Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 106: The Empire Bombs Zeppelin! 60 Tons of Bombs!
The General Staff's promise almost immediately wiped away the anger and dissatisfaction on the Air Force Marshal's face.

In fact, the Imperial Air Force Marshal had actually heard from his subordinates earlier that the Empire might allocate funds to the Air Force to build new combat airships.

However, the Empire has not had plans to produce new airships for many years, and even the latest Wave-class airships are actually new models that were launched only to replace the old airships that existed 70 years ago.

The worst outcome is that if the Empire follows its current plan, all Zeppelins will be forced to retire in twenty years at most, and the Empire's largest airship will only be the Wave-class destroyer.

Therefore, the Air Force Marshal simply regarded the soldiers' words as jokes that he often heard when he first entered the house and laughed it off.

But now, Ryan actually said in front of him that the General Staff was willing to allocate funds to the Imperial Air Force to support its construction of new airships.

They even promised to reopen Led Zeppelin!

The goddess is on top!

Airships and pies really do fall from the sky!

Unable to contain his excitement, the Air Force Marshal slammed the table and said, "Sign up!"

"no problem!"

Ryan nodded immediately.

He also took out a piece of document with an official seal and a blank date from his briefcase, which he had taken from the General Staff Headquarters.

The Air Marshal even handed his pen to Ryan.

There was a sound of metal rubbing against paper.

Just over ten seconds later, a document from the General Staff Headquarters with crooked handwriting came out.

The content is also very simple.

That is, the Imperial General Staff is willing to approve the budget for the Air Force to build new Zeppelins and flagship airships of the same specifications as quickly as possible after the end of the Battle of the Maine.

As for the signature, Lane thoughtfully wrote the full name of Moltke the Younger.

There is no way. This guy can only serve as the Chief of the General Staff for one more battle at most.

By the time the Battle of the Maine was over, no one would care what documents a retired Chief of General Staff had signed.

But this trick is very useful to the Air Force Marshal.

He looked at the document in his hand excitedly, and found the official seal of the Ministry of War in the corner particularly pleasing to the eye.

Ryan pressed on, "So, Marshal...what about the airship?"

Air Marshal: "I obey the War Ministry, no, the Imperial Air Force obeys the orders of the General Staff and the Chief of Staff completely!"

Tirpitz, standing by, looked at the two men as if they were idiots, but he also said, "The Imperial Navy has no objection to the General Staff's arrangement. Commander Ryan, you should be satisfied now."

"Yes!"

Ryan stuffed the copy of the document into the corner of his briefcase, crumpled it into a small ball, and looked at Tirpitz: "Then, I will take my leave."

After saying that, he left the underground meeting room without looking back, as fast as a whirlwind.

And in the conference room.

When the Air Marshal saw that Ryan had left and the guards in charge of surveillance had returned, he tore up the document and said, "This kid is better at putting on a good show than anyone else."

"Why else do you think His Majesty came all the way to see him?" Tirpitz walked over to the sofa and sat down, picking up the long-cold coffee. "Marshal Schlieffen had Moltke kicked out of his office just because of this little guy!"

"Did the old marshal drive him there personally?"

The Air Force Marshal's eyes widened. He had just returned from the Air Force Headquarters in the North Sea two days ago and had never heard of this matter at all.

But he was immediately relieved.

After all, this is not a good thing. Moltke the Younger is still the Imperial Marshal. Except for those who have the support of the old marshal, few people really dare to mess with him.

We are all ordinary people. There is no need to lose your job just because of gossip about such things.

Similarly, for Tirpitz, the nature of the matter was similar.

But he was not afraid of Moltke the Younger.

Because he has the support of the emperor who is more effective than Schlieffen.

As long as he had this support, no matter what he did, it would not be Moltke the Younger's turn to interfere.

the other side.

The Air Marshal also relit his cigar, leaned against the wall, and his voice became a little hesitant.

"Tirpitz, do you believe that little guy?"

"What? You don't believe it?"

Tirpitz was somewhat surprised by his colleague's words: "Now that the old marshal has spoken, even if I don't believe it, there must be someone who believes me, right?"

The Air Marshal immediately shook his head: "No, I just think this is a bit too aggressive."

"How reckless?" Tirpitz tilted his head and looked at the other party.

"Everywhere."

"Whether it's about that little guy's promotion, or having him serve as a messenger for the General Staff and hand us his transfer appointment letter..."

"This is not something a school officer can do."

He said, looking towards the guard at the door.

Ironically, the guard's rank was clearly marked on his shoulder.

A major.

Even though the standards used by the Imperial Guard were different from those of the regular army, he was still a colonel after all.

Even more ironic.

This time last month, Ryan Fleagle was just a lowly lieutenant.

In just one month, he was promoted three levels.

Even Brian, who holds the record for the fastest promotion in the empire, didn't do it this fast.

Perhaps wartime is just so special, but the marshal also knows very well that promotion in wartime is often more difficult than in peacetime.

