Imperial Overlord

When Churchill was unable to support Malta, 40 Luftwaffe Stuka bombers hung up on bombs and visited the island in the Mediterranean Sea.

These were the first Luftwaffe planes to arrive in Italy, and under the cover of Italian fighter jets, they completed the bombing of the main island of Malta.

Forty dive bombers attacked the airfields on the islands and the aircraft parked there, quickly destroying the ability of British aircraft to fight.

Subsequently, the Italian Air Force dispatched almost 100 bombers to carry out large-scale bombing damage to the entire Malta.

On July 18, the battle for Malta officially kicked off. At this moment, history embarked on another completely unknown road.

With a shrill howl, the German dive bombers brought real disaster, nearly 12 Allied planes were destroyed, and the entire island was filled with smoke from burning.

The Third Reich Air Force boasted by Goering indeed has unparalleled destructive power at this time point.

Having not experienced the loss of the British air battle, the current Luftwaffe can dispatch thousands of planes in one go to deal with a small Malta.

It's true that they were able to capture it. This was not the end of 1941 or even the end of 1942, when the two sides had entered a stalemate.

The British had not had time to strengthen the defenses of the Maltese Islands. There were only less than 10,000 defenders and dozens of aircraft capable of fighting.

With such a small amount of troops, it is simply impossible to stop the Germans' attack.

On July 19, the German paratroopers did their last training before departure, and then these elites who swept the Quartet in the Netherlands boarded the plane for Italy.

"Soldiers! The country needs you who are brave. I hope you can bring back great victories to the motherland!" Before boarding the plane, Li Le gave a speech to the paratrooper representatives.

400 carefully selected paratrooper officers were inspected by the Fuhrer. Amidst applause, the Fuhrer gave the paratroopers almost the highest evaluation.

"I will never stop the paratroopers from flying! As long as the war doesn't stop, then you, like the armored force, the submarine force, and all German soldiers, are the country's sharpest spear and the country's strongest shield!"

"I hope you can show the spirit of your ancestors and fight for this country until the last moment!" Li Le waved his arms while inciting his soldiers.

He shouted excitedly: "I will be here, waiting for you to come back! If you win, I will share wine with you; if you die in battle, I will die for the country with you!"

"Victory! Führer!" All the paratrooper representatives raised their arms and shouted loudly. For the first time, they were extremely excited to hear such an excited pre-war mobilization from the head of state.

"May God be with you! The Germanic people, be with you!" Hess stood beside the Führer and also raised his arms.

"Victory! Führer!" General Student was also very excited. His troops got a lot of new weapons. This time the Führer didn't just talk about it casually.

For the paratroopers, there is the newly produced assault rifle. Although the name is a bit weird, it turns out that it is indeed worthy of the Fuhrer to show off.

This new weapon can provide paratroopers with more reliable and dense suppression fire, and use intermediate power ammunition, allowing paratroopers to carry more ammunition to fight.

It can be said that the assault rifle is simply a weapon tailored for paratroopers. If possible, Student is willing to let most paratroopers be equipped with this fashionable firearm.

At the same time, in order to give the paratroopers the ability to deal with tanks and fortified fortifications, the Fuhrer asked the military industry department to rush to make a bomb that can attack at a long distance - a bazooka.

The rocket launcher named Iron Fist by the head of state gave paratroopers a direct attack weapon for the first time. Although the number is small, there are 30 such weapons in total.

Compared with the previous paratrooper weapons, the German paratroopers this time can be described as a shotgun replacement, eliminating 1,000 slightly outdated Mauser 98K rifles in exchange for a variety of powerful weapons.

If it weren't for the German training and other hardware not allowed, Li Le would even let the paratroopers airborne together with weapons instead of using the backward method of separate airborne.

"General! The command of the front line is up to you. I am waiting for the news of your victory in Berlin. Go, Student, go!" Li Le finally pressed Student's shoulder and ended the speech. .

All paratroopers will arrive in Italy within 2 days, and then attack Malta by the 23rd.

The perpetual motion plan is the first time that Li Le has drawn up a battle plan since he traveled to Germany, and made an effort to change the future situation. So Li Le seemed particularly nervous, he didn't know what the future would be like.

