The long-awaited morning fog did not last as long as expected. The Union guerrilla advance force launched a surprise attack on Slane at 5 a.m., and by 8 o'clock the fog that had covered the land had gradually lifted. In these more than three hours, the guerrilla advance team of the Federal Army attacked 17 field positions and 4 fixed positions of the enemy army with 2,000 combat strength and extremely high efficiency, including one of the three fixed positions uprooted by Weiss's troops. In terms of results, they once captured 13 field positions and 1 fixed position of the Norman army, destroyed more than 400 enemy artillery pieces, detonated more than 20 ammunition depots, and used enemy weapons to bombard many military targets in the city of Slane. Breaking into four other field positions and three fixed positions, although they were not completely occupied, they also destroyed a large number of enemy anti-aircraft weapons and defensive facilities - conservatively estimated, this series of raids and sabotage shattered the Norman army's air defense system at Slim, and weakened the anti-aircraft fire by at least 50%, so that the first stage of the raid mission has been basically completed.

The greatest advantage of the raid was its suddenness, as in the first 20 minutes of the battle, the guerrilla advance detachment captured 10 field positions, and in the following time, they had to exert tenfold effort to take a new position, and many detachments failed to capture a second target. Once the morning fog clears and the Normans' air power goes into battle, the situation will get worse. As a result, Weiss decisively instructed the communications personnel in the rear to send a report to the guerrilla warfare command, asking them to contact the flight unit to launch a large-scale air attack on Slien. Only in this way will the guerrilla advance force have the opportunity to further expand its gains.

The guerrilla advance detachment's communications personnel and radio equipment were located north of the city of Slien, several miles from the battlefield. In order to ensure the efficiency of communications, the fighters laid a field telephone line when they moved from the concealed area to the attack point, which remained intact throughout the battle, but the bad news came from the communication group: after the telegram was sent, the command was slow to respond, most likely because their communication frequency bands were not working properly - most likely due to radio interference by the enemy.

Receiving this report, Weiss couldn't help but look towards the smoke-filled Slane. Where can you find the enemy's radio jamming equipment and destroy it in this huge urban area? Maybe the enemy is also using mobile radio jamming equipment, in which case, it will be an impossible task to break the confinement at the source!

As always, federal intelligence officers are not directly involved in the fighting, but they do everything they can to provide support. From the very beginning of the battle, the Brooklyn Major intelligence officer had been on the front line, and Weiss wanted to ask for help from him, but the reply he received was that it would take half a day to pass the information through their intelligence network, even if it was completely disregarding the risk of being discovered by the enemy.

What can I do?

Just when Weiss was at a loss, things suddenly took a turn for the worse - before the morning fog completely dissipated, a federal fighter plane flew in the sky. Nowadays, the means of air navigation are still relatively primitive, and at night and in bad weather, it is very difficult for the flight unit to carry out combat operations, and this lone fighter plane obviously did not "happen to pass by" after carrying out an air raid mission, nor is it likely to go to other places to carry out reconnaissance missions to "deviate from the course"; it is most likely that the flight unit of the Federal Army specially sent a special trip to reconnoiter the battle situation of Slyen; after all, before the raid was launched, the guerrilla advance team sent a telegram to the guerrilla operations command, and the communication was not disturbed at that time.

The payload of a fighter carrying out reconnaissance missions can be used to carry a radio station, but the agreed communication frequency is interfered with by the enemy, and it is difficult to achieve radio communication between the ground and the air. Fortunately, smart people always keep a hand for themselves - before coming to Lorraine, Weiss agreed with General Punk on an emergency contact plan: whenever the Union pilots see an L-shaped red fireworks signal in the Lorraine area, they must land as far as possible.

Of course, this is just an agreement between Weiss and General Punk, and whether the flying troops accept it or not requires General Punk to coordinate and communicate. Maybe the pilot didn't know anything about the federal fighter plane flying nearby at this time, or maybe the morning fog hadn't cleared yet, and he couldn't see the light and flame signal on the ground from his vantage point.

In any case, such a "heaven-send" opportunity would rather be missed, Weiss asked the communications staff to use red pyrotechnic signal sticks to pose a big L in an open position, and the signal sticks they brought here were enough to use twice!

In addition to placing fireworks sticks on the ground, Weiss also had them shoot a red flare into the sky every minute to attract the attention of their pilots. After that, he kept looking up to the sky, eagerly observing the trajectory of the plane - the "human radar" could not penetrate the pilot's mind, but could judge the altitude and course of the plane with great accuracy. It began to lower its altitude, and deliberately avoided the thick black smoke over the city of Slane.

Weiss looked back, and on the hill in the distance, the communications staff had already lit the red signal stick, and couldn't help but pray in his heart: God bless the warriors!

The Union fighter continued to lower altitude, and a faint roar could already be heard in its ears, and in a few moments, it emerged from the fainter morning fog, skimmed over the hill where the communication group had lit the signal baton, then climbed, circled, adjusted, and flew low again.

