The Suez Canal, 190 kilometers long from Port Said in the north to Suez City in the south, is a sea-level waterway that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea, providing the closest route from Europe to the Indian Ocean and the nearby lands in the western Pacific Ocean.

Since its excavation, it has become one of the most frequently used shipping routes in the world. It is also the junction between Asia and Africa, and the main channel for people from Asia, Africa and Europe.

This important transportation artery must be in the hands of the British!

Therefore, the British stationed a large number of troops in Egypt, even if the British army was at a disadvantage in the battle with the Germans in western Egypt, and even if the British army in Alexandria was besieged, no one thought of mobilizing troops here.

In the Suez Canal Zone, thousands of troops were stationed, and Lindemann, the commander of the garrison of the British 23rd Infantry Division, had not had a good night's sleep these days.

The battle on the front line is under a steep turn, and the Suez Canal is Rommel's ultimate goal!

If the Germans want to seize the Suez Canal, they must first control Port Said in the north of the canal, so, under the leadership of Lindemann, these days, the British army has dug anti-tank trenches outside, the width of the trenches is more than four meters, and the German tanks cannot pass at all.

In the middle of the night, he was woken up by his adjutant in his sleep, and when he hurried to the front of the sand table, he heard no worse news.

"The German army, a long run, has attacked the city of Cairo, and they will most likely continue to advance towards the Suez Canal." The adjutant said: "At the pace of the German offensive, it is possible that after dawn, the vanguard of the Germans will appear in our control area. ”

"Order the troops, prepare for battle." Lindemann said: "We will defend the Suez Canal to the death. ”

Although the Suez Canal is quite long, the most critical node is Port Said, which is the starting point of navigation, and now, there is no need to worry about the Germans destroying the canal, after all, the Germans still want to continue to use the river.

If the Germans want to get the river intact, they will definitely need to occupy Port Said, and it is conceivable that the fighting here will be even more brutal.

At the same time, in an air base in the Canal Zone, fighter jets were dragged out of the hangar.

The recent battles had taken a heavy toll on the British, and the German ground forces were advancing along with the Stuka and HS129, bombarding the British army indiscriminately.

The British Air Force also resisted, but unfortunately, the gap in the quality of the fighters could not be overcome, and moreover, it did not occupy an advantage in quantity.

So, the British Air Force in Egypt was quickly crippled, but in the Canal Zone, there is still an air force left, and recently, they have also changed their guns and got the latest fighter jets from the United States!

The P-40 is a fighter developed on the basis of the P-36 "Eagle" designed by the American Curtis Company before the war, and the main engine is to change the engine from the "Double Wasp" star engine to the turbocharged "Allison" V-1710 in-line engine.

Prior to this, the P-36 had already achieved great success, sales were quite high.

So, only the engine was modified, so that this aircraft was mediocre and almost featureless, and in the whole of World War II, this aircraft was almost a flash in the pan.

However, since the P-36 was already mass-produced, it was battle-tested that only minor changes to the production line were required to produce the P-40. It was almost the only model in the United States at the beginning of World War II that was able to be mass-produced and exported, which means that its production was quite high!

After the aircraft was manufactured, the first overseas buyer was France. It is a pity that the 100 P-40s ordered by the French surrendered under the German blitzkrieg before they left the factory.

Now, in the context of supporting Britain, these planes have been sent to the Middle East.

Captain Loso, watching the ground crew hang bombs on his plane, at this time, the east has gradually brightened.

In front of the nose, the pattern of the huge shark's mouth is extremely eye-catching.

Painting the front of the plane as a shark's mouth, which looks very imposing, this idea, momentum is not the first of Chennault's work, the British Air Force, which is fighting in North Africa, was the first to come up with this beautiful livery.

In all fairness, this aircraft is inferior to the Spitfire, the fuselage structure has not moved, it just has increased the engine power to 1150 horsepower, and the liquid-cooled engine makes its windward area much smaller, even so, about a hundred lower than the Spitfire's top speed.

What's more, the high-altitude performance of this aircraft is also quite poor, and as soon as it crosses 6000 meters, the speed and handling drop sharply.

Historically, the British bought back this fighter and named it Tomahawk, some of which were sent as trainers, and some were sent to the second-line battlefield, that is, the Middle East and North Africa, as fighter-bombers.

And now, these fighters are the main force of the air force in the Suez Canal Zone, they did not participate in the battle some time ago, they have been in good condition, and their only mission is to protect the Suez Canal!

When this fighter was exported to Britain, four 7.7 mm caliber machine guns were added to the wings, which became the mode of two 12.7 mm machine guns in the nose and four 7.7 mm machine guns in the wings.

Now, seeing that the ground crew was nervously reloading, Lotso had an impatient urge, and he silently lit a cigarette and watched the ground crew busy.

"Woo, woo." At this moment, over the entire base, a sharp air defense siren suddenly sounded.

Damn, the Germans came so fast!

"Quick, quick, start the engine!" When he heard the sound of the air defense siren, Loso quickly ran to his fighter, and the ground crew, who was busy loading ammunition, had already left the plane, and at the same time, there was a ground crew with a crank handle, standing on a ground service car.

He tucked his crank onto the propeller, which happened to be stuck with the card slot on the propeller's axis, and he bent over, waiting for Lotso's instructions.

Opening the electric door and connecting the oil circuit, Loso shouted loudly, "Hurry up!" ”

Launch! The ground crew used the strength of the milk and began to shake the handlebar, and as the shaker swayed, the propeller also rotated, from slow to fast.

On the right side of the front end of the nose, all of them are exhaust pipes, and with the shaking, black smoke comes out one after another, and at the same time, the engine also comes with a gradually louder sound.

"Bang, bang," the engine was like two stinky farts, and it was spinning happily, and it was already starting!