"A fire was spotted at 3 o'clock! It's artillery! Arthur shouted over the radio as he began to lead his four-plane formation in the direction of the firelight. But in the next moment, he was surprised to find that there were flashes of light in almost all directions, and they all looked a little like the muzzle flame of a cannon.

"Damn it! What's going on! How is it possible that so many artillery pieces are firing? Arthur was almost stunned for a moment. However, he quickly realized that each type of artillery had a different muzzle flame due to differences in caliber, barrel structure, charge, and cannon retractor. Most of the muzzle flares that appeared now were different from the ones he was familiar with, and it was clear that most of them were false targets.

"No, those flames at 10 o'clock are real artillery! Follow me! Arthur gave the command again. The group quickly flew towards 10 o'clock. By this time, the flames in that position had disappeared. Obviously, the "enemy" also judged their arrival by something like a listening device. Arthur, the lead, was the first to drop a string of flares. In the blazing light of the flares, Arthur saw a group of men on the ground busily hooking up a few cannons to the tractor - apparently, they were ready to move.

"Attack!" Arthur exclaimed excitedly, and at the same time, he habitually looked towards several positions where anti-aircraft guns might be placed. The light of the flares was limited, and the few locations were still buried in the dark. But there's nothing to be afraid of, *a*read* the novel XSTXT flare was ignited at a height of more than 100 meters above the ground. Also because of the distance, it doesn't shine itself very brightly. It is almost impossible for the anti-aircraft artillery to attack itself in such a dark night sky.

But Arthur, who was cautious by nature, still led his fleet to avoid those dangerous positions as much as possible and swooped over. Now, the crowd that had gathered around the artillery had dispersed, and they all left the artillery and the tractor and ran away. The appearance of flares means that the next moment, bombs or rockets will fall from the sky, and now the artillery will definitely not be able to save it, so it is better to save the personnel as much as possible.

Arthur didn't choose to use rockets. First, when using rockets, the trajectory of the aircraft will be exposed, although the time is very short, and the chance of the anti-aircraft artillery reacting is very small, he is still unwilling to give the enemy such a chance. Second, the rockets should be left behind to fight tanks. So his choice is a bomb. There were 6 250-pound aerial bombs hanging under his belly, which was enough to solve the problem.

……

No sooner had Toskin's tank unit approached the assembly point than the sound of B-25 bomber engines could be heard in the distance. Toskin decisively ordered the tank group to stop advancing and turn off the engines. Two or three minutes later, the sound of heavy objects falling to the ground could be heard from the front assembly point -- the bombs dropped during the confrontation exercise were of course things that would not explode.

Robilio, the navigator and bombardier of the B-25, had just dropped the bomb when the plane tilted so violently that he almost sat in the cabin.

"What's wrong?" Robilio asked.

"Night Fighter!" Captain Cagliari replied succinctly. By this time, the machine gunner, Turner, had already begun to fire the machine gun into the night sky.

However, Turner's shooting was basically useless. Because he couldn't see the night fighter hidden in the darkness, he could only guess where the night fighter was now based on the light of the fire when it was fired.

Of course, such a shot would have no effect, and the Mosquito night fighters, after completing a round of attacks, went around in circles and came back again......

……

The sky was gradually brightening, and the night of confrontation had passed. But the real confrontation is just beginning. Under the cover of night, the tank units of the simulated enemy army had already entered the starting position, and although they were not without losses, they were able to launch a decisive offensive with limited losses.

In the reddish light of the morning sun, about 30 tanks and a little more armored vehicles began to form battle formations and attack the target! At this time, the attack planes that were still hovering over the battlefield also pounced on these tanks.

Arthur had dropped six 250-pound aerial bombs in his previous assault on the artillery group, but his arsenal was still very well stocked: 12 rockets were hung under his wings, and in his nose there was a 37mm gun powerful enough to destroy a tank directly.

But in the tank cluster, there was also the thing that Arthur hated the most - self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

Due to the pressure brought by the Soviet Army's Il-2 on the Soviet-German battlefield, coupled with the fact that the Luftwaffe often performed poorly, the Army was not very reassured. Therefore, the German Army has always attached great importance to self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery, and the types and quantities of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns equipped with them are very large. In terms of caliber, there are not only small calibers such as 20 mm, but also medium-caliber ones such as 30 mm and 37 mm, and even large-caliber goods such as 88 mm -- but this is really not suitable for doing things that accompany air defense. As far as the chassis is concerned, there are both those with a tracked chassis and those with a half-track chassis.

