Chapter 1284: Stubborn John Bull
"It's too far away, most of our twin-engine long-range fighter force has been deployed to the western front, and there are only a small number of reserves in the east. If we help the British, even if we abandon all the existing plans, I am afraid that there will not be enough time to complete the deployment. The British lost a small half of their planes on the first day. Coupled with the survival of aircraft carriers of the German Navy, it was difficult for the British to get a respite. If I were British, I would have withdrawn the planes to the mainland or north, before the routes between India and Iran were cut off. The British air force in India was not at all combat-ready, and it was also a 2nd line wing. Combat effectiveness is not as high as on paper. Although Qin Yue did not support Peng Yi's construction, he gave another construction, if the British withdrew the remaining air force to the north, then it would be possible to greatly strengthen the air power of Huaxia, and it was impossible for the Germans' strategic bombers to cross half of Iran diagonally to attack targets in the depth of China.
"As for the old-fashioned British people, I guess they will fight again. After all, the British had already taken Balochistan as their own. The main forces cannot be extracted, we can draw some troops from the Russians and Iranian troops to carry out guerrilla warfare, and drag it out for as long as we can. Peng Yi's words were full of helplessness.
"In fact, the problem is not as strict as everyone thinks, the Luftwaffe and the navy can rely on paratroopers and marines to cooperate with the air force to quickly paralyze each other's air force system, but because these units lack heavy equipment and are limited in number, it is not easy to control the entire southeastern Iranian region, unless the German army can quickly take over after the collapse of the British air force. The elite light forces of the Luftwaffe are afraid that they will be bogged down, although we will not be able to support the British Air Force. But as allies, we can help Montgomery give the German 5th Panzer Division, to which Manstein belongs, on the front. As long as they are frustrated. If there are not enough troops, then the matter in the southeast of Iran can be put on hold for a while. At this moment, Xu Huaide on the opposite side proposed a proposal. He analyzed the whole thing from the perspective of the army, even if the British Air Force collapsed, even if the British did not have many land forces stationed there, but if the Germans wanted to control here, I am afraid it would not be so easy! Controlling an area requires a certain base of troops.
This control force cannot be provided by the Air Force, and the German Navy does not have many marines in the Middle East, so as long as the German Army can be beaten harder. Then the end result is that German planes can soar in the skies of southeastern Iran, and a small number of troops can control the main cities and transportation hubs, but it will take a long time to control the power of the whole region.
This was still very attractive, and Guderian's troops were not able to move forward for the time being, but when the Luftwaffe swept away the British air force and the partisans on the flanks, Manstein's troops could concentrate on Montgomery. With such a force waiting behind his flank, Peng Yi always felt unsafe. The Luftwaffe and navy devoted most of their air forces to attacking the British, while the other part was diverted to the valley of the two rivers, compared to the lack of German forces in the middle. Huaxia, however, had just acquired a new separate armored brigade from the country, which had already gone to Qom along the road and would soon reach the front.
While Huaxia was thinking about what action the British should take if they couldn't bear it, John Bull was still stubbornly sticking to his established plan. The RAF retreated appropriately and regrouped its fleet. While repairing and adjusting the fleet is being carried out, the other side is waiting for reinforcements from home. Out of distrust of their radar network, the British chose to concentrate aircraft and air defense forces in the rear. A large number of ground observation posts have also been rearranged for vigilance. And the British Air Force in India also began sending Spitfires into Iran. Although it is possible to carry a drop tank, it is for a Spitfire with an unusually short range. It is also not an easy task to get to the destination airport.
"We were very short on fuel, and the altitude and speed of the flight needed to be strictly limited. We can't fight in the air. With fuel constraints, our survivability is not much higher than that of bombers. Moreover, the original radio navigation system was destroyed, and we sometimes had to rely on ground reference objects and the pilot's own experience to determine the direction of flight. Said a second lieutenant in the RAF who had been a navigator afterwards.
