The Rise of the Third Reich

"Quick, dear airplane, fly, fly!"

"Fly higher, fly higher, you can do it!"

In the blue sky and white clouds nearly 10,000 meters above the city of Rome, where all roads lead to Rome, Hirschmann's baby son Rudolf was mumbling words of encouragement for his beloved Fokker Zero aircraft.

But this Fokker Zero aircraft, which is more nimble than a bird at 5,000 meters below, is now like a fat hen, panting heavily, shaking its wings, and running upwards with all its strength. This is of course not because the plane is broken, but because little Hersman flew a little high today. The Fokker Zero he was driving has now climbed to an altitude of 10,000 meters!

Such a height is almost the limit for the Fokker Zero. Although it can barely climb up, it is very difficult to fly and cannot increase its speed, let alone its maneuverability.

Originally, the Fokker Zero is an aircraft focused on medium and low altitudes. The engine it is equipped with can perform best at an altitude of 4,200 meters. Performance will drop significantly above 6,000 meters, let alone flying to 10,000 meters.

But there were special circumstances today, so I couldn't fly that high. Because about 20 British bombers were breaking into Rome's anti-aircraft fire circle from an altitude of 10,000 meters!

In order to fight in the Eastern Mediterranean, high-performance fighter jets from Germany and Italy were deployed to Sicily and Benghazi. Only the two carrier-based aircraft groups of the German Naval Aviation were left in the port of Taranto waiting to receive new aircraft because they no longer had an aircraft carrier and all their aircraft. On the 15th, when the British B-17 flew in, the two carrier-based aircraft groups had just been equipped with new aircraft.

The 12 Fokker Zeros currently driven by Hersman Jr. and his men were just shipped from the FK-BF joint factory in Riga. They are the latest model Fokker Zero C-1 (Fokker Zero and The improved model of the Japanese Zero is different).

This model of Fokker Zero's engine is equipped with a supercharger and a MW50 system - which increases engine power in a short period of time by injecting a 1:1 mixture of water-methanol. Such improvements are actually made to allow the Fokker Zero aircraft to compete with the Spitfire aircraft at medium and high altitudes without the cooperation of the BF-109.

However, the Spitfires had not yet encountered Churchill's B-17 heavy bomber.

"Lieutenant, I found them! 10 o'clock direction, 800 meters below!" Prince Egmont Lipp-Wesenfeld's voice came from the earphones. "There are 17, no, 18 four-engine heavy bombers in a very dense formation, flying south-southeast..."

Little Hersman looked down and saw 18 B-17 bombers flying over in a dense formation at an altitude of about 9,200 meters below. Little Hersman knew that such heavy bombers often have very powerful self-defense firepower, and they form dense formations to cover each other. Once their cannons fire at the same time, they will form a dense network of fire in the air, and the Fokker Zero's small body cannot withstand the fire at all. Moreover, the fuselage of this kind of aircraft is usually extremely strong, and it is difficult to fatally hit it with the Fokker Zero's 7.92mm machine gun.

Therefore, the only correct tactic is to approach the opponent at high speed, then blast it with a 20mm cannon, and then break away immediately after firing all the ammunition.

Such a tactic would not have been possible with the Fokker Zero that Hessman Jr. had previously flown, but the plane he was flying now could "drug" the engine.

"Double aircraft formation, dive attack, turn on afterburner!" Little Hersman issued the attack order through the airborne radio, "Remember, we only have 10 minutes!"

Using the MW50 system to spray water and ethanol into the engine can increase power in a short time, but this is harmful to the engine itself, so it can only maintain the afterburning effect for 10 minutes.

But when life is at stake, 10 minutes is enough to be fatal!

"Enemy plane! Enemy plane! It's a Fokker Zero!"

"Machine gun! Machine gun ready..."

"Oh God! The cannon is frozen! The cannon can't fire!"

"What?"

When Little Hersman and the others started to attack in the drugged Fokker Zero, the B-17 bombers were in chaos.

These aircraft were operated by the British 90th Bomb Squadron. This squadron was composed of the elite of the British bomber force. It had often used "Wellington" bombers to harass Germany at night. It also bombed French port cities leased by Germany such as Dunkirk, Calais, Le Haval and Brest across the English Channel and the Atlantic coast during the day, and has very rich combat experience.

However, the "Wellington" bombers they used before only operated at medium altitudes and could not fly above 9,000 meters at all. Therefore, they had no experience in high-altitude bombing, and the time to familiarize themselves with the aircraft's performance was too short. So I forgot to add enough antifreeze to the machine guns on the plane. As a result, after flying for several hours at an altitude of nearly 10,000 meters, the machine guns on the plane were frozen and could no longer be used!

