On the top of the bell tower of a Catholic church on the outskirts of Limerick, 27-year-old Pat Purcell stands like a pine for a long time, occasionally gazing into the distance with a military telescope in his hand. Pen~Fun~Pavilion www.biquge.info This Irish Army corporal wears a K22 army helmet imitating a German-style steel helmet, and wears a 27-year summer field uniform, both of which are equipped with gray, green, and grass yellow camouflage, and wears a 9mm Browning pistol and a standard cowhide holster around his waist.

It's finally here!

Catching a glimpse of the large black dots in the sky, Purcell's eyebrows were raised, his eyes widened, and his lips were closed. At this moment, the 8x telescope reflects a never-before-seen spectacle: countless fighters are like swarms of bees in the flowers, seemingly flying up and down irregularly, but different from the blind heads of low-level creatures, each trajectory decomposed has a breathtaking change, and these pilots belonging to different camps seem to be fiercely fighting each other, and the defeated are constantly falling down in an uncontrollable attitude, as big as an embarrassed vulture, as small as a pitiful finches.

"The enemy plane is ten kilometers away!" Purcell shouted, "It's huge! ”

The back door of the church is next to a cemetery, outside the wall of the cemetery is a forest of stalkless oaks, in the middle of which stands abruptly a few beech trees, in the forest hidden parking more than 20 military vehicles covered with camouflage nets, nearly half of them are half-track structures, of which six are "carrying" small-caliber twin-mounted guns, two single-mounted guns with slightly larger caliber and slightly longer barrels, and dozens of soldiers in camouflage field uniforms are waiting around the vehicles. Hearing the sound coming from the bell tower, they all returned to their cars, and all the vehicles were started in half a minute, as if the cavalry were on their horses, and the horses neighed, and at the first order, they would rush out of the woods.

Among the half-tracked armored vehicles, there was one that was neither loaded with artillery nor machine guns, and the open compartment was erected with a canopy-like wire frame, which was a foldable frame antenna used to enhance radio signals. Two communications devices of different sizes were placed side by side in the carriage, and a communications soldier with a headset was working intently, and a young officer with a mustache leaned against the tailgate and smoked sullenly.

As the minutes ticked by, apart from the rumbling of vehicle engines, there was a mechanical roar, a real haze of war coming over the realm, a swarm of devourers more terrible than locusts, a cloud of death that was killing every moment!

In just a cigarette of time, the scene in the sky changed amazingly: the planes were still falling, some fighters chasing each other dived down at a speed never seen before, some rolled while diving, and finally got away from the pursuit gorgeously, and some were shot by bullets from the rear during the dive, and the dive turned into a crash.

Although most aircraft have similar silhouettes, the distinct livery and eye-catching logos make it easier for people on the ground to distinguish between friend and foe. At the top of the bell tower, Corporal Purcell's face gradually showed a look of surprise, and he almost forgot his duty because he was so engrossed in his attention.

"The plane is only five kilometers away from us! There are the British, and there are ours, they are mixed together, and there will definitely be accidental injuries in the shot! ”

By the time the sound came from the bell tower, the officer had already climbed to the top of the cab of the armored communications vehicle, with his feet spread out, his upper body straight, and the telescope in his hand, looking to the east with a grim expression. Around him, the Irish armored cavalry were still waiting for orders, but as the planes roared louder, the atmosphere was becoming more tense and patience was rapidly draining unconsciously.

For those high-speed fighters, the five-kilometer journey was instantaneous, and without Purcell's re-reporting of the distance figures, the Irish officers and soldiers who were waiting in seclusion in the woods were already able to see this wonderful air battle with the naked eye. The first to fly over the woods were two monoplanes, one in front and one in the rear, with their clean, metallic sheen in the sun, and a beautiful tapered fairing and an enclosed airfield, with the main landing gear in front retracted inward, like two delicate knives competing against each other. The wing in front is oval, with a ring-shaped logo on the wing surface and fuselage, and it is seen that it is trying its best to get close to the ground, constantly swaying its body, and the wing behind it is like two blunt-headed Roman short swords, painted with a black and white iron cross logo in a prominent position, no matter how the prey dodges, it always maintains the composure of a hunter. Shortly after flying over the church, the German fighter opened fire, the four machine guns on the wing spat out long tongues of fire, and the burst of fire for several seconds finally left a fatal wound on the target, and the British fighter emitted billowing smoke, and an explosion occurred in the air in an instant, and the half-broken body fell to the ground, and suddenly there was an even more violent explosion!

Witnessing the German Fokker G-51 shooting down the British "Mountain Eagle", a cheer of joy resounded in the forest, and the German War Eagle turned around nimbly and flew over the church again. The German pilot noticed the Irish Army corporal on the tower and waved to him, but Purcell stood motionless, because he saw what the German pilot had missed - in the blink of an eye, another "Mountain Eagle" swooped down from the sky and sifted the well-defended Fokker G-51 into a leak with a violent rain of bullets, and the German fighter whimpered and crashed into the ground, and the forest was suddenly silent!

