On September 5, there was a feint on the ground, but there was a fierce battle in the air. An Air Force captain nicknamed the "Star of Africa", Hans Joachim Marseilleu, single-handedly took out 17 British planes in one day, a task that was completed a few days later than in real history, but the number was not compromised at all. From 8:30 a.m., the statistical machine in his service was turned on, and in the first 10 minutes he knocked out two Curtis P-40s and two Spitfires in succession. After returning to the airport to replenish the fuel bombs, he took off for the second time to meet the battle, and in the 10 minutes after 11 o'clock, he killed 8 P-40s in a row, and when the ground crew refilled his ammunition, he was surprised to find that there were still more than half of them left. In the evening, after a short break, Marseilleu was on his third combat mission, seizing the afterglow before the sun went down and shooting down five more P-40s.

This is truly an unheard of miracle! Even Guderian, who set up his headquarters at the airfield, was stunned, although there were also super aces on the Eastern Front who shot down more than 100 enemy planes, but he had never heard of the glorious feat of killing 17 aircraft in one day. Now he can understand what the Führer told him before leaving: Guderian, this time you went to Africa to give me a gift to an Air Force hero, which can be regarded as a welcome gift to him after I became the commander-in-chief of the Air Force. I thought that the Führer would give some gadgets to the young Air Force captain, but I didn't expect the Führer to give an ingenious gift.

When Marseilleu's returning plane appeared over the airport, everyone spontaneously went to the sides of the runway and stood up, holding their heads up, like a guard of honor to greet the victorious return of the general. Guderian stood at the front of the line, and he was going to personally greet the hero of the Air Force. When Marseilleu jumped out of the cabin and stood firm, Guderian walked over quickly, and instead of following the rule that those with lower ranks should salute first, he took the lead in saluting, and all the officers and men of the airport under the leadership of the general gave Marseilleu a solemn military salute, and cheered loudly, and soon formed a rhythmic shout - "Marseillo! "Star of Africa! ”。

Marseilleu hurriedly returned the salute to Guderian while receiving the cheers of the stars and the moon, and the photographer took several photos of the captain and the admiral shaking hands warmly, and it could be seen that Marseilleu was very tired, but the sharpness in his eyes could not be concealed in any way, "Sir, thank you very much for welcoming you personally. ”

"I should thank you, just a few more times, and the British pilots will not take off to fight."

"Hahaha." The two laughed and chatted as they walked side by side towards the headquarters, and Guderian said: "You came just in time, the big gift from the Führer for you has also arrived today, and it was delivered by a special person along with the spare parts and fuel, I didn't tell you in advance for fear that you would be distracted from the battle." ”

"That's great!" While taking the towel handed over by the orderly to wipe his sweat, Marseilleu sighed with emotion, "Sir, there is a sentence that may offend others, but I just want to say it. ”

"Yes...... You're such a funny lad, you can say whatever you want. Guderian didn't care, he knew the young man's maverick demeanor, and he had heard his "strange things" more than once, and patted the latter on the shoulder, "You know, you say this in a tone that is very similar to the demeanor of those young men when I was teaching in a tank school, and this opening line is mostly used when I can't get used to my direct superiors and run to complain to my immediate superiors." ”

Marseillo stared into Guderian's eyes and said seriously: "Although many people have commented in one way or another about your position to replace Marshal Rommel, I think you will be better than him. Because we were always applying for more spare parts and supplies, the marshal and his quartermaster always said that they would arrive as soon as possible, with a guarantee of no more than half a month, until he returned to Berlin, a promise that had not been fulfilled. But as soon as you take office, these problems are solved......"

Guderian couldn't laugh or cry, he thought that Marseilleu would say something personal, but he didn't expect it to be this. But he couldn't pick up this question, otherwise it would hurt Rommel's feelings too much, for the supply of the African army, Rommel had argued with the Führer and the Italian leader no less than three times, and Guderian didn't know about this, but Rommel told him the inside story when he was handling the handover of duties. With Rommel's arrogant temper, he disdained to push the blame outward, and the various misunderstandings of the Afrika army naturally could not explain him. And Guderian had just suffered enough from prevarication and procrastination on the Italians, and he knew the difficulty of maintaining logistics, and he had a deeper understanding of the difficulty of being a commander. The reason why the supply was so quick this time was that he thought Marshal Kesselring should take the first credit. He didn't know that for this matter, not only did Marshal Kesselring run up and down and dredge everywhere, but even Hoffmann personally called Mussolini, not only touting the other party for half an hour, but also specially allocating a full 200,000 tons of fuel and 100 No. 2 tanks in order to make the Italians more generous in transportation.

