Tan Renhao took Luo Yunchong to the restaurant opened by Gan Yongxing's old subordinate, he can be regarded as a regular customer here, no need to tell more, the boss personally took the two of them to the private room in the back, and it was the signature dishes of the hotel, but it was different from the signature dishes that Tan Renhao followed Gan Yongxing here to eat last time, it seems that there are still a lot of signature dishes in this hotel. At the dinner table, the two did not continue to talk about the famine in Europe, and talking about these things would make the two lose their appetite. Tan Renhao mainly asked Luo Yunchong about fighting in Europe, at least for Tan Renhao, strategic bombing is no stranger.

Compared with Luo Yunchong's combat operations in Europe, the months that Gu Xunlei spent in Europe were at most "short-lived". It can be said that the one who really made the greatest contribution to the European battlefield was Luo Yunchong and the Imperial Navy's Strategic Strike Force under his command. Luo Yunchong's combat operations in Europe were divided into two phases, and the defeat of France was a watershed in the two phases.

Before the defeat of France, the main task of Luo Yunchong's strategic strike force was not to bomb the British mainland, but to concentrate on bombing large cities, transportation hubs, and military towns in the French rear. That is to say, at this stage, the strategic strike force made a limited bombing of the British mainland, forcing the British Air Force to use more fighters for the defense of the homeland, and had to evacuate and transfer the bombers deployed in the south of Britain to reduce the pressure on the German air defense. This is more likely a tactical than a strategic one.

It can be said that this is Luo Yunchong's least favorite task. Luo Yunchong is a "big air force faction" that is even more thorough than Liao Hanxiang. In his eyes, the task of the Air Force is to blow up the enemy's cities, factories, and even farmland into ruins, and use bombs to knock the enemy back to the Stone Age. Previously, Luo Yunchong had already achieved a success. More than 20 million tons of incendiary bombs sent Japan back to primitive times. Luo Yunchong is even more convinced that as long as he is given enough bombers and enough ammunition, he can make any country regress to the Stone Age. cn

Even if he didn't like it, Luo Yunchong still had to obey orders, and he had to focus on the overall situation. During those months, Luo Yunchong used the heavy bomber in his hand as a tactical bomber. And the crazy pilots of the Tang Imperial Navy also completely opened the eyes of the Germans and thoroughly understood what real aviation was. Later, even the German fat man got angry with his subordinates, demanding that no matter what means were used, a force like Luo Yunchong's subordinates must be created, and it must not be compared to a second-rate aviation unit of the Tang Imperial Navy!

In five months, more than 1,200 bombers under Luo Yunchong carried out more than 50,000 bombing missions. More than 120,000 tons of ammunition were dropped over the target, including about 80,000 tons of aerial bombs and 40,000 tons of incendiary bombs. In total, 162 bombers were shot down in the line of duty, and another 217 bombers were scrapped on their return due to serious damage, representing an operational loss rate of less than 3 per cent. Lost 1986 pilots in battle. The loss rate is less than 2% (based on the number of pilots dispatched). From these data, the results are relatively ordinary, and there is nothing special about it. A comparison of other data at that time shows the role played by the Luo Yun Chong Strategic Strike Force in defeating France.

During the five-month mission during the same period, the Luftwaffe flew more than 127,000 fighter sorties, including more than 84,000 bomber sorties and dropped more than 49,000 tons of bombs. In total, 729 bombers were lost, with a loss rate of almost 9%. The loss of bomber pilots was 2274 people, and the loss rate exceeded 7%. The comparison can be found that, in addition to the sorties. In other respects, the overall performance of the Luftwaffe was not even comparable to that of the Loyun Chongdi Strategic Strike Force. One of the main reasons for the high number of sorties by the Luftwaffe was that the Luftwaffe mainly used tactical bombers and medium bombers at that time!

