At 10:24, the second attack of the British planes that took off from Cairo Airport failed again, except for the wreckage of more than 20 bombers and fighters, the rest fled in disarray, because they were facing all German fighters with full fuel bombs, except for the Spitfire 9, the Fw-190's advantage over other British fighters was crushed, and the strength of the Bf-109 was not weak, and the slow Blenheim, Maryland bombers and Hurricanes and Tomahawk fighters had no chance of winning. All of them were killed by the Germans, and Loew shot down a Blenheim bomber in the second battle, becoming a veteran of bombers. In addition to the performance advantage, the number of German aircraft was constantly increasing, and by 11:30 a.m., two more brigades of the second air attack wave hula from the direction of Crete had arrived, covering the Ju-52 and Ar-232 transport planes, which brought the most urgently needed fuel and ammunition for the aircraft, and at the same time, taking into account the needs of airfield maintenance, they also carried an additional group of cement, steel plates and construction engineers, in addition to the second wave of paratroopers. At present, the number of fighter planes flying over the airport of El Alamein has exceeded 150, which has effectively held up a piece of sky, and the number of paratroopers stationed on the ground has also exceeded 800, plus the 1st Battalion of Panzergrenadiers and more than 20 No. 4 tanks that came to the support of Port Matru urgently, effectively dispersed the Indian 4th Division, which had been ordered to launch a second attack in an attempt to recapture the airport.

General Student believes that the point at El Alamein airport can now be held.

At the same time as the air raid on El Alamein airfield, the British army in Egypt also sent other aircraft to attack the German fleet in the port of Matruh, but the air defense battalion of the Greater German Division, which had already landed first, gave them a hard time. Whether it was the famous 88mm anti-aircraft gun or the 4 20mm anti-aircraft guns converted from the No. 2 tank, they all gave full play to the advantage of full fire coverage, and successively shot down 3 bombers that attempted to drop bombs at low altitudes, and finally forced these bombers to drop their bombs hastily. As a result, the bombs they dropped only knocked over a few empty Sibel-class landing barges - and this loss was not in Balke's eyes!

Failed in the air, failed on the ground, Montgomery's reinforcements were out of sight for a moment, and Admiral Alexander, anxious as ants on a hot pot, now pinned all his hopes on the Mediterranean Fleet under Vice Admiral Henry Harwood, who would sink the German landing fleet, bombard, and cooperate with the Army to retake the port.

As one of the main fleets of the Royal Navy, the Mediterranean Fleet was originally very strong, and once successively had 5 battleships/battle cruisers, 3 aircraft carriers and a light and heavy cruiser. In the Mediterranean, he fought the Italians in the surprise attack on Taranto and Cape Matapan and other battles, and the results can be described as brilliant. With the successive losses of these three years of operations. The strength of the Mediterranean Fleet has declined, and the strength of the fleet is not as good as before, and the number of aircraft carriers is gone. Originally, there was also the Radiance. But in exchange for the landing of the United States in Egypt, all three ships of the same class were lent to the United States and went to the Pacific theater, and now the fleet has only 3 battleships: Rodney, Nelson, and Lorraine, 1 battle cruiser: Prestige, 2 light cruisers: Argo, Karybdis, and some destroyers.

The saddest of these warships was the Lorraine, a French warship that happened to be in Alexandria at the time of the British and French opposition, was detained and disarmed by the British, then incorporated into the Mediterranean Fleet, and now came out to attack the German fleet, the former French ship.

"Sir. The reconnaissance planes basically saw clearly that the German fleet gathered in the port of Matru was in addition to a group of landing craft and S-boats. Roughly speaking, the main force of the former French fleet that entered the Black Sea some time ago, there were no Italian warships, mainly including one Dunkirk-class battleship, three heavy cruisers: Colbert, Algiers and Duplex, and some other cruisers and destroyers, in terms of overall strength, they were not the opponents of our fleet. ”

"It's good news that the Italians didn't intervene." Lieutenant General Harwood nodded, his expression slightly relaxed, "What are they doing now?" What is the effect of the Air Force bombing? ”

"The enemy fleet is entering the port to unload, our aircraft are not many, the Germans not only have the air defense capabilities of the ships, but also launched relatively fierce anti-aircraft fire on the ground, and the air attacks are minimal." Chief of Staff Colonel Andrew reported with a frown.

"Air defense...... Well? Don't have an airplane? ”

"Didn't find it...... At least our pilots did not encounter enemy aircraft. ”

"It would be nice if the Radiance aircraft carrier was here, and it would increase the chances of victory." Harwood sighed.

