If the tragedy of the battle is judged by the number of casualties, the Battle of the Azores is not yet the first place in World War II, and the Battle of the Coen Peninsula at the same time is the real "meat grinder", but when it comes to the impact of a battle on the pattern of war, the Battle of the Azores should be unique. In this three-dimensional battle of land www.biquge.info, sea and air, which lasted for 5 months and 11 days, many famous generals of the two camps took turns to fight, and a large number of well-known battle aces emerged.

Major Joseph Schcherram, a German naval pilot nicknamed "Cheetah", is a rising star rising in the smoke of gunpowder. During the Battle of San Miguel, he flew the Ju-17T carrier-based dive bomber 6 times, with a 67% bomb hit rate, and is considered an important contributor to the sinking of the American battlecruiser "Constellation"; In the Battle of Flores, Scheram fought three times, and the most notable result was the damage to the British battleship "Sovereign", which made this powerful British capital ship stay in the floating dock of Angra Herosmo for four months. With these achievements, he was awarded the Iron Cross of the First Class and the Order of the Red Eagle of the Third Class, and was promoted to Lieutenant General on the eve of his 27th birthday, becoming another inspirational role model among his peers.

At the outbreak of the war, Scherram served on the famous aircraft carrier "Zeppelin", after the Battle of Flores, the damaged "Zeppelin" entered the floating dock in the port of Penta Delgada on the island of San Miguel for overhaul, and the carrier-based aircraft unit was temporarily separated and supplemented to other aircraft carriers, and ace pilots like Scherram naturally became the object of contention for various ships, and he and the 87th Dive Bomber Squadron of the Navy under his command eventually lived in the "Swabia" of the same Zeppelin-class. It was logical to take part in the attack on the 4th Special Fleet of the US-British coalition.

In the first wave of air raids, the "Swabian" dispatched a squadron of fighters and a squadron of dive bombers, and when the attack force came from the front, the squadron that had been incorporated into the second wave of air raids began to take off. At this time, the weather turned from sunny to cloudy, and strong winds blew on the sea, which had a great impact on the take-off and landing of carrier-based aircraft. As usual, Scherram piloted the Ju-41T with the number Z17, and was paired with the calm flying sergeant Perls. The fighter's self-sealing fuel tank is filled with a full amount of 600 liters of fuel, and the effective combat radius can reach 800 kilometers when carrying bombs on the way to the end and empty on the return journey.

Having been at the helm of the 87th Dive Bomber Squadron for nine months, Schcheram has been well aware of every pilot in the squadron and has given them a full grasp of their tactical thinking. According to the regular establishment of the German Navy, carrier-based dive bomber squadrons are equipped with 15-16 Ju-17Ts, and this number may fluctuate greatly in wartime due to combat losses or operational needs. When the transfer from "Zeppelin" to "Swabia", the 87th Dive Bomber Squadron had 11 fighters left, and then 3 were added according to the actual number of pilots. When carrying out combat missions, if there is sufficient preparation time and the tactical arrangements are compatible, the entire dive bomber squadron may be fully deployed, but this operation emphasizes speed and flexibility, and Schcheram was ordered to select 10 dive bombers to join the second wave of air attack formations, and the rest of the fighters were organized into reserve forces to standby.

Through the reconnaissance information earlier and the battle reports sent back by the first wave of sortie groups, the pilots participating in the battle had a very clear understanding of the targets of the attack, and the young Major Schcheram also made specific arrangements to the members of his subordinates before the battle.1 However, due to the appearance of enemy land-based fighters, the prospects for the operation were not so optimistic. In the midst of a multi-aircraft flight formation, many bomber pilots kept looking at their escort fighters, because their own life and death were closely related to their battlefield performance.

The situation has not changed, and Scutram did not use radio communication during the flight - the current means of communication are radio and radio code, and each Ju-17T carries a radio station that combines both. Direct calls have the advantage of efficiency, but they are easily intercepted by the enemy, and radio codes, in contrast to the characteristics of radio codes, are the first choice for delivering classified content.

As time passed, the second wave of aircraft sent by the Allied Task Force 1 was getting closer and closer to the battlefield, during this period, the intelligence and battle reports of all parties shuttled through radio codes, and the sound of ticking and ticking was constantly heard in the communication headsets, but even Shcherram, who was the commander of the squadron, only had a few sets of code codes with specific meanings, and they could not decipher any code messages except for the tactical instructions of the mother ship, and therefore could not keep abreast of the progress of friendly air strikes on Texel and Flores.

After a loud noise, a clear voice came from the headphones: "Attention all the second temporary flight formation!" Enemy fighters were spotted at a height of 800 meters ahead, the enemy fleet should be in front, and the bomber squadrons went into the clouds to conceal their whereabouts, I am Alfred Bingle, good luck to everyone! ”

In this area, the cloud height is less than a kilometer, and they can indeed be used to avoid enemy fighter attacks, but they can do more harm than good to dive bomber pilots, and the precision bombing of the Ju-17T is derived from the Osprey hunting high-angle dive flight, and without this magic weapon, they are basically the same as traditional light bombers.

