Not long after Zhou Zhihan led the Spitfire and Hurricane squadrons to leave, a pilot of the Dauntless Combat Squadron who was performing defensive missions over the Port of Dover suddenly saw what seemed to be a school of fish swimming rapidly in their direction a few kilometers away. move.
Why do these fish swim so fast?
This isn't right.
He took out his telescope and finally saw clearly that it was not a school of fish, but more than twenty Messerschmitt fighter jets whose bodies were painted to resemble the ocean background.
They are all old enemies who know each other well. Just by looking at the backs of the fighter planes, you can tell that these are Messerschmitts.
He judged in the next second that the target of these Messerschmitts, whose fuselages were painted with an ocean background, was not the large convoy of CW9s blocked in the waters of Dover Port, because the flight direction of the German planes was not here.
Time was running out, and the pilot of the Dreadnought fighter did not tell the squadron leader the news first, but immediately reported it to the ground airport.
Ten seconds later, the news that two squadrons of Messerschmitts were flying close to the sea reached the headquarters of the Royal Air Force.
Bentley Abbey.
In the large radar combat conference room.
After hearing the report from the airport, General Hugh Dowding and the Air Secretary, who had not left for a moment, immediately knew that the Germans had found a loophole in the British radar.
Admiral Hugh Dowding and the Lord Admiralty looked at each other and thought to themselves that they were in big trouble.
At present, the British fighter jets are far fewer than those of Germany, and what they rely on is radar. If the power of radar is seen through by the Germans, it will be even more difficult for the British army.
So all the commanders in the war room came to the combat map and speculated on the target of these mysterious German fighter jets.
After more than ten seconds, the reporting officer who had been talking to the airport on the ground reported that the two squadrons of Messerschmitt fighter jets did not attack the large CW9 fleet stranded in the port of Dover, but easily bypassed the CW9 fleet at Dover Port. The Dreadnought fighter jets defending the fleet went straight to the British coast. The Dreadnought fighter jets had no time to intercept them, nor could they catch up with the lightning-fast May fighter jets.
"Radar!" General Hugh Dowding stared at several radar base stations near the Port of Dover on the map. "The Germans' target may be radar! Since there was no advance warning, the anti-aircraft artillery at the radar station had no time to intercept."
Two months ago, after the Battle of Dunkirk came to an end, Zhou Zhihan flew a plane several times around the British coastline and wrote several reports to the Royal Air Force Operations Department.
Based on his experience on the Chinese battlefield, Zhou Zhihan believed that "secret lookout posts" composed of well-trained people should be set up starting from the English coast. In case of radar failure, these secret lookout posts at the forefront can be It plays an important role, and secret lookout posts can also detect some locations that cannot be radiated by radar bands. After all, people have sharp eyesight and can find many locations that cannot be detected by radar during World War II.
But at that time, the Royal Air Force headquarters believed that each radar station had at least seven or eight or even more than a dozen or twenty radar antenna towers. Even if one or two of them failed, it would not prevent other radar antenna towers from working normally. , so there is no need to expend labor and deploy secret lookout posts from the seaside to the interior.
Since the Royal Air Force Headquarters said so, Zhou Zhihan didn't say much. After all, China did not have radar stations in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, and could only set up many secret lookout posts dozens of kilometers outside the airport. The facilities of the Royal Air Force were compared to the crude ones of China. I don’t know how much stronger the Air Force is, especially since radar is currently at the forefront of the world, and Zhou Zhihan doesn’t know much about radar. Since the authority of the Royal Air Force denies his own suggestions, it is useless to say more.
Just then, an officer reported:
"The four German squadrons that took off from Pion Airport arrived in the middle of the strait and divided into three groups.
One squadron circled left and flew southwest along the British coast.
A squadron again detached from the main group and headed in the direction of Lymney Beach.
The remaining two squadrons of enemy aircraft continued to move forward. "
Hearing this, the expressions of the generals standing in front of the map became more serious, and the atmosphere in the entire war room instantly solidified. The German squadrons suddenly divided their forces and changed directions. This was rare, and it also showed that the German Air Force had a conspiracy.
The generals quickly judged that the sudden change in the Luftwaffe's formation was most likely an attack on the radar.
Radar is the lifeblood of Britain.
Since the Luftwaffe made a low-altitude raid and took a detour, it was estimated that even if the anti-aircraft artillery fire deployed between the radar and the coast was prepared, it would be useless. The Luftwaffe must have bypassed the anti-aircraft artillery fire and directly entered the radar area to look for the radar.
Due to the Battle of Dunkirk, Britain lost too many large weapons in France. The arsenal was busy manufacturing fighter jets and had no time to manufacture artillery. Therefore, there was a serious shortage of anti-aircraft artillery. It could only deploy an artillery defense between the radar and the coast, and the other three sides were in vain. , if the German machine knows the truth, it can be easily broken through.
In order to prevent being bombed by the Luftwaffe during the day, the radar base was well hidden. It would be difficult for an unknown aircraft to fly over the radar base to spot the radar tower. However, the Germans pounced directly on the radar base, indicating that they knew there was a radar there. You'll find it soon.
Now, it is definitely too late for fighter jets to take off from other airports to intercept.
General Hugh Dowding reached for the map baton and tapped it on the map: "This is the Pevensie radar station... This is the Rye radar station... This is the radar station near Dover."
