Of course, the US reconnaissance aircraft could not find the main force of the Axis Fleet. After nightfall, Ozawa adjusted the route to 25 degrees again and slowed down to 17 knots. After a night of raid, the central position of the fleet has been moved to a place 1,600 kilometers northeast of Bermuda and about 1,500 kilometers from Boston. The reconnaissance aircraft that had been wandering around Bermuda within 800 kilometers of Bermuda obviously could not catch the exact location of the German fleet.

Moreover, in order to prevent the German assault, all aircraft from Bermuda took off at around 4 a.m. After a long search and patrol, at 9 o'clock, they had to go back and land and replenish fuel. The search force was further reduced. Taylor asked the B-24 to search about 1,000 kilometers, but still reported no discoveries, and the reconnaissance aircraft taking off from the East Coast also reported no discoveries.

The nearest land airport to the Axis Fleet is now the Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland Island in Canada. Both are about 800 kilometers away from the fleet. Unfortunately, although the two islands have been deployed by US Army Airlines, their energy is not directed at this battle. The former is the main base of the Canadian Air Force. The US military has only entered a small number of liaison officers. The total number of aircraft on the above is not yet exceeded 100. Moreover, the current route of the German fleet has gradually shifted to 60 degrees, and the distance from Prince Edward Island is also widening.

Newfoundland Island is the core base of the alliance. The aircraft on it totals more than 1,500, but this is useless, because more than 1,000 are heavy transport aircraft, which are specialized in cross-sea strategic transportation. There are more than 200 fighter aircraft, mainly used for the defense of the island, and the remaining more than 300 are attack aircraft of various types, mainly 4 heavy bombers, and not many sea attack aircraft, probably more than 100. The island has relatively complete defense measures, with 4 twin-mounted 8-inch coastal defense gun turrets, and 2 Canadian infantry divisions who are responsible for the defense mission, including the main force of the Canadian Navy fleet, which is also in the port. From the perspective of the Canadians, it can be said that it is almost impregnable.

Since the German army occupied Azores and formed an Atlantic black hole to cut off the main transatlantic route, the British-Canada route has become the only main route, and Newfoundland has become the starting point of this route, not only transatlantic sea transportation, but also transatlantic shipping, which has become an increasingly prosperous place for materials sent from South America, the United States, and Canada to the United Kingdom. People who retreated from Britain also gather here, and various personnel, materials, troops and ships merged into the prosperous music of the allies.

The German intelligence department had long noticed the special nature of Newfoundland. It sent agents through submarines to collect relevant situations three times. Although the information obtained was not complete enough, these alone were surprising enough:

The monthly throughput of Newfoundland is about 4 million to 5 million tons, and it is about 2 million tons sent to the outside world, including fuel, grain, military supplies and equipment. Since the island does not border the North American continent, all the materials are shipped by sea, with a large number of ships, with an average daily retention of more than 100 ships, with large-scale transportation and storage operations. This is mainly due to the strong German army. Generally, freighters from South American countries are afraid of losses and dare not undertake transportation operations to the UK. They only transport the goods to Newfoundland and then rely on fleets of the United States and Canada for transportation.

From the perspective of shipping, this is also beneficial. South American freighters are basically small in size and not fast. They are exhausted when transported to Newfoundland, and it is unimaginable to go to Britain. The US and Canadian fleets have now been replaced with an upgraded version of the Victory Wheel Freewheel, which is faster than the Freewheel and has a larger tonnage. The construction of the Freewheel has basically been terminated, so the proportion of the fleet is getting lower and lower. The main things that need to be stored and transported ashore are agricultural products and military supplies. Military equipment made in the United States is directly loaded on the Victory Wheel and directly joined the fleet.

In order to manage the huge fleet, the United States, Britain and Canada formed the Joint Maritime Management Committee. Although the United Kingdom sent naval generals as chairman, the power was undoubtedly in the hands of the Americans.

Newfoundland also has a United Shipping Management Committee, which is mainly responsible for coordinating transatlantic strategic air transport. Not to mention, this agency is basically completely up to the US Army Airlines, with the former commander of the 8th Air Force, Lieutenant General Carl Spatz, who also serves as the commander-in-chief of the US Army Airlines on Newfoundland.

Although the 8th Air Force's strategic air strike in Europe ended with heavy losses, after in-depth investigation by the Joint Council and the Independent Congressional Investigation Committee, he believed that his command was not too big a problem, nor was it caused by a simple intelligence leak, so he escaped without any danger. Looking at the commander of the US Army Air Force, he only had the experience of commanding, dispatching and marshalling large fleets, and was relatively familiar with the United Kingdom, so he was determined to take up this role. The surviving officers and soldiers of the 8th Air Force also transformed from strategic bombing to strategic air transport executors, and the morale of the entire army gradually began to recover.

