Chapter 396: Sea Battle 4

An hour before the British Mediterranean Fleet began bombarding Benghazi, 250 kilograms of German bombs had fallen on the radar station and airport on the island of Malta.

Because they had bombed Malta many times before, the German and Italian air forces were very familiar with the situation on the island. The attackers were veterans who took off from aircraft carriers. They could drop bombs on the target almost with their eyes closed.

The "Sea Spitfire" fighter jets on the island have suffered heavy losses in the past few months of combat. On January 15th, only 6 "Sea Spitfire" fighters took off to fight. As soon as they took off, they were attacked by 12 fighter jets. The siege of the K-Zero and 24 MC.200 fighter jets flying from Sicily. No matter how superior their performance was, the six "Sea Spitfires" could not withstand enemy aircraft six times their size, and were all shot down in less than 10 minutes. The loss of the German and Italian sides was only 2 MC.200 fighter jets.

At the same time, 120 Fiat CR.42 Eagle fighter jets also flying from Sicily began to attack targets in several ports on the island of Malta.

Although this biplane looks a bit old-fashioned, it is actually a new aircraft that was only tested in early 1939. Although a bi-wing aerodynamic layout was adopted, the air combat performance was unsatisfactory. However, its flexibility at low altitudes is very good (biplanes that appeared in the 1930s are basically like this). After strengthening its firepower (installing four 12.7mm caliber machine guns) and mounting 200 kilograms of bombs, this aircraft became It has become a very good attack aircraft, almost comparable to the Hs123.

Therefore, they quickly eliminated the torpedo boats and gunboats in the four harbors of Valletta, Birzebuja, St. Paul's Bay and Mellieha that might cause trouble to the landing Italian troops, and also blew up several The exposed anti-aircraft artillery position, its own losses were only 6 shot down.

At 7:15, the first wave of air raids on the island of Malta ended. Admiral Compioni, the commander of the Italian fleet who was stationed on the "Veneto" battleship, received the report of the air attack. He smiled and said to the fleet chief of staff, Major General Baroni: "The work of the aircraft is almost done. Now It's time for our battleships to launch a bombardment for a few hours, and then send the black shirt troops to land. We can finally defeat it, right?"

Responsible for the landing were two regiments of the newly formed 3rd Division of the Blackshirt Army. Hersmann originally wanted to mobilize a marine brigade from Germany to carry out landing operations, but Mussolini was very enthusiastic and sent a black-shirted military division to Hersmann (he may have thought that it would allow the Germans to defeat Malta, which was bleeding and sweating). It would be difficult to hand it over to Italy), so Hessmann complied with Mussolini's wishes.

"Sir," just when Major General Baroni was about to say a few words to suit the situation, the fleet's communications officer suddenly reported, "urgent call from Benghazi. At least 8 British battleships have appeared in the sea off Benghazi and in the port of Benghazi. Under heavy shelling! Marshal Graziani asked us to send a fleet to rescue immediately..."

"Eight British battleships are bombarding Benghazi?" Admiral Compioni had long known that the British fleet had left Alexandria, but he did not expect that they would actually bombard Benghazi.

"They don't want Malta anymore?" he asked uncertainly.

"Should we abandon Malta?" Major General Baroni said thoughtfully. "The results of the first wave of air strikes showed that the British resistance in Malta was weaker than we expected. There were only 6 fighter jets in the air to resist, and there were only 6 fighter jets on the ground. The anti-aircraft firepower is not very strong, which means there are not many aircraft on the island, and there may not be much ammunition for the anti-aircraft guns. "

Since the Luftwaffe on Sicily was not a vegetarian, it became very difficult for the British army to reinforce Malta. They dare not move at all during the day, and can only use destroyers to transport some things in at night, and sometimes even use submarines for supplies (Italy also uses the same method to supply Tubruk). However, only 6 fighter jets could be launched to resist, which was beyond the Italians' expectations.

This shows that the island of Malta that has troubled them for more than half a year is probably an abandoned child! And if Malta Island is abandoned, it will be difficult to use it to attract reinforcements from the British fleet that is bombarding Benghazi...

…

"The British aircraft carrier is also in the waters near Benghazi?"

In Rome, in the Villa Medici, Marshal Hessmann, who had just gotten up and had breakfast, also received a battle report from the front line.

"Because of the obstruction of the Spitfire, our Fw-200C cannot get close." Admiral Jeshunek reported with a frown.

"At least one aircraft carrier," Hersman said, "is that enough?"

"It's a bit far away," Jeshunek said. "The nearest airport is about 680-700 kilometers away."

