Chapter Thirty: The Crazy Air Force

  Time flew by with the delay of the curry, and 5 days passed in a flash. Monty was counting the days like years, but as the commander-in-chief of the Eighth Army, he couldn't show an anxious expression to others. The curry had been shipped out from Cairo three days ago, but so far, there was no news from the front line that the Indians had started working on it. Monty even sent several telegrams a day to ask General Matthew about the curry's progress. But the reply he received was that it hadn't arrived yet.

  Brother Meng couldn't help but complain about the logistics officer in Cairo, who was so lazy and careless with such important supplies. But facing the master of the transportation officer in Cairo, Meng didn't dare say a word of complaint, and instead had to show great respect and courtesy in his daily greetings.

  But just as the attack was halted, some very bad news came from the Mediterranean. First, a large number of German planes appeared in the sky over the Mediterranean and miraculously shot down many Royal Air Force fighter jets. Then, more bad news came from Churchill that Hitler had reinforced North Africa.

  At that time, all the military and political leaders in the world believed that Germany's most important battlefield was on the Eastern Front. The two social ideologies were different, one was imperialism and the other was to eliminate imperialism. As long as the war started, it would definitely be a state of no surrender.

  But the strategic analysis group composed of economists, mathematicians and military personnel in England judged from Germany's economic strength and population resources. After 41 years of defeat in the Moscow campaign, Germany will definitely put all its personnel and materials into the Russian battlefield with all its might. There is no way, Russia is really too big.

  The Bolsheviks in Russia were not easy to deal with, and the soldiers had received patriotic education since childhood, coupled with the strict supervision of the Soviet military commissars. Every battle fought by Germany came at a great cost. Although Germany defeated and captured nearly 4 million Russian troops in just one year after declaring war on Russia, it also lost nearly 1 million troops itself. It is worth noting that these 1 million German troops were all seasoned veterans who had been trained and nurtured through years of fighting, the cream of the crop among the elite.

  But Germany was also bleeding profusely in Stalingrad at this time. The British intelligence department was very clear about this. At this critical moment, Hitler actually ordered the mobilization of troops to North Africa, and the British strategic command center suddenly dropped their glasses to the ground. Everyone once again recognized that there was a good reason why Hitler was called a madman.

  But no one doubted the authenticity of this intelligence. Because Churchill, with his own prime ministerial reputation as guarantee, solemnly told everyone to believe it. There were two reasons for this. One was the intelligence obtained by a mole hidden in the German Army General Staff. This mole was a German army officer who had been controlled by British intelligence since early years. The other was Churchill's secret weapon, the British deciphering group located at Bletchley Park.

  This codebreaking group was primarily composed of a large cryptanalysis machine 'Giant' and dozens of mathematicians, philologists, and physicists. As early as 1940, the UK had successfully cracked some of the codes used by Germany's wireless communication 'Enigma' machine, obtaining much important military intelligence from it. The most famous ones were the Battle of Britain and the German plan to invade the Soviet Union. These technicians even deciphered the intelligence of the Japanese in Asia, accurately learning about Japan's plan to launch a surprise air attack on Pearl Harbor. However, this intelligence was strictly sealed off by Churchill, not allowing anyone else to leak it.

  To protect the "giant" from arousing German suspicion, Churchill spent a great deal of money. In one German probing action to test whether the code had been leaked, Churchill deceived the Germans at the cost of a British city. The spirit of politicians who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals was perfectly embodied in Churchill.

  But this time the decoded intelligence was very vague, and all they knew was that Hitler was going to increase troops in North Africa. The time and place, as well as the situation with weapons and personnel, were not obtained at all. This made Churchill and Montgomery's minds a mess.

  The reason is actually very simple. This time, because Andri's old man wanted to keep it confidential, all units participating in this operation were required to change their passwords. As a European underground godfather, Churchill's secret machine intelligence had long been known to Andri's old man. However, as a family that inadvertently interfered with politics, Andri's old man was too lazy to tell Hitler about these things. If it weren't for the fact that this matter concerned Andri's life and death, they wouldn't have changed their passwords out of necessity.

  So the situation of troops and supplies was unknown even to the German General Staff, let alone the British. The specific details were only clear to Andrey's father and Field Marshal Keitel and a few other core members.

  In the past, the British were always informed in advance by intelligence and then made wartime arrangements. Although this approach can achieve great results, it also makes the British accustomed to having food delivered to their mouths. When there is no intelligence, they are at a loss for what to do.

  As planned by Marshal Kettler, the British Mediterranean fleet and air force were thrown into confusion. First, the German-Italian air forces' rogue tactics caused significant losses to the Royal Air Force, and then the Italian Navy, which had always been hiding in ports, sailed out of port and accurately attacked the US Atlantic supply ships. Of course, the US military intelligence was provided by Andrei's old friend, America.

