Chapter 85: A Deadly Air Raid (I)
On February 16, 316 A.D., the Imperial Army completed all its combat preparations, under the personal command of Archduke Philip.
At half past six o'clock in the morning of the 16th, the temporary airport in the center of Norin City was busy, and one hundred and twenty I-153 fighters were refueling and loading bombs.
Through the aerial reconnaissance in the past few days, although he knew that Ouyang Yu had an air force, he did not develop a sense of air defense, and he did not know how to camouflage the imperial army that prevented reconnaissance, and placed all their heavy magic crystal cannons in the open space that was conducive to shooting, so the location of several heavy artillery clusters was clearly understood by Ouyang Yu.
The price of an I-153 fighter system is 15,000 silver coins, and the recruitment fee for a pilot with a training level of 75 percent is 3,000, plus several times the pilot's ground crew and related equipment, Ouyang Yu can spend a lot of money, so he is also particularly interested in this air raid.
At seven o'clock in the morning, all the I-153 fighters were ready, the roar of the engines resounded through the airport, and one hundred and twenty I-153 fighters flew together under Ouyang Yu's gaze, and then formed four formations in the air and flew towards their respective targets.
Colonel Wood, the commander of the 302nd Heavy Artillery Regiment of the Imperial Army, stood on a small mound, and looked down from the small mound at the position of his heavy artillery regiment was in full swing, the soldiers sweated like rain in the winter and pushed a 210 mm heavy magic crystal cannon to the firing position, a large number of magic crystal shells were loaded with fuses placed next to the firing position, Colonel Wood looked at his pocket watch, there were still more than forty minutes before the launch time of the general attack, and the launch preparations were expected to end in more than ten minutes, more than enough time.
"Buzz....... ”
There was a roar of planes in the sky, and Colonel Wood looked up to see a group of black dots flying from the south, "Huh, the Imperial fighters have been dispatched so early?" According to the plan, the Imperial Army's fighters will attack Norin City at eight o'clock in the morning, but it is only seven or ten in the morning, and it is absolutely impossible for the Imperial Army's fighters to appear here.
"Could it be that the plan has changed?" Colonel Wood was puzzled in his heart, he never realized that the flying group would be Ouyang Yujun's.
The swarm in the sky was getting closer and closer, and when the swarm began to dive, Colonel Wood realized that it was not good, but unfortunately it was over.
"Boom, boom, boom......!"
More than a dozen I-153s began to bombard the 302 Heavy Artillery Regiment indiscriminately, and one after another 50-kilogram bombs exploded on the firing positions of the Heavy Artillery Regiment, and the 210-millimeter heavy magic crystal guns of one gate were blown up, and the nearby artillerymen were also blown into the sky together.
"Boom......!"
The shells stacked nearby were detonated by an aerial bomb, and a huge explosion swept through the entire launch site, a mushroom cloud hundreds of meters high rose one after another, and a large crater hundreds of meters wide and more than thirty meters deep appeared on the ground.
The air attack on the 302nd Heavy Artillery Regiment was only a dozen minutes, when Ouyang Yujun's aircraft group swaggered away, the entire 302nd Heavy Artillery Regiment no longer existed, Colonel Wood knelt down on the small mound in disbelief, his heavy artillery regiment was wiped out without a single shot, he couldn't figure out this kind of thing anyway, he blocked it in his heart, silently took out a pistol and aimed it at his temple and pulled the trigger.
"Your Excellency Commander, something is wrong!"
An officer broke into the tent of the Grand Duke of Philip like crazy, and the Grand Duke of Philip, who was eating, looked at the officer in amazement, wondering what had happened to make him so anxious.
"Your Excellency, I have just received an urgent report from the front line, the air force of Ouyang Yu's army has launched a large-scale air raid on our army, and so far five artillery regiments have been attacked and suffered heavy losses, especially the 302nd Heavy Artillery Regiment has been completely wiped out, and the regiment commander, Colonel Wood, has committed suicide. ”
"What did you say?!"
Archduke Philip stood up in astonishment, knocked over the table in front of him, and hurriedly snatched the battle report from the officer's hand, put on his reading glasses and read it carefully, and read it several times in a row before taking his eyes off the battle report.
"Order our fighter to take off urgently, and be sure to stop Ouyang Yujun's air attack again!"
"Yes!"
However, Grand Duke Philip's order was a little late, just after his order was issued, Ouyang Yu's sixty I-153 fighters reloaded their bombs and began the second air raid, this time the air attack targets included multiple targets within the front army headquarters, and the other sixty flew towards the imperial army's airfield at the beginning.
"Buzz ......!"
A deadly humming sound came from the air, Grand Duke Philip's face changed, and he hurriedly ran out of the tent to look at the sky, where more than a dozen I-153 fighters of Ouyang Yu's army were flying towards his headquarters.
