ps: I made a mistake last night, I was lazy and didn't check it, and I mistyped "Operation Mercury" as "Operation Mercury".

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At 4:40 a.m. on 4 September, the 2011 Detective-11 "Night Owl" long-range high-altitude reconnaissance plane crossed the island of Cyprus on time. According to the plan, he will cross Crete at 5:10 a.m., then enter Greek airspace from the Aegean Sea, carry out a routine reconnaissance mission of the three Balkans, and then enter the Black Sea from Odessa and return to the Ahvaz base, a total distance of 6,837 kilometers.

Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia had all fallen, and the Germans had deployed large-caliber anti-aircraft guns and fighters to secure their airspace, so even a veteran pilot with twenty years of piloting experience did not dare to slack off. As for navigation along the way, he is not worried, because the "Tianlu" navigation system produced by the Global Tong Company is the world's first navigation system controlled by an analog electronic signal computer, which can clearly display the three azimuth values of the aircraft's altitude, longitude, and latitude, and the accuracy can be at the meter level.

Because Britain was reluctant to allow the Air Force to be stationed on the islands of Cyprus and Crete, the Air Force could not obtain a close base and could not effectively monitor the movements of the German troops, so two months ago, Bai Chongxi applied to the General Staff to transfer a strategic reconnaissance group to the General Staff and began to continuously monitor the German forces in the Balkans. Although the air force control center of the theater had already reported the flight plan to the British army before departure, Liu Zhicheng and his crew were still not at ease, and immediately began a visual search after entering the air defense circle of Crete. You know, the British army is notoriously paralyzed and negligent in internal coordination and command, and he doesn't want to be chased by "Spitfire".

However, his fears were obviously unfounded, and after the surrender of Greece, the total number of British, American, Greek and Australian troops withdrawn to Crete totaled 80,000. But because the Germans showed no signs of attacking, half of them were gradually withdrawn to Egypt to deal with the aggressive Rommel. Moreover, after the loss of Malta, the Mediterranean shipping lane was temporarily blocked, and the supply fleet needed to detour to South Africa, so there were only 24 "Hurricanes", 17 P40 and 11 B17 bombers on the island at the moment, and there was no radar system, so when he passed through the east side of the island, he did not attract any attention.

"Colonel, there seems to be something on the left." Just left Crete behind. Then came the cries of comrades-in-arms. The "Night Stalker" had a radar in the nose, but it was afraid of electromagnetic exposure, so it was not turned on. In the early morning, the clouds over the Aegean Sea were very thick, obstructing the view, in order to find out if there were any planes approaching, Liu Zhicheng cut off the autopilot and began to descend on his own initiative. As the plane drilled through a cloud layer, a dense dot suddenly appeared in the glow.

"Luftwaffe!"

"Oh my god, at least a few hundred!"

Experienced crews immediately distinguish fleet models. What surprised Liu Zhicheng was that there were not only a large number of bombers such as JU87, HE111 and JU88 in front of the large fleet, which were already well-known in Europe, but also hundreds of JU52/JU90 transport planes. Looking at this posture, it is clear that it is intended to carry out large-scale airborne!

The crew was informed before. Crete is a matter of security in the Middle East and the Suez Canal, and it is also a key point that threatens the Proyesti oil fields in Romania, so Liu Zhicheng immediately made a decision to cancel the original mission and warn the coalition forces on the island: "Give up the mission!" Remove radio silence! Activate the No. 3 emergency plan! Liaison Command and the British Army Tower! ”

"Call! Emergency call! Here is the Chinese Air Force Silence 3. Here is the Chinese Air Force Silence No. 3! 57 km northwest of Crete, a large number of enemy aircraft were found! Suspicion of airborne suspicion! Call, call. "It's too late! Sit tight! Before the British troops in Crete could answer, Liu Zhijun saw several BF109 and ME110 rushing towards him. So immediately accelerated the climb. The turboprop engine acceleration and high-altitude performance helped him avoid danger, and by the time the Night Stalker was back in the air at an altitude of 10,000 meters, a large mushroom cloud had surged from Crete below.

At 5:12 a.m., hundreds of bombers of the German 8th and 11th Air Forces bombed Crete's anti-aircraft guns, airfields, and Allied bunkers, and even escort fighters repeatedly strafed the ground with machine guns. In the parallel world, Operation Mercury ended in a crushing victory for the Germans due to the decipherment of the telegram. But now, because of Yang Qiu's halfway interception, the British super decoder is still being developed, so the allies in Crete have not received any warning at all! One can imagine what a terrible scene the sleepy-eyed Allied soldiers had to face when they were woken up.

