When Churchill had no way to support Malta, 40 Luftwaffe Stuka bombers hung up their bombs and visited the island in the Mediterranean. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

These were the first Luftwaffe planes to reach Italy, and under the cover of Italian fighters, they completed the bombing of the main island of Malta.

Forty dive bombers attacked the airfields on the islands and the planes parked on them, quickly destroying the British planes' ability to meet them.

Subsequently, the Italian air force dispatched almost 100 bombers to carry out massive bombing damage throughout Malta.

On July 18th, the battle for Malta officially began, and history at this moment embarked on a completely unknown path.

With a terrible howl, the German dive bombers brought a real disaster, almost 12 Allied planes were destroyed, and the entire island was filled with burning smoke.

The Air Force of the Third Reich, which Goering boasted about, at this point in time, was indeed of unparalleled destructive power.

Having not yet experienced the losses of the Battle of Britain, the current Luftwaffe can dispatch thousands of planes in one go to deal with a small Malta, which can be said to be handy.

It is indeed a hand-to-hand capture, and this is not the end of 1941 or even 1942, when the two sides have entered a stalemate period.

Britain had not yet had time to strengthen the defenses of the Maltese Islands, which had less than 10,000 defenders and dozens of capable aircraft.

With this small number of troops, it was simply impossible to stop the German attack.

On 19 July, the German paratroopers did their final training session before departure, and then the elite who had swept across the Netherlands boarded a plane bound for Italy.

"Soldiers! The country needs brave you, and I hope you can bring back a great victory to the motherland! Before getting on the plane, Li Le gave a speech to the paratrooper representatives.

400 carefully selected paratrooper officers were inspected by the Führer, who, amid a round of applause, gave the paratroopers almost the highest praise.

"I will never stop the paratroopers from flying! As long as the war does not stop, then you will be the sharpest spear of the country, the strongest shield of the country, like the armored forces, and the submarine forces, and all the German soldiers! ”

"I hope you can give full play to the spirit of your ancestors and fight for this country until the last moment!" Li Le waved his arms while inciting his soldiers.

He shouted excitedly, "I will be here, waiting for you to come back!" If you win, I will share the wine with you; If you die on the battlefield, I will die for the country with you! ”

"Victory! Monarch! "All the paratrooper deputies raised their arms and shouted loudly. For the first time, they heard the Führer's pre-war mobilization so excited, and they were extremely excited.

"May God be with you! Germanic peoples, with you! Hess stood beside the Führer and raised his arm as well.

"Victory! Monarch! General Student was equally thrilled that his troops had received a great deal of new weapons, and this time the Führer was not just talking.

Offered to the paratroopers was the latest production assault rifle, which, although somewhat strangely named, proved to be worthy of the Führer's boasting.

This new weapon provides paratroopers with more reliable and dense suppressive firepower, and the use of intermediate-power ammunition allows paratroopers to carry more ammunition into battle.

It can be said that the assault rifle is simply a tailor-made weapon for paratroopers, and if possible, Student is willing to equip most of the paratroopers with such fashionable firearms.

At the same time, in order to give the paratroopers the ability to deal with tanks and strong fortifications, the Führer put the military-industrial department to work on it and made a bomb that could be attacked from a distance - a bazooka.

The rocket launcher, named Iron Fist by the Führer, gave the paratroopers a direct-fire attack weapon for the first time. Although the number was small, a total of 30 such weapons were supplied.

Compared with the previous paratrooper weapons, this time the German paratroopers can be described as a shotgun replacement, eliminating 1,000 slightly outdated Mauser 98K rifles in exchange for a variety of powerful weapons.

If it weren't for the German training and other hardware that did not allow it, Li Le would even have to let the paratroopers carry weapons and parachute together, instead of using the backward means of separating and parachuting.

"General! The command of the front is up to you, I am waiting in Berlin for the news of your victory, go, Spudent, go! Li Le finally pressed Student on the shoulder, and ended the speech.

All paratroopers were to arrive in Italy within two days, and then by the 23rd, an attack on Malta would be launched.

The perpetual motion machine plan was the first time that Li Le drew up a battle plan after crossing to Germany, and made efforts to change the future situation. So Li Le seemed very nervous, he didn't know what the future would become.