Apparently foreseeing this situation and thinking of countermeasures, Schcheram turned on the communicator without hesitation: "87th Squadron, carry out Plan No. 3." ”

Previously, in order to maintain the integrity and directionality of the flight formation, all fighters flew under the clouds. After the squadron leaders' imminent combat scheduling, only some fighters continued to stay at medium and low altitudes, and the remaining fighters all entered the clouds.

Stratocumulus clouds, which are thin, usually do not exceed 2,500 meters at the top, while those that hang over the warring seas are thick Nimbostratus, often at the top of 6,000 meters. Shcheram and his squadron quickly overcame poor visibility and turbulent air currents and climbed to an altitude of 4,000 meters, where they could not see the sun when they looked up, the sea when they looked down, let alone attacked, and could not even judge the location of the target.

Shcheram was not in a hurry, he told his pilots to keep course and flight altitude by radio, and nothing else, and as the fighters of the two sides engaged in an exchange of words at low altitudes, the communication channels were filled with various sounds. After another ten minutes or so, he saw a strange lightning and thunder in the clouds below, and knew that the enemy ships were firing anti-aircraft fire - which meant that there was a high probability that his target was in the sea below.

"87th Squadron, Phase 2 of Plan No. 3 begins, Pathfinder departs."

A familiar voice suddenly came from the headphones: "Pathfinder received, let's go!" ”

In the thick clouds, a dive bomber numbered Z-42 adjusted its tail, pressed its nose down, and in the blink of an eye, it broke away from the formation where it was located. As it descended through the clouds, it was getting faster and faster, and by the time it was about to get out of the clouds, the reading on the speedometer had improved by 460 km/h, which was beyond its reach in level flight.

By the time the flight altitude was reduced to about a kilometer, the pilot's vision had gradually become clearer, and the white wake left by the ship's sailing on the rough sea almost merged with the rolling waves, but the billowing black smoke from the injured ship and the flickering flames of anti-aircraft fire clearly pointed out their directions. The pilot of the dive bomber, who pierced through the clouds, adjusted the direction of flight and the angle of the dive, and reported by radio: "The pathfinder has found the target!" Pathfinder finds the target! The target is in the center of the circular defense formation, the front ship is badly damaged, and the rear ship is suitable for attacking! Repeated, the target is in the center of the ring defense formation......"

Before the German pilot could finish speaking, a rather violent explosion hit like a tsunami. Previously, the US and British warships had detected the approach of the Allied aircraft group through radar, and they were suffering from the fact that the gunners could not observe the exact position of the enemy planes, and finally discovered that an enemy plane had emerged from the clouds and appeared in front of them, and the large and small antiaircraft guns were beckoning to it.

The pathfinders risked their lives to explore the way, but Schcherram, who was preparing to attack at high altitude, did not receive the report -- by this time, the radio interference of the US and British ships had already worked, and although the Allied fighters had backup communication channels, there was no guarantee that some important information would be missed in the process of switching communication frequencies, and the enemy fleet could block the backup frequencies in the same way in only a few minutes, so that the Allied fighters within the jamming range fell into a situation of fighting on their own.

Although he was not able to hear back from the Pathfinder in the first place, based on experience and intuition, Major Shcheram believed that the target was below the clouds, and after switching the alternate communication frequency to make contact with the winged fighters, he ordered the rest of the fighters to stay there in a downward spiral, and within five minutes if there were no new instructions, all of them dropped their bombs and turned back.

The reason why Scherram made such a decision is because he is worried that there are a large number of American and British fighters waiting for the prey to come to the door under the clouds, with the maneuverability of the Ju-17T, once he is targeted by an opponent like the "Mountain Eagle" and there is no fighter of his own side to break the siege, the chance of successfully escaping is quite slim, and after ending the call, he lowered the flaps, straightened the elevator and rudder, pulled the throttle valve control lever to the end, closed the cooling air intake, adjusted the fighter to a state suitable for high-speed diving, and pushed the control stick forward, Become the second pathfinder to break out of formation.

In an accelerated dive, the Ju-17T, numbered Z-42, quickly descended from 4,000 meters to a kilometer altitude, just as the previous pathfinder switched the radio to an alternate frequency and reported the reconnaissance. Taking advantage of the fact that the communication could still work, Major Schcheram decisively ordered the subordinate fighters after briefly observing the sea situation: "The third stage of Plan No. 3 begins, all the troops will attack the enemy's capital ships in the rear, and leave with one blow, repeat, and leave with one blow!" ”

(End of chapter)