In the next few days, the SS "Ham of Thor" armored army and some troops of the 6th Army of the National Wehrmacht of the National Defense Forces conducted practical exercises on Madagascar. In order to successfully complete the South African battle, Hoffman prepared a total of more than 50,000 elite soldiers. Not only did the SS's most capable troops include (including Prince Eugen's Division), but also comprehensively repaired the 6th Army. A large number of 1944 infantry divisions, armored grenade divisions, and mountain divisions were supplemented according to the new requirements (the pure infantry army does not send armored divisions, but the infantry divisions and grenade divisions are organized into armored troops), and crushed them with the attitude of "a lion fighting with all his strength".

Thor's Hammer has a total of 10,000, divided into two clusters, led by Hauser and Dietrich; the 6th Army has nearly 20,000, and its military strength has decreased a lot compared to when Paulus was led, but its combat effectiveness is only strong. The new commander of the army is General Wink, the youngest commander of the army in Germany, at the age of 44. Mandofir, who is also under 50 years old, is regarded by Hoffman as the most important up-and-coming star.

According to preliminary ideas, among the main officers of the Mesozoic generation, Shoken will stay in the American Republic to help Paulus command the ground troops; Mandofir (47 years old) returns to Western Europe to help Rommel command the German troops in the coalition (Gaus has booked the position of Chief of Staff of the Western European Command in advance), and Wink will be in Africa or the Middle East for training. After the older generation fades out of the world, these young people will be able to take over. As for the core group of the third-generation officers, it is something to consider in the future, not only should we consider the military achievements, but also whether we can adapt to the trend of the new military revolution.

Hoffmann had his own considerations in terms of the age structure and political orientation of officers. At present, the age structure of German generals is relatively reasonable and the new generation is constantly emerging (the new generation of the US military is not good, and although there are many new generations of the Soviet military, it is too fast). What he needs to be slightly optimized. However, in terms of political orientation, there are many things to consider, and he is as always on the restrictions of the Juncker Group.

The veteran Longdested was the leader of the officers' regiment. He was old and had the intention of offering up on the Western Front. Now it is okay to retire. In the future, the position of the officers' regiment is given to Manstein as a leader, and Junckers themselves recognized it. However, Manstein's attitude towards Yuan did not dare to be as arrogant as Longdested. Qusiral was also a member of the officers' regiment, but Hoffman was very dissatisfied with the position of commander of the Northern Army Group. This time he was asked to retire and return to his country to serve as an honorary position, and everyone had nothing to say. For an old qualified person like Blomburg who was excluded by the officers' regiment, Hoffman also left him the role of the general counsel of the 6th Army, which looked similar to that of Redel's naval general counsel. But the former had a practical position, and the latter was really a false position.

In the crucial position of leading troops in the future, the Eastern Front released two defensive masters, Model and Reinhardt, which was a reasonable combination; the Western Front was about to release Rommel, who was a figure in the Piano-France and Britain, and no one dared to say anything; the local government will be the independent, loyal and courageous in the future. Paulus has always been a confidant, going to America; Rous is a fellow Austrian from Yuan, going to Africa; Guderian is not Junker, and he has arranged to serve as the commander of the fast reaction force with the strongest practical ability... It is equivalent to Hoffmann having completed the preliminary adjustment and screening of the senior generals in a quiet manner.

After the South African Battle is completed, the military size will also be adjusted. Overall, the proportion of the 6th army will definitely decline and the navy and air force will increase, but there will definitely be more reasons for explanation. Many of the troops participating in the South African Battle will stay in Africa after the war, and the same will be true in the Americas... According to Hoffmann's idea, Germany will need to retain at least 10,000 defense forces in the future, of which 15-180,000 will be included in the EU coalition and will be supported by European finance (of course Germany will also pay part of the funds), and 5-70,000 will be used to protect Germany's overseas interests. The four major regions of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East will all be stationed; the remaining troops will remain in the local area and serve as a whole reserve.

In addition, Germany will retain about 10,000 SS. This is the party's army, and he thinks it is more reasonable to retain a standard equivalent to one-tenth of the National Defense Forces; two-thirds are German soldiers, and the other thirds will recruit all European volunteers. The SS will also serve as the supervisor of strategic nuclear forces in the short term. So far, all nuclear plans have been carried out under the supervision of the SS.

After a certain degree of demobilization, Germany still has a national defense force of nearly 80,000 yuan. It is impossible to cut it to 00,000 yuan at once. The commander is preparing to slowly complete this rhythm within 5-8 years. As for future technological progress and entering the stage of informatization and high-tech war, Hoffman believes that even 00,000 yuan does not have to be retained, and maybe 20,000 yuan can be completed, but that is at least 20 or even a year later, so there is no need to worry at all.

While the exercise was in full swing, the Tsukahara fleet was heading north along Central America and raiding all the way.

On the morning of the 21st, the fleet attacked the US Air Base in Costa Rica;

On the afternoon of the same day, the fleet attacked Nicaragua;

On the 22nd, the fleet even dispatched some light and heavy cruisers to shell Guatemala with Nagato under the cover of fighter jets...