"Remove all the contents of the magazine, we don't need these things, and the belly of the plane and the pylons under the wings need to be replaced. We use it to carry the cannon pod. "At a British air base in northern Balochistan, a squadron of Pirate Flag is refitting its Mosquito bombers. In short, it was to convert this aircraft, which was originally intended for reconnaissance and bombing, into a heavy fighter. They have minimized unnecessary loads as much as possible, and even put strict limits on the amount of fuel they can carry. After all, while losing a lot of weight, this aircraft also needs to add armor and a lot of weapons.
The other part of the medium bombers could not be converted into heavy fighters because of performance problems, but the British did not let them sit idle, the British took out the inventory of night bombing equipment installed on these planes, and with the help of Huaxia rebuilt the night navigation system, these bombers will attack the airport of Palk Harbour that the Germans have just occupied at night. The British have to tell the Germans with practical actions that even if you have the first mover advantage, the RAF will never give in!
Taking into account the decisiveness of the range of the Spitfire, the British added back fuel tanks to some of the Spitfires, which could not be discarded, but had less impact on the aerodynamic layout. The British figured out guò as a way to increase the time spent in the air by the Spitfire. Plus cannons and aviation fuel obtained from Huaxia. The British were again determined to fight the Germans. On the fourth day of Operation Hanging Garden, the weary Germans and the British entered a period of tug-of-war, and a bitter war of attrition became the mainstream.
"Firefox called the butcher and spotted the German fleet at 2 o'clock in our direction. My squadron will entangle the opposing BF109 fighters, and the rest is up to you. Pay attention to those BF110s, they have a lot of firepower. The Firefox fighter squadron leader said in the channel.
"Nope. Firefox, you go attack BF110. The opponent's BF109 has weak firepower. And the reserve of ammunition is limited, and the threat to us is not very great. Those heavy firepower twin-engine aircraft are our worst enemy. You first lower the altitude and pull the fighter to medium and low altitude. Then we went on the offensive. "Benson of the butcher squadron vetoed the leader of the Firefox squadron, as a Mosquito pilot who participated in the Italian war, he was very clear about the advantages and disadvantages of German aircraft, according to his words, unless the other side was lucky, with his technology and the performance of the Mosquito aircraft, a BF109 wanted to shoot him down, at least 2 times the existing bomb load!
"I wish you success." After a brief silence, the Firefox squadron agreed to the other party's proposal. On the 7th day after the start of Operation Sky Garden. The German bomber group finally met a powerful counterattack from the other side! And the main force of this blow is still the mosquito aircraft that made the Germans hate it in the Italian Civil War, how many years have passed, and the Luftwaffe still has no good way to deal with this guy!
"This thing flies so fast, and it's pretty sturdy, and it's good at high altitudes." In just a few comments, until before World War II, it was the second aircraft that the German bomber group was unwilling to encounter, (the most reluctant to encounter was the aircraft of the Haidongqing Brigade in China.) And this time, with the addition of anti-aircraft rockets provided by Huaxia, the threat of the Mosquito aircraft has risen to a new level!
The Firefox squadron rushed like an angry bull to the BF110 fighters escorting the bomber formation, which had not happened in previous battles. According to past experience, the British Spitfire will always go to the BF109, which is the most capable of air combat, and the Hurricane fighters will go to the BF110 for trouble, and this time. The Firefox squadron flew to the BF110 squadron along with another Hurricane squadron, a change that caught the Germans by surprise.
However, the BF110 had no other way out of necessity, and was forced to fight with the Spitfire after throwing away the drop tank. The BF109 fighter that came up to fill in the seat happened to collide with the Mosquito plane rushing at high speed. A BF109 fighter hurriedly spewed tongues of fire at a Spitfire in front of it, and the fragile firepower composed of an MG151 machine gun and two 13MM machine guns was really nothing to this Spitfire. On the one hand, because the firepower is too weak. On the other hand, the medium and long-range ballistics of the MG151-20 cannon are not outstanding, and the length of the shells of this thing is shorter than that of the 50 machine guns of the US imperialists! The ballistic performance is also stronger than that of the FF Erley cannon. The advantages of the MG151 were a thin shell with a high rate of fire, low weight and a huge charge. But alas, now the Germans have not yet massively loaded thin-shelled shells. AND IF YOU FACE THE MOSQUITO HEAVY FIGHTER EQUIPPED WITH FOUR SPANANO CANNONS AND FOUR 12.7MM MACHINE GUNS, THEN THE SITUATION MUST BE QUITE TRAGIC.
