The capital of Serbia, Belgrade.

A platoon of tanks painted with white iron crosses rumbled into the streets, and the eyes of the swaggering coalition soldiers, the defeated Serbian soldiers, and the heavy-hearted Serbian civilians on both sides of the street turned their eyes to the iron bumps.

Manstein leaned half of his body outside the tank's turret, and although it had been some time since the battle ended, there were still many places in the city where black smoke was still emitting. Under the siege of the German, Austrian, Russian, and Bulgarian armies, there was no suspense in the Serbian battlefield at all, and the armored troops brought by Manstein did not play a big role. The Austro-Hungarian army's kung fu in fighting a tailwind battle was acceptable, the Russian army was still as brave and fierce as ever, and the Bulgarian army, although it was suspected of being a fox and a tiger, was also very fierce. As a result, in the last few battles, the Allied cavalry and infantry were basically ahead of the German tanks, and Manstein's troops had little room to play.

Seeing some Austrian soldiers and Russian soldiers talking with gestures, or exchanging cigarettes and other items, Manstein felt that the world was really wonderful. Two months ago, the two armies were at war, and the battles were bigger and fiercer, but now they could fight side by side; The Tsarist government was still busy pacifying the revolutionary forces at home, but it was able to send a large number of troops to fight across the border, and in the final analysis, this was politics.

On December 7, 1914, Serbia formally surrendered to the Allied Powers, and its territory was divided between Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, and the German and Russian troops also reaped many benefits, such as railway construction, mining and trade concessions in Serbia.

After that, the German, Austrian, and Russian armies that attacked Serbia did not return to their hometowns, but actively prepared for war against Italy. Manstein also went to Austria with the rest of the German troops, from where they were preparing to cross the border and attack Italy.

Dealing with the British Egyptian army, whose main force had been transferred back to the homeland and the indigenous army lacked combat effectiveness, the biggest problem for the German-Turkish army was its own logistics and transportation. Due to Turkey's backward railway transportation system, supplies from the rear often had to rely on men and horses to transport to the front line, and Rommel and his armored troops were often unable to advance due to lack of fuel, and the commander of the German-Turkish army, General Oli, was helpless, and the battlefield here was still dominated by infantry and cavalry.

When crossing the Suez Canal, most German and Turkish officers and soldiers were puzzled by the importance of this seemingly ordinary canal, but if you look at the world map, you will find that it has greatly shortened the sea distance between Europe and Asia. When the Suez Canal fell into the hands of the Allies, British and their colonies had to travel between Europe, Asia and Africa around the Cape of Good Hope.

On December 10, 1914, the German-Turkish forces occupied all of Egypt, and the land passage to Africa was unimpeded by the Allied powers. After this, the German-Turkish coalition army was not idle, the main force was stationed in Egypt, and it was only a matter of time before Africa was completely in the hands of the Allies.

Rostock, Germany.

Looking at the white parachutes flying all over the sky, the emperor and Falkenhain and the others were so surprised that they couldn't close their mouths for a long time.

The scene of 42 large and medium-sized Zeppelins, 83 "Owl" bombers, and 227 civilian transport planes parachuting more than 2,000 soldiers at one time was absolutely shocking in this era. After landing on the ground, the airborne troops quickly retracted and used rifles, light machine guns, mortars and grenades to conduct attack drills against simulated targets, followed by road blockades, bridge blasting, and positional defense. At the end of the exercise, the warm applause of the generals lasted for several minutes, and the voices opposing the establishment of an independent air force suddenly became much weaker.

"The Air Force does not centralize control over all aircraft of the Army and Navy, but establishes a branch of the armed forces independent of the Army and Navy, and its main task is not to support the Army and Navy in combat, but to master air supremacy and carry out airborne and strategic bombing missions!" Looking at everyone's confused eyes, Chen Tian knew that it was difficult for them to understand these things at once.

