The Rise of the Third Reich

"It looks like it really blew up the oil fields."

"It looks more like it from an altitude of several thousand meters. I think Stalin should be happy now."

"He should be happy. If he is happy, we will be stable here for a few days."

"There will probably be a few more bombings. Once Stalin confirms that he has destroyed the Kirkuk oil fields, there will probably be peace for a few months."

"Well, I hope so."

Just seven or eight kilometers away from the oil production area where the fire broke out, General Rommel was having a low conversation with his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Bismarck. What the two discussed was actually a little trick to deceive people.

This little trick was very popular at the time, which was to set up false targets to fool pilots in the sky. The Germans erected more than a hundred fake oil pumping units in a minor oil production area of ​​the Kirkuk oil field. They were all carpenters. It's a fake, but it's hard to spot from an altitude of several thousand meters.

At the same time, he had people dig some pits next to these fake oil pumping units, and then poured some light crude oil and gasoline into them. Once the Soviet bombs exploded, these oil pits were naturally ignited, and plumes of oil popped up. The thick smoke looked very scary, as if there was a real oil field fire.

And after this fake oil field fire scene was taken into a photo and sent to Comrade Stalin, Stalin would probably think that the results of the air raid were good and there would be no need to carry out such heavy-loss bombing... At least it would allow Rommel and Bismarck to survive. A few months of peace of mind.

Of course, Rommel and Bismarck still don't know how badly General Alexander Lehr's fighter jets defeated the incoming American bombers.

In fact, the decision made by Roosevelt and Stalin to bomb the Kirkuk and Abadan oil fields was a huge mistake. Because the place they wanted to bomb was too important and too far from the Soviet border, the planes needed to fly 700-900 kilometers to reach their destination. Germany also deployed radar stations close to the Soviet border. Soviet and American aircraft would be discovered before they crossed the border. This gave the German 4th Air Force enough time to mobilize aircraft and formulate a combat plan.

Moreover, the size of the German Air Force in this time and space was much larger than in history, and the number of high-altitude and high-speed fighters it possessed was several times greater. The total number of fighter jets such as He-219, Fw-190B/C and Bf-109T used to deal with enemy strategic bombing had exceeded 2,700 (commonly used) in June 1942, and the 4th Air Force in the Middle East had There are as many as 900 of them!

…

"Everyone, pay attention! We are about to dive!" Li Mei was gritting her teeth at this time and pressing the steering wheel desperately to make the B-17 aircraft she was driving dive downward at a 60-degree angle. This is very dangerous for a four-engine heavy bomber. The body is likely to disintegrate because it cannot withstand the gravity caused by the dive.

But Colonel Li Mei had to do this because there were two He-219 aircraft chasing his B-17. Those were 12 machine guns. If they were hit, they would be dead. Therefore, Li Mei could only desperately use the method of accelerating dive to escape from the battle.

"The Germans are following! Oh my god, they are getting closer!" the voice of tail gunner Jason came, followed by the sudden sound of machine gun fire.

"Block them, don't let them get close!" Colonel Li Mei held the steering wheel hard and continued to rush downward despite the violent trembling of the fuselage.

"They're gone, they're gone... Pull up! Colonel, pull up!" Jason, the tail gunner, shouted in a voice that was almost crying.

"Baby, get up!" Colonel Li Mei shouted and pulled up the steering wheel with all his strength. He almost heard the sound of metal disintegrating from the fuselage. But the plane was miraculously intact!

"God bless Boeing!" Colonel Li Mei, who had narrowly escaped death, almost cried with joy. At this moment, Li Mei suddenly noticed a B-17 outside the left window diving down at a faster speed and a steeper angle. The unimaginably dense rain of bullets surrounded it mercilessly. Fist-sized tracer bullets rained down like a torrential rain, bursting into flames on the wings and fuselage of the unlucky bomber.

It turned out that the two He-219s chasing Li Mei found a better target during the chase, which was the B-17 that was about to die, so they gave up the plane piloted by Li Mei.

"Oh God!" Li Mei had no intention of paying attention to the final fate of this plane. He was now busy saving his own life - the bombing operation had completely failed for him, and all the members of the 305th Bomb Wing could still fly. The B-17s had dropped their bombs in the desert in order to save weight and escape.

But even so, it still seems difficult to save everyone's lives! Because the Germans had too many planes and they were hitting them too hard. Especially the firepower of the twin-engine fighter jets was insane.

He suspected that this kind of aircraft was tailor-made for the B-17 Flying Fortress. No matter how strong the fortress was, it could not withstand the bombardment of six machine guns!

