London in the early 20th century was a city where there was almost no green view from the sky. The winding river Thames was surrounded by countless white, gray and brown buildings, spider-web-like roads and railways, and a large number of carriages and cars formed slowly flowing traffic. Outside the central city, factory chimneys were lined with chimneys and machines roaring. The extremely prosperous industry brought the city the dream status of the world's metropolis, and also made it linger in the water mist and smoke like a dream...

Under the light gray cloud curtain, two biplanes with thin fuselages and simple structures fly across the London Bridge from east to west. It is the bridge in the lowest reaches of the Thames River in London. It is a magnificent shape and majestic momentum. It is called "the main gate of London" by the British. On both sides of the London Bridge are already bustling city areas, and less than 5 kilometers from here to west is the residence of members of the British royal family and the Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

The two light gray-painted aircraft have a float under the root of the wings and the tail of the fuselage. Since the British team dispatched water and land-based aircraft many times the day before, when the two Juncker 3-C water reconnaissance aircraft flew over the central city of London at a height of 1,000 meters, they did not immediately cause panic among the British people. In fact, many people regard them as the Royal Navy Air Service's Short seaplanes, and even stopped to look up at their heroic posture in the sky.

Without any interruption, the two German planes began to throw leaflets, and after they dropped thousands of paper pieces in the city center and the West End, the Royal Flying Team stationed at the London military airport took off two Thorpevis aircraft.

Picking up the flyers falling from the air, the citizens of London seemed to have become sculptures, with stiff expressions staying in place. The day before yesterday, the Harric fleet suffered a devastating blow in the waters of the northern Netherlands. The British official war report rendered the naval battle as a "heroic counterattack", claiming that it had severely damaged two German battleships at the cost of several destroyers. The people were relieved because of hope, and at the same time, they were unable to fight for the Harric fleet. The German fleet was about to

The rumors of entering the mouth of the Thames were troubled by the whole of London, and a strange atmosphere of pretending to be calm on the surface and panic in the heart. Now German planes have appeared over London, dropping these pieces of paper with psychological effects that are no less than bombs, which coincides with the news of the strong attack of the German fleet. Once this worry becomes a reality, no matter whether the task of the German fleet is blockade or shelling, it will be a great irony and humiliation to the ocean and the empire that is rampant around the world.

With the arrival of two British planes, crisp gunshots came from the sky soon. The dumb Londoners finally reacted. They raised their heads one by one, looked at the gray sky, and watched the aircraft as small and simple as toys chasing each other in the air. Only then did they realize that the war was close to them.

Five years ago, when the Frenchman Blerio became the first person to fly over the English Channel, the argument of "beware of air invasion" appeared in British newspapers. Some observers suggested to the British government that while maintaining the naval advantage, it is necessary to establish an aviation force that is no less than any country to resist future attacks that may be launched from the air. However, the huge naval competition left the British government with no time to care about anything else. When the war broke out, the aircraft equipment equipped by the British team was the least of the three countries of Britain, France and Germany, and the technical level was the weakest.

The London military and civilians watching the battle on the ground did not know that what they saw was the first formal air battle in human history, and the first party to fire was the British pilots on two planes of the Royal British Flying Team with revolvers and cavalry short guns to shoot at enemy planes. Although the actual effect of such weapons is not much stronger than that of a dart or a sabre, this place is the capital of the UK after all. As long as the bullet hits a German plane and causes it to malfunction, even if the German pilots can land safely, they may not have the life to survive until the British police and soldiers arrive.

The gunfire sounds from British planes were certainly harsh, but the German pilots were not panicked. Following the instructions obtained before the attack, when the enemy planes took the lead in launching the attack, the backseat observers of the two German reconnaissance planes moved out the modified Maderson light machine guns of self-defense weapons, and used inexperienced actions to install them on the movable bracket, loaded the magazine, aimed, and fired.

With the crisp gunshots of dada, the human air combat history immediately took another step forward.

The Maderson Light Machine Gun, also known as the Denmark 1902 light machine gun, is the first practical light machine gun to be produced on a large scale. It has high shooting accuracy, reliable performance, and weighs only one-quarter of the water-cooled heavy machine gun, and two-fifths of the air-cooled heavy machine gun, and the actual firing rate can reach 250 rounds per minute. In the early 20th century, the biggest disadvantage of this automatic weapon was that the production cost was too high, which was related to its small tolerance requirements, complex structure, and excellent manufacturing. Before the outbreak of World War I, many European countries ordered the Maderson machine guns of their own standard caliber from Denmark. Although the German team determined to use the German-made Makerchen, namely the mg-08 water-cooled heavy machine gun as a standard weapon, they still imported 3,000 light machine guns with a 7.92 mm caliber light machine gun from Denmark, and equipped them with arc magazines with a 30 rounds of ammunition capacity to equip the guard infantry, cavalry, mountain troops and naval forces.