"Taking the army and navy as an example, the army and navy can support each other, but the main tasks of the two are different, the army is fighting for control of the ground, the navy is fighting for the control of the sea, and our air force is fighting for air control in addition to land and sea. The so-called air supremacy simply means defeating the air force of the enemy country, so that only the planes of our army are in the sky over the battlefield. ”

"Airborne is the airdrop of soldiers equipped with special weapons or ordinary army weapons behind the enemy's defense line to disrupt the enemy's deployment, occupy strategically valuable targets and other special tasks through surprise attacks, so as to cooperate with military operations on the frontal battlefield. Whether it is a positional battle or a landing battle, airborne landing can have a surprising effect. With our current air capacity, we can airdrop 3 infantry regiments of soldiers to any position in the enemy's rear at once. Imagine how much of a threat your opponent would have to do to your deployment if they jumped 3 infantry regiments out of thin air over your tight frontal lines! ”

"The so-called strategic bombing is a targeted strike on the enemy's war potential. As another simple example, it is not enough to shoot down all the birds in flight, but the most effective way is to destroy the eggs and nests in a systematic way. Relying on aerial search to destroy enemy aircraft does not completely eliminate the enemy's air force, and it is better to destroy its airfields, supply bases and production centers. ”

"To master air supremacy and conduct strategic bombing, we need a strong, unified command aviation force, which is what I call the air force. However, the creation of an air force is not the same as depriving the army and navy of the right to have aviation units. I believe that it is still necessary to retain the army and navy's subordinate aviation units for reconnaissance, calibration, enemy attacks and countering the enemy's aviation units. For example, the artillery unit's school-firing aircraft and military-affiliated reconnaissance aircraft squadrons are still under the command of the army, while aircraft carriers, seaplane carriers, and carrier-based aircraft are still under the control of the navy. ”

After Chen Tian finished speaking, some other army and navy generals who were worried about the complete loss of aircraft support also breathed a sigh of relief.

After the army and navy generals discussed their own discussions, no one raised any objections. After asking a few other questions, the emperor readily agreed to set up an air force department.

"Gigi, hand me a detailed plan for the establishment of the Air Department as soon as possible, including the scale, funds, personnel and development plan, and I will let the cabinet and the Army and Navy Department fully cooperate!"

"Yes!" Chen Tian's face was very calm, in fact, he was already secretly happy in his heart, this plan will be placed in front of the emperor tomorrow to show his efficiency. Even if the emperor knew that he had planned it a long time ago, he probably wouldn't say anything.

The identity is different, and it's cool to do things. As Chen Tian expected, the emperor quickly approved his plan, and the German government and military institutions once again showed amazing efficiency, and in just one week, 10 million marks of the air force funds were allocated to the account of the Air Ministry, except for a number of reconnaissance, calibration, and ground support planes and airships left by the War Department, as well as the carrier-based aircraft of the Admiralty and port garrison fighters and airships, all German combat aircraft have been under the command of the Air Ministry. The Ministry of the Air Force has also set up a civil aircraft management agency, which is responsible for the management and requisition of civil aircraft. Before the attack on Britain, the Luftwaffe was officially opened, and Chen Tian was also the Minister of the Air Ministry, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force was a chief of staff drawn from the Guards, and his name was Johannes. Feng. Zecht.

Compared with the War Department and the Navy Department, the Air Force Department, which has more than 1,000 aircraft and more than 30,000 officers and men, is much smaller in scale, and most of the army and navy generals are not interested in joining the Air Force Department, and the post of chief of the Air Force General Staff is not a good thing. Although many people were curious about why Chen Tian chose a little-known lieutenant colonel staff officer as the chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, no one raised objections or caused any sensation, and more people just regarded this matter as a topic after dinner.

Zekett himself was also very surprised by this, he had only met Chen Tian himself a few times before, and the two sides did not have much in-depth understanding, he didn't know why the acting crown prince chose himself, but he naturally didn't want to give up the opportunity that he never dreamed of from a lieutenant colonel staff officer to the chief of staff of the department.

Curious and expectant, Zeckert took the order to the Imperial Air Ministry in Berlin.

"Your Highness! Lieutenant Colonel Zechter came to report for duty! ”

"Oh! Lieutenant Colonel, hello! You may be seated! ”

Chen Tian looked up from a pile of papers, as the landing date approached, he had to deal with the affairs of the Air Department as soon as possible and rush back to the troops.

Zekett looked restrained, and he cautiously sat down on the couch.

