artillery arc

Chapter 421 This time the Air Force is actually reliable!
At 23 p.m. on the rd, Yeiskant First Mobile Army Headquarters.

Wang Zhong put down the preliminary summary of the casualties and results of the battle on the front line and said to Pavlov: "The losses are still huge. The Prosen Armored Forces are the obstacle we cannot overcome."

Pavlov: "Last year we had several exchanges of beautiful battles. One time we took advantage of the enemy's lack of experience in dealing with T34, and the remaining two were defensive battles in pre-set positions.

"We have indeed never gained an advantage in an armored confrontation on the plains. In the previous armored confrontation on the grassland outside Yeisk, we had the advantage of vortex equipment, but in the end it ended up like that."

While Pavlov was speaking, Popov took the preliminary summary report, glanced at it and said, "In fact, the 40th Tank Army suffered the most losses. They are old-style tank units, and they don't even have many radios. This indirectly proves that the new measures we have taken in our army group are very effective."

Wang Zhong: "You can say that. Unfortunately, the current radio production is still insufficient. The report given by the Equipment Department before we came here said that it would take until October this year to ensure that every tank produced has a radio."

Many of Ant's precision industries are mainly located in the St. Andrew's Fort Industrial Zone. Now that St. Andrew's Fort is surrounded by Prosent, the lost production capacity is not so easy to make up.

Popov: "Think of it this way. We have so many radios, which is a bit of a luxury."

Wang Zhong: "I will not reduce our radio equipment, no! The quality of our group army's soldiers is higher than that of ordinary ANT troops. Equipping them with more radios to fully utilize the advantages of their quality is far better than giving radios to a unit full of recruits."

Popov laughed, "I didn't say we should reduce our radios."

He changed the subject and returned to the current combat objective: "We have already hurt the enemy's Tenth Army. Now it depends on whether the fake tank can deceive the enemy."

Pavlov looked at his watch and said, "It's almost time for the enemy reconnaissance planes to come. They always come at this time every day, take pictures, and then run back when night falls."

As soon as he finished speaking, the phone rang. Pavlov immediately picked up the receiver: "Commander. OK, I got it."

After putting down the receiver, he said to Wang Zhong, "Here they come. Brother Peter heard a high-altitude reconnaissance plane and several bombers. They should be here to bomb us and conduct reconnaissance at the same time."

Wang Zhong: "Very good, let the anti-aircraft artillery unit act more realistically! Also, light the tires at the designated locations."

The purpose of lighting the tires was to create black smoke, which would interfere with the enemy's photographic reconnaissance. However, this time Wang Zhong specially adjusted the position of the tire pile to ensure that there were enough "gaps" to allow the enemy to discover the assembled "tank troops."

After giving the order, Wang Zhong happily switched perspective and looked for the reconnaissance plane in the sky.

It didn't take much effort for him to find the reconnaissance aircraft hidden among the bombers. With the help of the bird's-eye view, he could even clearly see the face of the enemy observer behind the glass.

——You must keep your eyes open, Observer Dawasili! Look carefully at the tanks on the ground!
----

On the No. 103 Plossen reconnaissance plane, Air Force Major Hans Fred was operating a ground observation device converted from a bombing sight. This device was linked to a new high-magnification camera gun on the belly of the aircraft, and as long as Fred pressed the button on the device, a photo would be taken.

The old camera on the plane is still retained. After the timer is turned on, it will take a picture at regular intervals. The developed photos can be connected into a line to record in detail the enemy-occupied areas that the reconnaissance plane flies over.

Major Fred carefully observed the ground, and at this time the captain's voice came from the headset: "Did you see anything?"

Fred: "Not yet. The enemy has set the tires on fire, blocking my view with smoke."

Just as he finished speaking, a small black flower exploded about one kilometer ahead of the plane.

The Ants' anti-aircraft guns fired up.

The plane was clearly tilted to the right, and other bombers could be seen circling to the right outside the window.

The fire kill zone fired by ground anti-aircraft artillery had little effect on bombers, but pilot Plosson was reluctant to risk the armor and structural strength of his aircraft by charging into the kill zone.

The fleet's route switched to the southeast, bypassing the kill zone that was already filled with black smoke.

Not long after returning to level flight, the lead plane began to circle to the left, and the floor under Fred's feet began to tilt to the left again.

But during this process, Fred focused on looking at the ground through the observation mirror.

Suddenly, he shouted, "Something's wrong! There seem to be a lot of tanks under the smoke!"

While speaking, he pressed the operating button several times, allowing the camera to take continuous pictures.

The captain's voice came over the intercom: "Are you sure?"

"Not sure. The smoke obscures my view and I can only see the tip of the iceberg. I request to lower my altitude!"

The captain was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Wait until the bombers' bombs explode and the wind direction changes slightly, then maybe we can see clearly."

At this time, a new fire strike area of ​​​​the anti-aircraft artillery appeared, again on the side of the flight direction of the Plossen group.

