The Kugelblitz ‘Ball Lightning’ had twinned-mount versions of the MK 103 cannon which meant each vehicle could fire 900 rounds per minutes. High explosive rounds poured into the air.
“Shit flak guns!” Jared shouted, “Everybody stay on mission, we are nearly there!”
To Jared’s left a B-17 took a stream of direct hits from the flak guns, his starboard wing completely separated from the airframe, the bomber lurched left before another stream of 30 mm shells decapitated the cockpit from the rest of the fuselage; it tumbled from the sky.
“Fuck it this is hell.” Jarad said out loud.
Brooklyn Johnson and his wingman had managed to maneuver behind the Me 109 who was devastating the bombers directly in front of him. The yellowed nose devil had taken down two of the bombers and had just fired a burst in the third, which was smoking but stubbornly carried on.
“Look Brookie the 109 has disengaged, he’s diving for safety,” Jimmy said.
“I see him; bet he has spent all of his ammo. Make sure he doesn’t get away.”
The two Mustangs stayed on the agile fighter’s tail while diving for the ground. Brooklyn was again in the lead and fired a burst into the fighter, the rounds hit just behind the cockpit causing the glass to smash. Brooklyn fired another two-second burst into the fighter as it continued to race towards the ground. The two American fighters followed for as long as they could but had to pull up, they watched as the German fighter did not recover and crashed nose first into the bomb-cratered field; the pilot never ejected.
The first of the bombers had now finished their bombing runs and had begun to turn for home. Jarad and his crew were not out of the woods yet though as his gunners were desperately trying to fight off a Me 109 who had locked onto their tail.
All the rear and mid-facing guns were firing furiously but the fighter disengaged and turned to face the B-17’s that were still attacking.
The Co-pilot wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Phew thank god for that.” He exhaled.
“Shut up ‘Woody’ before you…” Jarad was cut off.
Bullets shattered through the glass cockpit hitting Mark ‘Woody’ Wood and killing him outright. Jarad had been hit in the arm but he watched as the Me 262 streaked passed and continued to attack the bombers behind him. Jarad turned to Woody to see him slumped over in his chair with blood pouring from his open wounds. The controls of the B-17 were not badly damaged and she continued to fly.
Large explosions blossomed as another two B-17’s were hit by the flak guns; they spiraled earthwards and crashed into the fields below. The bombers next to them finished dropping their bombs then bugged out of the fight. Bombs detonated all over the surrounding area and German troops who were dug in just had to pray they were not going to get hit. An unlucky Panther medium tank took the full brunt and was immediately set ablaze; the smell of burning flesh drifted into the dense smoke filled morning.
The word had filtered through the SS troops that they were not being attacked by the Red Army and it was, in fact, the Americans who had appeared out of nowhere to launch a vicious air raid. The Germans felt a wave of relief wash over them as the Americans were more humane than their Russian counterparts.
Bombs continued to rain down on the German positions smashing two artillery guns into pieces and detonating an ammunition pile, a group of unlucky soldiers were caught in the explosion.
The fight had only been going on for just over five minutes now but some of the aircraft had begun to run out of ammunition. A Me 109 fired his last burst into the top of a B-17 as he dove passed but the resilient bomber carried on. The Me 109 was hit from a wall of fire from multiple Flying Fortresses and the fighter started to break apart but the pilot managed to get out just in time.
Shells continued to fill the air as the Kugelblitz crew trained her guns on the bombers overhead. The high explosive shells penetrated the underbelly of a B-17 that went up in flames within seconds, the crew tried to jump desperately and a couple jumped without parachutes to escape the inferno, they met with a grizzly end.
A Me 109 was hit with friendly fire from the Anti-aircraft guns and it veered off into a collision course with a B-17. The B-17s guns fired furiously but the two planes crashed causing debris to rain from the sky; the flying fortress span downward and finally impacted on a group of German anti-tank guns, killing everyone instantly.
Amongst the devastation Brooklyn Johnson and his wingman Jimmy weaved back and forth on the tail of a Me 262 who had started to strafe the incoming American ground troops. The German jet had just pulled up and started to accelerate away when suddenly he lost all thrust from the engines. The pilot tried desperately to regain control but his jet lost power and speed at an alarming rate.
This was Johnson’s moment, he was in position with the piper direct over the target, he squeezed the trigger and the rounds flew true. His cannons tore chunks out of his adversary and almost instantaneously the volatile jet fuel exploded, dowsing the rest of the aircraft in thick red flames, the plane rolled onto its left as the pilot managed to eject but he was too close to the ground for his parachute to open in time; Johnson looked away before the impact.
The last of the surviving B-17’s finished dropping their bombs and turned towards safety, it was at this point that the Luftwaffe fighters disengaged and began to strafe the ground forces with devastating intensity.
Brooklyn and his fighters were instructed to escort the bombers but in light of this new development they had to protect the troops on the ground. Brooklyn checked his fuel gauge and knew he would not have enough to get to home if he stayed but the mission came first and he and his boys chose to engage.
The bombers had caused a lot of damage; all the artillery guns were either destroyed or damaged. Two of the Kugelblitz vehicles were burning hulks, with a third tipped over on its side in a huge crater. A dozen anti-tank guns were completely destroyed and a lot of the troops were either dead or dying.
Despite this, the Waffen SS had prepared for this assault and had created bunkers for a lot of their armored vehicles. A mass of troops came out of hiding and manned their positions on the first line of defense and they waited until they could see the whites of the enemy’s eyes.
The Sherman’s advanced under strafing fire from two Me 109’s, they were not yet close enough to fire on the German positions accurately. Three loud bangs rang out across the battlefield, the muzzle flash gave away the positions from where the shots came but it was too late and three Sherman’s were quickly knocked out, the first to be hit was penetrated clean through causing the ammunition to explode and the tank went up in flames.
“Shit!” Commander Jim ‘Peter’ Parker said as he saw what just happened, he raised his binoculars and could see a concrete bunker with a Royal Tiger II tank sat underneath its protection. Parker admired the handy work for a second.
“All units we have dug in King Tiger tanks focus all fire on these positions, The German Bastards have protected them with concrete, we need to get in close and take them out from the side.”
The Tiger II heavy tank was a formidable opponent when out in the open but it had hidden a lot of its weaknesses by being dug into a position. It was free to fire its 8.8cm 71 caliber main armament with deadly precision. The shells could reliably penetrate the Sherman’s from a distance of 2000 meters. The Tiger II was more heavily armored than its American adversaries so the Sherman’s had to get in close and take it out from the side or from the rear; with the tank being dug into the ground it was going to be hard work for the Sherman’s.
The American tanks advanced as quickly as they could over the open terrain. Hidden German Tiger I and Tiger II tanks opened fire, they knew they had the advantage of range and now the bombs had stopped falling, their concrete shields had done their jobs, they could now enjoy rich pickings.