Thundered When the loud noise came, orange-red flames, about hundreds of meters high, suddenly rose from the pitch-black sea, not only lighting up a large area of the surrounding sea, cheering the French officers and sailors on the battleship Provence, who had been struggling for hours, but also making the scalps of the Americans who were riding in lifeboats or wearing life jackets soaked in the sea tingle.
Because it was the US Navy's heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa, a heavy cruiser with a standard displacement of 10,110 tons and 708 officers and men, that had previously been hit by the Provence's 340-caliber main guns, and it caught fire.
The light of the fire turned it into a target for attracting shells in the darkness, and after the American destroyers turned around to salvage the overboard, the four capital ships of the "Jean Soul" aimed all their main guns at the Tuscaloosa, turning it into a barrel of explosives after just a few salvos.
Admiral Halsey, who had been transferred from the sinking light cruiser USS Little Rock to a lifeboat, was just staring blankly at the Tuscaloosa like a giant salute, full of remorse that he should have ordered the remaining American ships on the sea to disband and flee for their lives, so that at least some of the ships could escape.
But now he has no way to correct his mistakes, because there is no communication radio on the lifeboat.
He could now wait quietly for the verdict of fate, most likely to die and be captured by the Germans "Sir, another heavy cruiser has been shot," a U.S.
Navy lieutenant suddenly shouted as he and Halsey huddled in a lifeboat.
It turned out that there was a huge fire on the pitch black sea in the distance.
From the analysis of the position where the fire rose, the hit was most likely an American heavy cruiser, either the USS New Orleans or the USS Houston.
Now 2 of the 3 American heavy cruisers responsible for blocking the pursuers have been completed, and the remaining 1 will definitely be blown up in a short time.
After that, the four capital ships of the Germans will use large-caliber main guns to salvage the destroyers of the overboard US Navy officers and sailors.
At the same time, those German submarines under the water will definitely not let go of the destroyers who save people "How far are we from Bermuda?"
asked Admiral Halsey in a shuddering tone.
"It's probably a few hundred nautical miles."
Halsey shook his head with a wry smile and said, "It seems that we will never be able to go back to the United States, at least not until the end of the war." ” As he spoke, the American admiral reached into his waist and touched something.
An American sailor beside him hurriedly grabbed his arm: "Admiral, don't kill yourself, you may go to hell."
"What are you talking about," Halsey shook the man away, "I'm looking for a cigarette, and I'm going to smoke another authentic Cuban cigar before the Germans beat me to death or take me away." ” "Admiral," the other sailor asked, "do you mean we're going to capture the Germans?"
"Mostly," Halsey lit his cigar, in fact he was now full of anticipation of being captured, knowing that the twenty or so destroyers had no chance of catching people.
If they insist on doing so, not only will they not be able to save many officers and soldiers who have fallen into the water, but they will also very likely put themselves in the water.
On September 6, 1944, at 11:50 p.m., the lifeboat of the U.S.
Admiral and commander of the 3rd Fleet, known as the "Brute Bull", was found by a large French destroyer, the Mogador, in his lifeboat.
At this time, the battle at sea was over, in addition to the three Iowa-class ships that had sunk into the sea, the Americans lost 3 heavy cruisers, 3 light cruisers and 25 destroyers, and finally less than 10 destroyers gave up the rescue mission and fled the battlefield under the cover of night.
The Franco-German ships, which ended the battle, did not withdraw, but began to salvage the American Navy officers and sailors who had fallen overboard.
According to conservative estimates, there are at least 10,000 Yankees in the sea waiting for the fascists and Nazis to rescue them Although Hersmann had little interest in American prisoners, Hitler gave orders to the German Ministry of Defense to capture as many American prisoners of war as possible, because most of them were misguided Aryans who could be educated to become American Nazis A blinding column of searchlight swept over Halsey, followed by an English shout: "We are French Navy destroyers, ordered to salvage and rescue the American Navy officers and men who have fallen overboard, please cooperate and surrender to us" It's okay to surrender, and I think my life can be saved.
After all, this is not the Pacific Ocean, and both warring sides still abide by the rules of "knightly warfare", and captured officers and soldiers will be treated more humanely.
