On the night of December 17, the airports on the island of Crete were brightly lit, and now there were no fighters of all kinds in the airfields, all of them were unified RY58 transport planes.

The chubby transport plane had already parked the airfield, and around these planes, the officers and men of the 1st Parachute Division were climbing onto the planes one by one with the help of their companions. There is no way to dress like a dumpling, and it is difficult to go, so they can only support each other to board the plane.

"Next."

Captain Krull stood on the hatch and pulled his soldier up with his hands.

"Lal, go backwards."

The soldier who had been pulled up and called Lahr walked backwards slowly, and the strap of his gun accidentally touched a soldier who was resting in the cabin.

"Hey Ral, be careful."

"I'm sorry, this thing can only be tied to my lap like this."

"Can't you tie it tightly, you see the butts of the guns are so high."

The comrade pointed to Ral's untied rifle and said loudly.

The conversation between the two made Captain Krull notice. "Calm me down and sit down."

The words from the company commander made the two of them stop talking and left separately.

Seeing the two separate, Captain Krull continued to pull the other soldiers up.

In fact, there are not many people, and the transport plane with the number 6214 can only carry 24 people. After pulling everyone up, Krull closed the hatch.

And after all the paratroopers at the airport got on the plane, Major General Nalkov, commander of the 1st Parachute Division, who was responsible for leading the team this time, also boarded a transport plane.

Major General Nalkov has full confidence in the paratroopers he trained, but he is still a little worried about the first time he goes to the battlefield, otherwise he will not go to the battlefield himself, you must know that he is known as the father of Romanian paratroopers.

Major General Narkov, who was one of the first to study paratrooper combat, began studying paratroopers in 1923, when he was still a major. And his research was of great interest to the Chief of the General Staff, who formed the first Romanian paratrooper in 1926. For this team, which had less than 200 people at that time, he put all his efforts into organizing parachuting, summarizing the advantages and disadvantages, supplementing the use of tactics, etc., basically he was looking for a plan alone.

He still remembers the most dangerous time of his time, when he skydived only to find that the parachute had two ropes tangled together, which allowed him to land much faster than normal. In the face of such a crisis, he was calm, looked in one direction, used a dagger to cut a rope to change the direction of landing, and finally fell into the river to save his life.

After Major General Narkov boarded the plane, RY58 transport planes left the airfield with the paratroopers. Each transport aircraft has a special large red tail light on the tail fin, which is specially prepared for night sailing, which reminds other aircraft of their position.

So as the transport planes took off, the flickering swarms of lights in the sky were very beautiful. Lieutenant Colonel Elsterd, who was not leading the team at the front, definitely did not think so.

He was grumbling as he navigated. "Damn it, this is a night flight of a large fleet of more than 300 planes at one time, and this is going to be a dead man."

Piloting is also a technical job, and it is also the most lacking technical job in the army. In this era without satellite guidance, it can only be distinguished by human experience, and he Elsted is also a leader in this regard. It's just that no matter how good it is, Elster doesn't have the experience of piloting more than 300 aircraft at night at one time.

In the past, he had only piloted more than 50 planes at night, because there were fewer pilots who could fly at night, and this time more than 300 were too many.

This is not a herding of sheep, but also of a herd. And it's just driving sheep, and the difference between one head and a flock is also very big.

It's just that now he can only catch the ducks on the shelves, and he has to bite the bullet.

Captain Krul did not know about the toil of the navigator, and he was now looking out of the cabin window at the scenery in contemplation. What else can you think before going to the battlefield is nothing more than all kinds of intertwined feelings. People are social animals, more or less affectionate, friendly, and loved, and no one is hard-hearted or will not associate with them. And now Krull is thinking about his family and friends.

"Captain, do you think we'll be back safely?"

A soldier in the cabin asked loudly, the noise of the plane making it necessary to speak loudly, and it was clear that the soldier's words interrupted Krull's thoughts.

For the officers and men of the paratrooper division, this is their first time fighting, and no matter how good their training is, they will still be afraid of going to the battlefield. And Krull, of course, knew that this was unavoidable, so he answered the paratrooper's question.

"I don't know, it's just that it's war. We have to do our job well, and God will do the rest. ”

Krull's words are neither sensational nor pretentious, this is just his heart, and I believe it is also the voice of the vast majority of people.

Sure enough, his words drew everyone's attention.

"How about a toast to God?"

"No problem."

"Yes."

Quickly a soldier took out two bottles of brandy, each holding a small metal cup, and poured wine on them. This is also equipped with two bottles of brandy per aircraft. There is no more, mainly to let them relieve their emotions.

As the company commander, Krull raised his glass and said a toast. "Let us worship God and bless Romania."

"Respect God and bless Romania."

