New World War II Eagle Strikes the Sky

( ) After lunch and a short rest, Mike started to get busy.First of all, the generator for the high-power radio is installed on the m7 pastor self-propelled artillery, and then the high-power radio itself.Most American armored vehicles are equipped with radio stations.But these stations have limited power and use shorter wavelengths.The coverage area is very small.This kind of radio station is used to coordinate the actions of multiple tanks during tank battles, so that they can cooperate with each other, but it is used to communicate with aviation troops, especially those with higher flying altitudes and farther distances from ground troops. However, the contact distance of the heavy bomber unit seems to be insufficient.In order to ensure the quality of communication, it is extremely important to be able to move with the troops and maintain a smooth high-power radio during the movement.The original generator on the m7 pastor self-propelled artillery can't support such a high-power radio station at all, so the first thing to do after removing the cannon and making room is to replace a larger generator.Then the radio, and finally the significantly larger whip antenna.

This whole lot of modification was not completed until about eight o'clock at night.The driver started the engine, and the engine of the modified version of the m7 radio communication vehicle started running.

"The generator is running normally, the state of the battery pack is normal, start the radio!" Mike started the radio in the cockpit of the m7 radio communication vehicle.As one light after another lighted up one by one, the radio started normally.

"Well, the radio station is activated. Let's see if we can get in touch with the command center in the UK." Mike put on the earphones and adjusted the frequency to the predetermined frequency: "This is Morning Star, call Polaris, call Polaris .”

At the same time, Ron, Li May, and General Doolittle were sitting in the command center of the Eighth Air Force. Since around four o'clock in the afternoon, radio vehicles from the first-line ground troops have been calling the command center. .After receiving their call, the command center will arrange a channel for them to directly contact the nearby bomber fleet and test the direct contact between the two parties.

"This is Polaris, here is Polaris. Morning Star, we have your call. Please wait a moment, we will arrange a channel for you to directly communicate with the bomber fleet." An operator responded immediately.

"General, another node has been connected." Ron smiled at General Doolittle.

"Well, the current situation is not bad. However, in real combat, due to the problem of code language translation, the efficiency may not be as high as the current situation." General Doolittle.

At this time, the staff had already sent a frequency to Mike.

"Flowers, lizards, spiders, electric welding..." Mike wrote down these words in his notebook while listening. Beside him, his partner Sura was spreading out a thick dictionary, looking for the corresponding code words.Sura's movements were very skillful, and within two or three seconds after Mike wrote the last word "mercury", Sura handed a note to Mike, which said the contact person and frequency.

Mike adjusted the channel to the frequency given by the command center and started calling: "This is the morning star, call Orion. Call Orion..."

A few seconds later, Mike received a reply from the target he wanted to contact directly, a team of B-24 Liberator bombers.

"Here is Orion, here is Orion, call the morning star, call the morning star."

"Orion, 35, 72, Hippo, 46, 51, 58, Jupiter..."

On a B-24 Liberator bomber, a translator quickly translated this incomprehensible thing.

"Captain, Morningstar is asking for our position and heading."

"Inform them and ask them where they are." In fact, these night-flying bombers have long known that when they return, ground forces will contact them at any time, and they are ready for this.So they responded quickly.

"Here!" Sura spread out the map beside him, and found the position of the bomber group by the electric light. "They are moving northwest at 400 km/h. Our position is..."

Mike quickly informed the bomber fleet of his position.He knew that according to the procedure, the bomber fleet would turn towards him, and when they heard the sound of the bomber, they would launch a series of signal flares into the sky in groups of three for identification as friend or foe.Then they have to use artillery to shoot flares to indicate the target for the bomber fleet.Of course, the goal tonight is a mock goal.

More than ten minutes later, the dull sound of a bomber engine came from the night sky.At the same time, on the pre-agreed public channel, the call of "Orion" came: "Turkeys dance around Lincoln, turkeys dance around Lincoln." At the same time, all the bombers began to flash their navigation lights.

Without a translation, Mike knew that this sentence meant "When approaching the target area, all units that see the navigation lights immediately identify themselves." So he said to Captain Clark, who was in charge of cooperating with him in the regiment sitting in the car, "Get ready Identify flares, prepare flares."

"Send signal flares!" Clark immediately issued an order.So three red, blue, and yellow flares were fired into the sky, and a few seconds later, three flares in the opposite order were fired.

