Chapter 999
Why did the German army choose to bomb during the day? One of the simplest reasons is that the effect of daytime bombing is very good. Lewen's novels can confirm its own target with the naked eye and fly over the target with a denser formation. This is the best guarantee of hit accuracy for the bombing in 1939.
More than 150 aircraft flew over the two largest and most important airports deployed by the Allied forces in Iceland in intensive formations. The most direct result was that these two main airports were in ruins. Another 110 aircraft were responsible for attacking Iceland's ports, which also brought them back to the Stone Age.
The remaining more than 100 aircraft bombed major cities in Iceland, and they dropped incendiary bombs and aviation bombs, blowing almost all the inhabited places on Iceland into a sea of fire. More than half of the infrastructure was scrapped, and the 100,000 British population that escaped was also hit by unprecedented blows.
There is an old saying in Europe, saying: When the weak stimulate the strong, they are nothing more than saying sarcastic words. Once the strong start revenge on the weak, they will completely destroy the weak. The Germans obviously have the means to completely destroy Iceland. Now they are starting to revenge, so the disasters facing Iceland begin to spread.
In order to increase the range, the weight of bombs carried by the German butcher bombers was reduced a lot. Each of these aircraft only carried more than 3 tons of bombs, but the total number of bombs that more than 300 aircraft could drop was more than 1,000 tons. These bombs were reserved and transported by the Germans for several days, but the result was that these bombers were lost for less than half an hour.
This is the power of technology. For the first time, humans have such a terrible ability in war. They can use their wisdom to throw thousands of tons of bombs to a place 2,000 kilometers away, destroy everything there to the dark medieval era and even worse.
Looking at the German bombers who were leaving, all the British soldiers and American officials in Iceland felt a sudden sense of relief all over their bodies. They were glad that they were still alive, and they were glad that the enemy's devastating bombing attack was finally over.
The sound of a series of explosions was everywhere, and the fires engulfed the house, jumping like a monster, destroying everything it could encounter. The oil depot deployed by the Allies here completely became a fire scene, and almost all of the hundreds of B-17 bombers parked in the airport were blown up.
No need to investigate in detail, as long as your eyes are not blind, you can see everything that is destroyed. Just ask the soldiers running in panic and you will know that the entire Iceland is over and completely finished.
Three radar stations were destroyed, and all radar equipment deployed in the steel and concrete structures were blown up by bombs. These radar stations were too close to other infrastructure and were completely affected by bombs thrown away.
The city was also destroyed by the sudden bombing from Germany. Reykjavik, which was filled with British refugees, was attacked by more than 40 German bombers. Hundreds of tons of bombs were thrown into the city, and thousands of people were killed in the first place, which lacked air defense facilities.
The most tragic thing was the military bases and airport facilities built by the British for huge sums of money. Nearly half of German bombers were attacked, and nearly 500 tons of bombs were dropped. The entire airport was filled with smoke from gunpowder. German planes had been flying away for a long time, and the explosions were still continuous.
Tens of thousands of tons of fuel in the US military were ignited and exploded, detonating several ammunition storage sites piled on the surface. Like firecrackers, these arms also exploded, and then ignited more fragile buildings and destroyed everything nearby.
The flat runway pits are no longer possible to continue to be used. Even if you want to repair them, it will probably take a lot of effort. The command centers and towers of the reinforced concrete that were finally built were almost destroyed by this bombing. Some buildings are still half left, or they are covered with cracks. Who dares to continue using such a place?
It is unlikely that the Icelandic base will continue to be used for at least two months. The most optimistic estimate is that it will take more than a dozen fleet supplies to arrive before it can restore the original level of use. This time, the British were injured. The outpost they worked hard to run was easily destroyed by the Germans.
Compared with the Allied bombing Norway, Germany's bombing of Iceland is really "You give me a lot of soil, I will tear you two bones". The only thing that the United States is grateful for is that they did blow up some Norwegian production equipment, and Germany can only lose its temper with an Icelandic base without production capacity.
"The loss assessment will not come out later, but judging from the current situation, we have almost lost all of it." Hugh Dowding reported to several British ministers what had just happened: "I don't know much about the port, and the Air Force Base is almost scrapped."
