Chapter 553 Black Technology Killer

The footsteps were heavy and rapid. The staff in the War Cabinet Command under King Charles Street all put down their work and looked in the direction of the footsteps, then turned their heads and sighed softly.

Although Churchill had been inspiring people's morale through various speeches and had achieved remarkable results, most British people were still confident in the prospects of the war. However, the "insiders" who knew the most core secrets of the war in the War Cabinet Command were frightened countless times by the news brought by such heavy and rapid footsteps. Moreover, the people who worked in the War Cabinet Command today knew that another main squadron of the German High Seas Fleet had gone to sea and would soon go to war with the Royal Navy. But can the Royal Navy win a big victory that would change the comparison of naval power between the two sides? Even those who were most optimistic about the prospects of the war shook their heads with a wry smile.

They said secretly: "Something must be tight again."

These people were not wrong. The communication office of the War Cabinet Command had just received a report that the Faroe Islands would soon be bombed.

"Why the Faroe Islands?" Churchill and the new Deputy Prime Minister Attlee exclaimed almost at the same time when they heard the report of the Third Sea Lord Fraser who was on duty at the Wartime Cabinet Command today.

"This must be a trap!" Winston Churchill made an immediate judgment. "If the Germans wanted to seize the Faroe Islands, they would not have allowed two Bismarck-class and one Scharnhorst-class battleships to break into the Atlantic last December. Those three battleships have 22 380mm cannons, which are weapons for bombarding the coast."

His judgment was correct. The German bombing of the Faroe Islands was indeed a trap, the purpose of which was to attract the main force of the British home fleet to rush to the Faroe Islands, but Churchill's reason was not entirely correct.

The main reason why the Germans did not attack the Faroe Islands now was that they looked down on it. The Faroe Islands are composed of 18 mountainous islands or reefs, and there are not many places that can be used to build large airports. Moreover, due to the existence of the polar night phenomenon, as long as the autumnal equinox is over, British battleships can easily approach under the cover of night and destroy the airport there with naval guns.

Moreover, the number of British garrisons on the Faroe Islands was not small, as many as 30,000 to 40,000. In addition to a large number of shore-based aircraft, they also had dozens of large-caliber coastal defense guns (mainly 10-inch/254mm and 8-inch/203mm naval guns). It seemed that the difficulty of capturing the Faroe Islands was smaller than landing in Ireland.

"Without the Bismarck and Tirpitz, could the Germans capture the Faroe Islands?" asked Attlee, the new Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Dominions.

Clement Richard Attlee was the leader of the British Labour Party and originally served as the Lord Chancellor in the wartime cabinet. However, as the war situation became increasingly unfavorable, the reputation of the Churchill government continued to decline. In order to appease the dissatisfaction of public opinion, Churchill reorganized the government in February 1942 and made Attlee, the leader of the Labour Party, the Deputy Prime Minister, and also made him the Minister for Dominions and the President of the Privy Council.

"Mr. Deputy Prime Minister, I think they have the ability." Lieutenant General Fraser, the third sea minister, answered truthfully, "According to the reconnaissance of the 'Mosquito' aircraft, the German fleet has 2 'Hindenburg' class and 2 'Barbarossa' class. The former is equipped with 8 406mm cannons, and the latter has cannons, which can pose a serious threat to the artillery positions on the Faroe Islands. In addition, a large German bomber group is now flying towards the Faroe Islands and is expected to start bombing there in 15 minutes."

The "Mosquito" aircraft is really annoying. These fast and high-altitude aircraft equipped with radar can not only detect fleets on the sea, but also detect flying groups in the air. They can even use their speed and high-altitude performance to fly over the German bomber group to get close to check.

"A large bomber group? How many planes are there?" Air Minister Sinclair, who was attending the meeting, asked hurriedly.

"The Coastal Air Force reported that the Mosquito aircraft that went to Bergen for reconnaissance discovered a fleet of at least 100 four-engine and twin-engine heavy bombers flying towards the Faroe Islands. And these planes are not German, but Italian and French."

"Italian planes... What? How come there are French planes!?" Churchill was stunned again and again, "Are they sure?"

"Yes, it is indeed the paint scheme of French planes." Lieutenant General Fraser said with a wry smile, "According to reconnaissance, the Italians dispatched P.108 heavy bombers, and the French dispatched Amio 350 series bombers... And these bombers are flying at a very high altitude, reaching 9,000-10,000 meters!"

"Damn, it's a high-altitude bomber!" Churchill said, gritting his teeth, "The German turbocharged engine must have been successful!"