The "nearest airport" he meant certainly did not include airports in North Africa. There are currently no torpedo bombers deployed there. All S.M.79 aircraft in North Africa are level bombers and are used to support ground operations.

"We can get it at 680-700 kilometers," Hessman thought for a moment and then asked, "What about the two aircraft carriers? Can they move eastward?"

"They are responsible for bombing Malta," Admiral Jeshunek said. "It is better not to move the aircraft carrier first and let the shore-based aviation attack. If the effect is not good, let the aircraft carrier and part of the main fleet move eastward tonight, and tomorrow morning we can launch an air force attack." blow."

Naturally, the "Iron Hammer" plan also included plans to use aircraft carriers to launch air strikes and even use the main fleet to engage in artillery battles. But that was only implemented after using shore-based aircraft to weaken the British fleet.

Hersman walked to a large map table with a map of the Eastern Mediterranean, watched the staff put a model symbolizing the British fleet on the sea near Benghazi, and whispered: "Has the order for shore-based aircraft to take off been issued?"

"It was issued 20 minutes ago," said Jeshonek, "In 25 minutes at most, the first attack wave will complete the formation."

"Tell me about the situation of several attack waves."

"The first attack wave consists of our Ju88 and Italy's S.M.79. The Ju88 has 4 squadrons with a total of 48 aircraft, and the S.M.79 also has 4 squadrons with 48 aircraft. In addition, there are 2 squadrons with a total of 32 Fokker Zeros as escorts. A total of 128 aircraft..."

Such a fleet is much smaller than the attack on Spaca Gulf on September 3, 1939, because the aircraft participating in the air raid are scattered on multiple small and medium-sized military airports along the coast of Sicily, Calabria Peninsula and Taranto Bay, rather than concentrated on a few large military airports. Therefore, it takes time to gather all the planes, so they are divided into three attack waves.

The second attack wave consists of 5 squadrons of Ju88 and 8 squadrons of S.M.79, a total of 156 aircraft, which will be formed one hour after the first attack wave.

The third attack wave consists of the slower 115 and 1 squadron of Fokker Zero, a total of 124 aircraft, which will be completed one hour after the second attack wave.

A total of 408 aircraft will be dispatched in the three attack waves, and the attack power is very strong! However, there is a flaw in the ointment, that is, the trump card in Hessman's hand, the three fighter squadrons equipped with Fw-190 cannot be dispatched because of the range. Therefore, the escort force of the attack group seems to be somewhat insufficient, and the second attack wave has no fighter escort at all.

Hirschman crossed his arms and said to himself: "There are 408 aircraft in total, including 360 bombers and torpedo planes. They can finally deal a heavy blow to the British fleet, right?"

...

"The enemy's bomber group must be on the way, right?"

Listening to the deafening sound of artillery coming from outside, Admiral Cunningham, commander of the British Mediterranean Fleet, suddenly said to himself, "There will definitely be an unprecedented attack... I'm afraid there will be hundreds of aircraft!"

"Admiral, should Fleet B attack from point X?" asked Major General Crutchley.

Point X is a place where German Fw-200C reconnaissance aircraft will hardly go. It is located in the Aegean Sea north of Crete. Since the British have deployed fighters on Crete and the Peloponnese, and also deployed radar stations on Crete, it is very dangerous for the Fw-200C to fly into the Aegean Sea.

But Fleet B hiding there is difficult to reach the Italian fleet near Malta. If you want to launch an attack, you must go west through the Kythera Strait into the Mediterranean. But once entering the Mediterranean, it is only a matter of time before Fleet B is exposed. If the Fw-200C discovers Fleet B, the powerful shore-based aviation of the Germans and Italians will launch an attack and sink the precious "Ark Royal" and "Glorious"!

Therefore, once Fleet B attacks from point X, it must release aircraft in the shortest possible time, and then escape to the east to avoid the opponent's shore-based aviation.

Therefore, there is probably only one chance to attack! Moreover, these two aircraft carriers do not have carrier-based aircraft with superior performance such as Fokker Zero and Fokker 99, and can only rely on the combination of "Fulmar" and "Albacore" to attack. Therefore, the Italian fleet must be lured out from the protection of the German shore-based fighters, and a bunch of battleships that were blown up and smoking are undoubtedly the most attractive bait for the Italian fleet!

"Fleet B continues to lurk!" Cunningham shook his head and said, "Because now is not the time... We have to lure out the Italian fleet as much as possible."

"Well," said Major General Crutchley, "we should stop the shelling now, set up an anti-aircraft formation, and wait for the enemy's air strikes."

"Okay, that's it." Cunningham smiled, "We will form an anti-aircraft formation off the coast of Benghazi. I want to see how much stronger the German air strikes are than the Italians?"