Malta is located about 93 km south of Sicily and consists of the islands of Malta, Gozo and three small uninhabited islands, with the capital at Valletta on the east coast of Malta.

On the evening of August 31, the southern fortress of Port Valletta.

Lieutenant General Dobby, commander-in-chief of the British forces on the island of Malta, left the fort after dinner as usual to inspect the port of Valletta, which had been bombed to ruins by German bombers.

Looking at the ruins of Valletta Harbor, and the rubble and broken glass everywhere, Lieutenant General Dobby smiled wryly at the corner of his mouth, because he suddenly remembered a telegram from Mr. Prime Minister recently.

"Since Nelson's time, the island of Malta has been like a loyal British sentinel, defending that narrow, vital maritime corridor in the middle of the Mediterranean. In this latest war, it has become more strategically important than in the past.

Of course, I know the importance of Malta, but the question is how to keep it?

Five days after the German bombing, the island's only three airfields, Takali, Lucca and Halfar, were destroyed one after another, all the ground buildings were razed to the ground, the airstrip became the surface of the moon, and the island's only 12 Hurricanes and 12 Sea Fighter fighters were submerged in the sea of German aircraft.

Over the next five days, the Germans intensified their air raids, carrying out extremely heavy air strikes on the port of Valletta with at least 200 sorties per day, and the Germans' aerial bombs combed through the port like a carpet. Two destroyers and four submarines anchored in the harbor were sunk one after another, and the buildings in the city, the dockyards and dock facilities in the harbor were reduced to rubble.

The last five days. The Luftwaffe again shifted the goal of the "roll carpet". Trenches, pillboxes, anti-aircraft positions, and all other defensive facilities exposed to the ground will be mercilessly bombarded.

Even more hateful was the fall of the Luftwaffe. They come not only during the day, but also at night, sparing the island's defenders.

Every night, the roar of aerial bomb explosions became the lullaby of the island's defenders, and everyone, including himself, had to sleep in the harassment of the lullaby.

After half a month, under the double torture of ** and spirit, all the people on the island became extremely haggard.

At such a difficult time, the Prime Minister sent not reinforcements, not weapons and equipment, not orders to retreat, but words that can only appear in speeches or novels.

There are no planes, no warships, and less than 40 anti-aircraft guns on the island. There was a shortage of ammunition, not a single tank or armored vehicle, and only about 30 trucks used to pull artillery.

Because of the destruction of Valletta Harbor, the Royal Navy, which used to sneak into the port at night, is no longer here, and the island's living environment is becoming more and more difficult.

There are no forests and permanent lakes and rivers on the island, fresh water is extremely scarce, and the defenders on the island can only survive by drinking urine without bringing water to the island.

How should a battle of more than 14,000 troops being separated between Malta and the adjoining island of Gozo, excluding logistics, artillery and air defense, and each infantry battalion having to defend 25 kilometers of coastline? Shouldn't Mr. Prime Minister send a telegram to himself to give him high-level guidance?

"General. It's almost time, and it's time for us to go back. Lieutenant General Dobby's adjutant looked at the sky alertly. Then kindly reminded.

Lieutenant General Dobby, knowing that the time was approaching for the Germans to play the "lullaby", turned and walked towards the underground headquarters of the fortress.

Back in the bedroom of the underground headquarters, Lieutenant General Dobby first absentmindedly flipped through a few pages of Wellington's biography, and then collapsed on the bed that faintly smelled of sweat.

Due to the lack of water, the level of personal hygiene of the defenders on the island plummeted, and Lieutenant General Dobby was no exception.

Dobby lay on the damp sheets and flipped them over countless times, unable to find his sleep, until a faint roar came from outside the fortress and yawned.

They finally arrived, half an hour later than usual, and Lieutenant General Dobby lay on his back on his bed, smelling the faint stench in the air, waiting for the lullaby to begin.

Five minutes later, Lieutenant General Dobby heard a rumbling explosion.

At the sound of the explosion, Lieutenant General Dobby felt the ground shaking, the bed shaking, and his own body shaking on the bed.

