章 150: Chapter 228 Interception
"Boom!" A 40mm shell coincidentally hit the cockpit of a Bristol Blenheim bomber, causing the out-of-control bomber to plummet to the ground, crashing in the distance and erupting in flames.
This greatly unnerved the other bomber pilots. "Oh, damn! The enemy's firepower is too fierce! This is not a good situation!"
However, at this moment, the voice of the bomber squadron commander came through the headset. "Prepare to reduce altitude, bomb release height at 1500 meters."
"What?!" Now, whether French or British pilots, they were not pleased. With such intense anti-aircraft fire from below, they were being asked to lower their altitude? "The enemy firepower is too strong; going down is a death sentence!"
The bomber squadron commander replied sternly, "Without lowering the altitude, dropping the bombs would be in vain. Execute the command!"
Little did they know; this was just the prelude. With the addition of the 88mm flak guns, the catastrophe for the Anglo-French bomber squadron officially began.
The 88mm flak gun was another famous "artifact" of World War II. It could shoot vertically at aircraft, fire horizontally at tanks, and shell bunkers. It could even be used as a howitzer, with a range longer than Germany's own 105mm howitzer; the only drawback was that it lowered the barrel and damaged the gun tube, so it was not done unless absolutely necessary.
There has been a joke circulating online in later years. When the German army faced the heavily armored Matilda II tanks of the British in North Africa, their main anti-tank weapon, the 37mm gun, could only make a sound against the Matilda's 78mm front armor. At this point, Rommel had a brilliant idea: using the 88mm gun originally intended for anti-aircraft purposes in a horizontal position. The result was a resounding success.
Of course, this is just a joke. The armor-piercing shells used by the 88mm gun for anti-tank purposes were different from the time-fuze high-explosive shells used for anti-aircraft purposes. Wanting to shoot down aircraft with large-caliber armor-piercing shells? The logistics officer might as well bash the gunner to death.
Initially, the 88mm gun was indeed designed for anti-aircraft purposes. But as a high-velocity, large-caliber direct-fire cannon, it naturally had anti-tank properties. Therefore, the Germans had already equipped it with armor-piercing shells. When the Germans found that the 37mm gun could not deal with the British Matilda, the French B1, or the Soviet T34/KV-1, they happened to have such a "artifact" at hand, which led to the legendary role of the 88mm gun in anti-tank warfare during World War II.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The first 88mm anti-aircraft position opened fire. This was a dedicated anti-aircraft gun, equipped with the Übertragungser 37 advanced data transmission system.
The operation of this transmission system involved an operator using a tracking rangefinder to capture the aircraft's flight status. The built-in mechanical computer could calculate the azimuth, elevation, and other shooting parameters, as well as the optimal explosion height of the projectile based on the aircraft's flight speed and route.
Then, through electrical signals, the data was transmitted from the position command post to the secondary command post. Each secondary command post could control four 88mm anti-aircraft guns and communicate with the command post equipped with a mechanical computer. Finally, the secondary command post transmitted the shooting parameter data to the two scales controlling elevation and azimuth on the anti-aircraft gun through a distribution box. Each scale had two scales, and the data transmission would cause the colored pointer to automatically move to the corresponding scale. The two gunners controlling elevation and azimuth would align the pointers on the second set of scales with the colored pointers, completing the positioning. Finally, according to the optimal explosion height of the ammunition, they would choose the appropriate fuze for shooting. This greatly improved the anti-aircraft performance.
Facing the dual interception of the Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun and the 88mm flak gun, the Anglo-French coalition's bomber aircraft were undoubtedly in dire straits.
What's even more deadly is that the British and French didn't have precision dive bombers like the German Stuka. If they wanted to bomb the pontoon bridge in the middle of the river with horizontal bombers, they had to lower their flying altitude to ensure bombing accuracy.
In this way, these bomber aircraft became like fish on the chopping block for the German forces, ready to be slaughtered.
A hapless Amiot bomber was directly hit by an 88mm artillery shell, turning into a ball of flames at an altitude of a kilometer, exploding into a pile of parts.
The 88mm anti-aircraft gun was not only effective when directly hitting enemy aircraft; after all, such fortunate events were rare and had a low probability. Usually, bombers flew at several thousand or even tens of thousands of meters in high altitude, appearing very small from the ground, making observation difficult, not to mention precise hits.
Therefore, the most effective tactic was to use multiple high-caliber guns to shoot in the airspace along the enemy aircraft's flight path. By using time fuses, the shells would explode at a predetermined height, creating a barrage filled with smoke, debris, and shockwaves within a certain range.
As the bomber formation approached the Meuse River, their casualties began to skyrocket. In just a few seconds, several bombers spewed thick smoke and crashed to the ground. The German anti-aircraft firepower created a dense anti-aircraft net over the pontoon bridge, causing any British aircraft hitting this massive net to instantly disintegrate.
"Oh, God! We can't break through at all!" Some couldn't bear the collapse, watching friendly planes being shot down one after another. "Hell is ahead! I want to go home!" A young pilot cried out with a trembling voice. Before others could react, he abruptly pulled the control stick, steering the heavy bomber into a turn.
"No!" The copilot beside him, with a frantic expression, tried to stop him. Their surroundings were filled with friendly planes, and any maneuver could lead to a collision.
Boom!
Sure enough, a few seconds later, this bomber forcefully collided with another bomber. The bombs, weighing several tons inside the two bombers, exploded violently, creating an unprecedented large fireball. The shockwave from the explosion even affected several surrounding friendly planes.
Finally, a Bristol Blenheim bomber broke through the dense anti-aircraft firepower net and dropped their first bomb of the day. Unfortunately, the bomb was at least a hundred meters off target from the pontoon bridge, not even causing a splash near it.
The next second, several Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft guns unleashed their fiery tongues towards the bomber, directly blowing it up in mid-air.
By this time, the bomber formation had lost nearly a third of its aircraft. Facing the approaching reinforcements of German fighter planes, the bomber formation commander could only order a retreat. "Retreat, get out of here!"
"Oh, God!" Bomber pilots couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, but they quickly realized that leaving wouldn't be easy.
Although the ground anti-aircraft guns had stopped firing, the German fighter planes had caught up.
"Drop the bombs! Get rid of all the bombs!" British and French bombers haphazardly jettisoned their bombs, preparing to escape unburdened. Unfortunately, at the speed the bombers were going, escape was nearly impossible.
The pursuing Bf 109 squadron wasn't lenient and launched a fierce attack. Bombers were shot down, exploding in mid-air or burning and tumbling before crashing to the ground.
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