March 4, 1941, the fourth day of the North African landings.

In Oran Port, the slender mast spire of the battleship Brittany protruded out of the water, like a pair of eyes, silently watching the US ** ship passing by. In the fortified batteries of the harbor, the remaining guns of the French Navy were all aimed at the escorting British ships in the distance, but they were indifferent to the American ships that continued to pour into the harbor.

This is perhaps the most bizarre and bizarre scene of the war so far, due to strict secrecy measures and negligence in German and Italian intelligence, the US Second Task Force escorted the landing force to Oran, and Germany learned that the US troops had landed in North Africa. After a period of symbolic resistance, the Governor of French Algeria, Nogues, declared neutrality, but he forbade any British soldiers and warships to approach or the policy of non-resistance would be lifted. Nogues' choice represents the mentality of the whole of France. The entry of the United States made France see the possibility of no longer having to grovel to Germany, and saw the dream of restoring free France, but they did not dare to offend the powerful German army that occupied Paris, so they chose neutrality after a period of false resistance, and then waited for the American army to be absorbed. However, the "stone thrower" operation that shocked the world eight months ago was a humiliation that the whole of France will never forget, the ghost of the Brittany, the sinking of the Richelieu! The hatred between Britain and France is like this mast, which would rather die than give in.

Anyone can get close, but not the UK!

This is the choice of France.

This kind of stubbornness is admirable, but it also makes Britain helpless. The U.S. troops successfully landed in Oran, but the British attack on Algiers took two days. Had it not been for de Gaulle's initiative to replace the first landing forces with the Free French Army, I am afraid that the landing in Algiers would have been dangerous.

With the Allies promising not to allow the British to appear in Oran, the French finally laid down all their arms. One after another, American transport ships entered the port of Oran without any danger. Ironically, the airfield facilities destroyed by naval guns during Operation Catapult never repaired, so the US Army had to stay in Gibraltar. Nearly 100 ships crowded the harbor, and five divisions of American GIs officially landed in the North African desert with camel cigarettes in their mouths. Thousands of M3 Li, M3 Stuart tanks, former Soviet T26 and domestically produced Type 31F tanks delivered by China to the Free French Army. Unloaded from the cabin with the help of a crane. Trucks, heavy artillery, light armored vehicles, etc., show the deep industrial heritage of the United States.

After learning of the British and American landings, Rommel put pressure on the French troops in Algeria and Tunisia through Hitler, and then gathered an armored division, an infantry division and two Italian infantry divisions to quickly occupy Tunisia, and then quickly seize Annaba and Constantine controlled by the French army along the coastline. At present, the two sides are fighting fiercely on the front line of Kiskena, and the British and Americans have committed a total of two armored divisions and two infantry divisions. Hoping to block Rommel, who was approaching quickly.

When the landing force rushed to the battlefield, 12 "Thunderbolts" and 16 US P-40 "Warhawks" formed two columns, and after arriving in Orland, they parted ways. Raiden headed north to Ibiza, Spain, and Warhawk continued west to Algiers. After bidding farewell to the American plane, Mo Yucheng ordered to climb to an altitude of 6,000 meters and start fuel-saving cruises. Although Liu Mingchang was in the queue, he still took the initiative to let the former take command, so that his comrades-in-arms could adapt to the European air combat method more quickly.

The patrol route of the Dragoon squadron was from Gibraltar, and after arriving in Oran with the American troops, it changed north to the Spanish island of Ibiza, and then turned back to the Spanish coast of Blanca. Finally return to Gibraltar along the coastline. The total length of this patrol route is 1,550 kilometers, so each Thunderbolt needs to hang two large auxiliary fuel tanks when it departs. The U.S. P-40B "Warhawk" can only stick to Algiers, which patrols the North African coast, because of its short range. And the carrier-based aircraft remained 600 kilometers southwest of Sardinia because of the pressure of Sardinia and Malta. Responsible for intercepting the incoming German and Italian air forces and protecting the safety of the landing site.

It was a grueling four days, as the airports in Oran and Algiers needed to be renovated, so the US Army was stationed until 6 March. Thankfully. The German and Italian Air Force, which worried the Allied command the most, also failed to make a difference, with less than 80 fighters committed in the first two days, increasing to 130 yesterday. And because of the short combat radius. Therefore, under the protection of four aircraft carriers and a total of 330 fighters stationed in Gibraltar, in the end, they could not get close to the landing site, but Rommel, who quickly approached the landing site, became a henchman. "It's the Enterprise Look, it's releasing the F4F Wildcat." Flying north after crossing Orlan for less than fifteen minutes, Mo Yucheng spotted the USS Enterprise and HMS Hornet aircraft carrier battle groups on the sea. Farther away, the aircraft carriers Glory and Ark Royal loomed over the sea. Because Gibraltar is far away, four aircraft carriers are the main force of air defense during the landing operation. More than 100 F4F "Wildcat" and Tubenose Swallow fighters built an air barrier between the Italian island of Sardinia and the landing ground.

