Battle of the Third Reich

The tactical idea of ​​strategic bombing has already appeared at this time, but it has not been extensively tested as in history. Prior to the devastating bombing of British coastal towns by Germany during the Battle of England, it was perhaps the first time that such a tactic of strategic bombing was intuitively displayed to the public.

Previous German bombing operations against the Netherlands, Belgium, and France were not strategic bombings, even if the bombings were quite large. As the name implies, strategic bombing is an act of war based on strategic purposes, and the lack of this basic condition can only be classified as tactical operations.

The target cities and towns bombed along the British coast were actually not of much tactical value. However, the destruction of these cities and towns directly caused the chaos of the entire British coastal defense line.

If it is said that destroying an important military unit on the battlefield can determine the outcome of a battle, then destroying a strategic target will likely reverse the course of a war.

The Germans are currently acquiring a bomber with sufficient performance to meet the initial strategic bombing needs, and a fighter capable of escorting. But it is not enough to have equipment. Xu Jun still has many difficulties in front of him. He must establish a military system that can support strategic bombing operations before the outbreak of the Eastern Front War.

Each Lancaster bomber needs to be equipped with seven crew members, sorted according to their status on the aircraft, divided into a pilot and captain, an aviation mechanic and co-pilot, a pilot and a bomber A machine nose gunner, a radio operator, a machine gunner and a tail gunner.

In addition to the tail and back gunners that exist like aviation consumables, the rest of the flight crew need to obtain at least two professional certificates, and after more than half a year of professional training, they are eligible to participate in strategic bombing operations.

Even the cannon fodder machine gunner must undergo professional aerial machine gunner training, technical verification and a machine gunner certificate before being allowed to be assigned to the bomber for service. Those who fail to meet the technical requirements can only be assigned to other units of the Air Force to undertake tedious and tiring ground duties.

The salary, salary and treatment of pilots in the Royal Air Force are far more than that of ground sergeants, so applicants who know that the job is extremely dangerous are still rushing. Of course, there are also passionate youths who really want to contribute to the country selflessly, but these people will soon be wiped out of the passion in the chest by the cruel reality. It can be said that war is a magic mirror that can make humans recognize their own essence.

Although the physical requirements of the Royal Air Force bomber crew are not as strict as those of fighter pilots, they are much more high-end than the army recruiting big soldiers. For example, there can be no reaction to seasickness and seasickness. Moreover, the cabin is not air-tight, and most of the time they need to fly with an oxygen mask during the bombing, the scene will become very bad once the nausea and vomiting occurs.

In addition to the physical examination standards, they also have to perform simple intelligence and psychological tests. The Air Force does not want to take a fool to heaven, nor is it a lunatic who wants to manipulate weapons. In fact, many British crew members who experienced air combat on the Western Front experienced serious psychological problems, but this was a change that occurred after joining the army. Before joining the army, they were all normal people with sound minds.

The German Air Force’s criteria for selecting bombing units were even stricter than that of the British. When the Nazis began to rebuild the Air Force, they adopted a policy of elite soldiers. German flight students first need to pass the A-level and B-level aviation school training before they can enter the advanced bomber flight school for more advanced subjects.

The crew of the German bomber, in addition to the need to enter a special training school to learn, usually also have some professional skills other than their own duties, so that the commander can freely mobilize them in various positions.

It can be said that every German bomber unit at the beginning of the war was made up of a group of versatile elites, and every crew member lost in the British air battle was the essence of the Air Force's painstaking accumulation for many years, so the bomber united The captains felt heartbroken and even refused to send the ministry to carry out the tasks that were obviously dead.

Although in this time and space, the German bomber troops suffered relatively minor losses, the veterans that had been trained for many years survived fortunately. But these people received training from Heinkel and Junkers bombers. Letting these people learn to drive a new type of bomber is obviously a matter of half the effort. Xu Jun is worried that the new troops will not be able to form quickly. Fighting power, on the contrary, also weakened the strength that the bomber forces should have.

Therefore, the crew members of the German strategic bomber unit will start recruiting and training from recruits, but if according to the current number of students in the German aviation school, the gap between them is still quite large. According to Xu Jun's tentative plan, the Germans will form a strategic bomber unit with at least one thousand heavy bombers by the end of 1981. This means that the Luftwaffe needs to train 1,000 technically qualified pilots and 6,000 crew members who meet the training standards. This does not include backup and replacement crews. This number must be at least half of the total strength.

At the same time, the Luftwaffe also needs to establish a new command system for the strategic air force. This requires a group of commanding and administrative officers at all levels with rich command experience, as well as staff and logistics officers with outstanding capabilities.

At the same time, Germany will also build new airports and bases for the newly built bomber wing, as well as assign the air force and aviation military area to which they belong.

The air force is the largest establishment unit of the Luftwaffe, and the aviation military area is a high-level logistics and administrative unit that supports the operations of the air force. Its main job is to be responsible for the administrative management of the subordinate units, the logistics supply, and the daily maintenance of each airport within the jurisdiction.

Almost every wing of the Luftwaffe has its own direct airport and base, but because of the rapid expansion of the Air Force, these bases have already been overcrowded, and it is unlikely to accommodate these newly formed bomber wing.

Heavy bombers have very high requirements for takeoff and landing runways. Not only do they have special standards for the smoothness and firmness of the ground, but the requirements for runway length alone can eliminate more than half of the German Air Force base.

At this time, although the facilities at the base in Germany are not old and backward, many local airports are really only suitable for small and medium-sized aviation units such as fighter jets.

Although the rapid construction component of the field airport is very convenient, it is only the product of a temporary emergency after all. The Air Force said that if it wants to use it for a long time, it is better to build a semi-permanent regular air base.

A strategic bomber base that meets specifications not only needs to build several runways that can be used for heavy bombers to take off and land quickly, but also needs to build a hangar that will protect these expensive big guys from wind and rain, and a set of fully equipped equipment for simple parts processing There is also a maintenance plant with maintenance capacity, an aviation oil depot with a capacity large enough to feed these vultures for a long time, and an ammunition depot for storing large amounts of aviation ammunition and other explosive products.

In addition to these basic buildings, dormitory and leisure and entertainment venues for flight crews and ground crews, a fully functional military hospital, a remote communication and command center, and a residence for ground security and air defense forces should be built. Barracks. At the same time, in these buildings, some core units must have a certain bulletproof capability, able to withstand the retaliatory bombing of the enemy air force.

The above is just one of many bases in the Xu Jun plan. According to the calculation of the headquarters, Germany must build at least six such large-scale bombing bases in central and eastern Germany, and also in Poland, Romania and Finland. A series of advancing and alternate landing airports. The standards of these advancing airports do not need to be as high as domestic bases, but they must also have minimum maintenance and service capabilities.

The accounting department of the Luftwaffe initially calculated that the amount of capital required at the beginning of the project was enough to cause a small bank’s board to commit a collective heart attack.

PS: Thank you all. I have a better cold today. I continue to take medicine and rest after I finish coding.