"If it weren't for the fact that the ruins of Florence were still there, I would have thought it would be a nightmare." A Florentine citizen muttered to himself as he cleared the ruins and searched for everything he could use. Since that day when the Germans concentrated a large number of bombers to carry out a strategic bombing of Florence, there has been no new large-scale offensive for a week, and even the Italians are a little puzzled, what happened to those German vultures? Have they all slept in their nests? Don't say it, you really guessed it right, the German strategic bomber unit is really lying in the airfield!

Someone has to ask, didn't it say that the losses of the German strategic bomber forces were not heavy? The complete loss of no more than 10 bombers, that's right. The complete loss of the German strategic bomber force is indeed not much, not even 8%, but this does not mean that other strategic bomber units have not been damaged, the lancer wing was attacked by nearly 100 fighters of all kinds, the bullet holes of the M2 machine gun are almost all over the entire body, and the saddest bomber actually has more than 200 large and small bullet holes on it. Two engines were also destroyed, and half of the wing fell when landing. The plane eventually came back alive, but the damaged engine needed to be replaced, a large amount of skin needed to be repaired, and the landing gear of the guide was damaged due to various problems during landing, which required a lot of manpower and material resources to repair and maintain.

IN ADDITION TO THE AIRCRAFT, THE LOSS OF PERSONNEL IS ALSO RELATIVELY LARGE, AND IT IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR THE 12.7MM MACHINE GUN TO TAKE DOWN THE BOMBER, BUT THERE IS NO ARMOR PROTECTION LIKE SOME MACHINE GUN TOWERS OR SOMETHING. Therefore, many machine gun shooters were killed in this way, and at the same time, due to the damage of the body, there were many cases of shrapnel wounds and deaths. Therefore, in addition to the aircraft needs to be maintained, personnel also need to be replenished. Although the Germans threw this punch quite violently, their own losses were definitely not small. Coupled with the fact that it was the first operation, the lack of experience and preparation made the response inadequate, so the time to recuperate was further extended.

In addition to the damage to personnel and aircraft, the huge cost of strategic bombing also made the Germans and Austrians, who had not yet entered a state of mobilization, feel strained. In this operation, about 300 strategic bombers were used alone (the Lancer Wing was responsible for attacking Florence, and the other two wings were responsible for attacking other targets. Each aircraft uses more than 5 tons of fuel. This alone consumes 1,500 tonnes of jet fuel. Combined with the other aircraft responsible for escorting the ship, the consumption of these fuels is definitely a terrifying figure, and of course, nearly 1,000 tons of bombs. The Germans said that my plane could fly directly over to the Austro-Hungarian airfield. But Austria-Hungary, as an ally, always had to provide bombs and fuel nearby. And this made the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which was caught off guard, a little scrambling, Austria-Hungary did not expect the war to be fought like this, nor did it expect that the consumption of the lancers of the Second Reich would be so large! In short, under a series of human and non-human factors, the German strategic bomber force needed a long time to adjust after the first wave of attacks.

"The Germans are still not well prepared, otherwise the second blow would have come. But it gave me time to adjust. Lin Yongsheng looked at the map and said. It is not so much that the Germans were not ready, but that Austria-Hungary was not ready. Their base in the Balkans will hardly meet the needs of such a large fleet of aircraft. Tycho's answer was full of unscrupulousness toward Austria-Hungary. This is a country that only knows how to provoke a war and does not know how to fight it. Finally Tycho added.

"Haidongqing Brigade? You don't think you talked to me about this unit before. Looking at the text handed over by Lin Yongsheng. Tycho frowned.

"This unit is a heavy fighter unit, but in the beginning we counted it as a ground attack aircraft unit to support the fighting in the north, and now it seems that it is their turn." Lin Yongsheng said.

"Hai Dongqing is a small bird of prey, which is said to be a small bird of prey, fierce and fast. He can catch much larger prey, such as swans. Isn't the implication of this that it can be used against the enemy's heavy bombers? Or maybe Mr. Xu has already thought of such a situation that he might encounter in Italy? Tycho asked tentatively.

"It was prepared, but the response was not sufficient, to be honest, this unit is just a real yàn brigade, the planes in it are all night walkers, all models, we have not found a really suitable aircraft so far, he has 4 squadrons, and as a result, 3 kinds of aircraft were used, the Americans think that the 30MM cannon equipped on it is better to hit ground targets, and at the beginning, the Haidongqing detachment did not take advantage of it in the process of fighting with fighters, So in the end, the Americans expressed their willingness to undertake the prevention and control task of this brigade in exchange for its use as a ground support unit. So....... Lin Yongsheng said with some tears and laughter.

