The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1148 - 863: Air Raid on the Airport_2

"As long as the enemy's military airfields are completely destroyed, rebuilding them would take a significant amount of time."

"During this period, it would be the best opportunity for the German Army to launch an offensive. With air superiority on our side and support from the Air Force, the Austrian army would be pressured from both sides by the German Army and inevitable collapse would ensue."

"Even the most elite forces cannot withstand days of relentless bombing. Over such an extended period of combat, the German Army had already assessed the combat capabilities of the Austrian army."

"While there are some elite units within the Austrian army, the majority are merely passable ordinary soldiers, and they haven't participated in war for a long time, clearly lacking the mental preparation for warfare on such a massive scale."

"Never underestimate the psychological impact on a soldier. With proper mental preparation, soldiers won't be too panicked on the battlefield, enabling them to perform strongly in combat."

"But without sufficient psychological preparation, facing such a brutal reality of warfare suddenly, the psychological impact on these soldiers is tremendous."

"After all, soldiers are human beings; they have flesh and blood and can get hurt or killed. Once fear greatly outweighs their patriotic fervor, the impact on the soldiers, and even the military, becomes an unpredictable problem."

"If we were to attack all military airfields within the Czech Republic, approximately how many airplanes would we need to deploy?" the Fourth Army Group commander asked after a brief moment of thought.

"At least 120 bombers, and each bomber would require at least three fighter aircraft for escort," the Chief of Staff of the Fourth Army Group said calmly, "This is the very basic number. We cannot ensure how many aircraft the enemy still has in the Czech region. To guarantee the plan is foolproof, we need to deploy over 500 aircraft."

"Contact the Third Army Group," the Fourth Army Group commander nodded, his eyes showing fervor and resolve, "We must eliminate all aerial threats in one fell swoop. I hope we are the first to enter Prague."

Visit freёnovelkiss.com for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience.

The coordination and execution capabilities within the German Army far surpassed those of the Austrian army.

After the plan was formulated, the Third and Fourth Army Groups quickly began to cooperate, dispatching over 600 aircraft and making thorough preparations for the bombardment.

On the morning of April 28, after meticulous planning, hundreds of bombers in groups of three, escorted by three times as many fighter aircraft, majestically set off for various areas in the Czech Republic.

And at that moment, within an Austrian military airfield in the Czech Republic.

Andrew Terman was a radar operator at an Austrian military airfield. His task was simple: to constantly monitor the airfield's radar data and report any anomalies as quickly as possible.

Though it seemed like one must always be vigilant, to Andrew Terman at this time, it wasn't as tense as one would imagine.

After all, half a month had passed since the war began, this military airfield was in a very concealed location, and no enemy reconnaissance aircraft had been spotted nearby.

Moreover, the radar screen showed a clear absence of any suspicious flying objects.

This allowed Andrew Terman to let his guard down, engaging in the most thrilling moment of every night shift: sneaking in a little nap.

Andrew Terman had tested many times and found that after midnight, quietly dozing off seemed unlikely to cause any issues.

After all, radar operators were human too, and could not avoid fatigue from prolonged eye strain.

But today was not an ordinary day. Just when Andrew Terman, as usual, had dozed off, an alarm that had never sounded before suddenly woke him up.

"Damn it, what's going on?" Andrew Terman cursed softly while hurriedly looking at the radar screen.

Seeing several small dots appear on the edge of the screen, Andrew Terman rubbed his eyes in disbelief. After making sure he was not mistaken, he shouted with surprise and urgency, "Enemy attack spotted! Enemy attack spotted!"

Shouting loudly, Andrew Terman was operating a nearby telephone, hastily dialing the military airport's command center.

"Andrew, what problem have you detected?" the military airport's guard asked.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" first yelled Andrew Terman with force, then only after taking a close look at the number of small dots on the screen did he continue with tension and alarm in his voice, "I've detected a total of seven dots, among them four are larger flying objects. Damn it, these must be German planes, they're coming to bomb us!"

The guard relayed the message to the man responsible for the military airport, Major Gordon Kaufman.

"Damn it, all fighter aircraft, take off immediately, intercept these German planes. Everyone else, clear the runways at once, all anti-aircraft weapons, enter combat-ready state," ordered Gordon Kaufman swiftly.

For this military airport, this was considered the first time it faced bombing from the Germans. However, as an Air Force officer, Gordon Kaufman still had some experience with such situations.

"Your Excellency, Major, it's only seven German planes, there's no need to be so tense," a staff officer beside him said with a smile, "Trust me, we just need to deploy ten aircraft and we can completely intercept the German planes."

Hearing his staff officer's comment, Gordon Kaufman also quickly calmed down, but still said cautiously, "The Germans have more planes than us, it's better to be careful before we know the exact number of German planes."

"By the way, how exactly did the Germans determine our location?" asked the curious staff officer with some surprise, "Based on the intelligence we have, German reconnaissance aircraft have not come near our airfield."

"Could these Germans have the ability to obtain intelligence without the need for physical reconnaissance? That would be unbelievable."

"We don't have time to think about that right now," said Gordon Kaufman with a serious face, "We cannot be sure whether the German attack is coincidental or premeditated.

If it's the former, we just need to deal with this wave of German attacks, no need to worry about anything else.

But if the Germans have planned this in advance, it's likely that other airfields might also be facing attacks from the Germans at this moment."

"You mean?" The staff officer looked at Gordon Kaufman, his eyes filled with surprise and shock.

"Yes, I fear the Germans are well-prepared, we must alert other airports to avoid suffering significant losses from German attacks."

For these military airports, facing an attack is quite troublesome. It takes a certain amount of time for airplanes on the storage hangars and runways to take off, and enemy attacks are often sudden, only discovered when they come within the radar observation range.

Although this airport uses Austria's most advanced radar, the detectable range is only around 35 to 40 kilometers.

This distance might seem far, but for airplanes already in high-speed flight, it only takes a few minutes to reach.

But how many airplanes in the airport can take off within a few minutes? After all, the pilots can't possibly always remain seated in their planes, they too need to eat, sleep, rest, and attend to other matters.

Especially at night, when the pilots wake up from their sleep, carry their weapons and equipment, and rush to where the planes are located,

to then orderly fly into the sky, a few minutes are clearly not enough.

It's especially so if there is a desire to have multiple planes take off simultaneously, which requires even more time.

Even for pilots trained for such situations, from being notified of the attack to maneuvering the plane into the sky, it generally takes at least ten minutes.

And these ten minutes are exactly when the airport's defenses are at their weakest. Facing a sudden enemy attack, the airport can only rely on the anti-aircraft weapons deployed around the military airport.