Iron Cross

Hoffman was a little angry, but everyone could tell that this anger was not directed at Jeschonnek: "Didn't I announce in public that you were directly responsible for reporting to me at the Air Force Personnel Adjustment Meeting? Why didn't you tell me about these situations afterwards? Why didn't you report their sabotage?"

"Führer!" Jeschonnek lowered his head, "They also have certain practical difficulties. I originally planned to coordinate after a while, but I didn't expect..."

"Your qualifications may be a little shallow, but this is not a reason for them to ignore you. Regardless of your rank or position, your responsibilities are there." Hoffman spurred Jeschonnek, "I'm afraid you know Zeitzler's situation better than me. He was only a major general before he became the Chief of the Army General Staff. I skipped the position of lieutenant general and promoted him to general of the army. Except for the victory of the Dieppe Battle, I'm afraid no one knows about other achievements. But what about now? Not only did he manage the three army groups and more than 2 million army troops on the Eastern Front in an orderly manner, but the nearly one million army troops on the Western Front did not dare to disobey his arrangements. In terms of qualifications and achievements, any army group commander can even Even the army group commanders have higher positions and greater contributions than him, but he still does a good job. What does he rely on? It is definitely not his own qualifications and contributions - his little capital is not enough to be mentioned in front of others! He relies on my trust, the awe and obedience of the army to the position of Chief of the General Staff, and his own means and abilities. You must stand up straight and be tough. Don't let people treat the position of Chief of the Air Force General Staff as a decoration. You must make full use of my trust and authority and be good at playing to your strengths. If anyone dares to continue to say one thing and do another, I don't mind continuing to adjust personnel - I warned them at the last meeting. "

"Yes! Fuhrer." Jeschonnek answered with tears in his eyes and a firm look. He was extremely grateful for the Fuhrer's trust and love, but others knew that Hoffman was really angry: General Jeschonnek was the Chief of the Air Force General Staff announced by the Fuhrer himself. Disobeying him was equivalent to disobeying the Fuhrer. The Fuhrer has always had a bad impression of the Army Officers Corps that acted on their own and based on seniority. Now this bad impression has been brought to the Air Force, which is known as the strong bastion of National Socialism.

Seeing Jeschonnek's appearance, Hoffman's mood improved a little, and he decided to encourage him again: "If everything is based on seniority, then Marshal Hindenburg will certainly be the president of Germany. Do I have to wait until all the officers in Germany die before I can become the head of state?" Everyone suddenly realized that the head of state, who was born as an Austrian corporal, hated the tradition of seniority in the officer corps the most. Everyone looked at each other and suddenly realized that they were all vested interests in the head of state's destruction of the seniority system. Whether it was Speer, Keitel, Kammhuber, or Galland, they were all promoted by the head of state. They immediately showed their incomparable support and listened attentively - according to past experience, the head of state could continue to talk for an hour, and there was no need to do anything else, just listen attentively.

Everyone thought that the Führer would speak for a long time as usual. Usually this kind of eloquent impromptu speech would start with the glorious history of the National Socialist Party, and then talk about the Führer's personal struggle and the noble qualities of the Aryans, and then talk about the arrangements for the new world order. Everyone had listened to it countless times, and many paragraphs and chapters were so familiar that they could recite them by heart. However, everyone was smart and knew that it was best to listen carefully when the Führer was speaking - that way they would suffer less. Unexpectedly, Hoffman stopped after the first sentence: "The question now is, if we have enough Ju-88 modified night fighters, can we rest assured against the enemy at night?"

"I'm afraid that's not the case yet." Kamhuber was the first to react from his "intoxication" and quickly replied, "Although Scheppel's attitude is disdainful, at least he told the truth. Like daytime fighters, our night fighters do not have enough firepower. It is very difficult to deal with heavy bombers like Lancaster. Several times, pilots have reported that the British can struggle to fly back after hitting the enemy's four engines and only one is still running normally. This is very frustrating."