Xu Jie really thought of the situation of German strategic bombers, so he specially arranged for this unit to be stationed in Italy, and also gave it a rather domineering name, Hai Dongqing! The implication is to let them take down a few big guys. And in order to distinguish it from the other brigades, it was set up as a heavy fighter unit. However, after being stationed in Italy, the commander found that the situation of this unit, known as the heavy fighter group, was really poor, although the loss of relying on strong armor was not large, but it was also difficult to defeat the opponent, because the mobility and climb were really miserable, (nonsense, the armor and firepower went up, and the maneuverability was good. And against ordinary twin-engine bombers, it does not show much advantage, so it looks quite chicken on the battlefield!

IT WASN'T UNTIL ONE DAY THAT THIS UNIT FINALLY PLAYED AN IMPORTANT ROLE WHEN IT WAS INVITED BY FRIENDLY FORCES TO PARTICIPATE IN A GROUND ATTACK, AND THE 30MM AND 20MM MACHINE GUNS EQUIPPED WITH THE FIGHTERS CONTINUED TO SUPPRESS A RETREATING CONVOY, SHOWING THE POWERFUL LETHALITY OF HIGH-VELOCITY WEAPONS AGAINST UNARMORED TARGETS. So when the Germans started bombing, the brigade was in the north, and the two sides did not meet. As a result, when the Italians suffered losses and were beaten, the people in charge of front-line air command in China remembered that they seemed to have such a unit equipped with heavy armor and heavy artillery in their hands, which was more suitable for dealing with bombers!

"Transfer them over, we need these heavy firepower guys to clean up the Luftwaffe well, and also, we need to make sure that there are enough fighters to contain the opposing escort forces, but unfortunately we have lost too many fighters in this battle, and several important airfields have also been destroyed, in this case, we can only use sea-based aviation to make up for this gap." Tycho knew that now was not the time to dwell on the problem of the wrong use of the Haidongqing troops, and what it needed now was to mobilize a force to fiercely counterattack the German strategic air force!

"We now have 3 aircraft carriers, with about 180 fighters of all kinds, plus our spare aircraft, which is enough to make up for our losses in this battle, the Austro-Hungarian fleet will not launch a new offensive in a short time, then this air force can be used to support the battle at home, of course, I am not saying that it will be deployed on ground airfields, we have to give full play to the advantages of aircraft carriers as a mobile airfield, on ground airfields, our deployment is easy to be detected by the other side, And if we were at sea, they would not have noticed a new increase in the number of aircraft available to us. Fortunately, Italy is not very wide, and our range is still sufficient. Tycho was also distrustful of the Italian military's secrecy, so he came up with such a solution, and Lin Yongsheng was impressed by this.

"Ordinary people use land-based aviation to support the sea-based, but you have done the opposite, but you have brought the advantages of sea-based mobility and concealment to the extreme! Awesome, really awesome. Lin Yongsheng gave a thumbs up. With these 180 fighters and the Haidongqing Brigade drawn back from the northern front, Tycho now really has the strength to fight the other side head-on!

"No way, there are only a few people in the entire Italian Navy who can be of great use, and if I am more lazy, the Italian Navy will really be finished. The Italian Navy did not have so much money to pay for teaching, nor did it have so much time to train new recruits. Iyakino is good, I put it out just in case we can't get out, the Italian Navy has a good commander anyway. Without your help, this bombing would have been enough to break our bones. Tycho's answer was full of helplessness and bitterness.

"But then we'll have almost all of our reserves empty, and we'll have a hard time finding a full wing to use as a reserve, except for one wing on my carrier." Lin Yongsheng reminded. "Also, whether this operation is successful or not, I think we should be ready to evacuate. Even if this battle can inflict a certain blow on the German strategic bomber troops, their own losses will definitely not be small, to put it bluntly, it is to kill 1,000 enemies and lose 800 self-losses, after all, the opponent's strategic bomber troops are escorted, and the Huaxia army, which can be called an experimental product, is not yet mature. It's hard to say what it will be. And according to intelligence, with the entry of the other two air armies, the balance of power will inevitably be tilted in favor of the Allies, and the defeat of the Entente and the Italian Navy will accelerate.

"Okay, I'll arrange it. I must teach the Germans a profound lesson! Tycho nodded. Until now, he has also felt powerless, and to say that this attack is a return to the light.

Thanks to the book friend hukaikaka for the tip~~~, and the book friend Dai Honghai for the monthly pass support ~~~. (To be continued......)