Chapter 980: Countermeasures

Last time, when America had attacked Romania, they had adopted a daytime bombing model for better coordination and control of their large-scale flight formations. Although visibility was good during the day, and they had fighter escorts, the drawbacks were also very obvious. Enemy fighters could easily take off to intercept, and their own vision was equally good, making them easy to command.

And so, America had summarized the fundamental reasons for the failure of the Romanian air raid. The most important point was that the German fighter force was too powerful. To launch an attack in an environment where the enemy had the advantage would easily lead to heavy losses and a failure to complete the attack plan.

After summarizing the lessons learned from their failure, the United States Army Air Forces had begun to focus on training for night bombing, attempting to use this method to evade the powerful German fighter force during the day and to complete their bombing missions. This time, America felt their training was mature and had decided to use night bombing to reduce losses and achieve their bombing objective.

Of course, another reason that had made the United States and Britain resolutely decide to adopt the night bombing model was because of the assistance of the Norwegian underground resistance. These resistance organizations had promised that on the night of the operation, they would light torches to indicate the targets for the Allied bombers.

With so many convenient conditions, the American bomber force had, as was to be expected, chosen the relatively safer tactic of night bombing. At the very least, in their understanding, night-flying fighters still belonged to the realm of legendary weapons. They firmly believed that even if the Germans had such night fighters, the number equipped would not be too large. As for a place like Norway, even fewer would be deployed.

Germany, Berlin, Wehrmacht Intelligence Headquarters.

After saluting Akado, who had come to visit, Gascoigne hurriedly reported the intelligence concerning the possibility that the Allies had strengthened their bomber force on Iceland. “My Führer, I think we should send reconnaissance planes to conduct a strategic reconnaissance of Iceland… to confirm the scale of the Allied military presence there, so that we can prepare emergency measures in advance.”

A few dozen minutes ago, Akado had received a call from Heydrich, who had also, in an urgent tone, reported to him about the Allied deployment on Iceland. That was why he had had the time to rush to the Wehrmacht Intelligence Headquarters to hear Gascoigne’s opinion.

After all, all of this was still just the speculation of the intelligence department. No one dared to rashly mobilize the German Air Force based on these unfounded guesses. So everyone felt that the target of the air raid should be Norway, but for a time, they did not know how to respond. To mobilize the air force and waste fuel to transfer them over, and what if the Americans had sensed something and did not continue their action? Who would be responsible for this massive waste?

In view of this situation, everyone had chosen to hand over the decision-making power to the Führer. After all, the great Führer had never made a mistake in his decision-making. The “gift from God” was not an empty reputation but a myth that every German deeply believed in.

“Mobilize all the air force units that can be mobilized and have them go to the airfields in Norway to stand by! Strengthen the security around all the factories. Have Kleist on full alert, and arrest any suspicious personnel,” Akado said, walking towards Gascoigne’s intelligence analysis hall while giving the order to mobilize the troops. “The air defense units stationed in the German homeland that can be transferred, transfer them too!”

“But! My Führer… in that case, a loophole will appear in the defense system over the homeland…” an officer from the air defense forces, who was following behind Gascoigne, reminded him in a low voice.

“I know what you’re worried about, and I also know that this will put Berlin in a dangerous situation… but if the enemy really bombs Berlin, we will only be startled. If the enemy bombs Norway, and we lose production capacity in the steel sector, what will I use to make up for it?”

It was a well-known fact that Germany lacked resources. Now, the competition for Norwegian iron ore among the three branches of the military and the civilian departments was still extremely fierce. The various departments were at each other’s throats for a little bit of steel production allocation, almost willing to trade their own wives for iron. At a time like this, even a ten percent reduction in the production of iron ore would directly affect the German army’s strategic deployment.

The lack of this steel would ultimately be directly passed on to all the combat units. They would have a few dozen fewer tanks, a few dozen fewer planes, one fewer aircraft carrier, a few hundred thousand fewer bullets… This was the prelude to losing a war, the beginning of all disasters, wasn’t it?

So Akado would rather risk leaving Berlin naked than not arm Norway to the teeth. Now that the American strategic bombing forward bases were not many, as long as they could keep an eye on Norway, then it seemed all of Germany’s resource points would be safe. This was a price Akado felt he could afford, and it was worth the investment.

“Has the analysis result come out yet? If the Americans attack, will they adopt a daytime attack method, or will they adopt a night bombing method?” Akado asked Gascoigne, who was following closely behind him as he walked forward. “You have the top intelligence analysis experts in all of Germany here. You must have a presentable conclusion, right?”

