Chapter 1124 Roosevelt's Death IX

"Reich Marshal, something a bit troublesome has happened."

On September 15, 1944, when Reich Marshal Hessmann just walked into the building of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht, he was stopped by Guderian, the First Quartermaster General, who just walked out of the communication center.

"Something a bit troublesome?" Hessmann blinked, "Heinz, what exactly is going on?"

"Many large pits have appeared in the farmland of County Mayo in the Republic of Ireland... They should be bomb craters."

"What? Bomb craters?" Hessmann was stunned, "Have you confirmed it?"

"Just confirmed," Guderian shook his head and said, "I personally called the Chief of Staff of the Irish Defense Forces. The General Staff of the Irish Defense Forces has sent people to check and confirmed that it is a bomb crater, which seems to be caused by an aerial bomb."

"Aerial bomb?" Hessmann also felt a bit troubled now, "Are there any casualties?"

"No reports have been received in this regard yet." Guderian said.

Hessmann frowned, "Do you know who did it?"

"We're still investigating," Guderian replied, "Albert (Kesselring) knows about it, and he has sent an air force staff to Ireland. I believe it will be found out soon."

"If it's found out, they must be severely punished!"

"Yes! They must be severely punished!"

The two German military gods who didn't know where to go walked towards Hessmann's office while talking. They never thought that the bombs that fell on the Irish farmland and destroyed a lot of potatoes came from the United States. They thought it was an accident caused by German aircraft stationed at the Cork base in the south of the island of Ireland or the Brest base in France during training.

Because it is wartime now, the training intensity of the air force is very high, and various accidents naturally increase. It is not uncommon for bomber units to drop training bombs outside the designated training area during training.

But this time, they actually dropped live ammunition, which is a bit too much. It must be dealt with seriously.

After deciding to severely punish the German pilots who threw bombs indiscriminately, Hessmann and Guderian discussed the issue of ground combat in America in the office.

Although Germany now has missiles and atomic bombs, ground warfare is still inevitable.

Because Germany does not have a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can be mounted on a missile.

To defeat the United States with traditional ground warfare (including island-taking operations), there are about two routes of attack: one is through the Caribbean; the other is through Newfoundland-eastern Canada.

Both routes are certainly not easy to take. The Caribbean Islands and Newfoundland are heavily guarded by the US military, not only with a large number of ground troops, but also with a large number of naval and air forces.

The missile attack on the east coast of the United States that the German Air Force and the European Joint Fleet are preparing now is mainly aimed at dispersing the US naval and air forces concentrated in the Caribbean and Newfoundland to create conditions for landing operations.

"Ludwig," Guderian had a unique insight into where to launch an attack. He said, "I think Trinidad is not a particularly suitable landing target. Newfoundland is the best target."

"Newfoundland?" Hessmann shook his head and said, "But the Navy and the Air Force both suggested landing on Trinidad."

Hessmann was not a particularly resourceful chief of staff, but he had the "skill of judging people" and knew that Guderian and Kesselring were both relatively reliable military strategists, and he did not believe the words of the German Navy Commander-in-Chief Raeder. And this time, Kesselring, who had served as the commander of the Atlantic Front for a long time, had the same views as Raeder and both advocated attacking Trinidad.

"I know," Guderian said, "they think the losses from attacking Trinidad will be much lower than those from attacking Newfoundland. Attacking Trinidad might result in 50,000 to 100,000 casualties, while landing on Newfoundland is likely to result in 300,000 to 400,000 casualties."

"What do you think?"

"Like them," Guderian said, "the General Staff participated in the loss assessment of the war game. But when the war game and assessment were conducted, we had not yet won the Battle of Bermuda."

Hersmann nodded, without commenting.

Guderian said: "At that time, the biggest problem facing the attack on Newfoundland was not casualties, but possible failure. Now, as long as we can deploy 8-12 missile battleships/cruisers and a certain number of missile carriers, as well as enough aircraft carriers in Newfoundland, we can ensure victory. As long as we can win, even if we sacrifice 300,000 to 400,000 lives, it is more cost-effective than attacking Trinidad.

Because once Newfoundland is captured, the United States has actually been defeated. And occupying Trinidad is not enough to force the United States to surrender. We must also occupy a series of Caribbean islands such as the Windward Islands, the Leeward Islands, and Puerto Rico, and each island must go through a bloody battle. In the end, the loss of life will definitely exceed 400,000!"