  At that moment, the British Mediterranean Fleet and the British Atlantic Fleet were shocked. To know that at this time, the main force of the US Navy was basically fighting with the Japanese in the Pacific Ocean. So the task of protecting these transport ships was undertaken by the British fleet. Although the Italian navy was broken, it was still easy to collect a few American destroyers and escort US military transport ships.

  If a transport ship loaded with US military officers and soldiers were sunk, the Americans would go crazy. They'd think, "Oh, I was kind enough to send troops and equipment to help you fight, but you can't even guarantee safety at sea." Well, in that case, I won't send any more troops, nor will I provide any more equipment, you British can fight your own war.

  So the British knew that this was a German trick to lure the tiger away from the mountain, but there was no way. They had to send the Mediterranean fleet to chase and intercept the Atlantic fleet at the same time. The commander of the Mediterranean fleet, General Canning, made an even bolder plan, which was to annihilate the entire Italian navy, but that's a story for later.

  As the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet had just sailed out of the Mediterranean, the British received intelligence from forward scouts that 5 large transport ships had set sail from separate French ports with unknown destinations and directions. The British judged that this must be the supplies and troops sent by Germany to Rommel. Orders were given for a large number of Royal Air Force fighter bombers to immediately intercept them. Suddenly the Mediterranean became an ocean for air forces.

  RAF reconnaissance discovered that the five transports were taking different routes, which reduced the number of planes available for takeoff. Once again, all Mediterranean RAF aircraft received combat orders, and even Desert Air Force units in North Africa were temporarily redeployed to the Mediterranean for the task. While these RAF forces were still searching for the transports over the Mediterranean, they first encountered heavily armed German-Italian fighter formations.

  These German and Italian fighter pilots, after the previous stage of combat, were even more seasoned in technique, with their cunning characteristics becoming even more pronounced. Many German and Italian pilots had installed a rear-facing light machine gun on the tail of their planes, so when they encountered British aircraft, they would fire head-on, and when being chased by the Royal Air Force, they would also open fire from behind. Although the hit rate was not high, it was still very intimidating. Moreover, some Italian pilots were even more reckless, intentionally trying to ram their planes into those of the Royal Air Force. Every time they encountered such a plane, the Royal Air Force pilots would break out in cold sweat, with their physical strength being greatly consumed.

  The pampered sons of the Royal Air Force were suddenly at a loss, and all their usual training was useless. What long-range bombers, what fighter planes, it didn't matter at all. Every pilot in the Royal Air Force thought to themselves: "Can't we just not do this? I want to fly properly."

  Everything is in chaos, the entire Mediterranean sky is a mess. You're in me and I'm in you. The bomber formations are all messed up too. Everywhere is filled with planes chasing and shooting at each other, the Royal Air Force fighter pilots are also completely enraged, disregarding the safety of the bombers, and engaging in fierce dogfights with the German and Italian air forces. By the end of the battle, the pilots' nerves are stretched to the limit, resulting in several instances where they can't tell friend from foe and end up attacking their own people.

  The Royal Air Force and the German-Italian air forces both converged on the most intense airspace, continuously dispatching planes. From time to time, planes were hit, trailing thick black smoke as they plummeted into the sea, while others unfortunately exploded in mid-air after being hit in their fuel tanks. With each loss of a pilot, the ground commanders of both sides felt an endless bleeding in their hearts.

  No one would have expected that the largest-scale air battle with evenly matched strength during World War II would appear here. Compared to the battles here, the German air raid on London at that time was simply child's play.

  The battle lasted nearly 5 hours, and the command centers of both sides could no longer dispatch a single plane for reinforcement. Four of Germany's five transport ships were also sunk. The British saw that their goals had been largely achieved, so they all withdrew from the battle. The German-Italian planes did not pursue them, but flew back to base instead. After several hours of continuous high-intensity combat, the physical strength of the Royal Air Force pilots was severely depleted. Many planes even crashed into the sea on the way back, while others forgot to open their landing gear when landing and crashed directly onto the ground. Even the pilots who landed safely had no energy left to climb out of the cockpit after stopping the plane, with most fainting inside the cockpit, their bodies completely drenched in sweat.

  The situation of German pilots was not much better, all of whom were severely physically exhausted. However, their rigorous work attitude and spirit made them crawl out of the cockpit only after landing safely before collapsing to the ground, which can be seen from the pride of the German military pilots.

  What's most unbearable is the Italian pilots, these guys are still doing aerobatic stunts on their way back. After landing and getting out of the cockpit, they're still shouting "Let's go" and wanting to go teach the British a lesson. It's gotten to the point where the ground crew are secretly calling them perverts.

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  Got up in a hurry this morning and started typing on the computer without even washing my face. However, today's holiday has ended, so I can only offer two chapters of "Smoke Ring", please forgive me.