Early in the morning, Weiss climbed to the top of the mountain and stopped to watch. I saw a large group of black dots faintly visible in the southeast, in the distant sky. It wasn't a migrating bird, or a whistling eagle, but dozens of flying warships made of steel! With the advancement of technology, welding technology is increasingly used for this behemoth. Compared with the earlier riveted structure, the cutting-edge ships are less rough and hideous in the industrial era and more concise and elegant in the technological era.

These Norman ships were far inferior in combat value to the capital ships of those years, and were inferior to armored ships and large cruisers. However, the optimization of the structure and the improvement of technology have made them more suitable for mass construction. In the last war, there was no type of flying ship on the scale of today, and even low-tonnage, low-cost corvettes were not as good as they were built on a scale.

Ze followed him up the hill and stood next to Weiss. At this time, looking from behind them, the brothers' backs and standing postures have a natural tacit understanding, even if they haven't been together for many years.

"The Normans are desperate, and it has something to do with the fact that we stepped on their tails yesterday." Weiss said modestly.

Ze Jiujiu stared at the sky and said, "These are flying ships!" They really came out of the nest and wanted to do their job. ”

"Accomplishing this should be our strategic intention. Even if they win this battle, it will be difficult for them to turn the tide of the war. Because their war potential has already been weakened by us, and we are just getting on the right track. ”

"That's what you think." Ze said without pain or seriousness, "Actually, the war potential of the Norman Empire is far greater than you think. It's just that out of a kind of Norman arrogance, they disdain to mobilize all their forces and put them all into the wartime track. You can also understand that the nobles and officials of the upper class, even in times of war, needed a life of luxury to maintain their style. This kind of luxurious life relies on all walks of life. If the whole country were to go on a wartime track, many expensive consumer goods would gradually disappear from the shop windows, and for them, this would be the greatest panic. ”

Weiss was slightly surprised, feeling that this situation was familiar, and couldn't help but ask curiously: "In your understanding, how highly mobilized was the Norman Empire in the war?" Fifty or sixty percent is still ......"

Ze thought for a while: "In my understanding, in the last war, the military mobilization of the Norman Empire never exceeded seventy percent, well, it should not reach this level. As for this war, it may be that because two young royals are in power, the military mobilization has always been around 50 percent. They want to win the war, but they lack the courage to break the rules; They not only want to change the power structure, but also rely on the support of major families and wealthy families, so they have fallen into a strange circle. Imagine if the Norman Empire's military mobilization could reach 80 percent or even close to 100 percent like the Confederation, how much more pressure would the Confederate army face on the battlefield? Uh, maybe double! ”

The first time he discussed this issue with someone who understood things, Weston felt a lot of emotion. He set his sights to the west, which was in the direction of the Monamolin Mountains and the direction of the Norman Empire.

Ze's gaze also moved from the southeast to the west: "Starting from the suddenness of the battle, they either rushed here from the rear or hid in the area of combat preparation. ”

Weston: Yes! Patronizing to see that magnificent scene, how did you forget this stubble? The enemy is menacing, obviously trying to achieve victory through a wave of fluid attacks, but their battle cannot be a one-time battle, and these flying ships will definitely have to return to the assembly area, and most likely to return to the assembly area from which they departed. If they can locate their position and provide the coordinates to the Union army in time, so that they can divide part of their combat forces to attack the enemy's assembly area, if not cut off the enemy's supplies, it can also compress the tactical space of the Normans in this battle.

So, he hurriedly pulled Shangze: "Let's go, we should also make some contributions to this battle...... In our way! ”

Ze understood and followed him all the way to the woods where the two high-speed reconnaissance planes were hidden.

Last night, they made their first flight, found a hidden assembly point for enemy flying ships, and then circled around and returned at dawn. The long flight took a lot of energy, but the long reconnaissance also ruled out many potential staging points.

Running all the way to the concealment area, Weiss shouted to the guerrillas on duty: "Quick, call people, we will send planes to reversely probe the enemy's base location." ”

The sentries hurried to inform their companions, including the pilots and radiomen. Weiss and Ze took matters into their own hands to remove the camouflage cloth and branches that covered the two reconnaissance planes.

