I Became a Tycoon During World War I - Chapter 253

Chapter 253: The Menace of Bombers

At this time, bombing missions were not as simple as imagined; they lacked navigation, radar, and even radio communication.

The pilots had only a map, a compass, and a ruler to rely on.

Thus, even if they knew the exact location of the target, and could even visually locate it, accurately bombing it remained difficult.

The bomber squadron could easily veer off course during flight. Initially, it might only be a small angle, but after flying tens of kilometers, or even over a hundred kilometers, this small deviation could result in a miss by several kilometers, or even more.

For concealed targets, such as artillery positions carefully hidden by the Germans in the woods and camouflaged, it was nearly impossible for bombers to find and destroy them.

This was one of the reasons why bombers faced criticism and doubt from France’s so-called “military commentators”:

“Bombers are likely only able to attack obvious exposed targets, like buildings, bridges, and such.”

“For concealed targets, they obviously have significant limitations. I can’t imagine how they can locate the correct position and drop bombs.”

“Moreover, their targets are too large. If the enemy prepares anti-aircraft machine guns or artillery, they are nothing more than a bunch of flying targets!”

This was one of the reasons why the military did not place large orders for bombers. The sheer size of bombers created a sense of insecurity.

Charles knew that these “military commentators” were bought off by capitalists, at least some of them were. They led the charge in newspapers, raising doubts, and other “commentators” began to follow suit.

This was critical for Charles’s business. A single “bomber” could earn 30,000 francs, and the military would have to order several hundred to meet battlefield needs.

This meant several million, even tens of millions of francs, possibly even more in large contracts. How could Charles allow it to be destroyed by “rumors”?

What Charles needed to do was to destroy a concealed artillery position and use hard evidence to slap these “commentators” in the face.

The general bombing procedure went as follows:

The army liaison that Carter contacted was a staff officer assigned to the army by the aviation forces, responsible for air-ground coordination. Among them were several artillery spotters.

These artillery spotters, based on intelligence, knew the exact location of a target and used artillery observation methods to calculate the accurate direction and distance to the target.

Finally, at the designated time and place, a signal board was arranged on the ground, forming a large arrow pointing to the target, with an “N” placed behind the arrow.

The “N” was a prearranged signal between the aviation and army staff, representing the 14th letter in the alphabet, meaning the target was located 14 kilometers away from the arrow’s point.

(Note: Using letters to express distances simplified numerical representations and made them easier to distinguish. Some numbers, such as “7,” could easily be mistaken for “2,” and “6” and “9” were also prone to confusion due to interference from roads, trees, and rivers.)

Next, reconnaissance planes would fly towards the target under the protection of fighter escorts. They would circle around while using telescopes to carefully observe the target.

The Germans had machine guns set up on the high ground and anti-aircraft artillery.

But due to secrecy, the Germans dared not open fire.

Because once they fired, it would be like a modern version of “there’s no silver here,” clearly signaling to the enemy that they had found the right place.

However, even if they remained calm and did not fire, it was futile.

Soon, the reconnaissance planes manually dropped several smoke bombs, and the two plumes of smoke rising from the valley acted as markers for the German artillery position.

The German artillery men stared at the smoke, bewildered:

“What are they doing? Have they found us?”

“I don’t think so. If they had, they should have dropped bombs instead of smoke bombs!”

“But why smoke bombs?”

...

Before they could finish speaking, everyone understood.

The sound of bomber engines roaring in the sky grew louder, and terrifying bombers appeared through the clouds, beginning to descend.

At this moment, the Germans realized:

“My God, they’ve found us! Those are enemy bombers!”

“They are guiding the bombers! Scatter, scatter immediately!”

“Move the ammunition carts, hurry up!”

...

What appeared to be an empty valley suddenly came to life. Soldiers were running about, hauling ammunition, dragging cannons, and carrying ammunition boxes, creating chaos.

The air defense units around the artillery position and on the high ground were also busy, pointing machine guns and artillery towards the incoming bombers.

The bombers, however, flew toward the artillery position with calm precision, not a single wing trembling.

With the signal board’s guidance and the smoke bomb markers, they easily locked onto the target. To ensure greater accuracy, they even reduced speed.

“Boom!” The sound of cannon fire rang out.

That was the German 37mm anti-aircraft gun.

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t an anti-aircraft gun, but rather an “anti-balloon gun,” a German invention designed to shoot down observation balloons before the war.

However, this anti-balloon gun was ineffective against fast-moving planes. Its shells seemed to have no effect on the bombers: they didn’t have tracer powder, so once fired, it was impossible to know where the shells went, let alone how far off they were. Consequently, the shooting was based on intuition.

The sound of machine guns followed, with bullets “rat-a-tat-tat” flying through the air towards the approaching bombers.

Some of the bullets may have hit, but they were powerless to stop the bombers from closing in.

In an instant, before the machine guns could change their ammunition belts, the bombers had flown overhead, dropping bomb after bomb.

The wind turbines behind the bombs spun rapidly in the air, accompanied by a terrifying whistling sound, causing the German soldiers to drop their machine guns and artillery and crouch down, tightly covering their heads.

“Boom!”

“Boom boom!”

...

The dense explosions rang out one after another across the artillery position.

Carter had dispatched 20 bombers in one go, and a total of 380 bombs poured down on the valley where the German artillery positions were, turning the area into a sea of flames in an instant.

Amid the explosions, there were also ammunition detonations, with intense explosions following one after another. Flames and thick smoke rolled through the area, as if a fire dragon was struggling and leaping within.

The surviving German soldiers on the mountaintop were dumbfounded, watching this scene in horror, and they said in fright, “My God, how can we defeat the French? They can bomb wherever they want, and we are powerless to stop them!”

This was the despair that bombers brought to the enemy; they created a psychological deterrence for ground forces.

The enemy couldn’t help but wonder:

If every time a battle started, the enemy’s bombers could easily destroy command posts or artillery positions, how could we possibly fight this war?

Table of content - Next Chapter >>>