Today's London is no longer the capital of the prosperous British Empire in the past, but resembles a war fortress. Here, everything is in the service of war. Hundreds of thousands of people were mobilized, and after nearly a week of unremitting efforts, Hammurabi managed London like an iron bucket. Starting from 15 kilometers outside the city, a solid line of defense was built every 3 kilometers. The whole of London was guarded by 5 strong lines of defense. A large number of barricades were also built on every street in the city, and many fixed firepower points composed of heavy machine guns were also built on high-rise buildings. Hammurabi had every reason to believe that London would surely become the place where the French army broke its wings. Although the cost of doing so was very high, after the war, no matter what the outcome, London would be completely reduced to ruins. But for Hammurabi, as long as he can win the war, everything is worth it.
The entire defensive center of gravity of the city of London is concentrated in the south of the Thames River, which is also the focus of the French army's offensive. If the French army forcibly attacks London, even if it wins the final victory, the price it will pay must be quite huge. However, what Hammurabi did not expect was that Xiao Jie and his high command had never played their cards according to common sense. Of course they would not just watch so many outstanding soldiers die like this. In order to minimize casualties, Xiao Jie decided to launch a large-scale air strike on London to weaken Hammurabi's defense as much as possible so that London can be captured at a small price.
In order to realize this plan, the French Air Force began a large-scale transfer of factories to the UK. The French Air Force now has nearly 500 airships, large and small. In order to ensure the strength of the attack on London, the French General Staff ordered to mobilize 30 'fortress'-class airships, 50 large airships, 100 medium-sized airships and 70 small airships to the UK. Half of the entire French Air Force is concentrated here. Similarly, in order to welcome the arrival of these airships, since the 25th, the French army has built 17 large airship landing sites near London, and these works lasted for a week before they were completed. On July 2, all the airships participating in the war were mobilized to the United Kingdom, and all kinds of bombs were transported in place.
During this time, General Monty's troops finally won the Battle of Reading, completely defeated the British army, occupied Reading, and surrounded London from the west.
On July 3, the first phase of the air battle began. 70 small airships flew to the London area and began to seize air supremacy. The British airship force was not weak, and launched a fierce air battle with the French Air Force. Since the French Air Force achieved brilliant results in the bombing of Portsmouth, the British side has also begun to attach importance to airship troops. However, they invested too little time. After several months of overtime production, they only produced 120 small airships, and their performance and combat effectiveness were obviously not at the same level as those of French airships. Similarly, the quality of airship pilots also has a big gap.
At the beginning of the air battle, the British airship unit showed great courage. They bravely fought the French Air Force in the air. However, war is not controlled by courage alone, especially for high-tech arms such as the Air Force, this is particularly important. The speed of the British airship is far behind that of the French airship, and it is often the target of the French airship in air combat. The stability is also very bad, and various failures often occur. Among the 120 airships, at least 20 have withdrawn from the battle due to failures.
At 11 o'clock in the morning, the air battle was at its most intense. Countless airships that were hit fell like fireballs, including British airships and French airships, but the number of British airships was much higher than that of French airships. The pilot of the airship basically has no possibility of escape. Although the French airship force is equipped with parachutes, this is an area controlled by the British army. Once the parachute is captured by the British, it will definitely be torn to pieces by the angry British.
Countless British soldiers were lying on the battlefield to cheer for their airship troops, but the reality was extremely cruel. Most of what they saw were their own country's airships being shot down, while very few French airships were shot down. Whenever a French airship is shot down, there are always warm cheers above the British positions.
On July 6, a large-scale bombing operation by the French Air Force began. A large number of airships carried aerial bombs over the British defense line, blowing up the fortifications that the British army had painstakingly built. In the face of shelling, their fortifications may have a strong resistance, but in the face of air strikes, they appear very vulnerable. A large number of British soldiers huddled in the air-raid shelter, praying that the French bombs would not visit here. Although they are very confident in the air-raid shelter they built, if they are hit by continuous heavy aerial bombs, they will only be buried alive. Among them, some were really unlucky. The air-raid shelter was blown up, and all the people inside were killed.
