The German Airborne Division's 7th Division was a key player in the North African campaign, and the target they were to capture was about 320 kilometers east of Tubruk, in Egypt, called Mesematrous. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Info is a very small port, surrounded by the vast desert Gobi except for the Mediterranean. However, the value of this Messematroux cannot be overemphasized.

First of all, Mesematroux is a port, although it is not big, but it can always carry something ashore. And it is also located between Tubruk and El Alamein, which is only 200 km away. Rommel's Afrika Korps could make a critical resupply here, filling the tanks, armoured vehicles, and self-propelled guns with fuel before heading to El Alamein for battle.

Secondly, Messe Matroux is also an important air base of the Royal Air Force in Egypt. Because it is relatively close to both Tubruk and Benghazi, the aircraft deployed here can pose a greater threat to Tubruk and Benghazi. So a few years before the start of World War II, the British built a large airfield in Messe Matroux.

And once this airfield, which the British called "Matroux Airport", was captured by the Germans, then the Germans would be able to quickly increase their troops to Messe Matroux through the air corridor of Benghazi-Matroux Airport. In a maximum of 24 hours, the 7th Division of the German Airborne Forces and the 185th Italian Lightning Division could be deployed in place (both divisions were small in number, with a combined strength of just over 12,000 men), while several squadrons of combat aircraft could be deployed there.

In addition, according to intelligence, the RAF has also stored a lot of valuable aviation gasoline at Matruo Airport! If this gasoline falls into the hands of the Germans, then the German JU88 will soon be able to use Matru Airport as a base to bomb Alexandria, 250 kilometers away!

It is precisely because of the importance of Matrou Airport that the air force of Germany and Italy was "ignored" in the air raids after February 20.

However, the 24 fighter squadrons belonging to the Royal Air Force (equipped with Hurricane aircraft) stationed here in charge of air defense at the airport did not take it lightly. In Heinz. When the 96 fighters of the 9th Carrier-based Group and the 10th Carrier-based Group (48 Fokker Zeros and 48 Fokker 99s) led by Captain Barr flew over Messe Matroux, they immediately collided with the 32 Hurricanes that had already taken off.

"Captain Barr, I'm Second Lieutenant Hersman, under the clouds, enemy planes were spotted, they were Hurricanes, at least 24 of them!" Hirschman Jr.'s squadron flew at the front, and it flew quite high, and it was the first to spot the Hurricane planes that had already taken off to meet the enemy.

"Squadron Hersmann, Squadron Novotny, Squadron Miller, you guys go deal with those Hurricanes." Heinz. Captain Barr's voice was echoed back into Little Hersman's headphones, along with the sound of radio interference.

"2nd squadron, let's go down and clean them up! Twin aircraft formation, sortie! As soon as Hersman Jr. pushed the joystick, his plane immediately rushed down.

The Fokker Zero C-3 model has greatly increased its high-altitude performance due to the installation of a supercharger and MW50 system, but it is still necessary to be careful when diving, not at too large an angle, otherwise the body structure will be difficult to bear.

But against Hurricane aircraft, such a dive and speed is more than enough. Hesman Jr. aimed at a Hurricane plane that was bobbing from side to side in an attempt to escape, quickly biting the other party's tail and then pulling the trigger.

The fuselage of the Fokker Zero trembled slightly, the nose gun sprayed tongues of fire, and 7.92mm machine gun bullets and 20mm cannon shells poured into the fuselage of the hurricane plane at the same time, and the plane immediately plummeted and fell in smoke.

"The 10th!"

Little Hersman shouted happily from inside the cabin. In an escort operation two days ago, he had another result. With the addition of this one now, he already has 10 results in hand.

At the same time that Hirschman Jr. shot down a Hurricane, the other 17 twin-plane formations in the sky also completed a hunt, and only 1 Fokker Zero was shot down

"The British are getting more and more reluctant now!" When Hirschman Jr. pulled up the plane to look for his next target, he mentally assessed his opponent.

Although the Fokker Zero has a performance advantage over the Hurricane, it is not to the point where it can be crushed effortlessly. Now that it's 17:1 in a matter of minutes, it can only be said that the pilots who flew those Hurricanes were rookies.

The British rookies flying the Hurricane were soon beaten to nothing by the Fokker Zero, and the Messe Matroux sky now belonged to the Germans.

The British anti-aircraft guns on the ground began to fire sparsely. Messe Matrum was far less important to Britain than to Germany and Italy, and the number of anti-aircraft guns in the hands of the British army in the Middle East was also limited, Tubruk and Crete in the front could not be put in a little more, and Alexandria, the nest in the rear, also needed anti-aircraft gun protection. Therefore, there are not many anti-aircraft artillery that can be deployed to Mesematrou.

