"This position..." After watching it, Yodel felt like a toothache, "It's not easy to deal with, and it can't be beaten."

The others nodded with conscience after reading it.

The main fleet led by Ozawa is currently about 1,150 kilometers southwest of Ireland. This is not a random location. Instead, the carefully planned central point starts from this location, whether to Azores, Spain, Portugal, France, Britain, Greenland, and even to Iceland, all of which are about 1,400-1,600 kilometers. A circle of 1,600 kilometers is drawn with this location as the center of the circle, and the main support points and hostile points are included, which can respond to various enemy situations, especially the transport fleet in a timely manner. The German army has full confidence to monitor the surrounding area. The reconnaissance radius of the Ar-352 on the aircraft carrier is exactly 1,600 kilometers. In other words, the fleet is almost invisible.

After all, Konimitz is not an ordinary person. He probably also noticed the danger. When he was circling the southern tip of Greenland at night, he actually asked the fleet to pass by at 24 knots at high speed, breaking the German reconnaissance vision and submarine blockade advantages. Now the US fleet has slipped to the Denmark Strait (between Iceland and Greenland), and the next step is a bit tricky, at least the original seal plan cannot be implemented.

According to the initial strategic policy, this political offensive on Great Britain would not end with just air strikes. The next highest stage is landing. Even the landing commander and troops were selected, which was Rommel. Joseph Kennedy knew that the news that the German army was going to land was true, but it was not comprehensive. The landing point that the Seal Plan planned to consider in the first step was not the British headquarters, but chose one of three of the three islands around Great Britain, Ireland, Iceland and the Faroe Islands.

This reflects Hoffman's prudence. Although the British Empire has performed very mediocrely on the battlefield in recent years, the local government has accumulated more than 3 million troops, nearly 10,000 aircraft, and excellent coastal defense fortifications. The strength cannot be underestimated. The English Channel is indeed very narrow, but it is easy to cross the strait, and it is not so easy to establish a foothold on it. Even if the German army can reach 100,000 in the first wave, it would be uncomfortable to push it with five times the force. If it is pushed with ten times the force, it is afraid that the German army will eventually be driven into the sea. Moreover, it cannot be used in colonies and combat effectiveness in combat on the European continent to measure the British team fighting on the local area. In order to defend their country, they will burst out with different passions. Any idea of ​​underestimating the enemy is very dangerous.

After careful measurement, he believed that the current balance of power between Britain and Germany is not as great as that of the Normandy landings in history. It is likely that the landings rashly in Great Britain will be tragically trampled. In history, the German army responded too slowly to the Normandy landings because the main force was concentrated on the Eastern Front. In addition, the US military's air superiority was too obvious and did not gather enough power to counter-support, which made the US military succeed. Now all British troops are stocking up on the island to defend landings, and the defensive significance and value are different.

But it is not possible to not land. With Fatty Qiu's character of not seeing the coffin and not crying, if the German army did not show its landing strength and the United States did not give up aid to the UK, the stone in his pit would probably remain stinky and hard. Landing around Britain is the most cost-effective way to suppress Britain. It does not require too many people to die, but also can shock the British mainland to fight and promote talks. Suppression and promote peace is the best choice for politics. Taking a step back, even if the landing fails, for Germany, there are only hundreds of planes, tens of thousands of people, and several ships, which cannot hurt the vitality. But if the landing fails in the UK, the Second Battle of Britain can completely come to an end.

Finally, after repeated weighing, the Supreme Command, the Army General Staff, and the Navy General Staff unanimously decided to choose Iceland as the ideal landing place: the Faroe Islands are too small, and even if taken down, they are not enough to deter the UK, and they will be attacked by the other side from Iceland and Britain; Ireland is big enough and has a good mass base (the Irish people are generally pro-German), but it is too close to the UK, and Northern Ireland and Ireland directly border, so there will be many inconveniences in landing wars; Iceland is about 1,000 kilometers north of the UK and about 1,200 kilometers from Norway, and the support forces that both sides can get are basically close.

So the landing in Iceland became a topic of this: Can the German landing troops successfully land and defeat the Icelandic garrison?

The number of enemy troops on Iceland has long been cleared: the US troops with less than 60,000, the British troops with more than 20,000 were also about 400-500 aircraft, with tanks but no armored divisions, and a little shore defense fortifications but far less than Norway's defense strength. In 1940, the British occupied Iceland with only one battalion, and later they increased their troops to more than 20,000. The US troops landed in Iceland after 1942 and gradually increased their troops, but at most, there were three multiple divisions and one garrison headquarters, with a total strength of less than 60,000.

Icelandic residents originally belonged to Denmark, but later became independent with the support of the United Kingdom and the United States. The total population of Iceland was only 120,000, and adult men were less than 40,000, which was even less than that of British and American troops. The capital Reykjavik concentrated more than one-third of Iceland's population.

