A German "helicopter gunship" patrolling the plains seemed to have a unique advantage over patrol cars and infantry patrols on the ground. It can patrol entire areas at blazing speeds and quickly suppress guerrillas attacking railroad tracks or highways with the weapons it carries.

Compared with modern armed helicopters, this Odin helicopter, although it is already a second-generation German helicopter, is still too simple. The aircraft is only protected by armor plates in some important parts, and it can only protect against ordinary rifle and small-caliber machine gun bullets - as far as its windshield and the like are concerned, it is still very vulnerable.

Of course, the comparator is simply a Crusader helicopter like a convertible, and this Odin helicopter has improved considerably, at least at the level of defense, and the two pilots inside are no longer close to running naked. And the biggest improvement is that its weapon system has been greatly improved.

First of all, this kind of aircraft is equipped with two sets of eight-pack rockets, although the accuracy is not very good, but it can still cover a large area in one go, at least for the lack of artillery support for the mountain troops and reconnaissance patrol alert troops, this kind of fire support is already very "powerful".

Moreover, this helicopter had two cannons of 20 mm caliber, and this weapon was not very successful in experiments, since on the basis of aviation cannons, this weapon reduced the muzzle velocity of some guns (in order to reduce recoil). Therefore, these two cannons did not achieve satisfactory results in anti-tank warfare, but they were used to support the infantry to clear the fire point, which was a great artifact.

In addition to that, there is the 7 carried on the side of the helicopter. G92 machine gun of 42 mm caliber. This weapon is very useful when hovering to cover troops, and can effectively use the altitude to suppress various enemy fire points.

In general, the combat effectiveness of this so-called "gunship" is not much more powerful than that of such an attack aircraft as the Stuka 2, and in some places it is even far inferior. For example, when this kind of helicopter is faced with enemy attack planes or fighters, the means of self-protection are very limited, and it is easy to be shot down by various enemy firepower.

However, with certain benefits, this aircraft received a large number of orders from the German military. Users included the SS, Army, Navy, Air Force, and almost all of them got a slice of the order for this aircraft.

Such aircraft do not require huge airport facilities and do not have high terrain requirements for take-off. The ability to provide troops with vertical towing equipment, the ability to hover over a designated position instead of just skimming by...... In short, there are a lot of features that everyone will love to put down, so everyone is happy to equip some of these aircraft.

Among the many military units, the one that is equipped with such aircraft the most is the Wehrmacht of the German Army. These generals are keen to build a three-dimensional rapid reaction force, using helicopters to augment the troops' firepower in order to realize the Army's super-enhanced Blitzkrieg operational concept at some point in the future.

For those who understand, all of the above is just a pretext. In fact, to put it bluntly, the army intends to take a share of the support function of the air force, and use this emerging means to increase its power chips. The subtext is simple, "The army must also have an army that can fly."

Sometimes this idea is very naïve, but I have to admit that at least in this situation, this is how the German Odin helicopter was developed, and with the market there is room for development, and German engineers have a more relaxed environment to develop better helicopters.

The truth is actually very cruel, and even today, 70 years later, helicopter gunships do not have much advantage over real tank killer attack aircraft. Comparing the more mature A10 attack aircraft with the SU25 attack aircraft and the AH-64 Apache, they also have their own advantages, not to say that the armed helicopter has an overwhelming combat advantage in anti-tank.

As for why you have to endure it even if you grit your teeth, the reason is just the competition between the arms. This may be very ruthless for soldiers fighting on the front line, but for the entire branch of the military, they can take the first step in three-dimensional combat in this blind persistence.

If this kind of competition is suppressed to a limited extent, it will be a virtuous circle of tactical baking powder, which will enable the troops to endlessly explore new tactical areas; of course, if this kind of competition is not ashamed, the vicious circle will continue to be the root cause of the Japanese army and navy's compulsion, and the humiliating circle of tearing each other down.

"This is Clairvoyant 3, this is Claireye 3, I'm patrolling this area with number K! "The captain in charge of piloting the plane radioed the nearby Army Air Corps Command, which made it easier for the Army to contact the Air Force for support between the services, and on the other hand, it was an improvement.

