Iron Cross

Things went against expectations. Until the sun went down that day, the Royal Air Force, which repeatedly took off for reconnaissance, found nothing except the loss of 4 bombers. The German fleet could not be found at all, and even the Ozawa fleet was also missing. When reporting to Churchill in the evening, Pound was sweating, but his words were quite tactful: "Prime Minister, after repeated reconnaissance by the Royal Air Force, we are convinced that there is no enemy fleet within 1,000 kilometers of the island of Ireland. We suspect that the German army has delayed the landing operation."

Next to him, Air Force Chief of Staff General Charles Porter could not help but breathe a sigh of relief: Although Marshal Pound's temper was a little bad, he was still a so-so man and did not add insult to injury.

Churchill breathed a sigh of relief and asked: "Where is the SS Irish Division?"

"It is reported that it is still staying near the port of Brest."

"So, the Germans are bluffing again?"

"That's not necessarily true. Today, the German army's somewhat moderate bombing intensity has been intensified, and it is very targeted. It focused on bombing our army's air defense facilities, especially radar stations." Admiral Porter said with lingering fear, "The German army's bombing is very fierce To be precise, we lost 27 radar stations in one day. The radar stations in the southern region have begun to become disorganized. We are currently undergoing emergency repairs and strive to restore them tomorrow.”

"What?" Churchill's voice suddenly rose an octave, "What's going on? Someone leaked the secret?"

"Probably...probably not."

"What's going on?" Churchill said displeasedly, "Think of it a little worse. The super secret thing last time hasn't finally come to light yet. Could it be that this spy has started to act again?"

"No, the Germans used new equipment! Although the actual object was not seized, experts have speculated on the principle..." Admiral Porter wiped his cold sweat and said, "They call this kind of bomb an anti-radar bomb and think it is the enemy's New invention, designed to destroy radar stations."

This time, Admiral Porter's conclusion was correct. What was dropped in southern England today was the world's first anti-radiation (radar) bomb, the BV346 developed by Germany.

The anti-radiation bomb was initiated by Hoffman after he inspected the Peenemünde base. It was several months earlier than the original history. The specific design was presided over by Dr. Walter. The goal was very clear - to be thrown beyond the enemy's anti-aircraft firepower. Bombs and destroy radar stations with hard kills. It was initially codenamed BV246 internally and nicknamed "Hail". It was later upgraded to BV346 after continuous improvements, but the nickname Hail remained.

Hail has a very simple appearance: a cigar-shaped fuselage, slender wings and a normally arranged tail. This shape provides it with good gliding performance. When launched at an altitude of 7,000 meters, it can hit targets 175 kilometers away. If Ju -188 is dropped at an altitude of 9,000 meters, with a maximum attack range of 200 kilometers.

The most special feature of this bomb is that the two long main wings are cast from reinforced concrete. This is mainly to achieve two purposes: First, because the bomb is sensitive to ionizing radiation, directly using steel as the main wings will cause interference, and wrapping it with concrete will reduce The lowest cost method is to eliminate ionizing radiation; secondly, the bomb requires a large weight when dropped so that the bomb and the carrier aircraft can be separated cleanly to avoid danger caused by mutual interference.

When Dr. Watt initially designed the "Hail", it used radio command remote control just like Hs-293\\393, but the latter had experienced actual combat and was known to the British. The reason why Hs-293 ​​was quickly upgraded to Hs-393 is because the British researched jamming technology after suffering losses in the Mediterranean naval battle. Hs-293 ​​gradually became ineffective and was forced to upgrade. Hailibing thought of this problem in advance and actively abandoned it. Radio commands are replaced by passive radar seekers, making them ideal anti-radiation weapons.

Because Hoffman attached great importance to radio and with the progress of the German army in the field of radio, the development level of passive radar seekers was better than in history, and the bomb delivery success rate was also higher than the same period in history, with an overall hit rate of nearly 50%. Of course, the test results are not equal to the actual combat results, so Hoffman had to take the opportunity to test. The Ministry of Armament produced a total of 1,000 "Hailstones". Today, 300 of them were shot down in one go, and the rest will be shot out in the next few days. In order to prevent the enemy from picking it up and imitating it, the bomb was also equipped with a self-destruct device.

Since the intensity of radiation has a great impact on the hit rate, the Air Force used a little trick during the delivery, first sending aircraft to sow aluminum foil to interfere with the work of the British radar station. The British had long been prepared for this very common electronic countermeasure. They adjusted the frequency and increased the radar power output. Only then did the hailstones begin to appear, and they bombarded smoothly along with the increased intensity of radar radiation. Judging from the actual combat situation, there is no problem with a hit rate of more than 40%, but the shortcoming of insufficient explosion power is also revealed - at least 4-5 bombs need to hit to completely destroy a radar station. After the radar is shut down, bombs that lose radiation guidance will fly around again.

