Chapter five hundred and thirty sixth accidental bombing
At three o'clock in the morning on August 23, 1940, a lost German DO17 bomber broke through the thick clouds. When the pilot looked down, a strange city appeared in front of him.
The city that was still brightly lit in the early morning told the pilot that this must be a large city. As long as he dropped all the bombs he carried on the fuselage, his visit tonight would be worthwhile.
"Attention, prepare to drop bombs"
"Understood, open the hatch and start dropping bombs."
As the hatch opened, bombs fell to the ground one after another, and bursts of shrill air raid sirens suddenly sounded in the night sky over London. Since the beginning of the war between Germany and Britain, as a tacit understanding between both sides, neither side has bombed the other side.
capital and big cities to avoid the escalation of the war, but the sirens in the London night sky today seemed to tell the British that war is everywhere, even in the capital.
After receiving the news that London had been bombed, Churchill not only did not become furious like many people, but instead walked into his office with a calm face.
In the air battle over the British Isles, in order to quickly seize air supremacy, the German Air Force changed the focus of its attacks to various airports in the UK at the suggestion of the flying officer headed by Xiao Feipeng. This was characterized by extremely frequent air raids and fierce air battles.
Starting from the middle to the end of the month, the German Air Force dispatched more than a thousand sorties every day. Within ten days, it carried out non-stop and devastating attacks on twelve British air force bases. The British army lost 286 aircraft. The pilots also suffered heavy casualties.
The surviving pilots were exhausted after continuous air battles. By late August, the entire Royal Air Force had only 380 aircraft capable of taking off, and its own vitality was severely damaged. If the German Air Force continued to attack, the Royal Air Force would be unable to support it.
.
Now this accidental bombing by the Luftwaffe seems to have reminded Churchill that the rules of the war game should be changed.
In the early morning of August 25th, the British Royal Air Force dispatched 81 bombers and flew over Berlin to begin retaliatory bombing. Some major cities in Germany were also bombed by the British Air Force on a small scale. This temporarily gave them the upper hand and
The smug Hitler was shocked.
There is a small town called Grode in the East Prussian city of Rastenburg. There is a dense forest about fifteen kilometers east of this town. This dense forest consists of a series of bunkers and bunkers, surrounded by barbed wire.
This dense forest is a restricted area that is absolutely not allowed for ordinary people to enter. There is only a single track from the town of Grod to the depths of the forest. Both sides of the railway here are guarded by soldiers of Hitler's standard guard. This is because it is necessary to reduce incoming airborne intrusions.
Note that there are no tall guard towers or air defense towers in the forest. The railway tracks extend among the tall trees to a small station "Görlitz". When you get off the train, you will see two special railway stations erected in the forest.
The iron tower is a communication tower. In the middle of the two iron towers, in a small open space, you can see a huge entrance made of boulders and concrete. And around this dense forest, the Germans, in order to prevent the enemy from sneaking in, surrounded the dense forest.
Fifty-four thousand landmines were laid, which made countless agents or spies who wanted to sneak into the wolf's lair dismay.
This place was a secret headquarters that Hitler affectionately called the Wolf's Lair. Hitler affectionately commented on it: "This is one of the few places in Europe where I can work freely and calmly."
The combat hall of Wolf's Lair is the size of a basketball court. There are small offices symmetrically distributed on all sides of the hall. There are dozens of desks in the hall, and countless Germans are busy working there.
Junior officers and civilian staff were hurriedly walking between the offices and desks with various documents and information. Phones were ringing, orders were being conveyed, quarrels were coming, and scoldings were coming from every corner. It was a tense scene.
A lively scene.
In an office next to the hall, a large dark brown desk is facing the door. There is a desk lamp and some stationery on the desk. Behind the desk is a row of tall bookshelves filled with various items.
There are books. There is a dark green carpet with light green patterns in the middle of the floor. There is a long velvet sofa, a coffee table and a few chairs against the wall. A simple chandelier is installed on the ceiling, and on the surrounding walls
There are no luxurious decorations. A large map of Europe hangs on the left wall, and a German flag and several oil paintings depicting medieval mythology hang on the other side.
