artillery arc

Chapter 383 Land War Heroes (No Feet on the Ground)
Originally, Drachenko's fleet had not noticed the artillery positions on the ground.

Yes, they distributed photos before takeoff, and everyone looked at them carefully many times, but these photos were taken from above, and the fleet was only looking directly below, so they didn't notice that the target was in front of them.

As a result, as soon as the ground opened fire, a pilot immediately noticed: "Something is firing on the ground ahead!"

Drachenko quickly swung the wing to turn the fuselage, then looked down and saw the smoke from the firing. Based on his experience, he determined that it was an anti-aircraft gun.

"Anti-aircraft guns are firing, follow my movements!"

He gently pulled the joystick and the aircraft began to circle to the left. At the same time, he stepped on the rudder pedal to correct the aircraft's deviation caused by the circling.

The other planes of the 4th Fighter-Bomber Regiment hurried to keep up with Drachenko's maneuver, and the fleet changed formation in the air like a flock of geese.

A few seconds later, anti-aircraft shells flew up and were detonated by time fuses, blowing up black flowers in the air.

However, the area where the shells exploded is a huge distance away from the current location of the aircraft group.

"It's time for the enemy to adjust their aiming position. Follow my maneuver. Use maximum throttle and maintain speed."

As long as you are maneuvering, you will definitely lose speed. This is the case with most aircraft in this era. Opening the throttle to the maximum is to reduce the loss of speed and maintain the energy of the aircraft.

After Drachenko gave the order, the deputy commander shouted, "We are all overloaded. The engine alone cannot make up for the lost energy. We are almost above the enemy. Let's dive if we can avoid another wave!"

Drachenko measured the distance and agreed: "Okay! Dodge another wave of anti-aircraft guns, and then dive."

After that, he shook the joystick again and stepped on the rudder. While maneuvering, he glanced at the dashboard.

The reading on the speedometer seems to have dropped to near the danger line, but the aircraft is now at a very high altitude and the actual speed will be greater than the speed displayed on the instrument, so it should be okay.

But it was impossible to maneuver further because the plane was carrying too many bombs, which seriously affected its flight performance.

However, Drachenko comforted himself that this was already much stronger than the Il-2. If he were driving an Il-2, he would have to charge head-on into the enemy's anti-aircraft fire network and rely on armor to resist.

"Drachenko!" the wingman called out, "It's almost time to reset!"

Drachenko realized that he was distracted and quickly pulled the joystick: "Follow me, go!"

His plane rolled and dived, gradually turning from the upside-down position during the dive.

The flashes from the ground anti-aircraft guns indicated the target. Drachenko aimed at the anti-aircraft gun position and soon saw an artillery position right next to it that had not yet been camouflaged.

"Artillery position! The enemy has no small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, lower the bombing altitude!"

At this time, the enemy's large-caliber anti-aircraft artillery opened fire again, but because the loading table of the artillery shells' time fuses had not been changed in time, all the shells hit the rear of the dive fleet and exploded at a high altitude.

Drachenko even saw the Proson soldiers frantically adjusting the timing of the artillery shells, twisting the shells with something like a spring.

I really want to blow up these anti-aircraft artillery positions!

Thinking of this, Drachenko stepped on the rudder, shifted the plane to the side, and aimed the machine gun sight directly at the enemy's anti-aircraft artillery position.

This is the experience they have summed up from many bombings. Using machine gun sights to assist in aiming, as long as they aim a little higher, the hit rate is trustworthy.

This time, Drachenko aimed at the ammunition truck next to the enemy's artillery position. According to his experience, the bomb should hit the artillery position exactly.

However, the timing of this dive was relatively hasty, and the dive angle should not be as large as before, so the error will definitely become larger, so we have to rely on the power of explosives to make up for it.

Drachenko felt that the altitude was about right, so he dropped the bomb and then pulled the plane up.

The violent pulling action caused all the blood in his body to rush to the soles of his feet. His entire vision went dark, and even the sky dimmed.

Drachenko used his experience to reset the joystick.

After regaining his vision, he looked at the altimeter and confirmed that the plane had returned to an altitude of two thousand meters and was still climbing. At the same time, the reading on the speedometer was dropping sharply.

He adjusted the pitch of the propellers and called on the radio, "Anyone missing pull-up?"

At this moment, the explosion on the ground illuminated the rearview mirror of Drachenko's cockpit.

He couldn't help but turn his head to check the situation on the ground, but the P47's rearward vision was poor.

Someone shouted on the radio: "Captain, we've had a big explosion! I don't know who set off the enemy's ammunition!"

At this time, the light from the second explosion illuminated the rearview mirror.

Drachenko moved the stick to the left, which shifted the plane from a climb to a left turn, giving him a view below.

The ground had been exploded into a sea of ​​fire, and the Prosen people were fleeing in all directions.

Suddenly, Drachenko saw a truck moving away from the explosion. It was obvious that the truck was also loaded with ammunition and the driver was trying hard to avoid it being affected.

"Everyone, destroying the enemy is not enough. Disband the formation and strafe those fleeing trucks freely! This is the 4th Combat Red Bombardment Regiment. Does anyone hear my call? Jacques, Jacques, we are strafe the enemy vehicles. We need Jacques' cover!"

While calling, Drachenko operated the plane into a dive again, targeting the runaway ammunition truck.

He slid the truck into the sights and pressed the fire button.

