Chapter 481 Radar
At the beginning of World War II in the original time and space, the German team swept across Europe with thunderous momentum. Britain was eyeing it covetously and even formulated the "Sea Lion Plan" to invade Britain. However, due to the obstruction of the English Channel, Germany had to carry out sea and air amphibious operations. However, the German naval strength at that time could not compete with the British army in quality and quantity. Therefore, the British high-level judged that the German army's primary task was to seize air supremacy.
Britain had three strategies to choose from: one is to control the air from the ground, dispatching bombers to destroy German combat aircraft on the ground. With the strength of the British army at that time, it was impossible to complete this offensive strategy. The second is to control the air from the air. The aircraft patrolled continuously, which would consume a lot of manpower and material resources and was a typical passive defense. The third is to control the air from the ground. Taking advantage of local combat advantages, optimizing the allocation and dispatching of various resources, and seizing the initiative in air combat; obviously the third method is more suitable for the national conditions of Britain.
Britain has the confidence to choose "control the air from the ground". Britain was the first country to invent and widely use radar. Radar is one of the important equipment that helped Britain win air battles. As early as 1937, the first radar intelligence center in the UK was completed. Subsequently, the UK established 29 radar stations on the east and south coasts and built a chain radar early warning system. According to the air defense deployment, the UK mainland is divided into six air defense zones, each of which is composed of several air defense divisions. There is a combat brigade in the air defense zone, which is responsible for air defense duty in two to seven divisions.
The Battle of Britain embodies the prototype of information warfare. The radar station collects air situation information and reports it to the radar intelligence center. After summarizing the information of each radar station, a map of the air defense situation of the UK mainland is formed. The commander starts from the overall situation and allocates combat resources according to the actual air situation. Under the guidance of radar, the British army only needs to deploy 1/3 of the fighters in the southern region, and the rest of the air force is dispersed in the central and northern regions of the UK as an air defense reserve. This can not only form a tiered defense space, but also strengthen the air defense force of the mainland, effectively improving the regional air defense efficiency. Radar makes the British Air Force's perception ability on the battlefield more timely and powerful, and realizes the one-way transparency of the air battlefield.
In the early stage of the air war, the German offensive focused on destroying the British radar stations and airports. The British army's primary task was to test the radar's early warning capability and explore ways to use radar to guide fighters to achieve air interception. At this stage, both sides had gains and losses in the air war. For the German army, on August 15, 1940, the German army attacked the radar stations in Dover, Pevensey, Ley and Ventnor in southern England, causing the radar to stop working. However, the German army did not use this attack to expand the results of the war. On August 30, six radar stations in five air defense divisions were destroyed, and the radar network in southern England was on the verge of collapse. The British Air Force experienced the worst day of the Battle of Britain.
Britain summed up experience and lessons in actual combat and continuously improved its radar early warning capabilities. On July 11, 1940, a radar station discovered a group of unknown number of air situations. The commander of the air defense division sent six "Hurricane" fighters to intercept, and found that the air situation was composed of 40 fighters and bombers. After that, the British Air Force refined the radar air situation warning and reported the number of German aircraft together in order to reasonably and effectively deploy combat aircraft. Churchill was well aware of the importance of radar. He emphasized: "We must attach as much importance to the promising radar field as we do to the Air Force." It can be seen that radar technology played a pivotal role at the time.
Just as the Battle of Britain entered a white-hot period, the German intelligence department learned that although the British radar network was severely damaged, it still emitted radiation signals. Based on this, it was believed that the core department of the British radar station was located underground, unaffected by air strikes, and could operate normally. Misled by intelligence, the German army stopped bombing the British radar station.
In Yannick's view, this was simply a pig-like decision.
However, at this time, because the German fighters surpassed the British fighters in number and performance, the British Air Force became a turtle, and Yannick did not pay much attention to the British radar. And in a few days, the British mainland will be attacked, and Yannick decided to destroy the British air defense radar first.
Although the distribution of the British radars is top secret, and even the German intelligence department has only found out a few of them, it is just a small problem for Yannick who traveled from the future. After all, in the military data released in later generations, the British themselves carefully marked the radars of the World War II on the map.
"Air defense alarm! Air defense alarm! German planes are invading! German planes are invading on a large scale!" The radar soldier who was staring at the radar screen sounded the alarm weakly. The jumping signals on the radar screen were connected together, showing that there were a large number of reflected signals approaching the British mainland.
But what can be done by sounding the alarm? The German fleet has visited almost every day these days.
Even if their radar stations sounded the alarm in time, the air force would not take off to fight, and let the German fleet drop batches of bombs, bombing British cities one by one. Not to mention the air force, even the anti-aircraft artillery units on the ground have stopped firing these days. The German fleet basically comes and goes freely, which is easier than visiting relatives.
"Got it, record it." The radar officer on duty sighed and gave the order in a weak voice. General Dowding said that unless these German aircraft groups approach London, there is no need to report. But I heard that London is almost flattened by German artillery shells and missiles, so why should we be afraid of bombers?
Just as he closed his eyes and prepared to rest for a while, the radar soldier reported again. "Sir, you'd better come and take a look. The flight formation of the German Air Force is in disarray. They seem to have dispersed!"
"Hmm?" The radar officer walked quickly to the radar screen and saw that the radar screen was fluctuating abnormally. "They dispersed? Why did they disperse here?" According to the radar display, these German aircraft had just arrived at the British coastline and were still far away from the inland city. How could they disperse here? !
Just as the radar officer was hesitating whether to report this abnormal situation to Dowding, a violent explosion was heard not far away, and then a white spot appeared on the radar screen, and nothing could be seen.
"What's going on?!" The huge vibration penetrated the thick concrete wall of the radar station, and the radar officer clearly felt the floor under his feet shaking.
The Germans are bombing? !
But there is no one living within a few miles here, and there are only well-camouflaged radar antennas on the ground. How could the Germans...
Boom!
Before he could think about it, a huge aerial bomb smashed through the roof of the radar station and directly stuck on the floor not far from the radar officer.
"!!" The radar officer felt as if his heart had stopped beating suddenly, and he watched stiffly as the delay device on the bomb slowly stopped rotating.
"Boom!" With a violent explosion, a strong shock wave accompanied by a blazing flame swept across the entire radar station, destroying everything it could touch.