The main fighters of the German Air Force, such as the Bf-1G151 aviation machine gun, have enough firepower to deal with fighters with 15mm ammunition, but not enough to deal with bombers. In order to increase the power, the MG151/20mm ammunition was used after the modification and upgrade. The new ammunition performed relatively well in combat. Except for heavy bombers such as B-17 Flying Fortress and Lancaster, an average of 18 to 20 hits can shoot down a four-engine aircraft. But firstly, the British increased the proportion of Lancaster heavy bombers, and secondly, it was difficult to hit 20 times in a row at night, so the Air Force Technical Department introduced the MK-108 aviation machine gun and used 30mm caliber ammunition. The new ammunition is very powerful, and only 4 high-explosive bombs are needed to shoot down heavy bombers such as B-17, B-24, and Lancaster, while only 1 round is needed to shoot down ordinary fighters. Moreover, it is designed based on the principle of recoil, 80% of the parts are stamping parts, and the number of moving parts is reduced to a minimum. It is an effective, reliable, lightweight, compact and easy to manufacture weapon.

"The characteristics of the MK-108 are outstanding, but the shortcomings are also very obvious. It cannot balance good ballistic characteristics and high rate of fire - the low muzzle velocity causes serious ballistic drop. The projectile will drop 41 meters at a distance of 1,000 meters. This is not an experienced pilot. It is difficult to hit mobile targets. I once flew an aircraft equipped with MK-108 to deal with bombers from the air attack, and found that it was necessary to fire at a very close range, and there would be a risk of colliding with the target due to the heavy weight. The tail firepower of the bomber is very powerful, and the young pilots who are just starting out will be intimidated and dare not engage in close combat, just like what happened to the JG26 Wing today, the use of the MK-108 at long range is completely inaccurate. "As a fighter aircraft. Ace, Major General Garland has a deep experience of the new aircraft cannon, "Therefore, the current equipment is not large in quantity and can only be used effectively by some veterans, and it is not included in the air force's standard equipment."

Everyone was thinking hard, and Hoffman suddenly laughed: "Gentlemen, you have entered into a big misunderstanding. I have a very good way to solve this problem, let the night fighter using MK-108 Ability to balance firepower and safety.”

The head of state has another good idea? Everyone became suspicious, with curiosity written all over their faces. Hoffmann's solution to the problem was simple, and it wasn't even what he had in mind - in mid-1943, the Third Reich introduced a shooting weapon system that was tilted on the back of the aircraft and called it the oblique music. He took a pen and paper, and with the help of the Austrian corporal's painting skills, he started painting. Everyone had seen the head of state's "design" skills at the jet fighter test flight site, and they couldn't help but form a circle around him. I am very interested in what I can draw this time.

It was not as complicated as imagined. Hoffman simply sketched a side view of a Ju-88. The key point was that two thin tubes protruded abruptly from the back of the aircraft, pointing tiltedly toward the sky. "This is the new thing I designed." Hoffman explained, "Who said that aviation cannons must be installed in the front? After modification, we placed them on the back of the aircraft, and we can approach them from underneath the bomber without knowing it. , 30 meters or 50 meters will do, and then fire - such a close range shooting can give full play to the firepower and its ballistics will certainly not be a problem. The fighter jet can also effectively avoid its self-defense fire when it is located below the enemy aircraft. "

Everyone was dumbfounded. The head of state's thinking was really wild. Only Speer's expression did not change at all - when he and the head of state discussed the future development of Berlin more than ten years ago, he talked about architectural design and style for a long time, which was more outrageous than this. Or I have seen ridiculous thoughts. The aerial cannon arranged at an angle is nothing, it is just childish.

"Good idea, good idea, genius-like, brilliant idea." Garland's eyes shone, and he suddenly clapped his hands in praise. This posture made Jeshunek and Keitel curl their lips involuntarily: I know you I want to take the opportunity to flatter him, but the traces are too obvious.

Unexpectedly, Kamhuber, who took the drawing and took a rough look at it, actually agreed: "The Führer's idea is really a stroke of genius... In addition to the advantages just mentioned, we cannot ignore the effectiveness of this combat method on bombers. The underside of the bomber's belly is usually The defense force is very weak, and the fuel tank is located under the wing and in the middle of the engine. If you are lucky, just one shot can explode the fuel tank, which is enough to make these four-shot big guys become the brightest torches in the night sky.”