1470 Where to Go 2
"Your Highness, Earl Spey has begun to act. If you want to stop them, you should be faster." Kariput said anxiously.
"Call me into Lieutenant General Harrel." The prince said without hesitation.
"It's already connected." The guard handed the phone in his hand.
"How many sea attack aircraft can be dispatched tomorrow?" asked the prince.
"Some elite bomber teams were originally responsible for the land attack mission tomorrow. If they change their gear, I can concentrate 8 squadrons of bombers, including 3 squadrons of torpedoes and 5 squadrons of bombers." Lieutenant General Harrell thought for a while and said.
"Very good, then tomorrow's bomber plan will be temporarily cancelled. Use the current time to re-install weapons, then plan the attack route, obey the orders of Earl Spee, prepare for the response at the west exit of the Dardanelles, and then draw three squadrons from the fighter squadron on duty to ensure the air supremacy of this sea area. Earl Spee has decided to continue the attack, so you can do the response now." Ruprecht said.
"This..." To be honest, Lieutenant General Harrel was very dissatisfied with this result. He went from a substitute to a chore, and no one was happy.
"If there are difficulties, just say it, just do it without difficulties. We can lose 100 bombers because we can quickly replenish these losses, but until the end of the war, we will not add a battleship to the Allied Mediterranean Fleet. Do you understand?" said the prince.
"No problem, the mission will be completed. However, considering that radio communications may be interfered with, I hope the Air Force can have more autonomy. We will send reconnaissance aircraft to detect the situation of the war and take the initiative to act when appropriate." Lieutenant General Harrell said.
"I partially agree with this suggestion, but I have two requirements. First, you must ensure that when Earl Spey asks the Air Force to suppress the British and French fleets, you can take out at least 5 bomber squadrons! Second, air supremacy in the blue area at the western entrance of the Dardanelles must be guaranteed. (The so-called blue area is the minefield and passageway set up by the Navy of the Allied Powers at the exit of the Strait.) Third, when you have major actions, you must find ways to inform Earl Spey." The prince said.
In fact, Lieutenant General Harrell wanted to take this opportunity to see if he could hang a layer of meat off the British and French fleets. This idea is understandable. After all, if the Allies want to block the Spee fleet's road home, they will definitely enter the combat radius of the Bavarian Air Force. It is normal for Lieutenant General Harrell to take the opportunity to get a handful.
But there is a prerequisite, that is, Harrel's actions cannot affect the core mission - to receive the return of the Spe fleet! If this is affected, it is to lose the watermelon and pick up sesame seeds. The biggest feature of the Air Force is that a wave of attacks launched in a short period of time is quite threatening, but after the attack, it will fall into a long period of weakness due to the return of the attack aircraft, ammunition and personnel supply. In other words, this is a one-time transaction. If the prince asks Lieutenant General Harrel to ensure that at least 5 squadrons of bombers are on standby, it is to intercept the Spe fleet when the British and French fleets intercept the Spe fleet, hundreds of bombers can effectively prevent the opponent!
"Please ensure that the task is completed." Lieutenant General Harrel said without hesitation.
"Okay, then prepare immediately." The prince hung up the phone after he finished speaking. "Send a telegram to Earl Spee, asking them to activate the backup communication frequency band when necessary and contact the Air Force directly. Then send a message to the submarine force, so that all submarines that can attack can immediately rush to the blue area of the Dardanelles to guard against the appearance of the British and French fleets."
"Your Highness, since the French were unexpectedly prepared, why do we agree to let the Spee fleet continue to carry out the battle plan?" asked Caripot.
"Because, even if the French were prepared for accidents, our situation this time is still much better than in the future. It is expected that in the future, Britain and France will at least deploy a submarine cordon at the entrance and exit of the Dardanelles. If we want to go out, it will not be so easy. Of course, the most important thing is that I hope that the British and French offensives can delay a little backwards and give us more time to prepare, and Earl Spee can achieve this goal."
"Order that all bombers with torpedo attack experience will be replaced immediately, and all bombs will be replaced with semi-armor-piercing bombs in the sea-to-sea mode. Each squadron re-arranges the mission and find two more bombers on duty from the reserve team. According to our No. 3 backup plan, perform the sea-to-sea attack mission." Lieutenant General Harrell put down the phone and began to prepare for tomorrow morning's action. From the time point of view, there are at least 6 hours to prepare. The torpedo and bomb replacement will be completed soon. As for the bomber combat plan? Lieutenant General Harrell also has a plan, and the No. 3 backup plan is the combat plan of the air force to attack the offshore Allied warships.
"The actions of our bomber units have changed, so what about the fighter units?" asked an officer.
"All fighter squadrons assigned to the bomber unit remain unchanged. I found three squadrons from the combat readiness air force. I asked them to be on standby at any time and prepare to provide escort to the Spee fleet!"
So, at the major airports at the forefront of the Bavarian Air Force, the ground crews who had already finished their work, basically loaded bombs and fuel for all aircraft and were ready to take off on the runway had to carry the aircraft back to the apron again, and then unloaded the loaded bombs from the fuselage and replaced them with corresponding torpedoes and anti-ship semi-armor-piercing bombs. The latter was fine, just replace them directly, but the torpedoes pulled out of the ammunition depot was not that easy.
The corresponding technicians need to test the torpedo and readjust the torpedo's depth according to the water depth of the target sea area and the battleship facing it. Check the propeller and servo of the torpedo. After about 30 to 40 minutes of adjustment and inspection, they can only be installed on the bomber.
The airport was busy, and all the ground crews began to work overtime to replace shells, and after receiving the task, the commanders of each brigade also sent people to drive their squadron leader out of the bed one by one. Then, a group of people rubbed their eyes and yawned to the war room to arrange new tasks. Compared with these officers, the pilots could sleep about an hour longer.
Such an emergency naturally made the Air Force officers and soldiers complain, but compared with Earl Spee, their actions were just a little troublesome, and Earl Spee had to take huge risks and launch an attack on the next target when the French fleet might be prepared!
Chapter completed!