Iron Cross

While the Germans were anxious about why the British fleet had not yet appeared, Colonel Sean, who was leading the British attack fleet, was also very anxious. As early as 15 minutes ago, he had led his team to fly to the last location of the German fleet discovered by a reconnaissance plane in the morning. However, due to the interval, After more than an hour and a half, the German aircraft carrier formation drove more than 80 kilometers westward, and the sea was empty. The formations could only search separately, heading all the way north and west. When the westward Skua formation found the exact location of the German fleet, it still had to call and wait for the northward searching formation to return and attack simultaneously. A lot of time was wasted.

At 9:41, all 17 escort fighters of the Thunderbolt fighter formation were replenished with fuel and bombs and took off one after another. At 9:44, the Ju-98s took off one after another from the Zeppelin, and the tense strings of the North Sea Fleet gradually relaxed. At 9:47, the lookout sent out a warning that a large number of aircraft were approaching from the east, no less than 80 in number!

It’s finally here! This was the first thought that came to everyone. They had been tortured by the constant false alarms and waiting and lost their patience. They thought that instead of evading anxiously, it would be better to bravely face the trial. The second thought is that General Richthofen's decision just now to not send fighter jets to escort the dive bomber formation but to leave them all to cover now seems extremely wise. This means that the fleet has all the fighter jets at the critical moment, which greatly enhances the strength of the fleet. security.

"The aircraft carrier moved in at full speed and quickly released the Ju-98 formation, with water fighters escorting them to attack the British fleet." Richthofen issued the order calmly, "Each ship fired long-range anti-aircraft guns to disperse the enemy formation, and the fighter jets were responsible for fleet defense. "The aircraft with the most fuel and bombs moved forward to intercept the British aircraft, leaving 8 direct cover aircraft in the sky above the fleet."

At 9:51, the Thunderbolt fighter formation completed its formation and immediately moved toward the southeast. The long-silent 128mm anti-aircraft gun began to unleash its power. The shells loaded with radio proximity fuses were quite powerful and kept exploding among the enemy aircraft. Everyone was on the Zeppelin ship. It was clear from the bridge that several aircraft were shot down after anti-aircraft gun fire, and the huge formation of enemy aircraft was forced to disperse.

The entire North Sea Fleet had a total of 48 standing fighter jets when it set off. After experiencing several losses and calling in reserve aircraft to replenish it, it returned to 48 fighter jets. Today, 3 fighter jets were lost in the first round of attack, and there are currently 45 fighter jets left, all of which are in the air. However, their fuel levels are different. 25 fighter jets have nearly 4 hours of fuel, 8 have 90 minutes of fuel, 12 have less than 60 minutes, and at least one has only 45 minutes of fuel.

After urgent communication, the fighter commander Colonel Lanter (wing leader) quickly identified the eight remaining aircraft and ordered through the radio, "Rush over and intercept them at the periphery of the mid-range air defense fire. Attention, priority is given to intercepting the Skuas." As for the lightning strike aircraft, the Mosquito can be used for a while, but their accuracy is poor and they are not a big threat. "

Seeing the densely packed German fighter jets flying over, Colonel Sean, who was rushing to the front, was also numb. According to the schedule at the time of departure, his formation consisted of 24 Mosquitoes (level bombing), 24 Skuas (dive bombing), and 24 Skuas (dive bombing). It consists of TBF (Lightning Strike), 24 Euro Swallows and 12 Handsome Warriors, with a total scale of 108. However, due to the waste of time and voyage in searching, dividing and regrouping midway, 12 Euro Swallows have returned early due to insufficient fuel, and the fleet has become There were 96 aircraft, and the remaining 12 Euroyans basically only had 2-3 minutes in the air above the fleet. Most of the entire fleet were bombers and attack aircraft with relatively poor combat effectiveness.

The German anti-aircraft fire just now caused him to destroy 3 Skuas, 1 TBF and 1 Eurobird, and the number dropped to 91. He visually estimated that the Germans had more than 40 fighter jets left to cover the fleet - considering that The combat effectiveness of the Bf-219 was very frightening, but he had no choice but to fight through it.

Less than 4 kilometers east of the fleet perimeter, nearly 130 aircraft began to fight fiercely. Below were more than 30 S-boats maneuvering at the highest speed. They were responsible for rescuing their own pilots who fell into the water as soon as possible. For today's battle , all German pilots put on bulging life jackets, which are easy to identify after falling into the water, and the S-boat is not afraid of enemy bombings - no one is too bored to waste time on these more than 100 tons of small things. As for low-altitude strafing, The S-boat itself is equipped with a 20mm anti-aircraft gun and is not afraid of a small number of enemy aircraft.

The 37 German fighter jets that suddenly intercepted were obviously not enough to withstand the intrusion of more than 90 enemy planes, but the Bf-219s had a clear goal. They gave priority to targeting the Skua and TBF and opened fire. As soon as the two sides came face to face, there were 4 of them within half a minute. The skua was shot down and the fighting became more intense as time went on.