A "Hurricane" struggled to force a takeoff from the damaged runway, but then was hit by a bf109 chasing after it and crashed headlong into the group of U.S. B17s next to it. Hundreds of U.S. troops rushed into the flames in an attempt to destroy important equipment such as the Norton bomber on board. Before they could complete their mission, a piercing scream whistled down from the sky, and one bomb after another broke away from the pylons of the Ju87 Stuka and plunged deep into the B17 group and the adjacent pilots' quarters. The violent explosion destroyed all the B17 bombers, as well as the dormitories and warehouses, and threw corpses and rubble hundreds of meters away. A total of 373 German bombers in two batches soon destroyed the main air defense facilities at Malim airfield, Heraklion and the city of Malemania. After seizing air supremacy, the transport planes behind began to release paratroopers, and the sky was covered with white umbrella flowers.

In order to grasp the first-hand information, Liu Zhian did not leave immediately, but hid in the air beyond the reach of German fighters and used three camera guns to record the entire attack process, so that the staff could understand the combat capability of the German army. In the camera, the Allied forces in Crete, which had rushed to the battle, finally slowly recovered from their fear, and took advantage of the small number of German troops to launch an encirclement and suppression from all directions. But the German paratroopers deserved to be the most elite troops, and in the face of an enemy dozens of times over, stubbornly held the airfield and held out until the arrival of the second group of aircraft. Hundreds of JU52s and gliders began to land at Malim Airport, and a large number of elite German paratroopers and mountain infantry jumped off the planes to join the battle, helping their comrades gradually reverse the disadvantage and expand the circle of control.

Liu Zhicheng sighed, in any airborne operation, occupying the airfield means that the defender loses air supremacy, and it also means that the attacker can get stable logistics and troop support.

Five minutes after the German bombing, the Chinese air force listening post in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula received Liu Zhi'an's report, which was quickly forwarded to the Persian Gulf Theater Command in Manama. Manama Command. It was the headquarters of the future Persian Gulf Fleet selected by the General Staff, so after the jurisdiction of these countries and regions was transferred from the hands of the British, construction began. Although the wharf was only half completed, the original headquarters in Riyadh had already moved here ahead of schedule, but due to the chaos of the move, it took half an hour for the staff officer to find Bai Chongxi who was going to Riyadh at the airport.

"These idiots! Stubborn British Fool! ”

When Bai Chongxi heard the report, he was so angry that he jumped to his feet. He had repeatedly reminded Britain to be careful of Crete, and had repeatedly asked for his air force to be stationed. But to this day, Britain still refuses to let him intervene on the grounds that they do not need support. Therefore, he had no choice but to apply to the General Staff for a "Night Owl" reconnaissance plane that would not have been deployed abroad. In order to keep abreast of the movements of the German forces in the Balkans.

Well, now there is no need to reconnoitre, because the Germans fell directly from the sky.

You must know that the Mediterranean Sea was originally divided into two isolated war zones because of the accidental loss of Malta, and all supplies in the east had to rely on transport ships to detour through South Africa, which has been very difficult to fight. If Crete was lost, the Germans would be able to encircle the Turkish flank and open up contact with French Syria. Even the Air Force can threaten the Suez Canal! If, in the end, Turkey could not withstand the pressure and let the German South-East Fleet (a small fleet formed after seizing Yugoslav, Greek and Romanian warships) rush out of the Black Sea, then the Germans could go straight into the Middle East.

If the Soviet Black Sea Fleet, which has more than 60 submarines and dozens of warships, is released to cooperate with the Italian Navy and the Luftwaffe. The Suez Canal is in danger!

"I'll go to Zhu Binhou and ask him to send the aircraft carrier back."

"No, he's going to fight Malacca soon, so don't delay it any longer." Bai Chongxi grabbed Li Mingrui, who was about to let the navy take action. Shaking the telegram, he gritted his teeth: "Besides, it will be at least four or five days after returning from the Chagos Archipelago, and Germany will have already occupied the whole island." Never mind. Anyway, it's already like this, and it's not our turn to be in a hurry, and Britain and the United States still have a fleet in Alexandria. Let them make trouble, we just need to watch Iraq and the Soviet Union, and don't come out of a moth. ”

Li Mingrui nodded, and asked again, "What about the supplies?" Hitler was slow to transfer more than a million troops in the Balkans to Spain, and if he took Crete, I guess nine out of ten would do something to Turkey. We have to stock up on something to get through. ”

"Yes, I'm afraid Hitler is already in a war with Stalin, and he is going to quickly flank Turkey." Bai Chongxi sighed. Speaking of supplies, he also has a headache. In addition to the Air Force's strategic transport brigade, he relied entirely on the winding and slow railway of "Andijan Marekan Daha Queida Karachi". One of the routes from Mare to Kandahar must also be connected by truck. So after the landing in Iran, the Persian Gulf Army has been moving slowly, and the reason is because of the logistics. This is also the reason why he is reluctant to let the navy intervene in Crete, because if he does not open Malacca, he will be finished first when the Soviet Union and Germany flank Turkey.

