raid

A week later, the new attack aircraft of the two squadrons were sent to the "Crow's Nest", and by this time the pilots of the two attack aircraft squadrons were also in place, and the entire wing was finally able to operate smoothly. It was at this time that Ron was given a new directive.

It was an order from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in Europe. In accordance with this order, the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing was to launch attacks on various targets of the German forces in the Calais area of France. Ron knew that this mission had two main intentions:

The first intention was to give the newly created wing an opportunity for actual combat drills, so that they could build up their combat strength as soon as possible before the landing operation. The second intention was to hope that the pressure of the 21st Attack Wing's operations in the Calais area would lead to a miscalculation of the Allied strategic objectives by the Germans.

In fact, it was no secret to the Germans that the Allied forces were preparing to land in France, and the war had now been carried out, and there was no possibility of concealing the question of such a strategic direction. Now the Allies have turned the whole of South England into a large military camp. Millions of troops, thousands of warships, tens of thousands of warplanes are concentrated here, if the Germans still don't understand what the Americans want to do? Isn't that really a fool? Therefore, the Confederates themselves have never concealed their intention to launch a landing campaign on an unprecedented scale in France. In the Allied broadcasts to the German-occupied territories, the Allied side constantly encouraged the people of the occupied areas, and the "One", "Ben", and "Read" novels YBDU told them that the long night of German occupation was coming to an end, and that the Allies were about to cross the strait and come to liberate them. General de Gaulle of Free France constantly called on the French people to join the resistance and cooperate with the Allies to expel the German invaders.

In this situation, the activities of the resistance groups have become more and more active. The French resisters are most likely to help the Allies get some intelligence, and sometimes they will do some assassination or something. But lately, these people have become emboldened. Not to mention the increasing number of assassinations, and even direct attacks on Gestapo institutions. There are also more and more sabotage activities of all kinds, and armed resisters will even sneak attack lone German soldiers, and those who have no weapons will also secretly cut the telephone lines of the Germans and get off the tracks of the railway through which the German ** train will pass.

The timing of the Allied landing was of course one of the top secrets, and the Germans certainly did not know - in fact, even if you asked General Eisenhower now, he would not know, because it had not yet been determined. In fact, the date of D-Day was not determined until a few days before D-Day. But the approximate date of the Allied landing was very clear to the Germans. This is because the English Channel has always been windy and rough, and the hydrological conditions are complex and changeable, and the only time that is really suitable for a large-scale landing activity is from May to September.

And the location of the Allied landing was a secret that the Germans were more eager to know. Unfortunately, the Allied secrecy work was not done ordinarily well, and the Germans could not get any information, so this matter had to be guessed by the Germans themselves. However, although the French coastline is long, it is not suitable for landing everywhere. Some of the coasts are full of steep cliffs, and even if there is no defense, at most a few light infantry skilled in rock climbing can come up; Some of the coasts are full of underwater reefs, and the landing ships cannot be relied on at all; There are also beaches with steep slopes that make it difficult for landing craft to dock; There are also beach substrates that are too soft, and heavy equipment will sink on the beach. In all of this, the places that are really suitable for landing are quite limited. Of these, there are two areas that the Germans consider the most dangerous: one is Calais and the other is Normandy.

Of the two locations, Calais is the more dangerous. Although the hydrological conditions were not as good as in Normandy, Calais and the British were closer, which meant that the same number of ships, in the same amount of time, could bring more troops ashore. Moreover, there are ports available near Calais, and after the first successful landing, the ports can be quickly occupied, and then a large number of heavy equipment can continue to land on the French mainland. And from here, it's also closer to Paris. Therefore, this location was the most dangerous for the German army.

As for Normandy, another landing site, although the hydrological conditions were better than Calais, there was a lack of a port nearby, and the speed of disembarkation of subsequent heavy troops would be very problematic after the vanguard landed. Coupled with its distance from the heart of France, there was a little more time left for the Germans to reflect.

Because of this, the Germans focused their defense on Calais, and they built a powerful coastal battery with 6 406mm guns on the coast of Calais, as well as a large number of artillery pillboxes, machine-gun pillboxes, anti-tank trenches, minefields, barbed wire. The Allies made a plan, and after calculation, the Allies came to the conclusion that the navy would need to sacrifice three to five battleships and a large number of cruisers and destroyers in the firepower preparation before the landing. Of course, if the Allies had done their best despite the losses, they would still have been able to take Calais, but such an outcome was not what the Allies wanted. So, from a very early age, the Allies had already set their sights on Normandy.

After determining Normandy as the target, the Allies devised a strategic deception program code-named "Indomitable", using various means to trick the Germans into believing that Calais was the target of the Allied landing. Much was done by the Allies to that end, and the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing intensified its activities around Calais.

It was a good morning in Calais, France, and it was another sunny day. But this weather did not like the Germans. In the early years, the Germans were particularly fond of weather like this, but now such good weather almost means heavy air raids.

