Arc of Gunfire

August 16, Eagle's Nest.

Meyer, commander of the Prosen Air Force, was reporting on yesterday's situation: "The enemy has adopted a brand new method of warfare. Fighters no longer accompany bombers, but carry rockets and bombs to attack the airport. We are still organizing air interceptions according to previous habits, so it is just right The fighter unit that was about to take off was attacked by an enemy fighter group."

The emperor asked: "There are so many airports across the country, and the interceptor fleets also take off in waves. It is impossible for the enemy to attack all airports at the same time. There must be a sequence. Why did the airports that were not attacked not take off in an emergency?"

"Yes." Grand Duke Meyer took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat as he said, "When our fighter jets took off early, the enemy fighter jets abandoned their bombs and auxiliary fuel tanks and fought with our troops. The result was that our troops yesterday Homeland air defense operations were unsuccessful and enemy bombers successfully reached most of their targets."

The emperor let out a long sigh: "I have always valued the air force very much. You did a good job at the beginning of the war, just like the armored forces. But now, why can't you do anything well?

"I commended you last month and said you performed well in homeland air defense. It's only been a month!"

In fact, the good performance last month was based on the increase in pilot casualties, but Grand Duke Meyer changed the data, and the pilot casualty rate reported to the emperor was the same as last month.

The emperor sighed again and asked: "So do you have any way to deal with the enemy's new tactics?"

Grand Duke Meyer hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, we are first preparing to increase the anti-aircraft fire at the airport. Previously, the enemy's bombing was concentrated on industrial areas and major railway transportation hubs, so a large number of anti-aircraft artillery units were deployed in these places.

"Because the airport has never been attacked, it is only equipped with guard anti-aircraft artillery units in accordance with the regulations. There is no tilt in the equipment and personnel of anti-aircraft artillery. Next, we will mobilize a large number of small and medium-caliber anti-aircraft artillery to defend the airport.

"Secondly, we are prepared to immediately take off fighter jets to protect the airport when radar and air surveillance posts observe an enemy fighter group invading the airspace. We are planning to split the main fighter group into two sections: airport protection and bomber interception. …”

Giles was keenly aware of the problem and raised his hand to interrupt: "Previously, all the fighter jets participated in the homeland air defense operations, and they could not completely stop the Allied bombing of our country. How could it be possible that you have reduced the number of fighter jets invested so much? Can it stop the enemy's bombers?"

Grand Duke Meyer wiped his sweat: "I don't have to worry. Without the cover of fighter jets, the enemy bombers are just lambs to be slaughtered. They can only use half the original number..."

Giles: "When the enemy first bombed, there were no escort fighters. You couldn't stop the enemy from bombing Prosonia?"

The Grand Duke continued to wipe his sweat: "This is because we lacked firepower at that time. At that time, our main fighter 109 had less than 200 rounds of 20mm artillery shells, and the rest were 7mm machine guns, which were too weak to damage enemy bombers.

"In order to solve this problem, we used a cannon pod, but the effect was not as good as expected. It is different now. Our latest fighter jets have 30mm cannons. Just one hit can cause enough damage to the enemy aircraft. !”

Giles nodded, seemingly having nothing to say.

Grand Duke Meyer then continued: "We also plan to modify twin-engine heavy fighter jets such as the BF110. They can carry heavier firepower and have greater survivability in the face of bombers' self-defense firepower. We will use these aircraft to attack bomber groups.

"This will allow us to make use of the dual-engine heavy combat troops that we currently have with lighter combat tasks."

Emperor: "What were these double-shot heavy battles doing before?"

"It mainly performs reconnaissance missions and occasionally conducts ground attacks. The twin-engine heavy fighters of three wings have been equipped with radars and turned into night fighters. They have shot down more than 40 Lancaster bombers for night bombing. "

"Is this a lot?" the emperor asked doubtfully.

Grand Duke Meyer: "This is at night, Your Majesty. The result of 40 battles is already pretty good."

At this time, Rundsteyer raised his hand: "Can this kind of night fighter be used to drive away the night bombers of the Ant Air Force? The troops are already very tired of these 'Night Witches'."

Grand Duke Meyer shook his head: "No, night bombers mainly rely on ground radar to guide them to approach the target, and then use their own radar to search for the target. Ant's night bomber has very few metal components, the radar echo is inherently weak, and it likes to fly close to the ground. Can't find them.

"In fact our night fighters couldn't even see the Mosquito bombers used by the Royal Air Force as the lead aircraft of the formation."

The Mosquito bomber, a wooden wonder, was equipped with "wave-transparent materials" decades in advance.

