Originally, Catherine's plane was already very nervous, and the pilots were very tired from continuous combat, but Catherine still transferred an aviation division to support Rommel's combat mission to cross the river. (The Air Force is the largest front-line combat unit, with several air corps, divisions, air regiments, brigades and independent units under its jurisdiction)

The units of the Luftwaffe were to be divided into two groups. A total of 1,815 combat aircraft, 487 transport aircraft and 50 ****** were deployed in support of Army Group B, while another 3,286 combat aircraft were deployed in support of Army Groups A and C.

There were more than 3,000 German planes supporting the two German Army Group AC, and Army Group C was used to lead the way on the Maginot Line, and they did not attack the French Maginot Line head-on, so Catherine had almost 3,000 planes in his hands to support Army Group A.

Catherine dispatched more than 300 planes from an air division to support Rommel, there was no big problem, but the air force and the British and French air forces had been fighting for air supremacy on the battlefield for many days, so they were just tired, but the German BF109 fighters were obviously better than the British and French aircraft, and the losses of the German aircraft were far lower than those of the British and French forces.

……

Soon after Rommel was pulled into the relatively fortified beachhead command post, a large group of more than 100 planes of the Anglo-French army arrived, and the German anti-aircraft guns began to fire fiercely. The sound of "bumper" cannons was incessant, and the gunpowder smoke from the muzzles of the guns was filled.

The German small-caliber anti-aircraft guns are all rapid-fire models, which are absolutely a huge threat to aircraft below 3,000 meters, and the 88-millimeter anti-aircraft guns are all-in-one, at this time Britain and France have not yet been able to fly to more than 10,000 meters, and the firing height of the 88-millimeter anti-aircraft guns reaches 11,000 meters, and the 88-millimeter anti-aircraft guns have a rate of fire of 15 to 20 rounds per minute, so that the power of this kind of artillery has been invisibly amplified.

For the sake of bombing accuracy, the British and French aircraft group reduced the altitude to 1,500 meters, and for horizontal bombers, if they wanted to bomb the pontoon bridge in the Meuse River at this altitude, 1,500 meters was already too high.

With such a high altitude of the aircraft group, for the German anti-aircraft artillery fire, it was almost like a dish delivered to the door, and the flying light shells and shells were tilted against the dense British and French aircraft group.

The shells fired by dozens of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns are dozens of whips stirring in the air, and as long as they are swept by the fire whips composed of shells, they will be destroyed and killed, and if they are hit by 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, they will be immediately crushed.

Of course, 88-mm anti-aircraft guns are not lethal only when they hit enemy aircraft directly, as long as 88-mm shells explode around the aircraft, shrapnel is also a lethal killer of aircraft.

The shells fired by the 88-mm anti-aircraft guns exploded continuously in the British and French fleet, and the explosions formed countless open black fireworks in the air, and he was like a smile of death, constantly calling the planes in the air to fall into hell.

Rommel's extreme reinforcement of his anti-aircraft artillery unit was fully interpreted at this moment, and the British and French aircraft groups in the air were severely damaged by this sudden and heavy shelling, and at least 30 planes were planted in billowing smoke.

Under such heavy anti-aircraft fire, these British and French air forces still fearlessly dived against the pontoon bridge over the Meuse River, and the air force performed 10,000 times better than the army, and the French army was still waiting for the German army to collapse automatically by the air force, and they regained the beachhead with zero casualties.

The British and French forces had about 50 bombers in their fleet, and even though they were the focus of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, they still attacked the pontoon bridge over the Meuse River in line with heavy losses.

Their fate was that one after another was shot down, and the mournful sound of "woo" was extremely piercing in the sound of gunfire, and the fighters covering the bomber group could no longer withstand such heavy German fire, and they broke away from the bomber formation and fled in all directions.

In fact, these battles were not scattered in all directions, but dispersed the density of German anti-aircraft artillery fire, and if the German anti-aircraft artillery fire ignored it, he immediately dived down and attacked the army anti-aircraft artillery with airborne machine guns.

In order to ensure that most of the two pontoon bridges had been erected, the Germans focused their attacks on the bomber groups, and mainly dispersed the enemy's fighters, but these nimble fighters swooped down from various angles to attack the anti-aircraft guns.

The fighters of the British and French forces were generally equipped with machine guns at this time, not powerful machine guns, and machine guns generally could not damage anti-aircraft guns, but the people who operated the anti-aircraft guns would become targets, and the losses of the German troops soon began to appear.

The fierce anti-air battle over the Meuse River continued, the British and French bombers desperately attacked the pontoon bridge over the Meuse River, while the Germans risked being strafed by enemy fighters and desperately attacked the enemy bombers, and the enemy's bomber groups were unable to break through the German air network at all, and the planes were shot down one by one.

And the British and French fighters also swooped down from time to time to slaughter the German anti-aircraft gun operators, and the Germans did not want to die, as long as the personnel of the anti-aircraft gun were killed by the enemy's aircraft, several German soldiers immediately ran out of the hidden place to operate the anti-aircraft gun that lost the operator.

Ironically, World War II Germany forbade infantry to shoot at the air with small arms on the grounds that it was a waste of ammunition, a rule that certainly did not exist in Rommel's 7th Panzer Division. Rommel was in the command post on the beachhead, saw the situation on the opposite shore with the "eye of God", and hurriedly picked up the radio station and called Hans, the chief of staff at the command post of the division headquarters:

"Hans, I'm Rommel, please reply when you hear that."

"My Hans...... Please speak. ”

"Quickly let the machine gun crew fire into the air around the anti-aircraft gun, ...... quickly"

"Division commander, this is a violation of the ...... of combat regulations"

Rommel immediately interrupted Hans's nagging:

"To hell with that damn ordinance! Immediately carry out the order and take out those enemy fighters that are advancing at low altitude. ”

"I'll ...... this way"

The Germans on the other side of the river moved extremely quickly, and several light and heavy machine guns were arranged around each anti-aircraft gun to defend against the air, and these machine gun crews did not go to attack the high-altitude aircraft, but to attack the fighters who were advancing at low altitudes, so as to protect the anti-aircraft gunners from their slaughter.

Fighter planes certainly have a huge advantage in hitting the ground, but it cannot be said that the machine gun crew on the ground has no power to fight back; often when an enemy plane dives down, there are dozens of light and heavy machine guns spraying flames at this dive enemy battle, and this enemy fighter is covered with machine gun holes even if it is not shot down. (Because the machine guns are not powerful enough, the plane will not necessarily be shot down if it is full of bullet holes.) ）

Rommel's anti-aircraft artillery unit and the Anglo-French planes were inseparable, the German bomber formation had been broken up several times, and the Anglo-French bomber group, which had lost almost half of the bombers, did not retreat, they first escaped from the German anti-aircraft fire network, and then continued to assault in formation.

The Anglo-French air force was in a state of complete undying, while the German anti-aircraft artillery units could only fight back desperately against the increasing casualties. Drag light shells, artillery shells, shrapnel flew in the air, and the German anti-aircraft artillery was slaughtered by the British and French forces in a sneak attack, and each other's losses were increasing.

……