In the dead of night, everyone in the base was asleep, and they had been sleeping since the afternoon, because they had to get the best sleep possible for the mission that was supposed to change the course of the war. As long as they could destroy the Third Reich steel production base in Norway, the terrible steel flood of the German Army and the increasing number of aircraft in the Air Force would be effectively weakened, the United States would still have the possibility of victory in Europe.

With the exception of a few ground crews and intelligence officers, there was silence throughout the Icelandic base. Searchlights swept back and forth in a regular pattern, and patrolling soldiers carried their weapons on their backs and walked in orderly steps across the wide airfield.

In the command room, Hugh Dowding was frowning and checking the information from Norway with several US air force generals. It is clear that the Germans are strengthening the defenses there, and they are strengthening the air defense there in a very targeted manner.

"Could anyone have leaked our bombing information?" an American general asked, "Canada," an American general asked, with his hands folded over his chest, looking at the information that the Germans had begun to close the roads around the mines, "Canada...... United States...... In the UK, what went wrong?"

"We didn't go through Canada at all! The planes flew to Iceland in batches at night, and the British branch in Canada was not informed of that...... Only a handful of our departments, and the British base in Iceland, knew the full content of this plan. The officer of the US intelligence department in charge of intelligence hurriedly said. He didn't believe that such a secret plan could be leaked, wasn't that almost the same as admitting that there was a traitor in the office of the President of the United States?

"It's speculation...... Once one of our plans is exposed – IMHO, this is very likely to happen. Hugh Dowding interjected: "As long as you know a certain link, then the Germans will speculate about our next course of action, and they are not stupid, and even clever and a little scary." I think there was that damn Yuan who didn't seem to have gone wrong until now was alive first, and it wasn't hard for them to deduce that we were going to bomb Germany. ”

In order to transport enough fuel and bombs, it was necessary to increase the number of transport ships going to Iceland, and it was no secret that the North Atlantic was full of German submarines under the surface, and it was very likely that the Germans sensed that something was wrong. As long as the Allies try to strengthen Iceland, it is not difficult to determine what the Allies are going to do.

"Is the plan going to be canceled? We obviously don't have an advantage in taking off planes to bomb the opponent's prepared areas. "The confidence of a general of the US Army Air Corps is a little shaken, after all, if his bomber unit is severely damaged, it will definitely be bad news for the United States.

"If it's me. Hugh Doudin thought for a moment and then replied cautiously: "Just cancel the bombing operation tonight, and wait until the German defense is confirmed, and then make plans." ”

Dowding was a well-known commander in the RAF, and he was a bit more experienced as he was good at fighting passive defensive operations. He is cautious about avoiding all the risks that can be avoided, and likes to accumulate small wins and turn them into big wins. The British Air Force has been able to hold out in the face of adversity until now, and there is also a credit to this commander.

"Plans can't be changed easily...... After careful calculations, the scientists of the Meteorological Bureau found such an opportunity to fly with good meteorological conditions. If we give up this opportunity, then we have missed the best opportunity to operate!" The commander of the U.S. Army Air Corps glanced at his British counterpart and finally said, "Besides, we have some advantages. ”

The advantage he said was to put it bluntly, that is, there has been no successful interception of night bombing in the world. Although the British once carried out night bombing of Germany, and failed. But it was the bombing of the German mainland, where anti-aircraft guns were intensive, and the Germans did not take off fighters for night interception.

Everyone in this room knew that the bombing of Norway was the best plan that the Allied forces had come up with, and it would be a pity to give it up so easily. By the time the Germans perfected Norway's air defense network and deployed more anti-aircraft artillery and aircraft units, the chances of the Allies were even slimmer.

"What if...... What about bombing northern Britain if it is possible?" asked the officer in charge of U.S. military intelligence quietly. He knew that the Germans were desperately trying to strengthen the Norwegian air defenses, but not any of the British mainland's air defenses, where the spy system was more perfect, and easily confirmed the news that the German aircraft and anti-aircraft artillery positions were not moving.

