To the north of Germany is the Baltic Sea, and the Ming Navy has not yet been able to return to this sea area for the time being. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 To the south, there are rolling mountain ranges, which are the most suitable areas for defensive operations, and there is little room for armoured troops.

Topographical constraints directly forced the Ming army to attack on the not wide strip from Vienna to Berlin to the Baltic coast. Moreover, the German garrison in front of them was very strong, and a large number of fortifications were built.

When the all-out offensive of the Ming army began, the casualty reports sent back from the front flew like snowflakes to Zhang Cheng's hands. Let him secretly frightened and at the same time secretly rejoice for his early preparation. If he hadn't gathered so much cannon fodder to put in front of him, these casualty reports would have been enough to make his heart bleed.

Although most of the casualties of the Ming army were cannon fodder recruited by vassal states and colonies, this was also considered a unit of the Ming army. A whole day's assault lasted an average of only a few kilometers under the desperate resistance of the Germans. This was still not in front of the main German defensive positions. But the price paid is already staggering.

The No. 1 operational plan drawn up by the General Staff of the Ming Army was to make a breakthrough near Frankfurt and then detour from the south to the rear of Berlin to join forces attacking from the north of Berlin to encircle the German capital. However, the Germans had already predicted the Ming army's intentions, and they had assembled an unusually strong army near Berlin, which caused the Ming army's offensive to be repeatedly frustrated.

In this case, Zhang Cheng had to consider starting to implement the No. 2 battle plan.

The second battle plan drawn up by the General Staff of the Ming Army was to capture Prague, an important city closer to the south. Then from the Prague area to the north along Dresden, Leipzig flanked the rear of Berlin, thus cutting off the German heavy army group on a large scale. In doing so, they could be dispatched from areas with relatively wide terrain and relatively weak German garrisons, opening up space for the Ming army's armored forces to display their combat effectiveness.

Of course, its shortcomings are also obvious, that is, the elongation of the battle line makes the troops' logistical supply routes in danger of being attacked. The extension of time would also allow the Germans to mobilize reserves to block the Ming offensive. The end goal is Berlin, but the time required is different. The stakes are even greater.

However, after consideration, Zhang Cheng still thinks that it is not appropriate to continue to directly attack Berlin in the current situation. It seems that both he and the General Staff took it for granted that the Germans had taken it for granted. Not to mention whether the tactics of a quick and decisive attack on Berlin can succeed, the cost of casualties alone is already terrifying.

Zhang Cheng was a little vigilant in his heart, and he was also a little frivolous.

In the end, Zhang Cheng decided to continue the attack tomorrow for another day to see how it went. If there is still not much progress, then the battlefield will be widened. The main attacking force was thrown into the area of Prague and Vienna in the south. The Germans had a large army, but they were not strong enough to run everything like a barrel. After all, the offensive initiative was in the hands of the Ming army.

The next day, the wind was mild and the weather was clear. The Ming army began to attack fiercely on all fronts. Thousands of warplanes obscured the sky throughout the day, and hordes of bombs whizzed down, inflicting heavy losses on the Germans on the ground.

On this day, the biggest highlight of Daming Army Aviation was that a bomber formation of Army Aviation was lost because it was trying to avoid aerial melee, but it unexpectedly found a super rat tank called Land Cruiser about 40 kilometers northwest of Frankfurt.

The Super Rat Tank, also known as the Giant Rat Tank, was codenamed P1000 internally in the German Army. This super rat is invincible in tanks.

The length of the Super Rat P1000 is thirty-five meters, the width is fourteen meters, and the height is eleven meters. This volume alone is already a flat building, and all the tanks of the Ming army are the size of toys in front of them. In terms of size alone, the Superrat is a Land Cruiser. And its own weight is more than a thousand tons!

In order to withstand the huge weight of the superrat itself, the width of the tracks on each side reaches an astonishing 3.6 meters, which is composed of three sub-tracks. This superrat tank is capable of reaching a top speed of almost forty kilometers per hour. In terms of size and weight, this is an absolute miracle of human industrial production.

Even the superrat's power system uses an improved version of the Navy's warship engine. Imagine a picture of a Navy warship sailing on land.

Because of its huge size, the Super Rat is equipped with a battleship-level main gun, and it is also a twin turret. At first, it was intended to be equipped with 356 mm guns, but due to technical reasons, it was changed to two twin guns of 280 mm caliber.