Because only those who survive can be promoted.

Those who didn't survive and died early can no longer die.

Tirpitz knew what the other party meant.

So he didn't speak.

Just quietly drank the last two sips of coffee.

"I'm leaving."

He patted the hem of his uniform. "There are quite a few troops being mobilized this time. I still need to make a few calls with the people in the United Kingdom to finalize the handover process."

"That guy named Winston?"

"Correct."

Tirpitz shook his head. "That guy is no good. He's very shrewd."

The Air Marshal was delighted. "I heard that guy pissed Winston off so much he had a heart attack last time. He's lucky he didn't die from it."

He personally saw the twenty or thirty honor communications that Ryan sent out. The mockery was enough to infuriate anyone.

“That’s why it’s difficult.”

Tirpitz agrees: "If a heart attack can't kill you, it's better to stay away from it."

After saying that, he left the meeting room without looking back, just like Ryan before him, leaving the Air Force Marshal alone laughing loudly.

-------------

Late that night.

502nd Airborne Infantry Regiment Camp.

The morale brought by the previous victory in Ostend has not been broken until now. All the soldiers who participated in the battle went to those troops that had not participated in actual combat according to the arrangements of their superiors to pass on their combat experience.

The officers reviewed the battle again and again in the command post, trying to find all the shortcomings exposed in the first battle to prevent them from happening again next time.

Officers and sailors from the naval forces were also called to the General Staff Headquarters to attend the review meeting.

But among those who attended the review meeting, Ryan and Schmidt were nowhere to be found.

The meeting was almost over when Lieutenant Mia von Brinkmann realized this.

She quickly explained the situation to her colleagues, then trotted to the headquarters, but still couldn't find Ryan.

Then she heard the military police's voice: "The commander said that he and Colonel Schmidt are in the airship's hangar."

"Thank you." Brinkman thanked him quickly, turned around and ran towards the hangar.

But just as she arrived at the hangar and was about to call Ryan to the command post, she heard the conversation between Ryan and Schmidt.

"...in this battle, your fleet might lose a ship."

Ryan's voice was very low. He was sitting on the left front landing gear support plate of Z331, his chin supported by his hand. The cigarette butt in his mouth was very conspicuous in the night.

"We are going to attack the Verdun fortress. There is an army of Farlans there, but the manpower we can mobilize is only the current regiment and your four destroyers."

"Didn't they say we had support from the main fleet?" Schmidt swallowed, his tone sounding dissatisfied. "Didn't Marshal Schlieffen promise 20 Zeppelins and air liaison boats?"

"Those are for transporting troops. I don't expect them to be of any real use."

Ryan exhaled a puff of smoke, his mind completely focused on today's conversation with the emperor and the two marshals.

"In the afternoon, I even put on a show with your commander, but from what I see, he doesn't seem to be very keen on letting Zeppelin enter the battlefield."

The Empire's Zeppelin-class battleship has a carrying capacity of 320 tons and a maximum speed of KM/H, and can transport troops into the battlefield at a time.

But Zeppelin's serviceability rate was not high.

Generally speaking, only seven out of every ten Zeppelins are capable of carrying out combat missions.

Marshal Schlieffen approved 20 ships for Ryan, which was actually a tacit admission that only about Zeppelin-class ships could be deployed.

To put it bluntly, the goal is to ensure that Ryan's troops have sufficient transportation capacity so that they can be deployed from the air smoothly according to theory.

As for the forty air liaison boats, they were used, firstly, to ensure a safe deployment environment for the troops during combat, and secondly, to allow Ryan to quickly contact the various troops.

After all, these days, only airships can carry a radio intercom and move around on the battlefield.

However, the Air Marshal clearly showed in the afternoon scene that he did not want the troops to enter the main battlefield.

For Ryan, he could actually ignore the other party's feelings and, as the front-line commander, order all Zeppelin-class tanks to enter the battlefield and complete the deployment operation.

But doing so would be tantamount to a complete break with the air force fleet.

The good attitude he had put on in front of Lieutenant Perris became a joke.

For Ryan, this is absolutely unacceptable.

The Air Force is the only means the Empire can use to suppress the United Kingdom, so a strong Air Force is essential.

Ryan must firmly grasp the favor of the Air Force, otherwise his troops will really have to learn from the Americans and the Japanese during World War II and form an aviation unit belonging to the army.

If he really did that, he would not only offend the Air Force, but also slam the Air Force Marshal's face to the ground.

Therefore, he could only maintain the fragile bond between himself and the Air Force at all costs.

On the side, Schmidt also knew Ryan's difficulties.

As the fleet commander who assisted Ryan in a front-line battle, Schmidt never thought in his life that the ships under his command could completely disable the combat capability of two Lion-class battlecruisers.

In the past, the main job of the Wave-class destroyer airship was to provide reconnaissance services on the front line for bomber units or theater commands.

