As the sun sets, a biplane belonging to the Federal Army Reserve flies slowly over the mountains and forests northeast of Lorraine. When it was about to land at the airfield in the middle of the woods, Weiss, who was sitting in the passenger seat, saw a large flock of "black crows" in the sky, and when he looked at it, he found that it was a bomber formation of the Federal Air Force, numbering more than 200 of them, and basically long-range bombers and heavy attack planes. If you look closely, you will be shocked by their overwhelming momentum.

As magistrate and commander-in-chief of the reserves, Weiss had no right to intervene in the army's combat operations unless the military needed his cooperation. In fact, given the current situation, combined with the strategic deployment of the Federal Air Force, it is not difficult to speculate that these bombers flew to the west to cross the Monamolin Mountains and attack military targets in the Norman Empire. The reason for this is that night flights can avoid enemy interception to the greatest extent, and the accuracy of night bombing is compensated for by large-scale and indiscriminate attacks.

In peacetime, the 17th Defense Division was the main force stationed in Lorraine. Nominally, General Fries is still the supreme military commander of Lorraine, but a few days ago, he had led most of the 17th Defense Division out of Lorraine to the front, and now, his deputy, Colonel Parison, temporarily took over the military command of Lorraine, and the total number of officers and men who stayed with the colonel was less than 300, but this did not mean that Lorraine's defense was empty. According to the reformed federal military mobilization system, after the mobilization order is issued, the local reserve units are assembled in battalion and regimental units, assigned officers, distributed, trained, and rushed to the station. Normally, the first reserve units are assembled within a week, followed by the second and third groups. According to the normal configuration, when the main forces of the 17th Defense Division left Lorraine, at least twice as many of their reserves came to take over the defense.

In the huge Lorraine, it is far from enough to rely on a single national defense division to undertake the heavy task of defense, and in peacetime, a number of ground air defense units at the battalion and regimental level, fortress units, and division-sized air force units are deployed. After the reserve force was assembled, part of the force was transferred to the corresponding ground defense force, so that Lorraine's defense system could be strengthened in the shortest possible time.

When he arrived at the headquarters of the Seventh Defense Division, Weiss saw Nikolai at a glance, a heroine who had left the army to join the Star Group, and was wearing a Federal Air Force flight suit with the logo of a reserve officer on the neck.

"Why are you here?" Weiss stepped forward and said, "I thought you would stay in the east, where you are needed more. ”

In the second half of the sentence, he deliberately said vaguely, the east has both the main production base of the Star Group and her hometown, where the old president and other family members still live. In the old president's wishes, he did not want her to return to the battlefield at the risk of dying in battle at any time.

Nikolai smiled slightly: "My current identity is neither a fighter pilot nor a bomber pilot, I am just a flight instructor and combat staff officer specially appointed by the military, serving as an auxiliary mission to guide the young lads in combat against the enemy." ”

"Listen to that, you won't fly a fighter jet into battle when we're not looking." Weiss said the opposite.

"Normally, this would not be a problem." Nikolai said quietly, "But as you know, many situations in wartime have exceeded our expectations, and we must judge the situation and respond flexibly. At the time of the war, it is the duty and responsibility of every citizen to defend the homeland and the country, especially those of us who are capable and experienced former professional soldiers. When it's really time to have no choice, everyone has to fight with the enemy! ”

"Okay...... Just now I saw that they had already set off. Weiss changed the subject and said, "I hope everything goes well." ”

"Yes, everything will go well." Nikolai Road. She turned to Colonel Harrison and said, "If nothing else, a new bomber wing will be moved over tomorrow, and then we will be much stronger, and at the same time it will mean that the burden of logistics will be much higher, and I hope you can continue to support us." ”

"It is our duty to cooperate with the Air Force, and we should do our best." Colonel Palison replied, and then, half-jokingly, he said, "Here, your role is not only an adviser or a staff officer, but also a good liaison officer and dispatcher. ”

"I'm sorry for causing you a lot of trouble when I arrived." Nikolai said politely.

Colonel Perison shrugged: "It's not a problem, I'm worried that the Normans will soon find out that our long-range bombers are taking off from here to attack their homeland, which means that they will soon launch a crazy retaliation, we do have to be prepared in advance, but I'm worried that our preparation is not enough in the face of their attack, how to deal with it when the time comes?" ”

With that said, Colonel Parison set his sights on Weiss, the former guerrilla hero of Lorraine, and now the administrator of Lorraine.

"From the point of view of war strategy, there are two options, one is to stubbornly resist and block the enemy and prevent them from destroying our aviation bases, and the other is to wait for the enemy to come to the door and use this as a bait to hit them hard, I think with the planning ability of the General Staff of the Federal Army now, I should choose the latter!" Weiss turned his attention to Nikolai again.

Nikolai snorted: "If you are a spy of the Normans, then it will be troublesome, because once the enemy understands our combat intentions, it will not be difficult to find a way to deal with it, and then our layout will be in vain." ”

This is a positive affirmation, Weiss said: "Here, everyone is reliable, and it is difficult to talk about going out, so let's stop at the topic just now!" ”

The three of them sat together drinking tea, talking about defense cooperation, having dinner, and waiting for news in the room next to the communications room, which was more than 4,000 miles in a straight line from the aviation base in northern Lorraine to the industrial area in the eastern part of the Norman Empire. Without the mature artificial star source stone technology, the Federation Army would not have been able to develop such a long-range bomber with such a large range and high bomb load in this era. At its source, this was due to the technological inventions of the Normans.

