.Cuba, Guantanamo Bay.

This horseshoe-shaped harbor is located in the southeastern part of Cuba. It is divided into two parts: the inner port and the outer port. It is 20 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide. The entrance is only 3 kilometers wide. The giant ship can enter and exit freely. It is one of the world's famous natural ports. It is also facing the wind strait in the east and crosses the Atlantic Ocean into the Caribbean Sea. It has an extremely important strategic location.

Since 1903, part of Guantanamo Bay has been occupied by the United States as a naval base, with a total area of ​​117 square kilometers, of which the water surface of the harbor is 70 square kilometers and 47 square kilometers of land along the coast. The town of Kaimanella on the north and west coasts of the harbor is still under the jurisdiction of Cuba, but it must pass through areas controlled by the US military when going to sea.

When the German-US war broke out, a warning fleet of the US Atlantic Fleet was stationed here, with some cruisers, destroyers, submarines and patrol ships. Although its strength was not comparable to that of the main fleet, it was enough to show off its power in front of the countries along the Caribbean Sea.

In early August 1924, as the German Atlantic Fleet moved south, the doomsday of the US Guantanamo Naval Base and the guard fleet stationed in the United States also came.

On August 8, more than 200 carrier-based aircraft took off from a German aircraft carrier carried out extremely fierce air strikes on Guantanamo. Most of the US airports, warships and material warehouses were fatally attacked. After the first wave of air strikes, the US military drove the remaining ships in the port to the port one by one and then announced that it would abandon the Guantanamo naval base and all personnel evacuate them by land.

That night, a German commando landed 3 kilometers east of Guantanamo base in a small boat, but was blocked by Cuban armed forces while advancing towards Guantanamo. The German commando was forced to retreat to the sea due to the huge number of differences between the two sides. At midnight that night, the German battleships "Albresit", "Gerz", "Baden" and "Futengburg" sailed near the coast under the escort of the destroyer and carried out two hours of shelling of the fortifications in Guantanamo's outer port. The 406mm and 380mm large-caliber naval guns easily bombarded the port defense facilities built by the Americans into the sky. During the entire shelling process, there was no counterattack firepower in the port direction.

The next morning, under the cover of a large number of carrier-based aircraft and destroyers, more than 2,000 German Marines landed in the port and quickly occupied the empty Guantanamo base. At 7:35, a black, white and red flag was raised on the flagpole of the base.

Although Cuba gained independence in 1902, the situation controlled by the Americans still did not change in the 1920s. Not only was the pro-US government supported by the United States, but the only regular armed police force was also funded by the United States and sent instructors to train. However, when the strong enemy was in the face of a strong enemy and the backer was too busy to take care of themselves, the Cuban government supported by the Americans did not obey Washington's resolute resistance orders, but chose to remain silent. At the same time, it strictly ordered its armed police force not to interfere with the Germans' actions in Guantanamo.

Unfortunately, the Americans firmly grasped the armed police forces of the Cuban puppet government. They did not obey the so-called presidential and government orders at all. They captured the President's Office in Havana on August 9 and arrested the president and other government officials. They then announced that the Cuban regime was taken over by the temporary military government. That night, dozens of Cuban militants also attacked a German outpost, killing and injuring many German Marines.

When the German outpost was attacked by Cuban militants, the German Supreme Command decisively issued an order to fully occupy Cuba. The German Atlantic Fleet then shelled Brazilian coastal cities and military facilities. At the same time, a landing fleet carrying 7,000 German soldiers and 4,000 Mexican soldiers had set off from the Port of Juarez in the northeast corner of Mexico. It was less than 200 kilometers away from Cuba!

On August 11, the German government officially declared war on Cuba. An hour later, the German and Mexican troops landed on the southern coast of Cuba under the cover of the German fleet. Since there were only thousands of armed police and some American soldiers to defend Cuba. More than 10,000 German and Mexican soldiers did not suffer decent resistance, and the landing troops quickly advanced to central Cuba. The cannons and bombs of the German fleet made many Cubans frightened. In addition, the United States was unable to dispatch reinforcements at this time, and it seemed only a matter of time before Cuba was fully occupied by the German army.

