On May 24, 1933, the Battle of Texel took an important turn, when the American and British landing forces, supported by warships and aircraft, broke through the defenders' defenses, and the Allied forces on the island were forced to retreat to Angra de Marsmo and continue to resist the American and British forces in the absence of naval and air support. The heroes of Anglo-Porto www.biquge.info Grasmo served for a day and a night, and by the afternoon of the 25th, the Allied fleet led by Admiral Beinke finally reached the waters near the island of San Miguel in the southeast of the Azores, which was only more than 140 kilometers away from Texel.

The battle situation ahead was urgent, and the Bernke fleet did not have time to rest and recuperate, and after finding out the location of the enemy aircraft carriers, the 187 carrier-based crews that took off from three Zeppelin-class and two Ulster-class aircraft carriers became the first wave of air attack aircraft. After more than 40 minutes of flight, they spotted the traces of the American and British fleets in the waters northwest of Texel Island, and then rushed through the enemy's air cordon like a stone crushing an ear of wheat. Not long after, the pilot fighter sent out a radio signal: an enemy aircraft carrier has been found in the northern seas!

Carrier-based aircraft with iron crosses or clover logos painted on their fuselages and wings swooped down in droves towards the northern seas like a school of piranhas that smelled blood. In front of them, the number of enemy planes taking off to meet them was rapidly increasing, but nothing could stop them from venting their pent-up anger now. The four squadrons of H-25s were like a sharp spearhead, penetrating the hastily organized air defense line of American and British fighters with fearless courage and outstanding skill, and the two squadrons of IR-30Ts followed closely behind, chasing every lone target with superb low-altitude maneuverability...... Since the outbreak of the battle for the Azores, the US and British fighters have always had the upper hand, and this is the first time that they have been at an absolute disadvantage in an air battle.

The enemy fighters that came to intercept were basically dispersed, and the three squadrons of dive bombers and two squadrons of torpedo bombers of the Allies took advantage of the situation to occupy attack positions -- the German-made Ju-17 and the love-made IK-30T climbed to an altitude of about 3,000 meters, the slightly clumsy "Super Swordfish" began to fly low against the sea, the anti-aircraft artillery fire of the American and British warships exploded wildly in the air, and there were flashing flames and diffuse gunpowder smoke everywhere, and the line of sight was chaotic, and no one could see the general situation of the battlefield. And everyone in it has been thrown into this fierce battle.

"Torpedo track found in the port direction!"

On the British destroyer under sail, there was an exclamation from the lookout post, and the torpedoes flying under the sea surface were obviously not aimed at this insignificant destroyer, not far from its starboard side was the glorious aircraft carrier "Indomitable", this huge guy relied on more than 1,000 crew members and more than 600 air crew to maintain its operation, there were constantly fighters taking off and landing on the flight deck, large and small anti-aircraft guns were roaring all the time, and its smooth outer wall was a seemingly perfect steel wall, However, its protection is far from enough to resist the attack of torpedoes, and if it is not able to avoid the attack from underwater in time, the consequences will be a disaster!

The principle of abandoning the car and defending the commander is applicable to any battle in human history, and seeing that its aircraft carrier is in danger, the brave and loyal British destroyer quickly crosses between the incoming torpedo and the Indomitable Destroyer, trying to defend the indomitable dignity of the Royal Navy with its thin body, but the first torpedo slipped less than two meters in front of its bow, and half a minute later, the second torpedo drilled through its bottom, fortunately both torpedoes were avoided by the Indomitable.

On the bridge of the destroyer, a British captain who was keeping a close eye on the enemy suddenly lowered his binoculars, stretched out his right hand and pointed obliquely to the sky, and shouted to the gunners of a single anti-aircraft gun nearby: "The enemy's dive bombers are down!" In our three o'clock direction! Fire! Fire at them! ”

The gunners were busy turning the anti-aircraft guns. Due to the limitation of financial input, the equipment rate of all kinds of auxiliary equipment on British warships was much inferior to that of Germany and the United States, and some of them could be compensated for by the quality of sailors, while others became the weakness of actual combat. This hand-loaded anti-aircraft gun, the firepower output stayed in the primitive stage, the gunners hurriedly fired, the shells did not threaten the two Ju-17 that swooped down at a large angle, the highly respected "Thor's hammer" at this critical moment hit a thunderous blow, a 500-kilogram armor-piercing bomb fell on the front of the aircraft carrier's flight deck, and one fell into the water next to its starboard side, and two powerful bombs instantly pushed the "Indomitable" and the officers and men of the ship to the edge of hell......

