Schlag Zuerst Zu!
March 22, 1940
Somewhere Over Rectan-Belka
Hauptmann (Captain) Ernst Reins was at just above 75 feet off the ground, sticking to the rural areas away from the final few cities before the Belka-Wielvakia border. His green and gray Bf 109E was fully armed, fully fueled and partially shrouded in the dawn light. Ernst used markers on the ground, namely intersections and major landmarks, to guide himself through the dark. The rest of the six-plane flight was spread out over several miles, each plane on its own for now to avoid getting jumped before they hit the border by some nervous Wielvakian pilot who figured out they were descending upon the country by accident. Luftflotte 2's command didn't want any delays on this one and neither did the Oberstleutnant (Colonel) of JG 126. The "Silver Lances", as it was said in Osean or Lenish, was tasked to help prevent the Wielvakian Air Force from getting off the ground.
Their target was the airbase near Płaskorama, which housed two of the WAF's nine squadrons of Hawker Hurricane Mk Is. The Lenish-built fighters represented the greatest threat to the Belkan push into the country. After that, the next best thing they had were a fleet of woefully outclassed but numerous P.11s. The 109s were to either strafe them while they were still on the ground of shoot them down as soon as they got airborne. The were also directed to destroy the base's vital organs itself, or at least what they could with cannons and machine guns. At the same time, six Ju 88A-4s were due to hit the nearby town's steel plant. Ernst looked down, referenced his navigation aides again, and felt his skin tingle; they were over the border now. He turned on his radio and cleared his throat.
"Silber Leader to flight, close into pairs and proceed to Storm One." He radioed.
Silbers Two through Six sent their acknowledgments and started to close in. Leutnant Klaus Von Mehner, Silber Two, settled into place behind and left of the Captain. They stayed at their current altitude and speed while the rest of their flight burst up towards the sky. Ernst peered ahead and looked for any signs of Wielvakian fighters that were airborne. So far there was still nothing. They'd achieved total surprise; even with one of the region's biggest armies at their doorstep, the Wielvaks hadn't done a damned thing to stand their ground. Ernst felt insulted, and baffled. Not even the dumbest politicians could be this blind. It had to be them, in the end; the soldiers, sailors and airmen of the country he was over were trained to think tactically. He looked up and saw flak bursts darkening small bits of the sky.
"Silber Leader to flight, any sign of the WAF?" he asked.
"Negative sir, I don't see anything." Silber Three, one Hauptmann Otto Frenkel, reported. His wingman, Leutnant (Lieutenant) Rolf Weilsel, had the same to say.
The lack of an immediate air threat could be grounds for either concern or satisfaction, but that didn't matter now. Ernst was calm and alert, feeling very much like he had towards the end of his time in the Auerlian Civil War when he'd been a member of the Auerlian Knights. He felt that same cool, aware state of mind where he felt like he could detect anything. His eyes swept back and forth, breaking the pattern only to sweep his glance across a picture of an Auerlian woman dancing. He kept his eyes away so Maria wouldn't thaw that cool. He selected the single 250-kilogram bomb and set his two wing tanks free. He spotted a clearing through the front of his boxy canopy and recognized the low lights and general shape of an airfield. The home of the I/133 Fighter Squadron seemed to bloom before him. On the far side, he saw brief flashes; AA guns. Too late now...
"Silber Flight, attack!" Ernst howled.
As the airfield's details became apparent, The Belkan pilot noted that there were several Hurricanes rolling about, a pair of which were hurrying down the runway. Ernst ignored them for a minute and aimed his plane at the airfield's main fuel dump. With a press of a button on his stick, he let the single bomb go and pulled off to the right. For now he needed to take care of the aircraft still on the ground. A few Hurricanes could be dispatched; the whole squadron could not.
"Silber Two, break!" He ordered.