"Johannes. Friedrich. Leopold. Feng. Zeckert was born on 22 April 1866 in Schleswig, the son of a Prussian general. In 1885 he joined the Royal Alexander Guards Grenadier Regiment as an officer candidate, and in 1897 he entered the Military Academy in Berlin, after which he alternated between the first line and the staff unit. In 1899 he was transferred to the General Staff as an assistant, and from 1913 he was Chief of Staff of the Third Army. ”

Chen Tian read Zekter's information, this thin-faced man has a resounding name of "the father of the German army in World War II" in another world, and after World War I, when he was the commander-in-chief of the German army, he made outstanding contributions to the reconstruction of the German army, and formed an almost "flawless" "100,000 army", laying the foundation for the German army to rise again.

As a staff officer, Zeckert's performance can be described as "outstanding" and "great" in terms of the organization's ability to organize the army. Historically, he advocated the establishment of an independent air force, and had a broad and profound understanding of the nature of air force operations, and his air force doctrine centered on the support of ground forces and the supreme principle of gaining air superiority.

In short, Tatsu felt that Zekter was the most suitable person to build the existing scattered air force into a full-fledged air force, and that he had not attracted the attention of Prince due to his previous low position, so he was a man worth grooming.

"Lieutenant Colonel, are you confident that you can organize an air force with strong combat effectiveness?"

Zekett looked a little overwhelmed, "Your Highness, I don't have similar experience, so I'm not sure. ”

Chen Tian nodded, this matter was indeed a bit sudden and hasty for Zekter. "From what I've observed, I believe you have a talent for this. So, do what you want to do and do it! What's the problem with me! ”

Zekett still looked puzzled, Chen Tian suddenly had a feeling of pulling out seedlings to help grow, but this guy is now 48 years old, his thinking should have been fully mature, and what he lacks should only be some experience.

"You have to get a good idea of the performance and manufacturing of our various aircraft at the moment, and the day after tomorrow we will leave Berlin for Calais, France, where the front command of the Air Force is located! I think when the war in Britain is over, you'll have the bottom of your heart! ”

"Yes, Your Highness!" Zecht's nervousness eased slightly.

"During the Battle of Britain, you and my chief of staff, General Hoffman, were responsible for the deployment of the Air Force's bombing and support missions!"

Chen Tian was very helpless, there were no famous air force commanders in World War I in another world, the "Red Baron" was just an outstanding and representative fighter pilot, and the air force generals needed to be trained slowly.

After the surrender of France, the German air force began to bomb the cities and fortifications of the British coast within the range with all its might, and the German navy also actively cleared the British mines in the Strait of Dover and the English Channel under the cover of aircraft.

Dover, United Kingdom.

It was the closest point to the French coast on the British mainland, and was one of the most important coastal defenses of the British army, with four infantry divisions, five Scottish cavalry regiments and two fighter squadrons stationed here.

Next to a canvas-covered fighter in the woods, several pilots were sitting on a table stacked with ammunition boxes playing cards.

The clouds of war loomed over the British, and the coast became more heavily guarded, and the army units continued to strengthen the coastal fortifications, which extended inland ten miles from the coast. Given the frightening proximity of mainland England to mainland France, heavy troops were deployed throughout the southeast coast of England where they could be used for landing, and in other areas there were large numbers of troops stationed in the centres of transport and key seaports.

Perhaps the most laid-back in the whole of Britain were these fighter pilots, and no plane was allowed to leave the ground without the king's order. According to George V, the few fighters had to be used at the most critical moments.

When the buzz came from the south, the British pilots couldn't help but frown.

"For two whole weeks, those anti-aircraft artillery units actually only shot down six German planes and one German airship, and the combat effectiveness of that group of artillery was really weak. If we were to get on it, we would be able to shoot down at least twenty German planes and ten airships in one day! ”

Although the engineers repeatedly reminded that the design of the new aircraft was not perfect, the War Office did not have the time and patience to wait for them to continue to improve, and forced the aircraft factories throughout Britain to produce 120 of these fighters in a month, and finally the British aircraft factories produced only 95 of them within the time limit.

For the British Army, the accuracy of the new anti-aircraft weapons in their hands was too low, and it took an average of 10,000 rounds of ammunition and artillery shells to shoot down a German plane.

By comparison, it took an average of 5,000 rounds of ammunition and artillery shells for the Germans to shoot down a plane during an exercise.

"Come on! Germans, when you land, it's time for us to show what we're up to! A skinny British pilot shouted as he pointed at the German plane in the sky, but the distant explosion quickly drowned out his arrogant voice.

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