THIS CARELESS NOVICE ONLY SAW AN OVERWHELMING NET OF FIRE SPRAYING OUT FROM THE FRONT OF THE MOSQUITO FIGHTER ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE, AND THE FLAMES OF THE FOUR 20MM GUNS IN THE BOW WERE MORE THAN 2 METERS LONG! In an instant, the distance of less than 300 meters between the two sides was filled with hundreds of shells of various calibers, and in this case, any object that fell into this fire net would be torn to pieces by the tyrannical rain of bullets! In the face of the bull-like attack of the British, the remaining BF109 fighters dodged and tried to rely on good maneuverability to go around the opponent's rear to attack. And the Mosquito fighters of the British did not care about these flies, they aimed at the bombers in front!
"These things are really hard to fight!" When the BF109 fighter went around the back, the Germans found that their speed at this altitude was not superior to that of the mosquito, even if they could get close to a distance of about 300 meters, but as long as the opponent could detect it in advance, they could get rid of it lightly, and the time to fire was extremely short! In addition, the BF109's 20MM cannon ammunition reserve is really pitiful, so the pilot must save as much ammunition as possible. BUT EVEN SO, MOST PILOTS FOUND THAT EVEN IF THEY USED ALL THE 20MM SHELLS, THEY MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO SHOOT DOWN A SINGLE MOSQUITO, AND EVEN MORE SO WITH A 13MM MACHINE GUN.
"I could clearly see my machine gun bullets hitting the engine compartment of the opponent, and the bullets and armor collided and splattered sparks, but the opponent still flew as if nothing happened. Our firepower is too weak! A German pilot cursed loudly.
Each Mosquito aircraft can carry 8 anti-aircraft rockets. The mosquito bombers of the two squadrons launched nearly 200 high-speed rockets in a very short time, and the rockets fired from the diagonal direction rushed towards the well-formed German aircraft group like a waterfall of flames, at this time the straight-line distance between the two sides was only about 700 meters, and the relative horizontal speed of the two sides exceeded the speed of sound! In other words, in less than 2 seconds, the rockets will explode in the German fleet, and in an instant, the sound of explosions and the piercing screams of rockets flying past fill the entire fleet, and the orange flames from the explosion of the rockets and the bombers that were hit paint a tragic scene.
Several JU88 bombers at the front were among the first to fall victim. Unable to dodge, they fought back in vain with their machine guns. Then I watched as the rocket crashed into the plane and turned into a huge flame. The explosion of this wave of attacks was so violent that the shrapnel and wreckage flying in the sky even hit the mosquito planes that entered the battlefield later! The crackling collision caused the Mosquito planes flying at high speed to shake constantly, and even one Mosquito plane was forced to withdraw from the battle because it was hit by a large amount of high-speed shrapnel. Because the attack range was a bit close, after the battle, almost all of the Mosquito planes had some bullet holes left on the surface of the skin.
The Mosquito planes, loaded with cannons and machine guns, rampaged through the German bomber formations like angry porcupines. The fierce Mosquito fighter and the heavy bomber that can also be called a fire hedgehog collided together, countless machine guns were roaring wildly, and a dark red bullet rain shuttled through the air, looking for unlucky targets in the air. A mosquito plane was continuously concentrated by bullets fired from several directions, and the flying tongues of fire directly broke the wings of one side of the plane. The still spinning propellers with their damaged wings moving irregularly in the air. The plane was still flying, but the pilot on it had died, and several large-caliber machine-gun bullets fired from the side pierced the cockpit armor, turning the equipment and personnel inside into a mud mess.
Thanks to the book friend zhouyu1976, hukaikaka for the tip~~~, and the book friend Kuaifeng, dramekyo, and the monthly pass support of the Piccolo Great Demon King 007 ~~~~~. (To be continued......)