afterglow

Chapter 681: Strengthening Measures; Operation Spring Glory

No one would complain that a weapon is too powerful, unless it is truly too powerful to be controlled.

The early atomic bomb with a yield of 20,000 tons used an air-blast method to maximize the killing range. However, the killing radius for exposed personnel was still less than two kilometers, and the killing radius for personnel hiding in field fortifications was only more than 400 meters.

Even during a war, such power could at most kill half of an infantry regiment in a defensive state, let alone in the future, so it is not wrong to regard it as a bluffing paper tiger.

This is why the atomic bomb is most useful when it is on the launch pad, and is of little use to anyone who is actually hit by it.

In order to make it less useless, Zhou Changfeng discussed various methods with several physicists early on.

For example, thickening the neutron reflection layer, or making the blast wave of the explosive lens more accurate. However, such optimization and improvement is very time-consuming and laborious. A small adjustment requires a lot of complex calculations to be re-performed, and there is obviously no time at the moment.

Before traveling through time, Zhou Changfeng was different from other ordinary military academy students because he was the last batch of national defense students in a military academy. Therefore, he had the opportunity to understand the principles of many aspects.

Before the formal fusion bomb was developed, people had already tried to use the fusion principle to increase the power of fission bombs.

One is to inject a small amount of gaseous deuterium and tritium mixture into the fission bomb, and the other is to wrap solid lithium deuteride around the outside of the fission bomb.

When a fission reaction occurs, these deuterium and tritium will fuse, but the energy released is so small that it can be ignored. Their main function is to release a large number of neutrons, which are used to make more raw materials (plutonium) undergo fission reactions, thereby greatly increasing the overall power.

Therefore, this is called a fusion-enhanced fission bomb, which is essentially still a fission bomb, even though a fusion reaction occurs in the process.

【Picture】

The Jinwu Project skipped the expensive, limited-potential, and simple-principle gun-type weapon and directly tackled the complex implosion-type weapon. The utilization rate was quite good, reaching 20%, and it achieved an equivalent of 6.6 tons with only 1.9 kg of plutonium.

"Lithium deuteride is definitely the most suitable, but it's too late to mass produce it, so let's use a mixture of (deuterium and tritium) and add a layer of uranium 238 on the inner wall of the outermost shell, so that a proliferation reaction can still occur. Listen carefully, ignore all the details, and it must be ready before the end of the month."

Zhou Changfeng finalized the emergency reinforcement plan in this way.

Zhao Zhansheng said in a depressed voice: "We have already mastered the power of the demon, do we still want to make it more terrifying?"

"Although it is cruel, it is true and it can only be this way. If our country does not do this, other countries will do so, and the competition will continue."

"For thousands of years, humans have always tried their best to study ways to kill people."

Zhou Changfeng was silent for a few seconds, then smiled bitterly and said in relief: "Be optimistic. Competition is conducive to faster development and progress. Military technology will eventually be transferred to civilian use to benefit the people, so... it's not all bad."

"But it is so ridiculous to promote the progress of civilization by competing and killing each other." Zhao Zhansheng sighed heavily again.

Zhou Changfeng hesitated to speak. The topic suddenly rose to a philosophical level and he didn't know what to say.

Now the third atomic bomb was ready to begin the assembly process, but as his instructions were given, the process was suspended and the R&D team began to discuss and design the structure of the newly added deuterium-tritium mixture layer.

Time is tight and the task is heavy. There is no time for careful design and I can only make some modifications as it goes.

Anyway, there are definitely advantages and no disadvantages. No matter how inefficient and crude it is, it can always improve its power a lot.

On March 3, the second atomic bomb was secretly transported to the Leizhou Naval Base, and the Longshuo, which had been repaired not long ago, was responsible for transporting it.

On March 3, six Type 5 (Z) heavy bombers originally belonging to the 6nd Heavy Bombardment Squadron were withdrawn to form a covert subordinate unit - the th Meteorological Monitoring Squadron.

On March 3, after arriving in Lanzhou, the unit began to use 7 kg training ammunition to conduct a series of training including detonator insertion, safety unlocking, high-altitude delivery, and sharp turn avoidance.

"...In the Portuguese direction, the battle of Granada has basically ended. The German vanguard has advanced to Seville, and the group advancing along the coastline has reached Gibraltar."

The early morning sunlight shone obliquely into the room through the glass, revealing the pattern of window frames on the floor. The daily morning meeting was taking place in the meeting room of the General Staff Office of the Grand Marshal's Office.

Zhou Changfeng said "hmm" and asked, "How are the US 4th and 10th Divisions doing? Have they broken out as a whole?"

"No." The major who was recounting the battle shook his head. "The 11th Armored Division broke through under the cover of the aviation force, but the 4th and 10th Divisions did not escape and were basically destroyed."

【Picture】

Some time ago, when the Ming army was fighting with the US army on Oahu, the Iberian Peninsula was also in turmoil. The General Staff of the German Socialist People's Army was determined to capture Gibraltar, so it launched the ups and downs of the Battle of Granada.