The Madson machine gun ordered by the German team has an empty gun weighing 9.6 kilograms and an effective range of 800 meters. In order to carry it onto the plane, the gun engineer shortened its barrel and replaced the relatively bulky stock with a two-hand grip, thus reducing the weight to 9 kilograms. The actual rate of fire is adjusted to 200 rounds per minute and the effective range is 500 meters. Although the combat indicator is lower than the standard model of the Army, it is more than enough to deal with air combat in the prototype stage.

Over London, the simplified and modified Madson air-use machine gun was startled by the British. A series of bullets quickly shot a Thorpevis aircraft, with the bullet holes being only a few centimeters away from the engine. The injured British pilot hurriedly withdrew from the battle. He barely landed in an open area in the East End of London. Seeing that his companions suffered a loss, the other British aircraft did not dare to approach too much, but waited for subsequent reinforcements.

In terms of absolute flight speed, Juncker 3-c did not have the advantage. These two German reconnaissance aircraft that were ejected from the light cruisers "Rostock" and "Cologne" both turned sideways and threw away their opponents with light horizontal maneuvers. After a distance, they began to lower the height and found a touch of green on the west bank of the Thames in this deep-toned city. They continued to lower the height in a low altitude, and finally passed the gray roof of Buckingham Palace at a low altitude. In the process, the observer of the backseat took out the flyer and threw it out again. The paper rolled down, and a considerable part of it fell in the British Royal Palace.

King George V, who rushed back to London overnight, was standing in front of the office window quietly watching the alternative snow scene outside. Because it was flying very low, the roar of the German plane's engine was particularly noisy, but George V had no choice but tolerate it.

After ten minutes, the German plane finally flew away. The tired King of England pushed open the glass door of the balcony, bent down, and picked up a flyer from the ground. The content of the flyer was the same as that appeared on the banks of the Tyne and Harric, and the format was simple and even a bit rigid. The English words were spelled accurately and the grammar was impeccable. These were very consistent with the character characteristics of the Germans. However, the whole flyer felt that it was not arrogant and aggressive, but very clever to catch it.

The psychological weakness of ordinary British people is to make a big fuss about why Britain is involved in this war. Seeing that Germany is in a dominant position in the European continent, it is not wrong for Britain to join forces with France and Russia to suppress Germany. The key is its direct participation in the war. If the British navy can maintain a blockade and suppress Germany, it is natural to participate in the war. Now the German navy reverses the situation in one fell swoop, which in turn forces Britain to the deep dilemma of the local crisis. Participating in the war naturally becomes a big issue in recovering responsibility!

Before two German reconnaissance planes flew out of London on their own to end the embarrassing farce, Prime Minister Asquis, Secretary of the Army Lord Kitchener, Secretary of the Navy Churchill and Chief of the Imperial General Staff Sir Charles Douglas came to Buckingham Palace together.

George V immediately summoned these four figures who played a pivotal role in the British wartime system.

"Can we resist the attack of the German Navy?" George V asked in a deep tone.

The Straits Fleet is in exchange for fire with the German fleet, and Churchill just got the news. He is not aware of the progress of the battle and is not easy to speak nonsense. As a result, he is so eloquent that he is speechless.

George V was unclear. He watched the palace servants pick up German leaflets on the lawn in front of the window, and sighed with sadness: "About two weeks ago, in this office, we were still discussing whether to adopt a near-shore blockade against Germany, but now we have to face the possibility of the German fleet coming to block the Thames estuary. How ironic is this!"

"The Germans have captured Liège," said Sir Douglas, "In Belgium, the Germans are like a colony of man-eaters in the jungle of South America, and only die wherever they go. According to French pilot reports, millions of German teams went straight through fields, roads, villages and towns, not blocked by rivers or other obstacles, and advanced towards Namur along the Maas River Basin. In Arts and Lorraine, French teams shouting revenge slogans fell in front of the German artillery fire and machine guns... Before Russia assembled its troops to launch an attack, the situation was very unfavorable to our side."

Asquith smiled bitterly: "Originally, only the French put their hopes on the Russians. Now it seems that only a large number of Russian teams have the ability to defeat the Germans. As long as they conquer East Prussia from the east and advance to Berlin, no matter how brave the German navy is, it will be useless."

Russian Tsar Nicholas II was George V's aunt cousin. The two had a good personal relationship, but this did not change George V's view of the Russian team's corruption, backwardness, rigidity, dispersion and other disadvantages were fully demonstrated in the Russo-Japanese War. Moreover, in the ten years after the Russo-Japanese War, there was no sign that this army had been transformed.

"If the French team cannot withstand the German attack, then we..."

At this point, Army Secretary Kitchener suddenly interrupted: "In my opinion, the recent performance of the French team is not satisfactory, mainly because they have not fought for more than 40 years. The officers and soldiers are eager to revenge, but they are in awe of the strength of the German team. Judging from the personnel adjustments of the French team, they are working hard to adapt to the rhythm and pattern of the war. The turning point of the battle will appear soon... Maybe it is the end of summer, when autumn comes, maybe it is in Paris, maybe it is in the Marne River... Even if we cannot send more expeditionary forces to France, at least wait patiently for a while."
Chapter completed!