Bismarck

Just that moment!!

But just like that, with the acceleration of gravity due to free fall and the seemingly insignificant jump when he jumped out, but in fact it could determine his departure from the trajectory, Marseille had already left the range where the tail wing might hit him...

Moreover, the Zeppelin in the cockpit actually looked up at him. Through the cockpit glass, Marseille's pupils saw the cold expression of the instructor Zeppelin, and he used his left hand, which was supposed to be holding the throttle, to gesture the action of pulling the switch of the parachute bag on his chest...?

Subconsciously, Marseille's hand opened the ring on his chest, and then he felt something rushing upward from the backpack on his back, carried by the wind caused by the rapid descent. Less than two seconds later, a strong pulling force was transmitted along the backpack strap to the buckle system worn on his body and thighs in accordance with the regulations, slowing down his rapid fall to a range that allowed him to land safely.

After pulling the ring, the instructor's BF109 rolled in the opposite direction, the wing tip separated from the tail of his plane, and separated to the other side with a slight dive angle...

Moreover, the speed at this time was only less than 109 at most! It was close to the stall speed of the BF!

However...the hot wind carrying dust, which is unique to the desert, quickly blew dust all over my face.

Is this also a kind of reminder for the African continent to itself?

It seems that I can land safely...

Just before landing, Marseille seemed to see from the corner of his eye that there seemed to be a car coming towards him from the direction of the airport, with yellow sand raised by its wheels...

The next second, it landed safely...

Instructor Zeppelin was able to perform such precise movements at a speed of nearly 100 km/h. Even Marseille, who landed safely, couldn't believe it and almost thought he was dazzled.

But he wasn't dazzled, and if Zeppelin hadn't made that maneuver, he would be dead by now.

I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, my dear girl, I can go home, he thought thankfully.

The first thing he did when he returned to the headquarters was to express his gratitude to Zeppelin, but the latter just smiled and shook his head.

------

Meanwhile, the talks between Lütjens and Rommel seemed to have reached a consensus.

"…Then it's settled! We'll take care of what happens at sea when the time comes!"

"Hey, then I wish us a pleasant cooperation - look, the ambulance is back."

Soon, the ambulance brought the person back.

"How is it?" Bismarck went over to meet him before Lütjens could say anything. But what he saw was Marseille, who was walking out of the ambulance unharmed while thanking the ambulance.

"The person has been rescued! Marseille is fine!"

Bismarck, relieved, quickly returned with Marseille - they would go back together on Lütjens' plane, and as for the plane, they would get another one when they got back.

"Thank you for your help, General Rommel." Seeing Marseille safe and sound, Lütjens sincerely thanked Rommel. However, this time, the Desert Fox, who was always in high spirits, did not reply as before. He just looked seriously at the exposed Gobi surface where the strong wind in the desert had blown away the yellow sand, and then looked at the direction of the wind. Bismarck also looked in the direction of the wind, but saw nothing. It seemed that there was just a little yellow...?

"The British really know how to choose the right time for their air raid!" Rommel spat, turning his head apologetically and saying, "The sandstorm will probably come soon. You should leave as soon as possible."

"Sandstorm?!" Bismarck was also a little stunned. This kind of thing... can it just happen as expected?

"Yeah, this kind of thing comes when it comes, and it's overwhelming... You better prepare early, or you won't be able to escape when the sandstorm comes!"

"Okay, then we won't bother you anymore." Bismarck was still a little unresponsive, but Lütjens nodded and raised his hand to say goodbye to Rommel, "Then we'll leave first. I wish you a pleasant cooperation then."

“Happy cooperation and safe journey!”

Soon, the HE111 that had come over earlier, accompanied by seven fighters that had just landed and had just had a sip of water, slowly slid onto the runway from the taxiway - fortunately, the previous air battle was very short, and the carrier-based aircraft still had more than 450% of their fuel left, so they still had enough range to fly back to Crete, 109 kilometers away, from Galaza - it was unlikely to encounter British carrier-based aircraft at sea, but even if they did, it would be fine. The fuel of the BF190 and FW could still sustain a few minutes of high-intensity air combat, and Crete was not far from here, so at most they could just call a group of fighters from Crete to pick them up.

Driven by the propellers, the eight planes began to taxi and accelerate on the runway. Finally, with the help of the lift brought by the speed, they broke free from the constraints of gravity and rushed into the sky.

The wind and sand could be seen clearly on the horizon, and the German African Corps on the ground seemed to have already made preparations to prevent the wind and sand. Bismarck saw from the porthole that only the last few people were left, and they were taking their last few things and crawling into the tents and bunkers...

The plane had taken off and quickly flew over the Mediterranean Sea, heading north towards the island of Crete.

The sandstorm doesn't seem to affect me much...

