"The Imperial Air Force would fully assist the Imperial Army in its offensive against Buru in this operation. The 1st Air Group, 2nd Air Group, 3rd Air Group, and 4th Air Group would each support the offensives of four Army Groups. In addition, the Strategic Air Force would be responsible for bombing Buru's strategic locations, major cities, and industrial bases!" Field Marshal Manstein continued.
An Air Force air group consisted of five air wings and more than six hundred aircraft. For example, the 1st Air Group included three Fighter Wings, one Dive Bomber Wing, and one Ground Attack Wing. Originally, the Army had wanted to bring the dive bombers and ground attack aircraft under its own command, but the Air Force naturally refused. The two sides wrangled over it for a long time. In the end, the Army still failed to get its way. Of course, the Air Force had also promised to fully support the Army in wartime. The reason the Army wanted control of dive bombers and ground attack aircraft was naturally to better and more swiftly support its offensives. Since that objective had been achieved, there was nothing more to say.
Oscar also knew that the Army had to possess its own air power. At his request, the Aeronautical Research Institute had already developed helicopters. However, the current helicopters were still crude and insufficiently reliable, and required further improvement. Their takeoff weight had to be increased further so they could be fitted with armor and weapons. Otherwise, once they went onto the battlefield, they would be nothing more than living targets and could easily be shot down.
Oscar hoped Germany's future helicopters could be equipped with machine guns and Rocket Pods, posing an enormous threat to ground forces. At the same time, with armor in place, they