Guerrilla warfare, whether it is the dispatch or withdrawal of technical equipment, is a quick word. Sometimes a few seconds can make the difference between success and failure, life and death. Within 10 minutes, the two reconnaissance planes were back in the blue sky.

Under the bright sunshine, Weiss and Ze still flew on the same reconnaissance plane, without taking the inheritance of the family and the continuation of the bloodline to heart, and calmly and fearlessly embarked on a new voyage. They instructed the pilots to follow the flight trajectory of the previous enemy flying ships and reconnoiter in reverse, intending to locate the enemy's concealed assembly points.

The enemy's flying ships had already left, and the faint traces in the sky were quickly gone, but following the general direction, combined with the topography, it was not difficult to see the clues.

After a while, the pilot reminded that the enemy's trajectory was detected on the ground ahead. Weiss immediately used his special skills, and Ze combined the map to calculate the location, and they soon discovered that the Norman flying ships had set off from the hidden assembly point they had discovered last night.

After reporting the situation to their superiors, they decided to continue searching the air for traces of the enemy. After flying south for almost an hour, he finally spotted the enemy flying ship in the sky. They clearly belonged to two battle groups and were pointing at two different targets.

Reverse speculation is a good thing to think logically, Weiss and the others followed the enemy's trajectory as they flew and searched, and after more than an hour of searching, they finally found traces of enemy activity in another valley. Due to the fact that it had taken a little longer, the Normans had almost swept away the traces of the covert assembly of flying ships, but this was not a problem for Weiss at all. In his special vision, the enemy had deployed no less than 30 anti-aircraft positions and a large number of anti-aircraft weapons in this valley, and thousands of soldiers were stationed there.

Geographically, it is about 400 miles from the eastern border of Lorraine, and the presence of ground troops here is obviously not conducive to combat movements. Combining observation and speculation, Weiss quickly made a judgment and asked the radioman to send the new coordinates to the Union troops.

Finding two enemy hiding spots in one flight may seem like a bit of a rebellious gain, but Weiss and the others are still looking forward to discovering more. The pilot said that this new reconnaissance plane, which costs a lot of money, not only has a great speed, but also has a very good endurance, and it is theoretically no problem to go around Lorraine two or three times. In the following time, they conducted another high-altitude reconnaissance in the south of Lorraine, but there were so many suspicious targets that it was too difficult to identify them one by one. With the battle already underway, it was easy to run into enemy flying ships and combat aircraft in broad daylight over Lorraine - most of the time, the Norman aviation ignored the flies and mosquitoes in their line of sight in order to strictly enforce the battle plan, but there were also warplanes and warships responsible for the vigilance and defense of the airfield keeping an eye on their reconnaissance planes.

Flying from north to south and back to north from the south, Weiss witnessed a heavy Federial air raid as they flew near the second previously discovered concealed assembly point for enemy flying ships.

This speed, this efficiency, I really don't have to say anything!

From the air, the Federation Army deployed two or three hundred combat planes to attack the enemy's ground targets like a swarm. Bombs rained down, and the valley was filled with smoke and fire. It is clear that the enemy has stockpiled a lot of fuel and ammunition here, which are now the decorations of the Union Army's battle rolls.

Looking around, dozens of Norman warplanes tried to stop the Federation Army from continuing to wreak havoc, but it didn't seem to be working. Higher in the sky, Weiss faintly saw a small flying formation. I think it was a special battle formation formed by the flying ships of the Federation Army, which was not only a group of its own combat aircraft to respond to air attacks on enemy assembly points at any time, but also intended to ambush Norman flying ships returning from the front line.

From a tactical point of view, this is a clever strategy.

Weiss saw something out of sight, but the pilot didn't. He avoided the airspace where the fighters of the two sides had exchanged fierce battles and continued to fly back. Gradually, they got closer to the Federation ships. Suddenly, two silver-gray fighters swooped down from a high altitude. Seeing this, the pilot quickly pulled up the nose of the plane and climbed up, but Weiss recognized it from a distance, so he told the pilot through the communicator, and asked him if he could contact friendly troops by radio.