The war was so cruel, but when the Irish warriors fought for the independence and freedom of the country, Purcell's generation was still ignorant and ignorant children.

Purcell looked down into the woods, and he saw the commander of the mobile air defense unit standing on top of the cab of the armored communications vehicle, holding a telescope in his hand, as if what had just happened had no effect on him.

The battle in the air has spread from high altitude to medium and low altitude, and before the British "Mountain Eagle", who plays the role of the Yellow Sparrow, has time to savor the pleasure of revenge, it is targeted by a fighter with spatular-shaped wings and a clover logo. Not daring to be careless, the "Mountain Eagle" quickly performed a swing in an attempt to escape the pursuit with excellent aerodynamics, but the hunter bit on it and almost hit the target with two short shots in quick succession. "Mountain Eagle" immediately changed its strategy, pulled up suddenly, and after a few seconds performed a wonderful roll and flip, if the pursuer was defenseless, he was likely to be reversed by this cunning "Mountain Eagle" and reduced to a character struggling to survive under the opponent's gun.

The Irish officers and soldiers who witnessed this scene couldn't help but hold their breath.

The "Mountain Eagle" roll and flip action is impeccable in both timing and operation, but it is not facing the fierce and dexterous Fokker G-51, but the light weight and strong power of the ME-50, in just a few seconds of level flight and climbing, the Irish Eagle faintly shows the advantage of climbing efficiency, although it is one beat slower than the "Mountain Eagle" into the roll, there are also minor flaws in the operation, but it maintains the position of the pursuer. After completing the roll flip, the ME-50 made a slight adjustment and landed a third short shot. Unlike the previous two shots, this time it used two cannons at the base of the wings, which gave it a slow, loud roar. The 13mm cannon shells were only half as powerful in air combat as the Fokker G-51's 20mm cannon shells, and were more than enough to deal with the less well-defended Mountain Hawks and even most of the British active bombers - even if only one hit could have been shot down.

At the moment of life and death, the "Mountain Eagle" seemed to have the ability to predict, and swung to the left just right, dodging these two deadly machine shells. Immediately afterwards, "Mountain Eagle" raised its head again, made a false move to climb, and then suddenly rolled to the left for a circle and a half, reflexively and sharply swerved downward, this dazzling series of movements overwhelmed the onlookers on the ground, and many people simply raised their hearts to their throats.

The extremely dexterous ME-50 was not flattened by this juggling ultimate, only to see the Irish Warhawk agile to the left side, the left wing swinging over the perpendicular line, the flaps deflected synchronously, and the flight trajectory was just right to copy a shortcut. The British pilots probably did not expect the opponent to react so quickly, and there was a brief pause after the leveling, but the hunters behind them seized the fleeting opportunity to aim and fire, and the two 13mm cannons let out an angry roar, and the "Mountain Eagle" that was hit by multiple shells of the machine guns almost disintegrated in the air......

The forest was boiling.

Seeing such ups and downs of the battle, on the top of the church tower, Purcell almost burst into tears, but the boiling heart calmed down after only a moment. The black and crushing fleet of planes in the sky had not stopped advancing, some of the fighter planes chasing each other had entered the city of Limerick, and the sound of warplanes whistling, cannon roaring, and planes exploding in the air or crashing to the ground at this special moment, hundreds of anti-aircraft artillery and thousands of soldiers of the Irish army could only watch from the sidelines, entrusting the fate of the capital to the allied fighter pilots.

Please, you soaring like eagles! Please defend our pride, our homeland, no matter what!

Suddenly there was a black "rain" in the sky, and it was a huge number of bombs - the bombing of the British aircraft group began. Purcell's eyes widened, the scene he saw today was something he could never have dreamed of in the past, and the words, pictures, and few images depicting the war were not enough to make people appreciate the grandeur and grandeur of the war.

The world began to tremble in the sound of explosions, and the vision was filled with thunderstorm-like flashes, and the smoke of gunpowder rose into the sky, obscuring the sky and the sun, and the air currents began to become furious, as if tons of bombs were about to wipe everything from the face of the earth. Purcell should have quickly left the heights and sought a relatively safe place in the woods, but his feet were as if they had been filled with lead, and a crack appeared in the dark cloud in his heart, through which the holy sun shone down to the earth—behind him was Limerick, the political, economic, and military center of the Kingdom of Ireland, where the pride and faith of five million Irish people lived, but the bombs rained down on the mountains, fields, and insignificant villages and towns in front of him......

Purcell looked up and saw the packet of bombers being swept away by the fighters that swooped down on all sides, the fighters desperately biting at the bombers that were much larger than him, the surviving bombers turning around, and the British bombers with the ring logo falling in despair......

He raised his arms and shouted silently.

(End of chapter)