This is an easy job. Even if you encounter enemy troops, you only need to use the ship's 40mm rotary howitzer to fire intimidating shots.

Judging from the performance of airships in neighboring countries, there is basically no model that can withstand a 40mm grenade.

But this is currently the main usage and combat mode of airships.

Until Schmidt brought his own fleet to Ryan's troops.

Daily training no longer involves flying to an altitude of six thousand meters and having everyone take pictures of the ground with cameras and telescopes, nor does it involve taking artillery shells into the sky and firing colored bullets at target ships.

There is low-altitude rappelling training for soldiers, which is specially designed for helmsmen and requires them to be able to accurately determine the altitude of the ground below 50 meters. There is also shooting training using ship-borne howitzers to bombard fixed or mobile units on the ground.

Either way, it made Schmidt and his men realize how much the empire had squandered its resources.

A super battleship that is almost incapable of falling, can sail in the sky all day, and can appear above the enemy's head with almost no sound.

It is no exaggeration to say that since the end of the last battle, Schmidt has been thinking about whether to completely transform one of his Wave-class gunboats into a gunboat for carrying out attack missions against ground targets.

The 40mm howitzer is too weak and completely loses the ability to destroy the enemy when encountering a warship.

It would be best if it could carry a 50mm caliber gun, and if conditions permit, 75mm would be best.

The Empire's current 75mm howitzer can fire a special armor-piercing shell with a maximum penetration of about 60mm, which is just enough to pierce the decks of some warships.

Shaking his head, putting those unimportant things behind him, Schmidt looked at Ryan: "So they are only responsible for transportation missions?"

"I'm not sure, but it seems we can only use air liaison boats to send troops to the battlefield."

Ryan's tone was helpless.

After all, he never thought things would turn out like this.

If we had known this would happen, we would have preferred not to let Field Marshal Schlieffen go to persuade the people in the Air Force Command.

It would be nice to simply borrow a few airships to carry out operations.

Schmidt shook his head helplessly and said, "That's nothing we can do."

Ryan looked at him, thought for a moment and said, "Actually, there is another way."

"any solution?"

Schmidt's voice froze for a moment: "Have you dismantled the weapons?"

"Do not."

Ryan immediately rejected it: "I would never do that."

Then he said, "I think we can carry a lot of explosives, fly over the enemy's head, and then drop them all at once."

"Using it as a bomber? That's too extravagant."

Schmidt exclaimed in astonishment, "The Empire's current bombers can carry 200 kilograms of explosives at a time. If they were replaced by our Wave..."

Ryan said almost immediately, "Four point eight tons. If it's an aerial bomb, then it would have an equivalent of two point four tons, and the same as the B1..."

Then he immediately shut up, thinking he had almost strayed from the topic, and immediately changed the subject: "These explosives are enough to directly blow off the roof of the Sun Fortress, and can also blow the Farlan fortress into biscuits."

"Do we want to do it? Next time we fight," Schmidt said without any objection. "The bomber forces are barely deployed right now. We can take bombs from them."

"What about our troops?"

Ryan looked up at Schmidt and said, "We can't just let them be sent to the perimeter of the battlefield and then you guys take over, right?"

But Schmidt said, "Don't we still have an air communication boat?"

"What's the use of that thing? It can only carry 10 people." Ryan immediately waved his hand: "No use..."

"Ok?"

"Ten people?"

Ryan, realizing something, almost immediately looked up at Schmidt.

"There are exactly three groups..."

Schmidt pointed to the metal plates that stretched out along the sides of the Wave-class ship.

Ryan looked up subconsciously, and saw a small spindle-shaped airbag behind several metal plates.

After seeing that Ryan had discovered what he was pointing at, Colonel Schmidt immediately said in a bold voice, "And he can even deliver Zeppelin's troops to our ship from the sky."

"The Wave-class can handle the reception of four airborne liaison boats at once, which means thirty-six people. It might be a bit heavy when fully armed, but it will definitely get them to the ground safely."

His voice was very certain, completely different from when he heard Ryan talk about using airships to send people behind enemy lines.

Ryan calculated, "Four Waves make 16 ships, with a total of 144 people. If we let them return, including the ships, that would be people..."

Schmidt continued, "Just half a battalion."

"According to the battle plan you laid out earlier, a force of this size can certainly pose a certain threat, right?"

He looked at Ryan: "Not to mention that we can return immediately to load bombs and carry out the bombing mission."

Ryan pondered for a long time before speaking.

"That's enough."

“But the process still needs to be optimized.”

"Well," Schmidt raised his eyebrows, "what do you think?"

Ryan raised his head and looked at Schmidt, with a slight smile on his lips, as if he had already thought of a plan.

"The Wave-class doesn't need to be equipped with bombs."

"We'll have the Zeppelins loaded with bombs."

"One ship weighs sixty tons, and fifteen of them means a total of four hundred and eighty tons of bombs. I don't believe those Farlanes can make it out of the bombing zone alive!"

(End of this chapter)