Ernst pulled the stick back and zoomed away from the growing explosion. Shell bursts from the Bofors AA guns below dotted the sky with black puffs in a near instant, pausing only as the crews shoved more shells into the feeds. Ernst spiraled up, looking over both shoulders for the Hurricanes that'd taken off, and caught a glimpse of someone else's bomb washing a pair of hangars in fire and shrapnel. He spotted two of the aircraft banking around to the left towards the Belkan attack's left flank. Ernst selected his MG 131s and nosed over to the right, swooping back down above the remaining Silber aircraft that were coming in to bomb the airfield. The two Hawker products made a single pass as Silber Five, Hauptmann Kriegler, was breaking left into them. Ernst triggered his guns and started to roll inverted to follow them.
The two Hurricanes broke apart, one turning to face Kriegler while the other went up to foil Ernst's attack. The Belkan smirked a little; the pilot in the enemy plane was hinting at skill. Ernst was glad; he had no intention of mowing down a bunch of hapless lemmings. The two planes passed each other and the Hurricane twisted above the 109 to swoop back down on it. Ernst broke to the right and came back to the left as the Hurricane pulled from its dive and turned into the oncoming Belkan. Ernst struck at him aggressive and fired, but his bullets went over the spine of the Hurricane. The two crossed paths and the Hurricane gladly grabbed the offensive position. Unshaken, Ernst pushed away and above, grabbing for maneuvering room and distance. His Bf 109 was able to outrun the Hurricane with ease.
"Silber Two, what is your status?" He asked as he went to the left.
"A little dinged, but I believe I am okay, Rentier." Klaus replied.
"Good good, now get over here."
"Understood, Herr Hauptmann."
Ernst couldn't help a snort at his friend's penchant for snark even as they were in the middle of a fight. Not ignorant of the Hurricane swatting at him with its four machine guns, Ernst dove into the attack and stared up out the top of his canopy at the ascending Hurricane. With more speed, he could position himself faster than the Hurricane was moving. The WAF pilot lowered his nose to follow the Belkan and soon stopped firing as it became apparent his bullets weren't getting anywhere near the Belkan fighter. The Hurricane settled into a dive to gain some more momentum while Ernst swept towards the airfield. He looked back to see if he'd lost the Hurricane, then looked forward and, on instinct, pulled back the trigger on his stick. Beneath him, the last intact Hurricanes were spinning their engines, trying to get organized and airborne. Ernst made it brief before he pulled away again and ascended, the Hurricane in hot pursuit.
The two planes pushed to the northeast of the field, towards Płaskorama. Ernst turned away from the fight to avoid leading the Hurricane towards the Ju 88s and rose up again. He considered cutting the throttles and breaking hard, but he didn't know what this Wielvak might pull. Instead Ernst stayed out ahead and weighed his options on how to grab the offensive position from the Hurricane. A stalemate; he'd never imagined such a thing would happen. Despite his inner pride he saw few ways to break it. The man turned to the left and scanned the skies for the shape of another Bf 109. There were several more Hurricanes than he'd initially thought were in the sky, but the radio had remained free of frantic calls or anything suggesting someone had been shot down. It didn't look like the WAF pilots were too organized, either. He saw perhaps one pair of the Hurricanes together. They were locked in a near-perfect stalemate? Ernst could tell, even as he rose towards the sky again.
"Silber Leader has a bandit on his tail. Is there anyone available to assist?" He called.
"This is Silber Three, where are you Lead?" Rolf asked.
"Above the airfield, Three. Ascending as we speak."
"Okay...okay I see you. Hang on, Herr Hauptmann!"
