Cannon Fire Arc-Chapter 755 - 12 "We Must Shatter the Myth of Rocossov’s Invincibility!

Chapter 755: Chapter 12 “We Must Shatter the Myth of Rocossov’s Invincibility!

August 16th, Eagle’s Nest.

Air Force Commander Mayer was reporting on yesterday’s events, “The enemy has adopted a completely new tactic, their fighter planes no longer accompany the bombers but are instead attacking airbases with rockets and bombs. We organized aerial intercepts as we used to, which left our fighters, just as they were about to take off, vulnerable to a surprise attack by the enemy’s squadrons.”

The Emperor questioned, “With so many airfields across the nation, and interceptor groups taking off in waves, the enemy cannot possibly attack all airfields at once, there must be a sequence. Did the airfields that weren’t attacked not scramble immediately?”

“There were some,” replied Grand Duke Mayer as he took out a handkerchief and wiped his sweat, “in instances where our fighters took off in advance, the enemy’s fighters would drop their bombs and auxiliary fuel tanks to engage with our forces. As a result, yesterday our forces failed to carry out a successful homeland air defense operation, and the enemy’s bombers reached most of their targets.”

The Emperor let out a long sigh, “I have always had a high regard for the Air Force, and at the start of the war, you did indeed perform well, just like the Armored Troops. But now, why can’t you do anything right?”

“I even commended you last month, saying you were doing well in national air defense, and that was just last month!”

...

The previous month’s favorable performance was built on the basis of increased pilot casualties, but Grand Duke Mayer had altered the data, reporting to the Emperor that the rate of pilot casualties was steady with the previous month.

The Emperor sighed again and asked, “So, do you have any solutions for the enemy’s new tactics?”

Grand Duke Mayer hastened to say, “Certainly, certainly, we are first going to increase the anti-aircraft artillery at the airbases. Previously, the enemy’s bombing focused on industrial areas and main railway hubs, which is why most of the heavy anti-aircraft artillery units were deployed in those places.

“Since airbases have never been attacked before, only defense anti-aircraft artillery allocated by the field manual was assigned to guard them, and there has been no emphasis on the equipment and personnel for anti-aircraft artillery. Moving forward, we will be deploying a large number of medium and small caliber anti-aircraft guns to defend the airbases.

“Secondly, once enemy fighter squadrons invade our airspace, detected by radar and air warning outposts, we plan to immediately take off fighters to protect the airfields. We’re preparing to break up the main fighter squadrons into two groups, one for airbase defense and the other for bomber interception…”

Giles, astutely sensing a problem, raised his hand and interjected, “Previously all the fighters participated in homeland air defense operations and still couldn’t completely prevent Allied bombings on our territory. If you reduce the number of fighters deployed by so much, how can you possibly stop the enemy’s bombers?”

Grand Duke Mayer wiped his sweat, “I’m not worried, without fighter cover, the enemy’s bombers become easy prey; we can do with just half the number…”

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Giles retorted, “When the enemy began their bombing campaign, they didn’t have escort fighters either, and you still couldn’t stop them from bombing Prosenia, could you?”

The Duke continued to wipe his sweat, “That’s because we lacked firepower at the time. Our main fighter, the 109, had only less than 200 rounds of 20mm ammunition, and the rest were armed with 7mm machine guns, which were too weak against enemy bombers.

“To address this issue, we adopted cannon pods, but the effect wasn’t as good as expected. Now it’s different, our latest fighters are equipped with 30mm guns; just one hit could cause enough damage to the enemy’s planes!”

Giles nodded, apparently having nothing more to say.

Grand Duke Mayer then continued, “We also plan to modify BF110s and other twin-engine heavy fighters; they can carry heavier weaponry and have better survivability against a bomber’s defensive fire. We will use these planes to strike at bomber formations.

“This would allow us to utilize our twin-engine heavy fighters, which are currently undertaking lighter combat duties.”

The Emperor asked, “What have these twin-engine heavy fighters been doing up until now?”

“Mainly performing reconnaissance, and occasionally conducting ground attacks. Three squadrons of these twin-engine heavy fighters have been equipped with radar, turning them into night fighters that have already shot down over 40 Lancaster Bombers during night bombing.”

“Is that a lot?” the Emperor asked, puzzled.

Grand Duke Mayer responded, “It is at night, Your Majesty; achieving 40 victories at night is quite commendable.”

At that moment, Rundstedt raised his hand, “Could these night fighters be used to chase away Ante’s night bombers? The troops are extremely annoyed with these ‘Dark Night Witches’.”

Grand Duke Mayer shook his head, “That’s not possible, night bombers primarily rely on ground radar for guidance to approach targets, and then use their own radar to search for targets. Ante’s night bombers have few metal components, so their radar echo is weak to begin with, plus they prefer to fly low to the ground, making it difficult to find them.

“In fact, our night fighters can’t even see the Mosquito bombers used by the Royal Air Force as formation pathfinders.”