After the Pearl Harbor Incident, all of these small Central American countries followed the United States to declare war on Japan. Now they have all suffered. They were plagued and they were suffering too much, but they had no place to complain. US Air 6 almost sent the Japanese fleet away like a "plague god".

On the evening of the 22nd, Hori Teiki received a news from the submarine force, informing Pearl Harbor that a large fleet was leaving the port, with unknown number and model.

"Sir, it seems that the Americans can't help but chase the Kaortian fleet..."

"If you don't come out again, when Tsukahara returns from Central America, the Americans will have no chance." Horitoki looked at the chart and asked, "It will take about 3 days for our army to reach the designated location?"

"If nothing unexpected happens, it will be 3 days."

"Where is Kakuda now?"

"It has been 28 hours since I contacted him. The last time he contacted him, he reported that he was heading north."

"Then we must hurry up." Hori Teiki knew that Kakuda was planning something when taking radio silence, so he ordered another call, "Tell Kakuda to be careful. Starting tomorrow, our fleet will also enter radio silence."

The Japanese submarines explored the TF5O fleet led by Halsey. In the early morning of the 21st, he boarded the Franklin and couldn't wait to take all the main battleships (including the newly repaired Hornet). He and Ingram had two goals: on the one hand, they tried to encircle the Kakuda fleet, and on the other hand, they hoped to escort the West Coast transport fleet back to Hawaii as soon as possible.

However, after the Tsukahara fleet's actions of harassing Central America and heading north came, Halsey was extremely depressed and believed that these two goals could not be completed at the same time. The reason was very simple, and time was too late.

By the evening of the 22nd, the Tsukahara fleet was only more than 4 ooo kilometers away from the Pearl Harbor-West Coast route, which was only 6 days at best, or even 6 days. From day 5, it could enter the carrier-based aircraft strike range, while TF5O was nearly oooo kilometers away from the West Coast, which took at least 4 days. Even if the Japanese army's deterrence of the fleet was slightly risky, the transport fleet could only go 5 ooo kilometers forward (within this range, it could get effective cover for 6 aviation), the time could only be compressed to 3 days.

These 3 days are just the meeting time between TF5O and the transport fleet. If you turn back to Pearl Harbor immediately after receiving it, he still needs to travel more than kilometers on the road to enter the Pearl Harbor air defense circle. Given the slowness of the transport ship, it will be at least another 5 days of itinerary.

With all the plans, Halsey would take 8 days even if everything went smoothly, and the Japanese army arrived and destroyed the transportation line for only 6 days. If they wanted to take the fleet back to Hawaii safely, either the Japanese army would slow down or the enemy would not show themselves at all. Ingram dared not bet on these two variables. So when he learned that the Japanese fleet had headed north, Ingram shot a telegram of "turning" and hoped that Halsey would return with TF5o. This order immediately made Halsey depressed.

But Spruenz's suggestion failed to implement Ingram's order, who bluntly pointed out that the TF5O fleet must be released.

This is not the impulse of Spruenz himself slapped his forehead, but the conclusion drawn by the Washington staff after conducting detailed deductions on the sand table: If the Japanese main fleet returns and blocks the route, considering that they have replenished enough fuel in Lima, even if there is three dozen Panamas, they can still support it at sea for more than 45 days, which is enough for the Kakuda fleet to go to Lima to replenish supplies and return.

The staff came to a conclusion in the deduction: the two Japanese fleets can completely replace the guards and replace the supplies, blocking the West Coast to a dead end. tf5o does not go out now, and there will be no chance to go out in the future!

Based on the US military's excellent style in logistics supply, they quickly figured out the Japanese alternate supply system: First, the Tsukahara fleet blocked the Tsukahara fleet and Kakuda went to replenish the supply; 45 days later, the Tsukahara fleet did not have much fuel left. At this time, the Kakuda fleet took over the blockade mission. Tsukahara only needed to inject excess fuel into the Dafeng and Shinono, and let these two warships join the Kakuda troops temporarily to "suppress" TF5o, and then the other troops went to Peru or Galapagos Island to refuel.

Although TF5o has 2 battleships, 2 fleet aircraft carriers and 12 escort aircraft carriers, if you do not rely on the cooperation of the 6-Air force, you will still not be the opponent of the Japanese "2+1" (battleship 2+1, fleet aircraft carriers are also 2+1) based on the wargame deduction alone.

What's even worse is that under this deduction, the strategic situation of Hawaii will become worse and worse. The consumption of fuel in stock has been greatly reduced after being strictly controlled, but even so, the total inventory will be reduced to less than 450,000 tons. Based on this consumption level, all fuel congresses will be consumed before the end of March next year. At that time, no Japanese attacks are required, and Hawaii will be finished first.

There is only one implicit subtext: TF5o doesn’t go out to challenge you is waiting for death, and going out to challenge the main force of the Japanese army is seeking death.
Chapter completed!