Emperor Prosen stood up and said to Meyer: "The enemy has changed his tactics. I can't blame you for the heavy losses yesterday. Let's see what the actual situation is today. We can no longer let the enemy bomb our industrial areas and railway facilities. We The equipment production has been reduced by ten percent due to the bombing!”

Ten percent may seem innocuous, but when converted into specific material quality, it is extremely scary.

Marshal Celtic immediately said: "We have taken four measures to restore military production as much as possible. By the end of this month, the 10% reduction should be restored - provided that we are not bombed again."

Grand Duke Meyer: "This... Homeland air defense operations are very complex. It is very difficult to accurately find the enemy's bomber fleet in the vast airspace. We must ensure that we can find the location of the enemy's fleet with 100% accuracy. We must further establish ground surveillance." system.

"For example, deploy air defense observers to every street, every town, and even establish permanent air defense observation towers on the plains."

The emperor waved his hand: "Build it!"

Marshal Celtic: "Establishing a network of observation posts requires a large number of observers, and they do nothing but observe the sky every day. Originally, they should be working in factories, or training new recruits to be added to the army.

"So the best candidates for observers are the elderly after 55 years old, but in order to make the public believe that the mobilization is only temporary and the country is in good condition, we have not mobilized the elderly and children."

The emperor thought for a while and said: "Then give him the name of People's Observer, tell the elderly that this is a community service project that he volunteers to participate in, and then give him a ration for one person every day. Many elderly people will do it for the rations."

The Celtic marshal looked at Meyer for the first time and replied: "As you command, Your Majesty."

The emperor looked at the ceiling: "Today's air defense operation has begun, right? Meyer hopes that the new measures you have taken will be effective."

Grand Duke Meyer: "No, the Allies also need to repair and replenish aircraft, and reorganize downsized crews, so they generally won't conduct air raids for two consecutive days. We are also currently working hard to make up for the losses caused by the enemy's bombing of the airport yesterday."

The emperor nodded.

At this time the door opened, and the chief minister of the palace came in together with the Duke of Redwedge of Rabbeville, and placed a thick brown paper bag on the table in front of the emperor.

Emperor: "What is this?"

"Our mole at the United Kingdom Embassy in Anatolia sent back the minutes of the Balas meeting. There is a lot of key information in it."

The emperor opened the brown paper, took out the document, looked through it, and looked up at the two intelligence chiefs: "Have you read it? What do you think of its authenticity?"

Duke Redwidge: "Our mole at the United Kingdom Embassy in Anatolia has always been very professional and provided a lot of information that was later confirmed. I think this information should be true. The Allied plan A large-scale landing operation will be launched at Europa next year, with the possible landing site being in the Carolingian."

The emperor shook his head: "No, no, no, that Leonard of the United Kingdom is a liar, a professional! And it is unlikely that he will sit back and watch Ant take the entire west coast of the White Sea under his control.

“Even if the Allied forces were to land, it would be on the Moravia Peninsula, so that they could turn the middle of the peninsula into an Allied occupied area and also allow Anatolia to join the war.

"Everything will be like the war sixty years ago, when the United Kingdom and the Carolingian Kingdom worked together to prevent Ant from possessing the entire Moravia!"

Duke Redwedge: "But..."

"There's nothing wrong with that! I know that Leonard too well. Ant is progressing so smoothly, there's no way he can't use his brain. Landing in the Carolingians to contain our forces so that Ant can occupy most of Europa?

"No! Absolutely impossible!" The emperor waved his hands repeatedly.

No one raised any objection to the emperor's judgment.

Emperor: "Is there anything else important in the meeting minutes?"

"Also, Ant plans to cross the Tiber River with an offensive this winter."

"Ha!" the emperor laughed. "This is Rokosov's trick. He will attack in September. He must not have imagined that we have mobilized four armored divisions from the Western Front! Four armored divisions! All loaded up. Members! And many divisions have also been equipped with some new tanks and destroyers! "

General Moltke and Giles both laughed. The traditional Junker officer did not laugh at first, but only laughed in agreement after exchanging glances.

The emperor stood up: "Everyone, the situation of the war is not that bad! There will be a major turn for the better in September! We will defeat Rokosov, Ant's source of confidence, at the Tiber River, and his men have been dubbed invincible. The name of the army!

"We want to break the myth of Rokosov's invincibility! We also want Ant to wake up from the dream of destroying our country and realize how powerful Prosin is!

"Then, we will take the opportunity to negotiate peace with Ant! The truce now is a responsible expression of the empire, and the people will understand!"