() After lunch and a short rest, Mike started to get busy. First, he had to install the generator for the high-power radio on the M7 Priest self-propelled artillery, and then the high-power radio itself. American armored vehicles

Most of the Internet is equipped with radio stations. However, the power of these radio stations is limited and the frequency band used is shorter. The range they can cover is very small. Such radio stations are used to coordinate the actions of multiple tanks during tank battles so that they can cooperate with each other.

It is sufficient, but the contact distance is insufficient when used to communicate with aviation units, especially heavy bomber units that fly at higher altitudes and are further away from ground forces. In order to ensure the quality of contact, it can move with the troops.

It is extremely important to have a high-power radio station that can maintain smooth flow while moving. The original generator on the m7 Priest self-propelled artillery cannot support such a high-power radio station at all, so after removing the cannon and making room for it, the

One thing was to replace it with a larger generator. Then the radio, and finally the whip antenna, which was significantly larger.

This large number of modifications were not completed until about eight o'clock in the evening. The driver started the engine, and the engine of the modified M7 radio communication vehicle started running.

"The generator is running normally, the battery pack is in normal condition, start the radio!" Mike started the radio in the cockpit of the M7 radio communication vehicle. As one light after another lit up in sequence, the radio started normally.

"Well, the radio is activated. Let's see if we can contact the command center in the UK first." Mike put on the earphones and adjusted the frequency to the predetermined frequency: "This is Morning Star, call Polaris, call Polaris

.”

At the same time, Ron, LeMay and General Doolittle were sitting in the command center of the Eighth Air Force. Since about four o'clock in the afternoon, radio contact vehicles from front-line ground forces have been calling the command center.

After receiving their call, the command center will arrange a channel for them to directly contact the nearby bomber group and test the direct communication between the two parties.

"This is Polaris, this is Polaris. Morning Star, we have received your call. Please wait a moment and we will arrange a channel for you to directly contact the bomber group." An operator responded immediately.

"General, another node has been contacted." Ron smiled at General Doolittle.

"Well, the current situation is not bad. However, in actual combat, due to the problem of code translation, the efficiency may not be as high as the current situation." General Doolittle.

At this time, the staff had already sent a frequency to the microphone.

"Flowers, lizards, spiders, electric welding..." Mike listened and wrote down these words in his notebook. Next to him, his partner Sura was opening a thick dictionary and looking for the corresponding code words.

Sulla's movements were very skillful. Just two or three seconds after Mike wrote the last word "mercury", Sulla handed Mike a note. What was written on the note was the person to be contacted and

frequency.

Mike adjusted the channel to the frequency given by the command center and started calling: "This is the morning star, call Orion. Call Orion..."

A few seconds later, Mike received a reply. This reply came from the target he wanted to contact directly, a group of B-24 Liberator bombers.

"This is Orion, this is Orion, call the morning star, call the morning star."

"Orion, 35, 72, Hippopotamus, 46, 51, 58, Jew Pig..."

On a B-24 Liberator bomber, a translator quickly translated this unintelligible thing.

"Captain, Venus asks for our position and heading."

"Inform them and ask for their location." In fact, these night-flying bombers already knew that ground troops would contact them at any time when they returned, and were prepared for this. So they made a quick decision

respond.

"Here!" Sulla spread the map aside and found the location of the bomber group through the light of electricity. "They are moving northwest at a speed of 400 kilometers per hour. Our position is..."

Mike quickly informed the bomber group of his position. He knew that according to the procedure, the bomber group would turn towards him. When they heard the sound of the bombers, they would send a series of signal bombs into the sky in groups of three.

, to identify friends and foes. Then they also use artillery flares to indicate targets for the bomber group. Of course, tonight's target is a simulated target.

More than ten minutes later, the dull sound of bomber engines came from the night sky. At the same time, on the pre-arranged public channel, the call of "Orion" came: "Turkeys dance around Lincoln, turkeys dance around Lincoln."

"At the same time, all the bombers began to flash their navigation lights.

Without the need for translation, Mike knew that this sentence meant "Approaching the target area, all units that see the navigation lights immediately identify themselves." So he said to Captain Clark, who was in the same car with the regiment and was responsible for cooperating with him: "Get ready.

Identify flares and prepare flares."

"Send a flare!" Clark immediately issued the command. Then three red, blue, and yellow flares were fired into the sky. A few seconds later, three more flares in the opposite order were fired.

At this time, another call from "Orion" came from the agreed channel: "Arctic 4102 Rose."