War is undoubtedly a favorable catalyst for the development of science and technology. After being looted by the French Air Force for two days, the British army finally found a way to deal with the French Air Force. An artillery major fired a cannon into the air, damaging a large airship. After research, the major found that lengthening the barrel of the cannon and using high-explosive bombs could effectively deal with the bombing of the French Air Force. For a time, this method was vigorously promoted by Hammurabi. Originally Hammurabi watched the defense line being continuously destroyed by the French Air Force, and was very anxious. Now that he has found a way to restrain the French Air Force, he is naturally very happy. In fact, this did not have much impact on the bombing of the French Air Force, because their shelling accuracy was very low, and it was basically difficult to hit the French airship. After discovering this threat, the French airship also quickly increased the distance, which made it more difficult for the British army to hit, but this made the bombing accuracy of the French army also reduced a lot. After the war, the French Air Force Only 7 ships were shelled by British artillery.
On July 10, the large-scale attack of the French army began. At 9 o'clock in the morning that day, the French army invested a total of 4 marine divisions and 7 infantry divisions, and more than 150,000 people attacked the first line of defense of the British army. The British 8th and 9th Infantry Divisions, the 23rd, 24th, 25th, and 26th Infantry Divisions, the 3rd Cavalry Independent Brigade and the 4th Artillery Independent Brigade, which were responsible for defending the first line of defense, had a total strength of more than 100,000 troops. During the French bombing, the British army suffered heavy losses. After the French infantry launched an attack, they were basically powerless to resist. Only two hours later, they were defeated by the French army and lost more than 30,000 people. The Wan Can Army also fled to the second line of defense.
In the afternoon, the French army continued to attack the second line of defense. Responsible for defending here is the British 10th Infantry Division and the 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th Infantry Divisions, with a total strength of about 80,000. After being supplemented by the 50,000 remnants withdrawn from the first line of defense, the force increased to more than 130,000. However, the increase in troop strength did not lead to an increase in the combat effectiveness of the troops. After the British army withdrew from the first line of defense, after seeing the strength of the French army, they became frightened. When the French army launched an attack, they didn't even have the courage to resist, and they directly chose to throw away their weapons and escape. This situation seriously affected the British soldiers on the second line of defense, forcing them to be defeated quickly.
The two lines of defense of the British army were captured without any effort~www.mtlnovel.com~ Davu was overjoyed and ordered all the troops participating in the attack to launch an attack on the third line of defense after a short rest and replenishment. I hope that the third line of defense of the British army can be occupied at once.
However, the third line of defense, as a focus of the British defense, Hammurabi deployed a huge force here, including the 7th and 8th infantry divisions, and the 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, The 37th Infantry Division, the 6th Cavalry Independent Brigade and the 7th and 8th Artillery Independent Brigade have a total strength of about 150,000. In order not to be affected by the remnants withdrawn from the first and second lines of defense, Hammurabi directly ordered the 100,000 people to be withdrawn to the rear of London for rest.
At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the French army launched an attack on the third line of defense of the British army. They fought fiercely for 3 hours and wiped out more than 40,000 British troops, but they were unable to defeat the British army. He was very tired, and it was getting dark, so Davout had no choice but to order an end to today's battle. But, despite this. He was still extremely happy.
The results of the battle were also quickly spread to Paris. Xiao Jie, Dougal and Eke were also overjoyed after reading the battle report. In one day, two lines of defense were successively defeated, and the third line of defense was severely damaged, and more than 100,000 enemy troops were annihilated, while their own losses were only 9,000. This can be regarded as a huge record. If this situation continues, the whole of London will inevitably be occupied by the French army within a week. With the elimination of the main force of the British army, the end of the war is very close.