At this time, another call from "Orion" came from the promised channel: "North Pole 4102 Rose."

"We have determined your location, please indicate the target." Sura quickly completed the translation.

"Shoot flares at the intended target!" Clark gave an instruction to a genuine m7 Priest self-propelled artillery parked next to it. The gun immediately turned to the target, and then its 105mm barrel was shaken, and then, with With a loud noise, a flare was fired, followed by another one.

Flares burned over the target area, looking extraordinarily bright in the night sky.

"See the target, thank you." The "Orion" formation didn't even use code words. Anyway, if this was a real battle, the bombers would already be dropping bombs, so there was no need to continue to keep it secret.

On this night, a similar scene continued to be staged between various ground troops and bomber formations in the air.The relevant drills did not come to an end until 10:30 in the evening.

"The exercise was very successful, very good." General Doolittle stood up and took the lead in applauding.During this night, more than 20 ground troops and the same number of night flight bombers used radio to complete complex night cooperation.And the effect is quite good, which is enough to show the development prospect of this kind of thinking.

"It's really fighting. There will be many accidents on the battlefield. It may not have the effect of tonight's drill. In addition, each combat regiment is now equipped with a radio communication vehicle, which is not enough. If this vehicle is used on the battlefield If there is any problem, it will be troublesome. Before the operation begins, at least two or three such liaison vehicles must be prepared for each regiment." Ron.

"We are stepping up preparations for these. Before the plan starts, we can definitely prepare more than three liaison vehicles for each regiment." A lieutenant colonel from the logistics department replied.

"But I'm still a little worried," Li Mei, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "Tonight's rehearsal was too successful, so it's not necessarily a good thing. From my experience, the worse the performance in the rehearsal, the worse it will be in actual combat." , the effect is often better; on the contrary, if the performance is too perfect in the drill, there will always be problems of one kind or another in actual combat."

……

For several days in a row, new liaison officers continued to report to the regiment, and new tracked vehicles were continuously converted into liaison vehicles.Now, the regiment already has three liaison vehicles, two of which were modified from m7 Priest self-propelled artillery.There is also one, modified from an M4 Sherman tank with a damaged gun.Because there was no condition to change it to the open structure of the m7 pastor self-propelled artillery, the car was crowded in a mess.

For several days in a row, whether it was day or night, joint air-ground combat drills continued.Ground forces and bomber forces are also becoming more familiar with this coordination.In this kind of training, the time for the launch of Operation Cobra is gradually approaching.

……

The American offensive began as usual with a bombardment by heavy bombers. Just after 7:25 am on July 9th, "Operation Cobra" officially began.The PA-30 attack aircraft of the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing carried fuel-air bombs and launched the first round of air strikes on German positions, especially artillery positions.Subsequently, the Eighth Air Force dispatched 38 heavy bombers to drop more than 1800 tons of bombs on the German positions.Immediately afterwards, 3000 B-380 "Predator" medium bombers dropped 26 bombs on areas where the German army might be hiding.In just one hour, the German positions were bombed beyond recognition, more than 1400 people were killed in the air strikes, and more than 1000 others were either injured or dazed from the shock and could not continue to participate in the battle.

In the historical "Operation Cobra", during the entire week of operations, the total casualties of the Allied forces were no more than 1800, while the U.S. Army Air Forces caused more than 2000 casualties to the German army in just one hour!Aviation has once again demonstrated its decisive power to change warfare.

紧接着第一轮空袭的是第二轮第三轮的空袭和陆军地面部队的炮击。陆军航空队一口气出动了3000架次以上的轰炸机，在圣洛–佩里耶公路阔6,000码（5,500米）及纵深2,200码（2,000米）的地区实施了饱和轰炸。这样的轰炸力度甚至让人都怀疑对面是不是还会有活着的生物了。

On the Internet in later generations, when some military fans were discussing the issue of World War II, someone raised a question: If the US military replaced the German army in the Battle of Kursk, what would the US military do?The answer is quite simple, first send 3000 b-17s and b-24s to bomb, if the enemy is still resisting, then send another 3000 b-17s and b-24s to bomb him, if the enemy does not collapse, then... .What the Germans are now facing is this kind of open-ended rogue style of play.

On this day, Lieutenant General Leslie James McNair, commander of the U.S. Army Ground Forces, came to inspect the forward position...  

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