A heart-wrenching naval and air battle was underway, and in the commander-in-chief suite of the battleship "Deutschland", Admiral Beinke was anxiously awaiting the battle report ahead. After a long time, the phone on the desk finally rang, and he quickly walked to the table and grabbed the microphone: "It's me...... That's great! That's great! Immediately confirm the content of the battle report, and then shoot the code for the high command, the general staff, and the admiralty, and soon the people of the whole country will know this inspiring good news! ”

Putting down the phone, Beanke rubbed his hands excitedly, walked to the dressing mirror to tidy up his appearance, and tied a dazzling Blue Max medal around his collar, which was a compliment for leading the German task force and the Argentine Navy to annihilate the Chilean fleet, and the battle that took place in 1930 was undoubtedly the largest and most influential naval battle between the two world wars.

Leaving the suite, Beanke hummed the tune of the Navy March as he strutted to the battle bridge. His technical expertise was naval gunnery, but unlike the obstinate artillonists, he not only did not despise the role of submarines and aircraft carriers in modern warfare, but also spent a lot of effort studying these new weapons and the tactics and tactics that corresponded them. If this were not the case, even if he could accept the advice of the chief of staff of the fleet, Rear Admiral Lars, he would inevitably be hesitant. Now, the battle reports coming back from the front show that he has bet on the right treasure on the aircraft carrier's fuselage - his first attack has severely damaged two enemy aircraft carriers, making a good start to this heavyweight naval duel.

As General Beinke stepped onto the bridge, the officers turned to salute him, and the joy and pleasure of striking the enemy filled everyone's brow.

When Beinke stood in his familiar position, a staff officer walked up to him with a scribbled sketch paper: "Commander, I have just received confirmation from the front that the 79th Squadron and the 140th Squadron have each damaged an enemy aircraft carrier, and there are open flames and smoke on the target deck, so it is judged that its injuries are seriously wounded. ”

Lars, the chief of staff of the fleet, immediately added: "The 79th Squadron is assigned to the Zeppelin, and the 140th Squadron is assigned to the Wichelsbach. ”

Beinke nodded with satisfaction: "Immediately send this battle report back home." ”

The staff officer stood up and said, "Obey." ”

Beinke looked out of the porthole, and the five aircraft carriers that were headwind were flying carrier-based aircraft for the second wave of attacks. The three Zeppelins, the Wichelsbach and the Swabian, and the other two are the Irish Navy's Ulster and Queen Charlotte, which were built and serviced throughout the mid-to-late 20s and early 30s, with the first to be completed in the 1926 Portuguese coup crisis with the main force of the High Seas Fleet to the Azores, when the war that would have engulfed most of the world had not been delayed by the British Home Fleet. In the years that followed, the Zeppelin-class successors were commissioned and the Irish built their small country with great shipbuilding skills – the two Ulster-class aircraft carriers were considered improvements to the Zeppelin-class, which is a testament to their superior performance.

Due to the limited width of the flight deck, the aircraft carrier can only take off one carrier-based aircraft at a time, so under normal circumstances, the fighters that take off first are hovering over the fleet, while forming a flight formation, and waiting until all the fighters participating in the operation are in place, and then fly to the target area together, but this time before the second wave of carrier-based aircraft all took off, the fleet sounded the air defense siren - the ship-borne radar found that there were enemy planes flying from the direction of Texel Island. By this time, the American and British forces that had landed on Texel Island had occupied all areas except Angra Sangra and Fort Complex No. 1 and No. 2, including three airfields abandoned by the Germans and some field runways for ******** take-off and landing, and they quickly set up their own land airfields, unloading entire aircraft from ships or disassembling loaded land-based aircraft. From the morning of the 25th, the grass-green painted US Army fighters appeared in the bombing of the airgroup of Angra Sangra Heroísmo, and a few hours later, the grass-yellow painted British Royal Air Force fighters attacked the German military facilities on Pico Island, which means that the Beinke fleet has to deal with not only the aircraft carrier aircraft of the US and British fleets, but also needs to be careful to guard against the enemy aviation units that land on Texel Island, and if the Beinke fleet can arrive a day earlier, it will be able to avoid the trouble of responding to the enemy on both sides, and it can also cooperate with its own aviation forces on Texel Island to flank the enemy……

It's a foregone conclusion, and frustration doesn't help. Admiral Schchermit, commander of the 1st Aircraft Carrier Squadron, immediately sent a signal from his flagship "Zeppelin": I have dispatched two fighter squadrons to meet the enemy planes, and the second wave of air strikes can still be carried out as planned.