To make it a bit easier for his subordinate, Ernst eased back the stick and made a steady loop, going ever higher into the sky as he ran from the grasp of the Hurricane. The WAF fighter was pushing as hard as it could to reach him, aiming to cut off the Messerschmidt as it dove downwards. Tracers flashed by the Belkan's plane, briefly by the edges of his wings. Ernst felt the cool thaw for a second as he wondered if the next rounds would stab through his wings, but felt himself cool again when he heard nothing akin to hammers striking metal. Ernst pulled back on the stick and brought his nose to bear. He selected his 20mm cannon in the nose, assured it would finish the job in a few shots. He spotted another Bf 109 at the upper edge of his vision and stayed low while Rolf came down on the Wielvakian fighter. Ernst finally throttled back and pulled to the right, pushing his nose almost all the way up before sliding it down to the right towards the Hurricane as it broke defensively. He saw Rolf turning back into the WAF fighter and stopped him before he could shoot.
"He is mine, Three!" Ernst interrupted
Grudgingly Rolf pulled away and turned around to search for another aircraft tyo prey upon. The Hurricane brought out its turning advantage to foil the first attack by Rolf, but ended up pushing across the front quadrant of Silber Leader's aircraft. The Belkan triggered his Mk 108 and punched through the sky, but failed to get the angle needed. He saw the eagle's head against the red shield of the WAF atop the green and gray camouflage. He turned to follow the Hurricane through its left cross and found the Hurricane reversing again and throttling up to extend towards the outer edge of his guns' effective range. Ernst turned his speed advantage around to keep up and followed the fleeing Hurricane as it pushed towards the skies. The Hurricane snapped to the right and pushed its nose down to flee towards the inner lands of its homeland. Ernst shot past him and rolled to pursue him. The Hurricane snapped left briefly, but Ernst reacted fast enough now. He saw a single shell punch through the base of the Hawker product's tail. The Hurricane rolled and swung down into a dive again, its pilot apparently shaken.
Ernst cautiously followed the enemy plane down as it tried to get low, where men on the ground would have a better chance of engaging the pursuing 109. Ernst didn't see any flashes or tracers, nor did he care. Cool sweat trickled down from his dark-brown hair and down his neck as he set the forward path of the Hurricane in his gunsight. He drew in a breath and triggered the 108 again. The weapon thumped away and the Hurricane flew right into the stream of fire. Parts of the machine exploded in puffs of metal and dust, then the back half of the machine caught fire. Ernst pulled away as the Hurricane started to gain speed while it glided down towards the trees. He circled around to the left and peered down as the wreckage of the fighter plowed into the ground. There was no sign of a pilot.
"Silber Five, Silber Five bail out!" He heard Klaus bark.
"The bastard is going up to your left, Two! Turn into him and pursue him!" Silber Six, piloted by Leutnant Stefan Müller, called.
Without looking that way, Ernst bored in on the airfield again. He searched the sky for the other Hurricane and spotted it as Stefan and Klaus pushed up after it. He then noticed that two more Hurricanes were pressing after the Luftwaffe fighters.
"Silber Two, Silber Six, break! Bandits at your seven!" He snapped over the airwaves.
As Ernst looked forward again before he turned, he saw a shape pass behind the control tower. Another Hurricane appeared out from behind the structure; Ernst slowed and turned hard left and fired his cannon several times, grazing the WAF fighter's right wing. He passed behind the Hurricane, throttled up again and started turning to come back at the bandit, angling his turn to try and avoid draining all of his energy. He passed the Hurricane nearly head-on and watched it pass by on his left. He noted the unit insignia and realized that it wasn't the local squadron's. Reinforcements...he keyed his radio and cleared his throat.
"Gelb Leader this is Silber Leader, requesting assistance. It appears that the Wielvakians have pushed their Hurricanes to the front." He radioed.
Across the border, 12 more Bf 109s of JG 23, the "Yellow-tailed Geese", pushed their own Messerschmitts towards the growing fight. Both sides were committing their main bodies now as the sun rose above the countryside. Like the blacl eagle that served as its symbol, fighters and bombers nullified the border, looking more like swarms of grasshoppers than planes. Below, stoic Wielvakian border guards watched as the planes passed over in flights, each bearing the symbol of their northwestern neighbor. The Luftwaffe had come to call Wielvakia's number, and with it the world was about to be plunged into the rage of battle.
