I asked you to escape, but you became a soldier in World War II

Chapter 141: Bombing the Vemork Factory

If you want to bomb the Vemork factory, you cannot depart directly from the base of the 3rd Squadron, but have to transfer to a military airport in the north of England, then refuel and fly directly to the destination from there, and then return after the bombing is completed.

The entire flight takes seven or eight hours, which is not short for an air strategic bombing force.

When the forty-seven B24 bombers of the Third Squadron formed a neat bombing formation and flew at a constant speed towards northern Norway at an altitude of 8000 meters, everyone prayed silently, hoping that God would bless them this time.

Anderson's crew followed closely behind Major Carl's pilot plane, and next to it was Lieutenant Will's "Endeavour" crew.

"Sir, do we have fighter escort this time?" His team members asked him nervously. When they were transferring, many people were saying that the distance was too far and there might not be fighter escort. For a bomber like the B24, it would undoubtedly be very dangerous without fighter escort.

"Yes, I think there must be! I just don't know who will come to protect us this time. I hope it's not the 56th Fighter Group. Their P-47B fighters turned back halfway through their flight."

Anderson really had no good feelings towards this new American aircraft. Although he would provide escort every time, due to its maximum combat radius of only 600 kilometers, it could basically only escort to France and then return. The rest of the most dangerous journey had to be on their own for the B17 bombers, which was also the biggest reason for their soaring losses.

This time the bombing mission is at a longer distance. If it is carried out by a P47, there is actually not much difference between it and having no escort.

"Sir, look, what is that?" Someone with sharp eyes saw a dense group of fighter jets flying behind the formation.

He had never seen this kind of fighter before, with a huge bubble-shaped pressurized cockpit and an extremely simple and streamlined body shape.

Fortunately, the U.S. Air Force paint on the fuselage is extremely eye-catching, otherwise it would have been mistaken for an advanced German aircraft.

"This is the 354st Squadron of the th Fighter Group. I'm Major Bob, the squadron leader. Please reply!"

Hearing the message from the intercom, Major Carl was very excited. The whole process! This is great!
"I'm from the 3rd Squadron of the 1st Bomber Wing, and I'm the squadron leader, Major Carl!"

"Hello, Carl, we played basketball together when we were in New York!" A hearty laugh came from the other side.

"Oh my God, Bob, is it really you? It's been a long time! Can you make it to the destination this time?"

"Don't worry, we have all installed auxiliary fuel tanks, which is enough to fly to the destination." Bob answered very affirmatively.

(The early "Mustang" fighters here were still very immature in terms of technology, and even had to use the fuel on the fuselage before using the auxiliary fuel tanks. This was not changed until the P51D was put into service. In order to avoid upsetting everyone, I will skip this here. I hope military fans will not criticize me!)
"Great!" It was also the first time that Carl saw such a situation. After all, Lin Chen's fighter jet did not have auxiliary fuel tanks installed last night, so he had no idea what kind of terrifying performance this fighter jet had.

"Old friend, we will be at Boxted Airport in Essex from now on, which is very close to you! By the way, your little brother is in my team, the one with the red tail! He is really a flying genius, and he said he will do his best to ensure your air safety!"

After hearing what Bob said, Carl looked outside and saw, as expected, a Mustang fighter with a red tail just outside his squadron.

He was in extremely high spirits, so the probability of completing the mission was very high.

Other crews in the squadron were also observing and discussing these new aircraft. When safety was guaranteed to a certain extent, fear was diluted and strategic bombing became an easy and pleasant operation.

While everyone was chatting and laughing, the formation soon entered Norwegian airspace, which was the German-occupied area.

Such a large group of bombers naturally attracted the attention of the people on the ground, but most Norwegians did not approve of Germany's rule. In addition, Germany was already showing signs of defeat, so they were naturally unwilling to continue working for them.

Therefore, it was not until the German observation post on the ground discovered the US bomber formation when it flew to a place only 200 kilometers away from the Vemork factory, and it hurriedly reported it to the higher authorities.

The German Northern Theater Air Force was not a front-line main force, and there were not many elite pilots. Some of the air force pilots were pro-German elements in the occupied areas of Nordic countries such as Norway. However, they were equipped with German BF109 fighter jets, but most of them were early models with average performance.

"Attention, there are German fighter planes coming at 3 o'clock. We are going to intercept them. Please pay attention to your own safety!"

