After lunch and a little rest, Mike started to get busy. Free eBook download // First of all, the generator for the high-power radio is mounted on the M7 Priest self-propelled gun, and then the high-power station itself. Most of the Americans' armored vehicles were equipped with radios. However, these stations have limited power and use shorter wavelengths in the frequency bands. The range that can be covered is very small. Such a radio station is sufficient to coordinate the actions of multiple tanks in tank warfare, so as to facilitate mutual cooperation, but it is not sufficient to communicate with aviation units, especially heavy bomber units that fly at higher altitudes and are farther away from ground forces. In order to ensure the quality of communication, it is extremely important to have a high-power radio station that can move with the troops and maintain a smooth flow during the movement. The original generator on the M7 Priest self-propelled gun simply could not support such a high-power radio, so the first thing to do after dismantling the cannon and making room was to replace it with a larger generator. Then there are the stations, and finally the whip antenna, which is significantly larger.

This mass of modifications was not completed until about eight o'clock in the evening. The driver started the engine, and the engine of the modified M7 radio communication vehicle was put into operation.

"The generator is running normally, the battery pack is in normal condition, start the radio!" Mike activates the radio in the cockpit of the M7 radio vehicle. With one light after another, it turned on one after another, and the radio station started normally.

"Well, the radio station is activated, let's see if we can get in touch with the command center on the British side first." Mike put on his headphones and adjusted the frequency to a predetermined frequency: "This is the morning star, call Polaris, call Polaris." ”

At the same time, Ron and LeMay and General Doolittle were sitting in the command center of the Eighth Air Force, and from about four o'clock in the afternoon, radio liaison vehicles from the front-line ground forces were constantly calling the command center. After receiving their call, the command center will arrange a channel for them to contact the nearby bomber group directly and test the direct communication between the two sides.

"This is the North Star, this is the North Star. Daystar, we've received your call. Wait a moment and we'll arrange a channel for you to get in touch with the bomber swarm. An operator responded immediately.

"General, there's another node to get in touch." Ron smiled at General Doolittle.

"Well, it's not bad at the moment. However, when it comes to real combat, because of the problem of translating code words, the efficiency may not be as high as it is now. "General Doolittle.

By this time, the staff officer had already sent a frequency to Mike's side.

"Flowers, lizards, spiders, welders......" Mike listened as he jotted down the words in his notebook, and next to him, his partner Sulla, was spreading out a thick dictionary and looking up the corresponding code words. Sulla's movements were very skillful, and only two or three seconds after Mike wrote the last word, "mercury", Sura handed Mike a note with the object and frequency of contact.

Mike adjusted the channel to the frequency given by the command center and began to call: "This is the morning star, call Orion." Call Orion ......"

A few seconds later, Mike received a reply from his direct target, a group of B-24 Liberator bombers.

"This is Orion, this is Orion, call the Morning Star, call the Morning Star."

"Orion, 35, 72, Hippopotamus, 46, 51, 58, Judah ......"

On a B-24 Liberator bomber, a translator quickly translated this incomprehensible passage.

"Captain, Daystar asks us about our location and heading."

"Inform them and ask where they are." In fact, these night bombers knew that when they returned, they would be contacted by ground forces at any time, and they were ready for this. So they responded quickly.

"Here!" Sura spread out the map and used the light of electricity to locate the bomber group. "They are moving northwestwards at a speed of 400 kilometers per hour. Our location is ......"

Mike quickly informed the bombers of his location. He knew that, according to the program, the bomber group would turn to him, and when they heard the bombers, they would fire a string of flares into the sky in groups of three to identify friend or foe. Then they had to use artillery shells to indicate targets to the bomber group. Of course, tonight's goal is to simulate the target.

More than ten minutes later, the muffled sound of a bomber's engine could be heard in the night sky. At the same time, in the pre-agreed public channel, the call of "Orion" was heard: "Turkey dances around Lincoln, turkey dances around Lincoln." At the same time, all the bombers began to flash their navigation lights.

Without a translation, Mike knew that the phrase meant "Approaching the target area, all units that see the navigation lights immediately identify themselves." So he said to Captain Clark, who was in charge of cooperating with him in the regiment who was also sitting in the car: "Prepare to identify flares, prepare flares." ”

"Send shè flares!" Clark immediately gave the order. So three red, blue, and yellow flares were shè into the sky, and a few seconds later, three more flares in opposite order were shè.

