The Rise of the Third Reich

"Are these Americans crazy? They just... rushed in like this?"

Helmut Haye, who was standing on the side of the bridge and watching the battle with a telescope, was stunned by the scene in front of him. The pilots of these "American planes" were all lunatics. They charged like crazy and suddenly broke through the Fokker Zero's blockage and rushed into the fleet's anti-aircraft fire circle! Although blocked by intensive anti-aircraft fire, several "American planes" turned into American turkeys in the blink of an eye, the remaining planes were still getting closer and closer.

But... both dive bombers and torpedo bombers have attack positions. They must dive or fly horizontally at a specific height, from a specific angle, at a specific speed, so that bombs and torpedoes can be accurately dropped. And dive bombers and torpedo bombers have to form corresponding formations when attacking. How can there be such a swarm? Is this the most advanced tactic of the United States?

When Helmut Haye was feeling strange, Captain Smith of the British Royal Navy also discovered that something was wrong. Just now, I was just thinking about getting rid of those terrible Fokker Zeros, and I also wanted to drop bombs on the German aircraft carrier as soon as possible. As a result, in a moment of heat, he rushed into the fleet's air defense firepower network in a daze, without caring about the position, formation, or height. Dive bombing is not possible now, because in order to quickly get rid of the Fokker Zero, the dive acceleration method has been used, so the altitude has already dropped. Now it is just over a thousand altitudes, how can we dive? Moreover, the height of those TBD torpedo bombers does not seem to have dropped. If you drop the torpedoes at this height, why not plunge headlong into the bottom of the sea?

Just when Captain Smith didn't know what to do, planes had already begun to drop bombs and torpedoes - several dive bombers dropped bombs horizontally at an altitude of more than 1,000 meters, and several torpedo bombers also dropped torpedoes at a similar height. Down! In the end, nothing exploded, and the ammunition was wasted.

"No random bombing is allowed now! The torpedo bombers lowered their altitude, and the dive bombers immediately pulled up..."

Captain Smith knew that this would not work, and quickly ordered the fleet to enter the corresponding attack position through the airborne radio. But these aircraft are now within the anti-aircraft fire circle of the German fleet. Anti-aircraft shells are raining down on them, and the sky is filled with clouds of exploding smoke. Flying through it is like flying in the edge of hell.

Less than 2 minutes after Captain Smith's order was issued, two more SBDs and one TBD were turned into fireballs. In addition to the 1 SBD that crashed into the sea due to engine failure, the 12 SBDs and 8 TBDs shot down by the Fokker Zero, and the 4 SBDs and 3 TBDs shot down by the German fleet's anti-aircraft guns during the breakthrough, now The first assault wave commanded by Captain Smith had lost 19 SBDs and 12 TBDs.

In addition, there were 8 SBDs and 6 TBDs throwing away bombs and torpedoes indiscriminately. There were only 24 SBD dive bombers left with attack capabilities, and only 21 TBD torpedo bombers that could drop torpedoes.

However, these 45 aircraft that still have attack capabilities have not yet entered a position where they can launch an attack. There is still an unfinished road to death ahead of them.

The more unlucky ones are the TBD torpedo bombers. They are different from the SBD dive bombers. They do not go straight up and down. They must circle to lower their altitude, and the speed of the circle and descent is not too fast. As a result, they became good targets. Five aircraft were shot down by the fleet's anti-aircraft guns. Another 12 aircraft circled out of the fleet's anti-aircraft fire circle and were captured by a dozen Fokker Zeros waiting outside. On the spot, a 20mm shell hit them, knocking down 5 of them, and the rest had to throw their torpedoes and run for their lives. As a result, there were only 10 TBDs left and finally managed to drop torpedoes, but none of them hit the target because the bombing distance was too far.

The SBD dive bombers had slightly better luck. They quickly reached an altitude of more than 3,000 meters. This altitude exceeded the effective shooting height of the 40mm anti-aircraft guns equipped on German naval ships, and the German 105mm anti-aircraft guns Because there is no VT fuze, it is not powerful enough and poses little threat to SBD dive bombers.

Just when Captain Smith relaxed a little and was about to look for an opportunity to launch a dive attack, 15 Fokker Zero fighters dived down from a higher altitude and opened fire on them.

It turned out that after seeing "American planes" swarming into the German ship's anti-aircraft firepower network, little Hersman knew that these planes would eventually have to enter an attack position where they could dive and drop torpedoes. So he divided the two squadrons under his command into two. One squadron went to circle around the German fleet's anti-aircraft firepower at low altitude, while he led the other squadron to an altitude of 4,000 meters. In the end, after just circling around, I saw about twenty chubby SBD dive bombers rushing up.

