Starting with the smashing of Dunkirk

Chapter 115 The Ace Pilot Over Tarnuf
Following Major Nesterov's order, more than 30 Rusa reconnaissance planes split into two groups and fiercely encircled the distant Demania fleet from both sides.

The current Lusa reconnaissance aircraft, and indeed all the countries on the Allied side, have not yet solved the problem of the firing coordinator, so the aircraft cannot fire straight ahead, and the bullets will hit the propeller.

Therefore, even with Lewis air-cooled machine guns, they could only fire to the sides. Thus, it's not surprising that they formed a battleship-like formation.

This tactic may seem bizarre to later generations, but it did indeed appear briefly in the very early stages of human aerial warfare.

Until the advent of the firing coordinator, which allowed aircraft to fire straight ahead, this absurd formation, along with many other bizarre formations that once flourished, was swept into the dustbin of history.

As the Lusa aircraft group rushed up, the Demania aircraft group, which was conducting reconnaissance over Tarnuf, immediately reacted.

The officer in charge of the squadron was Major Oswald Polk, who was also a colleague and subordinate of Colonel Mark Immelmann.

The aviation fleet is developing rapidly and is highly professional, so many young people born in the 90s can hold high positions, while the older guys mostly don't understand airplanes.

Immelmann, who had become quite familiar with Lelouch before, is now one of the most important figures in the Army Air Corps. A young man born in 90, only 26 years old (by Chinese reckoning), he has already become a colonel, the same rank as Lelouch.

The key point is that he is the only outstanding one in the air force, and the aerial reconnaissance battles on the Western Front are more intense, so Immelmann was left behind on the Western Front by the Empire.

On the Eastern Front, only Major Polk, a protégé trained by Immelmann, was appointed as the air force commander-in-chief, responsible for coordinating air reconnaissance support for the 6th and 10th Armies.

The aerial reconnaissance over the past period was relatively peaceful, with no large-scale air battles occurring, at most minor skirmishes.

Once an attack is launched, enemy planes usually don't return alive to report, so even though the Lusa people have lost several planes, they are unaware that the enemy has also upgraded.

Today it happened to be Major Oswald Polk's turn to take off on duty, but he encountered a large enemy formation. Major Polk was not afraid at all; on the contrary, he was very excited, with only a little bit of tension.

Major Polk immediately issued orders with a combination of shouting and gesturing: "Groups C/D will continue their reconnaissance and reporting duties, and provide target designation to the artillery. The other groups will engage the enemy in four-aircraft formations and engage in free pursuit and attack!"

The C/D team understood the orders and continued their reconnaissance and reporting mission.

The other groups also discerned from Major Polk's wing-shaking movements the simple order to "operate freely in four-plane formations," leaving the rest to their own discretion.

Major Polk had great confidence in his troops because he knew that the aircraft were equipped with a brand-new mechanical device that had only been successfully tested in the last two months—a firing coordinator.

This means that the air-cooled machine gun can be mounted directly in front of the cockpit, firing forward without worrying about bullets hitting the propeller.

Historically, the fire coordination device was first designed by Demania engineers in late 1915 and installed on fighter planes. Later, the new Fokker fighter planes widely used this device and also adopted the Immelmann maneuver (also translated as the Immelmann loop) from Commander Mark Immelmann. The combination of the two resulted in devastating defeats for the Allied air force in the first half of 1916, and it took them a full six months to catch up and close the technological gap.

In this current dimension, it's not surprising that the firing coordinator appeared about six months earlier than expected. Back in late March, when Lelouch was chatting with Immelmann, he learned that the Britannian fighters had been equipped with Lewis air-cooled machine guns. He then knew that the advantage gained by the German fighters through "early installation of MG15 air-cooled machine guns" had been leveled again by the enemy.

Given this, with a far-sighted transmigrator like Lelouch around, he would certainly not allow this situation to continue.

Every time the enemy closes the technological gap in weapons, it's time for Lelouch to unleash some more real weaponry.

Therefore, Lelouch immediately gave Immelmann an idea, asking him to get the engineers in the Air Force to brainstorm and come up with a solution, such as using a gear coordination mechanism to create a device that would allow the aircraft propeller and machine gun trigger to operate at slightly different times.

Lelouch didn't know the specifics of how the "shooting coordinator" was built or what its mechanical structure looked like. But having the idea and the direction of his efforts was enough.

