Iron Cross

Now it is the U.S. military's turn to become nervous: Dutch Guiana is a territory controlled by the United Kingdom and the United States after the outbreak of the European War, and its strength is very weak. British Guiana's own army is not strong. Even Venezuela, which the United States attaches most importance to, has only more than one regiment. . Although the total number of the British, American and Dutch Allied Army troops exceeds 6,000, judging from past results and the current situation, it seems that they may not be able to defeat the German army of just over 2,000. If troops are not replenished as soon as possible, not to mention Dutch Guiana and British Guiana, even Venezuela may not be able to be saved. It is impossible for the German army to occupy Venezuela, but it can completely defeat the British and American troops.

"How many days does it take to land in Venezuela at the earliest?"

"It will take at least three days." Admiral Jin added, "It is impossible for the Germans to reach Venezuela within three days. We are absolutely sure to land before the enemy, but now the fleet proposes that it is too risky. If the Germans attack our army If we make a surprise attack during the landing, we will suffer heavy losses - even if we have the main fleet to cover it, we may not be able to fully protect it. "

Admiral Jin's words made it clear that he did not guarantee the safety of the army, which made all the army generals frown. Devers, who was commanding at the front, sent a message that he could take the risk and give it a try. However, not only Eisenhower but also Marshall himself did not agree with this overly aggressive attitude.

"How sure is the Navy of defeating the Axis Fleet?" Facing the meeting that was unable to make a decision, Roosevelt himself felt a little impatient and simply asked Admiral King directly.

"If the naval battle is fought in the Caribbean Sea, between Venezuela and Haiti, our army should have a 60% victory rate, because the fleet is not only stronger than the opponent in size, but can also be supported by land and aviation from the north and south wings; if it is fought in the waters near Guyana, The winning rate between our army and the enemy will be 50% vs. 50%. Our side has a slight advantage, depending on who can discover it first. However, in other sea areas, the situation is hard to say," Admiral Jin explained, "That's not to say. We cannot defeat the Germans, but if the enemy feints and fails to engage us, we will be in greater trouble - if the main fleet goes south and the enemy takes the opportunity to go north to attack the mainland, how will this situation be explained? "

After what he said, everyone began to hesitate again: The United Fleet's air attack on New York had just passed. If the mainland was attacked again, it would not be a matter of honorable explanation. Someone in the Joint Chiefs and the government must be responsible for this. Someone is going to step down.

Roosevelt's face was gloomy and he said in an emphatic tone: "The Navy must find a way to intercept the enemy fleet and not allow them to attack the East Coast again..."

"So we need an obvious target for the Germans to bite easily. This was the strategy adopted by Nimitz in the Battle of Tarawa."

"Using the army and landing fleet as bait?"

Admiral Jin said nothing, but his face was filled with a big "Yes!"

The final decision was made by the Germans on behalf of the Americans: at 5 p.m., the garrison of Paramaribo, an important port city in northern Dutch Guiana, surrendered, and the entire city fell into German hands. The entire battle was fought with ease. An armored battalion and an armored grenadier battalion quickly defeated the British, American and Dutch colonial forces in front of them using high-speed assault and integrated air-ground tactics.

Among the navies in the world, there is only one that can display as skilled air-ground cooperation skills as the German Navy, because the German Marine Corps and Navy carrier-based aircraft pilots are all transferred services. The former is an army armored force that was transferred to the navy after being established. The latter is the transfer of the Air Force into an organic system, and its specialty is to fight in the air and ground to cooperate with blitzkrieg. The British and American troops of less than 2,000 people were naturally vulnerable to a sudden mini-"blitzkrieg".

Everyone was shocked. In just two days and one night, the Dutch Guiana defenders were finished. This speed was too frightening. If the time continued to pass, British Guiana would also be in big trouble in two days - after all, Paramari Bo is less than 400 kilometers away from Georgetown, the largest port city in northern British Guiana.

Due to the tense situation, after repeated discussions, the meeting decided to implement the First Amendment proposed by Turner. The army and transportation troops went to Port-au-Prince to take refuge. Admiral Ingersoll led the main force of the Atlantic Fleet to attack quickly, preparing to destroy the Axis Fleet...

The Washington authorities never expected that Machar on the opposite side was more anxious than they were - "The intelligence said that a large-scale US fleet was discovered heading south?"

"This is from U-764. The location where it encountered the US fleet was roughly in the Strait of Cuba. The time was this morning. Due to the large number of enemy ships, we did not choose to attack rashly."

"It came so fast!" Machar looked at the chart and said humorously, "It looks like it really hurt the Americans."

"Are you ready to fight?" Ozawa asked.

Machar shook his head: "I will not be stupid enough to fight an encounter with the Americans here. This is their back garden..."

Although Ozawa is interested in fighting a war, Machar has his own considerations: Although the head of state insists that the Axis Fleet must have the ability and determination to confront the British and American Atlantic Fleets head-on, it is not foolish to just slam into the door and fight hard. It fits his character.

"Let's tease the Americans first. Tomorrow the army will prepare to board the ship and retreat. The mobile fleet will move northwest to see where the Americans are."

In the early morning of October 9, the Axis Fleet was divided into two groups. One group moved closer to the northwest and assumed a posture to fight the US fleet, while the other group stepped up to recover the Marine Corps. The original plan was to attack Venezuela, but Now it's obviously ruined.

At noon, the distance between the leading forces of the two opposing fleets had shortened to more than 1,200 kilometers. At 3 p.m., the atmosphere on the New Jersey suddenly became tense. The reconnaissance fleet reported to the flagship that it had discovered an enemy reconnaissance aircraft: "Our position has been exposed. …”

"Why don't the anti-aircraft fighters knock down the enemy?" General Ingersoll scolded, "Now, the enemy already knows where we are, but we don't know where the enemy is. These bastards The fighter pilots bear full responsibility.”

"Sir, our fighter jets cannot catch up with the enemy reconnaissance plane."

"This is unscientific! The enemy's water reconnaissance is indeed running very fast, but the F6F can catch them." Now even senior generals like Ingersoll who don't know much about aviation operations know that Axis has water reconnaissance vehicles with extremely excellent flight performance. The enviable naval authorities have ordered the research and development to be stepped up, but unfortunately they still have no clue.

"But this is not water reconnaissance, it is the enemy's newly launched carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft." Turner frowned, "Hell, why do we always encounter weird things."

Of course, the F6Fs couldn't catch the enemy plane, because this was the Ar-352 (Caiyun modified), which is famous for its speed and range. The pilot who returned to the mothership proudly declared: "All US fighter jets are following me to eat dust..."