Archibald Sinclair hoped that all strategic bombers in southern Africa would be dispatched to carry out a perfect revenge on Berlin, so that the Germans could also feel the pain and fear that Londoners suffered during this time.
Not all of the 700 strategic bombers in southern Africa have reached the British mainland, and only about 250 can be dispatched, all of which are "flying fortresses".
Compared with the "Junkers Aunt", the "Flying Fortress" has a larger bomb load and a longer range. All 250 "Flying Fortress" are dispatched and can drop nearly 600 tons of bombs on Berlin at one time.
Although the 600-ton bomb could not blow Berlin back to its original state as Archibald Sinclair hoped, it was still enough to give the Germans a drink.
The "Flying Fortress" can fly 4,500 kilometers when carrying 1.5 tons of bombs. If the distance is shortened, it can carry more bombs. The nearest airport in Berlin is only 800 kilometers away from the British mainland, which is completely within the combat radius of the "Flying Fortress"
.
"There is no problem in dispatching strategic bombers, but we have not yet completely mastered air supremacy. If we dispatch strategic bombers at night, the bombing effect cannot be guaranteed. So I suggest that we first seize air supremacy, and our bombing should not focus on Germany's big cities, but
We should focus on military targets." Don Juan pursued a steady attack. The situation in Germany was different from that in Britain, and carpet bombing would not have much effect.
Germany's industrial layout is relatively scattered and not concentrated in large cities, and the effect of bombing large cities is not good.
It must be said here that Germany's "air combat heroes" during the last World War have now become the biggest obstacle to the progress of the German Air Force.
Since the war began, the performance of the German Air Force has been very good, at least better than that of the British and French allied forces.
This probably gave Goering an illusion, making him believe that the German Air Force had the ability to conquer the world and had become a decisive force in changing the battlefield situation.
That's why during the evacuation of Dunkirk, Göring took the initiative to ask Mustache to fight.
Goering claimed at the time that the German air force alone was capable of completely wiping out the British and French forces at Dunkirk.
Mustache trusted Goering, so the Allies got two days of life-or-death.
It was during these two days that the British and French forces were able to adjust their defenses, and Montgomery became famous.
After France stopped resisting, Göring's arrogance did not diminish at all. After the great air battle on August 2, the British Air Force suffered heavy losses. At this time, if the German Air Force pursued the victory, the British Air Force might not be able to wait for reinforcements from southern Africa.
As a result, Göring's troublesome maneuvers came again. Starting from the night of August 2, he gradually reduced the number of Luftwaffe dispatches during the day and focused mainly on the bombing of London.
This is simply putting the cart before the horse. You must know that the British Air Force has not yet suffered a devastating blow. At this time, it will shift its main energy to bombing London, just like a monkey picking peaches after immobilizing the Seven Fairies.
This metaphor may be a little inappropriate.
But for the British Air Force, Göring was the monkey's rescuer.
"Don, the bombing of Berlin is more important to destroy the confidence of the Germans, to make them feel the pain of the war, and to make them feel our determination!" Archibald Sinclair insisted.
"If that's all, what's the difference between dispatching 200 bombers and dispatching 20 bombers? Maybe we should fill the bombers with leaflets instead of bombs." Don Juan also insisted.
This was not a question of how many bombers to dispatch, nor whether Berlin should be bombed or military targets, but a question of future war dominance, which both Archibald Sinclair and Don Juan knew very well.
No matter how close the alliance is, there are priorities.
In the last world war, the Allied forces were dominated by Britain and France. Although Roque served as the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force, he did not have the power to actively lead the war.
At that time, Rock wanted to take the initiative to launch an attack, which required approval from the Allied Forces Command and the British War Department, and he had no actual leadership.
The current situation is different from the last world war.
Under the premise that France has given up resistance, the United Kingdom has retreated to the British Isles, and southern Africa has strongly participated in the war. Will the British be the main force in future battles?
That would only happen if the British had that kind of strength.
"Don, if you have this strength, you should fully demonstrate it." Archibald Sinclair still refused to give up.
"Your Excellency, even if you have the strength, you can't do whatever you want." Don Juan meant a lot.
Compared to Archibald Sinclair, Major General Parker was more pragmatic.
When Archibald Sinclair and Don Juan were competing for control of the war, Major General Parker was taking Xu Xiu to visit his headquarters.
From a British perspective, this command headquarters that looked extremely crude in Xu Xiu was already the limit of the British War Department's understanding of modern warfare. Major General Parker did have reason to be proud.
So Xu Xiu's mood was particularly complicated.
What age is this?