"Send the news to the General Staff first, and ask them to find a way to see if they can arrange a supply line from Li Zongren's side. By the way, send another copy to Chagos and ask them to forward it to the president. ”

When Li Mingrui returned to the base to send a telegram, the Cairo meeting had already entered its third day. In the conference room specially opened for the three leaders, the lights had been on all night, and the intimacy and friendship seen by the outside world were all blocked by heavy oak doors, and the closed-door consultation method made the talks full of fierce competition from the beginning. "What we need now is allies and help, the support of anti-fascist forces around the world, not for them to worry about their country being divided. The events in Siberia have hurt your country and called into question the image and impartiality of the Alliance. So I and His Excellency Churchill would like to see a public commitment soon! Also, in the way the Southwest Pacific is handled, I think there is a lack of fairness and transparency in your approach. Guam and Wake Islands can be temporarily leased by the U.S. government to your country, but there are no Japanese troops in Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Gilbert Islands, so your country should withdraw its troops as soon as possible and respect the wishes of the local people. Like Siberia, they have the right to self-determination. Finally, I would like to involve our navy in military missions to the Philippines, the East Indies and the peninsula as soon as possible, and I hope that you will consider sending more troops to Egypt and Europe. Roosevelt, who was in poor health, was obviously not as energetic as Yang Qiu and Churchill, and his sleepless discussions and arguments made this disposition of Siberia and the Southwest Pacific weak.

"Mr. Roosevelt. I admit that the events in Siberia without consulting the countries in advance were my mistake, but I do not consider it a mistake! I don't want to repeat anything, and I believe that intelligence about the collusion of the USSR and Germany with each other is already piling up on your desk. IMHO, you and your soldiers have not yet realized what kind of war it is! As the leader of an anti-fascist war involving the entire human world, we should not and will never allow any person and force to support them! There are no flukes in war. There is no mercy either, if you want to protect our country, protect our soldiers, protect the world, you must strike at the enemy from all sides, using all the means at your disposal! So before the referendum, I announced to the free citizens of Siberia that they could choose for themselves. And in fact, even leaving aside the Chinese living there. The vote for joining our country is still 85 percent, and I think that's fair enough!! It was also a kind of fight against Soviet fascism, dividing and contributing to the internal independence movement of the Soviet Union. A good way to disintegrate regions and countries such as Ukraine and the Baltics and prevent more people from being harmed! ”

"Of course, I can also promise both of you that my Government will make a commitment to the world in due course. Respect for all international law. and try to avoid and persuade such incidents, and not to choose or promote the continuation of territorial voting in mainland areas. Finally, we will immediately start border negotiations with the neighboring countries. Establish clear and unambiguous borders as soon as possible and sign relevant agreements. ”

"Also, I would like you to revisit U.S. military policy in Africa, the Middle East, and Europe! In fact, I've always been very curious, what the hell are you hesitating about?! When there is no sign of victory, it is not a responsible act for the country and the soldiers to propose to enter the southwest theater under the full command of our country and take the initiative to admit the hardships of fighting on two fronts! I have no way, both Japan and the USSR are next to our country, so I have to fight on two fronts. But the United States and the American people are not necessary! The most important thing for you now is to work with His Excellency Winston Churchill to regain control of the Iberian Peninsula. But I can't see this, to put it mildly, if it weren't for the help of the mountains of Spain, maybe the artillery of fascist Germany would have been set up on Gibraltar! Yes, you can say that your soldiers need to train, they need to adapt, but now a whole year has passed. What do we see? The railway lines in France are still operating, the production lines in Germany and Italy continue to manufacture weapons, and the Soviet Union is still enjoying the benefits of not declaring war, and then exchanging more oil and steel than the total reserves of Germany before the war for German and Italian weapons and technology, turning back to kill my soldiers and persecuting the national minorities in the country! What the hell are you thinking! Why was there no delay in carrying out massive bombardments of France and Italy, disrupting the supply lines of the fascist army? Why not use bombers to paralyze fascist factories? Why not destroy their war potential? Why are natural allies such as Finland and Turkey reluctant to make commitments and lead by example? I want to know the answer. ”