A group of German generals were standing respectfully around Hitler. Hitler was of medium height and was relatively small among the tall leaders of the German Nazi Party. He was wearing a tan uniform and a pair of black trousers.
On the pocket of his uniform is pinned the Iron Cross First Class he won in World War I. His black hair is combed in his signature hairstyle, and the mustache under his big nose has also been trimmed.
The neat, deep eyes are now flashing with anger.
"Shame, this is a shame." Hitler waved his arms, and the spittle from his mouth flew everywhere, occasionally spraying into the faces of the surrounding generals.
"Göring, you idiot, before the war started, didn't you promise me that even if a fly flew across the sky of the empire, I would report to you? Now our capital has been bombed by the British, what else do you have?
Easy to say”
Goering, the air marshal who can be called the most important general in Germany, stumbled and explained: "My head of state, please listen to me. This is a complete accident. The British just took advantage of a loophole to succeed. I
Promise, next time.”
"You still want a next time, but I tell you there is no next time. If there is a next time, I will let you go back to Senheim to raise pigs." Hitler roared angrily, "Now you tell me what you are going to do next."
"My Führer" After hearing Hitler's question, Göring, who was well aware of his boss's temper, knew that his time was over. He didn't bother to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and said hurriedly: "My
Head of State, this is my arrangement. I have dispatched 1,200 aircraft, including 500 bombers, to carry out bombing missions. We are going to level the British London and those big cities to the ground. Yes, razed to the ground.
For a flat ground.”
"Very good." After hearing Goering's words, Hitler's expression softened. "As long as you can lead the air force to blow London to ashes, I believe Churchill will change his mind and lead his defeated soldiers to surrender to our empire."
After hearing Hitler's words, several army generals around him couldn't help but frowned. A general with gray hair stood up and reported: "My Lord, I think Field Marshal Göring's plan is still not appropriate.
, Our previous bombing was very effective. We have wiped out most of the British airports and aircraft. Now what we have to do is to continue to expand the bombing of their airports, instead of being angry with the British like children.
As long as the British airports and effective forces are destroyed, they will naturally have no way to bomb our big cities."
Goering immediately jumped out when he heard this, "What General Rundstedt, you mean to leave our big cities as if they are still in tatters to the British bombing, and let our brave young men be like thieves?"
Are you secretly bombing the enemy's airport? God, it only takes three days to a week to build a simple field airport, but it takes several generations and hundreds of years to build a city. This is an arithmetic problem that even elementary school students can understand.
Don’t you even understand this?”
After listening to Göring's words, Hitler began to show a ferocious look. He had been staying well in the Chancellery in Berlin, but now he was driven to this temporary base camp by a bombing by the British. This made him, the Third Reich,
Where should the head of state put his face?
"Those damn armies, I know I shouldn't trust them. Just like they don't trust me either. They are loyal to me only because I gave them enough benefits. If I fail in this war, Germany will
Lose everything he has. The enemies of the German Nazi Party will come back, and I may be shot by their despicable cold arrows. The German people and army will abandon a failed leader, just as they abandoned the Kaiser eighteen years ago.
The German nation will once again lose its chance to stand up."
Thinking of this, Hitler's eyes were as cold as the cold wind in the Arctic. He stared closely into General Rundstedt's eyes, "That's enough, Mr. General, you have to remember that you are just an army general, and now
We are talking about the situation of the Air Force, so I would like you to listen to Marshal Göring for now. This is the minimum courtesy, do you understand?"
General Rundstedt wanted to step forward and say a few words, but several generals behind him grabbed his clothes and pulled him back.
"God, forgive this ignorant fat man" Rundstedt lowered his head sadly.
With the changes in the Luftwaffe plan, large cities such as London were severely bombed by the Luftwaffe. However, the British airports that were bombed by the Germans every day gained precious breathing time. The thick smoke rising over London made Hitler
and Göring were excited. They firmly believed that the British could be quickly forced to surrender through this bombing. Churchill, who was as excited as Hitler, was secretly congratulating himself in his office when the Germans focused their attention on the big cities in Britain.
After that, the British airports were quickly restored, and fighter planes and volunteers transported by the Americans also arrived continuously. In less than a week, the Royal Air Force regained its strength, and the British had another mission.