He digressed the topic and smiled, "As an individual, I'm glad you think so, but others may not want to hear it, so the spread can only be limited to us." ”

Marseilleu nodded in understanding, he is not a sycophant, today is just a feeling, after saying the sentence just now, he feels that he has released this long-suppressed emotion.

"Now I can tell you about the gift that the Führer has brought you." Guderian said with gusto, "You can't guess ......"

"What is it?" Marseilleu's curiosity was piqued.

"You come with me." Guderian led Marseilleu to the tarmac, pointed to a large, newly-equipped tropical FW-190A and said, "This is your new gift." He's more powerful, long-range, and faster than the Bf-109, well, better suited to the BZ tactics you're used to......"

Guderian wanted to say something more, but after all, he was the commander of armored warfare, and he was the first to talk about the performance of the tank, and the description of the aircraft was really not too many technical indicators and performance characteristics except for the few just now. This amused the mechanic next to him, and he laughed for a long time before he could clearly answer the main point that Marseilleu was about to ask.

"This plane is not included in the military expenses of the Air Force, and it is completely purchased by the head of state at his own expense." Guderian didn't care about the predicament just now, and said with a smile, "You must know that the Führer is the highest-paid big man in Germany, and he can earn tens of millions of marks a year." He used his manuscript money to buy you a new plane for the tropics, saying that it was given to you in the name of the commander of the Air Force, and that the tail of the plane was neatly painted with your downing mark -- but unfortunately they did not draw it much, and you have to add your results today. ”

"Great!" Regardless of the plane, it was a great honor to receive a gift from the Führer, thousands of miles away, "Long live the Führer!" ”

"I have reported the results of today's battle to Marshal Kesselring, who was equally shocked and said that he would fight for the highest honor for you. If nothing else, you'll be yet another hero to be awarded the Knight of the Diamond Cross. ”

"Really?" The young man's tone was faint and seemed to be calm.

Guderian asked curiously, "You don't seem surprised at all?" ”

"I feel that I can achieve more ambitious goals and deserve this honor and the Führer's love for me." The young man proudly recounted his old story: once he flew from Tripoli to the forward base in Ghazala, but soon after takeoff, he was forced to land by engine failure, and had no choice but to take an Italian army truck east. But he was accustomed to flying in the air, and he couldn't stand the slow crawling of the truck, so he found a German general in charge of logistics and supplies on the side of the road, and bluntly asked the other side to send a special car to send him to the war. The general was so impressed by his words that he really sent himself an Admiral O'Pell high-speed car to take him to the forward base, with the only requirement that 50 planes must be shot down in return.

"Everyone sweated for me, and they all thought it was an impossible task, and as a result, I fulfilled my promise within half a year." The young man blinked triumphantly, "Your Excellency, how many do you want me to shoot down?" ”

"I dare not say the upper limit of your achievements, but I hope you will keep in mind what the Führer expects of you."

"What did the Führer say?"

"I hope you can pay more attention to safety." Guderian patted the plane's seat, "He went out of his way to have you install the latest ejection seat, which can automatically eject out of the cockpit and skydive with the pull of a wrench, but he hopes you will never need this function." ”

"I understand the Führer's painstaking efforts." Marseilleu nodded solemnly, "I will always keep this in my heart." ”

"Now I'm ready to try a new gift from the Führer." Marseilleu asked the mechanic about the technical and operational essentials, and soon began the fourth lift-off.

"Oh my God!" Watching Marseilleu maneuver the Fw-190 over the airport in the sunset, the mechanic who had just arrived from the mainland exclaimed, "It's unbelievable, is it really the first time he's touched by this kind of aircraft?" ”

Guderian nodded: "He's the best pilot I've ever seen, not one of them!" ”