When the "Thunderbolt" arrived in the sky, the two aircraft carriers of the US Second Task Force were rapidly releasing fighter jets, and the fleet was also speeding up its maneuver to the northeast. "It seems that an enemy plane has been spotted." Mo Yucheng said loudly on the radio, and then dialed the radio to the contact channel to ask why.

"Captain, a large number of enemy aircraft appeared in the direction of Sardinia, reconnaissance aircraft confirmed at least 52 FW190 fighters. They want us to help. In less than a while, Mo Yucheng asked about the situation.

"52 FW190s! How far is it? ”

"About 140 kilometers."

Hearing that there were 52 FW190s in the attacking enemy planes, Liu Mingchang was taken aback and immediately took out a pen and paper to calculate the distance and fuel.

No wonder he was nervous, just because the FW190 was Germany's newest cutting-edge fighter. The reason why this fighter appeared earlier than history is mainly because of the business of "thousands of bombers" between China and Britain before the war, as well as the excitement of thunder and lightning sweeping the Soviet army in the Central Asian theater. At that time, Germany believed that since even bombers could be sold, China might not sell "Thunderbolts" to Britain, so it immediately accelerated the research of fighter jets with stronger capabilities. After a year of hard work, it was finally finalized in October last year, and a small amount was put into British battlefield experiments. The results were mixed, it was still difficult to deal with the "Thunderbolt", but it worked well against British aircraft. Originally, Goering wanted to continue to improve, but the declaration of war by the United States angered him, and he immediately ordered to improve and produce at full speed.

Because it's just been put into production and pilots need to adapt. So in the past few months, even if FW190 has been dispatched, it has been a small-scale experimental operation of one or two squads and no more than 10 aircraft. But I didn't expect that this time 52 planes were dispatched in one go! Liu Mingchang is not surprised. Fortunately, although the weak point of the FW190 has not yet been found, everyone knows that it has "short legs", and at this time the position of the Anglo-American fleet is still 550 kilometers from Sardinia, which means that even if the auxiliary fuel tank is hung, the FW190 can only hold out for fifteen minutes and must retreat.

After a quick calculation, Liu Mingchang was a little disappointed, because according to the current remaining oil. If the dragoon squadron goes to intercept, I'm afraid it won't even be enough fuel to return to Oran. He wouldn't risk the lives of his comrades, so he pressed the throat intercom: "Tell the Enterprise that we don't have enough fuel." ”

With 52 FW190s, it was definitely a tough battle for the F4F and the Tubenose Swallow. But for this operation, the two British aircraft carriers and the two American aircraft carriers canceled the torpedo aircraft formation, carrying a total of 167 tube-nosed swallows and F4F wildcats, and it should be okay to fight for fifteen minutes, right?

Enterprise account. Knowing that the Dragoon squadron could not participate in the interception of FW190, Communications Captain Tonat was extremely annoyed: "Sir, they say that there is not enough fuel. I think they want to see our show. "The sordid rivalry between China and the United States in the Pacific has spread among military officers. In addition, his younger brother was killed in the naval battle of Wake Island not long ago, and yesterday came the news that the Chinese Navy attacked Wake Island, so Tonat and many American ** officials lack a good impression of China. Of course, there is also an element of jealousy in this mood. Because inside the US Navy. In particular, the pilots of Hainan Airlines are very envious of the "Thunderbolt" and "Lightning" fighters, which are known as "double electrics". After the Battle of Wake Island, King also had a pilot in Britain test fly the "Thunderbolt", and the pilot even called for the purchase of the "Double Electric" patent from China.

A country that lags behind the United States. Having a better plane than the United States, it's hard to hold your breath just thinking about it.

Fletcher knew about Tonat's brother's sacrifice, so he only smiled at his dissatisfaction and complaints. But if he could turn back the clock, he would have immediately revoked the Captain of Contact, who had personal emotions and later made a big mistake.