Yang Qiu's sonorous and powerful counterattack made the three secretaries and recorders unconsciously stop their pens and set their eyes on him. Roosevelt sat quietly, his face calm in the face of the harshly worded accusation. Churchill, who was next to him, sipped his cigar and slowly squinted his eyes, like a cunning fat fox. As a matter of fact, he has long been dissatisfied with the sluggishness of the US military and with Roosevelt's attitude of delaying the strategic bombing of Italy and France for the sake of post-war interests. Now that someone is standing up for him, he is naturally happy to watch a good show. But to say that he agrees with Yang Qiu is a big mistake, he knows very well what Yang Qiu means by saying "will not continue to carry out territorial referendums on the mainland", which is clearly telling himself and Roosevelt that China still has territorial claims on the sea! Therefore, in his eyes, the two people competing against each other are actually bastards who want to replace the British Empire and become the new hegemon of the world. But is the legacy of the British Empire really that delicious? The allusion of one peach killing two soldiers Well, when I go back, I have to look through ancient Chinese books, and I have to think about killing these two guys after the war.

Roosevelt remained silent, and the note-taker beside him did not know whether to write down this harsh speech with a gun and a stick, full of gunpowder, but irrefutable. In the end, after thinking about it for a long time, I could only express it like this: "The President and Mr. Yang Qiu and His Excellency Churchill exchanged their views in an extremely "frank and friendly" manner, and stayed up all night to negotiate, coordinate the command of the Allied forces, determine the objectives of the war, and do their best for the peace, freedom and tranquility of the whole world. "Shit! If it weren't for his physical inconvenience, Roosevelt would definitely be willing to stand up and smash his fist into Yang Qiu's face! Because all the thorny problems that currently plague the United States and him, are concocted by this bastard! But he couldn't stand up, and he couldn't find a rebuttal hole in his words for a while.

Seeing that the results of the night's talks were about to be wiped out, the telephone next to him suddenly rang. When the bell rang, Gu Yuwen, who recorded it, clearly saw that Roosevelt quietly loosened his finger bones, which were somewhat white after his grip, and exhaled secretly.

Before the closed-door consultation, the three of them told the outside that there was no major matter not to interrupt them, so what happened to me now?

Even Yang Qiu furrowed his eyebrows and glanced at Churchill.

Churchill's secretary picked up the phone, listened to it and said quickly: "Prime Minister, two presidents." An hour earlier, the Germans had set foot on Crete and had already taken control of two airfields! We have lost air supremacy, and the army is retreating towards the harbor. Admiral Cunningham said that Vice Admiral Mountbatten had sent a fleet to support, but he did not think it was possible to hold there. The news that came suddenly, not to mention Churchill and Roosevelt, even Yang Qiu opened his somewhat chapped lips slightly. If Malta had been in hand, the loss of Crete would not have been a big problem, but what about now?

Roosevelt gently pressed the armrest of his wheelchair and exchanged a helpless look with Churchill. Although he didn't want to admit it, the good luck always seemed to be on the young man opposite.

Yang Qiu didn't want to be verbose anymore, so he seized this God-given opportunity and walked to the window and opened the curtains. The dazzling sunlight sparked the eyes of Roosevelt and Churchill, who had stayed up late, and when the two raised their hands to block the sun, Yang Qiu had already turned sideways. Pointing out the window: "Two, I don't want to be frustrated, and I don't want to exaggerate." In fact, you should know better than I do what happened after the loss of Trick Island. I would like to remind you that the negotiations between Stalin and Hitler, which are also going on at this very moment, the USSR Black Sea Fleet had 93 warships, including one battleship! Crete is a natural air base! The Iraqis have fallen to the fascists, and tens of thousands of Soviet servicemen are disguised as them and are helping them! So, unless we can retake Malta tomorrow, Turkey, Egypt, the Middle East and Suez will all be attacked. If you still want to see such a beautiful morning at this time next year, you must unconditionally support Turkey now! It is also necessary to reach reunification as soon as possible, clarify the respective goals, establish channels of alliance and mutual assistance, and mobilize all the productive capacities of us and our allies. At the appropriate time, a tripartite joint body should also be formed to prepare for the establishment of a new post-war international coalition to replace the League of Nations, which existed in name only. ”

"There is no choice!" …… (To be continued......)