Iron Cross

Second Lieutenant Love was taxiing on the runway with a heroic attitude. His nerves were extremely tense at the moment. He had to report the actual situation of the airport to his superiors, and he was still muttering in his heart: "If... I mean if, there is a trick, I will pull up again and escape... I will not let them capture me even if I die... There are only sacrificed Loves in this world, not living Loves..."

But in the end, nothing happened, and he naturally couldn't pull up again. He could only park the plane steadily at the end of the runway - this was already intentional. If it was a normal landing, there would be no need to taxi for so long, half the distance would be enough. After he parked the plane and pushed open the cabin cover, he did not rush to get off, but picked up his gun and prepared to deal with emergencies.

A paratrooper was running over from a distance, complaining to him as he ran: "Hey, buddy, why are you dawdling? I've seen you circle three times up there, why don't you just want to come down? Speed ​​is of the essence, don't you understand?... We finally managed to gain some time, but you wasted it all."

"I don't understand why you guys are so fast, are you afraid it's a scam down there!"

The other party was stunned, and immediately asked back: "Didn't I tell you by telegram? Didn't you receive it?"

"Of course I received it, but it was too smooth, so fast that it was simply shocking - the superiors all suspected that this was a trap, and sent me down to die..." At this point he suddenly remembered that the intercom was still on, and hurriedly reported, "Report to the superior, everything is normal at No. 01, and we can land at the airport."

"Good boy, what did you say at the end? I heard it all."

"I said everything is normal, we can land."

"Not this sentence, the one before that."

"Nothing, just kidding... Well, superior, I'm in a hurry, let's talk later..." Loew turned off the intercom guiltily.

"Oh my God, are we guilty of controlling the speed too fast?" The paratroopers had heard clearly what Loew was reporting, and they almost couldn't stand up straight with laughter. At this time, Major Harman came out with a group of people, and there seemed to be prisoners behind them. As if to tell him why the battle was so smooth, a paratrooper grabbed a prisoner like an eagle grabbing a chick, and pulled off the other's headscarf, "Look, what is this, all Indians..."

"Oh my God, where are the British?"

"There are no British. General Guderian fought so well that the British went to support Tobruk. There is only an Indian division here, and a British brigade, which is said to be distributed near Mersa Matruh. It will take some time for them to react."

Facts have proved that Major Harman's estimate was wrong. While he was talking, the paratrooper who was on the lookout on the tower loudly reported that a large amount of yellow dust suddenly rose in the distance to the west, and it was suspected that the convoy was advancing rapidly. Judging from this posture, it should be a British team, with not only trucks but also armored vehicles. The only good news is that there are no tanks.

"This is probably because the British received intelligence and are coming to attack. Brothers, take charge!" Harman immediately deployed.

"Wait!" Loew turned on the intercom and yelled at the sky again, "Report to the commander, I'm 01..."

"Have you finished peeing? What's the matter?"

"The paratroopers have completely controlled the airport. Everything is going well. Now the British are launching a counterattack to try to retake the airport. There are trucks and armored vehicles, but no tanks. We request air support and hope that the aircraft can delay their attack."

"Received!" The fighter squadron leader immediately issued an order, "Squadron 7, immediately attack at the fastest speed to block the British convoy near the airport."

"Is it in time?" Harman asked.

"No problem at all. When I landed, a large group of planes were more than 100 kilometers behind me. We were delayed just now. When this enemy convoy arrives, our planes should have arrived too."

Haman signaled his men to prepare for the battle while carefully observing the air raid situation: the facts were exactly as described by Loew. When the British convoy was about to arrive around the airport, the German Fw-190 arrived. To support ground operations, these four planes were specially equipped with ground attack rocket kits, four rockets per plane. Seeing the enemy convoy rolling in the wilderness, the pilots were unwilling to miss such a good opportunity, so Haman and others witnessed a fireworks show with their own eyes. After 16 rockets were ejected one after another, the British convoy was blown up, and the four Fw-190s felt that this was not enough, so they pulled up again and used aircraft machine guns and machine guns to strafe the ground. Under the coverage of the 20mm MG151's hot firepower, not to mention infantry and trucks, even armored vehicles could not stop it. In less than 15 minutes, the British army's impromptu counterattack failed. All the troops fled in panic, leaving only corpses and broken wreckage on the ground, without even a wave.

"This rhythm is not right..." Love asked in confusion, "When did the British become so incompetent? If they had known this, they should have crossed the channel and occupied Britain last year."

