Iron Cross

This huge formation was sent from Iceland, consisting of 24 Swordfish and Albacore attack aircraft and 12 Hurricane fighters. Seeing the dark mass in the sky, Major General Bei looked gloomy and his face became ugly: although the Swordfish, Albacore and Hurricane were old, there were too many of them. More than 30 aircraft attacked at the same time, which was basically equivalent to one cover fighter to deal with two enemy aircraft. The "flying grid lines" were no longer carrying 500-pound bombs that were trivial to the main battleships, but aerial torpedoes that could cause fatal damage.

He turned his head to the aviation liaison officer: "When will General Richthofen's reinforcement aircraft arrive?"

"The telegram said that it was sent out 10 minutes ago..."

The aircraft carrier formation is about 120 kilometers away from the bombardment formation. According to this distance, the reinforcements should arrive soon. However, since he did not see the plane, Major General Bei could not relax his tense nerves. His tone was very serious: "Major, we have to ask them to find a way to hurry up, otherwise we will be beaten up. Jumping into the sea in this weather is not a good thing."

"Sir, I understand, I don't want to jump into the sea either!" The aviation liaison officer yelled at the radio, "Please fly at the maximum speed for the reinforcement aircraft. We encountered a large group of swordfish."

"Received! I will be there soon, guaranteed to be faster than the swordfish!"

The fact that the reinforcements have not arrived yet cannot actually be blamed on the improper response of the aircraft carrier formation. Although the latter has not been discovered by the enemy aircraft, some escort fighters must be retained for safety reasons. Therefore, the rotation of the cover aircraft group over the bombardment fleet will be carried out by gradual replacement. Richthofen's tactical arrangement was very detailed, reflecting the Germans' unique rigor. Since the Bf-219 could last for 5 hours, he gradually considered rotation from nearly 4 hours. Before the cross-rotation, the cover aircraft group on the aircraft carrier formation was divided into two echelons for refueling and replenishment.

During the replacement process, the aircraft carrier formation first let the support fighters fly over the bombardment fleet, and then the bombardment fleet fighters that began to undertake the cover mission in the early morning flew back to the mother ship for refueling and replenishment. After they took off again, the remaining aircraft over the aircraft carrier formation and the remaining unsupplied cover aircraft of the bombardment fleet were cross-replaced again, and then the replenishment process was repeated. The entire process will be completed within 75 minutes, and the core point is to ensure that there are aircraft cover over the two formations at all times.

After hearing the reply that came immediately, everyone's mood returned to calmness. Although the British aircraft group was close, their speed was too slow, almost only one-third of the Bf-219. Sure enough, just two minutes later, the lookout on the bridge shouted excitedly: "Sir, the support aircraft is here!"

"Very good, let's teach the British a lesson."

Seeing the arrival of our support aircraft, all pilots were immediately encouraged. From morning till now, they felt that they were fighting every moment. They fought against four consecutive waves of British aircraft by technology at first, will later, and almost instinct in the end. Everyone was worried: if there was another large wave of enemy aircraft, they might really be drowned in the sea of ​​aircraft today. Now that the reinforcement aircraft is about to arrive, their fighting spirit is immediately rekindled.

"The five aircraft with the least ammunition will stay behind, and the rest will follow me to charge first, entangle the enemy aircraft, and don't let them get close to the warship..." Wagner shouted with a throat intercom, "After teaching this batch of Swordfish a lesson, fly back to refuel."

As soon as the voice fell, six double-plane formations rushed towards the enemy aircraft. The five aircraft left over the fleet would make the final interception in case a British aircraft broke through.

12 German fighters soon intertwined with 36 British planes. Wagner's idea was clear: deal with the Hurricanes first, and leave those slow-moving torpedo planes to the reinforcements. This decision was also in the hands of the Hurricanes. They tried to delay the German escort fighters to create a breakthrough opportunity for the Swordfish. However, they obviously overestimated themselves. Whether circling, climbing or diving, the Hurricanes were no match for the Bf-219 and were completely suppressed. After just 2 minutes of fighting, 2 Hurricanes were beaten into the sea.

Five minutes later, the German reinforcements arrived at the scene and collided head-on with 24 Swordfishes. These slow-moving biplanes tried to break through the Bf-219 interception, but they were at a disadvantage in terms of firepower, speed and maneuverability. The heavy torpedo aggravated this weakness. Major General Bei saw clearly that the enemy planes had been diving down to more than 300 meters above the water surface, trying to avoid interception, but before they could disperse in the common fan-shaped array, the Bf-219s had already swooped down, and the 20mm machine guns smashed the wooden biplanes to pieces, and the people and torpedoes fell into the freezing cold North Atlantic.

Only 8 Swordfishes broke through the heavy blockade and pounced on them. They were divided into 3 attack groups, flying in a column, continuously descending in altitude and constantly approaching the warships. Seeing this, the last 5 fighters left over the fleet did not hesitate to take on the role of scavengers, ready to block the deadly attack of the enemy planes.

