Chapter 176: Flying

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Long before the German ground forces had entered Polish territory, German Air Force planes were already hundreds of kilometers deep inside Poland. A dozen fighter formations were responsible for fighting for air superiority over the entire border, while dozens of bomber formations flew toward their respective targets according to pre-assigned missions.

Adolf Galland flew his beloved, newest Fw-190D fighter above the clouds. He and his wingman were responsible for clearing all Polish planes that took off to engage them in this airspace. Unfortunately, he had not yet encountered the targets he was looking for.

Directly below him was the only Polish military airfield in this region. It was currently being attacked in turns by ten Stuka dive bombers. The entire airfield was shrouded in a sea of fire, and the thick smoke had even affected visibility, but the frenzied attack pilots were still diving and strafing any target they could see. They wanted to expend all their ammunition to achieve an even greater combat record.

A row of Polish fighter planes on the ground had been completely destroyed. A pile of wreckage lay paralyzed on the runway like mutilated pigeons. The already few anti-aircraft guns around the airfield had been completely suppressed by the 20mm cannons of the Stukas. A pile of bodies around the two pitiful anti-aircraft guns was proof of everything.

“Lead, Lead! Below the cloud layer! See them? Two high-wing monoplanes! Clearly not ours!” The voice of Galland’s wingman came through the radio, accompanied by the sound of static.

“Wingman! I’m going down to take care of them! You continue to maintain watch!” Galland pushed his control stick, and his plane immediately plunged downwards.

There were two models of the engine supplied for the air force version of the Fw-190D. One was a specially designed interceptor model, equipped with an improved liquid-cooled engine. This plane could display unparalleled powerful performance at high altitudes. The other was an air-cooled engine model, similar to the planes used by the navy. It was a mass-produced model for medium-to-low altitude dogfighting and performed better at low altitudes, but its engine performance at high altitudes was average.

As a squadron leader, Galland’s fighter was a specially modified liquid-cooled model. It was powerful at high altitudes, and although a bit cumbersome at low altitudes, it still possessed a very powerful speed advantage.

“Wingman! Watch your surroundings! I am in attack position!” Galland aimed at a Polish fighter that was swerving left and right in an attempt to escape. He very calmly dived onto the enemy plane’s tail and then squeezed the trigger.

The fuselage of the Fw-190D trembled slightly as the cannons in its nose spat fire. Tracer rounds, mixed with regular ammunition, poured into the body of the Polish plane. It took only two seconds to tear the plane into pieces. Galland’s plane banked sideways, passed by the smoking, spiraling wreckage, and directly latched onto the tail of the other Polish fighter.

That plane circled around, trying to shake off Galland’s plane, but it found to its despair that even the German fighter, which had to make a wide turn to come about due to its high speed, was still on its tail.

Giving this level of opponent no chance, Galland’s plane opened fire again. The bullets went straight through the Polish plane’s fuselage, through the cockpit, turning the pilot’s internal organs into a sieve before drilling into the engine in front. The entire plane plummeted, spewing thick smoke, and exploded into a brilliant firework before it even hit the ground.

“Captain! You can add two more kill markings to your plane when you get back,” the wingman chuckled in the radio. “My God, nineteen fighter planes! You are a hero of the German Air Force!”

“Just protect my tail! Next time the commander gives out medals, I’ll have you go and collect it for me!” Galland laughed loudly. “I’m climbing. You keep an eye on our surroundings and see if any more enemy planes appear.”

“No enemy planes in sight! If the Polish air force is all at this level, then next time we might as well say rabbits have appeared!” the wingman said triumphantly. “To be honest, it’s more exciting to watch you hunt.”

In this one hour, the Polish Air Force had shown its courage. Although it had been confirmed that the gap in aircraft was too great, 92 fighter planes still took off to carry out interception missions. Only three of these planes returned, and another seven pilots survived by bailing out. And of the 150 German fighters deployed that day, 67 of them scored kills. Another four Polish planes were shot down by Stukas and Do-217 bombers…

However, the German Air Force, lacking experience in large-scale campaigns, also made various mistakes within these few hours. Nearly a fifth of the bombers flew in the wrong direction, leaving their intended targets unscathed. There were also records of nervous bomber pilots firing on their own fighter escorts. Although no losses were caused, it did expose many problems.

High in the sky, a bomber formation composed of more than thirty Do-217s was trying hard to confirm their attack target. They were below the clouds, a dark mass that looked very spectacular.