Bismarck looked up from the porthole and saw a huge cloud of yellow dust floating in the western sky. You couldn't tell whether it was in the sky or on the ground. The yellow sand was blowing fiercely, covering the sky and blocking the sun. In an instant, everything in front of him was covered by the rolling yellow sand, and even the afterglow of the evening could not be seen... Watching this amazing scene in front of him, there is really no language to describe such weather.

The yellow sand swept by wantonly, not sparing the tranquility of the evening, not caring about the warm sunset. But the people fighting here are not so sentimental, sad, and lamentable. Nature is like a tyrant wreaking havoc on the African continent, but the African Legion does not show any displeasure, and appears so calm and composed. Think carefully, what kind of people can fight against the powerful British army in this difficult Africa and can persist until now? In this ancient and vast continent, the harsh environment may make people irritable and complain, but it also makes people more calm and composed in the face of strong winds and waves, right?

Not happy with things, not sad with oneself, indifferent to things, optimistic about people. Such people are really precious!

PS: In World War II, someone in Britain used the wings of a Spitfire to flip over (the explosion was so powerful that if you shot directly with a machine gun, you would also be killed). The V650 missile had a cruising speed of 700-1 kilometers per hour, and it wasn’t just one or two, but once or twice…

Chapter 427: Material Transportation

After returning to the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, the days passed one by one.

The Atlantic Fleet's supplies were transported barrel by barrel, box by box, and one by one to the warehouse of the garrison through the Corinthian Isthmus Canal. According to the progress from Italy, in order to ensure the combat effectiveness and material supply of the African Corps, Mussolini worked hard to search through his own poor family assets and finally saved up a batch of supplies. Now they have been loaded into the warehouse of Bari Port on the Adriatic Sea in Italy for shipment...

"Sixty Italian tanks, five hundred trucks, four thousand seven hundred tons of fuel, six thousand four hundred tons of supplies...Mussolini is still willing to pay for it..."

Looking at the names of the fifteen merchant ships that needed escort reported by Italy, as well as the listed freight lists, and listening to Haye's report on the size of the Italian transport fleet, the usually serious Lütjens could not help rubbing his temples.

Italy is a mountainous peninsula, and it also has a lot of transportation that needs to be transported by sea. From Genoa to Turkey, there are an average of 20 merchant ships moving around every day. And for this transportation, merchant ships, which is almost % of the total number of merchant ships that Italy can mobilize, were actually deployed at once. It really can't be said that the attitude is not positive...

Lütjens should indeed feel deeply honored to have the Italians be so dedicated and responsible.

and…

This transportation is of great importance!

Germany focused almost all its energy on the Soviet Union, and Italy's industrial capacity at that time was really limited... These materials may seem insignificant, but in fact they were something that Mussolini had racked his brains to put together... This also reflects his emphasis on cooperation between the two armies.

Due to the difficulty of transportation, as well as the threats of aircraft from the Malta base, submarines and mines from the British Navy, these supplies were nominally only enough for half a month, but in fact, these supplies were probably the amount of supplies that Rommel could use throughout July...

Over there, Haye continued to read the notification document sent by the Italians...

"…The Italian transport fleet has always been headed for Tripoli, but this time, in order to avoid Malta's attack range and quickly reinforce the African Corps, the destination was chosen to be Benghazi… The convoy will first sail from the port of Bari to the Ionian Islands, and then directly go to Benghazi after being handed over to my fleet's escort in my fleet's defense zone. However, since Benghazi's throughput is less than 2700 tons per day, and we have nearly tons of supplies to unload, it is estimated that we will need to cover the merchant fleet at the port for at least a week to unload…"

Seven days...?

Everyone's brows were furrowed.

Although Benghazi is relatively safe, it can still be attacked. Moreover, the port of Benghazi is small and cannot fully accommodate such a large transport fleet. In order to avoid excessive casualties caused by overcrowding during the British air raid, certain evacuation and avoidance measures must be taken. However, if the fleet provides cover for five consecutive days, the fuel consumption and mechanical wear will definitely not be small... Moreover, the Italian fleet, which is short of manpower, may not be able to spare any time, but if its own main battleships are deployed, because the range of activities must be relatively fixed, the risk of being attacked will also increase sharply...

As for the Mediterranean Fleet, whether it is logistics, losses, or even time, which one can it afford to lose?

Lütjens's eyebrows became more and more tense...

My neck felt a little uncomfortable after sitting for too long. I turned my head slightly to look in the direction of other people, but I found something that made me angry...

The pet Bismarck sitting next to him, acting as a recorder, was actually in a daze!

I am so worried here that my secretary is actually distracted. Life is life and work is work. This is not allowed even for important people of mine.

He coughed lightly and reminded Bismarck.

