At noon on July 5, 1938, Lin Youde in Hanover received a telegram confirming that the British naval goddess Elena had left the British naval fleet at the mouth of the Elbe.

Lin Youde threw the newspaper on the desk, stood up and walked to the wine cabinet, poured himself a large glass and drank it in one gulp - he realized that he had taken the wrong wine bottle, and it was actually the absinthe that Viola liked, and the strange smell and the burning sensation caused by the alcohol rushing through the esophagus made Lin Youde's eyes narrow.

Viola looked at Lin Youde and didn't speak.

Lin Youde walked back to the window and looked at the scenery outside the window, looking like he was reminiscing about the "comfort" brought by that big sip of absinthe. Finally, he turned back to Viola and said, "Now I feel like I'm standing at a fork in the road in history, and I can't calm down at the thought that my decision could affect the world's perception of a certain area in the next ten years." ”

"But you knew it was coming, didn't you?" Viola smiled at Lin Youde, but as soon as she smiled, she put away her smile and changed her tone to a helpless tone, "Don't pretend, what we have been waiting for is this moment, you will definitely give the order." ”

"I just wanted to brew the atmosphere." Lin Youde returned to the table with an expression of "you are too incomprehensible", and then picked up the phone, "Sissi?" Now immediately send the report, 'Climb to new heights', yes, that's the codeword, no, not suddenly, my lads have been preparing for this for three months. ”

**

Joachim? Koschner was violently woken up from his sleep - his partner Daimler slammed his bed with great frequency, urging him loudly: "Hurry up, Koschner, the order is here, 'Climb new heights'!" ”

Joachim jumped to his feet with a spirit, and slammed his head against the plank of the top bunk. He swore and got up, and did not bother to fold the towel quilt, and reached for his uniform—and then he realized that he was already wearing it.

"I'll go first, see you in the briefing room!" As Daimler rushed out of the room, Joachim picked up the belt he had casually left at the head of the bed and rushed out of the room while tying it around his waist, but suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to put on his military hat, and turned back to pick up the boat-shaped hat hanging on the wall.

Joachim just took his hat in his mouth and tied his belt as he ran. When he rushed out of the pilot's quarters building, the entire base was full of people, all running to their stations.

A trailer carrying a bomb larger than Joachim drove past Joachim, and the driver honked his horn brazenly.

Joachim continued to run, and soon he blended into the crowd of pilots who were also getting dressed as they ran, and the crowd wrapped around her, pushing him as fast as he could towards the large tent where the flight briefing room was located.

Joachim almost missed his team's briefing room, and by the time he managed to squeeze his way through the crowd and rush into the dedicated briefing room of the 4th Dive Bomber Group, Captain Rudell was already standing on the podium of the briefing room.

"You're late, Kirschner." Rudel frowned, looking very displeased, "If it weren't for today's combat operations that require every rookie who knows how to drop bombs, you would have to be locked up today, understand?" Of course, if you come back alive today, you'll be locked up too, secretary, and take note of me, whether I come back alive or not, he'll be locked up. ”

After Rudel finished speaking, the secretary who was guarding the door of the briefing room nodded: "I made a note, he will be punished as he deserves, sir." ”

Rudell nodded in satisfaction, then waved to Joachim and told him to take his seat.

Once Joachim was seated, Rudel scanned the briefing room, where the more than 300 pilots of the 4th Bomber Group were all watching him, waiting for him to begin the briefing on the mission.

"I think you already know," Rudel said in an unhurried tone, "we've just received the signal for the start of the action: to climb new heights. You are about to take part in the largest air attack in the history of mankind. You will be part of a vast fleet of over a thousand bombers to attack the most powerful fleet that humanity has ever had. What you are trying to do has never been successful in the history of mankind. The Americans tried once a few years ago, but they shamefully failed. ”

Rudel paused.

"I don't want to give you empty checks, no one can guarantee the effect of an air attack on a thick-skinned battleship, not even the Chinese gentleman who planned the whole operation. You may die in vain in this operation, and even become the laughing stock of future generations. So I'm giving you a chance to quit, and if anyone doesn't want to take part in the action, you can leave the briefing room now. ”

Rudel waited, but no one went out, and everyone looked at him steadfastly.

Then Joachim suddenly raised his hand and said, "I want to pee, sir." ”

Laughter erupted in the briefing room.

Rudell also smiled, but immediately regained his expressionless appearance: "You can pee after the briefing, just pee on the wheels of your plane, maybe this will bring you shit luck." Okay, it looks like no one is going to quit, so let's move on to the next step. ”

Rudel pulled open the hanging scroll behind his back and showed the pilots the photo attached to the canvas.

