Just now, the Polish pilots were pushed to the edge by Messerschmitt. At the critical moment, a large number of Allied fighter planes came to rescue them, finally allowing them to breathe a sigh of relief. Everyone was afraid of surviving the disaster, but no one was. The courage to continue fighting, and when the commander-in-chief issued the order to retreat, they all breathed a long sigh of relief, knowing that they would be lucky enough to see the sunrise tomorrow morning.
At this moment, everyone feels reborn!
After a narrow escape after this deadly battle, everyone put away their ambitions. They only hoped to find a quiet remote farm and spend the rest of their years in obscurity. This was the most beautiful expectation.
The A214 Spitfire led the remaining few fighter planes and flew over the burning giant cargo ship "McAllister". Zhou Zhihan turned around, and the entire air battle scene was presented three-dimensionally before his eyes.
The fire at the Saint-Pol Refinery is still on fire. The flames and thick smoke soared thousands of meters high. Gray-black smoke shrouded the entire Dunkirk beach. Hundreds of fighter planes from both sides were circling and fighting at medium and low altitudes. There were interactions everywhere in the sky. The red bullets fired form a web. From a distance, hundreds of fighter planes look like spiders on this giant red web, ferociously looking for food.
Fighter planes from both sides continued to fall from the sky in billowing darkness. Whenever a German pilot parachuted out, the Allied soldiers on the beach immediately surrounded him and caught him with a burst of violence, venting the anger they had suffered from the German Air Force these days.
Since many troops lost almost all their heavy weapons during the retreat, the soldiers on the beach no longer wasted bullets with their rifles. They almost lay on the beach and let God decide. Those shells dropped by German bombers that broke through the defenses and entered the sky above the beach. , whether it falls on one's own head.
There were even many soldiers lying on the beach smoking and watching the large groups of planes and dogs fighting in the sky.
On the way back, I met several fighter squadrons heading for Dunkirk. I saw the A214 Spitfire and the 303 and 304 Squadrons returning from a distance, and they all gave a thumbs up to show respect.
The A214 Spitfire led two squadrons to hold down a fleet of two to three hundred German aircraft. The feat had long been reported back to the UK by the destroyers cruising in the deep sea, boosting the morale of each fighter unit.
Passing through Dover Airport, the A214 Spitfire did not land. The base of the Allied Forces was not far from here. Dover Airport was reserved for those fighter planes that ran out of fuel or were injured and returned.
After flying over the airport, Zhou Zhihan felt relieved when he saw that the several Spitfires and Hurricanes that had just returned injured had landed smoothly.
Four Polish pilots were lost in this battle, which is sad, but war is like this. As a commander, sometimes you have to be hard-hearted and put away your compassion.
Compassion does not command troops.
When we arrived at Brighton Airport, after all the fighter planes landed, the A214 Spitfire landed last. It was only after we got off the plane that we saw that the skin of the fuselage had been cut by shrapnel in many places.
Around the airport, there were many new rookie trainees standing, learning and watching fighter planes land on the spot. They all clapped with envy in their eyes, imagining that one day they could fly fighter planes in the sky and fight with the enemy.
Twenty-five fighter planes went out, but only eight came back. Except for those rookies who didn't know what to do, everyone at the airport was silent.
The ground crew pushed several aircraft into the repair room as quickly as possible. They repaired what needed to be repaired and patched what needed to be repaired. The mechanics checked and wiped the ballistics to prevent jamming, and then carefully replenished ammunition.
"Commander in Chief!" A Polish ground crew member was holding paints and brushes in his hands and a rack on his shoulder. "How many aircraft did you shoot down today?"
Zhou Zhihan shook his head and said with a gloomy expression: "No need to draw. Twenty-five people went out, four died, and a few others are still alive and dead. Only eight planes came back. There is nothing to show off."
Hearing this, all the mechanics were stunned for a moment. Looking at the back of the commander-in-chief, some had red eyes. The commander-in-chief was Chinese, and being able to mourn the death of Polish soldiers in battle showed that he was a kind-hearted person.
"No need to draw anymore!"
Zhou Zhihan turned around and looked at the mechanics who were looking at him. What he wanted to say was blocked again and he could only swallow it back. He stood there stunned for a few seconds, then turned around and left quickly, and lit a fire in a safe area. A cigarette, in the smoke, he seemed to see the young faces of Liang Hongyun, Ren Yunge, Ren Songling, Yan Haiwen, Shen Chonghai...
Several mechanics also stayed for a while. It was not easy to live under the shelter of others. The commander took out 24 people, and only four died. It was already a miracle. If it were another commander, the 24 people might have become cannon fodder and scattered in Dunker. In the sky above Erke, no one can come back.
After taking a few puffs of his cigarette, he threw it on the ground and stepped on it, twisting it a few times. Zhou Zhihan walked toward the Polish pilots waiting for him in the distance, and then returned to the barracks together.
Although it can be regarded as a great achievement this time, no one celebrated it. Everyone knew that a dangerous, difficult, urgent, and heavy task like today has just begun. Maybe he will be the one who cannot come back next time. .
Several pilots returned to their respective barracks to take a shower and rest.