But now he didn't: "Let them continue north, speed up the take-off and stop the Germans!" Fletcher put down his binoculars and asked about the new fighter: "I heard that both Grumman and Republic submitted a draft design for the new aircraft?" ”

Liu Mingchang and Mo Yucheng naturally didn't know that people were jealous and hated themselves, so they continued to fly north after bidding farewell to the escorted F4F. About twenty minutes later, the long, narrow appendix-like island of Formentera appeared above sea level. Regardless of the fact that Spain was a neutral country, in fact the Allied transport planes crossed its airspace almost every day for the three days after the landing operation began, which made Hitler particularly annoyed. But even Yang Qiu was very puzzled, he scolded Franco every day, but he never mentioned driving into Spain. Even within the German army, there was great confusion, and many even thought that their Führer was suffering from "temporary shock".

This is the farthest point of the patrol, and the fuel will not be enough to return to Gibraltar any further, so Mo Yucheng immediately ordered a turnaround. But just as the group turned to the coast of Spain, a large black dot suddenly appeared under the cumulonimbus cloud on the left.

"Four o'clock direction! A large number of enemy aircraft! ”

"Cavalry Six calls Big E (enterprise code), Cavalry Six calls Big E! Spot a large number of enemy aircraft! At 11 o'clock on your side, the distance is 127 kilometers! "Almost as soon as he spotted the enemy plane, Mo Yucheng called the US Second Task Force.

The sudden appearance of the German fleet did not make Fletcher panic, because he came out with a full 126 F4F "Wildcat" fighters, 72 of which were sent to intercept the FW109, and 54 Wildcats in hand at the moment, which was enough to withstand a wave of attacks. What's more, the range of German aircraft was seriously insufficient, and at this time the second task force was already more than 600 kilometers from Sardinia, and the only thing that could reach here was the BF110 escort fighters.

The BF110 suffered heavy losses in the air battle of Britain and was already considered a twin-engine fighter with poor maneuverability, poor acceleration, and unsuitable for fierce air combat in the daytime. The F4F is inferior to the BF109 and FW190, but it is more than enough to deal with the BF110 and bombers. So he first ordered the interceptor group to take off, then ordered the dragoon squadron to intercept the escort BF110s, and finally contacted the 20 P-40s that were rushing to Orlan to help.

Fletcher was right, when the Enterprise and the Hornet desperately released the fighters, Mo Yucheng finally saw the type and scale of the enemy aircraft. 57 HE111 and JU88 bombers, escorted by 38 BF110C-4 twin-engine fighters, were mighty and murderous. "Watch the time, we only have fifteen minutes of fuel left! Maintain a two-plane battle formation. Listen up! The BF110 has poor maneuverability. But the cockpit is surrounded by thick bulletproof armor, and the weak point is in acceleration and wings! Also, never expose the front of it! This guy has four machine guns and two 20mm cannons in front! Have you memorized them all? ”

"Remember!"

"Okay, climb with me." After receiving the order, Liu Mingchang quickly took over the command, and also took the opportunity to tell his new comrades-in-arms the weaknesses of the BF110 escort fighter and how to deal with it.

At this time, the German planes also discovered the dragoon squadron, so the bomber group immediately turned to the direction of the fleet to accelerate, and the 38 escort BF110s also left the formation and pounced on the "thunderbolt". But with their superior climbing ability, the Dragoon Squadron was still ahead of the opponent's arrival. The first to grab the heights. The Battle of Britain was fought for more than half a year, and the German pilots, of course, knew the performance of the "Thunderbolt", and even the latest FW190 fighters could not suppress it, not to mention the BF110, which had already exposed its weaknesses. Therefore, as soon as the "Thunderbolt" climbs, the BF110 immediately disperses, increasing the distance between the long plane and the wingman, so that no matter whether the "Lightning" attacks the long plane or the wingman, it can quickly counterattack.

The battle of wits between the two sides stretched from Britain to the Mediterranean, and the reaction in the face of the BF110. Liu Mingchang led the dragoon squadron to quickly dive down to the BF110 with its super medium and low altitude ability. No matter what tactics the German pilots used. The gap between the two planes was so great that 6 were shot down in the first dive. Liu Mingchang's experience became the key at this moment, as the BF110's fragile wing protection and slow acceleration performance were completely unable to prevent strafing from the 12.7mm machine gun. Almost one plane after another fell. "Look, F4F is here. Hey, why didn't those two attack? "The sharp-eyed Mo Yucheng just shot down a BF110. Before I had time to get excited, I saw two F4F "Wildcats" appear on the periphery, but strangely enough, instead of attacking the bombers, they flew towards their side.