As he passed through the phalanx formed by the paratroopers, he said to Hess and Goering beside him: "This operation has a huge impact on us, and I don't want any mistakes."

"Don't be nervous, my Führer! Victory belongs to us." Goering was very proud to support his airborne troops.

Hess also thinks that this operation is completely a slap in the face, so don't be too nervous: "My head of state, General Student has very rich combat experience, you don't have to worry at all."

However, Li Le was still very nervous. This was completely different from the attack on the H fleet.

The sneak attack on the H fleet was a small-scale battle in which he had mastered history and was bound to win.

As for that naval battle, he knew very well. It could be said that he had no intention of calculating, so of course he didn't need to be so nervous.

But this time is different. He has no historical knowledge to guide him, and the whole plan does not exist in his memory, so he must feel the fear of the unknown.

Only at this time did Li Le know that a good mental quality is definitely a prerequisite for a qualified general.

Before each attack plan was drawn up, his heart beat faster like gambling, but it was not a devastation that a normal person could endure.

"You two are not nervous? That is our most important offshore oil channel. If something goes wrong with the plan, we will lose half of the war!" Li Le said with a frown.

Goering was stunned for a moment, then nodded, shook his head again and explained, "We have already used a lot of troops, and there is no reason to lose."

For this airborne mission, he prepared 15,000 well-trained paratroopers, and there were more than 20,000 Italian landing troops in response to these paratroopers.

If an attack of this scale is still defeated by the British, he will even begin to question his own life - whether he has really been like a fool in the past year.

Because the action plan was repeatedly delayed, it was postponed from July 17 to July 23 in one breath, in order to be prepared and foolproof.

The advantage of such a delay is that the paratroopers have been rested and a large number of weapons have been distributed.

After all, the paratroopers are high-quality elite troops in the German military sequence, so they are also very fast in accepting new weapons.

First of all, because these soldiers have been eager to obtain an automatic weapon to replace their Mauser 98K, the STG-44 assault rifle has been accepted very quickly.

Secondly, in the previous battles in the Netherlands and Belgium, the German paratroopers realized their lack of firepower, so the Iron Fist Bazooka was also very popular among officers and soldiers.

When the German airborne troops rushed to Italy, 150 bombers of the Luftwaffe had already arrived in Italy in the past few days.

These planes bombed Malta so overwhelmingly that the Allies there sent one emergency message after another to London.

"Malta is in an emergency, the bombing scale of the Germans is bigger than once..."

"100 German bombers attack Valletta, causing thousands of civilian casualties!"

These telegrams are like steel needles, UU reading www.uukanshu. com stimulates the fragile heart of the British. If the island of Malta was lost, the Axis powers would effectively divide the Mediterranean in two.

What is even more frightening is that what cuts the Mediterranean Sea is an oil transportation route of the Axis countries, a safe and reliable transportation route that the British could not solve in a short time.

"We don't have the strength to strengthen the Maltese Islands, and General Somerville's fleet cannot venture close to there." The admirals looked at Churchill with a sullen face and explained.

At this time, although the British Mediterranean Fleet stationed near Alexandria was still intact, it did not dare to act rashly.

The United Kingdom was afraid that the Germans would encircle Malta to help them and take the opportunity to kill the British Mediterranean fleet. At that time, even the Suez Canal would be in danger.

In the same way, rushing 3,000 people to the Maltese Islands is the limit that the British can do. These 3,000 people are still colonial troops with average combat effectiveness, which is better than nothing.

At this time, the garrison on the island of Malta was actually only 9,000 people, and after it was strengthened, it was only 12,000 people.

Because most of the planes were destroyed, there were less than 20 remaining. This kind of force could not defend against the German attack at all.

Just as the British transport ships and destroyers were desperately sending 3,000 reinforcements to Malta, the Italian Navy's landing fleet left its port.

In the early morning of July 23, the operational part of the perpetual motion plan began to be implemented. The soldiers of the Luftwaffe paratroopers, under the command of Stutt, boarded their own JU-52 transport aircraft.

They were accustomed to the roar of the engine, and the soldiers carrying parachutes filed into the narrow cabin, accompanied by vibrations and bumps, and flew towards the target.