Even without Lelouch, this thing could have been built in six months. But after he broke the ice, the rest of the work was done in a month, thanks to the hard skills of Demania's mechanical engineers.

Therefore, before the outbreak of this Eastern Front campaign, all of Polk's aircraft were equipped with firing coordinators, once again gaining a generational advantage.

Upon receiving orders, the 12 Albatross 1 fighter-reconnaissance aircraft immediately and fearlessly split into three groups of four, charging confidently toward the Lusa people.

Demacia's air force is actually far stronger than Lussa's. Given Lussa's poverty, how many high-end items like airplanes could they afford?
But at this moment, the Lussa people do have a numerical advantage on this battlefield. This is not because the German air force underestimated the enemy, but because the Germans needed to maintain reconnaissance and provide artillery information for a long time, and the loiter time of the aircraft was limited.

The Albatross 1 has a range of only 300 kilometers. If it takes off from a location nearly 100 kilometers away from the battlefield for reconnaissance, more than half of the time may be wasted on the round trip. The actual time spent circling and taking aerial photos over the battlefield will only account for about 40%.

Moreover, an aircraft cannot take off again immediately after returning to its origin; refueling, simple maintenance and inspections, and pilot rest all require time.

Strictly speaking, even if Polk had 80 aircraft, he could only guarantee a maximum of 20 aircraft hovering over the battlefield at the same time.

In contrast, although the Lusa people only had about 30 aircraft in total, they were able to deliberately and recklessly send all their aircraft, thus creating a clear local numerical advantage.

Major Nesterov was so confident and dared to take the initiative because he had more planes at this moment.

Two columns of Lusa fighter-reconnaissance aircraft quickly joined the fray, 16 on each side, creating a formidable sight.

However, their formation was too bulky, making it difficult for them to turn around, and turning around would easily disrupt their formation. On the other side, Polk led three formations of four planes and began climbing ahead of time, giving the enemy no chance to circle and exchange fire on the same level.

As the two aircraft were about to pass each other, the German aircraft had already moved at least 500 meters above the exposed fuselage.

Given the accuracy and rate of fire of light machine guns in that era, indiscriminate firing at such a high relative speed would have virtually no chance of hitting the target.

Twelve German aircraft quickly and easily passed over each other. Due to the continuous climb, the German aircraft were already gradually slowing down. After passing each other, the German aircraft, which were already moving at a very low speed, immediately circled with a small radius and caught up with Lusa's large group of aircraft from behind again.

The slower the speed, the less centrifugal force needs to be overcome when circling, and the smaller the circling radius. This is a basic physical fact that is easy to understand.

However, since there had never been a tail-attack by an aircraft in this world before, even though the Lusa people knew this, they did not take any special precautions.

"You just want to flank us, right? Go ahead and flank us if you want. Even if you do, you can't fire straight ahead. You'll still have to fly to our side and then fire to our side and front, won't you?"

Major Nesterov himself thought so too, and felt no need to deliberately avoid such a situation.

At that time, the rear gunner of the exposed machine gun can still return fire and still have a firing angle; it's just a matter of turning the Lewis gun slightly wider.

However, an unexpected event soon occurred.

"Rat-a-tat-tat!" Major Polk's plane locked onto the tail of the enemy formation on the left, positioned itself directly behind them, denying the enemy aircraft in front any firing angle, and then opened fire fiercely.

The bullets from the MG15 air-cooled machine gun passed through the gaps in the propeller blades of the Albatross 1 and sprayed violently forward like water.

Because both sides are on similar course, there is almost no relative velocity fluctuation in the left and right directions, making the shooting accuracy extremely high, almost frighteningly high.

A Lusa fighter-reconnaissance plane was inexplicably hit by a barrage of bullets, and unwillingly disintegrated in mid-air, breaking into several pieces and crashing separately.

The other Lusa aircraft were still a bit confused and didn't react immediately, assuming it was just normal air combat damage.

But just a minute or two later, they realized something was wrong.

The other two four-plane squadrons also began to exert their strength, and their respective officers found their targets and began to slaughter the Lusa people unilaterally.

Lieutenant Kurt Arthur Berno Student, a pilot under Major Polk and the temporary commander of one of the four-plane formations, also fired a barrage of machine gun fire at the tail of another large Lusa formation in his fighter.