"Ah?" Bismarck came back to his senses.

--

Bismarck was simply shocked by the amount of supplies.

Mussolini really spent a lot of money!

Bismarck was also a veteran of battles at sea. A dozen merchant ships might not seem like a lot, but in fact, it was close to one-fifth of Italy’s merchant ship dispatch rate!

Moreover, I also thought of some things mentioned in the information...

Mussolini could actually hand over the Italian army in North Africa to Rommel without saying a word when the German and Italian armies were in conflict. In theory, Rommel was under the Italian command, but in fact, as Rommel's "ally reinforcements", he was directly responsible to the German headquarters. Mussolini could have ignored Rommel and was not afraid to let Rommel go directly to Hitler to argue with him...

Although Rommel was disdainful of the Italian army's combat effectiveness, and the Italian military was also dissatisfied with Rommel's command method of treating them as cannon fodder... But it must be said that at least in this way, the command and coordination problem of the German and Italian armies in North Africa was actually solved...

In fact, let alone Rommel, isn’t the situation the same in the Eastern Mediterranean theater? Although at the end of June, a British convoy from Gibraltar to Malta lost several transport ships due to the Italian Navy’s limited manpower, the other transport ships still arrived in Malta safely... Now the Italian Navy is also very dissatisfied with this privately...

So, Bismarck was thinking, Mussolini actually has a certain leadership quality...

Then there was a "bang" on my head, as if I was hit.

Bismarck, who was covering her head with tears in her eyes, looked up and saw the captain's always stern face, staring at her seriously...

"What are you daydreaming about? This is a meeting! You're the recorder!"

"Ouch..." Bismarck covered the bag on his head and retreated to the table where the notebook was placed. Then the cat's eye moved slightly and found that the others behind the captain, including Haye, all had expressions that wanted to laugh but didn't dare to. The leader was doing things, and they just needed to watch...

you……

"Continue the meeting... How many troops can the Italians mobilize to provide escort this time?" Lütjens sat back in his seat with a dark look on his face. He didn't care whether Bismarck was angry or taking notes, and gave instructions to continue the meeting.

"Yes!... The Italians said that Major General Malenko's Dodecanese Fleet needs to defend the Aegean Sea and cannot move lightly while staying in Rhodes. Cassady's Seventh Cruiser Fleet can go into battle, but four of their destroyers must be sent to escort the LTI0176 tanker transport fleet, so they can only participate in the battle this time with three light cruisers and four destroyers..."

As soon as these words came out, Bismarck almost burst out laughing, and even Lütjens himself looked a little weird...

Four destroyers, three light cruisers, two battleships, one aircraft carrier...

Why does it feel so much like a stack of human figures?

---

The planes at the Malta airport were really annoying, appearing over the convoy every now and then. Although the convoy's route this time was closer to Crete, almost at the limit of the Malta bomber's flight range, the feeling of a group of rats coming to steal things from time to time was really annoying!

"Which batch is this today?" Looking at the British aircraft fleet retreating under the attack of the Zeppelin's fighters on the radar screen, Lütjens scratched his head in frustration.

"From dawn today to now, this is the fifth batch..." Bismarck replied.

Lütjens looked back at the clock on the wall. It was half past ten in the morning...

"An average of one batch per hour... Is Malta relying on the newly arrived supplies and sufficient fuel, so they divide into small batches and send them out in turns, intending to consume Zeppelin's gasoline and wear down our morale? Moreover... who can guarantee that their next wave will be the same as the current one, with a small group of seven, eight or ten planes?" Lütjens thought to himself with a worried look on his face.

Fortunately, after the Battle of Crete, Zeppelin learned from the British army's experience of using dive bombers as guest interceptors, and in order to deal with the extremely accurate long-range main gun sniping of Warspite, he turned around and developed a set of penetration tactics based on the speed of FW190, and strengthened training. Now Zeppelin's aircraft carrier has as many as 190 FW60s - in addition to 109 BF2T87s and JUCs. Even some dive bomber pilots have begun to receive simple air combat interception training. At least for dive bomber pilots, a relatively fixed distance and bulky and rigid bomber is not necessarily more difficult to aim at than a bunker-level point target thousands of meters away on the ground or sea.

Just thinking about the next tasks and pressures... The convoy had to hold on in Benghazi for at least a week, and then find a way to support Rommel in taking Tobruk, and even support this fox to rush to the Suez Canal. Now that the British Middle East Theater Commander Auchinleck has completely pacified the Vichy French colony of Syria, he can always draw heavy troops from Syria to reinforce Egypt. Although the route from the British mainland to North Africa has to bypass the African continent, the Italians can't transport much in three months, and how far can the logistics support Rommel to go...?

In the midst of worry and thinking, before I knew it, the first day had passed...