Second Lieutenant Fias Christelle stood at the door of the barracks office waiting for Zhou Zhihan. She was not in a hurry to ask and record the casualties of the personnel and the damage of the fighter planes. Instead, she silently made him a cup of coffee and took the He used a lighter to light a cigarette for him, handed it over, and said considerately: "Let's take a break and drink a cup of coffee. I'll take a bath later and have a good rest..."
Holding a cigarette with lip prints in his mouth, Zhou Zhihan closed his eyes and rubbed his temples: "I hate fighting once, so I just mourn once."
Fias Christelle didn't speak, walked behind him, gently massaged his arms with her hands, and gently touched his hair with her chin: "You are the commander-in-chief, so you naturally bear more than others. You, the better you perform, the tasks you will receive will naturally be heavier and more difficult."
Zhou Zhihan was stunned when he heard this.
There's nothing wrong with that.
That is to say, the Air Force General Headquarters knows that the 303 and 304 Squadrons are very strong, so they will send them to perform difficult tasks.
If the 303 and 304 Squadrons were weak and could not stop the strength of a large number of German aircraft, the headquarters would not be able to assign such an arduous task to them. At most, they would be cannon fodder with supporting roles.
In other words, if you want to be cannon fodder, you must also have the capital to be cannon fodder.
For Fias Christelle to be able to say this to him, it was already heartbreaking.
Zhou Zhihan closed his eyes, smelling the strange fragrance wafting from the back of his neck, and wondered if the better I performed, the more disaster would be brought to Poland's 303 and 304 Squadrons?
After a while, Fias Christelle walked to the window and opened the blinds: "Look, there are many new pilots here today. From now on, you can reduce the number of missions and be your general manager with peace of mind." Instructor, train more outstanding pilots." After saying that, he looked back at Zhou Zhihan with a beautiful and charming smile.
Zhou Zhihan let out a sigh in his heart, why should I be bright when I am pregnant? I can't just eat from the bowl and look at the pot.
I won't be a scumbag.
It is possible to have a confidante.
Zhou Zhihan stood up, took a bath first, slept for a while, and then went to eat.
The domestic anti-war environment is really incomparable to this.
"Do you need a back rub?"
As soon as Zhou Zhihan walked to the door, he heard laughter behind him.
Zhou Zhihan "..."
…
When Zhou Zhihan woke up, it was pouring rain outside.
Battle reports came from the front. It was also raining heavily in Dunkirk. The clouds were very low. Coupled with the water vapor baked out by the refinery fire like a bathroom, the entire sky above Dunkirk was too dark to allow aerial combat. Both sides left each other alone. The wreckage of dozens of fighter planes returned.
In this battle, according to British newspaper reports, the Germans lost more than 60 bombers, the Messerschmitts lost more than 50, and the Royal Air Force won a great victory, losing only a dozen fighters.
German propaganda said that the British Royal Air Force had lost more than 30 Spitfires and more than 60 Hurricanes, more than 20,000 soldiers on the beach were wiped out by Stuka bombers, and the military morale was on the verge of collapse...
Zhou Zhihan knew that it was all water anyway.
This heavy rain came very timely and brought a good opportunity for the Allied forces to retreat. The heavy rain stopped all small boats heading to Dunkirk, but without the threat from German aircraft in the air, Allied warships and large ships could go back and forth unimpeded. .
In the evening, the heavy rain stopped, and the entire sea and the port of Dunkirk were shrouded in light fog. The fog became thicker and thicker. Before dark, the visibility did not exceed 400 meters. In this bad weather, both sides did not even dare to fight at night. send.
All British ships were dispatched overnight, trying every means to navigate civilian ships without radars and quickly withdraw their troops.
May 30th.
In the morning, heavy fog shrouded the port area. After the fog cleared, the smoke all over the port area blocked the sky and the sun. Coupled with the thick and low clouds, it greatly hindered the sight of the Luftwaffe bomber pilots. The flight was slow and low, and they were blocked by the ground. After artillery fire shot down several bombers one after another, the German planes left the coastline and never came again until dark.
It was the safest and smoothest day since the evacuation.
May 31st.
What makes the Germans even more discouraged is that not only has the Army made no progress, the Air Force has also done almost nothing here due to the bad weather. Thick fog and low clouds have almost enveloped the entire coastal area. The visibility is only more than 100 meters, and the clouds are only It is a thousand meters high, and the clouds are thick enough for fighter jets to stop on it, which completely restricts the movement of bombers. The British side seized this continuous blessing and mobilized the power of the whole country to retreat with all its strength.
In the past two days, Zhou Zhihan took time out of military meetings to give lessons to the new rookies. The lessons he taught were innovative, and his skills and experience were advanced. Even the veterans with hundreds of hours of flying experience could not do it. They all stood outside the window and listened in fascination.
When Zhou Zhihan once again explained the turning tactics of the four-finger formation in detail, he moved the classroom directly to the runway, because almost the entire Royal Air Force instructors came here because there were no flying missions in the past two days.
At 1 o'clock in the afternoon on June 1, Zhou Zhihan received the mission. At four o'clock in the afternoon, he sent a squadron to escort ten Fairey "Mackerel" torpedo attack aircraft and ten "Jaeger" fighter-bombers for a surprise attack. The pontoon bridge erected by the Germans on the Newport Canal Bridge.
This was another extremely difficult task, so Zhou Zhihan decided to lead the team himself.
