At an altitude of 7000 meters, it was a bit cold, especially in a glass turret. Seaman was already shivering from the cold, but he still did his duty seriously, looking around nervously. Suddenly, a group of small black dots appeared in his field of vision.

"Straight ahead, enemy aircraft spotted!" He-Man's voice changed a little because of the nervousness.

These little black dots grew larger in He-Man's view. He-Man gripped the handle of the machine gun tightly with both hands, and fired at the target indiscriminately, and everything that could identify the type of aircraft and what kind of distance was thrown to Java.

But the stimulus to He-man is nothing compared to the stimulus to the bomber pilot Laudrup. An F4U sprayed in German livery made irregular rolls while spewing flames (empty cartridges) that grew larger in his front window.

"These damn lunatics! It's going to crash! Laudrup cursed in order to quickly kick the rudder to dodge, and the F4U almost brushed past his B-17.

"It's dangerous, grandma's madman!" But Laudrup didn't even have time to wipe the beads of sweat from his head before he was in a hurry again. Just as he was dodging the rudder, a bomber next to him also made a rudder dodge action, but in the opposite direction to him! At this moment, there was an immediate danger of collision between the two bombers. Laudrup quickly kicked the rudder again to dodge.

Although his dodge action avoided the tragedy of the mid-air collision of the YBDU bombers, the entire formation was suddenly chaotic. This corner of Laudrup became an obvious breakthrough, from which many fighters of the "Reverse Cross" rushed in, stirring up the entire formation.

"I just said it, in the first assault we can break up the formation of these stupid people." The Poles shouted over the radio.

"What's there to be happy about, these idiots are all Americans!"

Daddy's words made all the "reverse crosses" quiet down. Yes, these stupid people are Americans, and if this is really a battlefield, if they are all Germans, a huge defeat is inevitable.

A box had already been dispersed, and the "Reverse Cross" launched round after round of attacks on these bombers who had lost the protection of the formation, so that they were always tired of dodging and could not recover from the new formation.

A dive, then a quick pull-up, Ron was sure he had hit the bomber in front of him several times at least once, and if it was a real air fight, the bomber might have been shot down several times. For now, however, the outcome of the attack will not be confirmed until the photographs from the camera guns have been washed out and interpreted.

Just when one box formation had been completely broken up, and it was estimated that all the planes in it might have been shot down, another relatively intact B-17 box formation had approached the virtual target.

"Spread out the formation and prepare to drop bombs." The commander of the 385 Bomber Group gave the order, and there seemed to be a sigh in his voice. He already knew that his subordinates were all rookies, and it was almost hopeless to withstand the attack of such a large group of aces, but the rapid collapse of the left wing formation was still beyond his expectations.

"Luckily they're not really Germans, and it's not really a battlefield. There's a chance to do it again. That's all the Commander can think about now.

The commander knew that when the three-dimensional box formation was unfolded into a single-layer dense formation when the bombs were dropped, it was the time when the bomber group was at its most vulnerable, and the "reverse crosses" would certainly not give up such an opportunity.

As the commander had predicted, as soon as the box formation dispersed, the bomber group was immediately besieged by the "anti-crosses". According to the original process, after dropping the bomb, the opened box should be closed immediately, but now, under the impact of the "reverse cross" fighters, let alone closing into the original box formation, it is impossible to even maintain the existing single-layer dense formation.

"Damn, so ruthless, do you plan to keep none of them? Now it's troublesome, how much effort will it take me to get their morale up again! Someone's heart was full of grief.

However, although the attack of the "reverse cross" was ferocious, it did not last long. Soon the guys were quickly out of the fight in a swoop. The fighters then formed a tight V-shaped formation and flew in front of the bomber group that had been restored to the box formation, flew with them for a while, and then flapped their wings and quickly left.

……

The 385 bombers of the 24 bomber group landed on the airfield one after another. All the rookies were in a very low mood, and they themselves knew that they could completely break up their formation with a single attack, and such a result would not be better in any case. And most of those rookie machine gunners also know that the probability of hitting the enemy is really low, because under the tension just now, everyone has forgotten the elements of shooting, and whether they can hit the enemy is basically not based on technology, but on character.

