The sudden Allied attack caused the SS Air Force's rocket interceptors to suffer a heavy blow before they could take off. 48 launchers, along with 48 rocket interceptors, were reduced to ashes. This is not the most irretrievable loss. In the large explosion caused by the air strike, the Germans also lost almost 48 ground crews. It was this loss that really distressed the Germans.

Unlike pilots, who were seen as complete disposable cannon fodder, the ground crews of the SS Air Corps' rocket interceptor units were truly invaluable. Because the maintenance and take-off preparation of this aircraft are extremely complex and dangerous, the ground staff who maintain it are the best in this regard. All the staff in this ground crew have a bachelor's degree in science and engineering. Of the 48 teams lost, all the team leaders had long-term experience in chemical and mechanical maintenance, and 11 of them had master's degrees. Their numbers are the bottleneck that really limits the size of this army.

Such losses will be difficult to make up, and for a long time to come, it will probably be difficult for the SS air force to organize a large-scale interception of 100 planes.

However, the loss was too great, and the commander of this team fell into a strange psychological state. The human psyche is very strange. For example, gambling, when a person loses half a month's salary in gambling, he will be very distressed, and he is likely to stop immediately and quit gambling. But if he loses half of his family at once, then he will probably not hesitate to read a 'novel' ybdu and pile up the rest of the capital.

Colonel Thomas was in such a state, so he gave the order for all the remaining interceptors to take off.

But it's also unfair to say that Thomas is completely dazed. It is easy to see from such a well-organized raid on the launch base that the enemy has information about his own forces. But judging by the number of attack aircraft sent by the enemy, the enemy also clearly underestimated the number of interceptors he had. In this way, if you attack at this time, you will definitely catch the enemy by surprise, right?

Plus, he does have the money to gamble, he has 52 planes, and his men are different from those in the Air Force. The guys in the Air Force are more qualified and well-trained, but when it comes to the will to fight, the guys who only focus on their own report cards can't compare to the all-volunteer commandos in their own hands.

It's just that the number of fighters that finally made it to the skies was not as many as 52. Some of the planes or launchers were not destroyed in the raid, but they were also damaged to a certain extent. In the end, only 35 BA349 rocket-powered interceptors could be launched.

Based on past experience, once the BA349 rocket-powered interceptor is launched, the enemy is basically powerless against it. Because its climb was so fast that the enemy's fighters simply could not keep up.

Most of the Allied bombers were active at an altitude of 7000 meters, and the fighters were also at this altitude. The BA349 rocket-powered interceptor climbs to 10,000 meters with an astonishing climb rate, and then dives down, and by the time they dive to a height where they can attack, their speed has far exceeded that of the Allied escort fighters, and by that time, the Allied fighters will have no way to intercept them.

Ruka is a cannon fodder pilot. Well, he himself knows this. In fact, every pilot who boarded the BA349 rocket-powered interceptor left a suicide note before boarding. Ruka also wrote a suicide note. The suicide note was later broadcast on German radio and was used to encourage the soldiers...... And the battle, in this public version of the suicide note, Ruka criticized the Jews for the danger to the empire and to humanity. And he proclaimed that it was the duty of every German to sacrifice for his country. Loyalty to the country, to the Führer, is both an honor for me. Finally, he called on more young Germans to stand up and sacrifice for their country.

However, according to the information declassified after the war, the public version of the suicide note was completely falsified by Goebbels's system. As for the original version, it has not been found later. According to the insider, the main content of the suicide note is actually only one point, that is, to tell his mother that if he dies, the family can get some preferential policies, and hopes that his mother can use this to support his two younger brothers.

But that's all for later, and now Ruka is sitting in the cockpit - or more precisely, lying in the cockpit, nervously waiting for the launch. Not far from him, a fire was burning. From time to time, there is also the sound of trees breaking in flames.

Just when a large group of British bombers had already appeared in his field of vision, the order to launch was finally given. The engine behind Ruka began to emit a deafening roar (one pilot who survived the war recalled that if he flew it a few more times, he would definitely become deaf), and then Ruka felt as if someone had kicked him in the back, and the plane was flying.

Ruka had good luck and the take-off went well. Just to his right, another plane took off a tenth of a second earlier than him. Ruka could see the plane clearly. When the plane had just climbed to an altitude of 500-600 meters, Ruka noticed that a small flame was also coming out of the left side of the plane's engine. The small flame was rapidly growing larger, and eventually when the plane climbed to an altitude of about 1,100 meters, an explosion occurred. The entire plane exploded into a large fireball, and countless fragments shot towards Ruka's plane with flames.

The BA349 rocket-powered interceptor in the climb is uncontrollable, but due to its amazing climb rate, it is difficult for enemy fighters to have a chance to intercept it, but at this time, in the face of the debris of the friendly plane's explosion, Ruka can only hope for luck.