The officers and soldiers on the German ships were shocked by the dense formation of the British aircraft and their spirit of sacrifice - these actions seemed tantamount to suicide to them, while the British pilots were shocked by the excellent performance of the Bf-219. Although the Royal Navy learned about the performance and tactical characteristics of some new German aircraft from the Russians and the North African Air Force, they had never fought against the Bf-219 on a large scale. This time they finally collided face to face, and all the British pilots felt like they had kicked a nail board.

Watching the British aircraft flapping left and right over the sea but unable to find a suitable launch opportunity, one has to lament that the hero of Taranto - the Swordfish attack aircraft is too old, and many Swordfish and Big Mackerel attack aircraft have not yet entered. The bomb trajectory was blown up by the Bf-219 flying down or following. In the end, only 4 attack aircraft successfully dropped the torpedo. However, the place where they launched the torpedo was far away from the fleet, and the torpedo speed was not fast. It was easy to drop the torpedo. Avoided by artillery formation.

Seeing that nothing could be done, the Hurricanes, who had fought hard for a long time, finally decided to retreat. During this short one-on-one battle, the Hurricanes themselves lost 7 aircraft but only shot down one Bf-219, while 24 Swordfish\\Big A total of 17 mackerel attack aircraft were lost, and only 7 managed to escape by chance. Wagner could see clearly that several British attack aircraft could not break through, so they casually threw their torpedoes and ran away.

Seeing that some pilots were still eager to pursue, Major Wagner stopped them in time: "Don't chase... All fighters with less than 40 minutes of fuel or running out of ammunition will immediately follow me to the mothership to refuel and resupply... The other aircraft will be patient for the time being. "

At this time, everyone re-examined their fuel gauges, and some found that there was less than 20 minutes of fuel left... After Wagner gave the order, 13 planes left at once, plus the interception of the Swordfish just now One aircraft was lost, and only 14 aircraft remained over the fleet and were still operational.

At 10:27, Major General Bei looked at his watch again. The artillery formation was now 430 kilometers away from Iceland and more than 650 kilometers away from the Faroe Islands. He followed Machar's order and turned the troops northwest. But at this moment, the frightening siren sounded again, and the lookout post called for more enemy planes to come, no less than 20 in number!

Everyone secretly complained: there were only 14 cover aircraft left, and 2 of them were on the verge of supply. They might withdraw from the battle at any time due to running out of fuel and ammunition, and the second wave of rotational support aircraft could not arrive in a short time. This is when the fleet is at its weakest. If another large group of enemy planes comes, the formation may really be unable to withstand it.

However, when the fleet of aircraft gradually approached and the enemy aircraft models were clearly seen through the telescope, Major General Bei breathed a long sigh of relief - all the aircraft that came were actually double-winged Swordfish or Big Mackerel attack aircraft, not even a fighter jet. No.

"Are the British crazy? They don't even send escort planes?"

"Who knows? Maybe it's a new trick from the British, asking us to help them clean up their garbage..."

In fact, the commanders of the previous air raid formations have made it very clear on the radio: the Germans not only have a good number of fighter jets, but also have pretty good performance. What's more terrible is that because the German fleet has been moving north, they are far away from Iceland. The distance to the Faroe Islands is getting farther and farther. Even if the Hurricane fighter jets taking off from the Faroe Islands are equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks, they are unable to provide full escort due to their range and are forced to turn back when they are still 50 kilometers away from the artillery formation. General Fraser delegated the command to Major Johnson, the commander of this wave of attacks, who would judge whether to continue the attack. If he thought it was too difficult, he would be allowed to abandon the mission.

Although the German cover aircraft fleet was unprecedentedly powerful and the results of the previous waves of air raids were not good, this did not dampen Major Johnson's fighting spirit at all. Instead, he believed in his heart that this was a severe test that he should accept - this was a competition of wills and persistence. He did not believe that the German fighters could continue fighting for another hour. Whoever could persist to the end would win! Even without fighter escort, he planned to lead the formation forward, because he knew that this formation was the last wave of attacks today, and if he failed, he would have to watch the Germans slip away.

Unfortunately, he only guessed half of it right - the original German fighter jets could no longer hold on, but the German aircraft carrier formation's standing fighter jets were not 24, but a full 48, and now 12 new fighter jets were newly supported from the aircraft carrier formation - —They are full of energy and high morale!

Although there were 10 more Swordfish than German fighter jets, and although two German aircraft were forced to withdraw from the battlefield soon after running out of ammunition and fuel, the power and firepower of the Bf-219 was still not that of the Swordfish or the Big Mackerel. They could resist it. The brave and fearless Johnson and his comrades decided to ignore all difficulties, like moths to a flame, and flew a plane to launch a desperate attack on the Tirpitz...