Chapter 226: Rise of the Red Baron
Fielding dedicated fighter aircraft was not exactly something anyone had planned for—other than Germany, that is. It was because of this that the Germans pretty much established air supremacy around their own borders.
Opting to ensure their planes detected enemy movements and coordinated attacks with other assets on the ground, such as tanks and armored vehicles, they employed a form of combined arms tactics that the world had not yet truly begun to understand.
The way it normally worked was that German planes acted as either reconnaissance or ground attack craft. They would spot enemy movements and send their positions back to intelligence over the radio.
Meanwhile, a strike would be coordinated on the enemy position in conjunction with artillery, bombers, and any armored reconnaissance assets hiding behind enemy lines that were in a position to strike.
The result of this was rather devastating for the French and British troops that dared to attack Germany's borders. The Germans did not shy away from the opportunity to utilize such tactics in Luxembourg, where the battle lines had advanced after France violated the unarmed neutral Grand Duchy's sovereignty without provocation or notice.
Leon found out rather quickly that escaping the eyes of German pilots in the skies was the fever dream of a madman. Because of this, both the French and British began investing in air power and fighter planes that could compete with the He-51s employed in substantial numbers by the German Army.
Drastic measures were needed to combat German air supremacy. Because of this, France basically strapped a machine gun onto the top of the Nieuport 10, allowing it to be fired via a serpentine lever by the pilot.
It was not exactly what one would call an original or well-thought-out design, but quite honestly, it was more or less the same thing they did at the start of the war in Bruno's past life. There were obvious problems with this design, and to put it simply, it was inferior in every conceivable way to what the Germans were fielding.
From the French perspective, it was better than not contending for the skies at all and instead having all their reconnaissance planes either shot down or forced to flee the moment they spotted German fighters in the distance.
Because of this and their newly retrofitted "fighter planes," the French boldly decided to contest Germany over their own airspace-or at least they would have if Germany had not mustered a force of its own to prevent them from reaching the border.
Frankly speaking, Bruno had gone overboard with preparations for the war. The border defenses were completely impenetrable by the enemy, and this included the WWII-era anti- aircraft weaponry they were fielding. The 2cm Flak guns alone were more than enough to obliterate every single plane the French tried to use to cross German borders.