Now everyone highly admires the head of state's foresight: long before the actual battle on Hail, Hoffman pointed out the lack of power of the bomb and the possible problem of guidance loss, suggested upgrading to a new model, and even gave Walter the direction of technological development. The doctor has designed it. The new model (BV446) plans to use a ramjet rocket as a carrier instead of free gliding to achieve faster delivery speed and longer range. At the same time, inertial guidance and infrared guidance are installed on the seeker head, even if the opponent cuts off the radar signal, anti-radiation The missile can still switch to other ways to guide and attack.

The technical indicators of the Armaments Department's bidding determined that the overall weight should not exceed 250 kilograms, of which the warhead should not be less than 75 kilograms, and all aircraft, including fighters, can carry it. As for ramjet rocket technology, there is also a ready reserve at the Peenemünde base - Germany did not manufacture the V1 missile with a pulse jet engine except for Japan, but used ramjet engine technology to form an upgraded and improved V3 rocket. The only problem is that the V3 is relatively heavy, with an overall weight of nearly 800 kilograms, far exceeding the requirement of 250 kilograms, and 800 kilograms is obviously not economical for anti-radiation smart bombs.

Both Watt and other experts are full of confidence in this, believing that a breakthrough can be made in 2-3 years - who dared to conclude three years ago that the V2 rocket would not only be successful but also be able to hit 400 kilometers away? Now Germany has not only crushed the Allies in the field of anti-radiation smart bombs, but has also taken the lead in developing a new generation of missiles.

Hoffman, who was full of evil taste, gave BV446 a new code name - Shrike. The technical team headed by Dr. Water devoted themselves to it. In order to show the importance of the head of state's personal guidance of the research and development work, the new project code name was named Shrike.

The unexpected episode of the destruction of the radar station made Churchill unhappy, but he did not take it to heart. He was most concerned about the movement of the German fleet, and several radar stations were not in his eyes for the time being. In addition to asking for immediate repairs, he asked Pound: "Yesterday Nimitz and Cunningham said they would circle back?"

"Yes, what do you think?"

"Let them get closer to investigate clearly so as not to miss anything."

"Do you think there are other anomalies?"

"If the Germans did not land in Iceland or Ireland but did send out a fleet, and they still can't find these fleets, then there is a terrible other explanation..." Churchill sighed, "Will they land in Newfoundland?"

"Newfoundland? No... No way."

"Who knows? What if the Germans go crazy?" Churchill said, "This fleet has lost news for three days and three nights after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar. If today's If they leave the strait and keep heading for Newfoundland, where do you think they can go the farthest?"

Pound took a breath: "Azores! No, after tonight, they may not even reach Azores."

"They will reach Newfoundland in the same amount of time."

"Is this possible?" Brooke interrupted, "The US military in Newfoundland has greatly improved its defense level, and it is impossible for the Germans to launch a surprise attack again."

"Nothing is impossible in war. Did you foresee the attack on Newfoundland last time? If a surprise attack fails, can a strong attack not work?" Churchill sneered, "Tell the Americans my judgment and let them be more careful! Although Newfoundland is directly under the jurisdiction of Great Britain, Now it obviously means more to the United States than to us. Imagine, under the protection of 8-10 aircraft carriers, what kind of disastrous consequences will occur if 1-2 German armored divisions land? Even if you have air force, can you beat the cover aircraft launched by 8-10 aircraft carriers? Not to mention 5-6 world-class battleships! "

Pound immediately asked: "How much strength does Newfoundland have now?"

"2 Canadian divisions, 2 American divisions, 500-600 aircraft, and some other coastal defense forces."

"Not enough, not enough, far from enough." Churchill shook his head like a rattle, "It's not that I underestimate the Americans. If the German army really goes to 2 divisions, this defensive force can't stop it at all! Didn't you say that Iceland's 80,000 troops were not enough? Newfoundland is larger than Iceland, and its defensive force is less than 100,000. I think the defense strength is about the same. "The Americans can reinforce in time!" "At most, they can send an airborne division and let Ridgway fight!" Churchill sneered, "I'll make a bet with you. If I go to the General Staff to announce the bet now, there are 5 US and Canadian divisions and 500 aircraft on one side, and 2 German divisions with 10 aircraft carriers and 6 battleships on the other side. Guess which side the people below will bet on? " Pound, Porter and Brooke looked at each other, and no one could say anything: If neither side had follow-up reinforcements, they believed that 80% of the officers would bet on the Germans to win the bet! Hearing that the Germans might come to attack Newfoundland, the Washington Joint Chiefs of Staff could not sit still. On the one hand, they ordered Newfoundland to increase its defense level and request to release all reconnaissance aircraft tomorrow morning, and on the other hand, they asked the TF46 fleet to move forward for reconnaissance...