On a low hillside, Xia Fei watched the crowd of French soldiers advancing all over the mountain, and this overwhelming momentum gave him hope of turning the tide of the battle, and also convinced him that this attack would sound the clarion call for a counterattack by the whole of France.

The sight of the German airships did not worry Xia Fei, he knew that his army would soon be spotted by German reconnaissance forces after leaving the woods, but as long as he launched a quick and fierce attack before the moving Germans made defensive arrangements, he had a good chance of winning.

A group of fighters skimmed the French army column at a low altitude from south to north, and Xia Fei couldn't help but wave at them, it was the last batch of French planes in his hand. In his opinion, good steel should be used on the blade.

The German airships quickly spotted the French planes, but the crew on them did not panic in the slightest. On one of the airships, the crew unhurriedly opened the porthole and fired a red signal bullet out.

After a while, a swarm of bees came from the north. While attack aircraft and bombers were in full swing along the Boer River, German fighters would prove their worth here.

This largest battle in central France was kicked off by the German and French air forces.

The "Anterla" fighter used by the French army was originally used for reconnaissance and calibration, with a speed of 120 kilometers per hour and a continuous flight in the air for 60 minutes.

The "Hummingbird" fighter used by the German army is a fighter specially designed to conduct air combat, with a speed of 170 kilometers, a continuous flight time of 60 minutes, two 7.92 mm parallel "Firebird" light machine guns, 1,500 rounds of ammunition, flexibility is its greatest feature, and the firepower is enough to cope with any aircraft of this period.

This time, 22 French "Anterla" against 29 German "Hummingbirds", 3 German airships watched the battle.

The signal was given from the lead German fighter to disperse for a squad attack, and 29 German aircraft quickly formed 14 twin squadrons.

The one that was left alone had a big 11 on the fuselage.

Yes, the baron is back, back to the blue sky that belongs to him.

The other pilots of the squadron were still suffering from hard labor, and Manfred, who had been confined for a week, was temporarily transferred to another squadron. Whether it was an enemy or a comrade-in-arms, the faces around him were unfamiliar to him, but that didn't stop him from longing for battle, and with the depression caused by his previous bad luck, he wanted to vent well.

Unfortunately, the team leader also gave another order, and Manfred and four other planes were responsible for protecting the airship. Manfred could only watch as the other 12 twin-plane squads accelerated towards the French fleet, and the loud hum of the engines running at full speed faded away.

The French fleet also began to disperse, but the French pilots apparently lacked experience in group operations, and their formation became fragmented and disorganized. As the distance approached, the planes of the two armies came face to face and fired the first round of bullets, and after the first staggered encounter, three French and one German aircraft were hit and fell. After that, the pilots of both sides began to select and chase their own targets.

In the German army's two-plane tactics, the long plane mainly attacked, and the wingman defended. After eyeing an enemy aircraft, the long-term aircraft chooses the most effective attack route, while the wingman chooses the most effective cover route. The long machine first tries to gain a height advantage by himself, and then cinches the opponent to find the right time to shoot; The wingman does not take the initiative to attack the opponent at this time, but enters the role of cover and observation, ensuring that the long plane is not targeted and attacked by other enemy aircraft when attacking the opponent.

In order to rescue their comrades who were bitten by the long plane, other enemy planes generally choose to attack the long plane, and then the wingman will seize the opportunity to attack those enemy planes. The actual situation on the battlefield is constantly changing, so the long wingman is relative, the long plane has just completed an attack, it takes time to adjust the position and height, if the wingman captures the fighter at this time, the two planes need to immediately report to change roles, the wingman will carry out the strike, and the long plane will enter the cover position.

Compared with the German two-plane tactics, the French planes were basically in a separate situation, they either pursued the German planes alone, or attacked two or three of them towards a target, or they desperately tried to get rid of the pursuit of the German planes behind. The situation in the air battle looked chaotic, but with the German fighters having a clear advantage in one-on-one battles, coupled with reasonable squad tactics, the Germans quickly gained the upper hand in this aerial dogfight.

Plane after plane accelerated, pulled, circled, swayed, opened fire, or was shot, and there were constantly falling planes with smoke or broken wings, mostly two-winged French planes.

Soon after, two French planes burst out of the chaos of the battle, and they charged towards the huge target of the German airship team.

"Guys, I'm going to fix them!"

Manfred waved at the other four fighters escorting the airship, and then fearlessly flew towards the two French planes in his 11th fang.

The other German pilots were stunned for a moment, but still flew their planes tightly around the airship.

At a distance of 500 meters, the two French planes took the lead in firing, and the two strings of bullets flew diagonally towards Manfred, and the No. 11 fighter swung its wings, shaking from side to side and easily dodging the two strings of bullets, but Manfred also temporarily lost his firing position, and then passed by the two French planes. At this moment, Manfred clearly saw the faces of his opponents, they were young people in the prime of life like himself, and their fate destined their lives to bloom in the flames of war.

No. 11 immediately continued to climb and turn, and by the time Manfred had completed his 360-degree turn, the two machines had only made half a turn. A contemptuous smile appeared on the corner of Manfred's mouth, the performance gap between the two fighters was not small, and the flight time of the French pilots was generally very small. He slammed the throttle and lunged at the distance machine, using the advantage in altitude to increase the speed of the plane to the maximum speed.

When the machines had finally completed their first lap, Manfred had managed to put one of the machines into his scope, and he pressed the fire button to shoot two long strings of bullets. The French plane tried to turn sideways to the right, but a string of bullets swept straight from the nose of his plane to the plane, and the French fighter shook a few times in despair like a dragonfly that had been whipped, and then planted its nose down to the ground.

Following the Battle of Cape Dover in September, the Baron finally made peace again.

