The Rise of the Third Reich

60 P.108s seem to be divided into 5 teams...

When 60 P.108s of the Italian 10th Bombardment Aviation Regiment flew over Cunningham's A fleet, Sir Cunningham finally stopped his discussion with Chief of Staff Lister and both walked to the side of the bridge. Raise your telescope and start looking.

The Italian bombing aviation regiment is not full. There are only 2 groups and 4 squadrons. Each squadron has 12 P.108s. The other 2 group headquarters and 1 regiment headquarters have 4 P.108s. A total of That's 60 P.108s.

Now these 60 P.108s were divided into 5 squadron-level formations by Bruno Mussolini - the original 4 squadrons plus 4 P.108s from 2 group headquarters and 1 regiment headquarters. A temporary squadron of 4 P.108s.

Each of the five squadrons was responsible for an aircraft carrier or capital ship. They broke in from an altitude of 10,000 meters and basically avoided the artillery fire of surface ships and the F4F at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

The weather conditions were very good at this time, with only a few white clouds floating in the sky. Even at an altitude of 10,000 meters, one could clearly see the large ships on the water and the white tracks trailing behind them - at an altitude of 10,000 meters, These white tracks are easier to spot than the ship itself and cannot be blocked. According to the training requirements, once the target is obscured by smoke, the bombardier must estimate the position of the enemy ship based on the track.

But today is the first battle of Hs293. The British have no idea that these four-engine heavy bombers in the sky can threaten surface ships. Therefore, Cunningham did not order the destroyers to release smoke, but openly displayed the battleships and aircraft carriers to the enemies in the sky.

"Now lower the altitude to 9,000 meters, keep the straight-line distance from the target at 11,000 meters, and pay attention to maintaining the formation."

Bruno Mussolini's voice reached every Italian pilot's earphones. Although the visibility is good today, the altitude of 10,000 meters is still a bit high. Bruno is going to drop 1,000 meters in altitude so that he can see more clearly.

"Commander, they are lowering their altitude." On the King George V, Lister discovered that enemy planes in the sky were circling and lowering their altitude.

"If you want to hit, it's not enough to go down to 9,000 meters, you have to go down to at least 3,000 meters." Cunningham smiled, "But that's impossible, the F4F won't agree, and there are anti-aircraft guns on our ships. "

"They are no longer lowering their altitude. It is about 9,000 meters." Before Lister could finish his words, the sound of ping-pong-pong anti-aircraft guns firing had already come in.

The 16 5.25-inch anti-aircraft guns on the King George V and the 4.5-inch anti-aircraft guns on the four Glory-class aircraft carriers had all fired, and plumes of black smoke suddenly exploded in the sky. However, the rate of fire of these two types of anti-aircraft guns is not very fast, and the twin turrets can only fire 7-8 shells per minute.

"The firepower is still a bit weak." Bruno Mussolini muttered, and then ordered loudly, "Okay, now start dropping the gliding bombs in units of units. Operate carefully, just like in training, use Throw the bomb as quickly as possible and return in triumph, God bless Italy!”

A detachment consists of 3 P.108 aircraft. Each aircraft releases one Hs293 at a time. When the wires of these 3 bombs are all cut off, the delivery is completed, and then another detachment continues to release.

"God bless us!"

Along with the prayers, the bombardiers all shouted "release" loudly, and at the same time, they pressed the button in their hands, and 15 Hs293V3 gliding bombs were released one by one.

These bombs are different from ordinary SC-500 high-explosive bombs. They not only strengthen the missile body, but also install tail fins on the missile body that can change the flight direction and attitude, as well as a pair of bomb wings that can automatically pop up after being dropped. There is also a wire barrel at the tail of the projectile. The spool contains 14,000 meters of wire. One end of the wire is connected to a remote control. The specially trained operator puts his eyes on a sight and holds the steering wheel with both hands, "driving" the glide bomb toward the ship on the sea as if driving a car.

Before the bomb hits the target, the P.108 aircraft that drops the bomb must circle the target at a certain angle and route.

"What is this... what is this?" Lister's young and sharp eyes saw a bomb with wings gliding rapidly.

"It seems to be a bomb, but it seems to have wings..." a staff officer immediately answered.

A bomb with wings? An ominous premonition suddenly arose in Cunningham's heart, and he suddenly shouted: "Let the F4F increase its altitude to drive away those Italian planes!"

"Yes, sir." The fleet aviation staff responded loudly.

