"Long live the victory!" Two soldiers standing guard outside the Joint Intelligence Command Center of the General Staff of the National Defense Forces raised their hands to General Student, the Airborne General Command. Student waved his hand and walked into the room through the open door.

In the spacious and bright joint intelligence command center hall, around the huge sand table, Imperial Marshal Hesman and his main assistants, including Air Force Commander-in-Chief Kesselin, First Military Commander-in-Chief Guderian, Navy Commander-in-Chief You Radell, Marine Commander-in-Chief Grame, and Navy Air Commander-in-Chief General Hubert West were whispering to exchange views.

It is now on the afternoon of April 26, 1945, Berlin time. Operation Columbus has begun for more than 24 hours and has achieved initial success.

Nearly 20,000 German airborne troops boarded Newfoundland through parachute and aircraft landing, and occupied the Port of Cabernier and its surrounding areas on the Avalon Peninsula near the exit of Concepshun Bay. At the same time, they also controlled most of the Port of Gracepshun Bay, another key point on the west coast of Concepshun Bay. If it weren't for the bombardment of US large-caliber artillery on Bell Island in Concepshun Bay, the entire Port of Gracepshun would have been controlled by the Germans.

In addition, several airborne synthetic battalions airborne Newfoundland Island also occupied the top peak in the confrontation with the US armored forces, not only tightly blocking the opponent to the west of Grace Airport, but also completely destroyed about 50 American tanks during the battle, including many m26 heavy tanks!

However, a victory in the first battle does not mean that the battle on Newfoundland is sure to win, because the German army is still facing great difficulties.

When Hessman saw General Student, he attacked him and asked, "Kurt, how is the situation?"

It turned out that Student had been in the communication center of the General Staff, using the radio station there to contact Shiple, the commander of the 1st Air Assault Army on Newfoundland Island.

"Not bad," Student raised his hand, "but there were not many surprises. Judging from the battle situation on the first night, the US Army's performance was fair and there was a problem of inadequate progress in the use of armored troops. However, their artillery use level is very high, almost comparable to ours. Moreover, there are a large number of tanks and cannons. It seems that the 1st Air Assault Army will have a hard battle to fight."

The Americans' full capital was expected. The country's industrial strength was almost the same as the entire Europe. The total output of steel, oil and automobiles far exceeded that of the European Community (with output). When the huge industrial strength was transformed into military production, the troops could naturally provide enough weapons and equipment.

The European Union, because it was not possible to invest enough troops in Newfoundland in time, was able to invest enough troops in the island of Newfoundland in time, so it was at a disadvantage in terms of force and firepower.

When the panic caused by the surprise attack ended, the US military on Newfoundland will crush the small number of German paratroopers with overwhelming force and firepower.

It is inevitable that paratroopers will fall into unprecedented hard battles!

"We are also discussing this issue," Hessman nodded, "and the Marshal (referring to Redell) also proposed a method of directly supporting ground forces through firepower by breaching the naval surface ship into Concepshun Bay."

Because the airborne troops had long expected that the airborne troops would be hit by the superior forces of the United States, Hessman and others have been studying ways to support the airborne troops since lunch.

Air support is certain, but since Newfoundland Island is too far from the large shore-based aviation base controlled by the European Community Alliance, it can only rely mainly on carrier-based aircraft for air support, and the strength may not be enough.

There is only one way to solve this problem, which is to forcefully rush into Consepsun Bay with large surface ships and use naval guns to provide support to the ground forces.

"Would you like to let the naval surface ships enter Concepshun Bay?" General Student was not surprised, because this plan had long been in the "Operation Columbus" plan and was one of a series of candidate subprograms.

According to the "Operation Columbus" plan, once the US artillery firepower on Newfoundland Island is too strong and the Air Force/Naval Aviation successfully destroys the 406mm coastal defense cannon of the "Churchill Naval Fortress", and the mines in Consepsun Bay are also cleared, the European Combined Fleet will send large surface ships to rush into Consepsun Bay to serve as floating turrets.

"Can we destroy the cannons of Churchill Fortress now?" Student asked again with a frown. "It seems we don't know their specific location yet?"

This issue is not his own, but he still knows it very well, because when formulating the "Operation Columbus" plan, the issue of how to destroy the "Churchill Navy Fortress" has always been the focus of research. He even considered using airborne troops to raid to occupy the fortress, but in the end, he gave up because the fortress's defense was too tight and used remote control missiles to destroy the fortress' armored turrets.