"This ...... Sir, it doesn't really matter, Alexandria is so close to Matru Harbor that the Radiance can take off and bomb the enemy fleet without having to sail out at all. ”

"Actually, I don't want aircraft carriers, I want carrier-based aircraft - those flying grids."

Andrew was silent, he knew that what Harwood said was the truth, although the air force had many planes, and their performance was much better than that of carrier-based aircraft, but the air force stationed in Egypt had no decent opponents all year round, let alone used aircraft to attack surface targets, so their ability to attack the sea was almost zero, and their level was far inferior to those pilots on aircraft carriers -- at least the Italian warships did not suffer less from the latter.

Andrew suggested: "Why don't you transfer the plane from Malta?" They have experience. ”

"It's too late. If my estimation is correct, this fleet will leave the port as soon as it has unloaded, and will not be stupid enough to wait there to engage us, so the course should not go straight to the port of Matru, turn to 280 degrees, and prepare them to intercept them on their way back. ”

Andrew immediately passed on the order, but he always felt that something was strange, and after thinking for a long time, he suddenly realized that he asked in surprise: "Leave, they don't want Matroux Harbor anymore?" ”

Harwood shrugged his shoulders and asked rhetorically in a witty tone, "Can we take this port?" I don't remember the Navy going ashore, and besides, we don't have Marines. ”

"Sir, I don't mean that, my idea is ......" the chief of staff said his strategy, "when the German fleet leaves, the whole port is exposed to the fire of our warships, even if we don't have marines, it will be easy to seize the port, why don't you go to the port, but intercept it halfway?" ”

"You're wrong, we can't take back the port for the time being." Harwood sighed and patiently explained, "Alexander and General Montgomery were all deceived, and even I can see this deception now -- the Germans used the sharp attack power of the African Army to lure them to constantly put their rear forces into the front line, causing the rear to be empty, giving the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of, combined with the telegram of the battle situation turned around today and the intelligence collected by the plane, it took us seven hours to rush over, plus a few hours of delay in front, which was enough time for the Germans to complete the landing of an armored division. Unless Montgomery's main force of the Eighth Army can come back to help, it will not be able to defeat the current Indian 4th Division and 72nd Brigade at all, even if the remaining troops in Egypt can be pulled up. What if we have the superiority of naval artillery, the enemy retreats back, retreats beyond the firing range and doesn't care about anything, you can only stare dryly and be anxious. ”

"No, if we take control of the port and force the enemy to retreat, won't they be able to use the port to drop troops and supplies?"

"The problem is that they still have airfields - there is no pressure on the supply of an armored division to be solved by air, at least until General Montgomery's supplies are exhausted, and the Germans will not be out of supplies for the time being." Harwood recounted the second reason for not going to Matroux Harbor in a worried tone, "In addition, the Germans have a large number of planes, and they are very experienced in dealing with surface targets, and if we go to Matroux Harbor, the planes will soon come to the door, and we will be the ones who will be beaten at that time." ”

"This ......," Andrew was momentarily speechless, and although the Air Force promised air support, who knows how strong that support would be.

"Damn it!" The more he thought about it, the more angry Andrew became, angrily slamming his fist against the wall of the Command Tower of Fame, and his whole hand ached.

The fleet adjusted its course and sailed north-west at the fastest speed, although it was the highest speed, but in fact it was only 21 knots, because the maximum speed of the two old ships of Rodney and Nelson could only run to 23.8 knots, so many years have passed, this speed has long become a theoretical speed, and even running 21 knots for a long time is a luxury, but the firepower and protection of the two ships are very prominent, and it is impossible not to take them out this time since the military situation is so urgent, and it will drag down the speed at any cost.

General Alexander was quite interesting, considering that the fleet did not have aircraft carriers and the need for air defense, he instructed the air force to send 32 P-40 or Tomahawk fighters to escort the ship, not that he was unwilling to take out more planes, but it was really a great loss of fighters, and the Hurricane and Spitfire were shorter than one leg, and they could not accompany the operation at all when there was no aircraft carrier to land and replenish fuel bombs.

"Sea vultures, sea vultures, rats are out, rats are out, it's 180 kilometers from the port, and there's a bunch of flies flying on it."

"Roger, receiving, let Fleet 3 disperse them first as planned."

At 1 p.m. on 10 December, the naval fleet commanded by Harwood was spotted by German reconnaissance planes in the waters north of El Alamein, and a naval and air strangulation battle under Plan A4 was about to begin...... (To be continued.) )