Chapter 378 The Sun Never Sets on the Sinking of the Empire 5 Thanks Red Flower
Chapter 378 The Sinking of the Empire on which the Sun Never Sets 5 (Thanks to Honghua)
In the early morning of March 16, 1941, the air over the English Channel was heavily clouded, and the German aerial bombing, which had been suspended for two days, resumed.
In this bombing, at the suggestion of the Military Observation (Staff) Group of the Chinese National Defense Force, the German Air Force and Navy adopted a "close bombing" method against the United Kingdom.
In the air, "high pressure" of 1,200 aircraft was maintained at any time; at sea, the German navy divided into several aircraft carrier formations and approached the British coast, pretending to be logging out for combat. When encountering bombardment from British coastal fortifications, it fired at the shore artillery.
On the other hand, aircraft carrier-based aircraft and the air force were called for support.
The Royal Air Force, on this day, except for aircraft gathered around London to fight against the Germans, did not dare to fly over the Channel. Because although the night attack on Germany two days ago was successful, the British Air Force's own losses
Quite a few, nearly a thousand fighters and bombers were also lost. The number of British aircraft on the mainland has never exceeded the reserve scale of 6,000. In other words, after the two days of German air raids and the British's own night
In the attack, the British Air Force had lost half of its combat aircraft.
The reason for this consequence is radar. Historically, the reason why Germany's bombing of Britain was less successful was mainly because the British radar technology was more advanced than Germany's; however, in parallel time and space, the German radar is even more advanced than the British.
When the Royal Air Force came for a night attack, the Germans had about 5 minutes more warning time than the British. And these 5 minutes were enough for the German rear airports and seaports to respond.
On this day, the Germans' "close bombing" achieved unprecedented results. All British forward fortifications that dared to bombard the German fleet were repeatedly bombed by high-explosive bombs and incendiary bombs from German aircraft. According to the Chinese Defense Force Military Observation Group
According to the deduction, at least about 40% of the firepower points and artillery positions exposed by the British were destroyed. The British's own statistics are also the same. Of the approximately 12,000 artillery pieces with a caliber of 105 or above along the coast, the British destroyed them that day.
2800 artillery pieces.
The Royal Air Force's aircraft flew very conservatively that day, which does not mean that the British were soft-hearted. Because of the success of the sneak attack on the night of the 14th, the British had already formulated a tactic, which was to focus on defense during the day and attack Germany at night.
Have the force to carry out the bombing.
Therefore, when the Germans took a routine rest in the evening, British planes were dispatched again. However, the British took the war too simply. How could the Germans be fooled again after suffering a big loss?
Almost all of the German ports and frontline airports were tactically camouflaged, and were well prepared, waiting for British planes to arrive for a sneak attack.
When the British flew over the German positions, they felt something was different. Two days ago, when the British planes flew over the airport and port, the Germans were in chaos. Although the Germans also implemented night lights, the British pilots
The rapid and scattered shelling from the German anti-aircraft gun positions could be heard. But this time flying over it, the Germans were calm and quiet.
"Could it be that the German anti-aircraft artillery is out of ammunition?" Some Royal Air Force pilots thought this way.
However, when the British aircraft lowered their altitude and were about to bomb the target, "Boom, boom, boom..." the German anti-aircraft guns began to fight back with advanced and intensive firepower! The unprepared British suffered heavy losses! However, the losses were heavy.
The British aircraft faced a huge difficulty, that is, the bombing target was close at hand. Should they continue to drop bombs under artillery fire, or should they turn around and fly back to Britain?
Almost every British commander of the bombing formation hesitated for a few seconds at this time, and in these few seconds, the losses of the British Air Force increased exponentially. British aircraft were like fireworks in the sky.
He was beaten and exploded in the air!
Similarly, the "close combat" tactics of the German air defense forces were also invented by the Chinese. In this era, except for the perverted Chinese Air Force, the air forces of other countries did not have precision bombing equipment. The British wanted to achieve their goals
, it is absolutely impossible to drop bombs at high altitudes. They must be dropped to a very low altitude to obtain the maximum bombing effect.
The tactics of the Chinese National Defense Force took advantage of this British mentality and deployed a large number of air defense positions around important targets. Moreover, these positions happened to be at the position where the British had lowered their altitude and were preparing to drop bombs, giving the British a time lag.
In terms of anti-aircraft artillery shooting tactics, the Chinese National Defense Forces also provided the Germans with some successful combat examples for reference, such as the 1937 combat example in which the Chinese National Defense Forces annihilated the First Aviation Group of the Japanese Army Air Force in Fozizhuang, a suburb of Peking.
In China in parallel time and space, if we really want to count the top "inventions" that have affected the world, they may also focus on the military aspect. A weak country and a weak faction can ultimately defeat a powerful country and gain political power only by relying on superb military means.