Pengpengpeng...

A muffled sound was heard along with the violent shaking of the fuselage. Captain Smith, who had been shot down over the English Channel, immediately knew that the SBD aircraft he was flying had been hit, but by a 20mm cannon!

"Fire, Jamie, fire!" At this time, Smith shouted several times, trying to get the machine gunner in the back seat to fire, but there was no response. He quickly looked back and saw the machine gunner in the back seat leaning to one side, motionless. He had obviously been beaten to death!

Pengpengpeng...

There was another muffled sound, and Smith's phone was hit by several more shells, and the fuselage shook even more. Although the SBD dive bomber is very strong, it cannot withstand being shot like a target by a 20mm cannon.

After all, Captain Smith was an "old bird" and knew that he could not throw the bomb and escape now. Because even if the SBD dive bomber drops the bomb, it is impossible to get rid of the Fokker Zero. If you escape for your life, you will only be chased all the way, and you will still be killed in the end.

Therefore, there is only one way to survive, which is to dive immediately and throw away the enemy aircraft behind you while diving to release bombs.

Thinking of this, Captain Smith gritted his teeth, piloted his plane that was smoking heavily (the fuel tank was on fire), aimed at the aircraft carrier "Seidlitz" which was doing an S-shaped evasion, and flew almost vertically. dive down at an angle. I don't know if it was because the dive with the thick smoke was too eye-catching, but the anti-aircraft shells fired from the water were also extremely dense, and ammunition of various calibers were all directed towards the aircraft. Captain Smith, who was sitting in the cabin, only heard the sound of "puffing" coming continuously, as if someone was smashing the plane with a hammer.

The altitude of the plane dropped very quickly, and in a blink of an eye it reached the height where bombs could be dropped. Just as Captain Smith was about to press the bomb-dropping switch, something hit his chest suddenly, and then there was an unimaginable sharp pain. Then his vision went dark and he lost consciousness. But the plane he was flying did not fall apart, and somehow did not change its course. Instead, it followed its original trajectory and rushed towards the "Seidlitz" aircraft carrier.

"airplane!"

"Anti-impact, prepare."

Someone suddenly shouted in the bridge of the "Seidlitz", and Lieutenant General Helmut Heyer, who witnessed the plane crashing down, quickly grabbed the handrail. Then there was a loud "rumbling" sound! The plane slammed into the armored deck of the "Seidlitz" with a 1,000-pound bomb. The nearly 20,000-ton ship trembled violently, and everyone on the bridge fell to the ground.

"Report the damage!" Helmut Heyer struggled to get up. Just as he was about to ask about the damage, there was another deafening loud noise. The ship's hull shook violently again, and Heye was overturned to the ground.

This time, a 1,000-pound bomb exploded on the deck of the "Seidlitz" - since the armored aircraft carrier was an SBD dive bomber, not the armor-piercing bomb itself, the armor-piercing bomb exploded on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier, which was very harmful to the aircraft carrier itself. The damage was not huge, but it looked very scary in the air, as if the aircraft carrier had been severely damaged.

"Is it a...suicide attack!?" Little Hersman was the pilot of the Fokker Zero that was chasing Smith Aircraft just now. He witnessed this crazy "American plane" bravely ramming into a German aircraft carrier.

This is a plane hitting an aircraft carrier, one plane for one ship! These New World cowboys actually fight like this! ?

Looking at the thick smoke rising from the "Sedlitz" aircraft carrier below, little Hersman felt a chill down his spine - for the first time, he truly felt that the German Empire might lose the war!

The German pilots in the sky were frightened by the thick smoke rising from the "Seidlitz". At the same time, the British pilots cheered. Today's battle was too frustrating. The plane they flew was a living target for the Germans! Now the evil spirit has finally come out. A German aircraft carrier was bombed and sunk. No, it should have been hit and sunk!

The news that an SBD dive bomber had sunk a German aircraft carrier was quickly sent by radio wave to the British War Cabinet Headquarters underground in King Charles Street, London, and the gloomy atmosphere there was swept away.

"Great! This is the beginning of a great victory!" A smile that he had not seen for many days appeared on Winston Churchill's face. "This warrior who sank the German aircraft carrier is a hero of our British Empire and should be well publicized. His deeds will greatly boost the sluggish national morale. In addition... crashing a plane into a warship is obviously a very effective tactic!"

"Prime Minister, what are you talking about?"

As soon as Fatty Qiu finished speaking, Alexander, the Admiralty Minister who came to report the war situation to Churchill, was stunned.

Churchill glanced at this elderly gentleman with a conservative mind, smiled and said: "This is a propaganda war method. We should make the Germans believe that the British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force are developing surprisingly powerful suicide weapons!"