Mosquito bombers, wooden wonders, were equipped decades in advance with “stealth materials”.

The Prosen Emperor stood up and said to Mayer, “The enemy has changed their tactics; yesterday’s heavy losses are not your fault, let’s see what the actual situation is today. We can no longer allow the enemy to bomb our industrial areas and railway facilities; bombing has already reduced our equipment production by ten percent!”

Ten percent might not seem significant, but when translated into specific material quantities, it’s alarmingly huge.

Celtic Marshal immediately said, “We have already taken four measures to restore military production as much as possible. By the end of this month, the ten percent reduction should be recovered—assuming we don’t get bombed again.”

Duke Meyer said, “This… homeland air defense combat is extremely complex. It’s very difficult to accurately locate the enemy’s bomber formations in the vast airspace, and to ensure a hundred percent accuracy in finding their positions, we need to further establish a ground surveillance system.

“For example, deploying anti-aircraft observers on every street, every township, and even constructing permanent anti-aircraft observation towers on the plains.”

The Emperor waved his hand grandly, “Build them!”

Celtic Marshal said, “Establishing an observer network requires a large number of observers, and aside from watching the skies, they do nothing else daily. They should be working in factories or undergoing new recruit training to be ready to join the troops.

“Therefore, the best candidates for observers are the elderly, over 55 years of age, but to make the public believe that the mobilization is only temporary, and the national situation is still okay, we have not mobilized the elderly and children.”

The Emperor pondered briefly and said, “Then let’s call it the People’s Observer program. Tell the elderly it’s voluntary community service, and then give them a day’s rations every day. For the sake of rations, many elders would be willing.”

For the first time, Celtic Marshal and Duke Meyer exchanged glances and replied, “As you command, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor looked up at the ceiling, “Has today’s air defense operation started yet? Meyer, I hope the new measures you’ve advocated will be effective.”

Duke Meyer replied, “No, the Allied Forces need to repair and replenish their planes and reorganize the crews of reduced squadrons, so it’s uncommon for them to bomb two days in a row. We are currently trying to make up for the losses caused by the enemy’s bombing of airfields yesterday.”

The Emperor nodded.

At that moment, the door opened, and the head of the Imperial Ministry and Duke Redweizi of Rabowell entered, placing a thick parchment paper bag on the desk in front of the Emperor.

The Emperor asked, “What is this?”

“Our mole in the United Kingdom’s embassy in Anatolia sent back the minutes of the Balas meeting. There’s a lot of key information inside.”

The Emperor opened the parchment, took out the documents and glanced through them, then looked up at the two intelligence chiefs, “Have you read them? What do you think about their authenticity?”

Duke Redweizi said, “Our mole in the United Kingdom’s embassy in Anatolia has always been very professional and has provided a lot of intelligence that was later verified. I believe this intelligence to be true. The Allied Forces plan to launch a large-scale landing operation in Europa next year, with the possible landing site being Carolingian.”

The Emperor shook his head, “No, no, no, Leonard of the United Kingdom is a swindler, a professional one! And it’s very unlikely he would sit back and watch Ante take over the entire West Bank of the White Sea.

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“If the Allied Forces were to land, it would be on the Moravia Peninsula so they could turn the middle of the peninsula into an area occupied by the Allied Forces, and conveniently get Anatolia to join the war.

“Everything would be just like the war sixty years ago when the United Kingdom and Carolingian worked together to prevent Ante from owning all of Moravia!”

Duke Redweizi began, “But…”

“There are no ‘buts’! I know Leonard too well. With Ante’s progress going so smoothly, he couldn’t possibly resist playing his tricks. Landing in Carolingian to distract our forces, allowing Ante to occupy most of Europa?

“No! Absolutely impossible!” The Emperor dismissed the idea with a sweep of his hand.

No one raised any objections to the Emperor’s judgment.

The Emperor asked, “Anything else of importance in the meeting minutes?”

“They also plan to mount a winter offensive over the Dibo River this year.”

“Ha!” The Emperor laughed, “That’s Rocossov’s trickery. He will attack in September, and he would never expect that we’ve moved four Armored Divisions over from the Western Front! A full four Armored Divisions! All fully staffed! And many divisions have even been refitted with some new tanks and tank destroyers!”

General Ma Qi and Giles both laughed, while the traditionalist Junker officers did not initially, exchanging glances before finally joining in with forced laughter.

The Emperor stood up, “Gentlemen, the situation of the war is not as bad as it seems! A major turning point will appear in September! We will deal a blow to the source of Ante’s confidence Rocossov at the Dibo River, and to his troops who have been crowned invincible!

“We must shatter the myth of Rocossov’s invincibility and awaken Ante from the delusion of destroying our country, making them realize Prosen’s strength!

“And then, we shall take the opportunity to enter negotiations with Ante! A ceasefire at this time is a responsible act for the Empire. The people will understand!”