The Man Cave: Stuka Ace: France Mission 2

07 June 2025

Stuka Ace: France Mission 2

Mission 2 — "Steel and Fire at Hannut"

12 May 1940 — Battle of Hannut Begins

Junkers Ju 87B Stuka II.StG2 (T6+xx) France 1940-01

The canvas of the operations tent flapped gently in the early morning breeze. The last 2 days had seen the Staffel running continuous operations in daylight hours, and maintenance and briefings before and after. The teams were tired but exuberant.

The Belgians were collapsing and the French and British were very slow in reacting to the German invasion. Voss turned his attention from his fellow pilots to ObLt Adler as he walked into the tent

"Good news, men—" Adler began, and the mood shifted instantly. Good news didn’t always mean safe news, but it meant progress.

The whole tent seemed to lean forward when Adler spoke of the 3rd and 4th Panzer Divisions advancing toward Brussels, and the French racing to meet them with their finest armored units. The names alone—S35s, Panhards—meant trouble. But trouble was also what the Stukas were built for.

"Fifteen hundred fighting vehicles on the field at the same time... the largest tank battle in history," Adler intoned with relish. The aircrew murmured—nervous, excited. This was history unfolding, and they had front-row seats with dive brakes and bombs. And given that this whole Northern front was a German feint, it meant that the French were falling for the deception.

Voss made eye contact with Milo across the tent. The gunner gave a half-smile and raised an eyebrow along with a steaming mug of kafe. Another big one. He didn’t need to say it aloud.

Adler’s final words brought it all home.

"Another busy day in the air—StG 77 is in the area as well, Heinkels will be smashing rear columns, and fighter cover will be tight. Our job is at the front line—slow the French advance down and give our boys room to manoeuvre. As usual*, we ignore the tanks - they move too fast to be effective targets. Focus on the infantry trucks and artillery parks. Smash those and their tanks will be isolated, and our Panzers will mop up. Good Hunting!"

(* this was Luftwaffe doctrine early in the war, Stukas went after less mobile targets and typically didn't engage tanks)

Maps were folded. Watches checked. Briefings concluded. The adrenaline buzz returned.

a rather remarkable shot of 500kg bomb immediately after release during a dive

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12 Mai 1940
Forward Airfield, Belgium
Feldpost 31729 B

Lieber Vater,

Grüß Gott - I can't tell you where I am of course, but I am well. I can tell you this much: today we gave the French a good kick in the trousers.

We took off just after dawn with Oberleutnant Voss leading our Kette. You’d like him, Vater. He’s sharp as a blade and flies like he’s part of the aircraft. Steady hands, clear voice, no nonsense. Reminds me of you yelling at me in the barn to keep my shoulders square with the beam. Except now the “beams” are columns of French trucks.

The mission went clean, with Voss's eyes glued to the map to make sure we got to the target quickly. Our Fighter cover glory-boys peeled off early to deal with some French planes reported to the South, but they left us a clear sky. We found our target soon enough - a convoy of infantry support trucks strung out in a lane near Hannut. Voss took us in low, real low, and we dumped our eggs right into the middle of them. I saw two trucks go up like kindling. One of them must have had fuel in the back — the fireball looked like the barn on fire when lightning struck the roof that summer. You remember that, right? Uncle Matthias never forgave the cow.

No flak, no fighters, and not even a radio jam. Just clean work and straight flying. Almost felt unfair. We were back before the coffee got cold — well, if you can call this black mud "coffee." Voss let me log the radio intercepts myself. Said I had “good instincts.” I’ll try not to let that go to my head.

The other boys in the Staffel are in good spirits tonight. Some of the older guys are even smiling — rare sight, that. We’re expecting to be up again tomorrow. Big things are happening. The officers are tense in that way that says they know more than we do.

Tell Mutter not to worry. My gear’s holding up, and my prayers are longer now than they were in training. The sky still belongs to the Luftwaffe. I miss the church bells on Sundays. All we get here are sirens and engines.

With love and mud,

Dein Sohn,
Milo