At dusk, the time limit for the new United Kingdom's ultimatum to the Scottish Republic had expired, and the Scottish side, although it had replied through diplomatic channels, did not solve the problem, but rather made a meaningless justification for the problem itself. As night fell, the new United Kingdom's diplomatic ambassador to the Scottish Republic, Shaw-Dalrent, walked into the Scottish Heads of State with a solemn look and presented a declaration of war to the Scottish "Head of State" on behalf of the New United Kingdom Government.

Before leaving, the Irishman said goodbye to Barriol, whom he had known for many years, and to the Scottish officials present: "I hope that when I return to Edinburgh in the near future, this beautiful city will be well with all of you!" ”

Barrio watched Durrent depart without saying a word, and when the Irish had gone, he said to his depressed subordinates: "Ladies and gentlemen, this war is not something we can stop sooner or later!" In fact, it is not only a civil war for the Britons, but also a conspiracy of the Hohenzollern family to work together to eliminate dissidents, and it is also the devouring of the democratic republic by the monarch! Although Scotland is weak, it will never be intimidated by its enemies! I believe that as long as we resist the enemy's attack somewhere, we can change the fate of Scotland to be defeated by the coalition forces, and even become an important turning point in this era. ”

The dictator's generous words did not stir up the morale of the officials present, and they remained silent until someone whispered: "But if the enemy uses the atomic bomb, Edinburgh will be destroyed in an instant." Wasn't Ambassador Dalrent hinting at that just now? ”

Syllable!

Barrio slapped his palm heavily on the table, gritting his teeth and his face flushed.

At this time, the Minister of Defense, General Hugo Elces, said in a loud voice: "Ladies and gentlemen, in this era, whoever is the first to use the atomic bomb in war is the culprit who destroys the world. Therefore, I believe that the enemy will not use the atomic bomb in this so-called punitive war. Moreover, at last year's Congress of the League of Nations, Kaiser Wilhelm himself promised that Germany and its allies would never use atomic bombs against any country, and that in the future, the focus of nuclear physics research would be on the peaceful use of nuclear technology. In light of this, I can be sure that we are facing only a conventional war, and that if we hold our defensive line and stall for time, we will have a chance to turn the corner. ”

"Well said! You can say that again! Barrio applauded, "General Elsces is worthy of being a pillar of the country, and you should take the general as a role model and do your best to fulfill your duties and do your best." Miracles will definitely be created in our hands! ”

At the moment of the example, everyone no longer hesitated, and said in unison: "Yes!" Monarch! ”

The night was spent in uneasiness among the Scottish soldiers and civilians. When the first rays of the dawn shone on the land, and against the backdrop of rumbling artillery, Allied warplanes crossed Hadrian's Wall in droves (a military system built during the Roman Empire, now a famous historical site, located in England in its entirety, 10-120 kilometers from the modern border between England and Scotland), and the spectacle was so spectacular that only those who had fought in the last major war would not be surprised.

Ellsden Fortress, south of Scotland.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sound of the explosion was heard with such high frequency that even the German officers who were watching the battle from afar felt their eardrums and hearts shaken like never before. Each of the aviation armor-piercing shells adjusted for the capture of the fortress of Elsden was filled with more than 400 kilograms of nitric acid compound, which was 1.5 times more powerful than a 533-mm torpedo. Under the effect of time-delay fuzes, they will not explode until after penetrating a certain thickness of fortifications.

The defenders' anti-aircraft artillery fire continued, and gray-black gunpowder smoke from the barrels of the guns gradually rose all over the fortress, forming clusters like clouds of fog. Circled, screamed, climbed bombers, and flappers fell sadly, but this did not create a crowded and chaotic aerial scene. The allied pilots calmly and calmly followed the pre-arranged arrangement, every group of three, a squadron in a group, and dived, dropped bombs, and pulled up like mercury. In just a few minutes, the huge Ellsden Fortress was shrouded in a mixture of black gunpowder smoke and gray smoke, and those columns of smoke that churned and rose into the sky were finally able to reach a height of thousands of meters without dissipating......

Before the Bawloy Crisis, which threatened to lead to war, Elsden was a modest Scottish town, but after the crisis ended, large-scale military installations began to be built throughout Scotland. In just three years, Elsden has become a modern military fortress, benefiting from the efforts of the Scottish military, as well as the active assistance of Japan and Italy, which provided technical support for the design of the fortress, and more than 600 Japanese workers and more than 4,500 unidentified Asian laborers were directly involved in the construction, and the Italian consortium subscribed to a special construction bond equivalent to 200 million marks from the Scottish government. And the three major Italian arsenals have successively produced dozens of large-caliber heavy guns and hundreds of new anti-aircraft guns for the Scots. Before the New United Kingdom and Austria-Hungary joined forces to sweep through northern Italy, it was widely believed in military circles that such large, modern fortresses with three defenses would be difficult to breach, and the Scots also listed Elsden in the south and Denlop in the west as strategic support points for the border defense......

