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

Chapter 144 This is our responsibility
"How long will it take to get to this damn Ruhr Industrial Zone?" Rick finally couldn't help it and started cursing.

"Look at the map, there are still 5 minutes!" the navigator replied expressionlessly.

"Oh my god, 5 minutes feels like a year here. Several planes are hit every minute!"

"Bear with it! There's nothing we can do about it!" As the captain, Lin Chen could only continue to comfort her.

Although the bombers being shot down around him made him feel a little creepy.

"We are running low on fuel, so we have to return. It will depend on the brothers from 342 Squadron!" The P47 fighter squadron suffered heavy losses after the fierce battle just now, so they had to return.

"Thank you for your help and I wish you a safe journey home!" Major Carl shook the wings to express his gratitude to his returning brothers.

"These 'short-legged cats' are going to retreat. I really envy them!" The machine gunner at the back had an envious expression.

"Don't be envious. It's not easy for fighter pilots either." The bombardier was experienced and knew the pain of sitting in a fighter cockpit. After saying this, he looked at Lin Chen meaningfully.

"boom!"

At this moment, the lead plane in front of Lin Chen and his team, Major Carl's plane, was hit in one of its engines.

"Mr. Major, the second engine on your right is on fire!" Lin Chen quickly reminded.

"Yes, oh damn, these damn Germans! Quickly cut off the oil line of engine No. 4 and start the fire extinguishing device!" Carl urgently ordered the co-pilot to put out the fire.

The B17 bomber has its own fire extinguishing equipment, which is very advanced.

After some operations, the fire was successfully extinguished, but soon an engine on the left also stopped.

"Engine 1 shut down, restart failed."

"Engine No. 4, restart also failed."

The co-pilot was sweating profusely. As the lead aircraft, without two engines, the airspeed would be greatly affected. He would either fall behind or slow down with the entire fleet, which would easily put the fleet into crisis.

The German anti-aircraft guns and fighter planes are not vegetarians.

"Attention, all crews. I am Major Carl. My plane has malfunctioned. The Black Widow will now take over our position. I plan to lower the altitude and follow the fleet to the bombing area."

Hearing Major Karl's order, Lin Chen couldn't believe it. If he fell behind and was in enemy-occupied territory, it would mean that any fighter plane or even anti-aircraft gun would shoot him down.

"I am willing to lead everyone to carry out the mission, but I hope you can return as soon as possible!" Lin Chen hopes that Major Carl can return, so that there is a better chance of survival.

Next, the German fighter planes will definitely head to the Ruhr industrial area, and it will be safer to return.

Before Carl could answer, the surrounding anti-aircraft fire suddenly stopped.

"Attention, the German planes are coming, don't worry about me!" Carl gave the final order.

"Attention, all crews, keep a tight formation. There are many enemy planes. The escort planes may not be able to take care of us. We can only rely on ourselves!" He glanced at Major Karl who was descending through the window, "Let the Germans know how powerful our machine guns are!"

The "Mustang" fighter formation quickly dropped its auxiliary fuel tanks and formed a formation to engage the enemy.

Since we are almost at our destination, there is no need to save fuel.

There were quite a lot of enemy planes, including BF109, FW190 and other fighters, forming a powerful interceptor group that rushed towards this side.

Although the "Mustang" fighter had excellent performance, the number of enemy aircraft it faced was still too large.

"Brothers of the 342 Squadron, don't leave too far away from the large aircraft group. We can cooperate closely to lure the enemy aircraft over here, and then we can destroy them with machine guns!" Lin Chen has a high prestige in the 342 Squadron, and everyone trusts him very much.

The leading officer felt that what Lin Chen said made sense and immediately ordered everyone to follow his instructions.

Under this combat strategy, the performance of the "Mustang" fighter was fully demonstrated, and the German fighters suffered considerable losses.

However, the German army reacted quickly and soon realized that fighting like this was a disadvantage, so they began to allocate some fighters to fight the escort aircraft, while the others swooped down on the bomber formation.

"11 o'clock direction!"

"8 o'clock direction!"