As early as when the German Atlantic Fleet appeared in the waters near Cuba, Washington was worried about it, because Cuba was not only the north gate of the Caribbean Haiti, but also was only separated from the US mainland by a 200-kilometer-wide Florida Strait. Once it became the forefront of the Germans, German bombers could fly to the hinterland of the United States to bomb. The German army could also use Cuba as a pedal to attack Florida from the sea, which was by no means what the White House and the Admiralty hoped to see.

Therefore, a telegram was transmitted from Washington to the Pacific Fleet that was heading south: Arriving in Panama before August 23!

At this time, the Pacific Fleet commanded by Robert Konts had just arrived outside the port of Los Angeles - German ground forces were approaching this important port city, but star and striped flags were still flying over the port before August 17.

At the beginning of the war, the German army's main attack was the southeastern United States, so most of the losses suffered by Los Angeles came from bombs dropped by the German Air Force. With the arrival of the 5th German Army and a large number of African colonial troops in Mexico, the German-Mexico coalition launched a new round of ground offensives to capture the southwestern states of the United States. Los Angeles suffered more bombs in the past week than in the previous month. German bomber formations dropped hundreds of tons of bombs and incendiary bombs almost every day. The US government strongly called on both sides to avoid using incendiary bombs that were harmful to innocent people, but the German army ignored such initiatives that only the weak would issue.

Since sailing southwards is Mexico's long west coastline, at least the U.S. fleet could not replenish fuel and supplies again before arriving in Panama. Contz's fleet had to venture to stop outside Los Angeles. The minesweeper boats swept out a passage from the mines overnight, and the freighters from the port brought only some of the military and non-military supplies - when Los Angeles fell, these would become the trophy of the Germans.

Today, God is pretty good. The breeze and small waves on the sea will not hinder the sea supply between ships. Otherwise, the US fleet would enter Los Angeles in the dilemma of being bombed by the Luftwaffe and being unavoidable or sail to Panama in the absence of fresh water and fresh vegetables. Due to the telegram from Washington, the Pacific Fleet had been wandering twice on the sea, and the supplies previously replenished outside the San Francisco Port were also unnecessary.

Looking at another city full of smoke and close to the smoke, the US military officers and soldiers vowed to avenge their compatriots. But their commander General Robert Konz was a little worried at this time. The Navy Operations Department asked his fleet to arrive in Panama before August 23, when the Atlantic Fleet would risk coming from Norfolk to meet the Pacific Fleet. However, it only took 12 days, and even if you took the previous near-Mexico coast route to Panama, it would take nearly 10 days. In General Konz's view, the safer route was to take a large arc away from the Mexico coast Pacific Ocean, but if you sail like this, you would have to reach Panama by at least 18 days!

After informing Washington of his thoughts through a secret telegram, General Contz stood silently on the bridge and watched the fleet receive supplies at sea. Before 1920, American ships traveled from the west coast of the United States to Panama without worrying about choice of routes. Both warships and merchant ships could sail on the west coast of Mexico. It was not important whether they violated the Mexican territorial waters, as long as they felt convenient and comfortable.

However, now, Mexican territorial waters are not only within the attack range of German land-based aircraft, but also have ominous German submarines. Since the outbreak of the war, the US merchant fleet has basically given up trade with South America, and most merchant ships that can still leave the port freely are taking US OnePlus or Pacific routes. When Japan also declares war on the US, the only remaining overseas trade routes in the United States exist only between US OnePlus and US and Russia. Once the Japanese Navy heads north to the Aleutian Islands, then US-Russia trade will be in danger.

