New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

On the night of June 6, the five armored divisions on the front line all received clear orders from Wolf's Lair, and their command was handed over to Field Marshal Rommel.Almost immediately they received orders from Field Marshal Rommel: set off for Caen.

According to the order of Marshal Rommel, these armored forces will use the protection of night to go out to the vicinity of Caen, and then the main force will wait in hiding near Caen. At dawn the next day an attack was launched against the British occupying the beach.

This was the first time in his life that Field Marshal Rommel commanded so many armored units.Never before had he commanded so many tanks in North Africa.This is also the first time that he has more tanks than the enemy facing him. Before that, the tanks in his hands were always only a fraction of others.In the past, even if the enemy had several times more tanks than him, he could still beat the enemy to pieces.But now, he has no confidence in future operations.This is because the opponent's air superiority is so great that it will make him lose confidence.In his hands, there are only 450 planes. Although this number is much larger than when he was in North Africa, the enemy's combat planes are at least [-] times more than his.He knew that if he attacked in daylight, Allied bombers could easily crush his armored divisions to pieces.

……

"Our air protection umbrella will be subject to the weather, as well as lighting. The former, the key depends on whether God must test us, as for the latter. We are not helpless." Ron continued to speak at the military meeting, "If I were Germans, I will definitely take advantage of the night march and launch a surprise attack on the beach at dawn when the sun just rises. At this time, they can entangle with our army with only one shock, which will bring great harm to our air strike Huge difficulty.

Therefore, I think we should do the following preparations at night:

First, we will use night bombers to continuously bomb along the road leading to Caen, destroy road facilities, and drop time bombs to slow down the enemy's marching speed at night.

Second, our Mosquito bombers can fly along the road, dropping a flare or two every now and then.I believe this can also greatly reduce the enemy's maneuvering speed.

In this way, as long as the maneuvering speed of the Germans drops, it will be difficult for them to reach the predetermined hiding place on time. After dawn, our attack planes can blow them all into scrap iron. "

"Very good! Very good!" Marshal Ted, deputy commander of the Allied Forces, applauded first, and everyone followed suit.

"Your idea is very similar to ours. In fact, our night bombers have been sent out. It's just that they don't carry the time bombs you mentioned. Well, time bombs are a good idea. After they are dropped, Untimely explosions will threaten all targets passing by here, and it will take time to eliminate them. What the Germans lack most now is time." Turner laughed, "They will see tomorrow night this thing."

……

Wittmann's tank was turning off its headlights, and was following a tank in front of it.The railway leading to the target has been completely bombed, and the road is full of large and small craters, so that the tank cannot be towed by a trailer, but must rely on its own engine, wasting precious motorcycle hours, and move forward by itself up.Because the headlights are turned off, the road ahead cannot be seen through the periscope at all.So the driver can only open the hatch and drive with his head exposed.This also makes the driver have to keep eating the dust raised by the tank in front.Although he was wearing a mask, Wittmann was sure that after walking like this all night, when he got to the place, at least half a catty of loess would be poured out of the guy's mouth and nose.What's more terrible is that the guy can't even wear goggles in order to see the front clearly. Based on this, Wittmann is sure that the poor guy must be crying now.

Wittmann himself was half exposed on the turret.His position is higher, so the dust blown to him is relatively less.Wittman did this because it is more comfortable than being bored in the tank, although the Tiger tank with double rows of road wheels is far more comfortable than the little guys like the No. 4 tank, and is more comfortable than other previously familiar The t-34 tank of the Soviets, this monster of more than [-] tons is as comfortable as a car.But in any case, a tank is a tank after all, and staying in it for a long time is still uncomfortable.Secondly, Wittmann also wanted to monitor the situation in the sky more conveniently.

At this time, the roar of bomber engines came from the distant sky.Wittmann couldn't remember how many bombers he had encountered this evening. Anyway, there were as many bombers from the US and Britain as locusts.Wittmann knew that these bombers were coming to bomb the road again.In such a dark, moonless night, the bombers could not find them.These bombers are just aiming at the map and bombing blindly.Just 10 minutes before, a squadron of bombers had dropped their bombs far behind them.

All the tanks drove off the road immediately, then quickly turned off their engines and stopped.Wittmann and his crew jumped out of the vehicle immediately, and quickly put a camouflage net on their Tiger tank.A few minutes later, a Mosquito bomber flying ahead first dropped a barrage of flares.However, compared with the sun, the brightness of these flares is still too poor, and they are at least 600 meters away from them, which is not enough for the pilots on the bomber to recognize the tanks with camouflage nets near the road.

