Chapter 818: Chapter 43: Lieutenant Karl’s Raid (8.5K)

Just as they were chatting leisurely, Nelly suddenly appeared and whispered to Wang Zhong, “The welcome banquet for the pilots is ready.”

Wang Zhong nodded and said to the two chief officers of the air raid, “Lunch is ready, please lead the pilots and crew members to the table!”

Colonel Daniel said something in Angsa Language, and Amelia immediately translated, “Colonel Daniel said they thought the sausages and milk provided at the airport was their lunch.”

Wang Zhong laughed, “How could that be! Those sausages and milk were just to tide the hungry crew members over, the official welcome banquet definitely couldn’t be like that.”

As Amelia was translating, Lieutenant Colonel Jack said, “Those sausages tasted amazing, they’re considered the highest grade in the Federation, so we thought that was the lunch.”

Wang Zhong: “Doctor Sausage is indeed made with solid ingredients, if you like it, we’ll supply each plane with one kilogram of sausages besides bombs and fuel during the resupply later, to eat on the way! Now, please allow me to treat you to real Ceres cuisine–of course, along with our Ante’s most prized pickles!”

——–

At two o’clock in the afternoon, Wang Zhong was on the Headquarters’ terrace watching the squadron forming up in the sky.

He remembered that on Earth this kind of leapfrog bombing quickly ceased, but in this universe, the leapfrog bombing seemed to be able to continue.

Pavlov also came to the terrace and said to Wang Zhong, “The Air Force reports that to cover the bombing group, they launched a raid on all of Prosen’s airfields on the Eastern Front and sent a Pe-8 squadron to bomb the Prosens’ aviation fuel depot.”

Wang Zhong: “They did well. If this continues, the Prosens will soon run out of an Air Force to use.”

Pavlov: “Also, the mysterious weapon that suddenly fell in the city today causing a big fire has been extinguished. I have assembled an investigation team that is conducting a comprehensive search at the scene and should soon find the remnants of the weapon.”

“Mhm.”

As Wang Zhong responded, the circling squadron in the sky seemed to have completed the formation, turning towards the west and exiting his field of vision. He then switched to an aerial view and watched as the squadron moved away.

As the squadron kept climbing, contrails appeared.

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Wang Zhong then switched back to his own perspective, looking at Pavlov: “Even though we have already launched the attack, it seems more lackluster than the previous ones.”

“Exactly, just looking at the casualty figures and the enemy kill counts reported by various units, there’s a sense of powerlessness. Both sides are exhausted from fighting.

“I was thinking, maybe the winter offensive will unexpectedly achieve a breakthrough, liberating all of West Kazarlia before next Christmas Eve, it seems I was naive, underestimating our opponent.”

Wang Zhong: “As we move westward, the enemy’s troop density on the frontline will increase, and the urbanization level of the battlefield will become higher, Cavalry will gradually lose its function, General Gorky’s tactics of full-line attacks seizing the flaws will also become ineffective.

“What awaits us is the urban meat grinder like Abawahan.”

Wang Zhong swallowed the words “there could be significant casualties.”

Pavlov: “Do you think the Prosens will fight to the death just like us, resorting to guerilla warfare?”

Wang Zhong thought for a moment and answered, “I don’t know if they will, but the Plathen Emperor certainly hopes his soldiers and civilians do.”

Pavlov: “What if they really resist as bravely as we do?”

Wang Zhong: “That’s why we are stockpiling a large amount of White Phosphorus Shells and napalm.”

Wang Zhong had originally intended to create Cloud Bombs and had even specifically instructed the establishment of a dedicated team of chemical engineers, but then he discovered that Cloud Bombs were rather troublesome to make and even if created with World War II technology, could not be miniaturized.

Then the engineering team came up with a very Russian-style solution: using bombers to drop highly volatile liquids in large glass bottles over the target area to shatter them, followed by Katyusha rockets to cover the diffusion area and ignite it.

They even conducted tests, which showed that under strong sunlight and after rocket coverage, indeed produced the Cloud Bomb effects Wang Zhong required, but the drawbacks were also evident: completely uncontrollable, and requiring strong sunlight to work.

Later, the engineering team planned to replace the contents of the glass bottles with high-pressure liquified petroleum gas, so that as long as the bottles shattered in the combat zone, the contents would immediately vaporize. This material is denser than air, with a density of about 2.35 kilograms per cubic meter compared to air’s 1.2 kilograms per cubic meter, so the vaporized liquified petroleum gas would gather near the ground and would ignite with just a spark.

Wang Zhong thought this was a good idea and approved their experimental request.

However, during the process of loading the glass bottles into the bomber, a bottle accidentally shattered, leading to a massive explosion, which not only killed the ground staff and crew members but also killed the chemist and assistants who came up with the idea.

This incident also revealed the biggest flaw in the scheme: insufficient safety.

Even if the ground staff were careful when arming the bombs, and the bottles didn’t shatter during take-off due to turbulence, and air currents during flight didn’t cause a disaster, it would still be difficult for aircraft to survive to reach the target under interception from enemy fighters and ground anti-aircraft fire.

If a single shrapnel hit a bottle, the liquified petroleum gas would spread, then be drawn into the plane’s engines, resulting only in “instantaneous incineration.”

Thus, the very Russian-style plan of dropping glass bottles went bankrupt, and now the surviving scientists of the chemical team are researching other Cloud Bomb plans, whether they can be produced in time remains a question.