"Quick, immediately order the evacuation of the personnel of the command!"
In fact, there is no need for Grand Duke Philip's order, when they heard the humming of the fighters, the people in the command headquarters had already begun to run around, the people in the command headquarters were very well-informed, the news of the air raid by Ouyang Yu's army had spread rapidly when he had just received the telegram, and now it was found that a large number of fighters were flying from the east, and the people with fast brains immediately understood that this was coming to the air attack headquarters, so they immediately warned the people nearby to flee together.
"Dada...... Dada......!"
The attacking I-153 swooped down from the sky and strafed the scattered crowds, each with two 12.7mm BS machine guns mounted on each I-153 fighter jet, and those who were shot by bullets had little chance of survival.
"Whoosh ......!"
The I-153 fleet began to scrub the ground with eight RS-82 rockets mounted under the wings, the accuracy of the RS-82 rockets is relatively poor, and it may not work to hit fixed targets, but it is good to use it to hit range targets, a salvo of eight RS-82 high-explosive rockets can cover two basketball courts, and it is the most lethal threat to unprotected infantry.
"Boom, boom, boom......!"
The personnel of the command who fled under the heavy rocket fire were killed in a large area, and even the Grand Duke Philip was almost killed by the rockets.
Grand Duke Philip is still a royal family, and the escort team around him is as many as 200 people, and the number of people naturally attracted the attention of the I-153 group in the air, two I-153 fighters swooped down from the air, first strafed a unified with machine guns, and then fired a rocket salvo at a distance of 400 meters, and sixteen rockets fell relatively evenly into the escort, and dozens of people were killed on the spot by the escort.
Grand Duke Philip pushed away the dead guards lying on top of him, and stood up from the ground in a bit of a daze, he now felt the powerlessness of his opponent, the Gallic coalition, under the fleet of Imperial fighters.
"Disperse and leave, you protect Your Excellency the Commander!"
There was no room for much thought on the battlefield, and when the adjutant of Archduke Philip saw that two more I-153 fighters were about to attack, he immediately ordered two guards to set up Archduke Philip and run, while the others used it as bait to leave in the opposite direction, successfully attracting the attention of the two I-153 fighters who were preparing to attack, and ensuring the safety of Archduke Philip with his own life.
More than 80 kilometers west of Norin City, in order to better attack Norin City, the Imperial Army built a temporary airfield here, and the Imperial Army fighters who were ready to participate in the attack were neatly parked on the runway of the airport, the pilots were listening to the mission briefing, and the ground crew were nervously preparing for takeoff.
"Bang!"
An officer suddenly ran into the briefing room with a telegram and whispered something to the flight commander, Brigadier General Würth.
"What did you say? Ouyang Yu's army launched a large-scale air attack on our troops on the front line? His Excellency Commander Philip asked us to go to reinforcements immediately?"
"Whoa......" ×N.
Not to mention Brigadier General Würth, the Imperial pilots present could not believe it, but the telegram had the autograph of Archduke Philip.
"All fighter pilots should leave immediately, and the rest of the pilots should also be ready to take off as soon as possible!"
"Yes, sir!" ×N.
With Commodore Würth's order, more than 300 Imperial pilots ran out of the briefing room and ran to their landlines, and the ground crews began to replenish the Eagle fighters with a high concentration of magic crystal liquid and reload ammunition, and at most more than 80 Eagle fighters could take off after more than ten minutes.
However, from the very beginning, Ouyang Yu did not give the Imperial Army fighters a chance to take off, and when the airport had just received the order of Grand Duke Philip, Ouyang Yu's sixty I-153 fighters had already approached the airport.
"Enemy planes!"
I don't know who shouted, and everyone on the airport turned their eyes to the east, and a large group of black dots loomed in the early morning sun.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry!"
Brigadier General Würth anxiously urged the ground crew to speed up their preparations, but unfortunately time was not on his side, and sixty I-153 fighters had already flown over the airfield.
"Whoosh ......!"
Because the Imperial airfields had no anti-aircraft weapons, the pilots of the I-153 could fly boldly at low altitudes, firing rockets at close range, and their target was the Imperial Army's fighter planes parked neatly on the runway as the best targets.
"Boom, boom, boom......!"
One after another Imperial fighters were hit by rockets, and at the same time that the Imperial fighters were blown to pieces, the flammable high-concentration magic crystal liquid was ignited, and the blue flames burned the nearby Imperial fighters, and the Imperial pilots and nearby ground crews who were lucky not to be hit were also ignited, rolling on the ground screaming with blue flames on their bodies.
After a wave of rockets washed the ground, the I-153 group began to strafe in turn, and the white phosphorus incendiary bombs had a huge effect on the Imperial fighters with metal skeletons and wooden skins, and the hit Imperial fighters soon began to burn, catch fire, and explode, and none of the more than 200 fighters took off and were all destroyed on the ground.