Chapter 113: The Longest Night (5)

A hundred kilometres from London, St Margaret's Bay is now brightly lit and this famous seaside town was once an ordinary fishing village that eventually developed into a popular coastal holiday destination due to its unique geography.

Because the famous White Cliffs of Dover suddenly appeared a gap here, and a 1,400-foot beach was formed in the middle, and at the end of the beach the high cliff rose again, and the terrain did not begin to calm down until Kingston.

This beach is the only beach on the coast of more than 20 kilometres from Folkestone to Kingston, so it's a unique swimming destination in the Dover region, attracting a large number of people to cool off every year. Local villagers have built a large number of independent huts along the beach, and many trestle bridges have been built on the beach that extend into the sea, providing a docking place for local fishing boats and making it convenient for tourists to fish in the bay.

Erhard. Air Force Captain Archibald pressed the radio headset with one hand and scribbled down the call on a piece of paper with the other.

"Let the soldiers continue to strengthen their positions, there are more enemies in the trap than we expected, tonight will be a hard battle, the general wants us to pay close attention to the identification signal of friend and foe, there are many fighter squadrons that will participate in the hunt tonight, all gun position commanders must firmly remember that once the ceasefire signal is heard, even if the enemy plane stops on his muzzle, he is not allowed to fire, I don't want the tragedy like last time Lance, this time there is no one to intercede for us." This is the portable radio frequency that our company has been allotted, and will be handed over to the signal corps of the various artillery groups later. The captain handed the note sheet to the battalion sergeant major.

"Everyone has already accepted the lesson, after all, it is an indelible stain on the honor of the anti-aircraft artillery battalion, and everyone is now holding back their strength and wanting to wash away the shame with actions. Besides, we have von this time. Major Frydenberg's troop support will not repeat the mistakes of last time, sir. Master Chief took the paper and put it in the map bag on his waist.

Archibald took off the headset and handed it back to the radio communications officer. He then took a few steps and stood on one of the ammunition boxes on the pier. The commander of the anti-aircraft artillery battalion turned around and faced the commanders of the various companies and platoons and the artillery commanders gathered around him, and said impassionedly: "Just now, I had a phone call with General Bock, and General Bock trusts everyone very much, and he is very much looking forward to our performance in this battle.

General Bock solemnly reminded me that the results of tonight's battle will have a direct impact on the High Command's plans for the follow-up operations, and I am here, and everyone in the battalion must bear this in mind. We stand here with the expectations of the entire landing army on our shoulders. The soldiers are watching us, the generals are watching us, the high command is watching us, the Führer is watching us, the German people are watching us.

We must fight to the end, and we must not fail to live up to their expectations, even if we die honorably in this battle. You are all veterans, and many of you have served in the battalion since the time the unit was formed. I believe in your abilities, and I believe in your courage and perseverance. We used to fight together in Poland, together in Belgium, together in France. We've won time and time again. Now that we are fighting in England, I believe that the final victory will still belong to our glorious German army.

In closing, I expect all officers and men of our battalion to do their best. Do your best work, you have the specific task assignment in hand, if you have any questions, please ask them now. Archibald bowed his head. Putting on his steel helmet again, he looked around at his stern and silent subordinates, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Didn't you? Very well, now the battalion is in combat readiness at the first level, and officers of all ranks immediately return to their posts, gentlemen, all for the Motherland. The captain straightened his chest and saluted his men.

"For the Motherland! Hi Reinhardt! "Officers and non-commissioned officers stood solemnly and saluted and chanted slogans to greet their Führer.

Captain Archibald's anti-aircraft battalion was the only air force heavy anti-aircraft artillery battalion to land in the United Kingdom, and this specially reinforced anti-aircraft battalion had 24 brand-new 88mm anti-aircraft guns, and it took a lot of effort for logistical engineers to get these towed anti-aircraft guns ashore.

At the same time, an anti-aircraft radar battalion assigned to the air defense units of the landing zone was also disembarked, equipped with four Würzburg anti-aircraft fire control radars, the latest models of which had already shown their excellent performance in the anti-aircraft battle in Calais. The two radars cooperate with each other to obtain extremely accurate flight target parameters with a positive and negative error of less than three meters, which is simply negligible for the killing range of heavy artillery such as the 88-mm anti-aircraft gun.

Each radar can simultaneously direct two anti-aircraft artillery batteries to conduct joint fire, and the latest identification antenna is also installed. The new device will send an interrogation signal to the flying target that enters the radar exploration range, and the radio transponder installed on the German aircraft will automatically reply with an identification signal and mark it on the radar display, so that the ground can easily identify the enemy and the enemy, and the tragedy of cannibalism will not occur again.