"We have determined your location, please indicate the target." Sulla quickly completed the translation.

"Fire flares at the intended target!" Clark gave an instruction to a genuine M7 Priest self-propelled artillery parked nearby. The gun immediately turned to the target, and then its 105mm barrel was shaken up, and then, as

There was a loud noise, and a flare was fired, followed by another.

The flare burned over the target area, looking exceptionally bright in the night sky.

"I saw the target, thank you." The "Orion" formation didn't even use a secret word. Anyway, if this was a real battle, the bomber group would have already dropped the bombs, so there was no need to keep it secret.

On this night, similar scenes continued to be staged between various ground forces and bomber formations in the air. It was not until 10:30 in the evening that the relevant drills came to an end.

"The exercise was successful, very good." General Doolittle stood up and took the lead in applauding. During this night, more than 20 ground troops and the same number of night-flying bombers used radio to complete the complex maneuver.

Night cooperation. And the effect is quite good, which is enough to show the future of this idea.

"If a war breaks out, there will be many surprises on the battlefield, and tonight's drill may not have the same effect. In addition, each combat regiment is now equipped with only one radio contact vehicle, which is not enough. If this vehicle goes out on the battlefield,

If there is any problem, it will be troublesome. Before the operation begins, at least two to three such liaison vehicles must be prepared for each regiment." Ron.

"We are stepping up preparations for these. Before the start of the plan, we can definitely prepare more than three liaison vehicles for each regiment." A lieutenant colonel from the logistics department replied.

"But I'm still a little worried," Li Mei, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said, "tonight's drill was so successful, it's not necessarily a good thing. From my experience, the worse the performance in the drill, the worse it will be in actual combat."

, the effect is often better; on the contrary, if the performance is too perfect in the drill, problems of one kind or another will always occur in actual combat."

…

For several days, new liaison officers continued to report to the regiment, and new tracked vehicles continued to be converted into liaison vehicles. Now, the regiment already has three liaison vehicles, two of which are M7

It was modified from the Priest self-propelled artillery. There was also another one, which was modified from an M4 Sherman tank with a damaged gun. Because there was no condition to change it to the open structure of the M7 Priest self-propelled artillery, that vehicle was completely crowded.

For several days in a row, whether it was day or night, joint air-ground combat exercises were carried out continuously. The ground forces and bomber units became more and more familiar with this cooperation. In such training, the time for the launch of Operation Cobra gradually

The earth is near.

…

As usual, the American offensive started with a bombing by heavy bombers. Just after 9:30 a.m. on July 25, "Operation Cobra" officially began. The PA-38 attack aircraft of the 21st Attack Aircraft Wing carried fuel-air bombs.

, launched the first round of air attacks on German positions, especially artillery positions. Subsequently, the Eighth Air Force dispatched 1,800 heavy bombers to drop more than 3,000 tons of bombs on the German positions. Immediately afterwards, 380 B-26 "Predators"

"The medium bombers dropped another 1,400 bombs on areas where the German troops might be hiding. In just one hour, the German positions were blown beyond recognition. More than 1,000 people were killed in the air raid, and more than 1,000 others were either injured or injured.

He was so shaken that he was dizzy and unable to continue fighting.

In the historical "Operation Cobra", in a full week of combat, the total casualties of the Allied forces were only 1,800, while the U.S. Army Air Forces caused more than 2,000 casualties to the Germans in just one hour!

Aviation once again demonstrated its decisive power in changing war.

The first round of air strikes was followed by the second and third rounds of air strikes and the artillery bombardment of the Army ground forces. The Army Air Force dispatched more than 3,000 bombers in one breath, covering a 6,000-yard (5,500-meter) wide area of ​​the Saint-Lo-Perrier road.

) and an area 2,200 yards (2,000 meters) deep. Saturation bombing was carried out. Such intensity of bombing even made people doubt whether there were any living creatures on the other side.

In later generations of the Internet, when some military fans were discussing World War II, someone raised a question: If the US military fought the Battle of Kursk instead of the German army, how would the US military fight? The answer is quite simple. First send 3,000 B-17s.

and B-24 bombing. If the enemy is still resisting, send another 3,000 B-17s and B-24s to bomb him. If the enemy still doesn't collapse, then... What the Germans are facing now is this kind of cheating.

A rogue style of play.

On this day, the commander of the U.S. Army Ground Forces, Lieutenant General Leslie James McNair, came to the forward position to inspect...
Chapter completed!