However, the British's goal was not German tanks, their goal was just the road.Not long after the Mosquito bombers dropped their flares, a large number of bombs fell on the road in front of the Germans.

"Damn it! The road ahead is becoming more and more impassable." The driver cursed.

Horizontal bombers have never been very accurate in dropping bombs.Although the British bombed the road about 600 meters away, it is entirely possible that the random bombs flew hundreds of meters away and hit the tank group next to the road.It just depends on luck.Just now, Wittmann saw a string of crooked bombs flying into the queue of several Panzer IV tanks ahead.These more than 4-ton tanks were so vulnerable under the attack of the powerful aerial bombs that a No. 500 tank was lifted up by a bomb that fell two meters away from it, and it turned a somersault in the air. The turret is then pointing down, slapping the ground.Another tank was even more tragic. A bomb weighing at least 20 pounds hit it directly, and it was restored to parts on the spot. The largest part, the turret, flew straight up and flew out Tens of meters away, and then with a bang, it landed less than [-] meters away from Wittmann.

This mistake by the British cost the Germans four tanks.Three of them were Type [-] Hs, and one was a more advanced Leopard.This loss is not too big for the German army. In fact, during long-distance motorcycle maneuvers, the number of tanks abandoned on the road due to various failures was much greater than this.But a series of such bombings had consequences far more serious than that—a delay in time.With the current marching speed, it is almost impossible to reach the preset hidden standby location before dawn.And everyone knows.If at dawn, the armored troops are still marching on the road unobstructed, what kind of blow will they be hit.

In order to be able to reach the destination in time, after the enemy plane disappeared, a new order was issued from above: the tank troops turned on the lights, moved forward as fast as possible, and rushed to the hidden point.

Wittmann's Tiger tank turned on the headlights, and the vehicle drove at a speed of about 30 kilometers on the bombed potholed road.

……

Before dawn, the attack fleet of the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing was ready at the airport.Their task is to search for and eliminate possible German armored forces near Caen.At 4 o'clock in the morning, the first batch of twelve pa-38s took off.A few minutes later, the second batch of pa-38s also began to take off.These pa-38 are mounted according to the most typical anti-tank mission arrangements.They both carried two 37mm cannon pods under the wings and a cluster bomb containing 50 small bombs under the belly.These small bombs all use hollow charges, and as long as they hit, they can penetrate the top armor of heavy tanks.

At 5:15, the aircraft group arrived near Caen and began to search for targets along several roads.

During the final run last night, some tanks made it to their destination, while others were left behind.Their establishment is also completely out of order.There are also some tanks that broke down during the march and were thrown on the side of the road.Arthur searched while flying along the road from Caen to Falaise.Soon, the first team of victims appeared in front of him.

It was a dozen or so stragglers of tanks and vehicles, tanks, assault guns, and trucks.Arthur aimed the nose at the convoy and rushed straight over.After the Germans found Arthur and the others, they immediately became a mess. They drove off the road one after another, as if they wanted to disperse and flee.

Arthur dropped the cluster bomb in the belly first.The bomb exploded at a height of less than 50 meters from the ground, and the 100 small bombs inside were thrown out at once.The wingmen following Arthur also dropped bombs. 4 small bombs covered two tanks and two Opel trucks.Arthur pulled up the plane after dropping the bombs, and when he turned around, he saw the small bombs exploding one after another. A Leopard tank, a No. [-] H tank, and the two Opels were all burning.

Also in the convoy was a Leopard tank, which stepped on the gas and tried to escape.But with a burst of black smoke from the exhaust pipe, the tank actually stopped: it seemed to be malfunctioning.

Can such a dead tiger not be beaten?Arthur swooped in, aimed at its chrysanthemum, and three 37mm guns fired a salvo, and the tank emitted thick smoke, and then the tank hatch opened, and a German soldier jumped out of the tank covered in fire , rolling all over the floor.

While Arthur was attacking the tank, his wingman was staring at a Rhino self-propelled anti-tank gun.Rhinos are much easier to fight than leopards.This self-propelled anti-tank gun uses an open fighting compartment.There isn't even a canopy on top.Against such targets, even 37 guns are not needed.Just hit a shuttle with a 20mm gun, and this self-propelled anti-tank gun is finished.The few remaining Opel trucks were also doomed. After those high-value targets were eliminated, they became the targets of the second round of attacks.