Like the surprise operations of the flying fleet and ground forces, the bomber unit also put secrecy in the first place in this expedition, delaying as much as possible the time for the enemy to discover that the bomber group is approaching the airspace, so as to reduce the enemy's reaction time. For several hours after the start of the operation, there was no news from the troops engaged in the bombing, and the radio silence was broken as midnight approached. According to the calculation of time, the bomber units put into operation at this time were already close to the target area of the bombing, that is, they had entered the eastern industrial area of the Norman Empire. The information revealed from the radio communication showed that this bomber force was being frantically blocked by the enemy, and the enemy's fighter planes, enemy ground anti-aircraft fire, and flying ships were engaged in the battle, and they tried their best to prevent the federal bomber force from advancing into depth, but the Federal Army persistently practiced and improved their air tactics in peacetime, and the flight altitude of these bombers was at the edge of the range of large-caliber anti-aircraft guns on the ground, and their strong self-defense firepower made it difficult for the enemy's conventional fighters to take advantage. As for the enemy's flying ships, heavy attack aircraft, mixed with long-range bombers, are more than capable of countering light flying ships, and when the enemy sorts medium and large flying ships, they are able to use their flexible and dispersed tactical maneuvering capabilities to evade them, leaving the opponent helpless.

At the end of the last war, in the eyes of the outside world, the Norman army was like the end of a strong crossbow, both the morale of the troops and the equipment support were unsatisfactory, coupled with the domestic political turmoil, it felt that it could collapse at any time, but from the analysis of intelligence information collected after the war, the Norman army at that time

More and more bombers were injured and crashed, and people in the rear could not intuitively judge the situation of the battle. Through the telegram sent back by the bomber in front, the fear and contempt for death were revealed between the lines, which was an extremely complex emotion.

After several hours, the bomber unit finally embarked on the return journey home, and began to count the number of surviving bombers. Because the battle disrupted the flight formation, it was difficult for them to count accurate data during the flight, but the rough situation was enough to make people gasp: Of the more than 280 heavy bombers and attack planes dispatched this time, only about 100 were in the returning formation, and it is unknown how many bombers who broke away from the formation will return safely, and the casualty rate is expected to be more than half. Judging from the manning of 16 to 18 rounds per heavy bomber, in just one night, the elite flight unit lost thousands of pilots, whether they were killed in action or parachuted, it was an irreparable loss for the Federal Air Force in wartime.

In this round of bombing, the Federation aircraft group carried tens of thousands of high-explosive bombs and incendiary bombs, even if only half fell on the target, it was enough to severely damage the modern huge industrial area, and even reduce most of its factories to ruins, and after the bombing operation, it was learned from the surviving pilots that the aircraft group was repeatedly blocked by the enemy from the approach to the Norman airspace, despite this, most of the bombers still stubbornly flew over the target and used their bombs to fight back against the Normans who had painstakingly created a deception. Judging from the pilots' recollections and descriptions, the results of the bombing have basically been achieved, and the tactical and strategic value is immeasurable, regardless of the heavy losses.

As feared, it was not difficult for the Normans to follow the trajectory of these bombers to determine where their base was, and within a day the Norman warships appeared in the Monamolin Mountains. Despite the deployment of alert defense units by the Federal Air Force, several high-altitude and high-speed Norman aircraft successfully reached the Lorraine region and conducted tactical reconnaissance.

Lessons learned from the last war, the effectiveness of command and staff in the federal army has been significantly improved under the influence of military reform. This time, the military top brass was quick to assess the effectiveness of the bomber force's raids and realized the enormous significance of Lorraine as an aviation outpost. As Nikolai explained, a steady stream of fighter and attack aircraft units of the Union Air Force arrived in Lorraine.

Tactically, the Normans were known for their cunning and changeability, and after the bombing of their home targets, they quickly identified the area where the Federated Air Force bombers would assemble and depart, but they did not run headlong into the trap of the Union army. For many days to come. The Normans continued to conduct aerial reconnaissance of targets in the western part of the Union, especially in Lorraine, and used the night and rain to carry out several small raids as a test of fire. Soon after, the Federal Air Force organized a second night raid on the Norman Empire, and like the previous one, the bomber force suffered heavy losses, but it was strategically almost successful, blowing up another industrial area in the eastern part of the Norman Empire. Immediately afterwards, a mixed force of ships and fighters departing from the air base of the Union State of Nachâtar launched a night attack on important military facilities of the Norman Empire, which also achieved considerable results.

The successive night air raids were able to weaken the war potential of the Norman Empire at the source, which was what the Norman Empire feared the most. Two days later, the Normans finally launched a retaliatory attack on the Union air facilities in the west, and nearly a thousand combat planes poured into the federal states of Neuchâtar and Lorraine like locusts, and dozens of flying ships flanked the federal air force combat units deployed in the two areas to fight back with all their might. In such an extremely fierce air battle, how could a first-class ace pilot like Nikolai stand idly by, and after the first round of confrontation, she took advantage of the chaos and flew a new fighter into the air to meet the enemy.

Although she has been away from the Union Army's fighter unit for several years, the former ace is not unskilled, but continues her brilliant career in aerial combat with the accumulation and improvement gained from training and thinking on weekdays, and on this day alone, she shot down four Norman fighters and finally returned to the airport in style

In the face of the fait accompli, neither Weiss nor the commanders of the garrison could say anything more, and this result was reported by the Federal Air Force to the military leadership, and regardless of whether the old President Lebold had a strong opposition, the Union Air Force quickly invited the flying ace back to the combat unit, restored her rank in the army, and then, according to her experience, assigned her to be a wartime air colonel to assist General Blair in the air force operations in the Lorraine area.