Four hours passed, and the fleet supply was about to be completed. But at this moment, the evil German planes appeared in the distance again! The dark bomber group seemed to be preparing to bomb Los Angeles or San Francisco. After discovering the American Pacific Fleet on the sea, one of the teams turned and flew towards this side.

Koonts gritted his teeth and ordered the carrier-based fighters of the USS Langley and Yorktown to take off. He also told the pilots to drive down all the hateful German bombers. The Americans did not expect that as more and more air wings were transferred from Germany to the North American theater, the Doniel DD bombers carrying out bombing missions were basically escorted by long-range fighters.

Under such a more accidental situation, German land-based fighters launched the first air battle since the war started. After discovering that the US fighter took off from the aircraft carrier, Dornier 44 heavy bombers climbed one after another, and the 15 German Black Hawk dd bravely flew towards 24 US F48s. In terms of performance and quantity, the US Navy aviation force is better than the US Army aviation. For example, the F48 fighter made by Boeing is in the navy.

Only 90 aircraft were equipped, and the F2a was equipped with 60 aircraft. The army models of the two fighters were fw-9b and fw-9a respectively. When the war broke out, there were only 75 aircraft and 45 aircraft in the army. In the selection of pilots, the US Navy always took priority over the US Army. Even when competing for military budgets, the Navy was always at the upper hand. What made the army even more helpless was that the most important airship project before the war was taken over by the Navy.

It is precisely for these reasons that when the army was defeated, the US government still did not give up its plan to resist because their powerful two-ocean fleet was still intact and just waited to join forces and defeat the German fleet in naval battles. The war situation would reverse with the change of sea control and power, and the German and Mexican troops invading the southern United States would face difficulties due to the lack of logistics and follow-up troops. The US military would be able to gather strength to fight back under the cover of the navy, and winning the war would no longer be a luxury.

When the accelerating engines of the fighter jets of both sides made a dull sound, the sailors and sailors on the ship below stopped their work and looked up. They saw two groups of fighter jets with inverse numbers and volumes rushing towards each other. The silver-gray fighter jets at a high altitude opened fire first, and shot down four white American fighter jets with crisp and loud machine guns at a distance of more than 1,000 meters. These unlucky guys either fell down with white smoke or simply disintegrated in the air. Such a scene made the US officers and soldiers on the ship feel heartbroken.

Seeing that the opponent's firepower was strong, the remaining distillers quickly spread around, and the German fighter also ended their first shooting in time, and the two sides immediately entered the air to fight. The "Black Hawk DD" fuselage was large, with firepower concentrated in the front and rear upper hemispheres, with a maximum speed of 390 kilometers per hour, which was much inferior to the single-wing single-engine fighter. The f4b still uses the popular dual-machine gun configuration in Europe, with firepower concentrated in the head position, with a maximum speed of 335 kilometers per hour. The maneuverability was among the best among American fighters at the same time, but there was almost no armor defense. Although the self-sealed fuel tank could be avoided to a certain extent, there was no suspense for the fragile body to be hit by a 20mm cannon.

Ten minutes are both short and long for the US military officers and soldiers watching the battle. Today's protagonist is obviously pilots from both sides. The beautiful tactical actions have caused cheers from people below to cheer. Whenever the bullets of a US military aircraft hit or pass the target, there will always be a "oh" or "oh" sound in the crowd. The skills of the US Navy pilots are respectable, but the problem lies in the weak firepower of the two 7.62mm machine guns on their fighter planes. For the German "Black Hawk DD" long-range fighter jets with armor protection and twin engines, the US military pilots can always hit rather than shoot down the other side. Seeing that the opponent's number and flexibility are superior, the German pilots did not fight, but took three injured fighters away from the battlefield. The US Navy aviation unit, which lost 9 carrier-based aircraft, could only call the gold and withdraw the troops while gaining the advantage.

After the air battle, Robert Kontz hurriedly ended the sea supplies and led the fleet south, waiting for him would be a long and dangerous route and an uncertain future.
Chapter completed!