Imperial Overlord

At a British Air Force Base on Crete, a British officer took a roster from an American bomber pilot.

B-17 bombers from the US Air Force have been received here, and they have crossed Australia, Myanmar and India, and flew to Crete through Iraq.

After such a long flight, these advanced bombers cannot be guaranteed to be completely intact. After all, the b-17 was definitely a new weapon in 1940.

At least more than 50 planes were left on the way due to malfunctions during the flight transition. Because of the lack of repair parts, these planes are basically lost locally.

The remaining 50 B-17 bombers, which were assembled only yesterday, are ready to launch air strikes against German Libyan airports in a few days.

They have to rely on some parts transferred from British submarines for maintenance, and then rely on their own ammunition to attack the most important energy base of the Germans.

"Gentlemen, I'm afraid your attack mission can't start yet." The British officer on Crete said regretfully looking at the American commander in charge of the operation.

The American officer frowned. His plane had already arrived in Crete, but the other party did not let him move as soon as possible, which was totally unreasonable.

According to his intelligence, when these b-17 bombers were still resting at the airport in Iraq, the war in Greece was already very serious.

The Germans had captured the outskirts of Athens, the British and Greek defenders were in retreat, and Crete was about to become a front line.

Open the map and take a look at it, and everyone knows that the Germans will not allow Crete to continue to exist in the Mediterranean.

Even for the safety of shipping in the Mediterranean in the future, the Germans or Italy would consider capturing Crete and completely turning the Mediterranean into its own inner lake.

After occupying this island, the British army from the Middle East can be completely shielded from the threat to the Mediterranean route - this is definitely a battleground, and the enemy has no reason to give up attacking here.

Under this premise, the longer the delay, the more dangerous the American Volunteers on Crete and the planes they fly.

"Why can't we act immediately?" After listening to the other party's words, the American officer frowned and immediately asked the reason.

The British officer heard the question and shrugged his shoulders embarrassedly: "Sir, the loss of the transport ship from the mainland is too serious, and the transport fleet to Gibraltar has been cancelled."

Churchill and his men, now in order to ensure that their transport ships continue to deliver supplies to the mainland, almost canceled all other unimportant routes.

The original transport fleet between the British mainland and Gibraltar has been cancelled, and replaced by a small fleet of only a few ships, which regularly travels between the two places, transporting unimportant materials such as letters.

Because of its small size, the small fleet had to be divided several times to transport the aerial bombs used by the bombers from the British mainland to Gibraltar.

In fact, those aerial bombs had already been sent to the UK from the United States, but the British high-level officials selectively forgot about these materials. When the American bombers arrived in Crete, they remembered that these materials were still in the UK.

So, in a hurry, they rush to transport these materials, but even if they rush to transport, these bombs just arrived in Gibraltar yesterday.

Why not start the bombing right away? Because they have to wait, waiting for the aerial bombs to be transferred from the UK. These aerial bombs are of American standard and shipped from the continental United States.

For long-distance flight, these b-17 bombers cannot mount bombs in the bomb bay of the fuselage, because on the one hand, the weight of landing is required, and on the other hand, it is very unsafe to land with bombs.

The Air Force has a lot of times to drop the drop tanks and bombs before landing. In a combat plan like the US bombing of Libya, bombers and ammunition are generally transported separately.

How to transport these materials to Crete depends on another kind of weaponry. To traverse the heavily defended areas of Germany and Italy, submarines were the only option.

It is really sad to say that a few months ago, the Mediterranean Sea was still the backyard of the British Navy. Now, when we have to transport supplies in this backyard, we have to be as careful as a thief - it is really uncomfortable.

"The aviation bombs you shipped in batches have just arrived in Gibraltar. It will take two days before they can be shipped here." The British officer looked at his American colleagues and replied nervously.

Hearing this news, the American officer couldn't believe his ears: "What? Didn't our aviation bombs arrive in the UK more than half a month ago?"

Up to now, American officers still don't understand why the British are so playful, destroying a battle plan to pieces! Then what plan? This is just bullshit!

"The shipping has been delayed, the German submarines are too rampant..." In order to appease his American colleagues, the British officer had to tell a white lie.

