The airport defenders were all under Koch's command, and he called the garrison battalion commander and the platoon leader responsible for guarding the ammunition depot to his headquarters.
"Gentlemen, do you know why I called you here?!"
"This..." the battalion commander guessed, "could it be that guerrillas appeared near the base?!"
"No!" Koch shook his head, pretending to be angry, "The guerrillas didn't find out, but maybe there are some traitors among us, and what they do is no different from the guerrillas."
The meaning of these words is too obvious. When the Air Force said this, it was obviously to accuse the garrison of not doing their job properly on weekdays. The battalion commander glanced at the platoon leader and asked: "Could it be that the traitor you mentioned is in our garrison?"
?Could it be that they are the defenders of the ammunition depot?!"
Koch could only draw a conclusion after actually inspecting the ammunition. At this juncture, he did not dare to make subjective assumptions.
"Today our army carried out an air strike and successfully dropped bombs on the target. However, an incredible scene happened! The bombs dropped did not explode! There were fourteen bombs in total, all of them were dumb bombs, and they all fell into the mud. This is really unbelievable. I didn't know this.
What do you two think?"
The battalion commander was shocked: "What? All dumb bombs?!"
"Yes! They are all duds!" As he said that, Koch stood up and walked to the platoon leader with a sullen face. "Now, I want to hear what you think."
Koch had just noticed that after declaring the aerial bomb to be a dud, the platoon leader's eyes were obviously abnormal. There was something wrong with him!
"Say it! Don't hesitate, I want to hear your opinion! After all, the ammunition is moved from you!"
Koch's face almost touched him, and his questioning made the platoon leader sit on pins and needles and even tremble a little.
Finally, the platoon leader gave a desperate assurance: "There is absolutely no problem with the ammunition! It must be those muddy areas. The mud prevented the bombs from detonating! You know this is possible. As for all the bombs being dumb, I believe it is a coincidence."
"
"Haha? Coincidence?! How can there be such a coincidence?"
"This must be a coincidence!"
"Really? What evidence do you have to prove that this is a coincidence? In other words, I now strongly suspect that those ammunition have abnormally failed. I suspect that you have suffered serious malfeasance in your work! Now you must prove that you are really conscientious."
"I..." The platoon leader was confused at the time. He was extremely nervous and his whole body was shaking violently. In Koch's view, this was a sign of guilty conscience!
Seeing that he was speechless, Koch continued: "In this case, I have to see these ammunition for myself! How about it? At least take apart a few for research to prove that the ammunition is indeed fine?!"
"That's...okay!"
Until now, the platoon leader still dare not report the truth to his superiors. If the matter can be resolved peacefully, everyone will be happy. Since the superiors decided to inspect, let's take a gamble! After all, there are still a lot of ammunition that have not been soaked in water!
Koch didn't understand the platoon leader's calculation. Based on his own knowledge, he believed that the ammunition was affected by moisture.
When he entered the ammunition depot in person, he did not listen to the platoon leader's introduction to the neatly stacked aerial bombs.
"That's enough! I understand their nature better than you! We are the Air Force! You don't need to explain it now, I will check it myself!"
Koch attached great importance to this matter. After turning on all the lights in the warehouse, he held a flashlight for further inspection. He did not inspect the standing aerial bombs, but specifically inspected the walls.
Finally, he noticed an abnormality on a cement wall - there were signs of water immersion here.
He snapped his fingers, and the battalion commander and platoon commander came nervously.
"William Stone, what's going on?!"
The battalion commander was also shocked. He immediately asked the platoon leader: "Karl! What do you think is going on?!"
"this……"
"Let me explain it to you!" Koch said angrily, "You are the traitor among us! You concealed the fact that the ammunition depot was flooded. Now I have to suspect that there are still serious problems with the ammunition stored here! Military police, will
Take control of this person!"
Next, the soldiers dismantled the aerial bombs.
Therefore, all the bombs involved in the operation were 250kg aerial bombs, and Koch ordered to dismantle a similar bomb.
The soldiers used professional tools to unscrew the collision fuse, which had never been opened since it was installed, and pulled the long cylindrical fuse out of the projectile body.
