Iron Cross

"Bastard, beast..." Royal Navy Admiral Cunningham stood in the lifeboat and couldn't help but stand up, pointing at the sky and yelling angrily.

At 11:55, the second wave of attacks commanded by Mitsuo Fuchida returned to the battlefield where the air raid had just been carried out, targeting the destroyers that were still rescuing the fallen officers and soldiers. Although the destroyers tried their best to resist and dodge, the explosions from more than ten ships continued. Under constant attacks, it didn't take long for these destroyers to be sunk, and the people who had been rescued not long ago fell into the water again. This result was still within Cunningham's expectation, because he already knew that the Japanese sent not a small fleet or a squadron, but the entire main force of the combined fleet-he estimated that there were 300 aircraft.

Faced with this kind of power, it was impossible for his fast column to match it, so even if he was in such a predicament, he was still glad that the slow fleet did not come up together, otherwise it would have been a complete failure. But the scene that happened next made Cunningham burst into tears - after sinking all the warships, the arrogant Zero fighter flew to a low altitude and unscrupulously fired at the sea surface with its aircraft machine gun, harvesting those who had no room to resist. The lives of officers and soldiers who fell into the water. From Fuchida Mizuo's point of view, he thinks this is no big deal. Didn't the person below who fell into the water not surrender yet? Since they are still enemies without surrender, the chief of staff still said "take no prisoners."

"Pull him down quickly." Peters felt something was wrong and shouted loudly, and several staff officers hurriedly pulled Cunningham down, who had completely fallen into a state of rage. Sure enough, before everyone could sit down, a shuttle of bullets had already passed by the previous location, and all of them fell into the water. If it had been another second at night, Admiral Cunningham would have been loyal to the British Empire. . When the Zero War pilot saw that he had missed a hit, he did not continue to struggle. He flapped his wings and pulled them up again to fly away. He was still in a hurry to attack the transport fleet, and had no idea that he had just missed such a valuable target. .

"They went to attack the transport echelon. I don't know how many of George's men will survive. I must avenge this." Cunningham said through gritted teeth with veins popping on his forehead.

"Alas..." Everyone on the boat sighed.

"It's better to find a place to land first, otherwise we will have to die in the sea." Peters turned his inquiring eyes to Cunningham.

The latter nodded and said in a very sad tone: "The Japanese planes will come again, and they must spread out... It will be easier to escape after dark."

Cunningham's estimate was good. His new friend Patton was in a worse situation than him at the moment. Less than 3 kilometers away from the coast, the Japanese aircraft group following them like a demonic shadow arrived again, with only a dozen sorties. During the dive bombing, the four destroyers that had been conscientiously guarding the transport ships were all bombed and sunk. His adjutant, two confidential staff officers, and the driver were all killed by the bombs. Only he miraculously survived. Not even hurt at all.

Originally, based on the destroyer's top speed of more than 30 knots, he had a chance to land first and not encounter a second round of attacks. However, Patton did not want to abandon his troops and escape first, and still insisted on fighting with the large forces of the 2nd Armored Division. At the same time, we would rather run slowly towards the coast at a speed of less than 19 knots. Perhaps God opened his eyes, this time the transport ships in the transport echelon actually did not malfunction, and all of them rushed towards the coast at maximum speed with all their strength - that was where they could survive.

But the destroyer was still sunk. In the end, Patton had no choice but to jump into the sea holding a lifebuoy that someone gave him, and then rowed desperately to the shore.

After jumping into the sea, Barton realized how lucky he was - fortunately, this was the Horn of Africa near the equator. If he were in the North Atlantic, the cold water in December alone could freeze people to death. But even so, he couldn't help but tremble several times. The strong physique of his youth and the habit of focusing on exercise developed during many years of military service finally came in handy in a life-or-death situation. The nearly 50-year-old man can swim as fast as a young man. In order to speed up, he also struggled to get rid of the obstructive boots on his feet.

"Help me...save me..." Not long after swimming, there was an arm struggling desperately 10 meters in front of him, his head floating in the sea.

"Hold on, buddy." Barton swung his swimming ring in front of the opponent, "Hold this..."

The desperate man clung to the swimming ring, and after a while he poked his head out, spitting out the seawater and gasping for air.

"Man, you can't do it if you don't know how to swim." Barton swam a few steps and walked to the edge of the swimming ring, teasing him playfully, "This should also be a combat skill."

"Hey, I'm from Utah. I never even saw the sea before I joined the army. Thank you very much today, otherwise I would have died here, this damn Japanese devil." The corporal opposite spoke intermittently. While turning his head with difficulty, he wanted to see clearly who the person who saved him was.

