Chapter 584 Operation Sea Lion VI

"Major General, all the balloons have been inflated!"

Hearing his deputy, Lieutenant Commander François Bernard of the French Navy, report to him in French English, Major General Hans Langsdorf sighed softly and looked back at the dozens of people floating in the air. A huge rubber hydrogen balloon wrapped in a layer of aluminum foil.

These strange-looking hydrogen balloons are towed by small torpedo boats, and the current "flagship" of Major General Hans Langsdorff is also a small S-100 class torpedo speedboat - the majestic "Potsdam" The captain of the aircraft carrier, because he lost the aircraft carrier, has now become the captain of a torpedo speedboat detachment under the European Combined Fleet.

Not only was his official position reduced (this position should have been held by a colonel), but he was also assigned an inexplicable task. At the beginning of the Sea Lion Movement, dozens of torpedo boats leading this detachment dragged a strange hydrogen-filled balloon into the Strait of Dover.

"Let's go!" Rear Admiral Langsdorf missed his beloved aircraft carrier and whispered the order to attack.

The torpedo speedboat sailed out of the Port of Calais at a speed of about 15 knots, and then drove slowly on the French side of the Dover Strait, as if it was not here to fight, but to go fishing leisurely.

It's not that Langsdorf didn't want the torpedo boat to drive faster, but it was stipulated that it could only drive 15 knots, no more, no less. Although Langsdorff didn't understand what was going on, the order must be carried out.

"Major General, look over there, toward Dover."

While Langsdorff was leaning on the railing to look at the scenery, his French deputy, Major Bernard, suddenly shouted in English. Langsdorff turned his head and saw that it was almost completely dark now. A little further on the sea was pitch black, and only in the direction of the setting sun in the west could the red light of sunset shine out. Suddenly, Langsdorf saw patches of familiar red light flashing to the north in what might be Dover Beach...

"Is this...muzzle flash?" Langsdorff was stunned. "It seems like a cannon with a diameter of over 300mm is firing. But what do they want to hit?"

As soon as he asked the question, the answer came quickly. On the sea two to three hundred meters away from the torpedo boat on which Langsdorff was riding, it seemed as if a pot was boiling, and suddenly a dozen or twenty people dozens of meters high were stirred up. water column, and then the roar of the train passing by and the thunderous roar of the explosion.

"Major General, they are firing on us!" French Major Bernard shouted in French that Langsdorff could not understand.

The British coastal batteries are firing at us torpedo speedboats with huge guns over 300mm! ? Although Langsdorff didn't understand French, he knew what was going on.

But he didn't understand why these British people used huge guns with a caliber of more than 300mm to bombard a formation of torpedo boats sailing 28 kilometers away? The dozens of torpedo speedboats here are not necessarily as valuable as those shells. Is it worth attacking like this?

…

Of course, the British would not use huge guns with a caliber of more than 300mm to bombard dozens of torpedo boats. That would be no different from using a cannon to kill mosquitoes. But the problem is that those torpedo boats all towed balloons wrapped in aluminum foil. From the British radar screen, the light spots reflected by these aluminum foil balloons seemed to be a ship of several thousand to ten thousand tons. When dozens of such light spots fill a corner of the screen, it seems like a huge fleet is sailing.

Similar methods have been mastered by the Germans in history. In the Atlantic Operation in 1943, aluminum foil balloons appeared that could pretend to be the radar reflection signal of a floating U-boat. In this time and space, because of Hessmann, German radar experts knew a few years ago the "little secret" of using aluminum foil to disrupt radar.

That's why in "Operation Sea Lion" a group of torpedo boats were arranged to drag aluminum foil balloons through the Strait of Dover.

"There's no fire, it seems like it didn't hit the target!"

Dover Fortress Headquarters, Rear Admiral William Tennant, commander of the fortress group, could not help but frown when he heard the staff report. I've been playing for several rounds, but I haven't hit anything - isn't this 284 radar too bad? If this continues, the German fleet will be able to cross the strait.

"When will the Coast Air Force aircraft reach the target?" Major General Tennant asked loudly.

"I don't know, Coast Air Force hasn't gotten back to us yet."

No reply yet... The staff officer's answer made Tennant a little helpless. He was now the commander of the fortress, not the captain of a battleship. He could not send a seaplane into the sky with a single order. He could only contact the Coast Air Force and ask them to send a seaplane or some other aircraft. As for when the Coast Air Force would send it, it was none of his business.