"You've heard me say this many times, but I'm going to repeat it, lest someone who is going to battle for the first time will be so scared that they pee their pants and forget what to do. First of all, it is the preferred target of our attack. ”

Rudel clenched his right hand into a fist and slapped it the aerial photo in the upper right corner.

"You've seen a lot of pictures of it, from all angles. This is the Hood, the flagship of the British Home Fleet, and the Fleet Commander Sir Charles is on it, and it is also equipped with the magic armor of the naval goddess Emily, but Emily, as the goddess who participated in the last war, is very old, so she is only in name, and she is still on the British mainland, theoretically she can come to the war at any time when necessary, but this ship is now without a goddess. But it's still our primary goal! Then there is this one, with its four-tube turret, which is the newest British battleship, the King George V. These ships are all symbols of the British Empire, and no matter how much damage we actually inflicted on the British fleet, sinking them is a great victory.

"Remember, there were more people on one battleship than our entire group of pilots and ground crews combined, and sinking it would cause more casualties than our entire group being wiped out. So don't be afraid, brave the dive. I have also talked about attack tactics many times, and we will use a combination of large-angle dive and small-angle landing to disperse the anti-aircraft fire of the battleship as much as possible. Each squadron is divided into VS teams with medium bombs for small-angle attacks and VB teams with heavy bombs for high-angle dive attacks, and the two squadrons will stagger the dive start time and eventually attack at the same time, remember, attack at the same time. ”

Rudel banged the table.

"If you don't want the battle queen on the enemy ship to use energy weapons to kill her comrades and immediately turn the muzzle to attack you, just keep me at the same high level of cooperation as in training! The time difference between the two detachments to drop bombs should be controlled within twenty seconds! Twenty seconds! ”

Rudel breathed a sigh of relief, then picked up the cup on the table and poured a large sip of water.

He looked outside the tent, where the ground crew had already begun to push the bomb-laden warplanes out of the hangar.

According to the standard process, it takes about 30 minutes for the ground crew to complete all the bomb loading and refueling work, and the pilots now have about 20 minutes to use freely.

"Now, there is paper and pen here," Rudel gestured, and the chief of the department immediately instructed the orderlies to bring out a large stack of brand new envelopes and stationery, "Those who want to write a letter to their families or suicide note, please feel free, remember not to write for too long, there is not much time." ”

After the captain's words fell, the pilots, you look at me, I look at you, no one moved for the time being, probably they all felt that it was not lucky to write a suicide note.

Rudel didn't urge, he took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, turned around and walked outside the tent, leaning against the iron pillars supporting the tent, watching the ground staff on the airport rush.

At this time, Joachim's partner Daimler tapped him on the shoulder.

"Come on, cigar, I got the high-end goods from the logistics yesterday, and it is said that they were smoked for General Green."

Joachim turned his head and took the thick cigarette in delight.

"How is it just one? Isn't that now that you don't have to smoke when you come back in triumph? ”

"Come on," Daimler said, pulling out another, "these two have already taken the Mark I won yesterday in blackjack." ”

At this time, the pilot of the other crew in front of him looked back and smiled: "If we come back alive after completing our mission, I bet we will not only have enough cigar tubes, but we will also be able to taste Bordeaux vintage, the oldest one I have ever drunk is only five years old, and this time we will have to taste what it tastes like for fifteen years." ”

"Hmph, it's really useless," the pilot next to him shook his head, "a fifteen-year-old bottle of wine is enough?" I'm going to Sanssouci for a real Chinese meal. After returning home, those pilots who participated in the Turkish campaign were all entertained by Mr. Lin Youde to Sanssouci Palace, and ate something called Manchu Han Quanxi, I must try that thing. ”

This made many pilots laugh, including Joachim.

Joachim decided to save the cigar for the rest of the operation before smoking.

Just as he was about to put the cigar in his flight suit pocket, one of the pilots sitting in the front row left his position and went to the registrar to get an envelope and pen and paper.

"Hey, don't be so nervous," said one pilot in a disapproving tone to the pen and paper, "the British can't hit targets above 500 per hour, believe me." ”

"There's a saying about being prepared." The man holding the envelope shrugged, "Even if the British can't hit us, we could be planted in the sea due to mechanical problems, you know, I can't swim." ”

Joachim remembered that he couldn't swim either, and when he touched the water, he would sink to the bottom like a piece of iron targeted by a magnet.

After a brief hesitation, he stood up and said, "I just remembered that I can't fucking swim." ”

With that, he walked up to the secretary and took an envelope and pen and paper.

After that, the pilots stepped forward one after another, and soon the only sound of writing was left in the briefing room, which had just been noisy.