Chapter 1187: Confrontation Battle
Although the date for launching a general offensive on the Luftwaffe's timetable is a few days later, after this period of preparation, the Luftwaffe strategic bomber unit has a very high level of readiness, even if the order is issued in a hurry, various types of bombers can be pulled out together, today is still early, but it is only more than 8 o'clock in the morning, there is still a day to carry out the mission, after looting several flight corps on duty, Kesselring also accumulated a number of its various bombers in his hands, Among them were 6 twin-engine bombers. As for the covering troops? In the same way, it can also be drawn from some airports in mainland Italy and from Balkan airports. After some hard work, we finally put together an air attack force that is no less than the Entente aircraft group!
In order to ensure the smooth progress of this air raid, Kesselring still sent a telegram to the German crown air force in North Africa, asking him to suppress the airport in Sicily, and at the same time asking him to send some long-range twin-engine fighters to cruise over Sicily, so as to deal with those Haidongqing brigades that might be hiding somewhere and ready to attack at any time. For this Huaxia fighter group, which mainly attacks heavy bombers and makes cameo appearances in ground attacks, Kesselring hates it to the core! The losses caused by this brigade were much greater than those of other Entente flying groups!
As a result, a shocking scene in the history of air warfare appeared, when the Entente concentrated its forces to bomb the Allied airfield, the Allied countries also took advantage of the weak defense of the other side to raid the opponent's hometown! Of course, at this time, Kesselring did not know that the attack of the Entente was not just a wave, but also a British Royal Air Force strategic bomber force flying from Corsica had approached the Foligno airfield and would attack at any time! And although Summer and others also left some air defense forces for Napoli, they did not expect Caisselring's style to be so fierce. Both sides have miscalculated, and this is the longest battle in a single air battle!
"The avant-garde called the fortress, there were no enemy aircraft over Foligno. They should all be attracted to the ** profit. Our road ahead is smooth. "The fast bombers responsible for reconnaissance and guidance flew over the target area with impunity, there were almost no fighters in the air, and the planes taking off from the airfield could not catch up with them during the climb. Therefore, the driver can easily detect the situation on the ground.
Now the situation is good, there are not many planes in the air. Moreover, the twin-engine fighters, which were not equipped with heavy artillery and heavy armor, also swaggered into the battlefield from the northwest direction of the British strategic bomber unit that had been moved from the German box formation, and the huge fuselage and huge formation were as conspicuous as flares on the sun. And the sad thing is that the Germans have nothing to do with such a large-scale attack! It was really difficult to use 1mm machine guns and mm guns to take down well-formed heavy bombers.
After a symbolic interception of the anti-aircraft artillery, these heavy bombers entering from a height of 6 began to gradually reduce their altitude, and opened the magazine when they descended to about 3 meters, and the first wave of bombers dropped but high-explosive shells and incendiary bombs, and one kg of high-explosive bombs and incendiary bombs came from the tail to lower the parachute after leaving the magazine. It swayed to the ground, then exploded into black plumes of smoke, and then the flames of the incendiary bombs quickly spread through the ruined airport, and many of them hit the surrounding terminals, hangars, or other buildings, and the surging crowd quickly burned the wooden structure outside to ashes, leaving only the steel skeleton and masonry structure to crumble in the fire.
The second wave of bombs dropped was armor-piercing, which targeted oil depots, bunkers and other facilities underground, but this wave of attacks did not have a corresponding effect due to the accuracy of the high-altitude bombs and the lack of lethality of the kg bombs themselves. Just when the British were feeling sorry for this, the last wave of bombers dropped super-heavy bombs not only frightened the Germans, but also frightened the British with great power. …
These bombs were super-heavy bombs weighing pounds. The explosives filled inside were explosives and thermite, and the need for both explosion and arson was taken into account, and the bomb was so large that the bomber carrying it had to remove the skin from the lower part of the magazine and carry it in a semi-buried mount. After completing the attack on the runway and surrounding facilities, the third wave of attacks was aimed at the industrial area within Ciudad Foligno! According to the situation, it has already been requisitioned by the Germans, and there should be no Italians.
"Bomb dropping!" As a giant bomb came out of the belly, the whole plane jumped. The pilot immediately adjusted his attitude before regaining stability. In the last fight, the bombers dropped a total of 16 heavy bombs. After more than ten seconds, an earth-shattering loud bang came from the ground. A huge wave of qi wrapped in flames quickly spread out to the surroundings with a devastating momentum, destroying everything that could be touched! Whether it's a factory, a water tower, or a vehicle, everything seems so small under this huge power. Then clouds of smoke and debris quickly rushed into the sky under the action of hot air, and began to condense after encountering cold air, leaving huge gray-white plumes of smoke in the air. The sound of an earthquake spread throughout the city, and both Germans and Italians were overwhelmed by the terrible air raids.
