artillery arc

Chapter 688 "We must break the myth of Rokossov's invincibility!"

November 8, Eagle's Nest.

Meyer, commander of the Plossen Air Force, was reporting yesterday's situation: "The enemy has adopted a completely new tactic. Fighters no longer accompany bombers, but carry rockets and bombs to attack airports. We are still organizing air interception according to our previous habits, so we were attacked by the enemy's fighter group when the fighter unit was about to take off."

The emperor questioned, "There are so many airports in the country, and the interceptor aircraft also take off in waves. The enemy cannot attack all airports at the same time. There must be a sequence. Why didn't the airports that were not attacked take off urgently?"

"Yes." Grand Duke Meyer took out a handkerchief and wiped his sweat while saying, "When our fighters took off early, the enemy fighters abandoned their bombs and auxiliary fuel tanks and fought with our army. As a result, our army failed to successfully carry out the national air defense operation yesterday, and the enemy bombers successfully reached most of the targets."

The emperor sighed deeply: "I have always valued the Air Force. You did a good job at the beginning of the war, just like the armored troops. But now, why can't you do anything well?
"I commended you last month, saying that you performed well in the national air defense. It's only been a month!"

In fact, last month's good performance was based on an increase in pilot casualties, but Grand Duke Meyer changed the data, and the pilot casualty rate reported to the emperor was the same as last month.

The emperor sighed again and asked, "So do you have any plans to deal with the enemy's new tactics?"

Grand Duke Meyer said quickly: "Yes, yes, we will first prepare to increase the anti-aircraft artillery at the airport. Previously, the enemy's bombing was concentrated on industrial areas and major railway transportation hubs, so a large number of anti-aircraft artillery units were deployed in these places.

"The airport has never been attacked before, so it has only been assigned anti-aircraft artillery units according to the drill manual. There is no bias in the equipment and personnel of anti-aircraft artillery. Next, we will mobilize a large number of small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft artillery to defend the airport.

"Secondly, we plan to immediately launch fighter jets to protect the airport when radar and air defense sentries detect enemy fighter jets invading our airspace. We plan to split the main fighter squadron into two parts: airport escort and bomber interception..."

Giles was quick to sense the problem and raised his hand to interrupt, "Even though all the fighters were deployed to fight for our country's air defense, they still couldn't completely stop the Allied bombing of our country. How can you stop the enemy's bombers if you reduce the number of fighters so much?"

Grand Duke Meyer wiped his sweat and said, "I don't need to worry. Without fighter cover, the enemy bombers are just lambs to be slaughtered. We only need half the original number..."

Giles: "When the enemy first started bombing, there were no escort fighters. You were also unable to stop the enemy from bombing Prosinia?"

The Grand Duke continued to wipe his sweat, “This is because our firepower was insufficient at that time. At that time, our main fighter 109 had less than 200 20mm shells, and the rest were 7mm machine guns, which had too little ability to damage enemy bombers.

"To solve this problem, we used a gun pod, but the effect was not as good as we expected. Now it is different. Our latest fighters have 30mm guns. Just one hit can cause enough damage to the enemy aircraft!"

Giles nodded, looking like he had nothing else to say.

Grand Duke Meyer then continued, “We also plan to modify twin-engine heavy fighters such as the BF110. They can carry heavier firepower and have stronger survivability against the self-defense firepower of bombers. We will use these aircraft to attack the bomber squadrons.

"This will allow us to make use of our twin-engine heavy combat units that currently have lighter combat missions."

Emperor: "What were these double-fired heavy fighters doing before?"

"They mainly carry out reconnaissance missions and occasionally conduct ground attacks. Three wings of twin-engine heavy fighters have installed radars and become night fighters. They have shot down more than 40 Lancaster bombers that were bombing at night."

"Is this a lot?" the emperor asked doubtfully.

Grand Duke Meyer: "It was at night, Your Majesty. It is a good achievement to achieve 40 planes."

At this time, Rundstedt raised his hand: "Can this night fighter be used to drive away the night bombers of the Ante Air Force? The troops are already fed up with these 'Night Witches'."

Grand Duke Meyer shook his head: "No, night bombers mainly rely on ground radar to guide them to approach the target, and then use their own radar to search for the target. Ant's night bombers have very few metal components, the radar echo is weak, and they like to fly close to the ground, so we can't find them.

"In fact, our night fighters couldn't even see the Mosquito bombers that the Royal Air Force used as the lead aircraft for the formation."