Halsey, who knew the "chivalrous demeanor" of the European army, did not choose to resist meaninglessly, let alone commit suicide, but obediently became a prisoner, in fact, he was carrying cyanide, which was poison distributed to the Pacific Fleet after the US military discovered the "mass grave on Niihau", if it was now a war with the Japanese, Halsey would definitely rather die in battle than be captured.
Guyana, Georgetown Battlefield, Sept. 6, 10:30 p.m.
The night was hazy and filled with smoke, and the dim and low sky above the Demerala River was illuminated by the bright light of bursts of artillery fire and explosions.
The orange and dark red rays of light, like lightning in the night, tore through the inky night.
The roar of shells reached Georgetown Island Airport, more than 60 kilometers from the coastline, which is a grassy airfield hidden in the rainforest, which is covered with turf and camouflage nets, and it is difficult to find a green field from the air, not only with a well-camouflaged runway, but also with a camouflaged reinforced concrete bunker, ammunition depot and oil depot.
Since the US troops landed in Georgetown, although US bombers taking off from Trinidad have repeatedly carried out air raids on the base on Georgetown Island, they have never been able to destroy this important airfield on the front line.
And tonight, as tens of thousands of Nazi and freedom fighters on the battlefields of Georgetown continue to fight to the death on the battlefields on both sides of the Demerala River.
Georgetown Island's "grass airfield", which has been dormant during the day, is now bustling with people, and eight searchlight towers near the woods, draped in green camouflage nets, shoot out milky white beams of light, illuminating the entire tarmac.
The soldiers pushed the 450 aviation torpedoes that had just been taken out of the ammunition depot in small carts, trotted all the way to the belly of the JU188E2 medium bomber, and then raised it and fixed it on the pylon, and finally pulled out the safety bolt on it and installed the fuse.
One JU188E2 medium bomber can carry 2 F5 450 aircraft torpedoes, and now the 30 JU188E2 medium bombers lined up on the tarmac can carry a total of 60 F5 aircraft torpedoes.
The caliber torpedo was not powerful enough, and the warhead charge was only 200 kg.
But it was more than enough to deal with the "Soviet" class, which had insufficient underwater anti-mine armor.
Since tonight's "one-way bombing" mission will make a forced landing at sea, the crew members are carrying inflatable rubber boats to board the plane.
Colonel Peltz, who was in charge of the air raid, and several of his crew members, stuffed a black rubber boat that could carry five people into the ju188's wide cabin without being inflated.
After setting up the dinghy, Colonel Peltz and his crew put on orange inflatable lifeguards and parachutes on their backs, and finally took their positions, intently waiting for the order to take off.
At 10:35, the voice of Admiral Joseph Kamhuber, commander of the Georgetown Joint Command, was heard from the headset worn by Colonel Peltz: "Dietrich, I have just received a telegram from the light cruiser Vienna, and the target location is 2714 degrees north latitude and 5611 degrees west longitude. ” The Vienna light cruiser is an S-class reconnaissance cruiser with a very good radar, as well as 2 AR196 seaplanes, and its own speed and firepower are not weak.
So it was possible to trail a Soviet-class battleship all the way and act as the eyes and ears of the bomber group.
"Roger, Admiral."
Colonel Peltz repeated, "The target location is 2714 degrees north latitude and 5611 degrees west longitude." ” The navigator next to him, Sergeant Wolfschmidt, hurriedly recorded this coordinate on his chart, and then handed the chart to Colonel Peltz for confirmation.
Joseph Kamhuber added: "The target position is 2,300 kilometers away, and in four and a half hours the light cruiser Vienna will turn on the radio station to navigate the bomber group." ” "Got it, Admiral."
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Colonel Peltz replied.
"We're going to find this Soviet-class one."
At this time, three green flares were raised in front of the runway, which meant that the bombers could take off.
The engines began to roar, the propellers turned into a halo of light in the light, and Colonel Peltz, the commander-in-chief of the air raid, was to be the first to take off, as planned.
Due to the fact that the operation took off almost at maximum weight, Colonel Peltz's JU188 taxied almost 1,000 meters on the "grass" runway before breaking off the ground and taking to the sky.
The Georgetown Island airfield then released the JU188 bombers at a rate of one per minute, and all 30 JU188E2 bombers were lifted into the air after 30 minutes.
With the help of airborne radar, a group of 30 aircraft formed a group of planes, led by Colonel Peltz's plane, and roared towards the sea to the northeast. t1706231537: