At 9:47 a.m., ......the tower sounded the alarm at 9:47 a.m., which was at the hectic time of the German-controlled El Alamein airfield.

After one Me-323 was damaged, the rest of the planes landed more cautiously, and although there were no more crashes or other accidents, they inevitably slowed down. Fortunately, Harman led the paratroopers to grab enough time, otherwise it would probably be too late to go back according to the 7:30 timetable. Of course, the matter should be said in two parts, the original plan did not anticipate that the assault troops would take control of the airfield so quickly, so it was planned that the Ju-52 and Ar-232 would lead the subsequent paratroopers to continue the airborne landing, and their priority was the highest - now it was obviously not needed, and the large-scale parachute operation was canceled, which on the face of it seemed to slow down, but given the risk of gathering, obtaining supplies, and possible dispersal, the landing was far more reliable and effective than the parachute.

"Quick! Fast! Come on! Come on! "The 52-year-old Air Force General Kurt Student, fully armed, stood on the side of the runway, held a gun in one hand, and beckoned the paratroopers to quickly get off the plane, and at Hoffman's order to change the paratrooper rifle from FG42 to STG43, and at the same time to match the paratroopers with the infantry anti-armor Iron Fist No. 1, and at the same time to ask for the formation of elite small units, rather than the battle of Crete, and to spread the net in the sky, he raised his hands in agreement, believing that the Führer knew far more about airborne combat than Goering. In order to restore the reputation of the paratroopers and their position in the eyes of the Führer, he resolutely led the troops to the front in battle with the dignity of a general, regardless of the resolute opposition of the Air Force General Staff and his subordinates.

As 18 paratroopers poured out of the cabin one after another, the Ju-52, which had completed all its tasks, immediately accelerated forward with all its might. Then disappear at the end of the runway, ready to fly back to Crete for the next wave of missions. Everyone looked up at the sky, and now there were no transport planes stranded on the runway. The order of landing was finally the turn of the fighters, but the damned British planes also came.

From 7 o'clock in the morning to 9 o'clock in the morning, the efficient Luftwaffe completed the landing and cargo unloading of 10 Me-323s, 360 heavily armed paratroopers completed the landing, and now there are 5 88mm anti-aircraft guns on the ground, and nearly 2 battalions of elite paratroopers at hand. One can only pin hope on the fighter team.

After more than 4 hours of flying and circling, even if the auxiliary fuel tank was mounted before departure, even if various fuel-saving measures were taken. Although more than 10 Bf-109s have landed, the relevant fuel replenishment has not yet been completed, and the paratroopers and the first ground crews who followed the arrival of the Me-323 are refueling them like crazy. It is hoped that they will be able to take to the air as soon as possible to hold up a protective umbrella for the airfield -- relying on five 88 guns is useless. Even Student himself laid down his arms. Fly over to help.

In order to cover the landing of the paratroopers, Colonel Schroeder, who was in command in the air, temporarily adjusted the landing order, and the fighters consciously gave up priority, although this facilitated the landing of the paratroopers, but caused a lot of pressure on the fighters -- except for the Fw-190, which was landed by the first second lieutenant Loew, all the other fighters had not finished refueling, and now the Bf-109s could only continue to support for another 15 minutes in the air, although the Fw-190 could hold out a little longer. But it was less than an hour.

In the face of such a severe test, Schroeder calmly issued an order: "Entangle them." Attack freely, fight to the last breath, cover the brothers who are refueling on the ground, and must not let them bring destruction to the airfield! ”

The pilots were told by their squadron leaders that if they ran out of fuel and the enemy planes were still there until the last moment of the battle, they would ram the enemy planes and parachute -- in the face of such an unfavorable situation, all the fighter pilots did not hesitate in the slightest, but rushed forward without hesitation.

If there is any drawback to the El Alamein airfield, it is that it is too close to the enemy's airfield - just over 100 kilometers from the Alexandria airbase and just over 230 kilometers from the Cairo airfield. In order to deal with the threat from the direction of El Alamein, he immediately ordered the air forces in Alexandria and Cairo to set off to meet the enemy, and this group of planes that came to attack was already the fastest response to send out planes, a total of 7 P-40s, 3 Spitfire-9, 5 Hurricanes, covering 6 Handsome Warrior fighter-bombers and 4 B-25s to attack.

The German planes swooped down ferociously and fought the enemy planes, and Ensign Loew was at the front, and now he was the only fighter with full fuel who could fight without distraction.

"01, 01, you go and deal with the B-25, we will help you pester the fighter." The chief's voice came through the headphones.

