Chapter 648: German-Soviet War (5)

Listening to the explosions around him, Colonel Harris, the commander of the escort formation, almost fainted.

The German army assembled more than 30 U-boats in this sea area, fired more than 200 torpedoes at the US transport fleet in one breath, and then fled before the US destroyers arrived.

The US destroyers, which were frantically searching for the traces of German submarines, suddenly saw a black spot appearing on the sea in the distance. The black spot was getting bigger and bigger, rushing towards them like a hill.

After seeing clearly what it was, the US destroyers had no intention of searching for submarines, and they wanted to slip away immediately. Because the big guy coming was something that these small destroyers could not afford to offend.

"German warships appeared at nine o'clock! The Bimax battleship was in the lead, and there were also the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen and the battlecruiser Gneisenau!!"

"Oh my God!" Looking at the Bimax battleship approaching at high speed, Colonel Harris felt that today was his disaster day, otherwise how could there be both submarines and battleships; when did the German fleet enter the Pacific Ocean? The intelligence department didn't get any news at all? What a pig-like teammate.

Of course, Colonel Harris knew that his fleet was no match for the Germans. They were just an escort formation, not the main fleet. How could they beat the Germans' most advanced battleships and battlecruisers? It stands to reason that they should turn around and flee immediately; but if they fled, what about those slow freighters?

After hesitating for a few seconds, Colonel Harris gave the order. "Let the freighters A1 to A10 break away from the formation and advance at full speed!" The ten freighters A1 to A10 are high-speed freighters, carrying soldiers from three divisions. This high-speed freighter has a maximum speed of more than 25 knots, so it might be able to escape this disaster.

Then he asked the remaining freighters to escape, and then gave the order. "Take off the carrier-based aircraft!"

The two escort aircraft carriers carried a total of 40 F2A Buffalo fighters, but before these carrier-based aircraft had time to approach the German fleet, more than a dozen German fighters dived from high altitude, and shot down half of the F2A Buffaloes in a dive attack. After only three rounds of attacks, the shadow of the F2A Buffaloes could no longer be seen in the sky.

"!!" Colonel Harris knew that even the German aircraft carriers were dispatched, and he couldn't help but smile bitterly. "It seems that today is really dangerous. Send a telegram to the country." They have to remind them that the next transportation should either change the route or increase the escort force; the most important thing is that the Germans may have cracked the US communication code.

After sending the telegram, the German shells began to fall on the surrounding sea surface, accompanied by a series of earth-shaking huge explosions, and a series of white water columns rose up to the sky.

"Crossfire" Harris was shocked. The Germans were too accurate.

Crossfire is a technical term in naval gun shooting technology. When the main gun is firing, the firing command post at the top of the bridge constantly corrects the aiming direction of the main gun by observing the scattered area of ​​the bullet impact point. When the scattering area can cover all or most of the target ship, the enemy ship is shrouded in the range of its own firepower, and crossfire is formed. The significance of pursuing crossfire is: maintaining crossfire on the target can achieve the maximum hit probability.

Generally speaking, as long as the crossfire of the artillery is formed, the distance to hit the target is relatively close, and if you are lucky, the next shell can hit the target.

Harris naturally didn't know that the German fleet was equipped with advanced fire control radar, but he knew that he couldn't sit and wait for death. "Target Bimax, hit it and sink it!" Following Harris's order, the remaining US warships launched a desperate charge towards the Bimax battleship.

At this time, dozens of A-1 attack aircraft flew in the sky, cooperating with the surface fleet to launch a fierce attack on the US warships, and some submarines that turned back also took the opportunity to make up a few more blows.

One after another, the US destroyers sank under the artillery fire of German warships, bombs from attack aircraft and torpedoes from submarines.

In less than half an hour, the US escort formation was completely wiped out, most of them sank to the bottom of the sea, some were upside down on the sea, and some had their sterns hanging high. It was only a matter of time before they sank.

Harris's flagship bridge was hit by a 380mm caliber shell flying from the front. The huge kinetic energy caused the shell to tear the entire bridge apart and exploded. After being hit by several secondary gun shells in succession, only the hull of the entire ship remained on the water.

After destroying these escort formations, the German warships continued to chase those transport fleets that had not had time to run far.

However, at this time, the transport fleet had been broken up into pieces and fled in different directions. Even if the German army sent all its carrier-based aircraft, it failed to completely destroy these transport ships.

Pacific Fleet Headquarters.

The commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet at this time was Edward Kimmel, Husband. This naval commander had a rigid and upright character and was regarded as a model of military personnel by the officers who had contact with him. During his tenure as commander of the Pacific Fleet, he promoted many young officers, and later almost all of them became independent captains.

However, Commander Kimmel was a tragic figure in the original time and space. In 1941, he served as the commander of the US Pacific Fleet. During this period, he repeatedly complained about the fact that the battleships of the Pacific Fleet were repeatedly seconded by the Atlantic Fleet and other tasks, resulting in the lack of defense in Pearl Harbor. He even reported to President Roosevelt in person, but was not taken seriously. On December 7 of the same year, Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese army without any precautions, and the Pacific Fleet was almost wiped out. He was accused of dereliction of duty and was dismissed 10 days later. He retired with the rank of major general in March of the following year.

In the eight public and private investigations into the Pearl Harbor incident, Commander Kimmel repeatedly pleaded innocent, and then accused Roosevelt and Marshall of turning him into a scapegoat for some reason.

Dismissed, demoted, convicted. As a professional soldier, this blow was fatal, and the pain stayed with him for the rest of his life.

On the other hand, the arrogant MacArthur was not much better in the Philippines. He left tens of thousands of American soldiers and fled. Not many of these people survived, and the death toll was several times more than that of Pearl Harbor. Instead, no one investigated, and he was later named a five-star admiral.

"What?! German battleships?!" Commander Kimmel was shocked when he received Harris's telegram. "What is the intelligence department for? They don't even know that the German fleet has entered the Pacific?! Where are they now?"

A staff officer marked a point in the Pacific on the map. It is more than 3,000 kilometers away from the US mainland and more than 2,000 kilometers away from the Hawaiian Naval Base. Even if reinforcements are wanted, it is impossible to catch up.

"Is there any of our fleets nearby?"

"There is a fleet more than 1,000 kilometers away from here. This is the closest one."

1,000 kilometers, even if the reinforcement fleet is speeding at 30 knots, it will take 18 hours to arrive, and by then the opportunity will be gone.