As the lullaby began and he could sleep, Lieutenant General Dobby felt his heavy heart loosen and fell asleep

"Let me go, let me go, I'm a prisoner of war, you can't treat me like this, you can't trample on international conventions."

Lieutenant General Dobby screamed and was dragged into the execution ground by two big men and thrown to a bloodied stone wall like a dead dog.

"Last night, the shameless Churchill government brazenly bombed a residential area of Berlin in defiance of international conventions, killing eleven civilians. With the Führer's approval, and in retaliation, we will shoot eleven British prisoners of war to defend the dead civilians, take paper and pen on the ground, and write your last words. After your death, these last words will be sent to your families through the Deutsche Welle channel, which is the last mercy that the Führer has bestowed on you, if you want to hate, hate the shameless Churchill. ”

With tears in his eyes, Lieutenant General Dobby picked up the paper and pen on the ground, wrote a suicide note in resignation, and handed it to the executioner.

Lieutenant General Dobby glanced at the brothers around him, and saw that Lord Gott, General Brooke, and the gray-haired General Franklin were also prominently listed.

Seeing a group of generals dying with him, Lieutenant General Dobby's heart instantly balanced.

With a whistle, the executioner raised his rifle and pointed it at the condemned prisoner.

Seeing the muzzle of the black hole ten meters away, Lieutenant General Dobby shed tears of despair in the corners of his eyes.

Churchill, you're going to hell! With one last thought in the world, Lieutenant General Dobby heard the sound of gunfire.

"Ahh

It was unlucky to have such a terrible nightmare, Lieutenant General Dobby raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

There was a loud "bang", and the frightened lieutenant general shook his body.

His adjutant, Captain Cameron, hurried in.

"General, the Germans have attacked."

Lieutenant General Dobby's rebuke, which had already jumped to his lips, instantly swallowed back, and asked in a different way, "Where is it?" How many troops? ”

"Everywhere, it's paratroopers."

Cameron hurriedly served Lieutenant General Dobby, put on his military uniform, and then rushed to the command room, by which time the sparse sound of gunfire could be heard outside.

"The 2nd Battalion of the Devon Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the Dorsetshire Regiment, the 16th Fortress Company and the 24th Fortress Company of the Royal Corps of Engineers all sent telegrams, and German paratroopers were also found in their precincts." A lieutenant staff officer handed a stack of telegrams to Lieutenant General Dobby.

"The Germans were so cunning that the first wave dropped aerial bombs, the second wave dropped paratroopers. By the time our sentries noticed something was wrong, most of the paratroopers had already landed. Cameron said.

At 2:50, Lieutenant General Dobby glanced at his watch, and then ordered: "Send a telegram to London at once, saying that the Germans have begun to land, we are fighting, the German offensive is fierce, we need reinforcements, the more the better."

A telegram was sent to all the departments, especially the troops stationed on the coast, telling them to keep the coast tightly, and that the enemy would certainly launch a landing after dawn and not allow a single enemy to go ashore. ”

After Lieutenant General Dobby and other staff officers sent out the telegrams, he stood by the map and waited patiently for new telegrams from the island's ministries.

The telegram did not wait, but Lieutenant General Dobby waited for a sergeant and a private.

Under Dobby's puzzled gaze, the two of them placed the half-human-tall dummy they each held on the ground.

After saluting Lieutenant General Dobby, the sergeant pointed to the dummy on the ground and said: "General, a few German paratroopers happened to fall near the fortress, and I rushed up with a few soldiers to capture them, and I found this. ”

The dummy is half a person tall and the workmanship is very rough, but it can still be seen that it is the image of a German soldier, and there are many M35 steel helmets, military uniforms, and weapons.

"That's what the German paratroopers who landed near the fortress look like?" Lieutenant General Dobby asked with a frown.

"We can't know for sure." The sergeant shook his head.

Staring at the dummy on the ground, Lieutenant General Dobby thought for a while before coming to a conclusion.

"These dummies are used to confuse us, and there should not be many of them, so order the second battalion of Irish riflemen to search the island after dawn." (To be continued......)