This technology was first invented and adopted by the British Air Force to locate certain aircraft and distinguish them from the reflected waves of other aircraft, and was eventually used in all military aircraft.

Now, under the leadership of His Excellency the Führer, the Luftwaffe soon acquired this equipment, which was well received by the whole army.

In order to protect the Dill landing zone, the High Command again carried out intelligence fraud against the British. The Germans relied on the British command post and captured codes to transmit false information about the landing site to London. The aim was to induce the British to attack at the wrong location and delay the exposure of the actual landing site.

The goal of the German High Command was clear, that is, it was necessary to ensure that the landing zone could survive the first night safely, because after dawn, the Luftwaffe would fully take over air supremacy within a radius of 100 kilometers from the landing zone, and the absolute air defense circle of the German fighter force would be advanced to the border of the suburbs ten kilometers from central London, and then the landing zone would be truly safe.

The Luftwaffe's construction engineers have completed the laying of the runway for the first field airfield, two 600-meter-long steel runways that can take off and land six fighters at the same time, ammunition and fuel supply equipment have all been placed, and air force maintenance and logistics personnel have all been put on standby.

The German naval engineering corps had already laid four communication cables and two fuel pipes at the bottom of the channel, and was pouring gasoline and diesel from the Belgian pumping station to the temporary fuel reserve station at the landing site.

The German army sappers also carried hundreds of rubber oil storage bags with a storage capacity of five tons, which is a canvas oil bladder coated with rubber on the inside, and the sappers used excavation machinery to dig a deep pit on the ground equal to the area of this oil bladder of four meters by two meters, put the oil bladder into the pit, began to fill the fuel, and then filled the soil into the pit after it was filled, and buried the oil bladder into the ground, so that a safe and reliable temporary oil storage depot was completed, the whole process only took half an hour, as long as it was properly organized, It is possible to carry out the filling construction of dozens of oil tanks at the same time.

When the fuel needs to be pumped, only need to open the fuel valve, and the pressure covering the soil will automatically press the fuel out of the oil bladder, and when the fuel is all emptied, the logistics unit can choose to recycle or directly fill the waste according to the current situation, of course, you can also choose to re-dig the overburden and refill the fuel for reuse. However, according to the opinion of the High Command, this kind of oil storage is only a temporary emergency equipment, and it is not recommended to use it as a regular facility.

At the same time, the Germans also carried hundreds of 200-liter rubber oil bladders pre-made into drums, with axles and trailing arms in the middle, which looked like the rollers of a small road roller, covered with two layers of rubber wheels, engraved with anti-skid lines, which could be hung on the back of motor vehicles to tow forward.

The Farben Chemical-branded oil storage device is the same as the previous soft oil bladder of the same brand, which can be refueled using a portable fuel pump driven by the engine of a BMW R75 motorcycle. This newly configured refueling pump, which was also the invention of His Excellency the Führer, was distributed to the logistics platoon of each mobile company with a total weight of less than 40 kilograms, and could deliver fuel to eight different units at the same time, provided that it was matched with the corresponding pipes and valves.

The inventors of these equipment, which originally appeared at the end of World War II, were Americans with deep pockets, but His Excellency the Führer directly took out their designs ten years later, and even added similar records that he kept in his memories before the time travel, to create such a field fuel storage set that would not be outdated during the Vietnam War.

In addition to these, the German Führer also equipped the logistics unit with a set of portable pneumatic tools, also powered by a motorcycle, the engine drove the air pump to press air into the air storage tank, and the high-pressure air drove the tool equipped with the air motor through the conduit to work.

The basic equipment available is simple repair equipment, such as an air wrench and a pneumatic driver, that a trained soldier can rely on to do work that previously had to be done by several people.

He can unload all the tires of a truck in three minutes and replace them with new ones in the same amount of time, which used to take half an hour or more.

Logistics repair units are completely in love with this, especially tank armored units, many commanders said that each tank can be equipped with a set, which will greatly speed up their repair work in the field between battles, and can even directly carry out emergency repairs in battle, such as replacing the tank's skirt armor and replacing tracks. In the past, I could only look at a bunch of nuts in a daze, but now with a few efforts, I can solve the problem cleanly. Especially to replace the load wheel and suspension system, I really didn't know when to screw it with that board in the past, but now I can do it in a few minutes as soon as I open the valve.

The German Army and Air Force have become numb to the Führer's whimsical routines, and can only cross on their chests to praise God, secretly glaring that this guy is on his side. (To be continued......)