Eight heavy machine guns fired a fierce hail of bullets and quickly caught up with the truck. The ground-to-ground ammunition belts, armor-piercing shells and incendiary bombs provided by the United States immediately set the truck on fire.

The driver saw that the situation was not good, pushed open the door and jumped out of the car, and then the burning truck rushed forward and finally exploded into a fireball. Drachenko pulled up the plane with satisfaction.

At this time, a vague answer came from the rustling sound of the radio: "Where... are you..."

Drachenko: "Fly to where the fire is the biggest on the ground, Davarish!"

He regained his altitude, then flew level to gain speed, while turning his head to look at the ground.

The fighters of the 4th Fighter-Bomber Regiment were strafing everywhere, and their eight heavy machine guns were very effective against soft targets such as trucks and infantry.

Even some half-track vehicles with a little armor on the top could not withstand the fire from the 12.7 machine gun.

A pilot from the 4th Regiment shouted over the radio: "Now we are also Marine heroes!"

Drachenko and his wingman were making shallow climbs to gain altitude and speed, because he felt that with the level of coordination among the Proson people, the Proson Air Force should appear.

At low altitude and low speed, the P47 cannot defeat the BF109.

If 109 really comes, I can only rely on myself and my wingman to disperse them.

Suddenly, Drachenko saw the reflection of the canopy.

It’s eight 109s!

"Everyone! 109 is coming! Prepare for defensive maneuvers!"

As he spoke, Drachenko dived again, heading towards 109.

109's attention was entirely focused on the P47 at low altitude, and it didn't notice the attack from high altitude at all.

In the blink of an eye, two 109s were turned into fireballs, and the remaining 109s fled in all directions.

"Pull up, pull up! Just disrupt the enemy's first wave of attack!" Drachenko shouted to his wingman while pulling up himself, "Don't follow the enemy's maneuvers, don't follow! Pull up and disengage! We have played the role of covering our friendly forces!"

"Leave the rest to us!" As the radio shouted, a Yak-1 flew over the right side of the climbing P47.

Jacques's liquid-cooled engine was already running at full throttle, and the exhaust pipes were all emitting sparks.

In a flash, Drachenko saw a row of red stars painted next to the Yak's canopy.

The two climbing P47s passed through the Yak group that was attacking the enemy.

Drachenko pressed the microphone of the radio and shouted: "Yak is coming, pay attention, Yak is coming! They are all cigar-shaped liquid-cooled machines, don't hurt them by mistake, don't hurt them by mistake! The enemy planes have yellow noses, the enemy planes have yellow noses! Our target is still a soft target on the ground, our target is still a soft target on the ground!"

"Understood!" Someone shouted over the radio, "Our goal is to become a Marine hero!"

----

Lieutenant Colonel Hank, commander of the Plosson Artillery Regiment, lay on the ground, watching the two sides fighting in the sky.

The enemy aircraft were clearly more numerous than the Plosson Air Force.

Fighter planes with the same slender bodies as the 109 are fighting with the 109, while those "fat man" planes that look like flying milk bottles are "licking the ground".

The enemy's fighter plane seemed to be called Yak, with relatively weak firepower and poor ground attack capabilities. The fat man had many machine guns, and when he opened fire, it was as if two sharp swords of light grew out of his wings, sweeping across the ground to kill or injure anyone.

The ground was already a sea of ​​fire, with destroyed cars and half-tracks everywhere.

Fortunately, it had rained a little in the morning and the grass was relatively humid, otherwise it would have been difficult to deal with if a fire broke out in the grassland.

Lieutenant Colonel Hank lay on the ground, not daring to move, for fear that he would become the target of enemy planes. He had no confidence that he could survive such a fierce strafing.

----

"What?" The chief of staff at the Tenth Army headquarters asked loudly, "Speak louder! What was attacked by air? The artillery positions? What is the air force doing?"

Admiral Poker grabbed the receiver and asked, "Where was attacked?"

The answer on the other end of the phone was: "Our division, the 190th Division's artillery position, we have now lost almost all of our shells and half of our artillery."

Admiral Polk: "You'll be replenished. What about the anti-aircraft gun batteries?"

"Anti-aircraft guns cannot deal with the enemy's new bombers. We configured anti-aircraft guns according to the standard of dealing with the enemy's twin-engine tactical bombers. Small-caliber anti-aircraft guns are protecting the front-line troops to deal with the Il-2. But we didn't see any Il-2s, all new dive bombers."

"Got it." Poke hung up the phone, but immediately picked up the receiver again, "Connecting to the Air Force. Admiral Celtic? The Ant Air Force just bombed my artillery position. I demand that you bomb the Ant artillery position immediately!"

Admiral Celt: "We have bombed the Ante artillery positions and also bombed Rokossov's headquarters. Aerial reconnaissance shows that the bombing is very effective. Maybe Rokossov has been killed by us!"

"Damn you! If Rokossov could be killed so easily, he wouldn't have survived until now! I want you to bomb the enemy's artillery positions again!"

"Okay, okay, I'll arrange it right away. However, since Rokossov arrived at the front, the enemy's air force has greatly increased, and some elite air force units have been transferred here..."

"What are you trying to say?" Poker demanded. "Are you already making excuses for your own incompetence?"

"Of course not. I'm just telling you this. We will immediately arrange to bombard the enemy's artillery positions."

(End of this chapter)