Bab 337: Chapter 414 The Bombing Begins
Germany has always been a nation that stands by its word. Twenty-four hours after the bombing warning, thousands of bombers, escorted by fighters, majestically flew across the Channel towards the British mainland.
The escort fighters were Bf 109Fs and Fw 190s, half of which belonged to Italy and Vichy France. The types of bombers were diverse, including Germany's He 177, Mosquito, Stuka, A-1 attack aircraft, as well as France's Amiot bombers and Italy's SM.79 "Sparviero" and the "Cicogna" BR.20 bombers, among others. Nowadays, France and Italy (as well as other German-occupied countries) are uniformly producing German-standard weapons and equipment, so these bombers are usually just taking up space in warehouses. Now there's an opportunity to take them out for a spin, and they can be discarded once they're worn out.
Observers at the British coastal watchtowers watched in horror as the sky was darkened by the massive fleet of aircraft. Their hands trembled as they picked up the phone, and they stuttered, "Planes, there are thousands of German planes above me!"
In the command center, Dowding listened to the continuous reports from the radar stations and looked at the dense enemy aircraft markers on the plotting table, his face darkening to the extreme.
Yesterday, he had asked Prime Minister Churchill whether the Air Force should take to the skies to meet the enemy.
The reply was, "Decide at your discretion."
And he still hadn't decided whether to scramble the fighters to intercept. He had only 600 fighters available, of which 200 were to be kept as a reserve and could not be used until the very last moment when the German forces landed on British soil. Another 200 were to defend London, which was still under bombardment, but those were 150mm shells. It would take a year and a half to destroy London with such shells.
But bombers were different; tons and tons of bombs being dropped would be too much for even the largest of cities to withstand.
With only 200 remaining fighters, it seemed they wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between the enemy's teeth, and the situation was even more dire than in the original timeline.
In the original timeline's Operation Sea Lion, the German Air Force planned to launch air raids on important targets along the southern coast of England. The goal was to annihilate the main force of the British fighter squadrons, then send bombers to attack the British fleet, and finally allow the navy's concentrated ships to transport the German army onto British soil.
For this plan, the German Air Force amassed 2,669 combat aircraft, while the opposing British Air Force had only just over seven hundred fighters and more than five hundred bombers.
Just looking at the numbers, Germany completely overpowered Britain. In terms of fighter performance, Britain was also inferior to Germany; the Hurricane fighters were no match for the German Bf 109 fighters, and there were fewer of the cutting-edge Spitfire fighters. Fighting the German Air Force seemed like a futile effort.
Yet, after a year of struggle, the German Air Force returned defeated. Due to the loss of too many aircraft and pilots, and the inability to gain air superiority over the English Channel, let alone disintegrate Britain's ground and naval forces through air raids, Germany had to abandon the invasion of Britain's Operation Sea Lion and begin planning Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union.
The reasons for this included not only the British side's three magic weapons: the Spitfire, the Hurricane, and the anti-aircraft radar, but also serious problems within the German Air Force itself.
This problem dates back to after World War I.
After the war, as a defeated nation, Germany had to disband its air force, destroy and hand over about 16,000 aircraft, retaining only 140 aircraft and 169 aviation engines.
However, Germany never stopped developing advanced fighters. Under the guise of civil aviation companies, they secretly trained their own pilots and laid the foundation for the development of their air force. In 1935, Germany rebuilt its air force and rapidly developed it under the indulgence of the British and French appeasement policy.
But appeasement did not mean unlimited indulgence. The essence of the appeasement policy was to protect one's own interests, so while Britain and France could tolerate Germany having a well-trained tactical air force, they would not tolerate it having a strategic air force that posed a great threat to themselves.
Moreover, the German Air Force had to consider that, limited by Germany's geopolitical and economic factors, strategic theory could continue to develop, but the priority was still to support ground combat. Germany was a traditional land power, and the air force had to first develop in the direction of supporting the army, which was more to the taste of the German military high command.
At the same time, the German Air Force also faced a shortage of resources. At the beginning of the air force's reconstruction, the German Air Force faced a shortage of resources. The materials imported by Germany were mostly used to build the air force, with rubber and aluminum being the most important. As for oil, it was the easiest to encounter blockades. In 1937, Germany's oil imports equaled the total of the previous ten years, but by 1938, it could still only maintain 25% of the required oil.
In terms of steel, the German Air Force also did not have sufficient resources. In a 1938 report, Göring reported that the economic situation was very dangerous, and industrial capacity could only meet 83% of the air force's needs.
Furthermore, when Germany was preparing for war, the competition for resources among the German army, navy, and air force made the situation even more unfavorable for the air force. The reduction in the supply of raw materials had a significant impact on the air force, reducing steel by about 30%, copper by 20%, aluminum by 47%, and rubber by 14%.
Under these circumstances, the German Air Force could not possibly develop strategic bombers for offensive capabilities. As Göring told his subordinates, "The Führer will not ask how big those bombers are, only how many there are." The German Air Force was desperately building its fleet, focusing on fighters, medium bombers, and dive bombers. There was a shortage of advanced fighters, the combat aircraft had generally short ranges, and the bombers had small bomb loads...
Moreover, these main German fighters had many disadvantages. The Bf 109 fighter was useful but had "short legs"; taking off from France, it only had 10 minutes of air combat time over London. The Bf 110 bomber had range and speed but lacked maneuverability. The Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bomber was powerful, but its speed was only 370 kilometers per hour. And Germany's best medium bomber, the Ju 88, had just started mass production and had not yet formed combat effectiveness.
As the saying goes, "Man is iron, food is steel, without a meal, one feels anxious." The same applies to airplanes. Both British and German planes used aviation gasoline with an octane rating of 87. In May 1940, the British Air Force began using aviation gasoline with an octane rating of 100 provided by the United States, which could increase the output power of the "Merlin" engine in the "Spitfire" and "Hurricane" fighters by 30%. This move further improved the performance of the fighters.
Wilhelm, of course, set out to solve these problems. With the advantage of being a time traveler, he first developed the Libyan oil fields and then exploited all the resources he could find in the occupied countries. Although not wealthy, it was enough.
While Dowding hesitated, the German fleet had already flown over the coastal towns and began bombing.
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