With a few short bursts of fire, Lieutenant Kurt Student shot down two enemy planes lined up in one go! His killing efficiency was practically equivalent to firing squads.

The officer of the last four-plane formation, Lieutenant Manfred von Richthofen, followed closely behind his old instructor, Polk, meticulously imitating his operations, and also shot down a Lusa aircraft.

In the initial stages of the air battle, a 4-0 exchange ratio was achieved.

At this point, even Major Nesterov, who might be slow to notice, realized that something was wrong.

"Damn it! These Demacian planes can fire straight ahead! They can follow behind us, maintaining relative stillness and slowly taking aim! Spread out! Each plane should use its sides to engage the enemy and fire freely!"

Major Nesterov roared out the order at the top of his lungs, but few responded.

This command was far too complex; it was a completely new command and not one of the simple instructions agreed upon before the war, such as "shaking the wings a few times."

Major Nesterov could only shout, hoping that nearby pilots would hear him, and then carry out the orders.

The planes further away, lacking intercoms and unable to interpret orders by observing their commanders' wing movements, descended into chaos, each fighting its own battle.

Some aircraft followed the orders, while others did not, causing chaos in the entire Lusa fleet. In the midst of the chaos, two Lusa aircraft even collided and crashed due to inconsistent turning instructions.

Taking advantage of the moment when they changed formation, the Demacians killed five more planes. Of the Lussa's 32 planes, 11 had been lost, leaving only 21, and they no longer had any numerical advantage.

The Lusa people managed to recover their formation and tactics from the chaos and began to circle around and attack the enemy aircraft with flanking fire.

Its posture was quite similar to the AC130 gunship on Earth in later generations, looking rather clumsy and laughable, but in any case, it at least had some counterattack capability.

Demania's aircraft, unwilling to engage in a circling and dogfight with Lusa, repeatedly climbed, rolled half a circle, and then swooped down to counterattack.

This posture, which the Lusa people had never seen before, was the "Immelman somersault" that Colonel Mark Immelman had recently invented and then taught to his officers.

During normal circling, a significant amount of power is used to overcome the centrifugal force during the circling, causing the aircraft's speed to decrease.

The Immelmann somersault allows for a more flexible and rapid turn by combining vertical lift and roll. It also converts some of the kinetic energy lost during the turn into potential energy, which can be stored and released more quickly during the next dive.

In short, using the Immelmann loop allows for faster turns, less energy loss, and better preservation of aircraft speed.

The Demacian pilots had only learned this maneuver a month or two ago and weren't yet proficient, but it was sufficient for today's situation. This maneuver was developed in conjunction with the fire coordinator and the forward-firing machine gun—because of the machine gun firing straight ahead, aircraft often had to face the enemy nose-on during combat, and Colonel Immelmann invented this maneuver to better facilitate this nose-on engagement.

Lusa pilots wanted to maintain a circling, side-firing pattern, but the enemy would often pass by quickly and then appear above and behind them, making it very difficult for the Lusa planes to fire. Meanwhile, the German planes were always able to fire with ease.

"Rat-a-tat-tat~ Rat-a-tat-tat~" The sound of machine guns echoed throughout the sky, and the entire Tarnuv County was filled with rolling black smoke as aircraft plummeted down.

"Why is this happening? Why is this happening?" Major Nesterov, watching his comrades' planes being shot down one after another, went completely mad.

He was furious at the machine gunner in the back seat for being so incompetent; how could he not hit the enemy?

The total number of planes remaining for both sides changed from 20 to 32 at the beginning to 20 to 21.

后来又渐渐打到20比15、19比10……最后总算是定格在18比6。

After the Lussamen regained their footing, they still lost 15 more planes before finally taking down 2 German aircraft.

Later in the battle, some of the Lusa planes began to turn around and try to escape, but because their planes were not as fast as the Albatross planes, they were easily caught up and shot down without achieving anything.

Seeing the fate of the deserters, Major Nesterov knew he couldn't escape. He hardened his resolve and rammed into the enemy plane he could find. The enemy plane had just shot down one of his comrades and was circling to adjust its position, its speed relatively low. Nesterov, taking advantage of his superior speed, intercepted it directly in its flight path.

If the machine gunner isn't doing his job, then just ram him!