"Colonel, the enemy plane is catching up! The enemy plane is coming again!" Jason, the tail gunner, interrupted Colonel Li Mei's thoughts with a desperate roar.

What found Li Mei this time were two He-219s and two Fw-190s. They were two two-plane formations, coming from two different directions.

It's over now! Colonel LeMay knew that his aircraft could not withstand another steep dive. Moreover... there are two Fw-190s here, and the B-17 will not be able to escape even if it dives.

"Fire! Fire the cannon and kill the Germans!" He roared at the top of his lungs, but the first thing that fired was the 12 cannons of two H-219s!

The shells hit the B-17's solid body like a hailstorm, immediately smashing the aircraft into a sieve, and screams could be heard.

"Ah! I was hit!"

"God, Jason's head is gone!"

"Blood! Blood! My blood..."

"An engine is on fire, the plane is dead, let's parachute!"

The plane was really in trouble. One engine caught fire, another engine stalled, a big hole was punched in one wing, and the fuselage was riddled with holes. It would definitely not be able to fly back to the Soviet Union.

"Skydive! Skydive now!"

Colonel Li Mei had no choice but to issue an order to parachute to escape, but this was the sky above the Kingdom of Iraq, and it was also close to the Kirkuk oil field. The Germans stationed heavy troops in this area.

At this time, Rommel had sent several SS cavalry regiments waiting on the ground to capture prisoners. So Colonel Le Mei successfully parachuted, and what awaited him was the "Soviet-German Friendship Concentration Camp" specially built for Soviet prisoners of war... This Li Mei, who was supposed to become the god of death in the air of the United States, is now unlucky, and he will soon It is about to begin a life of transformation for prisoners of war that touches the soul.

…

"Boom!"

A huge mushroom cloud rose into the sky from the ground, and a blue-black smoke column rose to a height of a thousand meters. Red firelight could still be vaguely seen rolling in the smoke column. At this time, the Hs293 glide bomb hit the oil depot of the Batumi refinery. The scene where French planes bombed Baku more than two years ago seems to have reappeared. The difference is that countless anti-aircraft guns fired dense shells, exploding countless smoke balls more than 1,000 meters in the air below the German Ju288 high-altitude bomber.

But for the Ju288, which hovers at an altitude of 10,000 meters and throws Hs293 remote-controlled gliding bombs, the lethality of these Soviet anti-aircraft guns is almost zero. Because even the effective shooting height of the 1L55.2 anti-aircraft gun is only more than 8,300 meters, which cannot threaten the Ju288 at an altitude of 10,000 meters. As for the larger-caliber 130mm anti-aircraft gun, it cannot hit targets at an altitude of 10,000 meters because it does not have radar fire control and radio proximity fuses.

The 72 Ju288s led by Air Force Major General Johannes Steinhoff were able to accurately drop Hs293 bombs into the Soviet oil refinery very comfortably, causing bursts of big explosions!

"General, the Soviet high-altitude fighter has been spotted!"

In the earphones of Air Force Major General Steinhoff, the commander of the 2nd Group of the 3rd Night Combat Flying Regiment, Prince Heinrich Alexander Ludwig Pieter zu Shayan-Wettingenstein, was heard. The captain's voice. The prince captain is also an ace who has won the Blue Max Medal. He is currently flying a He-219 night combat/high-altitude fighter. Therefore, a radar is installed on the aircraft, which allows him to detect Soviet meters at a longer distance. G-3 fighter.

"How many planes are coming?" Air Force Major General Steinhoff asked.

"About 10."

Air Force Major General Steinhoff issued an order through the airborne radio, "Stop the bombing now and raise the altitude to 11,000...Prince, you lead a squadron to meet them, feel the performance of the Soviet high-altitude fighter aircraft, and take a look at this aircraft How high can it fly and how maneuverable is it at an altitude of 10,000 meters?”

The German intelligence department knew that the best high-altitude aircraft in the Soviet Union was the MiG-3, which could operate at an altitude of 10,500 meters and had a maximum speed of more than 600 kilometers per hour. Theoretically, this kind of aircraft poses no threat to the Ju288, because the high-altitude version of the Ju288 flies higher and can reach a maximum speed of 670 kilometers per hour.

The latest model He-219 flies as fast as the Ju288, with a maximum speed of 670 kilometers per hour, and the engine it uses has better performance at high altitudes. In theory, it can defeat the MiG-3 at high altitudes.

But theory is theory and reality is reality. Therefore, Air Force Major General Steinhoff, who commanded the air attack on Batum, had a special mission to test the depth of the Soviet MiG-3. And the results he tested will serve as the basis for the German Air Force to bomb Moscow.