It is clear that the pilot is observing and judging the possibility of landing here.

There is a relatively open field there, and as long as the flying skills are good, it should not be a big problem to take off and land in the wild.

White wings, red fuselage! Observing the livery of this federal fighter with the naked eye, Weiss was taken aback: it was the livery of Nikolai's landline! This guy is not under special protection from the federal military, how can she be allowed to return to the battlefield again? And also to carry out such reconnaissance missions? It can't be!

After a while, the fighter plane "disappeared" behind the hill, and Weiss hurriedly grabbed the field communication phone and eagerly asked the communications personnel who stayed behind in the rear: "Our plane has landed?" ”

The other side of the phone responded: "Yes, sir, it landed safely, and we sent someone to answer it." ”

"See the pilot? Male or female? Weiss asked.

For this question, the communication staff seemed to be a little caught off guard, and he hesitated for a moment: "I can't see it clearly now, I think, it should be a man!" ”

Weiss breathed a sigh of relief, but there was a strange sense of loss in his heart. A few minutes later, an unfamiliar male voice came from the other end of the phone: "Hello, Chief Clumber Haysen, I am Sergeant Amor of the 116th Flying Squadron of the Federal Army, I have seen your emergency contact signal in the air, may I need my help?" ”

This was said lightly, but Weiss knew very well that he was taking a lot of risks when landing in such conditions.

"Sergeant Amore, thank you so much!" Weiss said sincerely, "The battle situation is urgent, I need you to contact the rear as quickly as possible, and ask them to tell General Punk of the guerrilla command or Colonel Jules of the Flying Corps Staff that Plan A has been successful, and this will be an excellent opportunity to destroy the enemy's Slane base!" ”

After saying that, Weiss hesitated again and added, "There is nothing else." ”

"Okay, sir, if you wish, I will bring the information!" "Also, Mr. Clumber-Haisen, I was asked to bring you a message: Please take care of yourself in Lorraine. When the war is over, we have a wonderful banquet at the Château de Clumber-Haissen! ”

Hearing this, the corners of Weiss's eyes were actually a little moist.

About two minutes later, the red-fuselage fighter plane flew back into the sky. Through the light mist, the Normans also spotted the Union warplane, and the shells began to explode in the air. I saw the red battle falcon quickly climb up, far away from the city of Slien, which was spewing flames everywhere like a mad beast, and flew east without looking back.

Weiss's attention soon returned from the far distance. An officer under his command hurriedly reported: "The 9th detachment has been withdrawn, except for the 7th detachment, all the other detachments have been withdrawn." It seems that the 7th detachment is in a bit of trouble there, do you want the 14th detachment to go up and answer it? ”

According to the battle plan, after the guerrilla advance team achieves the first phase of the combat objective, it will withdraw from the enemy's position, disperse and hide in the mountains and forests around Slane, and wait until its own flying units carry out a large-scale air attack on Slane, as long as the enemy's aviation facilities are terminated, and the enemy's flying ships are damaged or forced to withdraw, then the next battle will return from the three-dimensional mode of Norman control of the initiative to the ideal plane guerrilla warfare mode -- if the flight units of the federal army are more powerful, this guerrilla war can be more comfortable.

Correspondingly, if the Union Flying Forces were not dispatched in time, or if the air raids did not achieve the desired effect, the guerrilla advance team would have to face the dilemma that the Lorraine guerrillas had not been able to overcome: to respond to the Norman three-dimensional attacks in the air and on the ground with ground combatants.

The situation on the battlefield was changing rapidly, and there was no time for Weiss to hesitate and sigh too much, so he decisively ordered: "The other detachments retreat as planned, and I will take the 14th detachment over to respond." ”

Seeing that Weiss was carrying the pineapple bullet and taking the spare magazine that the orderly had helped to fill, the youngest captain in the team stood in front of him and took the initiative to ask: "Sir, let me go!" You are the backbone of this team, and there must be no surprises at this time. ”

The sound of "take care" seemed to reach Weiss's ears through the air, and he stretched out his hand and patted the other party's shoulder with satisfaction: "Captain, the troops are under your command, and you are very clear about the plan, but you also have to act on the camera...... Don't worry, I'll be fine. ”

The young captain did not argue, but looked at Weiss with respectful eyes, said "take care", and turned sideways to give way.

Weiss took a deep breath and walked forward. Not far ahead, more than a hundred soldiers of the 14th detachment stood up one after another at the command of another officer. As a mobile unit, they held positions for the vanguard, fought the Norman army, killed some enemies, and suffered some casualties, but in general, they suffered the least losses of all the detachments. In order to increase its firepower, this detachment also temporarily replenished two mortar groups and a few light machine guns from two detachments that had suffered relatively large losses and basically lost their combat effectiveness, and their strength on paper was comparable to that of ordinary infantry companies of the field troops of the Union Army, and what they were to face was the Norman army, which was divided into battalions and regiments, and the huge gap in strength could not be made up by skill and will.