"If there is no situation, fly back in a circle according to the pre-set route...... There are two ground patrols in Area K, would you like to say hello to them?" Next to the radio equipment in the ground command center, the German officer on duty was stirring his own spoon with coffee mixed with sugar. Army aviation is treated in the air force in the same way as the air force, and is much better than the armoured forces, so even close to the front line, most people can occasionally drink luxurious coffee.

"Okay, you can tell me their channel ......" The captain smiled and adjusted the flight altitude of the plane, locking his altitude to a relatively high position, where the threat of ground weapons to the helicopter was relatively small, and they could fly the whole distance in a relatively safer way.

"Hey, look over there, there's something on the ground!" the co-pilot, the weapon operator called out to his partner on the throat intercom, hoping to get the captain's attention. Apparently he had seen something and needed the captain to readjust the trajectory of the flight so that he could confirm it.

"Where?" the captain adjusted the two joysticks overhead to slow down the helicopter's speed, and then he adjusted the joystick in his hand and aimed the nose of the plane at the co-pilot who said there was a situation.

Soon he saw what was really happening on the ground, some German soldiers were firing and opposite them were some gunmen dressed in civilian clothes. The two groups were firing at each other from their respective covers, tracer bullets drawing dazzling but very short straight lines on the ground.

"Command, please answer, Command, answer!" the captain made contact with his ground command as he began to slowly descend the plane. Hearing the answer from the officer on duty in the headset, he continued: "I see troops on the ground exchanging fire, please check if there is any situation nearby! Please check which unit is fighting nearby." ”

The sound from the headset almost made the officer on duty swallow his soup spoon into his stomach, he hurriedly stood up from his radio, shouted "I'll check", then pulled off the headset and ran quickly to the patrol detachment command radio in a room not far away.

Then he ran back in a panic, grabbed the microphone and shouted, "There's a squad in Area K that has been attacked, and those stupid people forgot to notify us...... I'll shoot when I can tell the enemy!

"Clairvoyant No. 3 understands!" After the captain replied, he gave his co-pilot an attack order: "I'll descend to the altitude, you look for a chance to open fire! Kill all those who don't wear German uniforms! Pay attention to the surrounding environment! Be careful of ambushes." ”

"Okay! keep the people behind you safe! I'm going to use rockets!" shouted the weapon operator in the co-pilot, there was a partition behind him, and behind the door were two machine gunners wearing seat belts, who were also responsible for searching and reconnaissance, and operating machine guns to fire during combat.

Without the slightest hesitation, the German helicopter aimed its nose at the target on the ground, slightly adjusted the direction of the nose, and the weapon operator in the co-pilot pressed the rocket launch button, so that the entire fuselage of the winning classifier began to tremble, and with this trembling, one rocket after another rushed to the target area about hundreds of meters away.

The accuracy of this rocket is not particularly good, so in order to increase the hit probability of this rocket and control the dispersion, German helicopters generally compress the launch distance to within one kilometer, and in most cases fire at a range of hundreds of meters, in pursuit of the accuracy they want.

With a dazzling glow in the air, a German soldier shrank back behind the rocks and leaned on his steel helmet as the helicopter spewed fire in the direction of the enemy, his gaze following the rockets across the sky, and then poking his head out to look the other side. It was instantly enveloped in a sea of fire formed by an explosion, and the machine gun position, which was extremely fierce just now, was instantly silent.

"I'm going to go sideways over the fuselage, and they need to keep suppressing fire. The captain looked at the exploding open area, such a single target in the open field was a rare target, and the helicopter was not difficult to deal with such a target. He adjusted the nose of the plane, and the machine gun on the side got the angle of the shot, so the machine gun began to shoot tongues of fire, and tracer bullets rained down on the ground.

On the ground, the German soldiers who watched the helicopter show off their might immediately came to their fighting spirits, they had just been so depressed by these damned Soviet partisans that they finally had a chance to take revenge.

I don't know who shouted out, everyone raised their weapons: "Rush!"