In addition to this, the Superrat is armed with two 128 mm guns and twelve 40 mm anti-aircraft guns, as well as several anti-aircraft machine guns. In terms of firepower, it can rank first in the navy, let alone on land. This Super Rat Tank is a super-invincible fortress on land, and no army weapon in the Ming army can compete with it. However, this is only on land.

The Germans seem to be very fond of this superweapon. This is true for artillery, and it is also true for tanks. In addition to the Supermouse P1000, the Germans plan to start construction of the larger P1500, which weighs 1,500 tons. It's just that because of the rapid approach of the Ming army, they couldn't start construction.

This steel behemoth is invincible on land, but its fatal flaw is in the sky.

Although it was equipped with anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns, its huge size and slow speed could only be a dead end if it was attacked by the Ming army's air power. Think about its length, width and height, and then calculate its area to know what kind of fate will happen once the bomber unit of the Ming Army Aviation flies over.

Originally, the Super Rat tank, numbered 002, was to be put to the end near Frankfurt. The main reason why it was not shipped to a safer place on the German-French border for commissioning was that the factory near Frankfurt was the place where its main components were manufactured. This Super Rat tank needs to complete its final assembly work here.

However, the Super Rat tank was very unlucky, and just as it had completed its final tests and was preparing to go to the Essen area to join Car 001, the Ming attack began.

Originally, the superrat was hiding in a nearby shelter, relying on camouflage to prepare to hide until dark before leaving. However, the hiding spot was ignited by a bomb dropped by the Ming army during the air raid in the morning. In desperation, the Germans had no choice but to drive him away urgently, trying to try their luck. After all, if you stay, you will inevitably be discovered after losing your disguise.

However, its luck was really bad, and it was actually met by a team of lost Ming bombers.

At this time, the air cover force originally assigned to this super rat tank has been put into the fierce air battle. Although the Super Rat tank itself has a good air defense, and there are a large number of accompanying escorts around it. But they were faced with members of the elite bomber force of the Ming Army Aviation who had experienced a lot of battles.

After seeing the huge steel monster on the ground, the Ming pilots couldn't believe their eyes.

"What kind of monster is this?" There was a gasp in the communication channel of the Ming pilot.

This kind of stuff is beyond imagination. Some of these pilots may have seen the Ming Army's Tiger heavy tank, and they may have thought that it was already a great steel monster. But today, they saw the monster on the ground here, and they finally understood what it means to have mountains outside the mountains and people outside the people.

"Whatever it is." The flight captain who led the team pulled down his goggles and said in a deep voice in the communication channel, "It has the flag of the Germans on it, and that is our enemy." We're going to destroy it! ”

Twelve dive bombers split into three attack formations and swooped in triangles from three different directions towards the steel monster that was fleeing at full speed. Each of these bombers had a heavy bomb weighing half a ton mounted on its belly!

Although it is not an armor-piercing shell, a half-ton high-explosive bomb is just as powerful once it hits the target. The Germans' Super Rat, despite its front armor up to 380 mm thick, was invincible. At least no artillery on land could penetrate its front armor. However, it is not so thick at the top! Moreover, important parts such as the engine are at the top. Once it is badly damaged, it will most likely be completely destroyed.

It was a textbook classic air raid. With skillful technique and bold style, the pilots of the Ming army braved the anti-aircraft fire whistling from the ground, and rigidly controlled their planes to fly to the larger and larger targets in the sights in front of them. All the Ming pilots knew very well that taking out such a huge thing was the most brilliant achievement of their military career.

Although this Super Rat, numbered 002, has a good air defense force, most of its members are novices who have not been sharpened, and their air defense capabilities are very poor. Although the surrounding air defense tanks shot down four Ming dive bombers one after another with fierce firepower, they failed to prevent the Ming pilots from accurately placing the bombs on the heads of the Super Mouse Tanks.

Four of the eight bombs that were successfully dropped landed on top of the superrat's head, with a 50 percent success rate. In the era when there was no guidance system, it was definitely a remarkable achievement.

The four bombs landed on the vulnerable roof of the Super Rat, causing a violent explosion and destroying the engine radiator in its rear as well as the armor on the top of the main turret. The explosion also ignited the Super Rat's fuel tank, and the costly Super Tank ended up with no shots, and the Ming troops on the ground were destroyed without even seeing it.

This was an era in which air supremacy determined the course of war. (To be continued.) )