Churchill was only half right. The Italian P.108 heavy bomber was indeed equipped with a turbocharged engine provided by Germany. However, the Amiot 357 bomber sent by the French Air Force to support the Germans was indeed equipped with the French's own Hispano Suiza 12Z-9 turbocharged engine.

Like Britain, France neglected tactical bombers before and during the early stages of the war, but invested heavily in strategic bombers, and therefore developed turbocharging technology to improve the high-altitude performance of engines. At the end of the Western Front in 1940, France's turbocharged engines were close to success. However, due to the subsequent defeat, France's aviation industry experienced a period of downturn.

However, after the Mediterranean Campaign in 1941, the French aviation industry began to recover rapidly, and many projects that were interrupted after 1940 were revived. Among them, the fastest progress is France's D.520 series fighters and Amiot 350 series bombers. The former is a fighter with better performance than the Bf-109 series (if the same level of engine is used), and the latter takes a high-altitude and high-speed route, with a positioning similar to the "Mosquito".

At the same time, the strength of the French Air Force is also recovering rapidly. Relying on the D.520 series fighters and Amiot 350 series bombers, the French Air Force has now rebuilt 10 fighter clusters and 10 bomber clusters. Moreover, since the beginning of 1942, the French Air Force has begun to fight side by side with the German and Italian Air Forces.

Obviously, most French people have realized that Britain will inevitably fail, so they really began to stand on the side of Germany.

After almost a year of repeated improvements and test flights, Italy's P.108 heavy bomber has finally matured.

Major Bruno Mussolini (Mussolini's son), who is now leading 60 P.108S bombers and 48 Amio 357 bombers to carry out the mission of bombing the Faroe Islands, is now very satisfied with the performance of the latest P.108S heavy bomber. After installing the BMW-801R series engine of BMW and equipped with a pressurized cockpit, the P.108 heavy bomber has the ability to drop bombs at an altitude of 10,000 meters and an ultra-long range of nearly 4,000 kilometers.

However, high altitude and long range are not the biggest killer of the P.108S bomber - the US B-17 and the British "Mosquito" also have the same capabilities, but the P.108S has the precision strike capability that the B-17 and the "Mosquito" do not have!

The Germans installed their "black technology weapon" Hs-293V2 glide bomb on the P.108! This bomb is similar to the laser-guided bomb of later generations, but there is no laser, only a pair of human eyes with a vision of more than 2.0 - Dr. Herbert Wagner of Henschel installed aluminum alloy wings and tails on the SC-500 ordinary aerial bomb, and also specially designed a set of radio/wired remote control devices (the altitude is less than 4,000 meters, and the straight-line distance is within 6,000 meters. Wireless remote control can be used). This allows the control personnel on the aircraft to fly the Hs-293V2 glide bomb by radio or wired remote control! In December of the same year, Henschel also added a liquid rocket engine to the belly of the Hs293V3, turning it into a simplified version of the missile, and the code name was changed to Hs293A0.

However, the German Air Force and Naval Aviation (actually Hessman's intention) were not very interested in the Hs293A0 missile, but were very interested in the relatively simple Hs293V3 controllable glide bomb. Because both Hs293A0 and Hs293V3 are "artificial intelligence" of "human eyes", "human brain" and "human hands", as long as the human eye can't see clearly, it is impossible to hit, so the practical significance of long-distance launch is not great. In order to avoid enemy anti-aircraft guns and aircraft, attacking from high altitude is obviously more reliable than attacking from a long distance.

The 20mm, 37mm and 40mm anti-aircraft guns on ships of this era generally have a firing height of 2000-4000 meters, and medium-sized anti-aircraft guns below 100mm usually have a firing height of 6000-8000 meters. If you want to fire at more than 10,000 meters, you need to use heavy anti-aircraft guns above 100mm. And there are generally not many such heavy anti-aircraft guns on surface ships.

In addition, the high-altitude performance of carrier-based aircraft is usually not very good. After all, the main battlefield of carrier-based aircraft is below 5000 meters. If there is no "artificial intelligence" and "cat's eye magic" when dropping bombs from more than 8000 meters, it is basically impossible to hit surface ships.

Therefore, it is more reliable for aircraft to attack from an altitude of 8000 meters than to attack from more than 8000 meters.

Therefore, the combination of "manually guided bombs" and high-altitude heavy bombers has become the latest anti-ship combat mode. The P.108S, which has a long range and ultra-high altitude performance, and has a large enough bomb load and cabin area (space is needed to accommodate the "artificial intelligence" operating system), and is already a mature model, became the first Axis bomber equipped with the Hs293V3.

So the P.108S is now also General Gunther Lütjens's trump card!