Bob was very experienced and only sent out half of his Mustang fighters to engage in battle, while the other half stayed around the bomber formation and watched what would happen.

The Germans' air tactics were very flexible and varied. Sometimes they would send a small force to lure out the escort aircraft, and then the large force would directly raid the bomber formation that had lost its escort.

It has been tried and tested and has always worked!
Unexpectedly, Bob was an old hand at escort and didn't fall for the German tricks at all. He led the escort planes to drop the auxiliary fuel tanks, formed a combat formation, and headed towards the German fighter planes.

The two sides opened fire crazily at a distance of several hundred meters, and two fighter jets from each side were hit.

Lin Chen did not join the battle. He looked at everything through the cabin window with an extremely wide field of view and couldn't help shaking his head.

The tactics of the U.S. military fighters were too rigid and they did not bring out the advantages of the "Mustang" fighters at all. With such good planes in hand they chose to fight head-on. Isn't that stupid?
Fortunately, after a staggered encounter, the German planes quickly swooped down on the bomber formation. Karl immediately shouted, "All crews, maintain the formation, don't be left alone, fire freely! Repeat, fire freely!"

If a bomber is left alone, the few machine guns on the plane will be of no use. The flexibility of enemy planes far exceeds that of bombers. Only by relying on dense formations and doubling the firepower to form an aerial barrage can the German fighters be effectively killed.

The crews of the Third Squadron were all experienced veterans. They immediately opened fire at full force, and the machine guns on both sides of the cabin and on the tail and belly of the plane all began to fire frantically.

Two unlucky German fighter planes were hit. One of them plunged headfirst, trailing thick black smoke, and the other was hit on the fuselage in the air and exploded directly in mid-air.

The squadron's morale suddenly boosted!

However, the German fighters quickly entered the attack position and used their superb technology and the excellent performance of the BF109 fighter to quickly lock onto the B24 bomber's weak spot - the tail.

Continuous shooting damaged two bombers, and one of them had its middle rear part broken. The huge fuselage broke into two halves and fell straight down.

"Oh my goodness, that's the Old Woman! It's broken in two!"

"Old Woman, parachute quickly! Do you hear me? Parachute quickly!" Carl shouted at the top of his lungs on the intercom.

But the only response was desperate screams.

"Did anyone see anyone parachute out of the Old Woman?" Major Carl looked back at the crew members, but everyone was silent.

If you fall from such a high altitude, not only will you not survive, you won’t even be able to find your body.

"All crews maintain formation and hit these GN bastards hard!" Carl was furious!

Bob and his men circled around and came back. But the German planes hit and ran away, completely disappearing. "Damn it! These Germans are too cunning." Bob cursed angrily.

After a while, he called Carl on the intercom, "Old friend, we have jettisoned the auxiliary fuel tank, so we can no longer escort you to your destination. Lieutenant Lin Chen will be in charge of commanding the remaining fighters to protect you to your destination. I will wait for your triumphant return at the airport!"

"Okay, thanks, and have a safe trip!"

"You too, take care!"

After the two greeted each other, Bob gave Lin Chen a few instructions, the gist of which was that they should not fight to the end and must protect the bomber group!
Lin Chen naturally agreed.

After saying that, Bob retreated with a dozen planes that had just participated in the battle. Without the auxiliary fuel tanks, their range was a bit limited.

Fortunately, a part of it was left untouched, so there was still some spare power. Lin Chen is now the lead fighter among the escort fighters, and his military rank is also the highest.

Yesterday's crazy behavior made the other pilots admire him very much, so there was no sense of incongruity at all.

"Major, in another 10 minutes, we will enter the German anti-aircraft artillery defense position." Lin Chen had a thorough understanding of the situation in this area because he had carried out a mission here once before.

"Okay, you have to be careful too!" In fact, this statement is meaningless, because in the air, anti-aircraft guns' shells are almost all blind fire, and whether you are hit or not depends entirely on luck.

A few minutes later, the German ground anti-aircraft firepower began to fire.

Judging from the density of artillery fire, the defense in this area is still very strong. Not only are there 88mm anti-aircraft guns, but there are also the most advanced 128mm heavy anti-aircraft guns, and the high-explosive shells they fire are quite powerful.

Anti-aircraft guns during World War II were mainly divided into heavy anti-aircraft guns, medium anti-aircraft guns, and light anti-aircraft guns.

