New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

() I have to say that half of the veteran students in this batch are easy to teach. First of all, the mental state of the veterans is more stable.And with them leading them, it will be much easier for rookies to adjust their mentality.Once the mentality is adjusted, the progress in learning will be quite obvious.The cadets are getting better and better in confrontation training. For example, in the training of safari courses, the rookies are now shot down much less often, and they can often hunt the "old foxes" of the "Reverse Cross". up.Two weeks later, the "Hunter" with an overwhelming numerical advantage finally equalized the exchange ratio.

In terms of ground attack, the progress of the students is also very obvious. They are now familiar with the shooting characteristics of the enemy's various anti-aircraft guns. Type, and quickly make a reasonable dodge action that not only makes it difficult for the anti-aircraft gun to aim, but also does not consume too much energy and interfere with its own attack on the target.

More than a month later, the new students finally ushered in their graduation exam, and a confrontation drill with a complex tactical background is about to start.

The tactical background of this exercise is set as follows:

After landing on the coast of France, the American troops began to advance towards the French and Belgian and Dutch borders.In order to surround the enemy, the U.S. military sent airborne troops to occupy a crucial railway bridge and a small town to the west of the bridge.But at this time, something unexpected happened to the US military. There was a full armored division of the German Waffen SS stationed near this place.In the previous reconnaissance, the Americans failed to find them.The airborne troops of about two regiments that are now airborne here will face attacks from enemies that are several times their own, including an armored division!

The surrounded paratroopers lacked heavy weapons. Although several 57mm m1 anti-tank guns were air-dropped urgently, the number of anti-tank guns to suppress the artillery was still seriously insufficient.The German army has hundreds of suppression artillery with a caliber of 75 mm or more and more than 200 tanks and self-propelled artillery.Among them are the powerful Tiger tank, Leopard tank and Cheetah self-propelled anti-tank gun.Even if the 57mm anti-tank guns in the hands of American paratroopers use shell-piercing shells, it is difficult to destroy them from the front.

No other U.S. military force could come to rescue the siege in a short time, and now only the Army Air Force can save the crisis.The task of Army Aviation is to fully support the surrounded paratroopers and provide them with fire support until other relief troops arrive.

"The greatest threat to our ground forces is the enemy's suppressing artillery. The enemy has hundreds of various artillery pieces, including some big ones with a 6-inch caliber. The defense depth of our ground forces is very deep. They are all within the strike range of these artillery, and due to the rush of time, our ground troops also lack strong enough fortifications. If they are allowed to open fire, even if the Germans come with light infantry, they may be able to kill them in one morning. The two paratrooper regiments were pushed. Therefore, these artillery groups are our key targets." At the preparation meeting, Scott was doing task deployment for the students.

"In addition to the artillery group, the enemy's tanks, especially heavy tanks, are also the targets we must focus on. Our ground forces lack effective anti-tank weapons. For tanks, especially heavy tanks, in addition to laying mines and risking death The bazooka has little to no effect except from the side. So the anti-tank is basically completely dependent on us. In addition, the enemy may also be supported by a small number of fighters... Now we will assign tasks to the various departments..."

……

"Cagliari, look at the road at 3 o'clock!" B-25 navigator Michel shouted at Captain Cagliari.

Cagliari looked down to the right, where there was a quiet grove, and there seemed to be nothing.But the path outside the woods has been turned over almost entirely—this is the trace left by the tracks of the armored troops.

Cagliari circled the woods with his fleet: there were no traces of the armor leaving the woods.This means that this is likely to be a rallying point for enemy armor.

"Bring me the map!" Cagliari said.

"Okay," Michelle hurriedly pulled out the map.

"Starting from here, there is a distance of 6 kilometers to our defensive position, and there is still a section in the middle that passes through an area with relatively undulating terrain." Michelle raised his head, "It is not impossible to start from here, but it will make people The armored units have been exposed to air strikes for quite some time. So I think this forest is probably a false target..."

……

Sergeant Lewis securing an inflatable model of an 88mm gun to the emplacement.Next to this fake 88 gun, there is a large row of the same goods.In fact, there are so many false targets like this that some practitioners are calling for them.They said, did the Germans have such sufficient preparations in advance, even prepared so many false targets?