The British bombed this wave very successfully, not only completely paralyzing the entire Foligno airport, but also taking nearly seven aircraft of various kinds along the way. At the same time, the industrial area of the city was razed to the ground, bringing with it nearly a thousand Germans and a small number of Italians who were working inside. In the wars that followed, the Germans gave this powerful bomb the terrible name of the Neighborhood Destroyer, meaning that a single shot of the bomb could destroy an entire neighborhood. While the RAF achieved great results, the RAF suffered very little losses, with the exception of four bombers that were destroyed due to anti-aircraft artillery and fighter fire, and another one who could not return to base due to mechanical problems, the remaining bombers returned safely to their bases in Corsica.
"Kill two birds with one stone, and the aviation forces we deploy in Italy will be defeated by more than thirty percent in this battle!" Looking at the telegram in his hand, Kesselring couldn't help but sigh. The battle was really unexpected, both the troops invested by the other side and the advantages shown in the electronic equipment, which made him fall into deep worry, compared with Britain, a large country that has been dominant for hundreds of years, the Germans are still a little inferior in cutting-edge technology, at least there is a large gap with the other side in terms of aircraft and electronic equipment. If the battle ended here, then there was no doubt that the Germans had lost, but now, Kesselring had the only chance to save the situation, the bomber group from the Balkans had arrived in Italy and would soon be able to attack the port of Naples, Kesselring wanted to know what else the Entente side could come up with to resist his own offensive at this point!
The German offensive did not hide from the detection of the Allies, and the radars deployed on the outlying heights detected the incoming aircraft group in the distance very early. Kessellin's unconventional style of play suddenly startled Su Mo and the others, although the strategic bomber speed was slow, but at this time the Allied air force was also in a situation where there were no soldiers available. It seems to be a casual blow, but it does give full play to the advantages of the allies, if the naval aviation of the five countries is locked together with radar and anti-aircraft artillery, it is indeed difficult for the other side to gnaw this bone, but once the main force goes out, the air defense of Naples will be very problematic!
"Fortunately, the wind is in good shape now." Looking at the smoke rising in the direction of Naples and blocking the balloons, Su Mo and the others breathed a sigh of relief, to say that Su Mo did not leave a back hand is definitely wronging him, the Germans will come to Naples almost every day to hang around, and the necessary air defense is still available. It's just that there are not many troops left. Except for a small number of fighters, the only thing worthy of praise is the Haidongqing Brigade. Although there are radar-guided anti-aircraft guns, this thing can only be passively defended, and no one can say how effective it is. The situation is dire! …
"General Kinkaid, who was responsible for providing shore-based fire support, recommended that the battleship formations under his command be withdrawn." At this moment, a staff officer came to the command room of the Heilongjiang, the general flagship of the fleet, with a telegram.
"It's time to evacuate, don't end up with the port and can't hold it, and even the precious battleships are folded in." A U.S. ** official whispered.
"How many battleships do we have there? I think it would be better to leave the battleship behind, the enemy has the largest number of horizontal bombers in the fleet, and most of the crews are air force and have received less training in attacking ships. So the threat to the naval warships is not great, and we can completely use the fleet as a bait to attract the opponent's firepower! Lighten the burden on the port. After a pause, he continued, "Outside, let out all our remaining carrier-based aircraft, bombers and torpedo planes, all with half fuel, not to defeat the opponent, but at least to interfere with the opponent's bombing." Su Mo's opinion was shocking, and the gambling component was quite heavy, betting that the other party would be attracted by the warships on the seaside, and betting that the other party's attack on the sea was insufficient.
"Compared to the hundreds of thousands of allied troops and hundreds of thousands of Italian people, I think these losses are still necessary." Su Mo's suggestion made the high-level of various countries feel very tricky, and it is natural to give up Naples, and he came here this time to hold the last passage for the withdrawal of the coalition forces. But it is also a difficult decision to let the precious capital ships of various countries stay here as MT. It was at this time that the commander of the French fleet, Darlan, expressed his support, and the French had only one battleship here. But there were still at least 40,000 French troops and equipment to be evacuated on the shore, so the French were happy to take a gamble.
Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976 for the reward~~~, and the book friend Kuaifeng's monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued)