Chapter 253 The Intimidation of the Bomber

The bombing missions during this period were not as simple as imagined. They had no navigation, no radar, and even no radio.

The pilots could only rely on a map, a compass, and a ruler.

Therefore, even if the exact location of the target was known and could be found visually, it was still difficult to bomb accurately.

The bomber fleet was likely to deviate from the target direction during the flight. At first, it was only a small angle. After flying dozens or even hundreds of kilometers, this small angle had caused a deviation of more than ten or even dozens of kilometers.

And hidden targets, such as the German artillery positions carefully hidden in the woods and camouflaged, were almost impossible for bombers to find and blow them up.

This is also the reason why bombers are questioned and criticized by the so-called "military critics" in France:

"Bombers are likely to only attack exposed and obvious targets, such as buildings, bridges, etc."

"They obviously have great limitations for hidden targets. I can't imagine how they can find the right position and drop bombs."

"In addition, their targets are too big. If the enemy prepares anti-aircraft machine guns or artillery, they are simply a bunch of targets flying in the air!"

This is one of the reasons why the military did not order bombers in large quantities. The huge bodies of bombers make them look insecure.

Charles knows that these "military critics" are bought by capitalists, at least some of them are. They took the lead in raising doubts in newspapers, and other "critics" began to follow suit.

This is related to Charles' business. A "bomber" can earn 30,000 francs, and the military must order at least hundreds of them to meet battlefield needs.

This means millions, tens of millions of francs, or even more. How could Charles watch it being destroyed by "rumors"?

What Charles had to do was to blow up a hidden artillery position and give these "critics" a slap in the face with facts.

The specific bombing steps were roughly as follows:

The Army staff that Carter contacted was the staff sent by the aviation unit to the Army to be responsible for air-ground coordination. Several of them were artillery observers.

These artillery observers knew a certain location based on intelligence, and used artillery observation methods to calculate the exact direction and distance of the target.

Finally, at the specified time and appropriate location, a signal board was used to form a large arrow on the ground pointing to the target, and an "N" was marked behind the arrow.

"N" was agreed upon by the aviation unit and the Army staff. It ranks 14th among the 26 English letters, which means that the target is 14 kilometers away from the arrow.

(Note: Using letters can simplify the representation of numbers and make them easier to distinguish. Some numbers are easily misidentified by pilots due to interference from roads, trees, and rivers. For example, "7" is easily mistaken for "2", and "6" and "9" are also easily confused)

The next thing to go is the reconnaissance plane. Under the cover of fighter planes, they fly over the target according to the instructions of the signal board, circling and observing carefully with binoculars.

The German army has machine guns and anti-aircraft artillery on the high ground.

But for confidentiality reasons, the German army did not dare to open fire.

Because once they open fire, it is a modern version of "there is no silver here", which clearly tells the enemy that they have found the right place.

However, even if they can keep calm and not open fire, it will be useless.

Soon, the reconnaissance plane manually threw a few smoke bombs downwards, and the two blue smoke rising in the valley was like a mark for the German artillery position.

The German artillerymen looked at the smoke with a confused look on their faces:

"What are they doing? Have they found us?"

"I don't think so, otherwise, they should have dropped bombs instead of smoke bombs!"

"But why did they drop smoke bombs?"

...

Before the words fell, everyone understood.

The sky was filled with the roar of bomber engines, and several terrifying bombers had appeared in the clouds and began to lower their altitude.

At this time, the Germans suddenly realized:

"God, they have found us, they are enemy bombers!"

"They are guiding the bombers! Disperse, disperse immediately!"

"Drive the ammunition truck away, hurry up!"

...

The valley that seemed to have nothing suddenly moved, with people moving ammunition, dragging guns, and carrying ammunition boxes running back and forth in chaos.

The troops responsible for air defense around the artillery positions and on the high ground were also busy, and they aimed their machine guns and artillery at the direction of the bombers in the air.

The bombers flew towards the artillery positions calmly, without even a tremor in their wings.

With the signal board's instructions and the smoke bomb's markings, they easily locked onto the target, and even slowed down their speed to hit the target more accurately.

"Boom boom!" The sound of the gun rang out.

That was the German 37MM anti-aircraft gun.

To be precise, it was not an anti-aircraft gun, but an "anti-balloon gun", which the Germans invented before the war to shoot reconnaissance balloons.

But this anti-balloon anti-aircraft gun seemed powerless against high-speed flying aircraft, and their shells seemed to have no effect on bombers: their shells were not loaded with tracer powder, and they didn't know where the shells flew after being fired, and of course they didn't know how far they deviated from the target, so they couldn't correct it, and the shooting depended entirely on feeling.

The sound of machine guns followed, and bullets flew "da da da" towards the bombers approaching them in the air.

Some bullets may have hit, but they were also powerless to stop the bomber from approaching.

In an instant, before the machine gun had time to replace another belt, the bomber had already passed overhead and dropped bombs one after another.

The wind wheel behind the bomb was spinning rapidly in the air with a "whistling" sound, which frightened the German soldiers to drop their machine guns and artillery and lie on the ground holding their heads tightly.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

...

Dense explosions sounded one after another on the artillery position.

Carter dispatched 20 bombers in one breath, and a total of 380 bombs poured into the valley where the German artillery position was located like dense raindrops, and instantly turned the bottom into a sea of ​​fire.

During this period, the artillery position also exploded, and violent explosions occurred one after another, and the flames rolled in the thick smoke, as if a fire dragon was struggling and jumping in the middle.

The surviving German soldiers on the top of the mountain stared at this scene in amazement, and said in fear: "God, how can we defeat the French? They bomb wherever they want! And we are powerless to stop them!"

This is the despair that bombers bring to the opponent, which will form a psychological deterrent to the ground forces.

The enemy can't help but think about a question:

If every time a war starts, the enemy's bombers can easily blow up the headquarters or artillery positions, how can this war be fought?

(The above picture is an anti-aircraft gun in the early days of World War I, 1 caliber, used for anti-balloons, and can be pulled by horses)

(The above picture is the "anti-balloon gun" exhibited in a modern museum)