At 9:59, 17 Mosquitoes, 8 Handsome Warriors, 4 European Swallows, 7 Skuas, and 11 TBFs bypassed the German planes and rushed towards the fleet. In order to break through the blockade, the British paid extra 3 Mosquitoes, 2 Handsome Warriors, 4 Skuas, 3 Euro Swallows and 4 TBFs suffered heavy losses. The remaining aircraft were still entangled with the Bf-219s. 4 German aircraft were shot down. The number of remaining aircraft on both sides It becomes 71:41.

At 10 o'clock sharp, the 8 Bf-219s staying above the fleet attacked the oncoming British fleet, targeting TBF and Skua. After a fight, the British lost 2 Mosquitoes, 1 Handsome Warrior, 1 Eurospan and 4 Skuas, the Germans lost 2 Bf-219s, and the number of remaining aircraft on both sides became 63:39.

One minute later, the British fleet flew over the fleet to bomb. The Mosquito and the Handsome Warrior flew straight to the two aircraft carriers. The European Swallows, whose fuel was running out, completed their cover mission and left the field one after another. However, the accuracy of the horizontal bombing was really a bit ugly. The British bombers had dropped bombs as low as possible, but the fierce firepower ejected from the dense array installed on the ships below prevented them from dropping bombs below 1,200 meters. As a result, the Europa and Zeppelin were hit by a near miss bomb respectively, the front deck of the Scharnhorst was hit by a 500-pound bomb, and the turret of Prince Eugen No. 2 was hit by a bomb. The warships shot down 3 Mosquitos and 1 Handsome Warrior. The Mosquitos that had completed the bombing quickly left the battlefield with the European Swallows, and the Handsome Warriors remained in the air to fight. The number of remaining aircraft on both sides became 40:39.

At 10:02, the remaining 9 Jaguars began to attack under the cover of handsome fighters. Facing the fierce firepower, the British planes could not find a better way and could only risk their lives to drop bombs. The efficiency of dive bombers was higher than that of horizontal bombers. A 500-pound bomb hit the deck near the bridge of the Zeppelin, and the escorting destroyer Z15 was hit by a bomb and severely damaged, but this was the only victory of the British. The remaining planes worked in vain, and 2 were shot down by the fleet firepower. The relatively more vulnerable Europa was not hit - it must be said to be a miracle. The remaining 7 Jaguars that had completed the bombing wanted to escape, but they were beaten by the Bf-219 that had freed up their hands, and 4 were shot down. Of course, there were also accidental injuries. One Bf-219 was shot down by its own anti-aircraft firepower, and the number of remaining aircraft on both sides became 31:38.

At 10:05, the slowest TBF, after much difficulty, got rid of the German fighters and launched an attack. The target was also the two aircraft carriers, but the escort warships next to the aircraft carriers had to be dealt with first. Facing the torpedo planes that were coming, the Z15, which had lost all power and drifted with the waves, watched the torpedoes rushing in front of it and could not avoid it, becoming the first victim of the day - sinking in a violent explosion.

The Scharnhorst used its huge body to block a fatal torpedo for the Europa. The port side instantly broke open a 3-meter square mouth, and seawater rushed in crazily. In less than 3 minutes, it swallowed more than 1,500 tons of seawater, and the roll reached 11 degrees. The captain urgently injected water to the starboard side to basically restore balance, but the speed dropped to only 24 knots. The most tragic was the Prinz Eugen, a heavy cruiser located on the starboard side of the Zeppelin, which helped the flagship resist two torpedoes to save it. Although the Prinz Eugen was much stronger and more durable than ordinary 10,000-ton treaty heavy cruisers, it was obviously unable to withstand the torment of two torpedoes. It took on a lot of water instantly and tilted more than 15 degrees. Five minutes later, the captain thought it could not be saved and announced to abandon the ship.

The TBFs that completed the attack tried to leave the battlefield under the cover of handsome fighters, but seeing the tragic scene of the fleet, especially the billowing smoke on the deck of the Zeppelin, greatly hurt the hearts of all fighter pilots. Anyway, there were no other enemy planes now, so they aimed at the enemy formation and chased it all the way. While killing 5 planes, they also lost 1 plane. Now there are only 37 fighters left.

At 10:15, just when everyone thought that this tragic sea and air battle was about to end, the carrier-based aircraft attack team sent by Hamilton finally arrived. This poor attack team was extremely unlucky today. As early as 8 o'clock, they completed the initial assembly and prepared to launch an attack, but were disrupted by the first wave of German He-218 attack groups. They finally reassembled at 8:23, and the German Ju-98 attack group came again. In order to avoid becoming the target of the Bf-219, the fleet dispersed south again, and then flew over the German fleet almost at the same time as the Ju-98 formation that had completed the offensive mission and retreated, but was left behind in a blink of an eye.

It was not that they did not want to go faster, but the Swordfish, which constituted the main force of the attack team, were too slow. When the Ju-98 was running back at a speed of more than 400 kilometers, they could only "climb" slowly at a speed of less than 200 kilometers - this distance of less than 300 kilometers took more than 90 minutes to fly. When they arrived at the battlefield, the large-scale fighting had ended, and only a group of German fighters were waiting for them.