But Lady Luck did stand on Ruka's side, grabbing the edge of her skirt, and Ruka dodged the near-mortal turn of events—several flaming shards passed by his plane without hitting him.

Just a few dozen seconds later, Ruka's BA349 rocket-powered interceptor had already surpassed the British bomber group in height.

Now that the fuel of the aircraft has run out, the climb rate of the BA349 rocket-powered interceptor has begun to decline, and Ruka has begun to officially take over the aircraft, by this time, his altitude has reached 10000 meters.

The plane began to tremble, and Ruka knew that the engine was running out of fuel, and with some thrust from the engine, he leveled the plane. Then still glide down and dive.

Attacking bomber groups with rockets, the most reasonable angle of entry is to the side. Rockets fired from this angle have the highest chance of hitting. Although they haven't actually practiced, the rookies have learned from the ground drills that they need to go around to the side before attacking.

Ruka's BA349 rocket-powered interceptor began to steer as it accelerated its slide.

At this moment, he suddenly saw that another BA349 rocket-powered interceptor in the direction of him at two o'clock suddenly shook violently, and then broke off its wing and fell headlong. Then a strangely shaped plane flew by.

Unbeknownst to the Germans, there was a fleet of P-81 fighters that stayed on top of the bomber group, flying at an altitude of about 11,000 meters. The mission of these aircraft is to intercept possible BA349 rocket-powered interceptors.

Rewind the clock to a day ago, at a joint tactical meeting between the United States and the United Kingdom, Ron was explaining his plan.

“…… Destroying the enemy on the ground is the most economical way. But we must not be able to fully rely on that. We can't get as good intelligence support as we do today in every operation. can destroy enemies on the ground. As a matter of fact, such enemy planes are extremely easy to conceal, and it is impossible for us to detect them in advance every time. Therefore, we must have the means to destroy the enemy in the sky with dignity. ”

"Based on our last encounter with this thing, and especially their terrible rate of climb, I deduce that this thing is mostly rocket-powered, pushing this aircraft to some altitude above the usual position of our bombers, and then diving to attack us. We all know that rocket engines have a lot of thrust, but they also consume fuel quickly. And it also needs to come with its own oxidant. So, I think that the powered flight time of such an aircraft must be pitifully small. Taking into account the weight of the ammunition they carried, and the weight of other devices, a mathematician helped me estimate its climb height, which probably would not exceed 11,000 meters. When they climb to this height, their aircraft has the lowest athletic capacity. We will place a group of fighters at this altitude and destroy them here. ”

Ron's view is supported by everyone, although perhaps this time, relying on means such as attacks will most likely nip the threat in the bud. However, in the final analysis, war still depends on upright strength to win the war. In fact, if an army does not have the ability to contend with the enemy in a decent battle, it will not be able to defeat the opponent through so-called stratagem.

When Ron was a child, he read history and saw that during the first and second Opium Wars, when "I Daqing" was defeated by thousands of enemy troops, he often had a question, that is, why didn't we use stratagems when fighting foreign devils? Just like in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", first deceitful defeat, then led the enemy into the encirclement, and then attacked and flooded, only a few thousand people, if there was a Zhuge Liang at that time, wouldn't it be a piece of cake to settle them?

But Ron had already understood by now that stratagem was only useful when the power was equal. Otherwise it's just a joke. For example, on the Korean battlefield, in the second battle, the volunteers adopted a series of tactics such as luring the enemy deep and interspersing encirclement. Considerable results have also been reaped. However, in addition to the role of "strategy," the combat effectiveness of the volunteers themselves is the foundation of victory. In this battle, the 113th Division of the Volunteer Army set out from Tokugawa, detoured along the mountain path to Sansho-ri, advanced more than 70 kilometers in 14 hours, cut off the retreat route of the US 9th Army from Junyu-ri to Sunchon through Sansho-ri, and relied on the strength of a lightly armed infantry division, violating the principle of "returning to the division and not stopping it", blocking the two retreats of the mechanized unit of the US 9th Army, and in the next four days, the enemy troops with obvious superiority in both men and equipment were not allowed to cross the minepool. If the Volunteer Army does not have such combat effectiveness that is sufficient to withstand the enemy in a head-on confrontation, if the Volunteer Army is a certain division that can be chased and beaten by a large group of devils, and it is better to have a large number of people who surrender to the devils as a puppet army, then the lure of the enemy in the second battle will probably directly turn into a rout, and as for the interspersed encirclement in the back, it is even more of a joke.

So, while sneak attacks and ambushes are important in battle, it's important to find a tactic that can restrain your opponent in the usual head-to-head engagement.