At about 7 o'clock in the morning, Reichsal Field Marshal Rommel was in a Mercedes car, escorted by a convoy, to inspect the beaches of Calais. Yesterday, he and his immediate boss, Field Marshal Rundstedt, had another argument over defensive strategy. Marshal Rundstedt nevertheless decided that the Americans would land in Calais and not in Normandy. At the same time, he still insisted that the main force must be deployed back in order to increase the depth. They can take advantage of the fact that the US troops have not gained a firm foothold after landing and launch a counterattack to annihilate the main force of the US forces in one fell swoop. Even if the Germans could not defeat the American troops, they could retreat and re-select favorable terrain to organize a defensive line to defend. It can also prevent the German army from being surrounded and annihilated by the US army.

However, Rommel knew that it would not be easy to use this plan against the US army, because the US army's air power attack power was too powerful, and if the German army launched a counterattack in France, the German army would be violently attacked by the US air power, and it would not be able to organize a large-scale counterattack at all.

However, Rundstedt insisted that the initial Allied landing must be unstoppable. The disembarkation of the Allies was inevitable. According to his plan, even if the counterattack could not destroy the system that the Allies were rebuilding, because the German center of gravity was rear, at least it could gradually and steadily retreat across the Seine, towards Paris, and even retreat to the deeper and deeper German-French border, which was faced by the Allies, and would be the front of the German defensive group, and the defense line covering this would be relatively intact, and there would be relatively sufficient forces to encircle the western front of the Reich.

Rommel knew that Rundstedt's considerations were reasonable, but didn't the old marshal understand: as long as the Americans were brought ashore, the defeat of Germany was inevitable? So here, in any case, the Americans cannot be allowed to land on the continent of Europe. For this, he and Marshal Rundstedt even conducted a war game. Rondstedt played the role of the Allies in the deduction, and Rommel confronted them according to the defensive strategy arranged by his main force in the front. The victor was, of course, Rundstedt, who, with the great material power of the Allies, managed to break his defenses and ascend to the continent in a wargaming confrontation. It's just that this victory is not enough to convince Rommel, who knows that if he changes his position and plays the Allies himself, Rundstedt's defensive counterattack will definitely not be able to play. In fact, thinking about the overwhelming military power of the Allies, Rommel felt that the originally clear sky had become gloomy......

Arthur was flying over Calais with six P/A-38s, the first combat mission of the 21st Attack Wing. Under its belly, six 250-pound aerial bombs were hung, and under the wings were 10 rockets. This time he was tasked with patrolling along the railway and road lines from Paris to Calais, attacking any German targets they found.

"There's a train down there!" The shouts of wingman pilot Simon were heard in the headphones. Arthur looked down and saw a train coming from the same direction with black smoke spewing out.

"Get ready to attack!" Arthur gave the order. Several P/A-38s were immediately changed to a linear formation, with Arthur's fighters at the front, and the rest of the fighters following in turn, ready to attack.

As the train drew closer, Arthur stared at his target with wide eyes. ――The power part is in the front of the car? Damn, it's mostly buses. …… Take a look at ...... It's really a coach! Arthur cursed in his heart, and then issued a command in wireless power: "Give up the attack!" Climb, it's a bus! ”

It is very important to judge the target before attacking the train, France is an ally, and if the passenger train is hit by mistake and causes a large number of casualties among the French, the impact will be too bad.

Arthur pulled up the plane and prepared to leave. Just then, he saw what appeared to be another train coming farther away.

Arthur's fleet approached the train. It was a wagon, with a wagon in front of the powered locomotive, on which several 37mm anti-aircraft guns were placed to illustrate its nature. Arthur took the lead and rushed down, firing rockets at the train. Because Arthur kept dodging the attacks of the anti-aircraft guns when firing the rockets, although he shot out all ten rockets in one go, his rockets were very crooked, and none of them hit the target.

You can't say that Arthur's attacks are ineffective, though, as he attracts almost all of the anti-aircraft fire, giving his teammates the opportunity to shoot calmly. At least two of the rockets fired by his wingman Simon landed on the anti-aircraft vehicle, and the 37-mm anti-aircraft guns were immediately dumb. Then the other fighters swarmed up, and rockets and bombs rained down, and in a short time the train was blown into several sections and capsized on the side of the tracks.

"Well done!" Arthur said, "How many bombs do you have?" ”

"I'm done with it!"

"Mine is gone!"

"I still have two rockets!"

"I still have two bombs!"

"I don't have it anymore!"

Arthur had already dropped all the bombs, so he said, "Let's fly along the road for a while, find a place to drop the rest of the bombs, and go home!" ”

So the group began to turn to the road, and after flying for about ten minutes, Arthur suddenly found that below his twelve o'clock, a German convoy appeared, and there were several high-end cars in it!

"Thank God!" Arthur drew a cross on his chest and shouted, "Prepare to attack!" ”