From this set of comparisons, it can be seen why "Ge Fatty" is angry with his subordinates, and he is envious of Luo Yunchong's troops. Of course, there is another set of numbers for this. There is no way to list it in detail here, but this is the result of the two troops. Luo Yunchong's fleet mainly bombed surface targets, while most of the point targets were destroyed by the Luftwaffe. This is actually precisely the nature of the Luftwaffe. As was the case with the Tang Imperial Army Aviation at the outbreak of the war, the Luftwaffe was a tactical support air force, and its main task was to support the offensive of ground forces, so it mainly used more flexible tactical bombers and medium bombers, which was completely different from the strategic strike air force.

After the defeat of France, the shackles that bound Luo Yunchong were loosened. Then. The German Führer was very interested in those who appeared in the skies over the big German cities, painted with the rice flag or the Stars and Stripes. It is very annoying to take advantage of the darkness of the night, or to openly drop hundreds or even thousands of tons of bombers in one breath during the day. The mustachioed German Prime Minister also met with Luo Yunchong, and he gave Luo Yunchong a guarantee and a request, guaranteeing that Luo Yunchong could get the fuel and ammunition he needed, and the request was to turn the island country across the strait into a second Japan!

This is not to say that the "mustache" is very generous and generous, Luo Yunchong knows in his heart, the bombs he dropped are actually transported from the empire mainland by freighters or trains, and the fuel burned by the bombers is provided by the Persian Empire. The Germans practically did not offer him much benefit. Of course, there are still some low-cost benefits, such as a rich food supply, abundant entertainment, a status higher than that of the Wehrmacht, about the same status as the German SS, and even those blonde and blue-eyed courtesans, these are the benefits that the Germans give to them in order to "envelop" Luo Yunchong.

Even if the Germans didn't do anything, Luo Yunchong would let his bombers go. Just bombing Japan back into the Stone Age does not mean anything, Japan's industrial strength itself cannot be compared with Britain, and in addition, Japan's own air defense capabilities, the performance of Japanese fighter jets, and even the degree of development of Japanese cities cannot be compared with Britain. If Britain can be bombed back to the Stone Age, then no one will doubt that strategic bombing can determine the outcome of a war, and this is exactly what Luo Yunchong wants to prove to those who doubt, or are doubting, the power of strategic bombing!

Since October 25, Luo Yunchong has gradually shifted the focus of the bombing to the British capital. He directly adopted some of the lessons learned from the bombing of the Japanese. For example, when choosing bombing targets, it is necessary to prioritize what targets to bomb first, what targets to bomb secondarily, and what targets to bomb lastly. The lesson is. It is necessary to provide bombers with a sufficient number of escort fighters, and if it is impossible to guarantee escort fighters, then it is necessary to concentrate on bombing at night, and try to use dense formations and use the self-defense firepower of bombers to cover each other against enemy fighters. Of course, because the basic situation in the UK is different from that in Japan. So not all experiences can be copied. For example, Luo Yunchong did not use the incendiary bomb immediately at that time, mainly because the British buildings were mainly brick and stone, and there were relatively few wooden buildings, and the arson effect of the incendiary bomb would not be much better. Of course. As it turned out, this judgment was wrong.

Relatively speaking, it was much more difficult to bomb Britain than Japan, and the only advantage was that the English Channel was much narrower than the Yellow Sea, the Sea of Japan, and the Pacific Ocean to the south, and Britain was closer to the European mainland, especially after the German occupation of the lower countries and northern France, and the fighters escorting the bomber groups could be deployed forward. Bombers with a huge range do not need to compete with fighters for airfields in front, but can be deployed on airfields in the rear, so they can organize escort fighters as much as possible in combat.

For the first two months, the Luftwaffe sent fighter jets to escort Luo Yunchong's fleet, when the fighter units promised to be deployed to Europe by the Tang Imperial Army and Navy were assembling on the Eastern Front. And until a concrete agreement with the German side is reached, these fighters will not be able to be deployed to airfields in northern France. Actual combat has proven that when the air forces of two countries fight together, especially when they act in concert down to the tactical level, the problems are so big that they can almost lead to defeat. Often, Luftwaffe ground fighters were not able to rendezvous with bomber groups at all, and in many cases it was not even known whether the Luftwaffe had sent escort fighters. Another, more serious problem was that several of the Luftwaffe's main fighters had a serious problem of "short legs". It wasn't a big problem when it came to bombing the south of England, but it was going deep into the Midlands. It was almost impossible for these fighters to accompany the bomber the entire time. And when bombing the northern regions of England, Luftwaffe ground fighters could not fly at all! In these two months of bombing. Luo Yunchong lost nearly 400 bombers and more than 2,000 crew members were killed, both of which had a loss rate of more than 5%, which almost made Luo Yunchong cancel all the bombing operations behind!

