Raid on Lucca Airport

  After Italy was informed by Germany of the Malta invasion plan, although the Italian military felt somewhat dissatisfied that Germany had come up with this plan requiring high Italian participation without consulting them, Mussolini was overjoyed because Hitler had previously ignored his repeated requests to participate in his scheme to turn the Mediterranean into an Axis inland sea.

  However, the Italian military was also very interested in this plan, as Malta was located on the sea transportation line between Italy and North Africa. The British air force and navy on the island frequently intercepted Italian ships transporting supplies to North Africa. The Italian air force's bombing of the island was not satisfactory, as their bombers were often driven away by British fighter planes before they could reach the island. Those that managed to get through used high-altitude horizontal bombing due to fear of British anti-aircraft fire, resulting in poor accuracy and significant losses for the Italian air force.

  Now that the Germans are joining the Mediterranean War Group, how can Italy not be happy? Although the German military's contribution is not many, only a carrier-based mixed fleet, an artillery support squadron composed of several French battleships, the 7th Airborne Division of the German 11th Airborne Army and the German Navy Marine Corps Brigade Combat Team, as well as several fighter and dive bomber squadrons. The rest are all troops that need to be contributed by Italy. However, Mussolini and the Italian military consider this Malta campaign not only an opportunity to pull out the thorn stuck between Italy's mainland and North African forces but also a chance to control the Strait of Gibraltar with Germany, thereby controlling the western Mediterranean together and compressing the activity space of British troops stationed in the Mediterranean. At the same time, it is also considered an opportunity for the Italian military to regain its reputation.

  Since the Italian army marched into North Africa, the reputation of the Italian army has plummeted. First, on October 3, 1935, in Ethiopia, the modern-armed Italian army was unable to gain the upper hand against the Ethiopian army, which was still in the era of cold and hot weapons, and was forced to deploy armored units and air forces to barely suppress the counterattack of the Ethiopian army.

  In May 1940, when the German army launched a surprise attack on Western Europe, Italian troops moved about 30 divisions to attack southern France just before its surrender, attempting to gain some benefits from France. However, they failed to push back the thinly-stretched six French divisions in the Alpine front and coastal areas of the south. The French retreat had already been cut off by German forces. Italy's performance caused ridicule internationally, with Axis powers frequently mocking Italy's military prowess and no one abroad having confidence in Italy's fighting ability, believing that without Germany, Italy would have surrendered within days of the outbreak of war. Now Mussolini is preparing to let Hitler test Italian troops through Malta to see their real combat capability and boost his confidence in them.

  So although the German army was stationed on the Italian island of Sicily, Mussolini still had no complaints. On the contrary, he accelerated the mobilization of troops and the transportation of military supplies. The deployment of various units in southern Italy was a hot air balloon, while the German army's movements were much quieter, with basically radio silence during the movement process. Moreover, it was mostly at night that the troops moved. This also caused a big deviation in the British army's judgment.

  The frequent movements of the Italian army and the intense wireless activity in southern Italy had attracted the attention of British forces in the Mediterranean. Through reconnaissance, the British learned that the Italians were accumulating troops and military supplies on Sicily, but analysis of intelligence led to a split judgment about the intentions of the Italian army: one faction believed they were reinforcing their North African forces for a major attack there, while another thought they might be planning an operation against Malta. The disagreement continued until General Archibald Wavell intervened. He suggested that British forces in Libya and Malta each send out fake radio messages, which would then be analyzed to see if the Italians reacted to them. Over the next few days, British intelligence detected multiple references by Italian radio transmissions to the content of the fake messages sent by the British garrison on Malta. Wavell now knew that an attack on Malta was imminent. Meanwhile, the Germans maintained complete wireless silence and their activities went undetected by the British.

  He urgently unfolded the deployment, requiring the British troops stationed in North Africa to reinforce Malta and report to the British General Staff, requesting reinforcements from the British mainland. The British General Staff replied that there were no troops available for dispatch, asking him to think of a solution himself.

  On the island of Malta, Captain Kittel received orders to lead his troops in a raid on Luqa Airport and also cut off communication links between various British units on the island. He was told that after capturing the airport, he would report back to the Malta Battle Command that the airport had been captured, and then German paratroopers would come to reinforce them.

  As they marched to the outskirts of the airport, Kittel's wireless telegraph operator suddenly found Captain Kittel and said that Malta Battle Command had issued an order, canceling the original action command. The new action command was that Kittel's detachment would still raid Luka Airport, but with a change in time. It was no longer to take down the airport and then notify headquarters, but rather headquarters required him to take down Luka Airport by 2:30 am, and now paratroopers were already boarding planes at airports in Sicily, preparing to take off from Italian airports an hour later and head to Malta's Luka Airport.

  Captain Kittel felt that the sudden change of command at headquarters was too abrupt and incomprehensible, but the strict discipline of the German military did not allow him to ask why, instead he urgently assembled his team to discuss the next step after the original plan changed.

