"Boom, boom, boom!"

"Dada~"

"Doctor, call the doctor."

"Ah~, my hand, my hand, my hand is broken!"

At this time, in a position on the island of Malta, the heart-rending voices of the British army were heard everywhere, and the culprits of all this were the behemoths in the sky, airships.

At this moment, several airships were constantly attacking them, the machine guns on the airships sprayed tongues of fire, and the bombs dropped from the cabin whistled and fell on the heads of the British troops on this position.

At this time, the British position was scattered under the attack of the airships, and the four guns had already been scattered into parts, because they were destroyed as soon as they were discovered. Then the soldiers suffered, the trenches were much less resistant to attacks from the air, and the trenches also restricted the soldiers' movements, making it easier for the machine guns on the airships to attack.

In order to make it easier for some airships to attack British troops on the ground, they have lowered their altitude to a dangerous distance of about 1,000.

Although this altitude is a bit dangerous for the airship, the British army below has no desire to attack at all. Because all they could do was the rifle in their hand and a few Maxim heavy machine guns, they couldn't deal with the airship that looked good to fight, but couldn't reach it.

Therefore, the vast majority of British officers and soldiers at this time could only flee in all directions, trying to find a suitable hiding point. The few soldiers who were not afraid of death desperately shot with machine rifles, trying to provide cover for their comrades. Most of them don't end well, though, as the Heavy on the airship can easily find someone who dares to offend them.

Of course, the British army actually had another way, that is, to use anti-aircraft artillery. At present, the British army can carry out air defense, and the most equipped is the Vickers 2-pounder automatic cannon. It's essentially like an enlarged version of the Maxim machine gun, with cartridge belt feeds, water-cooled sleeves, etc., except for being a little bulky, whether it is reliability or power in dealing with slow airships in the air, it is an excellent choice.

Of course, this machine gun also has a disadvantage, that is, it cannot strike at air targets above 1,500 meters. Because the muzzle velocity of the gun is only 510 meters per second, and the effective range of anti-aircraft fire is 1,500 meters. Of course, this does not mean that the shell can only hit 1,500 meters high, but at this height, the effect of gravity on the shell will be very large, resulting in its trajectory basically in a downward state.

Of course, this anti-aircraft cannon is still very powerful for a big guy like an airship, and so far, six of the seven airships that Italy has lost on the island of Malta have been shot down by this anti-aircraft cannon.

However, the defenders of Malta Island are not very equipped with this kind of anti-aircraft weapon, only about 20 of them, most of which are used to protect military facilities in and around Port Valletta, and only a few are deployed in other key areas.

Obviously, the British army in this position did not have this kind of anti-aircraft weapon, and only had the anti-aircraft effect of machine guns and rifles, which must have been seen. It's completely better than nothing, it can only play a psychological role, and it is useless to have any practical effect at all.

In addition to this position, the defenders of Malta Island were attacked by airships in many places today.

Some of the casualties were not large, while others were heavy casualties. The main reason for all this is that the airship reconnaissance has figured out the arrangement of the island's defenders, especially the arrangement of anti-aircraft fire.

For the port of Valletta and its surroundings, where anti-aircraft fire is intensive, airship attacks are rare. After all, looking at the continuous chain of fire on the ground, the huge airship only dared to attack in the sky it protected.

However, the altitude of 2,500 meters had a great impact on the bombing and firing of airships, and the air raids on Valletta Harbor were relatively small.

When the bomb-dropping airships departed, the port of Valletta let out a cheer, the sound of the British soldiers cheering as they repelled the enemy's air raids.

At this time, the excited cheers on the faces of the British troops did not look at all like repelling an enemy air attack, but as if they had achieved a complete victory.

It's not that the British officers and soldiers have become insane, and they are venting their stress. Although the middle and high levels of the army have blocked the news, the officers and men at the grassroots level are not stupid at all. After the start of the war, the number of warships in the Malta military port was not increased but was reduced, don't think that the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level do not know.

Although there are more defenders on the island, the most important thing to defend Malta Island is the navy, as long as there are many warships and strength, even if the defenders are very scarce, they will feel at ease, because with the protection of warships, it is impossible for the enemy to land ashore.

In the days since the start of the war, the Maltese defenders have never seen their own mighty fleet again, although according to the above people, this is the fleet to deter the Italians, but the sight of the airships looting over their heads knows that there is still a little credibility left in this statement.

Therefore, the mood of the defenders has not been high these days, and they belong to the more depressed kind. Of course, if it continues to be suppressed like this, it will be a great blow to morale, so the defenders need to vent.

In general, to vent the emotions of a soldier, alcohol and sex are the best options. But it's a pity that it's wartime, and the soldiers are so drunk that even officers with no common sense know it's impossible. As for sex, I'm very sorry, there are only more than 20 decompression workers in Malta who are currently doing this kind of decompression, and they can't complete the decompression work for the officers and soldiers even if they are tired.

So they can only deflect their pressure, preaching that it is the Italians who cause everything, and that everything is the fault of the Italians.

And judging from the current performance of the defenders, this propaganda is still very effective.

For the victory cries of the officers and men of the port, Major General Behrens, who was the commander of the island, was not so optimistic.

Because he knew that this was only a prelude to the Italian attack, and that this airship attack was but a prelude to the battle of Malta that followed.

Of course, he sent telegrams to Alexandria and London as soon as he heard the news of the attack on Malta.

On the evening of the air raid on Malta, London announced that the Home Fleet would conduct a week-long naval patrol and tactical drill in the North Sea.

The announcement of this news by the London side was not only the report of Major General Behrens, but also the British had eyeliner in Italy. The officers and men on board the ship in Palermo to prepare for the landing are so conspicuous that anyone who is not blind can see it.

Therefore, after the news of the boarding of the officers and men who landed in Palermo reached London, the Admiralty immediately launched a secret reinforcement plan, and the next thing was naturally the cover for the home fleet to go to sea for training and patrolling.

(End of chapter)