The machine gunners fired frantically, and the bullets were fired out like water. The yellow copper shells fell out and fell thickly on the ground.
"I hit it!" A German fighter plane fell down, trailing thick black smoke, causing the brothers in the crew to cheer.

But before they could cheer for long, they were dumbfounded.

Because the fighter plane's falling path happened to collide with a B17 bomber.

The violent explosion left the American crew members inside with no chance to react before they were blown to pieces.

"Oh my God, what did I do?" The machine gunner who had just shot down the enemy plane had tears in his eyes and hugged his head in annoyance.

"Instead of having the time to regret, you might as well shoot down a few more enemy planes! Listen to me, brother, this is not your fault!" The navigator walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

A comforting gesture between comrades can sometimes help a soldier on the verge of collapse regain his confidence.

He wiped away his tears and continued firing wildly.

"Die! You bastards!" The fierce firing reflected its somewhat distorted face, making people sigh that war is really maddening.

Amid this battle scene filled with death and tears, the fleet finally flew over the Ruhr industrial area.

Unfortunately, the clouds below are very thick.
"Navigator, do you see the target?" Lin Chen asked loudly.

"No, sir, the clouds are too thick! I can't see anything." The navigator shook his head helplessly.

According to regulations, if they can't see clearly, they need to make a go-around, which means circling in the air and then flying over again to let the clouds drift away and reveal the target.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, sir, I can't see it! It's hard to hit the target with bombs dropped like this."

"Let's take off again!" Lin Chen ordered Rick.

He was about to press the red button, which was the sign for everyone to take off again.

"Sir, there are Germans everywhere below us, so we can just drop the bomb and be done with it," Rick reminded in a low voice.

"Rick, there are a lot of German civilians below. It is not our mission to just throw them down like that!" Lin Chen understood that they were all very scared. In fact, he was also scared. It was true that he had a cheat, but if he was hit at such a high altitude, no matter what cheat he had, he would be doomed!

"Everyone, we can't see below, so we have no choice but to go around. I know everyone wants to drop the bombs quickly and go back to drink champagne. But if we don't blow up the target, believe me, we will be asked to bomb again in a few days! So, my order is to go around!"

He pressed the red button and Rick kept muttering, Damn it!
Under the siege of enemy aircraft, the huge fleet slowly circled and flew around, and several more were shot down. At this time, the defense was very fragile.

"Major Carl's plane was shot down! Look!"

Someone was sharp-eyed and saw that Major Carl's plane was flying slowly over, but was still hit by an enemy plane. Fortunately, a few people jumped out at the last moment. Lin Chen roughly counted and found that there were about five people who parachuted. It was not known whether the major came out or not.

In a place like this, there is a high probability that you will be captured after parachuting.

However, the German army still observed some international law when dealing with Allied pilots. Of course, they suffered physical pain, but at least they were not sent to those terrible concentration camps, but to places specifically for detaining Allied prisoners of war.

Lin Chen guessed that this was the German army's attempt to leave a way out.

After all, no one can guarantee that they will not be captured.

When the huge fleet turned around and flew over the Ruhr Industrial Area again,
"Navigator, what's going on now?"

Rick listened with anticipation, wanting to get the answer he wanted.

"I'm sorry, I still can't see clearly. Although it's better than before, it's still not clear. I'm not sure if there is a fighter production factory below."

"Sir, it must be there! Believe me!" Rick reached out and grabbed Lin Chen's right hand.

"Pilot, please look again, is it true?"

“I really can’t see clearly!”

Lin Chen glanced at Rick, whose expression was full of pleading, but he still pressed the go-around button.

"Fuck!" Rick cursed!
"Lieutenant Rick, please watch your attitude! I don't want to have to write you a damn report about this matter when I go back!" Lin Chen warned. His authority must not be challenged, otherwise how could he lead everyone in the future?

"I understand your feelings, and I understand everyone's feelings, but General Li Mei sent us here to do this, and we must finish the job. This is our responsibility!"

Lin Chen stopped paying attention to Rick and ordered everyone, "Everyone follow me closely, we will definitely complete the mission and return home safely!"

When the air formation turned around again, the escorting fighter squadron also collapsed. What the hell is this operation? Can't you see that we are almost exhausted?