But this time the Ants were cautious, and some of their anti-aircraft guns did not conduct advance aiming, but instead blindly guessed the formation's new course.

They guessed it, or of course it could be that they had gained experience from long-term research into the maneuvering patterns of the Prosun aircraft.

After all, whether it is Proson's navigator or the formation leader, they all like to act according to dogma. This is not prejudice, but they really do so.

In short, as soon as the lead plane of the formation started to turn, black clouds appeared among the fleet.

An anti-aircraft shell exploded near the No. 103 aircraft. Major Fred heard a crash in the cabin behind him, and then heard the machine gunner's curse from the inside line: "Damn it! I was hit by shrapnel! Damn it!"

Fred still ignored all this and continued to stare at the ground.

Suddenly, a piece of shrapnel pierced the glass window of his combat position, shattering the glass, and then shattering the dashboard on his left hand side.

Fred cursed, turned around and saw that the mercury meter was broken, and the mercury flowed out and fell on the steel plate. Captain: "What's going on? Can we continue to observe?"

"Yes! Please continue circling."

At this time, the bombers began to drop bombs, and piles of bombs rushed out of the bomb bay and fell to the ground.

After completing the bombing, the bomber group began to circle right, preparing to enter the return route.

Fred shouted, "Don't turn back! We have to find out what's going on the ground!"

Captain: "Don't worry, I have no plans to return - yet. You have five minutes to confirm the situation on the ground, otherwise I have to leave. The longer you stay over the enemy, the greater the chance of being entangled by enemy fighters!"

Fred's eyes were pressed against the eyepiece of the observation device, as if his eyeballs would be dug out by the frame of the eyepiece at any moment.

"Can't we fly lower?" he asked.

Captain: "No! We have to return, from high altitude! Otherwise the enemy's high-altitude fighters will come up!"

Because of the mention of "enemy's high-altitude fighters", Fred raised his head and looked towards the direction of the sun - because the dazzling light of the sun in this direction would obscure the silhouette of the aircraft, so sneak attacks are usually launched from the direction of the sun.

Maybe it was because he was staring at the observation instrument for too long, but for a moment Fred actually thought he saw an enemy plane preparing to dive.

Then he realized that it was unlikely that the human eye could clearly see units so far away when facing the sun - even a four-engine heavy bomber would be difficult to see clearly in this situation.

Fred said to the captain, "I think I see something in the direction of the sun."

"What?" The captain was shocked. "Where is it? Let me see!"

A few seconds later, the captain's voice was full of tension: "You saw it right, Major Fred! The enemy's high-altitude fighters are high in the sky!"

Where else can high-altitude fighter jets be if not in the sky?

The next moment the captain shouted: "Falcon! Call Falcon! We have key intelligence that must be brought back to the airport! Call Falcon!"

The fighter group responsible for covering the mixed formation of bombers and reconnaissance aircraft had a radio call sign of "Falcon". Now they should be waiting somewhere overhead for enemy aircraft to "take the bait".

The bait, of course, is the twin-engine aircraft group below.

As the captain's calls became more hysterical, the gunner in the dorsal turret shouted, "Enemy plane! Coming towards us! I'm going to open fire!"

There was the sound of machine-gun fire.

Major Fred felt his adrenaline rushing, and sweat broke out on his head.

He adjusted the zoom parameters of the camera gun with his hands trembling slightly due to nervousness, and then pressed the buttons continuously.

Suddenly, the plane shook.

The co-pilot yelled, "Left engine is out!"

A MiG-3 roared past behind No. 103's tail.

The tail turret also opened fire.

Fred's earphones were filled with the rattle of the defensive machine gun.

Suddenly, a voice rang through the headsets of all the crew members: "The Falcon is coming!"

Fred couldn't help but take his eyes off the observation device and looked around for the fighter planes of the Proson Air Force.

He saw it.

The 109 fighter's signature yellow nose reflected the sunlight as it dived down from the sky.

The MiG-103s that were originally preparing to besiege aircraft No. 3 began defensive maneuvers.

Fred saw a MiG-3 trying to use a broken-S maneuver to get under the wing of the diving 109, but the 109 pilot anticipated it and started rolling in advance.

As soon as the MiG-3 completed the maneuver, the 109 also turned around, so the pilot easily grabbed a large cross-section with the joystick.

The fuselage of the MiG-3 caught fire and fell to the ground, trailing thick smoke.

Fred felt relieved and prepared to continue observing the ground, but at this time the reconnaissance plane began to circle and turn towards the return route.

Fred shouted, "We have fighter jets coming, let me take more pictures!"

"It's too late. We've shut down one of our engines! If we want to return now, we can only make an emergency landing in our occupied area! We have to go!"

Fred had no choice but to ignore the fact that the plane was shaking like a ship about to capsize. He grabbed the observation device and frantically pressed buttons to take pictures.

I can only hope that some of the developed photos will be usable!

(End of this chapter)