Iron Cross

"British planes are coming..." At 9:47, the tower sounded the alarm. This was the busiest time at the Alamein Airport under German control.

After a Me-323 was damaged, the landing of the remaining planes became more cautious. Although there were no crashes or other accidents, the speed was inevitably slowed down. Fortunately, Hamann led the paratroopers to grab enough time, otherwise it would be too late if they were to wait in line according to the 7:30 schedule. Of course, things should be divided into two parts. The initial plan did not expect that the commandos would control the airport so quickly, so it was prepared to let the Ju-52 and Ar-232 lead the subsequent paratroopers to continue the airdrop. Their priority was the highest - now it was obviously not needed, and the large-scale parachute operation was cancelled. On the surface, this seemed to slow down the speed, but considering the risk of assembly, obtaining supplies and possible separation, airdrops are far more reliable and effective than parachutes.

"Quick! Quick! Follow up! Follow up!" 52-year-old Air Force General Kurt Student, fully armed, stood by the runway with a gun in one hand and beckoned the paratroopers to get off the plane quickly with the other. He agreed with Hoffman's order to change the paratrooper rifle from FG42 to STG43, and to equip the paratroopers with the infantry anti-armor Panzerfaust No. 1, and to form an elite small unit instead of casting a wide net like in the Battle of Crete. He believed that the Führer understood airborne operations much better than Goering. In order to restore the reputation of the paratroopers and their status in the Führer's mind, he ignored the resolute opposition of the Air Force General Staff and his subordinates, and resolutely led the troops to fight forward in person as a general.

As 18 paratroopers poured out of the cabin one after another, the Ju-52, which had completed all the tasks, immediately accelerated forward and disappeared at the end of the runway, ready to fly back to Crete to carry out the next wave of missions. Everyone looked up at the sky. There were no transport planes stranded on the runway. The fighter planes finally landed, but the damn British planes came.

From 7:00 to 9:30 in the morning, the efficient German Air Force completed the landing and cargo unloading of 10 Me-323s, and 360 fully armed paratroopers completed the landing. Now there were 5 88mm anti-aircraft guns on the ground and nearly 2 battalions of elite paratroopers. Admiral Student believed that he could completely resist the British ground attack on the airport, but he had no way to deal with the threat from the air, so he could only pin his hopes on the fighter team.

After more than 4 hours of flying and circling, even though they had mounted auxiliary fuel tanks before departure and had taken various fuel-saving measures, the fighters still stranded in the air had fuel warnings to varying degrees. Although more than 10 Bf-109s had completed landing, the relevant fuel supply had not been completed. The paratroopers and the first batch of ground crews that followed the Me-323 were refueling them like crazy, hoping that they could take off as soon as possible to provide a protective umbrella for the airport - relying on 5 88 guns was useless. Even Student himself put down his weapons and flew over to help.

In order to cover the paratroopers' landing, Colonel Schroeder, who was in command in the air, temporarily adjusted the landing order. The fighters consciously gave up priority. Although this facilitated the paratroopers' landing, it put a lot of pressure on the fighters. Except for the first Fw-190 landed by Lieutenant Loew, all other fighters had not yet finished refueling. Now the Bf-109s can generally only stay in the air for another 15 minutes. Although the Fw-190 can last a little longer, it is less than an hour.

Faced with such a severe test, Schroeder calmly issued an order: "Entangle them, attack freely, fight to the last breath, cover the brothers who are refueling on the ground, and never let them bring damage to the airport!"

The pilots were told by their squadron leaders: Fight to the last moment. If the fuel is exhausted and the enemy plane is still there, then hit the enemy plane and parachute. Faced with such an unfavorable situation, all fighter pilots did not hesitate at all, but rushed forward without hesitation.

If there is any disadvantage of Alamein Airport, it is that it is too close to the enemy's airport - just 100 kilometers away from the Alexandria Air Force Base and only more than 230 kilometers away from Cairo Airport. Fortunately, General Alexander, who acted in a hurry, could not send more troops. In order to deal with the threat from Alamein, he ordered the air forces of Alexandria and Cairo to set out to meet the enemy as soon as he received the telegram. This batch of aircraft coming to the air strike was the fastest aircraft sent out. There were a total of 7 P-40s, 3 Spitfire 9s, and 5 Hurricanes, covering 6 handsome fighter bombers and 4 B-25s to attack.

The German planes rushed up fiercely and fought with the enemy planes. Lieutenant Love was in the front. Now he was the only fighter with full fuel, so he could fight without distraction.

"01, 01, you go to deal with the B-25, we will help you to entangle the fighter." The voice of the superior came from the headset.

