Chapter 676 B-36 Dispatched

In the original World War II, General Louis Mountbatten of Britain was a staunch supporter of the "Ice Carrier". In order to get the "Ice Carrier" plan approved, he even pulled out a pistol at a Quebec strategic meeting of the British and American General Staff and fired several shots at the ice used for demonstration. As a result, the rebounding bullet almost scratched the thigh of the American Admiral Ernest King who was attending the meeting, which scared everyone present.

Moreover, General Mountbatten successfully lobbied President Roosevelt to agree to fund the construction of the "Ice Carrier". Just when most of the British and American senior generals were full of confidence in the "Ice Carrier", people found that although the single design was feasible, it was full of loopholes after being combined as a whole, especially the underestimation of the heat dissipation of the large power unit on the ship. As long as the engine was started, the surrounding ice would begin to melt in large quantities. Due to the limitations of the technological level at the time, many technical problems could not be solved.

During the war, there were not enough people and time to overcome these problems, and the Ice Carrier plan was difficult to continue. At the same time, as Portugal allowed Britain to use the air force base in the Azores, the Ice Carrier lost the strategic significance of the escort base. With General Mountbatten's transfer from the Navy to the Allied Southeast Asia Theater Commander at the end of 1943, the Ice Carrier Project lost its last lifeline and was stranded. The abandoned unfinished hull was completely melted three years later.

Now the Americans have decided to mass-produce this giant aircraft carrier, which can be called a mobile fortress at sea, as long as the test of the experimental Ice Carrier is successful. They seem to have seen the hope of victory and never thought that they would encounter technical problems that cannot be solved at all.

However, it will take another half a year to complete the test, and now we can only continue to discuss the slightly bad war situation. "Before Marshal Timoshenko defected, he airdropped thousands of tons of supplies into the German encirclement and put hundreds of thousands of troops in it. I'm afraid he was afraid of ending up like Pavlov, so he fled to the German side."

"Another hundred thousand were lost? Doesn't that mean that the Soviet Union lost nearly a million troops in this attack?"

"Almost, but according to the Soviets, only less than a hundred thousand troops were lost."

"Hundreds of thousands?" President Wilkie laughed in anger. "These stupid guys can't even be honest with their allies. Don't they feel more ashamed to be so secretive? Do they think we are deaf and blind?"

Marshall sighed lightly. "How many troops do they have to be so aggressive? It would be better if we were in command. At least we wouldn't let the soldiers charge forward with their heads down. I don't think any of these Soviet commanders really know how to fight."

"It is impossible for the Soviets to hand over the command. Even if they do, they may not obey 100%." ​​After all, the command in the US-China Joint Forces Agreement belongs to the Soviet Union, while the US military reserves the right to disobey orders. In this case, how could the Soviets obey them obediently?

Arnold mentioned the loss of the Army Air Force bombers. "The B-24 bomber squadron that took off the night before yesterday to bomb Berlin lost contact. I think they were wiped out." Including this B-24 bomber squadron, they have lost four bomber squadrons, more than 300 bombers, and more than 2,000 crew members in less than a month; if they continue to lose like this, they can't afford it.

General Leahy couldn't help but wonder. "Didn't we lose much when we airdropped supplies to the German encirclement?"

Arnold looked depressed. "It's obvious that the Germans didn't intercept them on purpose. Think about it, if they intercepted, they would get nothing except shooting down dozens of bombers, but if they didn't intercept, they could get thousands of tons of supplies for free. The Germans are so cunning. I have issued an order to strictly carry out all night operations and reduce daytime operations as much as possible." However, this poses a problem. Regardless of whether it is night or day, they will be intercepted by German fighters and easily wiped out. Why send bombers? It's just sending them to die in vain.

Arnold could only think of another way. "We should train some Soviet pilots and let them learn to fly our bombers." The United States can provide bombers, but it's better to let the Soviets go to die.

President Wilkie nodded. "This is a good idea." He also didn't want to see too many American soldiers sacrificed in a foreign country. Pensions are a small matter. If there are too many casualties, it will trigger anti-war sentiment among the people.

At this time, the secretary hurried in. "Mr. President, German bombers are invading. Please go to the bunkers to take shelter."

"!!" President Wilkie's face suddenly became quite ugly. The power of the city that was bombed a few days ago has not been restored. Those financial groups have been complaining, saying that it is better to give money to the Germans.

This is happening again? !

A shrill combat alarm sounded over an airport somewhere. The pilots on duty drove their planes into the sky. The rest of the pilots also ran quickly to their fighter planes and took off one by one with the help of ground crew.

James, who was patrolling the sky, received the alarm and turned his course with his wingman to fly in the direction of the German bombers. He couldn't help but sighed self-deprecatingly. "Alas, I have to 'escort' the Germans again."

As a fighter pilot, not only can't shoot down the invading enemy planes, but also have to follow behind and watch them unscrupulously drop bombs on their homes. What could be more cowardly than this?

"Who made us not have better fighters." The wingman smiled bitterly.

Soon they joined other patrol aircraft and formed a formation.

But when they saw the German bomber group, all the American pilots were shocked.

"Oh, God!"

"What kind of monster is that?!"

"Oh my god, how could there be such a thing!"

Screams of surprise arose one after another in the fleet, even alerting the command post at the rear. "What's going on?! What happened?!"

"A huge bomber! No, three huge bombers. God, it is more than twice the size of the previous bombers (B-36 has a wingspan of 2 meters and a length of 4 meters; ME-264 has a wingspan of 43 meters and a length of 4 3 meters), it is simply a monster equipped with six engines and propellers mounted on the trailing edges of the wings!”

Upon hearing this shocking news, the headquarters did not dare to delay and immediately sent the news back to Washington.

"What?!" Everyone hiding in the White House bunker was shocked. "A new six-engine bomber?" In fact, this bomber is not very new. It bombed Belfast at night as early as during the war with Britain. It even appeared earlier than the ME-264D model, but the Americans didn't know it, thinking that the Germans had invested in a new bomber.

Arnold had always thought that the ME-264 was the most advanced strategic bomber of the Germans. Now that he heard the appearance of a giant six-engine bomber that was twice the size of the ME-264, he was completely stunned, and a feeling of powerlessness spread throughout his body instantly.

The Germans' equipment is becoming more and more advanced. When will they catch up? !