But at least at this time, they were still full of hope - although we were beaten badly, perhaps, maybe the losses of the "reverse cross" were not small. Every rookie was anxiously waiting for the photos in the camera gun to be developed and interpreted. This feels like a student who usually doesn't study well, after facing a test paper that he doesn't know at all, filling in some answers randomly, knowing that his grades will not be too good, but hoping for an explosion of character.

It's just that the expected character outbreak did not appear, and at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, all the photos were washed out. By the afternoon of the next day, the results of the reading were also in: 12 of the 24 bombers of the 385 Bomber Group were shot down before the bombs were dropped, and 6 more were shot down after the bombs were dropped, and the remaining 6 bombers were all damaged to varying degrees. The self-defense firepower of the bombers achieved only four damage to enemy aircraft.

"It can't be!" Some rookies can't stand it right away.

"They cheated, it must be so!" Some people say it in a nutshell.

"The photos are all there, theirs and ours. If you don't believe me, you can see for yourself," the commander said with a calm face.

A large number of photographs were taken out of several large packages and spread out one by one on tables, stools, beds and even floors. All the rookies were lying there with anger and reluctance to study the photos. But gradually, anger turned into sorrow, and unwillingness turned into despair. Although the interpretation of several photos by rookies is still a bit controversial, everyone knows it. There is absolutely no falsification in the "reverse cross". If it is an air battle with real guns and real guns, the result can only be like this.

The entire barracks was as quiet as a cemetery, and the vast majority of the people had suddenly become empty shells that had lost their souls. Even the bells of dinner have lost their usual power.

"What's the matter, boys? Didn't the slightest storm knock you down? Yes, we were badly defeated, but, Jesse?? Was Owens invincible on the track for the first time? Didn't you end up becoming a world champion? And those guys, including their captain Ron, who has the highest number of shots down by the United States now, were they also shot down by the Japanese? If it weren't for the luck of being saved by a submarine, how could this girl have a chance to be a cow in front of us? Cheer up, boys, we failed once, but we still have a chance and there is still time! We will grow up from rookies to eagles! ”

The commander stared at his soldiers with blazing eyes and continued to cheer them on:

"Our problem this time is that we are young, but youth also means hope. Want to hear what the old birds of Reverse Cross have to say about your performance? ”

"What did they say?" Someone finally raised their heads and responded.

Seeing that someone responded, the commander secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and he took out a letter from his pocket like a trick, unfolded it in public, and then, clearing his throat, read it aloud in a tone of voice:

"Lieutenant Colonel Carl, congratulations.

Yesterday's drill proved that your soldiers are brave fighters who bravely fought even when the formation was broken, and successfully dropped bombs on their targets to complete the assault. We admire this courage and tenacity. Although some of their performances are not particularly good due to experience problems, I believe that the team with such a brave and tenacious fighting spirit will definitely grow up quickly and become a real eagle!

The highest battle salute

Your friend Ron."

"Do they really say that?" Many of the team members looked up, and in their eyes, Lieutenant Colonel Carr saw the renewed flames.

"Is this still fake? However, they also specifically mentioned what we need to improve, a large folder. If we can get rid of these problems, we will definitely make great progress. ”

"Where's the file, sir, show us quickly!"

"The documents are in my office, but I can't show them to you right now - you can't read them until dinner. Now I order, all of them, to run in line towards the cafeteria! ”

The soldiers all left the barracks and ran to the canteen. The commander also let out a sigh of relief. When he was walking slowly in the direction of the cafeteria, the deputy who had been staying next to him spoke:

"Sir, your speech is good, but there is one thing you may be mistaken. Jessie?? Owens has indeed been invincible since his debut. ”

"Ah, really? I ......"

In the restaurant, Chef Smechel is talking to Head Chef Yashin:

"It's really strange today, why don't those guys from the 385 Bomber Brigade come to dinner? It's rare to be so inactive in eating. ”

"Hehe," Yashin replied with a smile, "normal, I heard that the results of the confrontation are out, and they were repaired by those scoundrels. I'm afraid I won't be able to eat. ”

"Ah, isn't all the high-standard food made today, like octopus and the like, all in vain?"

"No, they're coming—don't you think they're coming?"

In the distance, a group of guys lined up in a neat line, singing military songs, and ran towards the restaurant.

Smechel rubbed his eyes: "Yashin, look at them - did they really lose?" ”