As he walked through the phalanx of paratroopers, he said to Hess and Goering, who were beside him: "This operation has a huge impact on us, and I don't want anything to go wrong. ”

"Don't be nervous, my Führer! Victory is ours. "Goering was very proud to support his airborne troops.

Hess also thinks that this operation is completely a knife killing, so there is no need to be too nervous: "My Führer, General Stepent has very rich combat experience, you don't have to worry about it at all." ”

However, Li Le was still very nervous, which was completely different from the battle of the sneak attack on the H fleet.

Sneak attack on the H Fleet, it was a skirmish in which he mastered history and was bound to win.

For that naval battle, he knew it very thoroughly, and it could be said that he had calculated or not, so of course he didn't need to be so nervous.

But this time it was different, he was not guided by historical knowledge, and the whole plan did not exist in his memory, so he must have felt the fear of the unknown.

At this time, Li Le knew that a good mental quality was definitely a condition that a qualified general must have.

Every time before making an attack plan, the heart beats faster like gambling, which is not a devastation that a normal person can bear.

"Aren't you two nervous? That's one of our most important sea oil lanes, and if something goes wrong with the plan, we'll lose half the war! Li Le said with a frown.

Goering was stunned for a moment, then nodded, shook his head again, and explained: "We have already used a lot of troops, and there is no reason to lose. ”

For this airborne mission, he prepared 15,000 well-trained paratroopers, and more than 20,000 Italian landing troops were to receive them.

If an attack of this magnitude had been defeated by the British, he would have even begun to question his own life - whether he had really been like a stupid X in the past year.

The action plan has been postponed repeatedly, from July 17 to July 23 in one go, in order to be prepared and foolproof.

The benefit of this delay was that the paratroopers were given a rest and a large number of weapons were distributed.

After all, the paratroopers are the high-quality elite units of the German army, so they are also very quick to accept new weapons.

First of all, because these soldiers were always eager to get an automatic weapon to replace their own Mauser 98K, the STG-44 assault rifle was accepted very quickly.

Secondly, in the previous battles in the Netherlands and Belgium, the German paratroopers realized the lack of firepower in their offensive positions, so the Iron Fist Bazooka was also very popular among the officers and soldiers.

And when the German airborne troops rushed to Italy, 150 bombers of the Luftwaffe had already arrived in Italy in the past few days.

These planes bombed Malta so overwhelmingly that the Allies there sent urgent telegram after emergency message to London.

"Malta is in a hurry, and the Germans bomb on a larger scale than one ......"

"100 German bombers attacked Valletta, causing thousands of civilian casualties!"

These messages were like steel needles, irritating the fragile hearts of the British. If Malta were lost, the Axis would effectively split the Mediterranean in two.

What is even more terrifying is that what cuts through the Mediterranean Sea is an oil transportation route of the Axis powers, a safe and reliable transportation route that the British cannot solve in a short time.

"We don't have the strength to fortify the Maltese Islands, General Somerville's fleet, and we can't venture close there." The admirals looked at Churchill with a gloomy face and explained.

At this time, the British Mediterranean Fleet stationed near Alexandria, although still intact, did not dare to act rashly.

Britain was afraid that the Germans would encircle Malta and send reinforcements, so they would take the opportunity to take out the British Mediterranean Fleet, and even the Suez Canal would be in danger at that time.

Similarly, rushing 3,000 people to the Maltese Islands is already the limit of what the British can do, and these 3,000 people are still a colonial army with average combat effectiveness, which can be said to be better than nothing.

At this time, the garrison on the Maltese islands was actually only 9,000 men, and after the reinforcement, it was only 12,000 men.

Most of the planes were destroyed, and there were less than 20 left. This kind of force was simply not able to defend against the German attack.

While British transports and destroyers were desperately trying to bring 3,000 reinforcements to Malta, the Italian Navy's landing fleet left its port.

In the early hours of July 23, the operational part of the perpetual motion machine program began to be implemented, and the soldiers of the Luftwaffe paratrooper units, under the command of Student, boarded the JU-52 transport plane to transport themselves.

They were accustomed to the roar of the engines, and the soldiers with parachutes on their backs rushed into the cramped engine room, and with the vibration and jolting, flew towards the target of the attack.