, I will guarantee that nothing will go wrong here on the Eastern Front!"

Accardo nodded, looking away from the damage report. He put two fingers on the bridge of his nose and rubbed the inner corners of his eyes vigorously, he had not closed his eyes last night, but what he was waiting for was no longer news of victory. This made him feel a little uneasy, because Germany's defeat began with the transition from war to stalemate. The current stalemate of war is not the rhythm that Germany is good at.

After a night of fighting, the second night, even if the Americans made a big move, could not achieve the effect of the first night. First of all, the number of aircraft is not guaranteed, after all, after the loss of 84 aircraft, the Americans' aircraft reserve in Iceland has fallen to a pitiful more than 200 aircraft, and the maximum number that can take off is only 200.

Then there was the loss of the help of the Norwegian resistance groups with ground guidance, and the German and Norwegian defenders, who had no worries, could confidently organize air defense operations, and the bombing effect would inevitably be weakened. Taken together, one can imagine what the results of the bombing by the Americans were the next night.

Although the American bomber force, which was in a hurry to fight, eventually flew to Norway the next night, they were intercepted by more night fighters, and the two sides fought 4 to 62 in air combat, and the German night fighter force shot down a full 62 American B-17 bombers at the cost of losing four JU-88G night fighters.

On the night of this day, the Germans took off a full 90 JU-88G night fighters, facing 198 American B-17 bombers. Although they were still outnumbered, the ratio of German planes to American planes had shrunk compared to the first night, and the battle was much easier.

This time, only 107 of the 198 American planes flew back to Iceland, in other words, the American bomber force in Iceland was shot down 175 B-17 bombers in two days. Even the deep-pocketed U.S. Army Air Corps despaired of such unbearable losses.

If they had known that the next day they had only accidentally blown up a section of the railway and the transit station leading to the mine, the rest of the bombs would have been ineffective. Then the senior generals of the US Army Aviation Corps will definitely jump to their feet and scold their mothers in anger, because of the gap in the planes, any British and American planes that try to reconnoiter Norway during the day will be intercepted by German Ta-152 fighters, so the United States and Britain can only bomb indiscriminately according to old maps and rough navigation, coupled with the deliberate interference of German ground lights, it is already considered luck to be able to hit a section of railways and small stations.

After two consecutive days of high-altitude bombing, the United States interfered with Norway's iron ore production, although it had a certain effect, but also paid a heavy price. German steel production was threatened, and the war machine, which was running at high speed, was stuck.

Speer's carefully designed and commissioned plan for maximum capacity utilization was slightly disrupted, causing the construction of a new aircraft carrier that Germany was supposed to start this month to be put on hold, and it took several days of hard work by the superman of German industrial management to keep the production plan of important German fighter tanks from being disrupted by the two-day attack.

At the end of the second night, 20 U.S. fighter jets and 70 additional B-17 bombers flew to Allied airfields in Iceland, which allowed the Allied aircraft to recover slightly. The number of aircraft, which had lost half, rose back to 200 units.

Unfortunately, when the evening of the third day came, the commanders of the US Army were frightened by their huge losses and decided to temporarily cancel the bombing plan for that night - another reason for their movement was that after a catastrophe, the Norwegian resistance finally had a spy station back in operation, and they passed on a valuable piece of information back to Iceland: Stop the bombing! You didn't hit anything!

This information was repeatedly verified, and in the end, although the Americans still did not believe the contents of the information, they still cautiously decided to abandon the third bombing plan. After all, the 70 B-17 bombers that had just arrived in Iceland needed to rest, and if they continued to bomb, they would have been able to take off less than 80 planes that night.

Sending 80 B-17s to Norway on a bombing mission is no different from sending them to their deaths: those ghostly German night fighters will definitely make these planes go and never return! So after a short period of hesitation and discussion, the Americans bowed their arrogant heads in front of Hugh Dowding.

"Maybe you're right! General Dowding!" said the general of the U.S. Army Air in a lonely tone: "We must change our plans and adopt more threatening offensive means!"

Thank you for your support and love!Thank you Chen Yingbu, Mr. Yu, ♀ slowly wake up ★, night madness, sweet, sad, 14247435, Feing丨Feng Gang, Nazi D, 1051336740...... Too many people have accompanied the dragon spirit to write to the present, and it is you who have accompanied the Third Reich all the way to today! If I say long live my Third Reich, then the dragon spirit should also shout long live to you! You are the soul of the empire, and with you this year, the dragon spirit has no regrets!