The Goodwill Games held in 1932 have already begun to use live broadcast technology. Now the Southern African Football League has begun live broadcast. The Air Force Command Center of the British War Department actually still uses light bulbs to indicate the status of the troops. Is the British War Department
What are your misconceptions about modern warfare?
The intelligence center next to the central command room actually still uses wired telegraphs from 20 years ago. Now commercial telegraphs have expanded to the wireless era. Are the technicians in the War Department all antiques crawling out of medieval tombs?
"This command center was established a year ago. After a year of continuous improvement, this may be the most advanced command center in the world." Major General Parker's explanation was full of pride. He probably also had some misunderstanding of the word "worldwide".
Of course not necessarily.
British people, like Americans, are used to talking about "the whole world".
For example, the British Empire is the most powerful country in the world.
For example, the Royal Navy is the most powerful navy in the world.
Another example is fried fish and French fries, which are the most delicious foods in the world.
If the first two are understandable, then the last one can only be attributed to the self-confidence of British fans.
Xu Xiu decided that he should say something to change Major General Parker's wrong impression of "modern warfare" and "the whole world".
Just then the alarm bell suddenly rang.
Xu Xiu never expected that the alarm bell was actually manual. There was a captain who was responsible for ringing the alarm bell. This was his only job.
As the alarm bell rang, Major General Parker and Xu Xiu returned to the command center as quickly as possible.
"20 enemy planes have taken off from the German airport in the Eppe area and are flying towards London."
"40"
"80"
In just two minutes, the number of enemy planes increased to 120, and the atmosphere in the command center suddenly solidified. Everyone realized that an air battle as large as the "August 2nd Air Battle" was about to break out.
As the number of enemy aircraft increased, on the sand table in the command center, several officers were busy pushing the coordinates according to the flight path of the German aircraft.
The yellow light bulbs on the side of the command center immediately lit up one after another.
Each light bulb represents an aviation squadron.
Two minutes later, the first batch of British fighter jets to fight had already taken off from the airport.
Soon all the red light bulbs lit up, indicating that all British fighter jets were in combat mode.
"There are too many German aircraft. We cannot intercept all enemy aircraft. If possible, can the Southern African Air Force join us?" Major General Parker's shirt was soaked. The command center was built underground and the ventilation equipment was still very good.
"Major General, I'm afraid it won't work today." Xu Xiu told the truth. The Southern African Air Force had just arrived in the UK and would definitely not be able to take off to fight today.
Air combat is more complex than land combat and naval combat and requires perfect coordination.
The Southern African Air Force and the British Air Force have two different command systems. The Royal Navy and the Southern African Navy have joint exercises every year, but the air force has very few joint exercises.
Probably the British are worried that their command center will be leaked.
Don Juan and Xu Xiu came to see Archibald Sinclair today. Their main purpose was to understand the strength of the British Air Force and prepare for the next battle.
One thing is certain, the British Air Force will most likely not accept the command of the Southern African Air Force.
The Southern African Air Force will certainly not accept the command of the British Air Force.
Therefore, the best way is to divide the combat scope, each is responsible for a part of the combat tasks, and the coordination work can be done slowly.
To put it bluntly, if the Southern African Air Force were to participate in the war today, and the Identification Friend or Foe system has not yet been clarified, the "Cheetah" in Southern Africa might be mistaken for a German aircraft by some British pilot with bad eyesight.
After all, this is also the first time "Cheetah" appears in Europe.
It can be seen that the British Air Force is already beyond its capabilities when facing the German Air Force. This can be seen from the number and speed of light bulbs extinguishing.
Five minutes after the red light bulb lights up, the first light bulb goes out.
This means that all aircraft of an aviation squadron have been shot down.
Xu Xiu prayed for the unfortunate pilots and hoped that they could parachute smoothly.
Then the second light bulb went out.
The third lamp
When the time reaches the tenth minute, all the light bulbs in the row on the far right go out.
"General, our airport at Clayborough was bombed by the Germans. The plane has been unable to take off and land, and must be transferred to other airports." A lieutenant colonel came to report in a hurry, with an expression as if he was mourning.
"According to the plan," Major General Parker said with a scary expression on his face.
Xu Xiu noticed that British fighter jets took off and landed relatively frequently, almost once every five minutes.
This shows that British fighter jets only have five minutes to take off for combat after replenishing fuel and ammunition.
This fully demonstrates the intensity of the battle.
No matter how short the legs of a British fighter jet are, it can't fly for only five minutes, so the ammunition must have been used up, so it has to land to replenish it.
Fortunately, the air battle only lasted 30 minutes.
The results were soon reported. In just 30 minutes, the British Air Force lost 40 fighter jets and the German Air Force lost 65.
This number may not be accurate because in the next day's newspapers, the British Air Force claimed to have shot down 207 German aircraft.