With a series of muffled cracking sounds, both planes disintegrated in mid-air.

The German plane's wing was snapped off on one side, and it tumbled downwards.

Upon seeing this, the German pilot immediately ejected and attempted to glide towards the rear positions using his parachute, trying to avoid landing on the Lusa army positions in Tarnuf County.

Major Nesterov's plane, on the other hand, struck the enemy nose-on during the impact. While the engine in the nose was sturdy enough not to break, the structural components that mounted it were not so robust, and unsurprisingly, the engine was knocked off and detached in the collision.

Major Nesterov was piloting a plane whose nose and engine had completely disappeared, leaving only two wings. He tried to glide while wobbling, but he lost control and missed his chance to parachute. He crashed and died during the emergency landing.

(Note: Nesterov died in a crash in history, so let's respect his fate.)

The remaining few Lusa planes were also surrounded and eliminated, resulting in a final score of 32 to 3.

Without that direct collision, the score could have been 32 to 2.

In any case, the Lusa people's attempt to regain air superiority ended in complete failure.

The Demacian pilots returned to base and began taking stock of their gains and losses, while also contacting forward units to search for and rescue the parachuted pilots.

Ultimately, the results were tallied as follows: Major Oswald Polk shot down 3 enemy aircraft in this battle, bringing his total to 6, in addition to the 3 he had shot down on the Western Front. He was the second ace pilot in the Demania Air Force, second only to his former leader, Mark Immelmann, the founder and creator of the fighter force.

Lieutenant Kurt Student shot down four enemy planes in one go, but he had never participated in the Western Front operations before and was a newcomer, so he was still one step away from becoming an ace and would have to try harder next time.

Similarly, Lieutenant Manfred Richthofen, also a rookie, had bad luck, only managing to shoot down two Russo planes before being rammed down by the crazed Russo major in his own plane. However, Lieutenant Richthofen managed to parachute in time and only suffered minor injuries.

In addition, he was quite skilled at maneuvering the paraglider. When he landed on the front line, he was able to control the paraglider to drift towards his own position. He was rescued by his army comrades.

Richthofen will likely need several months to recover from his injury and reflect on the lessons learned from today's match. He should be able to make a breakthrough when he returns to the field next time.

……

The lopsided air combat further demoralized the Lusa Army soldiers on the ground.

They watched helplessly as their own planes rained down, while the enemy suffered almost no losses. Meanwhile, the German 21st Corps' long-range artillery, aided by reconnaissance aircraft, systematically picked off the French heavy artillery units one by one.

By 9 a.m., most of the heavy artillery in the Tarnuv district of Lusa Army had fallen silent.

On the main battlefield, Commander Belinovsky saw that he had almost lost his last trump card and his firepower preparation was still insufficient. He had no choice but to bite the bullet and send his infantry to charge towards the German 39th Army's blocking position in a human wave attack.

He could only hope that the shelling early in the morning had at least weakened some of the enemy's strength, so that the resistance to his next attack wouldn't be too strong.

But he clearly miscalculated.

Soldiers of the German 39th Army emerged one by one from shell craters, foxholes, and ditches along field ridges. They reorganized their defensive fire and unleashed a furious barrage on the Roussars who were charging along the railway and trying to clear their way back.

德39军原本隐蔽得很好、憋了很久的10几门105野战炮，加上那24门从哥萨克骑兵手里缴获来的75野战炮，也纷纷开火。

The German 39th Corps remained very calm; they didn't engage in artillery duels with the enemy at all initially.

The task of artillery-to-artillery combat was entirely entrusted to the comrades of the 21st Army, with full trust placed in them.

These few artillery pieces, which have been painstakingly deployed behind enemy lines, should certainly be used where they are most needed, and when the enemy launches a general offensive!
The advancing DPRK troops had no idea that the enemy was so calm and collected. They had just been taking the bombardment without retaliating, only letting their teammates fight back and having the air force report their positions.

Caught off guard, thousands of DPRK soldiers, charging in a massive wave, were slaughtered on the unprotected terrain, their bodies torn to pieces and mangled.

Commander Belinovsky's wishful thinking completely collapsed.

The three divisions that participated in the counterattack were decimated in just one or two hours of fierce fighting and charging, with the total number of dead and wounded likely exceeding ten thousand.