An astonishing thing happened the moment the fuse was pulled out - water droplets.
Koch didn't want this to be true, but under the light, he saw that the fuse was actually flashing! And there were water droplets falling directly on the ground!
He touched the fuse with his own hands, and his dry palm quickly became moist. Everyone was shocked by this sight and smell.
"Damn! What are these liquids? Isn't it water?! Come on, bring the projectile down. I want to see how much water is in it!"
The aircraft bomb body, which was fully loaded with TNT, was brought down by the combined efforts of seven soldiers. Soon, a trickle of water was revealed in front of everyone. Not only was it soaked in water, the entire missile body was almost like a water tank!
Koch was furious. He glared angrily at the platoon leader who was currently holding his arms down by the military police, and asked: "Is this what you mean by not being soaked in water? Aren't these liquids water? The ammunition is not just damp!"
"
Until now, the platoon leader is still trying to argue: "No! That's not the case! You should be able to understand that water can protect the TNT in the missile body! I think the arsenal must have carried out water injection operations before these bombs were shipped!
Yes! That must be the case! They want to prevent TNT from accidentally exploding!"
"Bah! Do you think I'm a fool?!"
Koch was furious. In anger, he pulled out his pistol and pointed the gun directly at the platoon leader's head.
At this point, the man who was still messing around suddenly gave up, and even the smelly stream dripped under his body. He cried: "I really didn't know such a thing existed! Someone must have framed me! My God
, please, spare me! I..."
"Shut up! You still have the nerve to say this?! How could you not know? Don't you understand what dereliction of duty is? I'm really going to be pissed to death. I didn't know until today that the fighters of my aviation group have simply been reduced to
A pile of scrap metal!
If these bombs cannot be used, do we have to rely on machine guns to fight! Someone must be responsible for what happened today! It’s you! You traitor to the Third Reich, you must die to apologize!”
Furious, Koch immediately loaded the pistol. He had murderous intentions. At the moment when he was pulling the trigger, the battalion commander stepped forward and grabbed Koch's arm.
With a bang, the bullet hit the ceiling directly. However, the platoon leader seemed to have been shot. The military police found that this dishonest guy's body suddenly became limp...
"Huh? Scared to death?!" Koch was greatly surprised.
The military policeman quickly touched the man's neck and said, "He fainted from fright!"
Koch's rage subsided a little, and he ordered the military police to disarm all members of the munitions warehouse garrison platoon, and temporarily imprisoned them all until they could be handed over to the field Gestapo for interrogation.
Then, ground crews were ordered to inspect all aerial bombs in the arms warehouse.
At first, Koch still had a little illusion. Even if it was soaked in water, most of the bombs would still be intact!
However, the facts were like a continuous loop of left and right hooks. Throughout the afternoon, the arms warehouse was carefully inspected, and the shocking results were quickly handed over to Koch.
In short, there is one conclusion - the combat effectiveness of the Koch Air Group is basically wasted.
Among other aerial bombs, all 250kg bombs were destroyed, 500kg bombs were intact, 90% of 100kg bombs were destroyed, and 50% of 50kg and 25kg bombs were destroyed.
Koch was completely disillusioned with the result, and he even fainted because the troops used the 250kg and 100kg types most, and they suffered almost completely! The collision fuse was scrapped, which meant that the entire bomb was temporarily unusable. Could it be that in the future?
Small bombs used in air strikes? Not only did the results obtained be too small, half of them were also useless.
After regaining his composure, Koch had no choice but to report the incident to his superiors and endure the barrage of criticism.
Someone must be responsible for this, and the culprits must be the platoon leader who neglected his duties, and the garrison battalion commander who neglected to inspect. Koch himself is also responsible for the oversight.
However, Koch did not want to take too much responsibility. He was criticized by his superiors, and his anger naturally wanted to be discovered by others.
His anger was naturally transferred to the commander of the 722nd Division, Floride, because the officers and soldiers of this division were responsible for guarding the airport!
Koch still had some illusions about the result. Thinking of this result, he almost fainted. Because the troops used the most 250kg and 100kg, all their plans were finished.
On the other hand, Yang Mingzhi seized two tons of explosives and smiled from ear to ear.