Conquer Europe from the West

Chapter 88: The Dream of a Great Buildup of the Imperial Air Force

Lieutenant Perris's reaction was completely different from what Ryan had imagined.

"Interesting," she retracted her gaze from the third airship that was still landing, lowered her head, and unconsciously clasped her hands behind her back like Ryan, muttering to herself, "Currently, the only people in the Empire who can use parachutes are in the airship force. The purpose is to ensure that members can safely escape when the airship is damaged..."

"But Captain, you actually thought of deploying parachutes to infantry units. This is a first for the entire continent."

Ryan looked at Perris curiously: "You don't think there's anything wrong?"

His opinion is normal. After all, there are very few people in this world who have the opportunity to fly into the sky.

There are almost no people who can understand the importance of the defender having air superiority and the need to ensure absolute air superiority in offensive operations.

Even the Empire, which had been ambushed by Farlan with a wave of air strikes, had only just understood the importance of deploying anti-aircraft weapons in various positions. So far, the only person in the entire Empire who understood that the safety of the airspace had to be snatched by hand was Ryan.

As for the Farlanes...

If only General Joffre, stationed in Lorraine, could understand how much help a fleet of airships could provide in battlefield reconnaissance.

Then he would not have withdrawn the airship support to Belfort for fear of losing the fleet.

Nor would he become the first marshal to cause the Farlans to lose a piece of precious territory in this war in a few hours.

"Of course there are problems."

Lieutenant Perris glanced at Ryan standing beside him: "For example, how to make the parachute landing process more stable, with a higher success rate and lower casualties..."

"These are all problems, but when the total number of people landing at one time exceeds 200, these are no longer problems."

"How to say?"

Ryan actually didn't know much about parachute design and structure in the years before and after World War I, because the planes at that time didn't even have seat belts, let alone parachutes to protect the pilots' safety.

Therefore, he was very concerned about the views of a professional like Perris on the new branch of the airborne troops and equipment such as parachutes.

"The current parachute landing process is indeed not stable enough," Lieutenant Perris said in a much more serious tone than before, "but that is a low-probability event."

"If the failure rate of a batch of parachutes is 2 percent, that means that for every parachutes in the batch, two will be unusable."

"For users, this is a 2 percent risk. They would rather not use it than take the risk."

"The problem lies in the massive losses that can occur during high-pressure training. This figure will continue to increase based on every hundred parachute jumps. If a unit of a hundred people were to be deployed in combat, the specific number of casualties would be a separate issue to consider..."

"Do you want to analyze it from the perspective of efficiency?" Ryan began to feel that the girl in front of him had a somewhat unique way of thinking.

Furthermore, although Lieutenant Perris's statement still has some minor problems, such as his view on probability, or his disregard for the potential drop in morale caused by personnel losses, it is generally not a problem.

"Because, Captain, you just mentioned that you wanted the troops to conduct the operation by parachute landing. In order to ensure the smooth conclusion of the battle, this is a last resort."

In response to Ryan's doubts, Lieutenant Perris answered very straightforwardly.

"As expected of a talent educated by the Air Force."

Ryan said this flatteringly, then changed the subject: "So, what if we want to replace the parachute with a rope?"

"rope?"

Perris didn't immediately understand what Ryan meant. She looked at Ryan with confusion in her gray eyes.

Ryan pointed to the two Wave-class airships that had their hulls anchored to the ground. "Just like those two Wave-class ships, the airships first lowered their altitude, then dropped ropes over the target. Soldiers, like firefighters, quickly descended from the airships using the ropes to complete the combat deployment."

"Once deployment is complete, the airship will immediately retract the ropes, jettison the ballast water, and quickly ascend, leaving the combat zone."

When saying this, Ryan used his hands as airships and gestured in the air, just like when he was talking to Brian and Schubert in the past.

Perris was even more curious about what he said.

As a product that is nearly a hundred years old, in fact, whether it is the Empire, Farlan, or other countries, they have all invested a lot of financial and material resources in the technology of airships.

It is precisely because of this that the countries on the continent now equip their armies with a large number of airships as their most important means of air combat.

However, the huge size of the airship, the almost harsh operating standards for sailing weather, and the carrying capacity which is not much, even less than that of a carriage, also make the airship a rare and elite equipment.

As a result, only the ultimate geniuses like Lieutenant Perris, who single-handedly killed nearly a million people and finally gained the opportunity to study reconnaissance at the Air Force Academy, can serve in the airship unit.

These elite among the elite naturally become the most valuable thing in the air force fleet.