The IK-43 tactical bomber, which had eaten tea on the battlefield in Italy, was unsurprisingly present in the lineup of the allied forces to Scotland.

When the IK-43 dropped guided bombs from a height of more than 4,000 meters, the tactical arrangement of the coalition forces played an important role: the first wave of heavy bombardment destroyed many open-air anti-aircraft artillery positions, and the smoke and dust that filled the line of sight seriously affected the accuracy of the remaining Scottish gunners, and for the bomber bombardiers looking down from a height, it was like throwing a bomb into a large inner ring, and the difficulty of indiscriminate bombing was actually not great at all!

After the first three rounds of bombardment, there was no longer a single flying Scottish battle flag in the entire Ellsden Fortress. The American, Spanish, and Austro-Hungarian officers who were watching the fire from the other side were amazed by such an attack, knowing that there had never been such a powerful aerial bomb and a shocking attack scene in the War of the New Austrian and Italian Powers!

With such a fierce attack, those Scottish defenders could still survive? If the battle had ended like this, wouldn't the train cannons that had been brought to England with all the great difficulty come purely to cheer them on?

Veterans of artillery, especially those who have experienced or only studied the many battles of the last war, know the terrible vitality of a strong fortress.

By the time the bombardiers found Ellsden Fortress in their sights, a large string of bombs rained down. In an instant, the fortress, along with the airport and the town, was shrouded in dense explosions

In the artillery headquarters on this side of England, looking at the delicate porcelain cup in front of him with a distraction, every time there was a "dong" sound in the distance, there would be faint ripples in the pale yellow-green tea inside, circle by circle, and gradually dissipate.

Perhaps it was the aristocracy of England who knew how to enjoy life better, or perhaps it was a legacy of the Age of Discovery, and they used very professional utensils to prepare all kinds of drinks, coffee, tea, milk and even a sweet drink with honey, which really amazed the Irish officers who came here!

If you can drink tea while basking in the sun, it doesn't matter how many hours you wait. It's a pity that the dust and smoke from the explosion gradually drifted around, so that it seemed that volcanic ash had fallen in the sky, as long as you stay outside for a while, you will be able to keep your face dirty!

"General, I've always been curious, is your air force forming a so-called airborne assault division with heavy equipment mainly airborne, or is it mainly based on ground operations?"

Sitting across the marble round table was Germany's Crown Prince Louis, who asked questions to Simon Bradley, a lieutenant general in the new United Kingdom Air Force. The 53-year-old general is not only an excellent staff officer, but also an excellent plain commander.

"Your Highness, since this unit is called a paratrooper division, of course it is mainly airborne!" General Bradley replied respectfully.

"However, the airborne landing of such a force into the enemy's depth requires an astonishing number of heavy gliders, and to maintain such a scale of combat vehicles and armored vehicles, varnish and ammunition supplies...... At least 200 tons per day! "Crown Prince Louis, who has studied modern military affairs quite a bit, gave a very reasonable figure.

Waiting for the roar from the Elsden side to end, Bradley replied unhurriedly: "If it is an army-style marching operation, 200 tons will probably only meet the minimum needs!" But Your Highness, the airborne troops are characterized by deep penetration, but when they land, the combat range is usually not very large! In terms of our experience during the Great War, it is generally no more than 50 kilometers, and more often than not, once the Airborne Forces occupy the enemy's strategic points by surprise attack, they have to face a massive counteroffensive by enemy forces several times their size! ”

"Uh-huh!" Crown Prince Louis nodded, put down the white porcelain coffee cup in his hand, and asked thoughtfully: "Then speaking of which, an airborne force equipped with a large number of heavy weapons like an airborne assault division is only offensive when it uses aircraft to carry out in-depth assaults, once it falls to the ground, it is a defensive force?" ”

You can understand what it does! Unless the situation is forced or there is a special operational purpose, a paratrooper unit formed and airborne will not carry out large-scale mobile operations in the presence of a lone army! Bradley said as he took the silver coffee pot that had been placed aside and poured a cup of hot coffee for the other party.

If the conventional airborne troops were to assault the depth of the defending line, the bazookas in the hands of the paratroopers alone would not be enough to block the attack of the tank in a relatively open area!

"Oh! The shelling stopped! Next it's time for the ground forces to attack! Not far away, an English Army colonel said with a high spirit.

Bradley looked at his watch: "40 minutes of suppressed shelling is complete. ”

Everyone returned to the observation port, each raising their binoculars. As the smoke and dust that filled Elsden slowly cleared, more than 10,000 coalition officers and soldiers were planned to attack with the support of more than 200 combat vehicles, assault guns, and self-propelled mortars.

As columns of Allied chariots rumbled over the barbed wire fence on the border between England and Scotland, the mighty fortress of Ellsden fell silent. Two blue-and-white painted He-90 reconnaissance fighters flew low, and this time, they were not counterattacked by anti-aircraft fire.

The super fortress that cost a lot of money to build was uprooted like this?

The answer is clearly no.

(End of chapter)