Through spies on Iceland, Hoffman also knew that Icelandic society had undergone major changes after Britain and the United States moved in. A large number of Icelandic women were attracted by the freedom and opening up of the United States, and began to be fascinated by the American soldiers, staged various passions and chapters (the war culture unique to Iceland literature after the war). In nearly four years since the British occupied Iceland, except for the Bismarck, the Hood, which was sunk by one shell, there was no major war near Iceland. In other words, Iceland's defense was relaxed and fragile, and he believed that the army above was not strong enough and had never fought any war! As for the current atmosphere of busy talking about love, it was probably to reduce the combat effectiveness to a higher level.

Rommel believes that if Iceland's strength is really more than 80,000 troops plus 4-500 aircraft as the intelligence shows, he hopes that the first wave of landing troops can have a fleet, an armored division and an armored grenade division, and he will occupy the complete landing field within 3 days. If the second stage can provide reinforcements from a paratrooper division, it will be very ideal, and the situation can be controlled in one week; if it is not given, it will be no big deal, and it will be tied in 10 days.

But Hoffman prepared him more troops than he asked for: 2 armored divisions (type 1944 armored instructors and Flying Fortress Armored Division), 1 armored grenade division (type 1943 Brandenburg Special Armored Grenade Division), 1 airborne division (22nd Airborne Division), and 3 marine brigades (troops withdrawn from the Indian battlefield) were in place one after another, and they were given priority reorganization, and even the priority was a little earlier than the SS armored divisions.

Everyone knows that in the troops of the National Defense Forces and the SS, all those with font sizes are unaffordable troops. For example, the Flying Fortress Armored Division fought from North Africa to South Africa, and had great military achievements. Considering the title of the "Hermann Goring" Paratrooper Armored Brigade, it also has an airborne effect; in addition to normal armored grenadier skills, the Brandenburg Special Division has additional infiltration and destruction functions; as for the armored instructor, it is also composed of the top leaders drawn from 30 armored divisions and 24 independent heavy armored battalions units of the National Defense Forces.

Seeing these forces and configurations at that time, Rommel was satisfied that the head of state did not coax him, and the head of state was indeed preparing to deal with the British, so he happily took office as commander of the seal army with the rank of marshal. Marshal Rommel has always been the treatment of the commander of the army group, but his troops under his command have never exceeded the size of a group army group. Fortunately, everyone is ace, and he can't find a place to complain. In the end, even he himself is used to being too much and being more capable!

Everyone agreed that if Rommel led the landing force and the navy and air force cooperated well, it would be no problem to win Iceland. The trouble now is that the US fleet has slipped to near Iceland. If this fleet is not destroyed, landing is definitely a luxury. If it is to be destroyed, then the main fleet will risk rushing over to fight and fight and may be attacked by British and Icelandic aviation forces. If the fleet suffers too much, landing will become a bubble.

So this position is quite difficult to use, which is so uncomfortable.

"We must find a way to lure this fleet out, whether it is driven away or killed, in short, we cannot let it destroy the overall situation near Iceland." Yodel analyzed viciously, "It is best to kill it, even if it is worth losing 1-2 aircraft carriers."

"How can we mobilize this fleet?" Keitel asked. "Or what else is there to make this American fleet leave the British to rescue them at all costs?"

Newfoundland?

Bermuda?

These two goals are sharp enough, but unfortunately they also have to call their own troops to perform tasks, which is not enough to suppress the US fleet. Moreover, after these two important places were fought twice, it was a terrible thing that the Americans were not prepared for it.

Zeitzler frowned and said, "Or, slow down the landing? Wait until the Caucasus war comes to an end before deciding the overall situation of the Western Front? Or simply coordinate with Japan to launch the second Western Expedition."

It is of course a way of thinking to solve the Soviet Union first and then Iceland, but the problem is that the Soviet Union mainly relies on the army, and Iceland mainly relies on the navy. Now, a US squadron has just been killed by Crank, and the British aircraft carriers and main battleships have not been in service, and their strength is at the weakest state. If the Eastern Front is completely solved from June to July (this thing is not sure to fully guarantee this), then the British and American naval forces may return to overwhelm the axis.

As for coordination with Japan, there is not a single word yet. Even if Hori Teiki agreed to send troops, it would take more than a month to go to Europe. Not to mention that the Japanese are still fighting their own Xiaojiujiu and are not ready to send troops to cooperate in combat. Hoffman could agree to support and assist Japan, but it does not mean that the Japanese lion would ask for it.

Everyone was silent.

After thinking for a long time, he slowly told the plan he had considered... Everyone was stunned.

ps: The monthly ticket is very tightly biting. For my hard work, please give me some rewards...

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Chapter completed!