Before Manfred could rejoice, the remaining French appeared behind him, and after a few seconds of adjustment, the machine swept a shuttle of bullets towards Manfred. Manfred was taken aback by the sound of a bullet hitting the wooden skin, and he pulled the plane up with all his might. Fortunately, his No. 11 missed, and the French plane flew under his plane along with the string of bullets.

At this point, Manfred once again had the upper hand, but the French plane seemed to have learned from its previous experience, and instead of simply following a circular arc, it was turning in a curve that fluctuated high and low. Manfred took advantage of the altitude to accelerate again and followed closely behind the French fighter.

"Don't move! Soon it will be good! Manfred stared at the improvised scope in the middle of the machine gun, the figure of the machine entering the scope and fleeing as the machine changed direction, Manfred's finger pressed the fire button several times.

The French pilot looked behind him again and again, and he found that no matter how much he changed direction, the German plane was constantly closing the distance with him by virtue of its speed advantage. In desperation, he pressed the control stick sharply, and the plane descended almost in an oblique straight line, and the altitude dropped from 2 kilometers to hundreds of meters.

Manfred didn't intend to give up his prey, and the 11th flew downward, the speed of the plane getting faster and faster, the wind in his ears increasing, and he silently calculated in his mind the maximum speed that the plane could withstand when it was pulled up.

When the machine re-entered the scope, Manfred finally pressed the fire button, and after a short shot, he quickly pulled the plane up. From his experience, he knew that no matter how fast it was, it would be dangerous.

The French pilot seemed to hear the gunfire of the German plane behind him, and he did not dare to pull the plane up, but pressed down the joystick again, and as a result, Manfred fired two strings of bullets that slashed a few meters above the French fighter.

A contemptuous smile appeared on Manfred's lips, he did not believe that the French fighter could pull up at a maximum speed that exceeded his own "hummingbird".

As the baron had expected, the French pilots, after congratulating themselves on their escape, soon found themselves unable to pull the plane up. Under the watchful eyes of countless French infantrymen, the French fighter plane crashed straight into their path.

In the end, all 22 French planes were shot down, and all French pilots were killed; The Germans lost only seven fighters, three German pilots were killed by direct shots, the other four managed to parachute, and Second Lieutenant Manfred made a perfect comeback by shooting down one French plane each directly.

Xia Fei, who was watching the battle from afar, had an ominous premonition in his heart, he originally hoped that his plane would be able to knock down those German airships and reconnoiter the German 5th Army in front by the way, but the speed of the German fighter appeared greatly beyond his expectations, and the one-sided situation of the air battle made him feel a little desperate.

The German fighters, who had won a great victory, did not rush to leave, but because they had exhausted most of their ammunition in the air battle, they did not attack the French troops on the ground, but circled over the French for a while.

Xiafei's soldiers paid no attention to the German planes, but buried their heads and continued to move forward. At the forefront of the 400,000 French troops were 10 regiments of African colonial regiments in yellow uniforms, trotting lightly armed with rifles and bayonets, without any bags except ammunition and water bottles. Behind them were the main forces of the French army, in addition to the ordinary French soldiers in the new blue-gray uniforms, there were also colonial legions from various French colonies, these soldiers were dressed differently, but without exception their faces were solemn.

Badisa, a French colonial legionnaire from Algeria, wears a small red yarke hat like his companions, a blue-gray shirt similar to the color of the new French military uniform, and wide, bloated white trousers. These dark-skinned warriors were the most courageous of the French army, and they always fought bravely, and retreating meant humiliation for them, and there was no fear in their lexicon.

It is difficult to describe Badisa's mood in exact, and the uneasiness does not come from the enemy, but from the bag on his back. His companions around him were all as solemn as him, and they were all carrying something similar to the shape of a German soldier's bag, the difference was that these bags were powerful enough to shatter people within a radius of ten meters and stun people within a radius of tens of meters, but their targets were not German soldiers, but those German tanks and armored vehicles.

Badisa's concern was not for his own life, but for whether he would be able to successfully approach and blow up his target alive, and he was well aware of the German machine-gun fire. Little did he know that the actions of him and his companions, which decades later became known as "suicide bombings", were an act of terrorism recognized worldwide.

In Xiafei's eyes, these Algerians were the bravest soldiers, but also the least worthy, and it was only fitting to use them for this task. The soldiers were told to detonate the bomb close to the German armored vehicle, and the other "valian" French soldiers would cover for them, and if they were fast, they could have escaped in one piece.

Badissa didn't have much thought about the destruction of the French fighter group just now, he only hoped that the situation would develop like their French commanders, and successfully take the German invaders by surprise.

In the direction of the advance of the French infantry, countless soldiers in pointed steel helmets lay on improvised lines, their rifles resting on those 20-30 centimeter high stacks; There were machine guns every few tens of meters on these lines, the tripods of the heavy machine guns were as wide as possible, and the machine gunners were also lying on the ground; Behind the defensive line, field guns and howitzers were waiting; A large number of armored vehicles were hidden further back, ready to cooperate with the infantry in a counterattack.

These soldiers belonging to the German 5th Army had been waiting here for some time, their guns and shells loaded, and countless pairs of eyes silently staring ahead.

Finally, the French flags appeared in their field of vision, and the number of French people seemed to be amazing, but whether the French military hats were white, black, or yellow, everyone was silently trotting forward, and even the wind was quiet except for the sound of dense footsteps and the grinding of the pendants on their bodies.

"Three rapid fire ready!"

On the German artillery position, the heralds were busy waving the signal flags in their hands, and the artillerymen were tightly pulling the gun ropes, and everyone was waiting for the moment when the artillery fire rang out.