  After a brief discussion, they decided to change their plan and no longer enter from the airport's barbed wire fence, but instead prepare to attack the British patrol team at Lucca Airport first. Because this patrol team has a section of road that is inside the airport rather than all outside.

  Captain Kittel and several of his men arrived at the patrol route, where they set up an ambush. When the British patrol appeared, several Marines suddenly jumped out from the side of the road, each targeting their own man. The British soldiers didn't even have time to figure out what was happening before they were sent to meet their maker. If Captain Kittel hadn't asked for their password tonight, it's possible that not a single one would have been left alive.

  After interrogation by the Marines, the Germans learned tonight's British password. Then several men donned British uniforms taken from dead British soldiers, exchanged their weapons and continued on down the British patrol route.

  As they approached one of the entrances to the British airfield, a British sentry demanded that the Germans give the password. The Germans gave the correct password, which they had obtained earlier. As they drew closer, they saw that there were no other British soldiers near the entrance. Several men then pretended to ask for a light and overpowered the British soldier, dragging his body behind the guardhouse. Two German soldiers, who were wearing British uniforms, then took up positions as sentries at the British post, impersonating British guards.

  Other German assault troops began their attack on the Luka airfield's own objectives, using this entrance and taking cover behind buildings. Oberleutnant Kittel and a few other men carried a mortar into position at a vantage point near the airport, set it up, adjusted the range, and aimed the muzzle at the British anti-aircraft guns beside the runway.

  The Germans, disguised as a British patrol, strolled into the airport and approached the sentry at the hangar. The sentry, seeing the patrol approach, hastily asked for the password. Wilhelm, the German naval infantry corporal leading the group, responded in perfect English, but with an intentional twist to his voice. The British sentry, hearing Wilhelm's strange tone, asked: "Jackson, what's wrong with you today? Why do you sound so funny?"

  The soldier mistook William for Jackson, which was partly due to the distance and darkness. William said: "I must have eaten something bad today, I had diarrhea twice outside and now I'm squatting in front of you." The sentry chuckled quietly at William's response and said: "You're always hungry..." Before he could finish saying the word 'hungry', he felt a chill on his neck, and then knew nothing more. The German soldier who killed him slowly laid him down on the ground, took his rifle and placed it on the ground, wiped the bloody dagger on William's uniform, and then put it back into the scabbard tied to his leg.

  The other German soldiers hastily came forward, carried the body to a dark corner next to the hangar, and then the German soldier who killed him picked up the gun on the ground, put it on his back, stood at the entrance of the hangar and began to patrol. The other German soldiers continued to form a patrol team and walked towards the ammunition depot entrance.

  Other German soldiers who had infiltrated the airport carefully checked their submachine guns under the flight command tower, preparing to wait for orders to launch a surprise attack. The remaining German soldiers quickly occupied advantageous positions, preparing to launch a strong assault after the paratroopers' surprise attack failed.

  Why did Zhou Tianlei change his plan? It was because before the action began, the German wireless monitoring department suddenly sent a message to Zhou Tianlei, saying that from the intercepted British military telegrams, it was found that due to the frequent movements of the Italian army and the lack of control over wireless communication, the British army seemed to have discovered this joint operation between Germany and Italy. They are now deploying troops to reinforce Malta. However, there is a piece of good news in this bad news, which is that the British army seems to have not discovered the German action, probably thinking that this action was taken by Italy itself.

  Zhou Tianlei knew that action had to start ahead of schedule after seeing this intelligence. As he was adjusting the deployment, his staff handed him a newly intercepted British telegram, saying that a British advance party would arrive at Luqa Airport by transport plane at 2 am, and the rest of the reinforcements would arrive in Malta by high-speed warship.

  After receiving the telegram, Zhou Tianlei looked at it and was about to complain about the attitude of the Italians when he suddenly had an idea - wasn't this an opportunity for him? If his paratroopers disguised themselves as British reinforcements and arrived at Lucca Airport, they would create a huge surprise attack. The British would never think that the Germans would disguise themselves as British reinforcements. So he immediately ordered the German paratroopers to take off early, fly along the route of the British transport planes mentioned in the telegram, and use the communication call signs and frequencies mentioned in the telegram to deceive the British air defense forces before making a surprise landing at Lucca Airport. This is also why Kittel's unit received a revised order.

  When the German transport planes appeared over Malta, British anti-aircraft personnel asked for their identity. Major Rudolf Witzig, commander of 2nd Battalion, 4th Regiment, 7th Parachute Division, replied fluently in English that they had encountered a patch of rain clouds over the Mediterranean and changed direction to avoid it, encountering favorable winds which brought them ahead of schedule. The British anti-aircraft personnel, seeing that the call signs and frequencies were correct, assumed they were genuine reinforcements for the British garrison and allowed them to pass.

  As the German JU-52 transport planes arrived over Luka airport, they saw in the air circling the contact signal with the airborne troops mentioned in Kittel's orders at headquarters - a large fire, knowing that the German marines had completed their assigned task, now it was time for the paratroopers to perform.