Beinke's response was swift and concise: it was executed as planned.

As a result, a large group of carrier-based aircraft hovering over the Allied fleet flew in several formations toward the northwest. Not far away, two small formations of all biplanes decisively broke away from the large force, skillfully formed a battle formation, and formed a seemingly thin air defense line in front of the enemy aircraft group flying from the direction of Texel Island.

Some of the American and British pilots who flew land-based fighters into battle were pilots of the US Army or the British Air Force who had never participated in the war before, and some were naval pilots who were temporarily transferred from aircraft carriers; the former watched the battle on board for two days and were eager to have a face-to-face duel with the enemy planes as soon as possible; the latter had already gained experience and sharpened their will in the two-day arduous battle, and it was not a problem to deal with the Fokker G-51 with superior performance.

After the fight, the U.S. and British naval pilots quickly discovered that their opponents were not ordinary people, and they also recognized their opponents from the silhouettes, liveries, and logos of the enemy aircraft.

"We were intercepted by Irish carrier-based aircraft on the periphery of the enemy fleet, they flew IR-30Ts, and the air combat maneuvers were very agile and difficult to deal with, and we tried to cover the bombers to get out of their entanglement." A US military pilot with the rank of captain reported in radio communications.

Before the advent of the IR-30T, the German Navy had already chosen the He-25 as a new generation of carrier-based fighters, and as a loyal ally of Germany, the Irish did not choose the famous Heinkel fighter, but continued to use the IR-29T, until 1932, a year before the outbreak of the war, when the IR-30T was fully installed. After obtaining the supply and domestic production license of the IR-29T, the Japanese Navy coveted the IR-30T, which was still in the development and testing stage, and they tried various channels to equip the Irish Navy with this high-quality and inexpensive carrier-based aircraft. The relative simplicity of the structure and the high cost performance are not the only advantages of the IR-29/30 series, and in the past few years, the Irish Naval Aviation has conquered its German counterparts with excellent performance. The German pilots, who had suffered one after another, concluded that they should not attempt a low-altitude gruffle with the IR-30T, otherwise the Irish pilots would be able to stun you and kick you in the ass.

Although the American and British pilots had heard of this, they had not experienced the repeated ravages, and when they realized that the situation was not good during the battle, it was often too late. Skilled Irish carrier-based pilots don't give them an easy chance to escape, and they fly the IR-30T like a wolf in the jungle in the wild, or an alligator in a swamp, patiently maneuvering with their prey, timing it and then striking the killer blow. Whether it is the Grumman F3F with a round fuselage, the Boeing P-12 that supplies the US and British Army Aviation forces at the same time, or the Boeing P-26 that is newly equipped with the US Army Aviation, they are not opponents at all in the traditional hand-to-hand combat mode. As a result, the two squadrons of 32 IR-30Ts not only entangled 25 American and British fighters, but also freed up their hands to intercept and pursue enemy bombers, which lasted more than a quarter of an hour of fierce air battles, and the Irish shot down 21 enemy planes at the cost of losing 7 fighters, basically disintegrating this round of air raids by the US and British aircraft groups on the Beinke fleet. Although the remaining American and British fighters flew over the Allied fleet, they could hardly do anything in the face of dense anti-aircraft fire, and none of the torpedoes they barely dropped hit, and the aerial bombs caused minor damage to the Irish aircraft carrier "Ulster" and the German light cruiser "Bremen".

On the other hand, the US-British aircraft carrier formation, which had been coldly beaten, quickly recovered from its panic and disorder, and the injuries of the two damaged aircraft carriers were not as serious as the opponent had speculated. It is worth mentioning that the U.S. and British landing forces have captured the port of Praeda-Victoria in the eastern part of Texel Island, and as the port facilities are being repaired, more and more transport ships are passing through this port to unload troops and equipment, and once the Allied forces stationed in Anmarísmo Sansri give up resistance, the previously captured American and British pilots will return to the combat unit, and as long as the aircraft carrier is still there, it will be able to obtain another group of new troops.

(End of chapter)