The Allies had long relied on Spain's mountainous terrain for defense. In southern Spain, they established a defense line using the Sierra Morena and Mulhacen Mountains, and held out against the Germans for a long time.

This time, the Southern Army Group concentrated 4 troops, including 1 infantry armies, 1 mountain infantry army, 8 armored army, and 47 anti-aircraft artillery brigades on a front line of more than kilometers, and launched a long-accumulated powerful offensive, code-named: Spring Glory.

Opposite them were the U.S. 1st Army and the Spanish 7th Army, totaling 38 men.

The Allied forces were unable to stop such an offensive and suffered defeat after defeat. Often, just as the troops had retreated to their designated positions and had not had time to establish a defense line, the pursuing German armored forces arrived again.

Omar Bradley was so overwhelmed by the situation that Supreme Allied Commander Dwight Eisenhower had to fly to Seville in person to take command.

He strictly ordered the Allied ground forces to give priority to burning gasoline before retreating, regardless of anything else, and to speed up the daily retreat distance. The air force was to focus on attacking the German logistics transportation lines so that there would be enough time to reorganize and establish a defense line.

By resisting in this way, the Allies greatly consumed the momentum of the three German forces advancing westward. Most of the German offensive forces had only half of their armored vehicles left, and fuel shortages were also common.

Immediately afterwards, the armored reserve set out from Cordoba on the southern foot of the central Sierra Morena Mountains, advanced southward, and surrounded the German troops in the north.

The German troops in the north immediately broke out after realizing the crisis, and the German troops in the center and the combat reserve also hurriedly sent troops to rescue.

The Allied forces, who had been passively beaten for many days, were unwilling to give in and launched a full-scale counterattack, which reversed the situation in an instant. Both sides refused to give in, and the battle was extremely fierce, with bloodshed everywhere.

In the small town of Éciha, the US 3rd and 12th Armored Divisions engaged in a fierce battle that lasted all day and night with the German 8th Armored Corps that attempted to break out, but neither side was able to defeat the other.

Aircraft from both sides also frequently assisted in the battle. After the battle, the fields were filled with the wreckage of tanks of different models, and the black smoke was so thick that it seemed as if the entire land was burning. The road to breakout was extremely difficult. The most common sights along the way were abandoned tanks and vehicles that had run out of gasoline. Hundreds of heavy artillery pieces were also abandoned because there were no towing vehicles to tow them. A large number of armored soldiers and artillerymen took up their weapons and followed the infantry troops to break out.

In the end, because he had no confidence in pursuing the enemy further, the US front-line commander called the commander and asked him to stop the pursuit. After considering it, Dwight Eisenhower agreed.

This small battle within the larger battle, which lasted ten days, was called the Cordoba Counterattack by the US military, which claimed to have successfully curbed the German offensive and dealt a heavy blow to it.

The US military suffered 8.6 casualties and lost 822 tanks and self-propelled artillery, 290 barreled artillery, and 217 aircraft.

德军方面根据递交给总参谋部的报告显示伤亡6.5万人，损失606辆坦克与自行火炮、421门身管火炮、320架飞机，有5个步兵师和2个装甲师建制残缺严重需要重组。

The end of the counterattack did not mean the end of the battle. The German Army Group South continued the attack with its battle reserve. Later, part of the strategic reserve in the Iberian direction was also drawn to participate in the battle.

In this way, the German army once again launched a large-scale attack along the relatively flat area south of the Morena Mountains, continuously breaking through several US defense lines and completely defeating the direction in which the Spanish army was responsible. The precarious Allied forces on the southern front were forced to retreat.

Recently, after repelling a small number of American troops, a German battle group broke into Seville and liberated this Andalusian capital and the fourth largest city in Spain.

During this period, the US Army's 11th Armored Division, 4th "Ivy" Infantry Division, and 10th "Mountaineer" Mountain Infantry Division were surrounded by the German pincer attack.

The 11th Armored Division fought desperately to break out under the cover of the aviation force. Despite heavy losses, at least the division headquarters and several armored and armored infantry battalions managed to break out as a whole. The 4th Infantry Division and the 10th Mountain Division were not so lucky. Except for a small number of seriously wounded soldiers who were picked up by plane, the rest were completely wiped out.

The tortuous Battle of Granada came to an end. The US military called it the Spanish Spring Offensive. This battle declared that the German army had completely occupied southern Spain, with only the Gibraltar fortress still under the control of the British army.

The situation on the European battlefield was roughly the same. Compared with last year when the air disadvantage was obvious, the situation over Europe became much better as the mass delivery of the Do-55 copied and improved by Dornier Company began to gradually replace the Bf-109 that was unable to cope with the situation. After the intake pressure of the engine DB55 was increased to 603ata, the performance of the Do-1.8 was quite good, at least it was not afraid to compete with the P-51B/C.

