Iron Cross

After receiving Horikichi's "do it again" telegram, Tsukahara 243 was also happy and immediately deployed.

That night, Peterson went crazy again. Not only did the Japanese fleet turn around again in the evening, but a large number of Japanese planes pounced on it in the early morning. Just as the exhausted fighter pilots were trying to deal with it, the Japanese fleet suddenly began to turn, and then followed the same pattern. Continue to toss all night long. The only difference is that last night we circled Panama counterclockwise, and tonight we circle Panama clockwise.

At daybreak, the Japanese fleet retreated into the distance again. Petersen, who had red eyes and was breathing heavily, now even wanted to kill people. But when the staff asked him if he wanted to deploy a counterattack, he just wanted to kill the Japanese army. He hesitated again: This decision is not easy to make.

After thinking for a long time, he weakly waved his hand and gave up dejectedly, but he could not show weakness on the surface. He ordered "close monitoring, comprehensive preparation, and wait until the Japanese army reaches a range of 800 kilometers before attacking!"

The two sides spent a long time in a staring confrontation.

After receiving intelligence that the Japanese army was teasing the Panamanian defenders for the second time, Washington became increasingly convinced that the Japanese army was drawing its attention. The situation was now obvious. The Tsukahara fleet was stuck at a position of about 1,000 kilometers, neither retreating nor advancing. Just when the American planes came out, this posture made the Joint Chiefs of Staff feel like swallowing a fly. It was uncomfortable and disgusting to death. In the end, they could only order, "Tightly control, ignore it for now!"

The Tsunoda fleet disappeared again, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were a little nervous at first. However, after receiving the news from Halsey that "the repair of the Hornet will be completed tomorrow, the fleet will launch a night sortie", everyone calmed down and focused on sending forces to Newfoundland first. .

The Army transported one division by air, and the Army Air Force gritted its teeth and dispatched more than 200 aircraft from all over the east coast. Mitchell led the main force of the Atlantic Fleet out of Pisacek Bay, which had just completed sea trials, and prepared to reach the northeastern coastline. Position to assist in defense and response.

In the early morning of October 20, the Tsukahara fleet launched its third attack group. This time, each aircraft carried no auxiliary fuel tanks, but dark bombs. The Ju-198 attack aircraft carried three 250-kilogram bombs or eight 75-weight bombs. kilogram incendiary bombs, and the escorting Gale Kaimen carried a 250 kilogram bomb.

Tsukahara dispatched more than 260 planes. After takeoff, the formation was very compact. It still looked like there were about 200 planes. They flew to Panama in the same way.

"Sir, the Japanese are here again!"

"Pay attention to the situation and report any abnormalities immediately!"

After two consecutive days and nights of suffering and high mental stress, the US military pilots were also exhausted to a certain extent - the Japanese aircraft carriers still had 50% of the personnel available for rotation. The US military was not so well-equipped, and nearly a quarter of them were lost on the first day. After one crew, the remaining pilots have more tasks to perform.

"Sure enough, it's still the same old trick. Please, can you think of some other tricks?" Peterson saw the trajectory on the radar of the Japanese troops approaching 80 kilometers before turning around again. He waved his fist fiercely, "Cowards! Go to hell! "

"Attention, all formations, attention, all formations, last check, last check."

Upon hearing the commander's order, each flight captain immediately asked the team members to conduct final inspections.

"Highest speed, full army assault!"

With a "swipe" of the ground, the Japanese formation, which had been swaying at a speed of 400 kilometers/hour on the periphery just now, instantly increased its speed to more than 500 kilometers/hour, and rushed towards the Panama defense center. When the panicked radar soldier woke up the sleepy Peterson and told him that the Japanese formation had rushed into the 40-kilometer core area, Shimazaki Shigekazu, who was in the lead, had already taken the lead in throwing down the flares to open the channel and guide the subsequent attack echelon. target.

When Peterson hurriedly ordered the night fighters to intercept and the planes stranded at the airport to take off, the Japanese bombs and incendiary bombs had already been dropped. The gunners at the anti-aircraft gun positions began to fight back fiercely as if they had just woken up from their dreams. However, they were immediately suppressed by the Japanese army and took the lead in dropping bombs. The completed Gale fighter jets began strafing the ground, with chains of fire falling from the sky and screams everywhere.

"Boom, boom" explosions were heard one after another, and incendiary bombs exploded and formed clouds of flames on the ground, detonating US military aircraft, fuel, ammunition and even various vehicles, tires and other flammable objects, soaring into the sky. The flames lit up the night like day, and the Japanese attack planes that followed up no longer had to work hard to find their targets. At around 3 o'clock, the U.S. military's central aviation fuel depot was detonated with a loud "bang". Not only were all the people within a 400-meter radius swept away, but a huge mushroom cloud also rose in place. The violent air shock wave even flew at 1,400 meters. The Japanese attack planes at a height of several meters were swaying and bumping up and down.

"It's over..." Looking at the signs of fire outside, Peterson was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say. The crackling sounds seemed to be mocking him - you idiot!

