Here, on this battlefield, the USAAF and RAF squadrons were more numerous and focussed solely upon one front.
Also, the allied inventory included numerous highly efficient aircraft designs, many of which had capabilities way beyond those of the Luftwaffe encountered in the skies of Russia.
That was painfully true with the heavy bombers, a force that had been almost disregarded in some ways, and that was now throwing so many plans and timetables into disarray.
More and more of the Soviet Air Force assets were being employed to defend military columns or important communication centres, less and less in support of offensive operations.
Night operations were done at great risk, the Allied night fighter force having chopped most of their counterparts from the sky.
The larger numbers of ground formations overcame some of the problems, carrying territory by sheer weight of numbers, often at a cost made more expensive because of the lack of air cover or associated issues caused by interruptions to supply. Profligate expenditure of anti-aircraft ammunition brought regular rewards in downed airplanes, but air to air victories were growing fewer every day.
It didn’t take a genius to understand that the Soviets were losing the air war.
Certainly their Allied counterparts in Versailles thought that was the case, but the problems of constant withdrawal, and defeat after defeat, were more paramount in their minds.
The important decisions for the Allied ground forces now lay within the remit of officers in faraway places, be they Corps Commanders keeping control on their dwindling resources or battalion CO’s skilfully giving up ground at great cost to the advancing enemy.
In many ways, the battle was out of Eisenhower’s hands, the orders having gone out to Bradley, McCreery and the like, their leadership and generalship skills being tested as they strove to create order from the chaos.
Eisenhower busied himself with providing the means for his Generals to fight.
‘Trying to provide the means’, Ike thought, as he often felt he was failing in that regard.
Newly arriving units were organised and sent forward, savaged units were swiftly reinforced and rested on or nearby to the Rhine.
He harried the Germans and the Spanish, anyone who could provide him with more of the most essential tool of war; manpower.
Politically, he encouraged his civilian leaders to produce and deliver everything from tanks to bread, and more importantly, to get it to Europe in as short a time as possible.
The success of Japanese forces in China and the Pacific undermined his efforts with his own government, and he constantly saw assets he desperately needed dispatched to Slim, Stilwell, Nimitz and MacArthur’s commands. The British were more Europe-focussed but had fewer resources, having been burned out by six years of war.
An innovative approach to the German POW’s in the Americas might prove useful, based on the Council’s suggestion, although again, time played an important part.
Regardless of the momentary joy brought by news of a new formation now available, Eisenhower fully understood a simple truth.
The Allies were losing the war.
182 Squadron’s Blue Flight was on its second sortie of the day, all four aircraft in the air with a full load of rockets, and tasked to take out the bridges and railway in and around Luhdorf.
Flight Lieutenant Johnny Hall and the youthful Pilot Officer Andrew McKenzie each had a new pilot in tow, recently arrived replacements for comrades lost since the 6th August.
Turning to port over Garstedt, enemy light anti-aircraft fire reached up at the RAF ground attack planes, filling the sky with angry metal.
The eight Soviet Lavochkin fighters that had been tasked to overwatch Luhdorf had problems of their own, self-preservation being their only goal, as twelve Mk XVIe Spitfires of 603 Squadron RAF harried them. 603 had been due to disband in Scotland but had reassembled and returned to Europe the day before. Despite being configured as Lf versions for low-altitude work, the needs of the moment detailed 603 to act as interceptor/escort fighters for this operation.
The Soviet pilots had been fighting day in day out since hostilities started, and it showed. The fresher RAF pilots hacked three of them from the sky in as many minutes, and knocked important pieces off three more.
182’s Typhoons were unopposed as they approached their target.
The main road bridges running west out of the town were still ruined, having not been repaired since the devastating heavy bomber attack.
The rail bridge to the south of them, and the small bridge two hundred metres below that, were the targets for this raid.
Hall lined up the road bridge and quickly thumbed off his RP-3 rockets, all eight completely missing the bridge and doing nothing but chewing up the riverbanks, soaking Russian anti-aircraft crews desperately serving their weapons.
To add insult to injury, Hall’s Typhoon took a few hits in the port wing as he turned away, inducing a light flutter until he pulled out of his turn.
Pilot Officer Rawlings, former POW and new addition to Blue Flight, went next. He also failed to hit the bridge but inflicted more than a mere soaking on the Soviet gunners.
Two 40mm Bofors positions on the east bank were destroyed in an instant.
McKenzie lined up his target, and was about to fire, when his line of sight was obscured by a Soviet fighter. Hauling hard on his stick and pushing on pedals, the young Canadian skilfully managed to avoid the Lavochkin but almost struck the pursuing Spitfire.
The swift destruction of the Russian followed, but his attack run was ruined and he swept back into line, his rockets still in place.
Sean Dwyer was flying his first mission, having been with 182 for only two days since leaving his training squadron. He lined up the target and drove in hard through the flak, but his attack failed completely as he was unable to release his weapons, the safeties still on as fear and excitement took precedence in his mind.
His comrades were already formed up for a second sweep, but he was so thrown by his failure that he banked right by mistake.
The Russian M1910 Maxim was an old weapon but it was still in use in great numbers, as it was a reliable and effective weapon capable of six hundred rounds per minute. The Russians used them in a number of ways, and one particularly effective method was as the Quad AA weapon mounted on a Gaz truck or similar vehicle.
The Soviet 39th Anti-Aircraft Division boasted a large number of these weapons, of which eight were presently sat on the main highway north of Luhdorf, waiting their turn to cross the river by way of the damaged bridge at Roydorf.
Dwyer had banked right and was now lined up perfectly for the Soviet gunners, who made the most of their opportunity.
The Typhoon slowly disintegrated as scores of bullets struck home. The armour plating kept the aircraft flying, protecting many vital parts but nine bullets were already lodged in the most vital part of the aircraft and, with lifeless hands on the stick, the smoking aircraft rolled lazily into a right hand turn and crashed into the fields two kilometres east of Luhdorf.
Blue Flight commenced their second run, as Hall strafed the flak positions around the road bridge, successfully ripping a gun crew to shreds with his Hispano cannon.
Rawlings bored in and was rewarded with two hits on the bridge, either of which would have doomed the hastily repaired structure.
The remnants collapsed into the frothing water below.
McKenzie held his rockets back, contenting himself with a short burst of cannon fire, before falling back into formation again, ready to attack the second target.