“The recent activities of the Norwegian saboteurs have been a bit frequent… We suspect they have already made contact with the British spies. So there is reason to believe that this American bomber operation has the assistance of the Norwegian saboteurs,” Gascoigne said, summarizing the intelligence.

“In the Romanian air raid operation, the Americans suffered a great loss in the daytime bombing. So the conclusion of the air defense command is that this time, the probability of the Americans launching a night bombing is over 75%, and the probability of a daytime bombing is less than 25%, and maybe even smaller,” the air defense department officer behind Gascoigne added.

Akado nodded and walked to the huge sand table in the center of the intelligence department’s hall, carefully looking at the large expanse of sea between Iceland and Norway. It would be of no use to send out the carrier fleet, because most of the German carrier-based aircraft were the air-cooled Fw-190, and their high-altitude combat capability was not ideal. It was too late to re-equip with liquid-cooled fighters for the battle now. All they could count on now were the land-based fighter units that had been transferred over.

“Order the night fighter units in Denmark and the German homeland to also assemble in the direction of Norway,” Akado said after only a few seconds of thought, giving the order for the night fighter units to also transfer to Norway at the same time. “How are the reserve fuel supplies over there? Is it enough?”

“The reserve fuel can still cope. The main thing is that these fighters are carrying the homeland’s reserve fuel when they transfer. But if they have to return to base, then the reserves on the Norwegian side will be a little tight,” the general from the strategic resources department, who was quite familiar with his own assets, said. After all, he had to agonize over this pile of numbers every day.

“Thrift and diligence,” Akado said after these two words, and then he gave an even more surprising order. “Have the ‘Butcher’ bombers stationed on the Eastern Front transfer to the British occupied territories. Defense is, in the end, no solution. Since they are using Iceland to cause us trouble, then we will just bomb Iceland to the bottom of the sea!”

“My Führer… the crude oil strategic reserve was already tight two months ago. To use the strategic bombers at a time like this… isn’t that too wasteful?” The people who could discuss such a major operational plan in this hall were all high-ranking military officials who knew a lot of inside information. Everyone knew about the problem of fuel shortages at the front. For the Führer to now order the deployment of the gas-guzzling strategic bomber force, it was shocking to everyone.

Akado rested both hands on the edge of the huge sand table and, staring at Norway, said, “A purely defensive posture consumes more fuel, and the risks are also greater. We are not only short on fuel, but also on the iron ore produced in Norway… to use a portion of the fuel to protect the safe production of iron ore is in itself a worthwhile deal…”

Who was to blame for the fact that Germany really was short on everything? On one side was the shortage of oil resources, and on the other was the shortage of iron ore resources. To protect these resources, the German military commanders had to, with their limited forces, design a nearly flawless “operation to protect the resource production areas.”

After hearing Akado say this, everyone couldn’t help but close their mouths. Everyone was accustomed to the stable production of Norwegian steel, but they had forgotten what a catastrophic impact it would have on the entire empire if this production were to be reduced. To be without oil was certainly terrible, but to be without steel was also equally terrifying.

“Then! If there are no more questions. Go and execute it!” Akado ordered coldly. “The production of iron ore in Norway must not be affected!”

“Heil Akado Rudolph, my Führer!” Everyone raised their right hands and answered at attention.

“Wooo… woooo…” The piercing sound of the emergency assembly siren rang out in the base of the German homeland air defense units. Pilots in leather jackets, their various pieces of miscellaneous equipment carried by the ground crew, rushed to their planes. By the side of the Ta-152 fighters, which had already been refueled, the personnel who were mounting the auxiliary fuel tanks were shouting all sorts of commands.

“Have the Americans invaded?” a pilot joked to the serious-faced ground airfield commander beside him.

“Yes! Sergeant, sir! Check all the instruments on your plane. You will be flying a very long distance to resist the American planes. Stop any of their actions, understand?” the officer replied seriously, his tone devoid of any joking.

The pilot was taken aback for a moment, then quickly climbed into the cockpit of his plane. As he checked whether the instruments in front of him were working properly, he muttered to himself, “My God, so it’s not a drill… 54 ready! Cleared for takeoff!”

In the sky above, a dozen or so Ju-88 night fighters, stationed in the area south of the Kiel naval base, roared as they passed over the anti-aircraft gun positions near the port. The 88mm cannons, pointing high into the sky, stood like a forest, their imposing air seeing off those gods of the night sky as they flew towards the distant horizon.

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