In the battles in North Africa, Sicily and Italy, the US army captured some German self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, of which the main ones in North Africa were single-barreled 20-mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns using half-track chassis, while in Sicily and Italy, the US troops obtained some half-track self-propelled anti-aircraft guns with quadruple 20 guns. It's just that the number of the latter is much smaller than the former. Therefore, there is only one such thing here as a sample of the "Reverse Cross". During the exercise, this thing was dressed up with the US military's own M16 air defense tank, which was also a quadruple installation, although the M16 air defense tank was only equipped with a 12.7 mm caliber machine gun.

In addition, according to intelligence, the US military knew that the Germans had also developed a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun of 37 mm caliber. However, the U.S. military did not have relevant samples in its hands, so the "Reverse Cross" directly used the U.S. military's own 40-mm twin-mounted self-propelled anti-aircraft gun as this thing. Out of consideration for the enemy's leniency, the number of self-propelled anti-aircraft guns equipped by the "Reverse Cross" on this armored unit was much higher than that of the authentic German army.

Therefore, when Arthur swooped down towards those "enemy tanks", the threat of these anti-aircraft weapons had to be considered first. The 20mm anti-aircraft guns were no different, they had far less effective range than the rockets under his wing, and as long as they could identify these guys and prioritize attacking them, they would be limited in their possibility. But the 37-mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun was different. Although I don't know its specific performance data, if we set a set of data based on the data of the US military's own 40 anti-aircraft guns of similar caliber, the effective range of this thing is not closer than that of rockets. Of course, the nominal range of the rocket is still longer. But everyone knows that the accuracy of the rocket, if the launch distance is a little farther, it can go from the Vatican to Italy. So, you really need to take some risks against this guy.

Arthur looked around the battlefield, and the first thing he found was a 40-mm self-propelled gun hidden in a tank group. Arthur gritted his teeth, overcame himself, and swooped down towards it.

The self-propelled anti-aircraft gun also began to fire at Arthur. Of course, it fired empty shells and didn't really threaten Arthur's plane. But Arthur now finds empty ammunition more annoying than live ammunition. There was a tracer bullet every few rounds of live ammunition. On the one hand, it makes it easier for the shooter to adjust the trajectory, and on the other hand, it also allows Arthur to dodge accordingly. And now without this thing, Arthur can only dodge by his own imagination, which makes Arthur feel more nervous, and his hands on the lever are a little sweaty.

Arthur made several side-slip, barrel rolling, and other maneuvers in succession, closing in on the 40mm gun. After completing a barrel roll, Arthur put the cannon into the shooting halo and fired six rockets in one go.

Of course, this simulated rocket doesn't actually shoot out. But Arthur was sure that if he shot the real thing, the halftrack would be dead. White smoke soon came out of the vehicle, and it seems that the directors who stayed nearby also made the judgment that the vehicle was destroyed.

But Arthur couldn't care about any of this, and just as he was about to pull it up, he suddenly noticed that a little to the left in front of him, there was also an M-16 air defense tank! Now, the 4 12.7mm machine guns on it are turning towards him. If it were really on the battlefield, relying on the armor of the modified version of the P-38, the power of the 12.7 mm machine gun would be negligible, but here this guy is simulating a German 20 mm caliber product. Although some parts of the modified P-38 can withstand the attack of 20 guns, let the quadruple 20 guns come head-on, and you will have to be crippled if you don't die.

Fortunately, Arthur was a veteran pilot, and he was also known for his ability to dodge, so at this critical juncture, Arthur took the lead, aimed the nose at his opponent, and then fired a long point shot at the M-16 air defense tank with two 20 guns in his nose. Then, with a sharp turn, it escaped from its threatening range.

After pulling up the plane from a safer distance, Arthur looked back and saw that four self-propelled guns had risen from the enemy tank group, two of which were his own victories. At the same time, the voice of Dubin, the pilot of his subordinate No. 04 attack plane, also came from his headset: "Captain, it says that my plane was seriously injured and ordered me to return immediately." ”

At this time, another group of four P-38s began to launch a surprise attack from another direction.