"Fighter squadrons keep circling in the air," Heinz said. Seeing that the battle in the air was decided, Barr began to give orders again, "Attention bomber squadrons, bombing operations begin, suppress ground anti-aircraft artillery positions, be careful not to bomb airfield runways and oil depots......"

The airfield runway and oil depot were left to the airborne troops who took the JU52 and DF230 light assault ****** behind. 6,500 officers and soldiers, flying 302 JU52 transport planes and 228 DF230 bombers, escorted by 48 Fokker Zeros, are flying towards Messematroux in the sky!

……

At 1:30 p.m. on February 24, 1941, the armored command vehicle in which Admiral Rommel was riding passed through the battlefield where the morning had taken place. His 58 No. 4 tanks and 48 50mm anti-tank guns, as well as 4 half-tracks with 47mm anti-tank guns, routed a British armored cluster of 400 tanks of various types. The exchange of fire lasted less than an hour, leaving less than 300 damaged British tanks on the battlefield.

The German armored forces showed overwhelming superiority in this battle! However, the fighting on the battlefield of Tubruk continued, and although the British armoured attack was easily crushed, the subsequent resistance by the 1st Free French Brigade and the Polish Independent Brigade was quite stubborn.

These French and Polish warriors, who thought they were dead people, were very brave and well-trained. The 2-pounder anti-tank gun (40mm gun), which was not powerful enough for the British, also became a sharp weapon in their hands, and they also planted anti-tank mines everywhere, and actually destroyed dozens of No. 4 tanks and half-track armored vehicles in several hours.

The No. 5 car of the armored reconnaissance platoon of Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop (the one with the 47mm gun) was also damaged by the Poles with a 2-pounder gun, and the commander, Sergeant Schumacher, was seriously wounded and carried off the battlefield.

Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop was ordered to take the remaining four half-tracks along the edge of the battlefield and try to find a way to make a detour of the tanks east of Tubruk.

The situation on the battlefield was very chaotic, with troops on both sides strangled together, German tanks and armored vehicles made breakthroughs in many places, but French and Polish outlaws resisted stubbornly in many ring strongholds. A number of Indians were also sent out, armed with 2-pounder anti-tank guns and machine guns, to build a defensive line of numerous fire positions in the desert Gobi. The half-track led by Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop came under constant fire of various fires along the way, and they returned fire with 20mm machine guns and 14.5mm heavy machine guns on the half-track.

"Fire! Hurry up! Ribbentrop roared loudly. Because his team suddenly ran into a number of Indians in trucks, thirty or forty trucks, all of which were very small Indians.

The 20mm cannon immediately burst into flames, knocking a Ford truck in front into a sieve. The Indians above screamed and jumped down, but instead of throwing away their weapons and fleeing for their lives, they lay down on the spot and began to return fire with their rifles - Ribbentrop later learned that the Ah San he had met in North Africa was not the real third brother, but a Gurkha mercenary from Nepal, who was quite brave.

The German soldiers sitting in the half-track also jumped out of the car, lay down on the side of the half-track, and fired at the Gurkha with their Mauser 98K rifles, MP40 and MG34 machine guns.

For the next hour, soldiers from both sides engaged in a fierce exchange of fire across the four or five hundred meters wide sand. Because there were 2 20mm guns and 2 14.5mm heavy machine guns, the Germans had an overwhelming advantage in firepower. But those Gurkha mercenaries had a numerical advantage, not only did they not retreat, but also organized two infantry assaults under the cover of 2 mortars, trying to rush close and engage in hand-to-hand combat. However, they were all driven back by fire from Ribbentrop's men, leaving dozens of corpses in the sand, and Ribbentrop's platoon also had three killed and four wounded, and four half-tracks were also shot by Gurkha mercenaries with anti-tank guns and covered with holes, but fortunately there was no major problem.

But about an hour after the exchange of fire began, several No. 4 tanks, covering a company of infantry, arrived to reinforce and drove back the brave Gurkha with overwhelming firepower, killing most of them. Second Lieutenant Ribbentrop's men caught an "Indian" in his thirties, who could speak difficult English, and was in charge of interrogating him, only to learn that they had gone around behind the lines of the South African 1st Division and the Indian 5th Division, and less than 2 kilometers further on Knightsbridge, a key point garrisoned by a regiment of the Indian 10th Division. Once captured, the German armoured forces would be able to detour back east of Tubruk along the Kazop Trail. (To be continued.) )