() It must be said that half of this batch of veteran students are easy to teach. First of all, the veteran students have a more stable mental state. Even if they are beaten to a pulp, there is no need to worry that they will not recover. And with them taking care of them, the rookies

It will be much easier to adjust their mentality. And once the mentality is adjusted, the progress in learning will be quite obvious.

The students' performance in confrontation training is getting better and better. For example, in the safari course training, the rookies are shot down much less often, and they can often hunt the "reverse cross" ones.

"Old Fox". Two weeks later, the "Hunters", who had an overwhelming numerical advantage, finally evened the exchange ratio.

In terms of ground attack, the students' progress is also very obvious. They now have a clear understanding of the firing characteristics of various enemy anti-aircraft artillery. They can even judge the characteristics of the anti-aircraft artillery immediately with just a glance.

Type, and quickly make reasonable dodge actions that make it difficult for the anti-aircraft gun to aim, but will not consume too much energy and interfere with your own attack on the target.

More than a month later, the new students finally ushered in their graduation exam, and a confrontation drill with a complex tactical background was about to begin.

The tactical background for this exercise is set as follows:

After landing on the French coast, the US military began to advance towards the borders of France, Belgium and the Netherlands. In order to encircle the enemy, the US military sent airborne troops to occupy a vital railway bridge and a small town to the west of the bridge. But at this time, unexpectedly, the US military

Something unexpected happened, here

There is actually a full armored division of the German Waffen SS stationed nearby. During the previous reconnaissance, the Americans did not find them. Now the airborne troops of about two regiments parachuted here will face several times their own.

The enemy attacked, which also included an armored division!

The besieged paratroopers lacked heavy weapons. Although several 57mm caliber M1 anti-tank guns were urgently air-dropped, the number of anti-tank guns or suppressive artillery was still seriously insufficient. The German army had hundreds of 75mm or above caliber guns.

pressure

Manufactured artillery and more than 200 tanks and self-propelled artillery. Among them are the powerful Tiger tanks, Panther tanks and Cheetah self-propelled anti-tank guns. Even if the 57 mm anti-tank guns in the hands of American paratroopers use armor-piercing sabots, they are

It's difficult to destroy them from the front.

No other U.S. military force can come to rescue the siege in a short period of time. Now only the Army Air Force can save the crisis. The mission of the Army Air Force is to fully support the besieged paratroopers and provide them with fire support until other relief forces arrive.

"The biggest threat to our ground forces is first of all the enemy's suppressed artillery. The enemy has hundreds of various artillery pieces, including some big 6-inch guns. Our ground forces have a very deep defense.

Limited, all within the strike range of these artillery, and due to the rush of time

, our ground troops also lack strong enough fortifications. If they are allowed to fire, even if the Germans come with light infantry, they may be able to push two paratrooper regiments in one morning. Therefore, these artillery groups are our

"Key goals." During the preparation meeting, Scott was making task arrangements for the students.

"In addition to artillery groups, enemy tanks, especially heavy tanks, are also targets that we must focus on. Our ground forces lack effective anti-tank weapons. To deal with tanks, especially heavy tanks, in addition to laying landmines and risking their lives,

There are almost no effective methods for bazooka except from the side. So anti-tank basically depends entirely on us. In addition, the enemy may also be supported by a small number of fighter jets... Now let's allocate the tasks of various departments..."

…

"Cagliari, look at the road at 3 o'clock!" Michelle, the navigator of the B-25, shouted towards the captain Cagliari.

Cagliari looked to the lower right, where there was a quiet grove, seemingly empty of anything. But the path outside the woods was almost completely plowed - this was left by the tracks of the armored forces.

traces of.

Cagliari took his fleet around the woods and found no traces left by the armored forces when they left the woods. This means that this is probably a gathering point for enemy armored forces.

"Bring me the map!" said Cagliari.

"Okay," Michelle flipped out the map.

"Starting from here, it is 6 kilometers away from our defensive position, and there is a section in the middle where we have to pass through an area with large undulations." Michelle raised her head, "It is not impossible to start from here, but it will make it difficult.

The armored forces have been exposed to air attacks for a long time. So I think this forest is probably a false target..."