重型高射炮如德国的88毫米高射炮和苏联的85毫米高射炮，他们的射击高度可达8000-9000米，至于128毫米高射炮更是能打到一万米的高度。

But their shortcomings are obvious: high cost and slow firing rate.

Medium anti-aircraft guns, such as the 37mm anti-aircraft gun, can fire at a height of 3000-4000 meters. Before the invention of the Norton bombingsight, if bombers wanted to ensure the bombing effect, they had to lower the altitude to about 2000 meters. Therefore, this type of medium anti-aircraft gun has a better air defense effect at this time.

But now, this kind of artillery is obviously of no use to the US heavy bomber formation.

Light anti-aircraft guns are like the German 20mm anti-aircraft gun. Although the shooting height of this type of anti-aircraft gun is very ordinary, its rate of fire is extremely high and it is cheap to manufacture. It is very effective against ground attack aircraft.

In the land offensive and defensive battles of World War II, if the 20mm anti-aircraft gun was fired horizontally, the firepower would be absolutely terrifying and was also deeply loved by the ground army.

Now if the German army wants to threaten the US bomber group staying at an altitude of 8000 meters, it must adopt a high-density shooting method. Ground observers report the position, and commanders accurately calculate the altitude and airspeed of the enemy aircraft, so as to adjust the explosion time of the fired shells, which is the "delay fuse."

This kind of calculation is very complicated and requires extremely high military qualities from the German anti-aircraft artillery.

But at this moment, the ground air defense force was obviously well-trained. They were divided into groups of 8 anti-aircraft guns. They calculated the advance time and used dense high-explosive bombs to form a barrage in front of Carl's bomber group, waiting for the American planes to hit them head-on.

Some people may say, if that's the case, why not separate the bomber groups? Wouldn't that greatly reduce casualties?
Brigadier General LeMay was determined to stop this practice, because if the formation was disrupted in the air, it would take a lot of time to regroup. If German fighter planes attacked during this gap, it would be disastrous.

And the most crucial point is that areas where German anti-aircraft guns are densely concentrated are often very close to the bombing targets. Only by arranging them in a dense formation can the American Norton bombingsight play the greatest role and ensure the accuracy of the bombing.

So in this situation, Major Carl gritted his teeth and watched his comrades around him being hit one after another. The B25 fuselage was far less sturdy than the B17, so three bombers were actually blown up directly.

Two other bombers were damaged and forced to descend in preparation for an emergency landing.

It goes without saying what awaits them after making an emergency landing in a place like this.

"Damn, how far are we from our destination?" Carl roared into the walkie-talkie.

"Mr. Major, we should be three minutes away from our destination." The weather today is really good. Lin Chen can already see the iconic mountains and rivers below, as well as the place where Sergei and others died.

"Attention all crews in the squadron, start removing the bomb safety and open the belly hatch!" Carl ordered loudly.

The team members behind him immediately began to remove the safety in an orderly manner. This safety device is very easy to remove and can ensure that these big guys will explode after being thrown down.

After everything was dismantled, the belly door slowly opened, and the ground was filled with black smoke from the explosion and flying shrapnel. One unlucky crew member was even hit in the right foot, causing him to scream.

The bombardier was nervously observing the ground through the Norton sight. Although the anti-aircraft shells kept exploding around him, the air waves and bursting shrapnel hit the fuselage frantically, as if to tear the plane into pieces, but he was still fully focused.

Until the Vemork plant's iconic heavy water storage tanks began to appear in the sight.

After the crosshairs were on the target, he activated the red switch.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Huge aerial bombs came down one after another, and other bombers immediately followed suit. The bombs dropped by dozens of bombers were blown away by the strong wind when they fell in mid-air, forming bomb circles.

After landing, there were flashes of fire, followed by small mushroom clouds rising up. It was really spectacular to look down from the fuselage.

"The bombing effect was perfect, all the targets were hit! This damn factory must be destroyed!" The bombardier looked very carefully, feeling proud of his masterpiece.

After the bombs were dropped, the hatch closed again.

"Okay, now we are going to return. All crews in the squadron, please pay attention and turn counterclockwise!"

Following Carl's order, the huge fleet began to turn around awkwardly.

But at this moment, all the surrounding anti-aircraft shells suddenly stopped.

"Everyone, pay attention, the German fighter planes are coming again!"

(End of this chapter)