"Damn it!" Major Simpson, the squadron leader of the 90th Bomb Squadron, cursed secretly. Is the Fokker Zero a mid- to low-altitude aircraft? Why are you so high in the sky, and it seems to be flying so fast! But at this time, the machine gun on the bomber cannot be used, so what else is there to fight?

"Where are we?" Major Simpson asked the navigator beside him quickly.

"Rome, we've arrived in Rome!" the navigator replied. "We can cross the Tiber River in a little while. According to the plan, we can drop bombs after crossing the river. We have to fly across the Tiber River..."

The reason for this arrangement was that Churchill did not want to drop bombs on the land of the Vatican City State on the west bank of the Tiber River. Because the current Pope Pius XII has a cold attitude towards the Nazi and fascist regimes, but has shown friendship to Britain and the United States. If he were bombed, Mussolini would probably take the opportunity to install a pro-fascist pope.

As the navigator Major Simpson spoke, the Fokker Zero attack had begun. The two B-17s at the edge of the intensive bombing formation were first bombarded by four Fokker Zero cannons. The 20mm shells hit them like raindrops, and soon the two aircraft were reduced to a sieve. One of them was The wing of the aircraft was broken and it fell down. The other one was on fire, dragging thick smoke in the sky.

Major Simpson heard the screams of the crew members of the two hit B-17s through the earphones. He gritted his teeth and ordered: "No wait, drop the bombs now, and then stretch the height immediately!"

The B-17C can fly to more than 11,000 meters, but the prerequisite for flying that high is that the bombs must be thrown away to reduce weight. Therefore, at the critical moment of life and death, Major Simpson can't control the Pope. God will bless him anyway, and he should not be blown to death...

…

The Pope has God's blessing and is not afraid of bombs. Although Italian leader Mussolini does not have God's blessing, he is also not afraid of bombs.

When B-17 visited Rome, Mussolini was holding talks with Kuznetsov, the head of the Soviet military observer group, at the Palazzo Venezia. Just when he was bragging about how powerful the Italian air force was and how it blew up British battleships and aircraft carriers to death and capsized, the air defense siren came to mind. Then there was a phone call from Italian Air Force Chief of Staff Pricolo reporting that 10-20 heavy bombers were attacking from high altitude.

However, Mussolini did not go into the air-raid shelter, but confidently invited the People's Commissar of the Soviet Navy to go with him to the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia to watch how the Italian Air Force shot down British planes.

Of course, the Italian Air Force will not ignore Rome's air defense. It has not only deployed many anti-aircraft gun positions in the city of Rome, but also deployed 20 fighter squadrons on the airports around Rome... It's just that most of those fighters are bi-wing CRs without closed cabins. 42 and the poor performing G.50. In theory, it can fly to more than 10,000 meters. However, these aircraft do not have the MW50 system to take drugs. They can barely fly over 10,000 meters and cannot fight at all.

Therefore, there are many Italian aircraft flying in the sky now, but the ones really launching the attack are the 12 Fokker Zeros of the Little Hersman Squadron.

So Mussolini did not see the imaginary scene of the Italian Air Force wiping out the invading enemies. Just when he saw two enemy planes dragging black smoke downwards, bombs also fell!

Mussolini stood on the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia not far from the Tiber River. He could clearly see huge fireballs and smoke pillars rising near the Vatican City State and Castel Sant'Angelo.

Excluding the two downed B-17s, 16 B-17 bombers are currently dropping bombs. Each B-17 carries more than 1.8 tons of bombs, a total of nearly 30 tons of bombs. Although it was not a large amount, it was still very lethal if thrown into the center of Rome, where the population and ancient buildings were densely populated.

The Italian leader shouted at this time: "Oh God, they are bombing the Vatican? What do the British want to do? Do they have God in their hearts?"

Count Ciano, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, also rushed to the balcony at this time, pulled his father-in-law and said: "Leader, it is dangerous here. You should go to the basement to take shelter first."

The bombs kept falling, exploding many plumes of smoke and fireballs on the west bank of the Tiber River. It is unknown how many historic monuments were destroyed by British bombs. Mussolini's face was livid, his lips were trembling a little, as if he had not heard his son-in-law's words, and he suddenly roared: "If they dare to destroy Rome, I will destroy London, and I must blow it up! Go quickly, go quickly Get Marshal Hessmann for me..."