"Received!"

He rushed up fiercely, and the huge B-25 immediately entered the field of vision of the windshield,

"Closer, closer." He planned to use a head-to-head attack method. This was summarized by his comrades who dealt with British and American air strikes on the Western Front. To deal with large bombers, which are thick-skinned and have fierce counterattack firepower, use 6 A tail pursuit attack in the o'clock direction is generally easy to fail, but a head-on attack is different. Not only can it pour more firepower, but it can also effectively reduce the probability of being hit. The two sides flew closer and closer, and Loew could almost see the nervous and somewhat distorted face of the pilot on the opposite side. He didn't care at all about the machine gun bullets floating around, and only stared at his own shooting aperture.

Finally, the B-25 entered the shooting aperture, "Come on, let's see who hits who first." He suddenly pressed the launch button, and the four MG151/20mm jets on the wing sprayed out blazing fire towards the opposite side, and the two sides exchanged fire. The distance has been from more than 1,000 meters to less than 250 meters. He knew that his aircraft cannon hit the opponent, but he did not know how many rounds the B-25 on the opposite side was hit, and he had no chance to check the opponent's injuries. He only subconsciously The ground tried his best to use the large mobile lever to escape upward - this was a way to save his life after the enemy attacked.

"Boy, you did a great job. You beat that guy down." Loew, who had just leveled up, heard the voice coming from the earphones. He looked down and saw that the B-25 was beaten so hard that it was on fire and fell to the ground. .

"It seems that the large bombers are not as difficult to deal with as they said..." Loew was just about to hum a few tunes when a bullet suddenly passed by the cockpit. When he looked back, he saw that a Hurricane was biting him, which shocked him. I broke out in a cold sweat, but the sneak attack Hurricane didn't get any advantage. It was quickly hit by the Bf-109 that followed and exploded in the air.

After nearly 15 minutes of fighting, the incoming Hurricane, Handsome Warrior, and B-25 were all shot down, and 3 P-40s were also killed. Only a few Spitfires refused to give up because of their good performance, but the result was that Their jaw-dropping scene soon happened. A Bf-109 that had run out of fuel dived directly from the sky and slammed into the tail fin of one of the Spitfires. It knocked the opponent down on the spot and seriously damaged it. The Bf-109 pilot also struggled to escape by parachuting. This scene frightened the remaining British fighter planes to pieces. In addition, there were German fighter planes taking off at the airport to fight, so they hurriedly escaped.

After the group's Bf-109s finally landed successfully, the ground crew discovered that their fuel tanks were basically empty. If the battle continued for another minute, they would all be weighed down. In order to win this battle, the losses of German fighter jets were not small. A total of 7 Bf-109s and 4 Fw-190s were shot down or crashed due to various reasons. However, the pilot losses were not significant.

But their heroic fighting at least repelled the enemy, and the airport was still firmly in the hands of the paratroopers. In addition to blowing up the Me-323 that had long been down and could no longer be used, the British aircraft did not gain anything else. No, Stuart breathed a sigh of relief. He finally withstood the British counterattack and bought time for the troops. The most lacking thing in the entire Kungunir plan was time. As long as there was enough time, Crete would There will also be a steady stream of aircraft arriving for support.

"Sir, the reconnaissance plane sent a telegram. The main force of the British Fleet H entrenched in Alexandria has all left the port!"

On the island of Crete, everyone who had been rejoicing just now for the successful landing at the port and the victory in the fierce battle at the airport received bad news. Now a very severe test is ahead of them, and the British's sharpest counterattack follows - —The total distance from Alexandria to Matruh Port is 135 nautical miles. If the British fleet moves at a speed of 20 knots, it will only take about 7 hours to arrive outside Matruh Port, and the strength of Fleet H is far greater than the current cover. Landing of the naval fleet.

"Where's the direction to Italy?"

Major General Gauss said quickly: "Marshal Kesselring has ordered the main force of the Italian Navy to complete the assembly and set off for Crete at the earliest around 1 p.m. It is expected to arrive tomorrow evening and provide cover for the second wave of landing troops. "

"Very good." Marshal Rommel nodded and calmly issued follow-up instructions: "Air cover cannot be stopped. The second aviation attack wave marches to El Alamein Airport. The Grossdeutschland Division that has landed has sent out an armored grenadier battalion and a tank company. Support the direction of the airport and repel any possible invading enemies. The remaining landing forces are responsible for destroying the nearby British Army. The landing fleet will complete the unloading of personnel and cargo as soon as possible and return to Crete to avoid encounters with the enemy fleet... As for the troops coming out of Alexandria British fleet, execute strike plan A4."