A bombardier helplessly looked through the aerial map in his hand. “Pilot! I can’t find any terrain features to use as a reference point! This is not the area we’re supposed to bomb! We haven’t even reached the edge of that area.”

“The navigation plane flew the wrong way! I told you! Half an hour ago, we couldn’t find the reference points provided by the reconnaissance planes anymore!” the plane’s radio operator complained. “There isn’t even any anti-aircraft fire. This isn’t a military target at all! What do we do now?”

“How should I know what to do? Those idiots from the 29th Flying Squadron took our flight path. I told you we shouldn’t give way, we shouldn’t give way, and what happened? The moment you gave way, we ran into trouble!” the machine gunner under the pilot’s feet said loudly. “Who knows what to do now?”

“This is BH2 formation! This is BH2 formation! We have not found our designated attack target! Requesting permission to return to base! Requesting permission to return to base!” The voice of the navigation plane’s captain came through the headset.

“This is the tower. I cannot confirm your position. There are planes currently returning on the flight path. If your fuel is sufficient, please wait a moment,” the voice from the ground control station came through the headset.

The navigation plane’s captain had no choice but to nod in agreement. “Tower, I am preparing to continue flying west for five minutes. The flight formation will attack any hostile targets discovered. After that, we will return to base!”

“The tower approves your request! Please record your flight path and keep the radio channel open! Watch your direction!” The voice from the tower came again, after which there was only the hiss of static.

“This is the navigation plane! Follow me and adjust your course! I can see a railway track below! If we follow the railway, we should be able to find a station,” the lead plane’s captain announced to the entire formation.

“Number One understands! We see the railway!” the plane behind replied.

“Number Two is following you! Should we drop a couple of bombs?”

“Good idea! Number Three, Number Four! You descend and each drop four bombs! Destroy this railway,” the bomber group’s commander gave the attack order.

Two bombers opened their bomb bays and began to descend.

“Bombs away!” a report came through the headset.

“This is bomber 17. I am the last plane. I see the impact point! The entire railway track was blown into the air! Nice job!” the pilot of the rearmost bomber said.

“Maintain course! I see a small town! The train station is in the town! All planes, be advised! Gunners to your stations! We may encounter anti-aircraft fire and Polish fighters! Bomber group, Level One alert,” the commander ordered loudly over the radio.

After issuing the alert, he notified the lead plane. “Lead plane! Lead plane! Use the battlefield channel to contact fighters in the vicinity and request that they carry out an escort mission! Also, ask them not to attack friendly forces!”

“Lead plane understands,” a reply came through the headset.

“Boom! Rat-tat-tat!” The ground had clearly spotted the bomber formation and began to return fire with anti-aircraft guns and other weapons, but their aim seemed a bit poor. The bomber group’s preparations for the bomb run were not even disturbed.

“Over the target area!” the commander in the lead plane issued the attack order. “Open bomb bays! Begin bombing run!”

“Number One beginning bomb run!” “Number Two beginning bomb run!” “Number Three, bombs away!”

One after another, the bombs were released from the bomb racks. The bombardiers watched the bombs fall and shouted, “I see the Poles! There are a lot of them!”

“Soon they won’t be so numerous!” another bombardier said with a laugh.

As he spoke, the bombs dropped toward the ground finally collided with their targets, instantly erupting with a thousand times their energy, igniting great fires and sending sand and stones flying, forming one after another, flowers of dust and earth.

“Turn! Adjust flight altitude! We will attack again! Repeat, we will attack again! Drop all bombs! We are returning to base!”

On the ground, in the small town a few kilometers away, Rein lowered his binoculars and watched the returning bomber group. “Our bombers. It seems they just attacked that Polish division’s headquarters. If we go over now, we can take out their command post in the chaos!”

Carter nodded. “Let’s go!” The tank beneath him spewed a cloud of black smoke, shuddered a few times, and then drove forward. Rein’s tank also started up and followed. Behind him, tank 112 also started up. And riding on their tank were seven panzergrenadiers who had been detached to attack with them.

In the small town not far behind them, two Panther tanks were hidden behind a patch of grass. With five soldiers and an armored personnel carrier, they formed a defensive position. They had to wait for the friendly forces behind them to catch up. On the other side of the small town, eight German soldiers were guarding a full 134 Polish prisoners.