That night, Koch made the decision to investigate again.
The sun has set, and the searchlights from the aviation base's towers collectively illuminate the site. Some emergency-mobilized ground crews, with their tools, were ordered to repair the runway urgently!
Tomorrow, a White Stork reconnaissance aircraft will perform a new reconnaissance mission. The characteristics of this reconnaissance aircraft's short take-off means that it only needs a flat runway of 100 meters to take off, so the work pressure on the ground staff is not great.
The one who is really stressed is none other than the pilot Paul who is about to carry out a reconnaissance mission.
Two and a half weeks have passed since the last air raid, and Paul's life has been relatively leisurely during this period. Because under his poor command, the group lost five fighter jets, and his command ability was greatly questioned. Therefore, that day
When many pilots and fighter planes were transferred to the front line in Kharkiv, he was left behind. And because of the long-term rain, he had to stay in his dormitory doing nothing.
Paul wrote a lengthy battle report. Although he had good reasons to believe that the Russians had strong anti-aircraft firepower, this reason could not cover up his poor command.
He was disqualified from piloting a fighter jet, but his personal flying ability was very strong, and he was still very reliable in his job as a reconnaissance aircraft pilot.
After the military meeting, he had to accept the reconnaissance mission, even though it was full of great dangers.
But speaking of danger, don’t those comrades who are transferred to the front line also face greater danger?
Before falling asleep, he stayed in the bar of the aviation base and drank whiskey alone.
This melancholy man also attracted the attention of the bartender.
"I heard that you will have to go to the south again tomorrow to perform a mission! It's really bad, it's a hell of a place there."
After a bad conversation, Paul raised his head and muttered: "I know! Maybe I will be shot down by them! It's really terrible."
"In this case, do you still continue to drink? If you are not in good spirits tomorrow morning, wouldn't it be very dangerous!"
"Forget it!" Paul waved his hand, "It's dangerous for other people, but it's no problem for me! The Russian bullets can't hit me! I will fly high tomorrow, and their anti-aircraft weapons can't hit too high!"
"In that case, I wish you success. What else do you want?"
"Give me another drink!"
…
Paul drank a lot this time. He said it was okay, but he was very depressed in his heart.
Everything went as the bartender feared, because he drank too much strong alcohol, and Paul's mental state was still a little bad the next morning.
He steeled himself and arrived at the airport still slightly unsteady.
Here, there was no farewell ceremony, not even comrades-in-arms. There were just a few ground staff who kindly told him that the aircraft had been debugged.
Looking at the brand new reconnaissance aircraft, Paul swallowed deeply.
He heard the news and asked: "Is this aircraft equipped with weapons?"
"There is an aircraft machine gun and a thousand rounds of ammunition."
"No! The machine gun and bullets are too redundant. You need to remove them."
"This...don't you even want self-defense firepower?!"
"No need. The Russians in the swamps don't have airplanes. If I need a machine gun, why should I shoot the eagles in the sky? These heavy burdens will interfere with my flight. Follow my orders and dismantle them immediately!"
Speaking of self-defense firepower, the Ruger that Paul silently carried in his waist was enough with this pistol! Besides, if he really encountered an accident and was shot down and was in danger, this gun could also kill himself.
After the ground crew quickly dismantled the weapons of the reconnaissance aircraft, Paul got into the cockpit of the aircraft.
As soon as he sat on the soft chair, his mind, which had been dazed by alcohol, immediately sobered up, as if he had reached the point where man and machine become one!
The propeller made a strong buzzing sound, and under the attention of the ground crew, the reconnaissance plane quickly took off.
In fact, the ground crew was not the only one paying attention to him. Koch did not show up today. He watched the reconnaissance plane take off through the window of his office. The most important job of the scout's trip was not to find the Russians hiding in the forest.
Instead, they flew to the mines that had been bombed in a very targeted manner.
In Koch's view, the Russians want to make weapons, and no matter how hard they bomb the mines, the Russians' excavation work will not stop. Especially after the last air raid, regardless of the results they created, the bombing of the mines by aerial bombs will definitely
The explosion shattered a large amount of ore, which was objectively beneficial to Russian excavation.
He can be sure that the total population of the Russians is not large. Now that the infantry divisions have returned from the large-scale encirclement and suppression, the air force should play a more active role. Koch, the captain of the aviation group, told his most senior boss Goering, so-called
The theory of victory of the air force has certain recognition. Put it here, if the air force can bomb frequently and cause continuous casualties to the Russians, it is equivalent to continuously weakening their strength. When this weakening reaches a critical value, the infantry will carry out large-scale encirclement and suppression.
, the so-called Russian 63rd Army issue that has troubled the German army for a year has been solved in one package!
This time it was just a simple reconnaissance. Paul's only task was to determine whether the Russians had started mining again. Therefore, he did not need to take a particularly tortuous path. He only needed to establish a straight course and fly to the altitude limit for cruising flight.
That’s it. As for the Russian anti-aircraft weapons, unless they are equipped with large-caliber anti-aircraft guns!
In fact, if the White Stork reconnaissance aircraft flies at its extreme altitude, it can fly up to four thousand meters! However, it is difficult to see targets on the ground clearly at such a height!
This time Paul planned to make a circle and then retreat. As long as he didn't stay, there was no possibility of being shot down. Besides, this little reconnaissance plane didn't make much noise. Maybe he was ready to return. The Russians
Discovered that they had just been investigated.
Paul mustered up his confidence and quickly climbed to an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, whereupon he began to fly steadily.
However, of course he did not know that the Russians had equipped a new type of equipment, and it was indeed detected as soon as it took off!
Just after nightfall on June 16, all members of the Soviet radar platoon, together with their equipment, had arrived in Homnich.
The radar truck was deployed on the edge of the forest, that is, on the south side of the city ruins.
The camouflage net that should have been there did not exist. Instead, a large number of tree branches were inserted into the truck. Of course, there was no huge radar antenna.
The possibility of the Germans flying at night must not exist, so Yang Mingzhi ordered the radar soldiers to turn on the machine as soon as dawn. Considering the overheating of the radar, he ordered the four girls to turn off the radar for ten minutes every two hours.
Used for machine cooling protection.
On June 17, the sun in Belarus quietly rose above the horizon at 3:30 a.m. local time. It is about to reach the summer solstice, and the daylight here will also reach a peak.
The radar starts up based on the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, so when Paul took off at six o'clock in the morning, the radar had been working for more than two hours!
Four full-time radar soldiers were scheduled, each monitoring for half an hour, and the two-hour boot time was just enough to complete the rotation. Furthermore, the half-hour working time was not long, allowing the monitors to maintain a high degree of vigilance without
fatigue.
The girls had completed one rotation and even completed Radar's first ten-minute break.
The radar was turned on again, and the radar antenna continued to rotate 360 degrees.
The current monitor was Liu Hongxiu. Just like an hour ago, she put on her headphones and stared at the unlit tube, concentrating on sensing possible abnormalities...