"There was no arrangement in advance, we didn't know their communication frequencies, they didn't know our communication frequencies either, we belonged to different units. It will take a while to get in touch with the command, and it will definitely be too late. However, don't worry too much, if they are really our planes, as long as we keep our course and don't act rashly, they won't do anything to us. ”

As soon as the pilot's voice fell, Weiss's eyes jumped, and he felt a point of light sweeping nearby. The sound of bullets flying through the air followed, and a chill could not help but rise behind them.

Fortunately, the bullets were flying from a relatively distant distance and seemed to be just a warning. As the pilot said, as long as he kept course and didn't make any unusual moves, one of the two silver-gray fighters approached. The markings on each other's wings and fuselage allowed them to identify their allies, and then the fighter flapped its wings in the air, as if to give some kind of signal.

The pilot of the reconnaissance plane immediately said through the communicator: "They mean to let us leave this airspace, this is their warning circle." ”

"Listen to them." Weiss commanded, "They're squatting here!" ”

The pilot hurriedly piloted the reconnaissance plane to fly to medium and low altitudes. The two silver-gray fighters also raised their noses and left after cruising around.

Weiss squinted from afar, the small Federation fleet that was hiding and waiting at high altitude had 11 ships, and the combat data of 3 of them looked like flying carriers, most likely belonging to medium-sized air carriers, and they were very fast, each of which could carry 40 to 60 light attack aircraft. The combat effectiveness of such a flying formation can be roughly compared with that of the original capital ship detachment, and the firepower output of 3 air carriers is not inferior to that of 3 battleships. When used correctly, they can be more powerful than battleships.

As soon as the reconnaissance plane landed on the ground, Weiss hurriedly beckoned the partisans to drag it into the woods and re-cover it with camouflage nets and foliage. On this magnificent battlefield, a mere reconnaissance plane is a small existence. All it takes is a shell, a bomb, or even a shuttle of bullets to scrap it. However, for the guerrillas fighting in Lorraine, the reconnaissance plane with superior performance is a precious strategic equipment. Under special conditions, the role played far exceeds its own performance and value.

After this, Weiss and the partisans retreated into the woods to watch the thrilling battle from a pre-prepared hideaway. They listened to outside information by radio, could get some information from the Union army's communication channels, and sometimes received some Norman code—the guerrillas had a communication code book captured from the enemy camp a few months ago, but it was not much different from scrap paper.

The outbreak of the Battle of Lorraine was a head-to-head duel between the regular troops of both sides, a gladiatorial arena of consciousness and strategy, and courage. Before the start of the battle, the Lorraine guerrillas played a very important role, and the information they detected was likely to be an important opportunity to influence the course of the battle, and as the prologue of the battle slowly began, their influence on the battle situation quickly degraded to a very weak degree.

After a period of watching and waiting, the partisans were busy again. In the sky, the fighters of the two sides came and went, and clashed fiercely. Those sturdy war eagles sometimes fight in the sky, sometimes hovering in the low, sometimes in the distant sky, sometimes in the mountains and forests. When the fighter plane of the Union Army was shot down and the pilot parachuted, the Lorraine guerrillas and the people everywhere were obliged to play the role of ambulances, and these secret stations of the Lorraine guerrillas were very ideal shelters and transit stations for the time being.

Looking up at the sky, it is difficult to tell exactly whether it is a pilot or an enemy pilot from the color and pattern of the parachute, and sometimes several parachutes will be dropped in the same area, and Weiss can make a surprising judgment every time. He repeatedly reminded the partisans that in which direction the enemy pilot fell, and which direction was his own pilot.

In modern warfare, the battlefield space is 100 times greater than before, the scope of the naked eye is limited, and the role played by Weiss is also limited. As the fighting continued, the Union Army issued new directives requiring the guerrillas to carry out three tasks during the campaign: one was to rescue the pilots, the second was to raid the enemy's aviation assembly areas, and the third was to destroy the enemy's transportation facilities.

Comparatively, the second task will be the most difficult, requiring the investment of elite combat forces. As for the third order, after the Norman occupation, the bombing of the Union Army, and the repeated destruction of the partisans, there were not many transportation facilities in Lorraine, especially in the area outside Mason, that could function smoothly.