At around 4 o'clock, the Japanese aircraft returned home contentedly after depleting their ammunition. Since Tsukahara did not want to capture Panama, he did not let the battleship force go up to make up for the damage. The reconnaissance plane made it very clear that the Panama Canal would not be repaired for at least another year (the Japanese judged that the actual US requirement was June 1945). There was time to fight, so the attack group did not bother with the Panama Canal repair project, but mainly poured ammunition on the US military. .

The Japanese shot down 17 US aircraft with the loss of 19 aircraft (most of which were shot down by ground anti-aircraft fire). The losses in the air seemed fine, but the losses of the US military on the ground were terrible. Panamanian Army Air Forces lost a total of nearly 400 aircraft and more than 100 crews (most of them were killed in forced takeoffs), and most of the killed were skilled crews, but they were helpless. , Novices who are slow to react can survive in the end by hiding in bunkers and not trying to take off.

The fire burned for a whole day and night, and was only extinguished in the evening. The Panama base, oil depot, tower, anti-aircraft gun, and radar station were all destroyed by the Japanese army. The ground troops also suffered a disaster, with a total loss of more than 1,800 troops, and all facilities were ravaged. It doesn't look good.

Hearing the news that Panama had been beaten, everyone in the Joint Chiefs of Staff looked bitter but could not say a word. It was obviously unkind to accuse Peterson of being negligent. The Japanese obviously did not want to occupy Panama, but just wanted to make some money and leave. , but people can take precautions, and people can still take advantage of this bargain.

After a long time, MacArthur let out a long sigh: "Let the Panamanian defenders rest and replenish their forces. I guess the Japanese fleet is really planning to leave this time."

Arnold, who had returned to Washington from the West Coast, had eyes wide open and didn't know what to do. He really had no choice now.

In the evening, Hoffman, who was inspecting "Thunderbolt 1944" (a special Blitzkrieg 2.0 exercise) on the island of Madagascar, also learned about the combined fleet's feat of "three strikes against Panama" and commented with a smile: "The Americans were teased by the Japanese. , I don’t believe I can bear this. If we fight, the next fight between the two sides will be as fierce as sparks hitting the earth!”

"It's better to be tragic. Tragic shows that there is still room for struggle. If the opponent like us doesn't even have room to struggle, isn't it despair?" Keitel suddenly remembered something and reported, "Marshal Machar sent a telegram to tell the second batch of South American troops It has officially set off from Italy and will arrive early next month as expected.”

Hoffman nodded: "Very good, how are you preparing for the South African campaign?"

"The conventional forces are basically in place, the special forces are still a little behind, and 85% of other materials and supplies have been in place. The main reason is that the transportation of new missiles and launch vehicles has delayed time. I think the attack can be launched on time on November 15."

"Don't worry, let's take a look at the results of the exercise first. If there are any discrepancies, we can use this time to make adjustments to give the South African US military a dignified and elegant death."

"Decent?" Keitel laughed dumbly.

"As the world's first practical attempt at Blitzkrieg 2.0, if it cannot be implemented with lightning speed, it will be like killing a cow with a dull knife. Of course the cow will die, but the process will not be dignified and elegant." Hoffman shrugged. "Why did I spend huge sums of money and waste energy to organize an exercise in Madagascar? The essence is to find faults - I wonder if you still remember that when we marched to Vienna, the road was full of broken down No. 2 and No. 3 tanks. At that time How did Britain and France laugh at us?"

Keitel quickly recalled, nodded in agreement, and said sincerely: "They don't dare to laugh at us now, they even admire us very closely. The French have tentatively asked if they can introduce rocket technology..."

"Of course! I see no problem in transferring a batch of V2 technology and 12 live ammunition. This also reflects the reconciliation and friendship between France and Germany. However, as an important weapon of the country, rocket technology is definitely not cheap. The package price is 14 billion marks. What do you think? "Like that?" Hoffman said with a smile, "The French have a lot of Mark bonds. As a responsible country, Germany must not make excuses to its allies, right?"

Keitel was delighted: The head of state's asking price was really not low. Mark 14 billion was higher than the total funding allocated to all rocket project development projects at the Peenemünde base over the years. It was approximately equal to 50,000 Tigers or 140,000 No. 4 vehicles. The cost price of the tank. Moreover, the Peenemünde base includes all V-series rockets and various products such as air defense, air launch, anti-radiation, and anti-tank. Now a V2 is sold separately for 14 billion. At this price, Tsk tsk!

However, Keitel does not think it is very expensive. After all, V2 is a weapon that Germany has painstakingly researched for many years and has been tested in actual combat. France needs to invest a lot of money and spend essential time to reach the same level. Of course, this is not the key. The key is that there is only one German company in rocket technology at present, and it is completely reasonable to sell it expensively.

"Reporting to the Head of State and Chief of General Staff of the Supreme Command, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd German Rocket Assault Battalions are ready and are about to be tested. Please approve!"

"agree."

Hoffman strode to the best viewing position in the observation bunker area and sat down. A high-powered telescope was placed in front of him. Behind him, there was a dark crowd of marshals, generals and foreign representatives. Several lieutenant generals did not even have benches, so they still stood on tiptoe. He held a telescope at his feet and watched intently.

"Ready, stand up!"

The whole place fell silent...