Fortunately, no troublesome large fleet appeared until the last wave of British bombers retreated at sunset...

ps: Happy New Year~ Happy New Year~ I wish you all a happy New Year~ We sing, we dress up, we have a happy New Year together~

Please give me a monthly ticket~Please give me a reward~

Chapter 428: Night Attack on the Transport Team

From the Ionian Islands to Benghazi, there are a full 350 to 360 nautical miles. With a merchant fleet sailing at a speed of only 10 knots, it takes a full 36 hours to reach the port of Benghazi.

This period of time is extremely dangerous, and besides, merchant fleets are easy targets for attack.

Although this distance is a bit far, it is still within the maximum combat radius of Malta's bomber group. If the attack is not carried out at any cost, it will be a very headache.

What's even more terrible is that due to the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, in order to put all efforts into defeating the Soviet Union, the main force of the previous sea attack, the Tenth Air Force, was almost all transferred out of the Mediterranean theater, except for a few troops supporting North Africa and defending Crete!

Although the Italian Air Force has made some progress in sea reconnaissance and attack, and even in sea-air coordination, the newly commissioned MC202 and other modern fighters can compete with the British Spitfire in terms of flight performance, but...

Italians, not enough resources...

Italians on the German side...

"It's great to have an aircraft carrier to provide cover... In the past, when we needed to provide escort, we had to take turns sending planes from Benghazi and Sicily to provide cover... In addition, our aircraft have a limited range. To ensure that two fighters patrol over the escort fleet, we need to prepare at least 30 two-plane crews, ready to change shifts at any time..."

General Casadi, commander of the Italian Seventh Cruiser Squadron, was looking at the radar screen of his flagship, the Duke of Aosta light cruiser. He was chatting with his men, looking at the two newly installed screens of the FUMO23 fire control radar and Freya air search radar, which were originally used on the Bismarck class. His words revealed his love for the Zeppelin without any concealment.

It has to be said that the three German battleships really attracted the attention of many Italian generals and made them extremely envious. Their VV was still being repaired in the shipyard.

The Italian fleet had already purchased several sonar and radar samples from Germany and handed them over to Italy's own electrical companies to start imitating them. Mussolini, who couldn't wait to imitate them, even allocated funds to import dozens of sonars and more than a dozen radars directly from Germany. Although the radar model was still a meter-wave radar and was about to be replaced by a centimeter-wave radar, the Italians were already quite satisfied with it.

After all, didn’t we suffer from the lack of radar and aircraft carrier at Cape Matapan half a year ago?

only…

"It would be great if we had an aircraft carrier..." Looking out the window at the gradually darkening sky, and the last faint light of the sea and sky line, General Cassady secretly swallowed his saliva at the airport transport ship flying the German naval flag a few kilometers away, which was "tall in stature, with a flat deck, and can be distinguished from other warships at a glance."

I really like her and want to make her my own. General Casady unconsciously revealed a gentleman's smile.

Zeppelin, who was several kilometers away, felt goose bumps on his body for no apparent reason, or rather, a chill.

"It's getting dark now. The planes in Malta should have stopped flying. Even if there is a British cruiser squadron in Malta, there are still two battleships of the German allies to deal with... Now we should only worry about the submarines... right?" Rear Admiral Cassady came back to his senses from the tall Zeppelin's back and turned around to give an order: "Pass the order, the fleet will form a circular formation and protect the (fifteen transport ships that have been arranged in three columns). The Duke of Aosta will go in the front, and Montecuccoli and Prince Eugen will each command two destroyers - be careful not to scatter when encountering the enemy at night! Especially the destroyers without radar, obey the command of the cruisers!!"

"Yes!!"

However, Major General Cassady guessed one thing wrong...

---

Malta Fortress…

Although it is occasionally attacked by the Italian Air Force base in Sicily, which is only 80 kilometers away and is very close - before last month, it was even attacked by the German Air Force, but even so, the three air force bases on the island of Malta cannot be destroyed.

Bombing an air force base with complete facilities is actually a very troublesome thing. Not to mention that airports usually have supplies for quick repair, and the runway can usually be restored to operation within three to six hours through emergency repairs; not to mention that even if the runway is blown up, the taxiways used for transporting planes back and forth between the airport and the hangar can also be used for emergency takeoffs; not to mention that airports usually have bunkers or even hangars, as well as anti-aircraft guns and fighter planes for cover; the most terrible thing is that if you really want to completely blow up an airport, even a large group of heavy bombers or battleships may not guarantee complete suppression (Guadalcanal Airport was bombed by Dasha and then attacked Cactus) - and there is not only one airport on Malta Island, but three airports: Halfar, Luka and Takali! !

Not to mention, even if the 10th Air Force had not left, the number and quality of bombers of the German and Italian armies were not enough...