In fact, if Vice Admiral Draven had not relied on his identity as the head of palace internal affairs to control a large number of connections in the three armed forces, Ryan would not have been able to get these four Wave-class airships from Vice Admiral Draven so easily.

This is why most officers and graduates of non-commissioned officer schools choose to become Junker nobles when they graduate - it is good to maintain civilian status and continue studying, but choosing to become a Junker noble is equivalent to publicly stating that they will always be loyal to the country.

It just so happens that the empire is a continental army country where all nobles are bound to join the army.

Those newly born Junker nobles were naturally able to enter the power and military centers of the empire, which was something that ordinary people could never achieve in their lifetime.

Unless they can climb from colonel to brigadier general in four years like Brian.

But at least so far, no one, whether it is Ryan or others, has been able to break Brian's record for the fastest promotion.

However, in places that Ryan couldn't see, such as the Empire's General Headquarters, the General Staff, and the Personnel Management Department, the game had actually started quietly.

The content of the betting was simple. These guys who had access to the empire's most confidential intelligence were betting on when Ryan would be promoted to major, using weeks as the smallest unit.

When he is promoted to major, there will naturally be a second betting site to bet on when he will be promoted to lieutenant colonel.

By the time Ryan found out that they were doing this, it was after he was promoted to colonel.

As for why I discovered...

Then we have to ask why Lieutenant General Draven and Brian, who has been promoted to Major General, did not return home but instead lived in the non-commissioned officers' dormitory of the General Staff.

at the same time.

After hearing Ryan's opinion, Lieutenant Perris fell silent for a moment.

Then she looked at Ryan and spoke in a very solemn and serious tone.

"Captain, you really should have joined the Air Force."

"What you just said will completely change the current development ideas and direction of the airship forces on the mainland."

The words are short, but powerful.

"There's nothing wrong with your tactics. As long as the troops can execute them smoothly, destroying a regiment or division, or even an entire country overnight, would be a piece of cake."

The scene that Ryan had seen even appeared in Perris's mind.

A large number of air transport vehicles flew through the enemy's airspace, penetrated into their most vulnerable rear, and planted countless white flowers in the sky.

Those airborne troops will destroy the enemy's command system in the shortest time possible. Even if the enemy has already arranged an army group to protect the headquarters, they will become a complete clown due to the time problem of manpower mobilization.

"But this current tactic is not suitable for the Empire's airship fleet."

During the conversation, Perris's tone softened. She looked at the Wave-class airship that had already docked. "Compared to other countries, the Empire's airships feature greater load capacity, greater buoyancy redundancy, and larger interior space."

"The buoyancy unit + airbag design we use is far safer and more resistant to attack than the Farlan Republic-class airship. However, troops conducting airborne or rope-drop operations require aircraft, or even smaller airships no longer than ten meters."

She almost immediately determined what Ryan really wanted - a helicopter.

This really surprised Ryan.

Because this is something that ordinary people would never think of.

Putting aside other things, the fact that Perris could think of the vehicle's total length not exceeding ten meters in this world where even the concept of a helicopter does not exist is enough to prove that she is not an ordinary person.

"That's..." Ryan was about to speak, but Perris interrupted him. "The most suitable one would probably be the small lifeboat developed by the United Kingdom two years ago for their Queen Bee-class high-speed airship."

"what?"

Ryan's head twitched: "Lifeboat?"

"Yes."

Perris nodded. "Although its specific capabilities are still unclear, according to the intelligence the Empire has, it's a life-saving airship less than fifteen meters long, using buoyancy units for lift, and bow engines and wings for forward propulsion and auxiliary lift."

"It seems they were planning to use it as a lifeboat for the airship, but they had to discontinue it for various reasons."

Ryan was shocked: Isn't this just a model airplane filled with helium?
When he was on Earth, he had seen many indoor model airplanes that were ridiculously large but flew ridiculously slowly.

Most of them are inflatable balloons shaped like airplanes, or in layman's terms, blimps.

And the Brits here are actually tinkering with this kind of stuff?

But fortunately they failed.

Ryan suddenly breathed a sigh of relief: "Lieutenant, I almost thought you could read my mind just now."

"Then you're still the best, Captain," Perris said, briefly praising Ryan, then got down to business. "Can I submit today's conversation to headquarters?"

"The headquarters is not..."

"Headquarters of the North Sea Air Fleet."

There was a hint of excitement in Perris's eyes, which made Ryan roughly guess that the little girl was preparing to write a paper on the use of small airships to transport personnel to and from high-intensity fronts and submit it to the Air Force Headquarters.

This is actually a good thing.