If you see a target, attack it regardless of whether it is true or false. Even if the students are exhausted, they are no match for those who blow up balloons.As the saying goes, those who can make are not as good as those who can blow up, and those who can blow up are not as good as those who can blow.The ability to identify false targets will largely determine success or failure.

However, as long as you fly a little lower and observe carefully, the inflatable model is still easy to identify.For example, now, in a reconnaissance plane flying over the position, the pilot Cook made the following mark on the map: "False target!"

Of course, it is necessary to strike some dangerous areas, regardless of whether there are signs that there are enemy troops there.After research, everyone has identified the most dangerous areas. If the enemy starts from here, they can pose the greatest threat to the defensive position in a short time.So some B-25 bombers will be sent to sweep these areas even at night.

Will the enemy attack at night?This is a big problem.Although the trainees have also had some training in night attacks.But the efficiency of attacking at night is definitely much lower than during the day.So at the beginning, the students were very worried about this time period.

But in fact, it will cause a lot of trouble for the attacker at night.Under the condition that there is always a cluster of attack aircraft in the sky, when the suppression artillery group fires at night, the flash of the muzzle will be particularly obvious, and it is almost impossible to avoid the eyes of the attack aircraft.At night, it is difficult for anti-aircraft guns to cover these artillery pieces.Therefore, if the enemy chooses to attack at night, they must be prepared to quickly lose most of the suppression artillery under the attack of the attack aircraft.On the other hand, the attacking tank's vision will be greatly affected, making it easier to fall into the trap of enemy infantry.

So a purely nighttime attack is not an option.Generally speaking, the best time to attack is dawn.During this time, when attacking forces muster in staging areas and advance toward their targets, they can be covered by darkness.And when they launched their attack, it was dawn, which made it easier for them to attack.Therefore, the time of dawn is the most dangerous time.

Now, night has fallen, and the cadets and the American troops simulating the German army are making final preparations.

Under the dim starlight, Sergeant Lewis directed his squad to put away the inflatable models in the dark, and then pushed a real 88mm gun into the gun emplacement...

At a position close to the paratrooper defense line, the paratroopers heard the roar of tank tracks coming from all directions, and at a height of no more than 400 meters above the ground, the engine of a reconnaissance plane was running at idle speed. Gliding, the pilot opened the cockpit and listened to the movement below.

"Drop the flare!" At the place where the noise of the tank's tracks was the loudest, the driver Colt gave the order, and at the same time he increased the horsepower.

A flare was thrown out, and a few seconds later, it burned in the air, illuminating a large area with pale light.But there was nothing there, only the roar of tank tracks was still coming.

"Damn it, these guys are really cunning! This must be the sound they played through the speakers!" Colt understood immediately.

"The enemy is covering the real moving tanks by setting up these tweeters all over the place, playing the sound of tanks moving. The enemy tanks may be entering the starting position."

……

A team of m5 tanks with their headlights turned off was slowly advancing in the dark on the road leading to the assembly point.The tanks were camouflaged with branches so that when necessary, when they were parked on the side of the road, they looked like trees on the side of the road from the air.At this time, the sound of the engine of the plane came from the air, and the tanks stopped immediately and turned off the motor.After a while, the sound of the plane died away.The tanks began to move forward again.

……

A full 12 B-25 bombers took off from the airport loaded with bombs.The task of some of their aircraft is to stand by near suspicious locations. The reconnaissance aircraft will drop flares at suspicious locations every once in a while. Once targets are found, they will drop bombs on these targets.Other bombers will drop time bombs on several major roads to interfere with "enemy troops" who may pass.In addition, there is a group of p-38s, which are also cruising in the air with full ammunition, and their main targets are the enemy artillery groups that may appear at any time.

"We can let the enemy's artillery fire the first shell, but we must not let them have the opportunity to fire the second shell!" Arthur, who led the team, said confidently before boarding the plane.

Meanwhile, on the other side, four mosquito-style night fighters all painted black were also quietly approaching the battlefield.