…

Sergeant Lewis is fixing an inflatable model of an 88mm gun on the gun position. Next to this fake 88mm gun, there is a large row of the same goods. In fact, there are many fake targets like this, so that the trainees

Someone on our side was shouting. They said, could it be that the Germans were so fully prepared in advance and even prepared so many false targets?

If you see a target, attack it regardless of whether it is real or fake. Even if the students are exhausted, they will not be able to compare with those who blow up balloons. As the saying goes, those who can build are not as good as those who can blow up, and those who can blow up are not as good as those who can blow. The ability to identify false targets

, will determine success or failure to a large extent.

However, as long as you fly low and observe carefully, the inflatable model is still easy to identify. For example, right now, in a reconnaissance plane flying over the position, pilot Cook made the following mark on the map: "

False target!”

Of course, it is necessary to attack some dangerous areas, regardless of whether there are signs that enemy forces are present there. After research, we have determined the most dangerous areas. If the enemy forces start from here, they can attack them in a short time.

Defensive positions pose the greatest threat, so some B-25 bombers are sent out to sweep these areas even at night.

Will the enemy launch an attack at night? This is a big question. Although the students have also had some training on night attacks, the efficiency of night attacks is definitely much lower than during the day. So at the beginning, the students were not sure about this

I am very worried about the time period issue.

But in fact, lighting at night will also cause a lot of trouble for the attacker. Under the condition that there are always clusters of attack aircraft in the sky, when the suppression artillery group fires at night, the muzzle flash will be particularly obvious and almost impossible to avoid.

The eyes of attack aircraft. And at night, it is difficult for anti-aircraft artillery to cover these artillery pieces. Therefore, if the enemy chooses to attack at night, they must be prepared to quickly lose most of their suppressive artillery pieces under the attack of attack aircraft. And

On the other hand, the attacking tank's vision will be greatly affected and it will be easier to fall into the trap of enemy infantry.

Therefore, a pure night attack is not an option. Generally speaking, the best time to attack is at dawn. During this time, when the attacking troops gather at the assembly area and advance towards the attack target, they can get the cover of night

.And when they launched their attack, it would be daylight, which would facilitate their attack. Therefore, dawn is the most dangerous time.

Now, night has fallen, and the students and the US troops simulating the German army are making final preparations.

Under the dim starlight, Sergeant Lewis directed his squad to collect the inflatable models in the dark, and then pushed the real 88mm cannons into the gun positions...

Near the paratrooper defense line, the paratroopers heard the roar of tank tracks coming from all directions, and at an altitude of only 400 meters above the ground, the engine of a reconnaissance aircraft was running at idle speed. The aircraft quietly

Gliding on the ground, the pilot opened the cockpit and listened carefully to what was going on below.

"Drop flares!" Driver Colt gave the order at the point where the tank tracks made the loudest noise, and he also increased the horsepower.

A flare was thrown out. After a few seconds, it burned in the air, and the pale light illuminated a large area. But there was nothing there, only the roar of the tank tracks continued to come.

Come.

"Damn, these guys are so cunning! This must be the sound they played through the speakers!" Colt understood immediately.

"The enemy sets up such loudspeakers everywhere to play the sound of moving tanks to cover the real moving tanks. The enemy's tanks may be entering the starting position."

…

A group of M5 tanks with their headlights turned off were slowly advancing in the dark on the road leading to the assembly area. The tanks were camouflaged with tree branches so that when necessary, when they stopped on the roadside, they would be seen from the air.

Just like the trees on the roadside. At this time, the sound of airplane engines was heard in the air. The tanks immediately stopped and turned off the motors. After a while, the sound of the airplane disappeared. The tanks began to move forward on the road again.

…

A total of 12 B-25 bombers took off from the airport loaded with bombs. Some of them were tasked with waiting near suspicious locations. The reconnaissance planes would drop flares at suspicious locations every once in a while. Once the target was found, they would

towards these goals

Drop bombs. Other bombers will drop time bombs on several main roads to disrupt the "enemy forces" that may be passing through. In addition, there is a group of P-38s also cruising in the air loaded with ammunition. Their main

The targets are enemy artillery groups that may appear at any time.

"We can let the enemy's artillery fire the first shell, but we must not give them the opportunity to fire the second shell!" Arthur, who was leading the team, said confidently before boarding the plane.
Chapter completed!