Iron Cross

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Bad news came to the Eighth Army Headquarters one after another: after the tanks of the 8th Armored Division and the 151st Infantry Brigade were destroyed and the troop structure was disrupted, the remnants of the two troops retreated one after another and were in disarray. The situation of the 44th Infantry Division, which had lost its flank cover, suddenly worsened. It was also facing the division and encirclement of the German armored forces. If Montgomery had not acted decisively to push the 2nd Free French Brigade, the last reserve of the entire defense zone, to the front, the entire British southern position would be in danger of rapid collapse. De-Lagan sent a telegram in an extremely urgent tone: Order the tank troops of the 10th Armored Division to be engaged in battle before 3 pm! Because the 10th Armored Division and the 201st Guards Brigade were quickly mobilized to reinforce the west yesterday, the two forces left some artillery and infantry battalions that were difficult to quickly maneuver in the original area. The total number was less than 2,000, and they were also reinforced by Montgomery to the French Brigade for desperate blocking. Under the joint blocking of these mixed forces, the southern position was barely held.

The air strike force that Montgomery had high hopes for encountered a fierce attack from the German Air Force. After the fierce air battle in September, the British Desert Air Force carried out large-scale supplies. Faced with the situation of a large number of Fw-190 entering North Africa, the number of the latest Spitfire-9 aircraft began to increase in an attempt to compete, but the number was not large. Facing nearly 400 Fw-190As under Garland, the Spitfire-9 alone could not resist, and P-40, P-38 and Hurricane aircraft were needed to compete together. The problem was that the Spitfire-9 could still fight with the Fw-190, but other fighters, whether P-40, P-38 or Hurricane, were no match for the Fw-190, especially the Hurricane, which had the worst performance and combat effectiveness among this batch. Unfortunately, these fighters had to cover a large air raid fleet, so they had no choice but to suffer heavy losses.

Since Marseille became famous in North Africa with the BZ tactics, Garland summed up his experience and believed that the strict command system of brigade-squadron-squadron should not be strictly followed on the North African battlefield, but the essence of the BZ tactics of "fight and leave" should be fully utilized to carry out free hunting. Today, the task assigned to him by Guderian satisfied him the most - the three fighter squadrons did not need to be distracted to cover their own bomber fleet, but only attack the British fleet.

From 8 o'clock, far outside the southern airspace, the fleets of both sides had already collided fiercely. The battlefield airspace was from 6,000 meters to 2,000 meters. The British bomber group, which was caught off guard and could not adapt to the changes in German tactics, was shot down more than 50 in less than half an hour. The escorting British fighter group also lost more than 40 aircraft, but most of them were Hurricanes and P-40s. The loss of Spitfires was relatively small. The number of German losses was not as much as the British thought, a total of 27. Although the combat loss rate of Fw-190 and Bf-109 was basically the same, about half each, but in terms of combat results, the Fw-190 with solid protection and fierce firepower achieved one-third more aircraft shot down than the Bf-109.

Faced with such a fierce attack, the British fleet could no longer maintain a large fleet formation - that would mean taking the beating without being able to fight back. When it was more than 60 kilometers away from the battlefield airspace, the entire formation disbanded, hoping to disperse the attack by taking advantage of the fact that the British aircraft still outnumbered the German aircraft at this time. The escort aircraft used all their strength to entangle the German fighters in front of them to create conditions for the attacking aircraft group.

The Bf-219 squadron commanded by Galland himself had the most cunning combat objectives. They hung far behind their own fleet. When the British fleet first flew intensively, they did not engage in large-scale combat. They just watched coldly from the side and waited for an opportunity to eliminate the lone enemy aircraft. After the entire British formation was disbanded and broken up into pieces, they immediately rushed into the battlefield, and ignored the surrounding fighters at all, and only aimed at the British bombers and attack aircraft. In the previous British military campaigns to plug the leak, the American-made A-20 Havoc attack aircraft (called "Boston" in the UK), the Hurricane ground attack type equipped with anti-tank guns, and the "Handsome Warrior" heavy twin-engine fighter-bomber posed the greatest threat to ground forces. This special team composed of top pilots also kept a close eye on these aircraft.

Compared with the prototype of the Zero Fighter 32, the Bf-219 not only strengthened its speed, structural strength and defense capabilities, but also strengthened its firepower. The two wings were replaced with two German-made MG151/20mm cannons, with a single cannon having 150 rounds of ammunition. Due to the advantage of the amount of charge brought by Germany's special thin shell, the power of the German shells was almost doubled compared to the Japanese shells. In the middle, closer to the wing root, the original two 7.7mm machine guns were replaced with two MG131/13mm aircraft machine guns. Dr. Messerschmitt believed that this firepower enhancement was equivalent to the firepower output of the Bf-109 (1 30mm + 2 13mm). Although the lack of turret gun deployment made German pilots a little uncomfortable, after several trials they accepted the new layout and believed that this new aircraft, with firepower not inferior to that of the Bf-109 and stronger low-altitude maneuverability, would be able to fight even against the latest Spitfire.