By the beginning of 26, when the first Hayabusa fighters of the Navy arrived, the situation finally changed. Although the range of the "Falcon" fighter is still not enough to fully meet the operational requirements, as long as the large auxiliary fuel tank is hung, its combat radius is much farther than that of the German BL-109, F-190 and other fighters. By the middle of 26 years, when the Golden Eagle fighters appeared in the skies over Britain, the situation was completely improved, and for the first time, the bomber group was covered by fighters who could accompany the escort throughout the escort.

For the Imperial Navy, which fought in the Pacific, 26 years were full of challenges and opportunities, and it was a year of victory. For Luo Yunchong, 26 years was the year in which he won the victory and finally convinced everyone that strategic bombing would change the fundamental face of the war site. And for the British, 26 years was a year of disaster, a year of destruction, fire, death, purgatory.

From the beginning of 26 years, the effectiveness of the strategic bombing of Britain was gradually revealed. In the first three months, Luo Yunchong's more than 2,000 bombers flew more than 60,000 sorties, dropping more than 120,000 tons of bombs on dozens of cities, ports, industrial towns, and military bases in the British mainland, and only lost more than 230 bombers in total, with a loss rate of less than 0.4%. And the escort fighters lost more than 180 aircraft, and the loss rate was also quite low. This was just the beginning, and as the bombing effects were revealed, more and more bombers flew to Germany, and later, Germany also directly purchased bombers and hired pilots from the Imperial Navy to fly these bombers to increase the striking power!

In April 26, Luo Yunchong let the bomber hang on the burning fire for the first time, which opened the prelude to the "fire attack operation", and all this was actually caused by the British and American bombers burning German cities. But the first few bombing effects were not very good, which made Luo Yunchong puzzled, and he also specially organized personnel to discuss why the "fire attack" effect was not good. In the end, Luo Yunchong and they found the answer from several incendiary bombs dropped by British bombers that did not explode, Luo Yunchong and they used the kind of incendiary bombs that attacked Japan, and their main role was not to attack with fire, but to set fire, the proportion of incendiary loading was too small, and the submunitions were too small, and the continuous combustion ability was not strong, and it was difficult to exert a major effect. Immediately, Luo Yunchong found someone to improve the incendiary bomb, increasing the weight of the bomb from 250 kg to 500 kg, the weight of the submunition also increased to 25 kg, and the loading ratio of the incendiary agent reached eighty percent, which was simply a gasoline barrel thrown down!

From the second half of 26 years, these new incendiary bombs were delivered to Germany in large quantities, and then German arsenals began to produce such incendiary bombs. The end of the major cities in Britain has come, and the British have finally experienced the horrors of the residents of several cities such as Hamburg and Cologne in Germany, and finally know what the real hell on earth is!

From July 4, 26, after London was subjected to the first concentrated "fire attack", to the beginning of January 27, that is, three days before Luo Yun rushed back to China, more than 100 cities in Britain, large and small, were bombed intensively, and more than 4.5 million tons of incendiary bombs almost completely destroyed these cities, and many large cities were bombed several times.

"In about another six months, at most a year, we may not be able to find a target worthy of dropping bombs in Britain." Luo Yunchong didn't mix too much emotion when telling his story. "At least, now the British know what fear tastes like, and the Germans know what their money is going to do."

"So, what do you think about the formation of the Air Force?"

Luo Yunchong was stunned for a moment, and then looked at Tan Renhao. From Luo Yunchong's eyes, Tan Renhao saw the answer, he knew that he didn't need to ask anything, Luo Yunchong would not let him down.