At this time, another call from "Orion" came from the agreed channel: "Arctic 4102 roses." ”

"We've identified your location, please indicate the target." Sulla was able to complete the translation quickly.

"Shè flares fired at the intended target!" Clark gave the command to a genuine M7 Priest self-propelled gun parked nearby, which immediately turned to the target, then its 105mm barrel was shaken, and then, with a loud bang, a flare was fired, followed by another.

The flares burned over the target area, making them look exceptionally bright in the night sky.

"See the goal, thank you." This sentence "Orion" formation did not even use secret words, anyway, if this was a real battle, the bomber group would have already dropped bombs, and there was no need to continue to keep it secret.

On this night, a similar scene was constantly played out between the various ground forces and bomber formations in the air. It wasn't until half past ten in the evening that the drill came to an end.

"The drill was a success, very good." General Doolittle stood up and took the lead in applauding. During this night, more than 20 ground forces, together with the same number of night-flying bombers, used radio to complete complex night cooperation. And the effect is quite good, which is enough to show the future of this kind of thinking.

"If there is a real fight, there will be a lot of accidents on the battlefield, and there may not be the effect of tonight's drill. In addition, each combat regiment is now equipped with a radio contact vehicle, which is not enough, and if something goes wrong with this vehicle on the battlefield, it will be troublesome. Before the start of the operation, at least two or three such liaison vehicles must be prepared for each regiment. "Ron.

"We are stepping up our preparations for these. Before the start of the program, we will definitely be able to prepare more than three liaison vehicles for each regiment. A lieutenant colonel of the logistics department replied.

"But I'm still a little worried," Li Mei, who had been silent, suddenly spoke, "Tonight's drill was too successful, and this is not necessarily a good thing." In my experience, the worse the performance in the drill, the better the effect in the actual combat; On the contrary, if the performance is too perfect in the drill, there will always be problems of one kind or another in actual combat. ”

……

For several days, new liaison officers continued to report to the regiment, and new tracked vehicles were converted into liaison vehicles. Now, the regiment has three liaison vehicles, two of which are converted from M7 Priest self-propelled guns. There is also one, which was modified from an M4 Sherman tank with a damaged gun. Because there was no condition to change to the open structure of the M7 Priest self-propelled gun, the car was crowded.

For several days in a row, both day and night, the air-ground joint combat drills were carried out continuously. The ground forces and bomber forces are also becoming more familiar with this coordination. It was during this training that the time for Operation Cobra to launch was gradually approaching.

……

The offensive of the Americans, as usual, began with the bombing of heavy bombers. Just after 9:30 a.m. on July 25, Operation Cobra officially began. The P/A-38 attack aircraft of the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing, armed with fuel-air bombs, launched the first round of air strikes on German positions, especially artillery positions. Subsequently, the Eighth Air Force sent 1,800 heavy bombers to drop more than 3,000 tons of bombs on German positions. Immediately afterwards, 380 B-26 "Marauder" medium bombers dropped another 1,400 bombs on areas where the Germans might be hiding. In just one hour, the German positions were bombed beyond recognition, more than 1,000 people were killed in the air raids, and more than 1,000 were either injured or dizzy and unable to continue the fighting.

In the historical "Operation Cobra", the total casualties on the Allied side were only 1,800 in a whole week of operations, while the US Army Air Corps inflicted more than 2,000 casualties on the Germans in just one hour! Once again, the aviation showed the power to change the decision of the war.

The first round of air strikes was followed by the second and third rounds of air strikes and artillery shelling by ground forces of the army. The Army Air Corps flew more than 3,000 bomber sorties in one fell swoop and carried out saturation bombing over an area 6,000 yards (5,500 m) wide and 2,200 yards (2,000 m) deep on the Saint-Loin-Perrière road. The intensity of the bombardment makes one wonder if there will be a living creature on the other side.

On the Internet in later generations, when some military fans were discussing the issue of World War II, a person raised a question: If the U.S. military replaced the German army in the Battle of Kursk, how would the U.S. military fight? The answer is quite simple, send 3,000 B-17s and B-24s to bomb first, if the enemy is still resisting, send another 3,000 B-17s and B-24s to bomb him, and if the enemy does not collapse, then ...... again. Now the Germans are facing this kind of open-hanging scoundrel play.

It was also on this day that the commander of the US Army Ground Forces, Leslie?? James?? Lieutenant General McNall came to the forward position to inspect .......

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