"That would only make the British people at home hate us. Hugh Dowding was visibly displeased to hear this suggestion. So he changed his tone and explained coldly: "There are not many heavy industrial facilities in the north of Britain, and rash bombing is not effective, not to mention, it may backfire." ”

Americans no longer bring up the topic of bombing northern Britain, after all, this kind of bombing of allies' hometowns in front of their allies is indeed a bit too shameless. But they also knew that the British, who had not waited for the French to surrender to Germany more than a year earlier, had blocked French ports with battleships and started the sound of infighting.

......

The residence of the German Führer, the top generals of the navy, land and air forces in Berlin all stood in front of Accardo, and in response to the enemy's idea of starting to build an impregnable Atlantic barrier, Accardo was also mobilizing troops to improve the defense system over the entire Atlantic as much as possible.

"My Führer! The 17th, 18th, and 19th destroyer squadrons stationed in Norwegian waters have been fan-out. The commander of the navy pointed to the huge chart in front of Accardo and introduced the naval response: "The main force of the naval fleet has set sail and is maneuvering in the North Sea. ”

It was to be on the safe side of letting the navy leave the port, and Accardo didn't want his most precious fleet to be suddenly reimbursed by a group of bombers in William's port. This is the very essence of his Atlantic barrier, and there is no room for the slightest danger. Therefore, Lütjans was ordered to lead the fleet out of port, which could be regarded as protecting the safety of the entire fleet.

The representative of the submarine force followed suit, and he marked the approximate location of the 12 submarines mobilized by Dönitz on the map, and then looked at the Führer: "My Führer! Because of time constraints, the submarine force cannot dispatch new submarines with radars to the designated positions...... Therefore, these submarines will adopt the method of floating observation to ensure early warning as much as possible. ”

"The Air Force reconnaissance plane has been sent out and will be able to reach Iceland tomorrow morning. It will be clear exactly how many American long-range bombers are deployed there. The general in charge of the Air Force's reconnaissance unit then spoke. The Germans had suspended their reconnaissance operations in Iceland since the Allies had introduced jet fighters, but the Germans had not been idle for a while, and they had improved their Butcher long-range reconnaissance aircraft to make them fly higher and faster, and therefore safer.

Accardo knew that he had mustered all the forces he could muster to defend the iron-ore producing regions near Norway. Any attack during the day was no different from sending them to death, because Admiral Catherine and Admiral Dick had already made a guarantee that no target during the day would fly into the Norwegian coastline!

The only thing to worry about now is that the American bomber formations will use night bombing to avoid the most powerful German fighter defenses. It is precisely because of the confidence in the air supremacy of its own combat mechanism that the number of German anti-aircraft guns has dropped a lot compared to that in another time and space, which also makes the ground-to-air defense system not so invulnerable.

Moreover, the 128 mm caliber anti-aircraft gun is too heavy, and it is very inconvenient to move and deploy, and the 88 mm caliber anti-aircraft gun also has such problems, so the number of anti-aircraft guns that the German army can appropriate to Norway for a time is not too much, which is also where Accardo is not at ease.

He knew that the night fighters in those years were far less advanced than they imagined, and although the Germans had sent most of their night fighter units to Norway, it was still unknown what kind of role it could play because it was a unit that did not have much actual combat experience.

It was precisely because of this that he hurriedly transferred long-range bomber units back from the Soviet front line and destroyed the Allied air base in Iceland at any cost. He wanted to solve the problem once and for all, rather than relying on a leaky defense system to train Allied night bombing pilots.

"Tonight is an important juncture, after which it will be an invincible day for our air force, and tomorrow night, the group of butcher bombers returning from the Soviet Union will attack the Allied bases in Iceland at night. Accardo opened his mouth and said to his men, "So no matter what, we will defend the Norwegian ore region, which is very important to us, tonight!"

......

"Assemble, assemble!" a roar shattered the silence of the Allied airbase in Iceland, and the silent night sky was stirred up by the whistle of the assembly, and the pilots, dressed in life jackets, walked out of their resting quarters. They had rested here for a whole day, and now they were in real spirits, and the pilots were going to fly across the sea in the darkness to bomb the enemy's important production base.

The officers of the ground command department held the aerial map in their hands, and confirmed the course and flight time again and again to the navigator and the pilots of other aircraft, and they had to get to the right place at the right time in order to see the fire on the ground that might be fleeting.

They had to use the firelight to drop bombs accurately and destroy the German iron ore mines and processing plants.