But before he could give the order in place, the first batch of 15 Hs293s had quickly slid to the vicinity of their respective targets. At this time, each ship was doing S-shaped evasion, twisting around on the water, but for those who could For the Hs293 glide bomb that changes its course by itself, such evasion is almost useless. What really determines whether a glide bomb can hit or not is the skill of the operator and the stability and visibility of the aircraft hovering in the air. This type of wire-controlled gliding bomb is somewhat similar to the first-generation anti-tank missiles of later generations. They both rely on wires to transmit signals for control, and they are also "artificial intelligence" things. The difference is that the anti-tank missile can hit a tank of tens of tons at a distance of two to three thousand meters, while the Hs293 can hit a warship of tens of thousands of tons at a distance of 10,000 to 11,000 meters. The target of the latter is a thousand times larger, and the big thing more than 200 meters long is still easy to aim, so it is not particularly difficult to hit the target without interference from the operator.

So in the eyepiece of Cunningham's telescope, he soon saw a bomb with wings, pointing downward at an angle of 55-60 degrees, rushing from high altitude like lightning, getting bigger and closer before his eyes.

"Bomb! Anti-collision..."

Someone yelled, but before the sound fell, the bomb had already hit the side of the Y turret at the stern of the battleship King George V. Cunningham felt that his retinas were frozen in an instant. He saw a huge and dazzling fire ball exploded from the side of the twin turret. The entire battleship seemed to have been kicked and shook violently. Down.

The Hs293V3 glide bomb, which weighed a total of 600 kilograms after installing the wings, tail, control system and wire barrel, was unable to penetrate armor up to 12 inches (305mm) thick. However, the violent explosion still caused considerable damage to the turret. The fireproof linkage door of turret A and some overly precise parts of the shell transport device were jammed due to the violent explosion, causing the main turret with four 14-inch cannons to temporarily Lost the ability to fight.

The easy failure of the main turret is actually an old problem of the King George V class, but now it is not a fleet artillery battle, but an air defense battle, so the failure of the main turret is not a big deal. However, the shrapnel generated by the bomb explosion hit the unarmored secondary battery commander located at the stern of the ship. Immediately, the four twin 5.25-inch high-level dual-purpose guns on both sides of the battleship lost their targets and could only fire randomly into the sky.

However, Cunningham didn't know that the secondary battery commander was damaged. He saw that the side of the Y turret was not penetrated. Just after taking a breath, he heard someone shouting: "Aircraft carrier! The aircraft carrier has been hit!"

aircraft carrier! ?

Cunningham quickly turned his head to look in the direction of the aircraft carriers Glory and Victory. Suddenly, the corners of his eyes seemed to be pricked by something, and he saw billowing smoke coming out of both aircraft carriers!

Before he could react, another violent explosion sounded in his ears. Then the cry of Chief of Staff Lister was heard: "Oh God, the Formidable has been hit!"

The Formidable has been hit again! What exactly is going on? Cunningham staggered to the other side of the command tower. As soon as he raised the telescope to check the situation of the Formidable, a dazzling fireball appeared in the eyepiece, and then there was another loud noise.

"The Indomitable..." Cunningham took a closer look and saw two burning and smoking aircraft carriers floating on the sea!

Four aircraft carriers and one battleship were bombed in the blink of an eye! How did the Italian bomb drop? How could it be so accurate? Could adding wings to a bomb increase its hit rate?

When Cunningham was confused, someone yelled again: "Bomb, the bomb is coming again!"

Come again?

Cunningham quickly raised his telescope and searched the sky. He soon saw a bomb with wings diving down from the sky at a high speed visible to the naked eye. It looked like a dive bomber. But its size is much smaller than that of a dive bomber, and its diving speed is much faster. It can easily penetrate the fire net fired by the ping pong cannon.

"Bang!"

A dull collision sound was heard. The Hs293 glide bomb penetrated the thin bow deck of the King George V at an angle of nearly 60 degrees. (Although the Hs293 was designed based on ordinary high-explosive bombs, it still hit the bomb. The body is thickened and a delay fuse is installed, which is equivalent to a semi-armor-piercing projectile). However, the explosion was not followed immediately. It was a dumb bomb.

"Go and see, what kind of bomb is that!" Lister reacted quickly and immediately sent a staff officer to check the bomb that did not explode - there must be something wrong with this bomb, otherwise how could it be so accurate?

Before the staff could even run out of the command tower, the huge hull seemed to be hit by something. The stern of the ship was pushed violently to the left, and the command tower suddenly staggered. After everyone regained their feet, a piece of bad news had already come from the phone. came from.

"Sir, the stern of the ship was hit. The bomb penetrated the underwater armor and opened a big hole. The stern of the ship is rapidly filling with water!"

"What!? The bomb can also hit the part below the waterline? Is this a bomb or a torpedo?" Cunningham was so surprised that he was almost speechless, and large beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

His fleet is being attacked by an unprecedented and terrifying bomb!