Liu Mingchang has seen a lot of this kind of scene, and snorted coldly: "Concentrate, they are learning our tactics!" "What he said is not to say, the worst thing in the US military at present is not equipment, let alone resources and technology, but tactics! Facts have proved that the difference in experience of the US military at the moment is simply unbearable! The first two batches of Army P-40 Warhawks put into the UK suffered extremely heavy casualties in the face of BF109. In the Battle of Wake Island, the F4F "Wildcat" may not be as good as the Zero Battle alone, but if there are good tactics, the two Lexington-class aircraft carriers will not be powerless, so Fletcher will not give up this good opportunity to observe the tactics of the Chinese Air Force up close.

Knowing that the U.S. military would steal the division again, the dragoon squadron entangled by BF110 would not be able to drive people away, so it was better to finish the fight as soon as possible and go home early.

The two F4F "Wildcats" worked hard to absorb the air combat experience of the Dragoon squadron, and when they were filmed with camera guns, the 42 F4F "Wildcats" behind had already entered the German bomber group. At this moment, another wave of 22 BF110 fighters appeared in the clouds above the German bomber group. Liu Mingchang is not afraid of BF110, even if he doubles it, he may not be able to stop the retreating dragoon squadron. But there was a sight that made him frown slowly.

The second batch of BF110 machines has a small black dot hanging under the belly.

Drop tanks?

Whoever sees the black dot under the belly of a fighter jet, unless it is seen up close, nine out of nine will think that it is the auxiliary fuel tank. But the experienced Liu Mingchang felt that something was wrong, because he had fought with the BF110 many times, had seen them bomb the ground, and in the Polish and French campaigns, there were also cases of the BF110 participating in dive bombing. What's more, in the recent Battle of Britain, the two BF110s that he bit him finally escaped by virtue of their superb diving skills. At that time, both fighters had a dive angle of more than 60 degrees, which was not much worse than the JU87 Stuka bomber.

This shows that BF110 has the ability to dive bombing!

Finally, this wave of BF110 saw that its partner was entangled by itself, and instead of immediately throwing away the "auxiliary fuel tank" to help, it accelerated towards the fleet. A momentary thought made him press the throat intercom again: "Yucheng!" Contact the Enterprise and ask the wildcats to intercept the batch of BF110s on the left, I think they are a bit weird! ”

After many years of cooperation, Mo Yucheng is the person who believes in Liu Mingchang the most. So contact the enterprise number immediately. But it was clear that Captain Tonat, who received the communication, thought that the dragoon squadron was wrong. Because according to the order of interception of aircraft carriers, bombers always come first, not to mention that he has never heard of twin-engine fighters capable of dive bombing. His reason is actually reasonable, fighter jets can dive, but they have the ability to dive, which does not mean that it is dive bombing. Because dive bombing requires the installation of additional deceleration equipment, special altimeters, alteration devices, sights, etc. Since it does not have the ability to dive. Then there would be no threat to the fleet. So he stubbornly thought that the dragoon squadron was "messing around", and let Mo Yucheng explain it, insisting that he intercept the bombers with all his strength first.

What's more, he didn't tell Mo Yucheng's words to Fletcher, which ended up causing a tragedy!

"You, you stupid pig! Mule! The BF110 can dive bomb, so they carry bombs, bombs for sure! "The yin and yang Captain Tonat provoked Liu Mingchang. I think he and his comrades fought in the British Channel for eight months, saw seven or eight types of German aircraft, and fought every day when they opened their eyes. I sleep and dream at night studying the tactics of dealing with German machines, how can I care about an idiot who is angry and doesn't understand anything! So he immediately adjusted his frequency and scolded.

Captain Tonat's face turned green. Unexpectedly, the other party actually opened his mouth to scold, and he was so angry that he immediately replied with a string of swear words.

"Bastard! This bunch of stupid American asses! Liu Mingchang was furious, simply ended the communication, switched back to the squadron frequency and shouted: "Give up the bomber." Intercept the BF110 over there with me! "Compared with the U.S. military, which does not know the depths, the Dragoon Squadron has been convinced by Liu Mingchang. So when you hear the shout, immediately throw off your respective opponents. Accelerate to chase the BF110, which is almost out of sight. "Tonat, what's going on?" As the Dragoon Squadron pursues BF110, Fletcher notices the strange-looking Captain Tonat and asks.

"Damn it! Those damned Chinese! They went so far as to ask us to give up intercepting bombers and ask for interceptors of fighters first. Damn it! Wouldn't I not know who is more important? Captain Tonat was furious and repeated Liu Mingchang's words. The other officers didn't notice anything unusual, but Fletcher jumped up suddenly, picked up the binoculars and rushed to the porthole: "Quick, ask the British!" Does the BF110 have the ability to dive bomb?! ”

Fletcher's actions made Captain Tonat finally sober up from his personal emotions, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly contacted the British Navy's flagship aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal. Two minutes later, the answer from the other side sent chills down his body: "The British, sir, said that when the BF110 was in France, it carried out many dive bombings. ”

"Damn it!"