The strong liquid entered the throat, so that two or three soldiers who didn't drink couldn't help but choke.

The other soldiers looked at each other and burst into laughter, and there was a burst of laughter from the cabin, which brought everyone closer.

It is only more than 500 kilometers from Crete to Cyprus in a straight line, and it only takes two hours to reach the island at the speed of the RY58 transport aircraft.

And when they were approaching the island of Cyprus, they also saw a light show. Led by the heavy cruiser Kirtenu, a total of six warships turned on the lights to show them the way. Although this may attract the attention of enemy submarines, these warships are working hard enough to get them to complete their mission.

After flying over these warships, the transport aircraft formation began to become less dense, and they became more dispersed. The rear wing lights were also turned off, which also meant that they were about to enter the airborne zone. And the red light in the cabin is on, which means they need to be prepared. When the green light is also on, they can skydive.

"Rose, Vic, you two open the hatch. Everyone else is ready. ”

At this time, Krull also quickly directed everyone to prepare for the work.

The hatch was opened with a "bang", and the cold wind whistled inside, making everyone frown their foreheads.

Krull didn't care about this at this point, and he stood at the front and shouted at everyone.

"Stand up."

With his shout, everyone stood up. At this point, Krull continued to shout as he made a gesture of inspection. "Start the self-test."

As he spoke, everyone checked their gear again. At this time, no one will be impatient to check it again, because it is their life.

After everyone had checked one side, they counted to him from the back in turn.

"No problem."

"No problem."

“……”

After 23 calls, he continued to give orders. "Start the check-up."

So the last platoon begins, they check the equipment of their comrades, and this inspection is mainly to prevent problems such as loose backs that may not be visible.

"No problem."

"No problem."

“……”

And while they were preparing, the transport fleet also entered the island of Cyprus. As soon as they enter the island of Cyprus it is different, immediately giving them a sense of the battlefield. Chains of fire from anti-aircraft weapons could be seen everywhere in the dark night, and the ground showed the flare of explosions from time to time, and it was clear that bombers were carrying out night bombardments on the island.

In fact, the night bombing of the island of Cyprus began from the first day, and the time and scale of the daily bombing were not fixed, although this made the bombing effect worse, but it was able to cover their airborne landing. And it will also help them attract anti-aircraft fire,

After a few minutes in the air, the green light in the cabin came on with a low sound.

"Upper buckle."

Everyone attaches the buckle to the skydiving pole in the cabin.

"Skydive in turn!"

As Krull spoke, one soldier jumped from the transport plane, which had slowed down.

After leaving the cabin, they quickly opened the parachute. Now skydiving is basically jumping out of the cabin for 30 seconds must open the parachute, because they generally only have 5-8 skydiving records, there is not much experience in skydiving, in order to ensure its low accident rate, so it is stipulated that 30 seconds must be opened.

And they were lucky enough to be among the first parachutists. Because of the large number of people who parachuted this time, in order to gather them faster, the method of repeated airdrops was adopted. It's like making sandwiches, they're the first layer, but it's much more complicated than sandwiches.

The sky was dark, so that Krull, who was skydiving, could not see the ground at all. The earth was like a lurking beast, revealing a sense of seclusion, with only the whistling of the wind blowing in my ears, and the roar of anti-aircraft guns faintly audible in the distance.

In mid-air, he was like he was tied hand and foot, and he had no ability to resist, and at this time he kept muttering. "Don't be hung by a tree, go and don't be hung by a tree."

That's right, for the paratroopers to come, except for the appearance of the enemy in front of his eyes, it is the most dangerous to be hung by trees.

Because the branches of the tree may cause him to fall and injure his hands and feet, and even worse, he may suffer serious injuries. In addition, after being hung by a tree, he will not be able to land at all, and will be hung in mid-air all the time. The rope of the parachute may be quite strong, and you don't want to cut it without a knife.

Perhaps his prayer had been heard by God, and by the time he could see the ground, there was grass underneath. There is no better choice for this kind of paratrooper favorite landing spot.

As soon as Krull hit the ground, he immediately fell to the ground, holding the parachute in his hand.

"Finally landed on the ground."

With a lot of peace in his heart, he immediately began to retract the parachute. Parachutes are not cheap, and they have been told in the drill that if the situation is not serious, then the parachute will be recovered first.

And at the moment, there is not even gunfire around, which is very telling.

Of course, he is not the only one, and now the paratroopers who have landed in this area are busy retrieving their parachutes.

On this night, the airborne landing of the 1st Paratrooper Division went very smoothly, and with the exception of a small number of paratroopers for various reasons, the vast majority of the paratroopers landed at the designated places.

The scale of almost five thousand paratroopers. It was enough for them to turn the island upside down.