"Roger!"

He pounced fiercely, and the massive B-25 immediately came into view of the windshield,

"Closer, closer." He intends to use the method of head-to-head attack, which is summed up by his comrades-in-arms on the Western Front who deal with British and American air raids, and against large bombers, who have thick skin and fierce counterattack firepower, it is generally easy to fail to use the tail chase attack in the direction of 6 o'clock, but the head-to-head attack is different, not only can it pour more firepower, but it can also effectively reduce the probability of being hit. As the two men flew closer, Loew could almost see the nervous, somewhat distorted face of the pilot opposite, who didn't care about the machine-gun bullets that flew around him, just stared at his firing aperture.

Finally, the B-25 entered the firing aperture, "Come on, see who hits whom first." He suddenly pulled the launch button, and the four MG151/20mm on the wing sprayed a stream of blazing fire and swept towards the opposite side, and the distance between the two sides exchanged fire has been from more than 1,000 meters to less than 250 meters, he knew that his aerial artillery hit the other side, but he didn't know how many shots the B-25 on the opposite side had hit, and he didn't have the opportunity to check the other party's injuries, he only subconsciously used all his strength to use the big maneuver lever to break away upward -- this is a way to save his life after the opponent's attack.

"Boy, you did a great job, you beat that guy down." Loew, who had just been leveled, heard the sound coming from the headphones, and looked down to see that the B-25 had just been beaten and burned down.

"It seems that the large bomber is not as difficult as they say......" Loew was just about to hum a few small tunes, and a shuttle of bullets passed by the cockpit, and when he looked back, it was actually a hurricane biting him, which made him break out in a cold sweat, but this sneak attack hurricane did not take advantage of it, and was quickly hit by the Bf-109 that followed up and exploded in the air.

After nearly 15 minutes of fighting, the incoming Hurricane, Handsome Warrior, and B-25 were all shot down, and the P-40 was also killed 3, only a few Spitfires still relied on their good performance and refused to give up, but a scene that made them jaw-dropping soon happened, a fuel-depleted Bf-109 swooped down directly from above, and fiercely crashed into the tail of one of the Spitfires, knocking the other party down on the spot, and the seriously damaged Bf-109 pilots also struggled to parachute to escape. The sight frightened the remaining British fighters, and with German fighters taking off from the airfield to meet them, they hurriedly slipped away.

When the Bf-109 finally landed successfully, the ground crew found that their fuel tanks were basically empty, and the battle lasted for another 1 minute. For the victory of this battle, the German fighter losses were not small, a total of 7 Bf-109s, 4 Fw-190s were shot down or fell for various reasons, but the losses of the pilots were not large.

But their heroic fighting at least repelled the enemy, the airfield was still firmly in the hands of the paratroopers, and the British planes did not gain anything except the Me-323 that had long been planted and could no longer be used in a pile of rags, and Student breathed a sigh of relief, and finally withstood the British counterattack, buying time for the troops - the most lacking thing in the whole Kungunir plan was time, as long as there was enough time, there would be a steady stream of planes from Crete to come to support.

"Sir, a telegram has been sent from the reconnaissance plane, and the main force of the British H Fleet entrenched in Alexandria has all left the port!"

On the island of Crete, the people who had just been rejoicing in the success of the landing at the port and the victory in the fierce battle at the airfield received the bad news, and now a very serious test was before them, and the sharpest counterattack of the British followed---the total from Alexandria to the port of Matrou was 135 nautical miles, and if the British fleet advanced at a speed of 20 knots, it would only take about seven hours to reach the outside of the port of Matrou, and the strength of the H fleet was far superior to that of the naval fleet covering the landing at present.

"What about the Italian direction?"

Rear Admiral Gauss hurriedly said: "Marshal Kesselring has ordered the main force of the Italian Navy to complete the assembly, and set off for the direction of Crete at about 1 o'clock in the afternoon at the earliest, and it is expected to arrive tomorrow evening and provide cover for the second wave of landing troops." ”

"Good." Field Marshal Rommel nodded, and calmly gave a follow-up order: "Air cover cannot be stopped, the second air attack wave marches to El Alamein airfield, the landed Greater German Division sends out a panzergrenadier battalion and 1 company of tanks to support the direction of the airfield and repel any enemy who may attack, the rest of the landing force is responsible for destroying the nearby British Army, and the landing fleet will return to Crete after completing the unloading of personnel and goods as soon as possible to avoid encounters with the enemy fleet...... As for the British fleet coming out of Alexandria, the A4 strike plan was carried out. (To be continued.) )