However, when Lin Chen repeated it to them through the intercom, "fulfilling one's responsibilities" became everyone's unanimous belief.

In the fierce battle, planes were shot down continuously from the sky. At this moment, neither side had any way to retreat.

The German fighter pilots knew very well that the more Allied bombers they shot down, the fewer casualties their compatriots would suffer, so they intercepted them at all costs.

"Attention, enemy planes are coming from below!"

Someone reminded, and the spherical turret on the belly of the aircraft immediately opened fire.

This is the most uncomfortable place on the B17 bomber. Only small people can get in. Apart from a seat belt, there is no other reliable insurance.

The worst thing is that it is very cold here and the space is small. The thick smoke from the fire can choke mosquitoes.

But the machine gunner obviously didn't think about these things at the moment. He saw two German fighter planes rushing towards him, and immediately opened fire, hitting one, but the other still fired a volley of bullets at him, breaking the joint of the spherical turret.

"Help!"

Hearing the cry for help, everyone rushed over to open the entrance to the spherical turret.

The situation below sent a chill down everyone's spine.

The turret had long since disappeared, and the gunner was hanging only by a safety belt, suspended in the air at an altitude of ten thousand meters. He was not short of oxygen because he was wearing an oxygen mask, but it was too cold at this altitude, and even a thick flight jacket could not withstand it.

"Hurry, give me your hand, I'll pull you up! It's okay, don't worry!"

Because the hole was too small, only one person could reach down and pull him up. When he was halfway up, he had to unbuckle the safety belt, otherwise he could not be pulled up.

But if it wasn't pulled up, it would definitely be smashed into a pulp.

Fortunately, everyone worked together and finally pulled him up. This guy's face was covered with icicles, probably because of the cold sweat and fear.

This caused everyone to burst into laughter.

"I see it, that's the fighter production factory below!" the navigator shouted happily.

"Okay, bombardier, the plane is now in your hands!" Lin Chen immediately transferred the control of the bombing to the bombardier.

Others hurried to help remove the safety device on the fuse.

"Attention all crews, bombs are about to be dropped!" Lin Chen gave a signal and asked everyone to get ready. As soon as he started dropping bombs, everyone followed suit to ensure that the target would be hit.

As the bombardier opened the bomb hatch, heavy bombs dropped one after another. Other planes also dropped bombs one after another. The factory below the fleet was instantly surrounded by flames.

The carpet bombing of the United States is so powerful! Lin Chen couldn't help but be a little stunned. How long can the German army hold out under such a strategic bombing? In other words, it would be difficult for any country in the world to withstand it!

"Alright, guys, we're going back home. Now we have to fight for ourselves!"

The fleet of planes turned again, but this time it was a real U-turn. They were going to fly back to the British air force base and drink champagne.

However, the German fighter planes in the air saw the devastating bombing below and regrouped again, attacking the bomber formation again and again.

Although the escort aircraft formation tried its best to intercept, the German army's desperate attack method still caused heavy losses to the bomber formation.

"Everyone should consciously and proactively fill the gaps left by the downed planes and form a dense formation!" Lin Chen reminded again, because once the formation is loose, the defensive firepower will be weakened, and the German army will tear the fleet apart like hungry wolves.

Most of the bombers in the first squadron were veterans who had flown many times. In fact, they knew what situation they were facing without his reminder.

Therefore, not only was the formation maintained very well, but the distribution of firepower was also very reasonable.

In the blink of an eye, two more enemy planes were hit. The remaining German fighters saw that they could not gain any advantage and they had few bullets left, so they could only leave in disappointment.

Lin Chen and his formation suffered heavy losses. It is estimated that at least 1/4 of their bombers were shot down, and a number of fighter jets were also lost, but they completed their mission quite well.

Their aircraft have the function of automatic high-altitude photography, and they are sure to be able to take clear pictures of the scene of the destruction of the enemy's fighter factory, so that the strategic air force command can judge whether it is necessary to continue bombing here.

"Kakaka~"

At this moment, the aircraft's No. 1 engine shut down.

Lin Chen suddenly felt something was wrong.

(End of this chapter)