"You can't figure it out... Look at them and you'll figure it out." Harman pointed to the Indian prisoners who were being ordered to work by the paratroopers in the distance, "I asked the prisoners, and the troops around here are all from the 4th Division of India. Except for a few British officers, the rest are all these stupid and stupid colonial soldiers - it's good to use them as coolies, they are very obedient and submissive, and they do whatever they are told to do."

By this time, Loew finally figured out the ins and outs of the whole thing: Because the attack in the direction of Tobruk was too fierce, Montgomery transferred all the troops he could mobilize to the front line, and in the end only one Indian 4th Division was left - -Because this division is of no use up there, it is better to deal with logistics and supplies, so whether it is paratroopers or air force attacking the ground, all they encounter are Indian soldiers. There is another reason why airport control is so easy, because the Desert Air Force has been responsible for operations in the direction of Tobruk. The airport near El Alamein is too far from the front line, and the short-legged Spitfire and Hurricane are simply out of reach, and the British have been coming for days. The battle between the German and German air forces was fierce, and the Desert Air Force suffered heavy losses. General Ted ordered the squadrons to shrink their forces and concentrate their forces. The Alamein airport was temporarily abandoned by the Air Force. Not only were the aircraft, spare parts, fuel and other supplies taken away, but also The guards and anti-aircraft guns were also removed, otherwise it would not be the Indian soldiers' turn to defend. The officers of the 4th Indian Division did not take this empty airport seriously and casually placed a company here. This small force was no match for the elite paratroopers, so they captured it without any effort.

He laughed loudly: "I see, but you should explain it in detail to the rear. The officers are all worried that it is a trap..."

The senior officers on Crete finally saw the detailed report sent back by the paratroopers, and everyone was finally relieved. Keitel, who was in a good mood, actually made a joke about Major General Gauss: "This unexpected situation It shouldn’t be in the plan you prepared, right?”

"This... it really does happen. But our most optimistic estimate was 15-30 minutes, but we didn't expect it to be a full hour ahead of schedule."

Hoffman nodded happily: "Send a telegram to Guderian and tell us what's going on here, and ask him to try his best to hold off Montgomery."

Yodel laughed: "Führer, you owe him a big medal."

"Then write it down and cash it in when you return home." Hoffman also laughed.

"Now we are waiting for the landing in Matruh Port. I really look forward to the Indian soldiers..." Zeitzler also changed to a relaxed tone, "No wonder the Indians were colonized by the British for so long. Now I can't say anything about Japan." I was suddenly curious about how much I had achieved in India.”

At Matruh Port, the huge landing force was close enough to visually observe the port, and it was still not "greeted" by enemy artillery fire. The port was dilapidated, and the berths and docks seemed small, but that didn't matter. The key was that the enemy troops guarding the port seemed outnumbered and unprepared. Through the lens of the telescope, Major General Hermann Balck, the commander of the Grossdeutschland Division who followed the first wave of troops (originally he was still the commander of the 11th Armored Division, but it was Hoffman who considered his illustrious reputation in history and asked him in advance He took over the position of commander of the Grossdeutschland Division and could already spot the panicked crowds running in the distance. He smiled. He had just received intelligence from the direction of Alamein Airport, and his confidence in the success of the landing was greatly increased.

He told the adjutant: "Inform the fleet not to fire guns yet and see if we can force the enemy to surrender."

"Surrender?" the adjutant's eyes widened. "How is this possible? Besides, how can we cover the landing without firing artillery?"

"We are about to take control of this place. All port facilities should be our property. How can we destroy them so easily? I still hope to continue to use this facility to open up channels for follow-up troops!" Balk said with a smile, "Don't be nervous, the enemy's The strength is very weak.”

"Then, how can we suppress the firepower without firing?" the adjutant asked doubtfully, "I saw the enemy manipulating the artillery behind the bunker. Could they have set up an ambush and are waiting for us to crash into them?"

Balk shook his head, thinking that this possibility was very small, but he did not dare to take it lightly: "Let the tanks go up first, test the enemy's firepower, be careful, let the fleet be ready, and fire immediately if there is any problem."

The Sibel-class landing barges dispatched by rail transportation immediately began to charge forward. Near the beach, they opened the front cover and lowered the tank. The load capacity of a landing barge is about 80 tons, and the length and width are just enough to accommodate three No. 4 vehicles. However, unlike the U.S. general-purpose tank landing craft LST, this barge has a larger draft, so it can only be used far from the coast. Anchor will be anchored farther away, but this is not difficult for the Germans. The tanks have been specially treated and equipped with a full set of diving equipment. Not to mention wading forward, even swimming is no problem at all. One No. 4 after another The tank roared and drove slowly forward.