However, it is not easy to use remote control missiles to destroy the fortress's armored turrets. Because the Americans had suffered from missiles for a long time, they naturally became prepared and carried out a lot of camouflage work on the turrets and turrets (the turrets that house 240mm and 203mm heavy artillery) to make it difficult to detect.

In addition, the German Navy also expected that the Americans would use smoke bombs to cover turrets and turrets, making remotely controlled missiles unable to accurately strike.

Moreover, due to the confidentiality of the Americans (British people), the German army still did not know how many armored turrets and reinforced concrete turrets were in Churchill Fortress, and how many 406mm cannons were there.

During the first day of Operation Columbus, Churchill Fortress's artillery was not fired.

"Yes!" Admiral Raidel nodded, "We have a way to expose them!"

"What's the solution?" Student asked again.

"Using two Bismarck-class battleships as bait, the cannons that lure Americans into firing... I think they are baits that Americans cannot refuse!"

"Two Bismarck class?"

Stutant was obviously surprised. Although the battleships have now lost their status as a maritime overlord, it is still a little too "generous" to take out two Bismarck-class cannons at a time to "feed" the Americans.

"It's two Bismarck class," said Hessman. "They will be close to Concepshun Bay on Newfoundland. If the operation goes well, the two super battleships will be anchored on the west coast of Concepshun Bay, supporting the Wehrmacht paratroopers on the ground with the large caliber artillery above."

Bismarck-class battleships were selected as "bait" and "floating turrets" not only because they were attractive enough, but also because the Bismarck-class underwater protection is very good and can withstand a certain number of mines and torpedo attacks. According to intelligence, the United States and the United Kingdom laid a lot of magnetic mines in Concepshun Bay and also placed a PT torpedo boat.

This is a great threat to the invading large surface ships.

"Report!" At this time, a general staff officer walked in quickly and gave a salute, "The Submarine Command reported that the Type 21 U-boat carrying out the alert mission discovered a huge American fleet in the waters 150 nautical miles southeast of New York!"

Hessman, Radell and Kesselin looked at each other, and Hessman said, "They are here!"

Redell nodded: "It must be the main force of the US Navy in the Atlantic Ocean, and it should include a large number of fleet aircraft carriers and carrier-based aircraft."

Hessman looked at Kesseling and asked, "Can you fight?"

"It's still a bit far," Kesselin took a telegram from the staff's hands and took a look. "That location is more than 3,600 kilometers away from the Azores, and the me264 is not reachable at all...unless one-way bombing tactics allow the pilot to fly the plane to parachute or land over Newfoundland after completing the mission."

In theory, without the German army in the controlled area of ​​Newfoundland, the German army could use the me264 for one-way bombing. However, doing so would have to make the pilot jump into the sea. It would be much more difficult to retrieve people from the sea than to search for parachuting pilots on the west coast of Consepsun Bay, which was controlled by the German army. Maybe it would turn a large number of pilots into "disposable goods".

Therefore, before the start of Operation Columbus, the tactic of using one-way bombing to attack the United States' east coast is theoretically not without air defense. If several small aircraft teams penetrate the defense, the possibility of being shot down is extremely high. If a large number of aircraft are invested in one-way, it is likely to lose a large number of pilots and cannot afford it.

Now, there is a piece of land on Newfoundland for pilots to settle down, and one-way bombing has become a truly practical tactic.

"Where is the Navy?" Hessman asked again, "Can you fight?"

"There is no problem with the Navy," Redell confidently had 15 large fleet aircraft carriers and 10 Kesseling-class aircraft carriers near Newfoundland. In addition, there were 8 missile ships and 12 battleships near Newfoundland, which was enough to fight a decisive battle!"

Among the 15 large aircraft carriers mentioned by Redell, 10 are the Zeppelin class (including the B41 type), 2 are the Adolf Hitler class, and 3 are the French "Xiafei" class aircraft carriers.

The eight missile ships are four "Emperor William II" class missile cruisers, and four missile battleships converted from the O-class, Schanehorst class and Dunkirk class.

The 12 battleships include 2 Hindenburg class, 2 Bismarck class, 3 Richelieu class, 3 Venetto class and 2 newly put into service "Schletcher" class battleships. Among them, the "Schletcher" class is the "Lion" class battleship originally designed and built by the British. A total of 4 ships were started. After the British surrendered, all of them were acquired by Germany and then continued to be built in the British shipyard. Its ship No. 1 "Schletcher" and the ship No. 2 "Hersman" have been completed and joined the European Combined Fleet.
Chapter completed!