The remaining soldiers were also completely drained of their energy and spirit, and retreated numbly and confusedly, like walking corpses.

Meanwhile, the main force of the German 21st Army, under the precise control of Field Marshal Leopold, launched a general offensive from east to west against the Tarnuf district, which was held by the remnants of the German army.

The 39th Army, flanking from the rear, acted as the anvil, already battering and bruising the enemy and draining their morale. The 21st Army, the "hammer" on the front, naturally had to unleash its thunderous power to deliver the decisive blow.

After a fierce artillery barrage, the surging Demanian soldiers launched a fierce attack on the county town.

Only at this moment did the Lusha army defending the city realize what truly adequate firepower preparation meant; their previous half-hearted efforts were simply a joke.

The enemy had concentrated an unknown number of heavy artillery pieces; this was an offensive they were determined to launch.

The Lusa soldiers had completely lost their will to defend themselves when faced with the charging enemy, especially those armed with submachine guns.

They were caught off guard by the enemy when their will and organization were at their weakest during the transition between offense and defense, and when they were at their most vulnerable.

"Rat-a-tat-tat~ Rat-a-tat-tat~" German submachine gunners rushed into the trench area and fired wildly to the left and right, clearing the trenches.

The rain of grenades was deliberately thrown into every nook and cranny of the Z-shaped trench, completely wiping out the Lusha soldiers hiding in the blind spots, clinging to any hope of escape.

Finally, rows of Lusa infantrymen, driven by despair, shouted that they were willing to surrender and laid down their weapons in droves.

Inside the Lusha Army headquarters in the city center, Commander Belinovsky listened to the increasingly close gunfire and the devastating news coming from various positions. He finally realized that Tarnuv County was doomed to fall, and there was no point in even stalling for time.

"Immediately order all units to break out from the side that the enemy hasn't yet encircled, traversing the rugged hilly terrain. Forget about the county town! Get as many people out as possible!"

However, wireless telegraphs could only reach the division headquarters at each level. From the division down to the regiment and battalion, messengers on horseback had to deliver the messages.

It's uncertain how many subordinate units will actually receive this order to retreat and break out, and how many will actually manage to escape.

Finally, after a day and a night of chaotic fighting, as midnight on May 13th passed and the early morning of May 14th arrived.

Of the five Russa divisions along the Tarnuv-Gollitse line, the 57th Division in Gollitse was almost completely annihilated. Of the remaining four divisions, the 54th Division, which held off the German 21st Corps, and the 56th Division, which launched a frontal assault on the German 39th Corps, were also almost completely wiped out, with the survivors being captured.

Only the 55th Division, which served as the general reserve, and the 58th Division, which was flanking, managed to escape with some personnel.

They might be able to return to Rzeszów in the rear, or they might be able to return to the Przemeshir fortress; it all depends on which side can run faster.

In addition, the 14th Cossack Cavalry Division, which was sent to reinforce the 8th Army by General Brusilov, suffered heavy casualties after repeated unsuccessful attacks on the German 39th Corps' positions and had to retreat directly back to Zheszów.

On May 15, the main force of Marshal Leopold's 10th Army had completely occupied the two county towns of Golice and Tarnuv, as well as the surrounding defensive lines.

The three corps under the German 10th Army began to advance toward Rzeszów, and a part of them attempted to move south to block the Dukla Pass and prevent the main force of the Russa Army south of the Carpathian Mountains from retreating to the north of the mountains.

The northward retreat route of the main force of the entire Southwestern Area Army of Lusa is about to be blocked.

-

PS: Yesterday's comments showed a sharp drop, perhaps because people don't really like reading about unfamiliar battles on the Eastern Front and lack basic historical background.

Therefore, I will speed up the plot a bit, and there will be two long chapters of over 6,000 words each today, totaling over 12,000 words, all updated in one go. (Updated in one go this morning won't affect everyone's 9 AM viewing of the military parade.)

Tomorrow everyone will see the clues. The main point is that this is a large-scale battle, with the battlefield spanning the entire territory of Hungary and Slovakia, involving a combined force of 700,000 to 800,000 Germans and Austrians, and over 1.3 million Lucerne and Roma.

A battle involving a total of two million people on both sides is indeed difficult to analyze in a short article. I've been writing over 10,000 words a day to keep up with the pace, so please bear with me.

(End of this chapter)