Iron Cross

Chapter 048 Mombasa (3) In order to deliver supplies to Patton's army, Eisenhower returned to his familiar role as a staff officer in his early years, mobilizing all bombers and transport planes available in the African theater of operations. Even the TBM carrier based aircraft anchored on the "Fury" aircraft carrier in Mombasa were used to undertake transportation responsibilities. Despite this, it was still very difficult to meet the supply needs of a force more than 1600 kilometers away by air drop, and the challenge was almost as difficult as the Hump Route in the Far East. Fortunately, Somalia did not have harsh terrain and weather like the Himalayas, which allowed the Mombasa transport cluster to maintain a high mobilization rate. As Barton's team moved further south, the distance for airdropping supplies became shorter, and more planes could be deployed for airdrops. The heroic act of airdropping supplies and the fearless march of Patton's troops southward on foot have become stories that major American media outlets are eager to report. Although specific details cannot be disclosed to the public due to wartime secrecy, Patton's image of a tough guy walking on the land of Somalia with crutches and high morale, leading his men, is forever captured in photos by accompanying journalists. Whether it was Eisenhower in Mombasa or Roosevelt and Marshall in Washington, everyone cast their gaze on the distant land of East Africa - a land they were completely unfamiliar with. Every day, Roosevelt's first thing to pay attention to when he got up was that Patton's team had arrived there. Like a beginner in geography, he marked the locations and routes that Patton had marched through on the map bit by bit, and personally calculated how much longer it would take to reach Mombasa. Great! "Eisenhower stood up ecstatically." How's the situation? How's the morale of the troops The overall situation is okay, and their mental outlook is also good, but their bodies are very weak. The accompanying doctors randomly checked the physical condition of some officers and soldiers, and their average weight has decreased by 10-15 pounds... Along the way, the number of casualties due to various reasons was around 300 Very good, very good, bring them back to rest as soon as possible... "Just as he was feeling relieved that the rescue work had basically come to an end, a mournful air raid siren suddenly sounded. He frowned and asked," What's going on The staff looked at each other in confusion. Before they could react, the phone had already been called, and a panicked voice reported, "Sir, our radar station has detected an unidentified aircraft group, which is probably less than 100 kilometers away from us What? "Eisenhower was surprised." Japanese? How large is it At present, it cannot be determined that the number of aircraft in the fleet is over 100. The fighter squadron has been notified to take off and engage the enemy Okay, I understand. You guys follow the plan for air defense, "he casually put down the phone and said to the surrounding officers," Come on, let's continue Sir, would you like to go to the air raid shelter to take cover first This shouldn't be necessary, right You should go, it's for your safety reasons... "Deputy Chief of Staff Colonel White tugged at the guards and took Eisenhower away, because he knew very well about the situation in Mombasa. Although there were more than 50 fighter planes on the surface for defense missions, most of them were relatively backward Hurricane and Tomahawk types, with only 9 more advanced Spitfires. Although the Furious aircraft carrier still carried a squadron of carrier based fighter planes, the total number was only 14 F4Fs. The estimation of the US military is quite accurate. The striking planes that came to carry out the air raid were German and Italian naval planes that took off from Japanese aircraft carriers. For this operation, the Axis powers formed a joint fleet, commanded by Admiral Horiguchi of the Japanese Joint Fleet. The main tactical core of the Axis Joint Fleet was the four aircraft carriers of the mobile fleet: Shokaku, Hayabusa, Ruifeng, and Ryukyu. After completing the pursuit in the Mozambique Strait with the first guerrilla detachment led by Tsukuba 243, they returned to Socotra Island for supply and formation reorganization. Most of the carrier based aircraft formations of Shokaku and Ruihe stayed on the island to receive new planes and conduct targeted exercises, while the injured Ruihe was protected by a fleet of heavy cruisers and destroyers and rushed to Italy through the Suez Canal for repairs. During the fleet restructuring, the flight force carried by the aircraft carrier was also temporarily changed: Japanese HNA pilots who had completed training and adaptation tasks in the early stage mainly stationed in Hayabusa, Ruifeng, and Longfeng to fly new aircraft, while German HNA pilots who were carefully selected and adapted to boarding the ship in the early stage of training were all assigned to the larger deck and easier takeoff and landing of the Shokaku. In order to carry as many aircraft as possible to give pilots practical combat opportunities, Richthofen also temporarily tied the planes on the Shokaku deck - a total of 9 fighter planes were added, and the number of planes carried by Shokaku increased from 72 to 81. This decision has attracted high attention within the Japanese Navy, as the decks of Japanese aircraft carriers have always been clean and tidy, while American aircraft carriers have undergone extensive mooring - not because the Japanese Navy is unaware of the benefits of carrying multiple aircraft, but in reality, there are indeed difficult difficulties to overcome - such as Japan not having catapults, so it must leave more and longer flight decks, and for example, Japanese aircraft are relatively delicate and expensive, and outdoor mooring can easily cause aircraft failures. But after the new carrier based aircraft were put into use, these problems no longer existed - the Bf-219 has stronger horsepower than zero combat and can take off with shorter deck runways;German aircraft and engine manufacturing are very reliable, not only will there be no oil leakage commonly seen in Japanese aircraft, but the failure rate after being exposed to the sun and rain is also very low, and there is no pressure for safe mooring. Lastly and most importantly, Japan will take advantage of the opportunity of the Ruihe maintenance to install catapults for it. The three aircraft improved by Germany have greatly exceeded Japan's level in structural strength and can fully withstand the impact force of catapult takeoff - this means that it is possible to tie down more aircraft. Sir, I have calculated that if we do not consider the catapult factor and only adopt a large-scale mooring strategy, the five aircraft carriers of the mobile fleet can carry at least 27 more Zero fighter aircraft (Bf-219 is known as Zero fighter aircraft carrier by Japan, and is compared to Comet and Tianshan aircraft carriers). If we also consider the catapult factor, we can carry 47-51 more aircraft overall, which is equivalent to an additional medium-sized aircraft carrier.” This is a calculation made under the premise of ensuring absolute safety, and the multiple aircraft carried are reasonably organized. If only tethered fighter jets are considered, the number of tethered aircraft can exceed 60, "said Ryunosuke Kusanagi excitedly But Tsukahara 243's subsequent words poured a bucket of cold water on him