"Ah...you are General Patton!" he suddenly exclaimed.

"That's right."

The corporal hurriedly tried to return the swimming ring to Patton, but before he could push it away, he just let go and fell headlong into the sea. Patton caught him with quick eyes and hands.

"Don't show off, swim faster, or you will really die here."

"Thank you, thank you." He kept expressing his gratitude - not only did someone save him, but it was General Patton himself.

What a shame! What a shame!

Patton didn't pay attention to the matter of rescuing people. It was just a trivial episode. What filled his heart was completely the hatred for what he had experienced today, as well as worry about the next move - the Japanese plane was still hovering overhead. Woolen cloth.

He could clearly see that although officers and soldiers on each transport ship spontaneously fired anti-aircraft guns and machine guns into the air, they were obviously no match for the aircraft. The aerial firepower was extremely fierce, and American officers and soldiers fell on the anti-aircraft gun emplacements one after another.

Mitsuo Fuchida was also disturbed by the sudden anti-air firepower from the transport ship. However, although this firepower caused some trouble to the aircraft, he still had to be grateful for the existence of these counterattack firepower, which allowed him to It is justifiable to use firepower to suppress rather than use bombs to sink - otherwise the planes would have been too obvious watching the Americans landing on the beach, and there is no guarantee that the Americans would not think of other aspects.

With a "bang" sound, the bow of a 12,000-ton transport ship hit the shoal heavily, and then stopped moving.

"Stranded...Run! Otherwise, everyone will die on the ship!"

Groups of U.S. soldiers braved air fire, jumped into the sea along the ropes, and swam hard to the shore. Although the transport ship ran aground, the current water depth was still more than enough to submerge one person. They must escape as soon as possible. You have to go ashore to survive. More and more U.S. soldiers jumped out of the transport ships and fled to the shore. Except for the field backpacks and rifles they carried with them, they could not bring any other supplies with them, so they had no choice but to give up. Many people did not even bring their rifles and jumped into the water. Stumbling towards the beach.

As more and more U.S. troops climbed up the shoals and rushed inland, Mitsuo Fuchida's main target of attack finally shifted. Instead of continuing to deal with the transport ships, he began to straf and bomb the U.S. troops on the beach. The corporal who had just been rescued by Patton also wanted to run to the beach as soon as possible, but Patton, who had quick eyes and quick hands, grabbed him back and signaled him to continue holding on to the lifebuoy. At the same time, he hid at the end of a transport ship, not far away from the propeller.

"Don't rush up there, a lot of people will die there - the planes will give priority to targets that come ashore."

"But... didn't they all go up?" the corporal asked doubtfully, "If it was dangerous to go up, why didn't the officer stop them?"

"Stop? What to stop? Survival is human instinct. They have seen too many companions struggling in the water. Only land can give them a sense of security, so they will definitely climb up as soon as possible. Not to mention ordinary soldiers, officers are also now Same."

"Um..." The corporal was stunned, but couldn't help but ask, "Shouldn't the generals issue clear orders?"

"There was a sudden attack in the morning. It was not easy to find an escape route for the fleet to land on the beach. The whole team was in chaos. Even I fell into the water. Who could care about anyone in the chaos?" Barton said bitterly. He smiled and said, "Besides, are my words still useful now? Besides you, who else can recognize this person who has lost his hat and boots, is soaked all over, and is as embarrassed as a drowned rat?" General? If I shout, I will only become a target for enemy aircraft."

Even though he said that, Patton couldn't help shouting when he saw the soldiers ashore being knocked down by enemy planes one by one: "Spread out... spread out... hide in the water, hide in the water, don't worry Don't be in a hurry to get ashore..."

Only the smartest warriors realize that carelessly rushing to land is a dead end. Only by grabbing onto rocks or other objects near the beach and letting them sink, with only their heads exposed, can they have a chance to save their lives. . Of course, smarter commanders would have made the soldiers hide in the cabins and not get out. The decks were thick enough to defend against bullet attacks, and the stranded transport ship was no longer afraid of bomb attacks. In this regard, the British army is much stronger than the US military, because most of their officers have experienced the Dunkirk evacuation and know how terrifying it is to be exposed on the beachhead when planes attack wantonly.

More than 40 minutes later, Mitsuo Fuchida, who had poured out all the ammunition, led his team to leave with satisfaction. In the previous round of attack, more than 1,000 British and American officers and soldiers fell on the beach. The sea and the beach were littered with corpses. They The blood that flowed out dyed the sea water red - it was like a Shura hell.