Although the Germans nitpicked about the poor workmanship and maneuverability of the 100 export-oriented Type 103 Jagdpanthers, their excellent key indicators were there, so the Germans had to use them even if they disliked them. They replaced them with their own MK30 252mm machine guns, numbered 11 (c), and all equipped them with JG-301 and JG- daytime fighter squadrons, which performed outstandingly in the operations of intercepting strategic bombings in the past two months.

As for the North African battlefield, the Allied fleet had completely blockaded the North African coast, and the French army could only rely on air transport to deliver vehicles and heavy weapons.

The good news was that there were enough troops. The exile troops of the Third Republic alone had captured thousands of people. Especially after the capture of Algiers, they captured more than 10,000 people, as well as tens of thousands of large quantities of military supplies.

Because providing food to the enemy greatly reduced the logistical burden, the French army in North Africa selected the prisoners, eliminated a small number of stubborn elements, and then organized them into four supplementary brigades and a training base.

The French troops in North America are now divided and must decide whether to move west or east - Morocco to the west is a former French colony, but currently has a large number of US troops stationed there; there are many Commonwealth troops to the east.

"The situation in North Africa is not very good. Fighting on two fronts will be difficult if it takes too long. It should be better to attack from the east, which will be easier to deal with." Zhou Changfeng commented: "Only by conquering Gibraltar can the situation in North Africa be reversed."

"Okay, okay, this drama is really enjoyable to watch, the ups and downs are interesting."

The sound of the door being pushed open and Li Gangqiao's voice were heard at the same time, and he walked in with a smile on his face.

"See the Shangshu!"

All the senior advisors present saluted and someone hurriedly pulled out a chair for him, but he did not sit down.

Zhou Changfeng also smiled and said: "The next step is the battle of siege. Gibraltar is not easy to attack, so we can only nibble on it bit by bit."

"It's an isolated city with no soldiers to rescue it, so it's only a matter of time before it's conquered." Li Gangqiao stopped smiling and said seriously, "It's time to get down to business. The promotion proposal has been approved by the Advisory Council. Congratulations to Zhou Chenshi on his promotion!"

Then, several attendants holding wooden boxes and leather bags came one after another, handing over brand new epaulettes, armbands, uniforms and dress uniforms.

Looking at the purple frame with three bars and one horizontal line III-, representing a lieutenant general, Zhou Changfeng couldn't help but wonder, "Ah? I was planning to go to the Ministry of War."

"I'll deliver it to your doorstep. No need for a busy man like me to make an extra trip." Li Gangqiao laughed and looked around and said, "I haven't been here for more than half a year. It looks a lot newer."

A staff officer told him that the Grand Marshal's Office had undergone some simple renovations at the end of last year.

After a few pleasantries, Zhou Changfeng, who had something to ask, changed the subject and asked, "Does the Navy still insist on attacking New Caledonia?"

"That's it."

"Well... I've thought about it these past two days and changed my mind. It might be better to feint an attack on Christmas Island to force the enemy fleet to fight."

"Huh? Why is that? It seems we need to discuss it further." Li Gangqiao was puzzled by his sudden change of mind.

"Indeed, let's discuss this in the Imperial Council tomorrow."

The promotion of a general still has to go through a ceremony - first receiving the imperial edict, or more precisely, the imperial edict; then listening to the instructions issued by the Military Affairs (Committee) of the Advisory Council.

The sudden awarding of the title disrupted Zhou Changfeng's plans, so that some of his morning affairs had to be resolved in the afternoon.

There were a lot of trivial matters to follow. First, full-body and half-body photos had to be taken, with formal wear and casual wear wearing swords. Then, a banquet had to be prepared. The invitations basically had to cover all the upper class people in the Ming Dynasty, so you can imagine how many invitations there would be.

At this point Zhou Changfeng is no longer interested in these trivial matters. He just wants to end the Pacific War as soon as possible.

The navy's situation is basically consistent with last month's expectations. The fully prepared fleets are heading to Saipan and Guam for assembly, and many new figures have also appeared in the fleet.

The military was divided over how to fight next. A fleet decisive battle was not a gentleman's game. Both sides agreed on a time and place and prepared to play, so it was hard to say whether the U.S. military would respond.

The Ministry of War’s view was to ignore the Central Pacific direction for the time being and focus on solving the Australia issue. The main naval force would first capture New Caledonia and then cooperate with ground forces to capture Sydney.

This view also led to a bolder proposal, which is to divide the main force of the navy into two, half to attack Australia, and the other half to India and Duterte, making sure that the US fleet would not come all the way to seek a fight.

Zhou Changfeng initially supported this proposal, but as the test explosion was successful, he realized that since they had the atomic bomb as a trump card, their fleet was already invincible in the decisive battle, so they could boldly launch the decisive battle with confidence.

In this way, a feint attack on Christmas Island, the most important base of the US military in the Central Pacific, became a good choice.

(End of this chapter)