The Mosquito bomber, a wooden wonder, was equipped with "wave-transmitting materials" decades ahead of its time.

Emperor Proson stood up and said to Meyer, "The enemy has changed their tactics. We can't blame you for the heavy losses yesterday. Let's see what the actual situation is today. We can't let the enemy bomb our industrial areas and railway facilities anymore. Our equipment production has been reduced by 10% due to the bombing!"

Ten percent may seem insignificant, but when converted into the quality of specific materials, it is extremely scary.

Marshal Celtic immediately said: "We have taken four measures to restore military production as much as possible. By the end of this month, the 10% reduction should be restored - provided that it is not bombed again." Grand Duke Meyer: "This... National air defense operations are very complicated. It is very difficult to accurately find the enemy's bomber fleet in a vast airspace. To ensure that the location of the enemy fleet is 100% accurate, we must further establish a ground surveillance system.

"For example, deploy air defense observers to every street and every town, and even build permanent air defense observation towers on the plains."

The emperor waved his hand and said, "Build!"

Marshal Celtic: “Establishing a network of observation posts requires a large number of observers, and they do nothing but observe the sky every day. They should be working in factories or training new recruits to join the army.

"So the best candidates for observers are people over 55 years old, but in order to convince the public that the mobilization is only temporary and that the country is in good shape, we have not mobilized the elderly and children."

The emperor thought for a moment and said, "Then we can call it the People's Observer, tell the elderly that this is a voluntary community service project, and give him a daily ration. Many elderly people will work hard for the ration."

Marshal Celtic looked at Meyer for the first time and replied, "As you command, Your Majesty."

The emperor looked at the ceiling. "Has today's air defense operation begun? Meyer hopes that the new measures you have taken are effective."

Grand Duke Meyer: "No, the Allies also need to repair and replenish aircraft and reorganize the reduced crews, so they generally do not carry out air raids two days in a row. We are also currently working hard to make up for the losses caused by the enemy's bombing of the airport yesterday."

The emperor nodded.

At this time, the door opened, and the head of the Imperial Household Department came in with the Duke of Redwyt of Labreville and placed a thick brown paper bag on the table in front of the emperor.

Emperor: “What is this?”

"Our mole in the United Kingdom Embassy in Anatolia sent back the minutes of the Barras meeting. There is a lot of key information in it."

The emperor opened the brown paper and took out the document to look through it. He looked up at the two intelligence officers and said, "Have you read it? What do you think of its authenticity?"

Duke Redway: "Our mole in the United Kingdom Embassy in Anatolia has always been very professional and provided a lot of intelligence that was later confirmed. I think this intelligence should be true. The Allies plan to launch a large-scale landing operation in Europa next year, and the possible landing site is in Carolingia."

The emperor shook his head: "No, no, no, that Leonard from the United Kingdom is a professional liar! And it is unlikely that he will sit idly by and watch Ant take over the entire western coast of the White Sea.

“Even if the Allies want to land, they will land on the Moravian Peninsula, so that they can turn the middle of the peninsula into an Allied occupation zone and also involve Anatolia in the war.

"Everything will be just like the war sixty years ago, when it was the United Kingdom and the Carolingian Kingdom that prevented Ant from owning all of Moravia!"

Duke Redway: "But..."

"No buts! I know Leonard too well. Ant is progressing so smoothly, there is no way he would not have evil ideas. Landing in Carolingia to tie down our forces so that Ant can occupy most of Europa?
"No! Absolutely impossible!" The emperor waved his hands repeatedly.

No one raised any objection to the emperor's judgment.

Emperor: "Is there anything else important in the minutes?"

"Also, Ante plans to cross the Tiber River in an offensive this winter."

"Ha!" The emperor laughed. "This is Rokossov's trick. He will attack in September. He will never expect that we have transferred four armored divisions from the Western Front! Four full armored divisions! Fully equipped! And many divisions have also replaced some of the new tanks and destroyers!"

General Moltke and Gilles both laughed. The traditional Junker officers did not laugh at first, but after exchanging glances, they joined in the laughter.

The emperor stood up and said, "Gentlemen, the war situation is not that bad! There will be a major turning point in September! We will strike hard at Rokossov, the source of Ant's confidence, and his army, which has been dubbed invincible, at the Tiber River!

"We must break the myth of Rokossov's invincibility! We must also wake Ante from his dream of destroying our country and realize how powerful Proson is!
"Then, we will take the opportunity to negotiate with Ant! A ceasefire now is a manifestation of responsibility to the Empire, and the people will understand!"

(End of this chapter)