Fletcher didn't have time to curse Captain Tonat, stomped his foot hard, and shouted, "Let everyone stop them!" Concentrate all your firepower and take them out! ”

"Big e call! Big e call! The target is due north of the BF110 fleet, intercept it with all your might! The flight controller pushed away the troublesome Captain Tonat, and personally called the F4F Wildcats above to intercept them with all their might. But it was too late, and before the last 8 F4F Wildcats over the fleet rushed up, the BF110 with 1000 kg of aerial bombs on board was already in sight.

"Stop them!" Liu Mingchang shouted loudly and rushed diagonally from under the belly of a BF110. Six 12.7mm machine guns flashed twice in succession, and after the BF110 was smashed into black smoke, it rolled several times in a row, forcibly pulling up at a large angle to draw an arc to avoid the second BF110 shooting at itself. Turning over with a harrier, it actually rolled over the back of this BF110 machine. When he releveled, the nose was already pointing at the wingman of the second BF110.

A string of fire, the wingman turned into a ball of fire. Then, under the staring eyes of the F4F "wildcats", he used his flaps to force a slow down, allowing the second BF110 to rush past him. After re-accelerating, it bites its tail and strafes violently.

These rabbit ups and downs can be called a performance of personal mobile target shooting, and everyone is dazzled. Not to mention F4F, even the Dragoons were dumbfounded. But just when Liu Mingchang bit the fourth BF110, countless black-brown smoke balls suddenly appeared in front of him. This made him immediately realize that he had entered the anti-aircraft fire circle of the US Second Task Force! As an ace pilot with rigorous training, he was well aware of what it was to stray into the fleet's circle of fire. But he didn't want to let go of the BF110 in front of him, in his opinion, one more shot down, the less threat the friendly forces had, so he immediately ordered Mo Yucheng and others to evade and continue the pursuit himself.

The moment he pulled the trigger, several shells exploded around him at the same time. Thunderbolt and the BF110 that he hit both spewed black smoke and loaded headlong into the sea.

No one knew what Liu Mingchang was thinking at that time, and many people even felt that he was not worth it, because it was not his country's fleet below. But no one can deny that he is a real soldier! In a foreign land, there are only victories and defeats and enemies in mind. When his body returned to China a week later, with the record of shooting down 28 planes, he was immediately awarded the Order of the Republic, the highest honor of the country. Three days later, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a message awarding him the Purple Star Medal, which was the highest status among American soldiers.

Liu Mingchang became the first soldier to receive the Order of the Two Countries since the start of the war, but his sacrifice still failed to save the enterprise aircraft carrier.

The anti-aircraft fire of the American fleet, albeit strong, at this time they did not have VT shells. So in the eyes of elite German pilots, this level of anti-aircraft firepower is at most equal to London. At 11:37 p.m. that day, the Enterprise was attacked by seven BF110s. In the end, there were two aircraft carriers that hit. It was later learned that in order to destroy the fleet, the Germans equipped the BF110 with 1000 kg aerial bombs this time! Two bombs, easily penetrating the flight deck, one exploded in the hangar, and the other exploded deep into the habitation compartment. Since there were no attack missions at that time, all 28 SBD dive bombers carried by the Enterprise were stacked in the hangar. The explosion and the ensuing heavy flames continued to detonate the aircraft's fuel tanks, resulting in a series of explosions in the hangar. Although the Enterprise aircraft carrier uses an open hangar with strong ventilation capacity, it is too late to cut off the bow of an explosion of this scale, let alone ventilation! Twenty minutes later, the oil depot with 20,000 gallons of gasoline was set on fire, and the entire Enterprise was emitted with thick black smoke, and looking down from the sky, the battleship was surrounded by clouds of smoke, and even the mast could not be seen.

After an hour of fighting, Fletcher and the U.S. Navy finally gave up on saving the carrier and ordered the destroyer to sink it.

After counting, 977 people were killed and 312 injured.

The sinking of the Enterprise was not only another heavy blow to the US Navy, but also affected the situation in North Africa. In the afternoon of the same day, the encouraged German and Italian air forces attacked from Tunisia and Sardinia in succession, and although they failed to sink any more warships, they disrupted the British and American fleets, resulting in an Italian submarine breaking through the defensive circle at 8 o'clock that night and firing four torpedoes at close range at the British battleship Nelson, one of the BIG7s.

Although the captain managed to drive the battleship back to Gibraltar, it was sunk shortly after entering the harbor the next afternoon due to too much water...... (To be continued......)