Firstly, as an officer from the army, although Ryan is at the top of the contempt chain among the three armed forces of the empire, in terms of value and influence, he is actually far inferior to the officers of the same level in the navy and air force.

This is normal because the army has too many people, starting at two million.

With such a large number of people, there are naturally many geniuses.

But for those in the Air Force and Navy, it was another matter.

They were already short of personnel, and the extremely high admission standards made them even more understaffed. They could only rely on limited military funds and grants to maintain their operations.

They are currently in a situation where they need talents but have no money to support them, so they can only continue to vigorously promote elite policies.

This is the same path as the Allies and Axis powers in World War I and World War II.

Because of insufficient resources, we pursue eliteization, and because eliteization is too expensive, we need to make it even more elite.

In comparison, their enemies, the Allied Powers and the Central Powers, were much more comfortable.

Agree.

Ryan got the answer in his mind almost immediately.

Lieutenant Perris could submit the paper under her own name, simply mentioning that the concepts and tactical ideas were proposed by Ryan from the Army.

In this way, the Air Force would have enough excuses and reasons to find Ryan and discuss with him the tactics of airborne troop deployment.

On the other hand, the army's headquarters and staff also hope to have the equipment and capabilities to quickly deploy manpower to the front line.

In addition, with the presence of Ryan, the middleman who has the support of the Seventh Army Commander-in-Chief Hellingen and Prince Schubert, both sides can come to the conclusion that they can give this thing a try without even having to weigh the pros and cons.

As for how they plan to deal with the ownership of equipment and personnel...

Ryan can be said to have absolute say in this matter - why not just copy the country where he is from?

The simplest way is to combine equipment and people.

Aircraft belong to the Air Force, while soldiers belong to the Army.

Each side sent a separate group of officers to form a joint operations command and a joint operations staff.

These people have the power to formulate tactics, and the commanders of the troops mobilize relevant personnel and materials based on tactical and strategic goals.

In this way, it can not only solve the problem of the Air Force suffering from funding and manpower shortages, but also solve the problem that the Army often does not have suitable vehicles to deploy troops when carrying out operations.

It can be said to be the best of both worlds.

"You can try."

Nodding, Ryan agreed with Lieutenant Perris's idea.

"If the people at Air Force Command think this plan is not feasible, you can write my name and my opinion on the document and explain that I am willing to make the troop available for their use."

"That's really..."

Perris is not a fool. How could someone who can become an Air Force scout not understand the meaning of Ryan's words?

She immediately knew that this was a guarantee Ryan gave her, because even if the people in the headquarters thought their report was not feasible, they would still reluctantly get it done for the sake of Ryan and the commander and two generals behind him.

In the military, many things are often difficult because there is no way to get started.

This is what the saying "everything is difficult at the beginning" means.

"Thank you so much! Captain Flig!" The girl's eyes sparkled.

Ryan patted the other person's shoulder and said, "It's too early to thank me now. Let's talk about it after the people above agree."

"Yes! You are right."

Realizing that she was a little too excited, Perris immediately calmed down.

And, at this moment, the airships that had completed their berthing voyage began to spew out a large cloud of thick fog again.

The sound like a whale spouting water immediately caught Ryan's attention. He looked at the airships that were at least a mile away from him and found that these airships were slowly descending in altitude, with several brackets sticking out from the cabins at the bottom - they were about to land!
Perris immediately said, "The wind must have increased, so we have to rely on landing to ensure safety."

"What did the crew say?" Ryan asked subconsciously.

"Generally speaking, we should evacuate. After all, airships are very dangerous. If the gas leaks, they will easily explode."

Ryan: "Then let's have someone take them over. This isn't the headquarters anyway. Leave half of the people on duty. A rotation every eight hours should be enough."

"Won't it be troublesome for the people here?" Lieutenant Perris was still a little uncomfortable with the feeling of being at the Army University.

"Anyone who refuses to take advantage of a bargain is a psychopath."

Without thinking too much, Ryan walked directly to the intercom and called the waiter at the guesthouse.

Not long after, several double-decker buses drove from the teaching area of ​​the military university to the airship's berth, and with Ryan's orders, took the crew members to the guesthouse.

Perris borrowed a car and drove to the city without waiting for her colleagues to arrive.

She wanted to immediately write down the conversation between her and Ryan and send it to her direct superior at the North Sea Command.

The Empire's air fleet has not expanded in many years.

The number of airships they have now is even the same as when the country was first founded, only 60.

And now, a reasonable opportunity to expand the army without any worries was put on a plate by Ryan and pushed in front of him.

Perris had no reason to refuse, and her superiors, as well as the fleet commander and commander-in-chief above her, were the same.

(End of this chapter)