"The port is very much loss, and we need time to repair it." Although the command of the naval commander General Dudley Pound is located in Iceland, he is just a complete bare commander here. His main fleet of the Royal Navy is now deployed in Canada and he dare not easily move to the waters east of Iceland.
"His Majesty the King, thankfully, the backup airports in the northwest and several temporary ports there were not attacked by the enemy. As long as the United States and Canada continue to provide assistance, it is still possible to maintain it." General Hugh Dowding gladly said to King George VI, who was still a little uneasy. The bombing more than an hour ago was even more desperate than the terrible London bombing, because after all, the Germans dispatched more than this time than when they bombed Britain.
At that time, the Luftwaffe aircraft patrolling British airspace were mainly small medium-sized aircraft such as the do-217, and only a few times used butcher bombers. As a result, after more than a year of accumulation, the Luftwaffe was able to deliver more than 300 butcher bombers to a faraway place like Iceland. This made King George, who was in Iceland, frightened. His neck seemed to be sent under the German butcher knife again.
The losses of fighter jets were not large, but the losses of the pilots were really desperate. Some of the pilots who escaped from the British were lost in the North African battle, and some were deployed in Canada. A small number of them went to India to help combat the Japanese army. Although there were more than 100 people in Iceland, 21 people were lost in this air defense operation, 4 of which were precious jet fighter pilots.
The remaining 80 pilots had more than 30 of them flying old fighters like Hurricanes. It was not that they were not allowed to fly new aircraft, but that the US P-40 production was insufficient, and most of them were sent to the Pacific battlefield and were consumed with the Japanese Navy.
The main reason why so many fighter jets were not deployed in Iceland is that there have been almost no attacks from the German army in any form. Based on the idea of being more frugal and being more frugal, dozens of fighter jets were drawn a few months ago to fight in the Pacific theater. Even though the production capacity was as strong as the United States, they felt the pressure of production at this time. After all, most of the equipment of the Allied forces are produced from the United States.
"We need to strengthen the fighter force here! Draw some from Canada!" King George was obviously still scared of the bombing just now. Although he had a good air raid shelter as an underground hiding place, after all, the destroyed city in front of him really made him feel insecure.
"There are not many fighter jets that can be accommodated at the backup airport. If the US military wants to continue bombing Norway... I think our fighter force can only add about 30 more aircraft." Hugh Dowding answered his king's request helplessly: "I am frank, even if these aircraft are all the latest P-40 Rolls-Royce improved models, it does not pose a great threat to German bombers."
King George VI of England set his eyes on Dowtin's face, and finally suppressed his anger from the verge of the outbreak. He looked at his Air Force commander and squeezed out a sentence from his teeth: "Then! My general! You have to think of ways to avoid being bombed by the Germans again, right?"
Suddenly the ground trembled slightly, and everyone looked out the window in horror. At the end of the mountains in the distance, a wisp of blue smoke rose into the sky. The island of Iceland is full of various volcanoes, and even when it is safe, it erupts from time to time. The nearest volcano on the edge of the eruption is only 125 kilometers away from Reykjavik, the largest city in Iceland...
"Why don't they throw some bombs into those volcanoes..." wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads, and a government official in a suit asked in fear.
"Who knows." Hugh? Dowding looked at His Majesty the King, who had not yet retracted his gaze, and said, "I will order several troops stationed in Canada to gather in Iceland, draw as many better planes as possible, and set up ambush here to kill those damn German planes."
He had to change his strategy, because who knew whether the bombs dropped by German planes would really detonate an active volcano after several large-scale bombings, which was even more thorough than dozens of bombings. It is estimated that everything in Iceland would be gone by then.
Just as the British were cleaning up the mess on Iceland, German bombers had already flew over the German submarines that were navigating for them in the middle. Because there were no enemy planes chasing them, hundreds of FW-190d fighter jets that were waiting here had already returned early. The German commander who was leading the navigation finally relaxed and sent out an exciting message with the radio: "We are back home!"—
Chapter completed!