The reason he gave was that German submarines were raging in the Strait of Gibraltar, but in fact German submarines were rarely active in this waters.

According to Dönitz's wolf pack tactics and the principle of the Führer's concentrated use of submarine hunting, the main activity area of ​​the submarines of the German Navy was the Atlantic Ocean, and they did not take it easy to wander around Gibraltar.

But the American officers didn't know this. When the other party heard the news of the ravages of German submarines, their expressions obviously relaxed a little.

From the point of view of American officers, the opponent's actions are inevitable, and the delay in the action plan caused by the enemy is absolutely understandable.

"I think we should hurry up as soon as possible, after all, the Germans are about to occupy Athens now." He glanced at the British officer and said with a dissatisfied tone.

The British officer obviously did not want the other party to leave in a good mood, and continued to add: "Sir, I think your news is a little behind... The Germans occupied Athens yesterday afternoon, and we have become the front line here..."

"..." The commander of the U.S. Army Air Forces really wanted to pick up the other party's collar and ask the other party, "Who are you from?"

The U.S. Army Air Forces flew their B-17s to Crete. As a result, they haven't had time to carry out their tasks, and this place has become the front line...

"How many troops are there on the island?" The American officer couldn't care about arguing with the other side, and asked a question that he cared most about.

"We have two divisions on the island, plus some skirmishers, the number exceeds 25,000! There are also 10 tanks, and the fortifications are also complete." The British officer said what he knew, and also Good news among bad news.

Hearing that there are 25,000 soldiers on the island and supporting fortifications, the mood of the US Army Air Force officers is somewhat stable.

At least in front of them, there is the British line of defense, and the sea as a barrier - a few days, they can hold on anyway.

So he breathed a sigh of relief and continued to ask his British counterpart: "So, how many fighter jets are there on the island? Can they secure the airspace?"

This is the second concern of American officers-although there are few threats from the sea and land, the threats from the air still exist.

Because the United States has air force volunteers who support the United Kingdom, these volunteers will return to the United States when they are injured or when the time is up.

Volunteer pilots who returned to the United States brought back various descriptions of the Luftwaffe. In their descriptions, the Luftwaffe fighters were formidable, and the German pilots were formidable.

Therefore, this time, the so-called "volunteer pilots" of the bomber unit who came to Crete this time have heard such a statement.

They were reluctant to face the Luftwaffe planes and were equally nervous, afraid that they would encounter German planes...

"This matter... well, our pilots in the Mediterranean region suffered heavy losses, and there was a problem with aircraft replenishment..." The British officer had to stammer to explain, and his tone could not be heard at all.

Hearing this, the American officer knew that things were not good, and looked at the other side and asked, "What is the situation, I need to know everything about it."

"To be honest, we only have 20 planes that can take off, most of them are old-fashioned fighter jets, and there are only two hurricanes..." The British officer told the truth and gave the answer.

Because of transportation and other reasons, in the entire Mediterranean theater, the British army did not have very advanced aircraft.

Of course, the P-40 fighter jets that the United States assisted the United Kingdom were all used in homeland air defense. There have also been some losses in Brest recently, and it is impossible to support the British in the Middle East.

And the hurricanes produced in the United Kingdom also have fire-breathing, because of the lack of voyage and other reasons, they only rarely appear in the Middle East...

So ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ what British officers call fighter jets - in fact many are just "open tops".

They don't have a pressurized enclosed cockpit, and certainly don't have a high-horsepower engine. They can't compete with the planes that the Germans can take to the sky, let alone guarantee the airspace safety of friendly forces.

As for whether these planes will take off to meet the enemy when they attack, it is a problem in the eyes of experts.

The air defense force on Crete actually mainly relied on a small number of anti-aircraft artillery, rather than those similarly furnished "fighters".

"Listening to what you said, I think the only thing we can do now is pray." The American officer shook his head in disbelief.

The British officer looked at each other and asked suspiciously, "Pray? Pray for what?"

"Pray that the German air force will have a holiday before our aerial bombs arrive...they won't take off for reconnaissance, they won't take off to bomb! Wait until we're done with our mission, and then come to trouble us!" with an exasperated anger, the American officer replied coldly.