The German Air Force, with three huge air fleets in this life, could achieve their grand strategic goal in the air battle over Britain.
Hermann Morgenthaler's Second Air Force sortied out from the Low Countries and northern France. Marshal Hugo Speller's Third Air Force sortied out from northern France. General Hans Stumpf's Fifth Air Force sortied out.
team, attacking from Denmark.
In addition, a small Norwegian air force will also participate in air defense affairs in northern Germany.
The German Second and Third Air Forces have a total of 1,029 fighters, 975 bombers, and 516 dive bombers, making them the main force in the air force.
The Fifth Air Force stationed at the Danish airport is much smaller. They only have a total of 123 bombers and 34 twin-engine Messerschmitt-110 fighters.
Moreover, in this life, Catherine correctly understood the role of radar, and based on the intelligence provided by Reinhardt, destroyed 6 large radar stations in southern England, so that the German Air Force was no longer as good as it was historically in terms of battlefield reconnaissance and early warning.
Fall behind the opponent.
On the other side, the exhausted and exhausted Royal Air Force further lost a large number of manpower after the failed sneak attack on Germany's port, making them now unable to even defend their homeland.
The British army has lost a large number of fighter planes and pilots on the European continent, and they have never been able to return to their original size.
The confidential files in Churchill's hands have shown that the British Air Force was severely damaged after the attacks in late summer and autumn, especially the casualties of a large number of elite pilots, which were almost irreparable losses.
As early as the end of 1940, the sun had already set on the British Empire.
At the same time, according to estimates by the German Naval Operations Staff, in order to meet the army's requirement of landing 100,000 people on a 200-mile front during the first wave of invasion, the German Navy has actually successfully recruited 1,722 barges and 1,161 motorboats.
, 47 tugs and 155 military transport ships.
It can be said that the Sea Lion Project has reached the final step where everything is ready and all it needs is the east wind!
Finally, on March 12, 1941, Reinhard gave the order to start "Operation Overlord". In order to completely relieve the Third Reich's worries about the fate of the country, Reinhard did not even have time to accompany himself.
His wife Bonna is already pregnant.
Bonna was found to be pregnant in May last year, and now it is indeed March of the following year. In other words, in a short time, Reinhardt's first child will be born in this world. But
It was at this critical moment when he was about to become a father that Reinhardt had to leave his family in Berlin and go to Paris to participate in the decision-making of the "turning battle" there!
In later generations, many people believe that the turning point of World War II was Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, or the German defeat of Stalingrad, or Li Yunlong's troops occupying Stalingrad...
But in Reinhard's eyes, what really determined the direction of World War II and the final fate of the Third Reich was the battle between Britain and Germany that never went to the end.
If it could capture Britain, the Third Reich would have no worries on the Western Front and would be able to devote more troops to confront the Soviet Union.
Moreover, with the loss of the British Isles, it will be extremely difficult for the US military to open a second battlefield on the Western Front in the future, because there will no longer be suitable islands in the Atlantic that can serve as a gathering place for large-scale troops and a starting point for landing fleets.
If Roosevelt had the nerve to let the landing troops set off from the United States, on this long route, under the care of the wolf pack of German U-boats, the safety of the US military transport fleet would definitely not be guaranteed.
Therefore, Germany does not need to build the "Atlantic Barrier" on the Western Front in order to defend against the landing of coalition forces from countries such as the United States and Canada, which consumes huge manpower and material resources and leaves millions of troops trapped here.
Because Norway joined the alliance, the German army has freed up nearly 300,000 Wehrmacht troops originally stationed in Norway. And the successful merger of Hungary and Germany gave Germany 250,000 more SS troops. Once the British Isles fell, Reinhardt
At least 450,000 more troops can be drawn from the original troops on the Western Front.
In this way, Germany will have an early advantage of one million more in the showdown with the Soviet Union than in history. Of course, this is still based on the fact that the size of the Wehrmacht is equivalent to that in history. Now, the Wehrmacht of the Third Reich and the Party
The Guards originally had 900,000 more soldiers than at the same time in history.
The rewards for the army are on the one hand, but more importantly, there are rewards for the navy. Compared with Italy getting an aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, the prize Reinhardt is about to get is probably the entire Royal Navy Home Fleet.
Moreover, the battleships of the British Home Fleet are not rare to Reinhardt. What he really values is the military ports and shipbuilding technology of the British Empire, as well as the British "Eagle" class aircraft carriers that have already been half-completed. These,
But they are all things that cannot be taken away.
With all this, even if the British Home Fleet is only a pile of dregs, Reinhardt can use the above spoils obtained after the British failed to build a fleet at full capacity.
At that time, it is still unknown who will threaten whose coastal areas between the U.S. Navy fighting on two fronts and the German Navy fighting on a single line.
In order to succeed in this landing battle, Reinhard approved the addition of three Italian battleships through Rossi, the Gestapo super spy buried in Italy.
They killed three French naval battleships that had been waiting to avenge the British.
The French and Italian navies had already detoured to the Brest naval port with Spain's acquiescence. The British Mediterranean Fleet, as it had suffered heavy losses in previous battles with the Italian, French and German navies, was unable to stop it this time.
In addition to the German army's 3 battleships, there are 9 battleships in total, as well as the German army's 16 new cruisers, 6 Zeppelin-class large aircraft carriers, a large number of destroyers, and Feiyu-class small aircraft carriers, which are enough to ensure fire suppression for landing on the coast.
.
Thanks to the "blessing" of Operation Rainbow, the German Navy, which eliminated old battleships, now has almost all the latest large battleships!
Of course, for the sake of confidentiality, the warships sent by France and Italy are equipped with German liaison officers. These liaison officers will not announce the mission objectives to the naval commanders of the allies until they sail to the enemy.
After all, Churchill, with the analysis and help of the Commander-in-Chief of the Territorial Army, Lord Gott, who had returned from Dunkirk, had always believed that the German army's main attack points would be White Road, Dover, Brighton and other directions in southern England.
After all, attacks in these directions can shorten the transportation distance of the German landing troops, or they can quickly attack London after landing.
However, Reinhardt, who knew the British army's thoughts from his World War II memoirs, with the help of Paulus's headquarters staff, formulated the completely opposite plan, which was to seize the high ground in an arc from the Thames Estuary to Portsmouth.
The first target, and then advance to the first phase of the battle plan on the front lines of Rochester and Southampton.
Once this plan is implemented, the German landing force will avoid the last remaining main force of the British army on the mainland and unexpectedly appear in another direction where the British army is guarding!
Everything seems to be more and more similar to the Normandy landing in history.
With insufficient troops, the defenders can only guard the important strategic points they estimate. However, the landing parties can appear in any direction they want to land. In order to solve the problem of replenishing supplies in areas without ports, Reinhardt
It also copied the pontoon pier design invented by the Allied forces during the Normandy landings.
With this design, the German army does not have to occupy the dock to ensure the smooth supply of subsequent supplies. Instead, it can ensure sufficient supplies for the first wave of troops through pontoon docks and airdrops at any place they want to land.
Later, when the situation opens up, those ports on the south coast of Britain will naturally become the possessions of the German army sooner or later.