Compared with the maneuverable Bf-219, whether it is the A-20, the Hurricane ground attack version or the handsome warrior, it is now as clumsy as a big bear. The British finally know how painful the Germans were in the bombing mission during the Battle of Britain. Both sides The positions were reversed - the Stuka was replaced by the A-20, and the Bf-110 was replaced by the Handsome Warrior. They were hit and crashed one after another, and less than half of the aircraft could successfully complete the ground attack. .

The British fighter jets a little further away also discovered the anomaly over the air raid battlefield, and desperately gave up the interception of the Fw-190 and Bf-109 in front of them to come to the rescue. However, the Bf-219s were too slippery to hold back. The British pilot finally bit his opponent and was caught again. It rolled away slightly. Basically all the British pilots had never seen the Zero, and they were not clear about the advantages and combat characteristics of the Bf-219. They got into dogfights and dogfights in a confused way and were led into it. The superior combat mode of the Bf-219, coupled with the fact that the Bf-219s were driven by top German pilots, soon these British aircraft that dared to engage in low-altitude dogfights were shot down, and the Bf-219 only lost one.

By about 10 o'clock in the morning, the two sides fought fiercely in this fierce air battle that lasted for more than 100 minutes. A total of nearly 300 aircraft were lost, of which the German side lost more than 60 aircraft, and the British side lost more than 220 aircraft (134 bombers). , attack aircraft and 89 fighter jets), a loss of almost 1:4. At this time, most of the British aircraft performing ground attack missions had completed their missions, and the short-legged Bf-109, Spitfire, and Hurricane were also running out of fuel. The pilots of both sides began to break away from the battle and return to each other with a tacit understanding. Preparing to fight again in the afternoon, the Desert Air Force adopted the method of bombers going first and fighter jets covering them. When they were almost separated from each other, the fighter jets would follow up to escort them and return.

The Bf-219 squadron led by Garland was the last to break away. They hung far behind the tail of their own fleet and flew away, as slowly as if they didn't want to go home. At the same time, their altitude was still gradually climbing.

"Sir, it's almost over - the planes of our team can still drive at least 1,000 kilometers with fuel left, and the ammunition is generally more than half left." The familiar voice of Lieutenant Starr Schmidt sounded in Garand's earphones, as Marceiu's A close friend, he was deeply affected by the change of fate but did not sacrifice. Instead, he became the number one ace of the JG27 wing after Marcelo returned to China. According to the requirements of the Air Force Staff, he will return to China in half a month to fulfill a term of at least 6 years. months of coaching.

"Very good, the captains will report the situation." The voices from each pair on the radio were similar to Starr Schmidt's.

"Awesome!" Garland roared, "All the troops, execute the assault plan, sprint..."

As this order was issued, all the fighter jets quickly turned around and pounced at the group of British aircraft that had just returned at a high speed of 600 kilometers per hour.

"Crazy!" The British officers and soldiers on the ground observed this scene, and opened their mouths in shock, expressing disbelief - the commander of these German planes must have lost his mind. Both sides have disengaged, so why are they still there? Pounce without mercy? There are nearly 300 British planes returning. What role can a mere 20 planes play? To take a step back, so what if we shot down the enemy plane? Don’t you want to go back to the airport?

The officers and soldiers of the attacking German ground forces also saw this scene, and their blood boiled with excitement. Although they did not understand why the commander launched such a "death attack," it was obviously an extremely brave act. They were deeply inspired and faced him again. The enemy launched a fierce attack.

"Let me tell you a secret, ha... we have more fuel!" Major General Garland in the cockpit began to laugh. This wretched tactic was learned from the Japanese - Japanese pilots often rely on fuel economy and range. Use the long distance advantage to defeat enemy aircraft. After Garland learned of this situation, he immediately prepared to do the same thing - the Bf-219's range after mounting large auxiliary fuel tanks can exceed 2,000 kilometers, and now there is generally two-thirds of the fuel left in the aircraft!

After a fierce and long battle, no matter whether the Spitfire, Hurricane or P-40 had much fuel left, they could only return smoothly at cruising speed, but the ghosts of the Bf-219s were constantly haunting them at this time. The British had no idea that the Germans would use such a trick. Several British fighter jets at the back of the fleet were shot down by the Garand Commandos before they could react. When a plane finally noticed something was wrong and called the police, the entire German air force The commando's sneak attack results have reached 7, but the pursuit is still continuing...