Hersman nodded repeatedly. Guderian's idea is not bad. Going through the Caribbean is to fight one island at a time. Attacking Newfoundland is just an island, and Newfoundland is very close to the core area of ​​the northeastern United States, only 1,200 kilometers away from Boston.

If the Me264 is deployed on Newfoundland Island, it can rely on fighter escort to drop atomic bombs on major American cities.

"It's a good idea," Hersman said thoughtfully, "I'll ask Albert for his opinion when he comes." He paused, "I'm not worried about ground combat. As long as our army can go up, the Americans are no match. As for the sea, the US surface fleet is not afraid either, because there are missiles to deal with them. But it's hard to say in the air. We only have carrier-based aircraft, while the Americans have a large number of shore-based aircraft."

"We have Greenland," said Guderian. "It's only a few hundred kilometers away from Newfoundland. Do217 and Ju288 can fly there to fight as long as they undergo some modifications."

Greenland belongs to Denmark, and Denmark is now a member of the European Community, so it is naturally part of Europe. In 1940, Britain occupied Greenland for a time, but the number of troops stationed there was not large. After the British mainland surrendered, the British troops there withdrew to Canada. The German army entered Greenland in the summer of 1943 and built a small airport in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland.

However, Greenland is too close to the North Pole, with a cold climate, frequent strong winds, and polar nights, making it unsuitable for deploying a large number of combat aircraft. However, if it is really necessary, these difficulties are not insurmountable.

Hessmann and Guderian discussed for a long time, until almost noon, when they were interrupted by Field Marshal Kesselring who pushed the door in.

"Ludwig, Heinz, there was an accident." Kesselring said to Hessmann and Guderian as soon as he entered the door, before he had time to sit down, "The people who dropped bombs in Ireland are not ours."

"Not ours?" Hessmann asked, "British? French?"

The Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom also has a small number of bombers, and the French Air Force is not small in size, second only to Germany and the Roman Empire in Europe.

"No, none of them." Kesselring said, "The people at the Air Force Command checked for a morning, and all the bomber and fighter-bomber squadrons did not fly to County Mayo in western Ireland last night."

"Then they are... American planes?" Hessmann asked with his eyes wide open.

Kesselring nodded, "I think this is the most likely possibility."

"Why did they bomb Mayo?" Guderian was a little surprised, "What is there in Mayo? Potatoes?"

Kesselring shook his head, "The target should not be the farmland in Mayo. They may want to bomb Cork, but they didn't find the target at night, so they just threw bombs and returned. This is a common situation in night bombing."

Navigation in night bombing has always been a problem. It is common to throw bombs in the wild when the target cannot be found.

"Damn it!" Hessman couldn't help cursing. The potato fields in Ireland are worthless, but this bombing can still have an adverse impact politically.

At least it shows that the United States has the ability to threaten Europe under German rule!

"We must deploy radar stations and interceptors in western Ireland, and we must do it quickly..." Hessman thought for a while, "Let's first dispatch a few SP-class cruisers to the western coast of Ireland as mobile radar stations, and also dispatch some He219s to Ireland."

"It's impossible to be 100% safe," Kesselring reminded Hessman, "Night bombers are difficult to intercept. And..."

Seeing Kesselring hesitate, Hessman asked, "And what?"

"And the Americans also have bacterial bombs!" Kesselring said solemnly, "They used a large number of anthrax bombs and plague bombs on Oahu, causing huge casualties to the Japanese."

Herssman took a breath and his face suddenly became ugly. The American bombing of Ireland was obviously a "warning", indicating that the United States was not without any ability to counter the atomic bomb.

"Ludwig, the planes that bombed Ireland should have taken off from Newfoundland." Guderian reminded Hersmann, "If we occupy Newfoundland, the American B-29s can only take off from the Nova Scotia Peninsula, so the distance from them to Ireland will be close to 4,000 kilometers. And once we control Newfoundland, it will be difficult for B-29s that take off from the Nova Scotia Peninsula or the eastern United States and Canada to fly to Europe."

"What? To occupy Newfoundland?" Kesselring looked at Guderian in surprise.

Hersmann nodded and took over the topic and said: "Heinz's idea, Albert, we should seriously study the issue of occupying Newfoundland. Even if the loss is greater, we must take it down!"

As he spoke, Hersmann had already stood up: "I'm going to the Prime Minister's Office... The bombing of potato fields in Ireland is not a trivial matter, and it is estimated that a big move will be made. The Air Force must be prepared, and perhaps the Me264 will be dispatched to launch missiles soon."