Everyone gasped. The German Air Force was determined to attack these three radar stations.
General Hugh Dowding was very decisive: "Get Colonel Zhou Zhihan to me immediately!"
Communications Officer: "Yes. General... has been connected to Colonel Zhou Zhihan!"
"Colonel Zhou, we fell into the Germans' plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain. Now I conclude that the German Air Force wants to sneak attack our army's Pevensey radar station, Rye radar station, and the radar station near the port of Dover. Now you three The squadron immediately returned and went to the above three radar stations to defend, I hope God bless it’s not too late!”
Zhou Zhihan immediately replied: "Yes! We just left there three or four minutes ago. I hope it's still too late to turn around and rush back."
After Zhou Zhihan finished speaking, he switched the call back to each fighter squadron:
"All fighters immediately turned around quickly. The German Air Force might raid our radar station, so everyone returned to defense as quickly as possible.
The 302nd Hurricane Squadron heads to the nearest Dover radar station. The enemy may not be sending bombers this time, but new fighter jets that can carry bombs. Don't engage them in a head-on fight. You should mainly prevent them from dropping bombs and wait for reinforcements;
The 200th Royal Spitfire Squadron heads to the Pevensey Radar Station. The terrain there is complicated. It will take a lot of trouble for the Germans to find the radar. They will definitely hover at low altitude. You quickly pull up, catch them off guard and dive, and then fight with them. They fight, waiting for reinforcements;
The 304th Spitfire Squadron assigned half of its fighter jets to the Royal 200th Spitfire Squadron, and the remaining fighter jets followed me to Rye Radar Station.
After turning around, everyone turned on the acceleration and moved forward at full speed. "
The three squadron leaders each responded: "Roger that!"
Then all the fighters quickly turned around and flew towards their respective defense zones at full speed.
On the sea.
Germany's ace pilot Captain Heinz rushed forward and led two experimental special operations squadrons to fly almost close to the sea. He saw the Dreadnought fighter jets on duty in the air at Dover Port from a distance. He turned the nose slightly and easily broke through several A slow-moving, awkward-turning Dreadnought fighter jet came to intercept it. After a minute, it flew to the coast, and all the fighter jets began to pull up.
According to the previous agreement, if all the fighter jets reach the British coast smoothly, they will immediately pull up and turn on the communicator.
Heinz: "Lieutenant Lutz!"
"Sir! Lutz got it!"
"We are divided into two groups here. You lead the 3rd Special Operations Squadron to attack the British "Rye" radar station. I lead the 4th Special Operations Squadron to bomb the "Pevensey" radar station. We are divided into two groups here. Soldier. Good luck!"
"Roger it, Lutz! Good luck! Sir!" Lieutenant Lutz, the squadron leader of the 3rd Special Operations Squadron, turned around during the escalation and led 12 fighter jets towards the "Rai" radar station.
Bentley Abbey.
Large radar war room.
After General Hugh Dowding ordered Zhou Zhihan to lead the fleet back to defense, he also ordered three squadrons of Hurricane fighter jets of the Royal Air Force to take off and separately go to intercept the other four German fighter squadrons.
The three squadrons of Hurricane fighter jets each arrived at the designated interception point. Only one squadron of Stuka bombers appeared over the large shipyard on the coast of Limne. When the Stuka saw the Hurricane fighter jets more than ten kilometers away, it immediately The British pilot turned around and flew back, which made the British pilot feel confused. Where did the Germans play?
At this moment, the intelligence officer reported to Admiral Dowding: "The other three German fighter squadrons suddenly turned, and one of the squadrons separated from the fleet again, evading the interception of the Hurricane Squadron, and flew along the coastline. The purpose and direction are unknown..."
General Hugh Dowding stood in front of the map, looking at the map with all the generals and thinking deeply. The Germans suddenly changed their tactics today, which made people uneasy.
It turned out that the German Air Force dispatched a large fleet of aircraft to bomb the large CW9 fleet in the Port of Dover from the beginning. Then, judging by the time, before the air battle in the Port of Dover was over, four fighter squadrons were dispatched to cover the two ships. A special operations squadron flew at low altitude over the sea.
Two special operations squadrons were sent to bomb British radar stations, while long-range Stuka bombers carried out jamming experiments.
After one or two months of air battles, the Luftwaffe had a rough idea of the British army's combat deployment, because every time a German plane took off and arrived at the attack site, the British planes would be waiting there, thus directly strangling the Luftwaffe's air force. Raid.
Therefore, Major Adolf Garland, who was both brave and talented, gave Marshal Kesselring and Marshal Sbier a plan and sent a group of bombers to fly along the British coast, forcing the Royal Air Force fighter force to take off to intercept. .
The bomber force spotted the Royal Air Force coming to intercept from a distance and ran away. If the British Air Force pursued them, their defense would be empty, and the German Air Force could send fighter units to take advantage of it.
If the Royal Air Force does not pursue it, it will send theater fighter jets to intercept it.
If the British interceptor aircraft cannot arrive at the designated interception location on time, the bombers will start bombing. This will fatigue the British Air Force, which is at an absolute disadvantage in terms of fighter numbers. This is equivalent to a bomber formation disrupting the fighter jets at several British airports. Uneasy, in order to achieve the effect of disturbing and tiring the enemy.