However, the Germans now have night fighters equipped with radars. There are also German radars in Calais on the other side of the English Channel. It is hard to say whether the seaplanes sent by the Coast Air Force can drop flares on the heads of the German fleet.

Therefore, Rear Admiral Tennant could only bite the bullet and order the large-caliber artillery of the fortress group to continue blocking fire according to the instructions of the fire control radar, and did not care about the German high-altitude bombers hovering in the sky dropping wire-controlled glide bombs.

"Really opened fire!" Lieutenant Manfred Murray, who was flying the He-219 aircraft at an altitude of 11,000 meters, could see clearly that dozens of muzzle flashes appeared on the ground.

"Lieutenant Murray, we are about to start dropping bombs, please be alert." Captain Leatherman's order was transmitted to Lieutenant Manfred Murray's earphones through the airborne radio.

The release of Fritz X bombs and Hs293 bombs requires the aircraft to slowly circle on a specific route. At this time, the bombing aircraft is very fragile and can easily be shot down by enemy planes. In addition to catching the opponent off guard when using wire-controlled gliding bombs at the beginning, subsequent attacks should be carried out under the cover of one's own fighter jets as much as possible.

"Don't worry, He-219 will be around!" Lieutenant Manfred Murray assured without hesitation.

Although his He-219 night high-altitude fighter has not yet defeated the British "Mosquito", he already knows that the day version of the He-219 shot down more than a dozen Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft in today's daytime battle!

"Lieutenant, enemy plane found! Direction of 12 o'clock, distance 6,000 meters, altitude 10,000 meters!"

Before the 24 Ju.288s commanded by Captain Leatherman began to drop Fritz X glide bombs, a He-219 reported that it had spotted an enemy aircraft, and it was at an altitude of 10,000 meters. It seemed that it was probably a Mosquito night fighter. .

"It's just in time," Lieutenant Manfred Murray ordered. "The 1st detachment will follow me to attack and show the British guys a bit of strength. The rest of the detachment will follow Ju.288, maintain the escort formation, pay attention to covering each other, and be careful. behind."

After giving the order, Lieutenant Manfred Murray lined up his He-21219 in the air and swooped in the direction where the enemy plane was found.

It was already nighttime, and although there was some moonlight, the target further away could not be seen clearly. Air combat at night relies either on searchlights or radar. Soon Corporal Baker, the radar observer sitting behind Lieutenant Murray, spotted a target on the radar screen.

"Distance 4000, 1 o'clock direction."

"Okay." Lieutenant Manfred Murray adjusted the direction slightly and pointed the nose of the plane at the target.

"Distance 3000, 12 o'clock direction."

"Fire now!"

"Tu tu tu tu..."

Lieutenant Murray gave the order to fire the cannon and the two 30mm cannons at the same time. The cannonballs trailing orange-red light were flying all over the sky like raindrops, forming a fire net in the sky and covering a mosquito aircraft. Then the Mosquito was turned into a ball of fire.

"Hit!" Lieutenant Manfred Murray cheered. This was not his first victory, but it was the first time he shot down an enemy plane so easily.

He had previously flown a Bf-110. Although it was also a good night combat aircraft, its firepower, speed and flying height could not be compared with the He-219.

"Boom!"

Just as the He-219 was engaged in a fierce battle with the incoming Mosquito aircraft, a Fritz .

Then the second, third, fourth... bombs exploded one after another, shaking the earth and causing balls of fire to rise high. This is an armor-piercing bomb weighing 1.5 tons. Even the Japanese "number one ship in the world" Yamato cannot bear it, let alone the armored forts built by the British on land.

These Fritz explode. Even if the turret cannot be destroyed, some surrounding facilities can be blown up. After a dozen bombs were dropped, fires were already ignited near several armored turrets that were not destroyed. And these flames pointed out the direction for an Fw-189 artillery fire aircraft that secretly circled the Dover Fortress at an altitude of 6,000 meters.

At 8:35 pm on May 1, two cannons, the "Dora" and the "Gustave" placed near the coast of Calais, were fired successively.

On the more distant sea, the huge German landing fleet was approaching the entrance of the strait at a speed of 15 knots, escorted by the 5th Fleet of the European Combined Fleet.

At the same time, 120 Z.1007 medium bombers loaded with aluminum chaff strips were taking off one after another from an airport near Brest.