Chapter 601 Basic air combat knowledge

The British acted quickly. It was about 200 kilometers from Dunkirk to Namur. It usually took five or six hours to get there by train, and at least seven or eight hours to load it.

However, the first batch of supplies took only four hours to reach Namur and was delivered to the airport.

This was Kitchener's credit. At this time, he was at a loss.

It was not Lieutenant General Ives's idea to ask Charles for air reinforcements, but it was the idea of ​​Kitchener, the Field Marshal of the Sun. However, he was unwilling to lower the noble head of the world's number one power, so Lieutenant General Ives came forward to contact Charles.

Kitchener's original trip to the Somme was of course cancelled.

Compared with the defeat in Antwerp, the stalemate in the Somme was not worth mentioning.

Kitchener took one point into consideration: Charles had created a myth in Antwerp, twice.

The first time he entered Antwerp alone to command the Belgian army that was about to collapse and defeated the German army.

The second time, he led the French First Armored Army to capture Antwerp in just one day and formed the current Antwerp Defense Line. This battle example was even written into textbooks by various countries as a classic.

But now, the British army had just forced Charles' troops out of Antwerp on the grounds of segmented garrison, and was immediately defeated by the German army.

How could Field Marshal Kitchener explain this to Albert I?

How could the British army face the Belgian and French armies?

How would the colonial army view the British army?

"No, this cannot go on." Kitchener gave a death order: "Order Lieutenant General Avis to defend Antwerp at all costs!"

But this order alone was far from enough.

Unlike Haig, Kitchener knew the importance of new equipment such as airplanes and tanks. He believed that the first thing to turn the tide of the war was air superiority, at least not to let the Germans completely control the air superiority.

Therefore, after receiving Charles's promise, Kitchener immediately commanded and dispatched in his capacity as the British Minister of War, and asked all the idle trains on the railway to give way, and only then did he deliver the first batch of supplies to Namur within a few hours.

...

When Charles received the list of supplies, he saw that most of them were aviation fuel and machine gun bullets, and some food.

Obviously, this was a preparation for Charles's air regiment to join the battle.

But now Charles is not so easy to talk to. Winning the air battle and turning the tide for the British is not such a good thing.

Charles hesitated for a moment and sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Ivis. He patiently popularized some air combat knowledge to Lieutenant General Ivis:

"The supplies have been received. Thank you very much, Lieutenant General."

"But you seem to have sent them to the wrong place. Air combat emphasizes the principle of proximity."

"For example, to reinforce Antwerp, the best take-off base for fighters should be Brussels rather than Namur."

"Taking off from Namur will increase the distance by about 50 kilometers, which is 100 kilometers round trip. This has a significant impact on air combat."

...

The extra 100 kilometers can be ignored for modern fighters, but it is very critical for low-speed fighters during World War I.

The maximum speed of the "Camel" fighter is only 190 kilometers per hour, the cruising speed is about 100 kilometers per hour, and the total range is only 485 kilometers.

This means that the pilot has to spend an extra hour rushing to the target airspace or returning to the airport for refueling, which has a great impact on fuel consumption, pilot fatigue and attendance rate.

(Attendance rate means that the aircraft can go back and forth four times in a day to fight, but can only go three or even two times because of the long distance)

Finally, Charles concluded: "Therefore, the best solution should be to transport supplies to Brussels, and I will transfer the fighter planes to Brussels Airport and use it as a combat base!"

After listening to Charles' explanation, Lieutenant General Ives felt that what he said made sense, but asked angrily: "Why didn't you say it earlier? We can send the supplies to Brussels from the beginning!"

Charles replied calmly: "I'm very sorry, Lieutenant General, you didn't ask. I thought you knew these basic air combat knowledge."

The intelligence was quickly forwarded to Kitchener.

Kitchener's eyes went dark: "This bastard, he must have done it on purpose!"

Lieutenant General Ives was from Haig's faction. They despised all new equipment including aircraft, and of course they didn't know these air combat knowledge.

Kitchener, the Minister of the Army, had never commanded an air battle and knew nothing about it.

And Charles actually emphasized that this was the "foundation", which was murderous!

But there was no way out. The air regiment was in Charles' hands. Protests and objections were useless, and condemnation was even more useless.

Kitchener could only send more supplies to Brussels than to Namur again. This time, two trains were sent.

However, the delay lasted the entire day.

Then Charles gave them a basic knowledge of air combat: "Sorry, General, planes can't fight at night."

A correct version of the book in 16-9!

...

The British troops near Antwerp did not have a good day that day.

The defense line was breached and the whole army retreated. The German army chased them for more than ten kilometers, killing and wounding more than 10,000 British soldiers, capturing more than 20,000 people, and seizing a large number of supplies stored in the defense line.

In the end, it was the fortress defense line of Antwerp that saved these defeated troops.

The German army hoped to follow the British defeated troops and rush into Antwerp in one go, but Major General Eden decisively ordered the troops to open fire.

In an instant, the fortress's heavy artillery fired shells at the boundary line between the enemy and us.

The demarcation line was not clear, the British and German armies were intertwined, and there were enemies among us and enemies among us.

However, the Belgian army did not hesitate at all, and the shells kept pouring forward to the front of the position, blasting out flames and smoke.

The soldiers were thrown into the air by the huge impact force and then fell hard. There were British and German soldiers. They were like wooden men without vitality, without any resistance, and were divided into several pieces in mid-air.

However, the number of fortress guns was small and could not cover in batches. Although several German tanks were blown up, they still charged towards the fortress defense line at high speed.

At the critical moment, the "Saint-Samon" self-propelled artillery emerged from the front fortifications, and the black muzzles were aimed at the German tanks coming straight at them. After a slight adjustment, a burst of gunfire sounded.

The front armor of the German "LK1" tank was only 14MM thick, which could barely block bullets, but it was like paper in front of the 75 gun. It was instantly hit and smoke and even caught fire.

Colonel Erwin followed the troops all the time. He rode in an EV4 armored vehicle to observe the battle on the front line and command at all times.

(The above picture shows the EV4 armored vehicle of the German Army during World War I, which is generally equipped with 4 machine guns and produced in 1915)

He immediately ordered the staff when he saw this situation through the telescope: "Stop the attack and adopt Plan B!"

"Yes, Colonel!" The staff immediately gave the order.

Colonel Erwin was vigilant about the fortress defense line trained and planned by Charles from the beginning, and when he saw that the first attack failed, he immediately made changes.