Achieve success. For example, guerrilla warfare, mobile warfare, guerrilla warfare plus mobile warfare, such as melee night combat, tunnel warfare, tunnel warfare, mine warfare, sparrow warfare, pocket warfare, etc., are almost all unimaginable and impossible.
These military ideas and strategic tactics are not only effective when a weak country confronts a strong country, but also have great value when a strong army collides with a strong army. In other words, the tactics of using the weak to attack the strong can also be used to attack the strong.
The attack is stronger and the effect is better.
Because of this, the Royal Air Force's attack on this night was completely a "stealing the chicken but losing the rice" deal. At least half of the aircraft were destroyed and damaged by the German air defense forces during the bombing. Although the other half of the aircraft dropped bombs,
It even bombed planes at the airport, but those "planes" were just camouflaged models. The real fighter jets of the Luftwaffe were either hidden in caves and dense forests, or moved to the rear.
In the early morning of the next day, the British planes had just flown back to the British mainland, and the Luftwaffe began a new day of bombing. This high-intensity bombing continued for three days, and the Germans were finally ready.
At 4 o'clock in the morning Greenwich time on March 19, 1941, most British people were still dreaming. Even the troops on duty seemed listless due to continuous fighting and sacrifice.
At this time, three German landing fleets and 350,000 army soldiers had quietly moved to the sea about 12 nautical miles away from the British mainland.
"Buzz buzz..." At 4:10, a soldier at a British Army coastal observation post on the Isle of Wight in the English Channel suddenly heard the sound of an airplane in the air.
"Hey, the sky is still pitch black, how come there is the sound of airplanes?" Soldier Horn walked out of the bunker with his rifle in hand, wanting to take a closer look.
"Oh my God, German planes!" Horn looked up and saw hundreds of bright stars crossing the English Channel and flying over his head. "Field, Field, call quickly, the German planes are coming.
!”
"Company Headquarters, Company Headquarters, this is Observation Post No. 17, German air attack, German air attack!" Hearing Horn's cry, Soldier Field picked up the phone and reported to the company headquarters.
"Got it!" the soldier on duty at the company headquarters said feebly. What a fuss. It was not the first day the Germans came to air raids. In a permanent fortification about 300 meters away, the soldier at the company headquarters put down the phone and lay down again.
He squinted his eyes on the table.
This company of the British Army belongs to the southernmost guard post on the Isle of Wight. Its mission is to guard the air over the English Channel and the water area of about 150 square miles. Any situation must be reported immediately.
If this company can report in time, the garrison at Portsmouth and Havant can have 2 minutes' advance warning.
Fortunately, the scale of the German offensive was very large. More than 300 German aircraft flew over the Isle of Wight alone. Therefore, this company did not report the news of the German air attack, but the security forces at the east end of the Isle of Wight did.
The message was delivered in a timely manner.
"Field, Field, come out!" Horn shouted outside again after the German plane passed overhead.
"Horn, what are you doing?" Field was a little unhappy. The pre-dawn nap was very delicious, but he still jumped off the camp bed and walked out with his rifle.
"Field, listen, there seems to be movement on the sea." Horn pointed at the dark sea and said.
"Hey, it sounds like the sound of a ship's motor?" Field also heard it.
"Moreover, it's not one ship, but the motors of many ships." Horn continued what Field said.
"Yes, yes." Field confirmed.
"Field, do you think it is the German fleet sailing on the sea at this time?" Horn said with some doubts. In the past two days, they all saw the German fleet, but the Germans did not
No matter what results were achieved, every afternoon when it was getting dark, the German fleet would withdraw to the southern shore of the English Channel, close to French territory.
"Definitely. I heard from the company commander that because the Germans suddenly added three submarine formations, our fleet basically won't come out at night," Field said.
"Then shall we report to the company headquarters?" Horn was a little unsure, because they only heard the sound of motors, and there were many motor sounds, but they did not see any shadow of the ship.
"I'll report it." Field said without thinking. In his opinion, you can report whatever you heard or saw, as long as you truthfully reflect the situation.
Just as Field turned around and walked into the bunker to pick up the phone, two black figures suddenly rushed toward Horn. At the same time, several other black figures followed Field closely and got into the bunker.
With several screams, the British outpost fell into the hands of the Germans.
It turned out that although Portsmouth was designated as a detailed attack, the commander of the Portsmouth Group followed the advice of a staff officer and formulated a plan to occupy the Isle of Wight: before the large force attacked Portsmouth, the German Frogs could be sent
The small team sneaked into the Isle of Wight by the way. After controlling the forward observation position, they quickly followed up with a battalion of infantry to consolidate the beachhead position and then gradually expand the results.
ps: There was no update yesterday, so I will update it today and tomorrow.