Under weather permitting, strategic air freight is generally twice a week, probably flying to the UK together on Tuesday, unloading on Wednesday, repairing supplies on Wednesday, returning to Newfoundland on Thursday, resting on Friday and Saturday in Newfoundland, resting on Sunday, and then continuing on Monday; under special circumstances, three times, flying on Monday, Tuesday: flying on Wednesday, Thursday; flying on Friday, Saturday; resting on Sunday, resting on Sunday, which is equivalent to extreme compression of maintenance time, but this situation has only occurred twice, and can only be maintained twice most of the time, because in winter, there will always be times when the weather is bad every week.

Spatz also trained more than 300 fighter pilots for US Army Airlines, which lacked skilled pilots. In addition, with the addition of British fighter pilots, Arnold obtained nearly 500 experienced fighter pilots, which greatly solved the urgent problem and allowed him to survive the most difficult time after the Caribbean War. However, the first battle of Bermuda caused him to lose more than 100 people (groups). Now there are more than 20,000 pilots (groups) on the books of China Airlines, and an average of nearly 1,000 new players per month. However, after fighting the war, less than 5,000 first-line elites were less than 5,000 people (groups), more than half of which were distributed in the Pacific, and more than 800 were distributed in the Caribbean and South America. In the North American continent, less than 2,000 veterans led more than 10,000 new recruits on the mission.

China Airlines is already terrible enough. Due to the continuous and large losses, HNA, especially carrier-based aircraft pilots, the total number of pilots (groups) is similar to that of China Airlines, and its proficiency is even lower. It is even less than 600. The LV5 pilots who are responsible for fleet aircraft carrier combat are less than 1,000, and the LV4 pilots who can handle escort aircraft carrier cover combat missions. Although this number is still very impressive in the world compared with major powers. For example, the total number of Japanese first-line carrier-based aircraft pilots (groups) is less than 400, the level gap is too large. The top 100 American pilots can only rank in the last 100 of these 400 Japanese pilots. If the 1,000 Japanese and American pilots are allowed to show off, even if the US military has more than half of its troops, the U.S. will definitely fail in the end.

In contrast, the pilots (groups) jointly owned by the Luftwaffe and HNA were only half of the US military, but more than 80% of the pilots with combat experience were dispatched by HNA, among which HNA had more than 90% of the combat experience because most of the pilots were dispatched from the Luftwaffe. However, the training of Japanese and German reserve pilots was far inferior to the US military. The US Army and HNA added more than 1,000 new pilots each month, while Germany only had 1,000, while Japan had less than 500 in total. Italy's level was basically close to Japan after Germany's support, and the other axial brothers were not as good as Italy. In other words, the reserve of the United States was equal to the axial complex. If the power of the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand was added, even if the Soviet Union was not considered, the reserve force was twice that of the axial center.

Therefore, the idea of ​​building a pilot team in the axis and the alliance is completely different: the United States Land and HNA requires the huge pressure of casualties to fight for consumption, and strive to use 3 or even 4 rookie pilots to fight for one Japanese and German elite pilot; on the one hand, Germany strives to increase the number of pilots, and on the other hand, it pursues the use of quality advantages to overwhelm the quantity advantages; Japan, which has neither quality nor quantity disadvantage, can only hope to accelerate the training of the team, but Hori Teki's aviation preparation officer strategy was rejected by the conservatives without hesitation.

"The latest submarine reconnaissance found that due to the active operation of our army in the fleet, the British and Canadian routes have been completely cut off recently, and a large number of ships are stranded on Newfoundland Island. The total number may have accumulated to 300. Only a small number of South American ships will return after unloading."

After listening to the situation introduced by Crank, Ozawa nodded: "That is, the main danger of the fleet now is to run into planes taking off from Newfoundland and ships returning to the ship?"

"Yes, now is our most dangerous moment. If we are discovered by the enemy, we may be wasted all our efforts..."

Mashar shook his head: "It is impossible to waste all previous efforts, but he will suffer a considerable loss. I wonder what General Ozawa thinks?"

"We need some luck..." Ozawa nodded, "Once you are discovered, what other options do you have?"

"If we cannot attack Newfoundland, we can only turn our heads and drive southeast to destroy the British and American fleets in Cape Verde." Mashar said, "I believe that the enemy aircraft carrier formation will definitely receive information to intercept us in Bermuda. If we are exposed, we can only turn around and fight back..."
Chapter completed!