The Rise of the Third Reich

White clouds, sunset, blue waves.

As evening approaches, the Mediterranean Sea looks particularly peaceful, like the most beautiful landscape painting.

However, this poetic scene was incongruously ruined by dozens of Fokker Zero and Fokker 99 aircraft flying through the white clouds. The iron cross patterns on the wings and tail are particularly eye-catching, and the 250-kilogram armor-piercing bombs hung on the belly of the Fokker 99 carrier-based dive bomber exude a fierce murderous aura.

Sudden.

A Fokker 99 aircraft leading the way at the front of the fleet suddenly veered to the left and emerged from the clouds carrying the two crew members in the cabin. When the two crew members' vision suddenly widened, a magnificent battlefield picture was displayed in front of them!

On the sea, a huge naval fleet was setting up three circular air defense arrays and flying eastward. In the center of each air defense formation, there are two British battleships, one in front and one behind, that look like floating castles on the water!

"Captain Barr, Report No. 028, found them! Found the British fleet!"

Sergeant Walter Graf, the navigator/bombardier on the Type 99 bomber, turned on the onboard radio and reported the discovery of the British fleet to Captain Heinz Bahr, the commander-in-chief of the entire air attack formation.

"I am Captain Barr, the commander-in-chief of the air strike!" Heinz Barr's voice soon came over the radio. "The British fleet has been discovered and is ready to launch an air strike. Now number the air strike targets and assign tasks to each squadron..."

Just when Captain Heinz Barr assigned attack missions to his four bomber squadrons, air defense sirens were also sounded on every British warship on the sea. The invading German aircraft from the air did not avoid the detection of the 279 radar, and the British sailors who had been waiting for the attack rushed to the anti-aircraft artillery position. Anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns all raised their muzzles and pointed them at the sky where bombs would fall at any time.

Two squadrons of 32 aircraft hovered over the British fleet (now British fighter jets have also learned the four-finger formation, so the shore-based fighter squadrons are all equipped with 16 aircraft). The P-39 "Flying Snake" also quickly followed the guidance of the radar and desperately pulled up. Seize the high-altitude position.

The British pilots flying these P-39s already knew that their aircraft could not defeat the Fokker Zero in mid- and low-altitude dogfights. The only hope was to dive from high altitudes. As the fleets of both sides approached rapidly, some British pilots flying P-39 "Flying Snakes" had discovered the German Fokker 99 carrier-based dive bombers.

Since the bomb load and range of this aircraft cannot be compared with the twin-engine Ju88, it is not widely used in the German naval aviation. Only the bomber squadrons in the carrier-based aircraft group have such aircraft. The Royal Navy is certainly aware of this situation.

Therefore, as soon as he received the report from the P-39 pilot, Cunningham knew that this wave of enemy planes was launched from the Italian aircraft carrier.

"The Italian aircraft carrier sent out carrier-based aircraft!" Cunningham exhaled softly, "This will definitely weaken their air defense... How many aircraft did we dispatch?"

Major General Crutchley replied: "Six squadrons of Blenheims and two squadrons of P-39s are all fully-equipped squadrons. There are also 24 Fulmars and 60 Mackerels. It should be enough..."

6 fully established Blenheim light bomber squadrons with 72 aircraft, 2 P-39 squadrons with 32 aircraft, plus 24 Fulmars and 60 Mahlers for a total of 188 aircraft .

In Cunningham's original plan, the scale of dispatched fighters was much larger than 188. However, in the third and fourth waves of attacks launched by the German and Italian Air Force, the British P-39s suffered heavy losses.

In the third wave of attacks, 12 P39s were lost - one was accidentally hit by British artillery fire, and one disappeared on the way back. Cunningham then had to order more P-39s to cover the fleet. As a result, 46 were lost in the fourth assault wave launched by German and Italian aircraft, 35 of which were shot down by the escorting Fokker Zero, and 5 were shot down. Ju88s and S.M.79s were shot down by self-defense fire (they also shot down 3 Ju88s and 5 S.M.79s), 3 were accidentally hit by British artillery fire, and 3 were missing or crashed during landing.

Fifty-eight P-39s were lost in the two waves of air combat. At the same time, Cunningham mobilized another 70 P39s to take turns escorting his fleet. In addition, a large number of P39s were sent to escort reconnaissance aircraft taking off from Crete, and they also suffered a lot of losses. Therefore, the Royal Air Force stationed in Crete could only muster 32 P-39s (the original plan was to dispatch more than 100) to escort 72 Blenheim bombers. Waiting for them above the Italian aircraft carrier were 24 Fokker Zero fighters!

"Attention all of the 1st Squadron of the 9th Group, don't worry about the British fighters, the Blenheim bombers are our target! Everyone, charge with me!"

Little Hersman's voice, trembling with excitement, came from the headphones of every pilot of the 1st Squadron of the 9th Carrier Aircraft Group. The arrival of a large number of enemy planes was definitely not good news for the Italian Admiral Aquino, but for Hessman Jr. and his partners, it was a shortcut to becoming ace pilots.

The "Sea Beat" radar on the "Eagle" and "Sparrowhawk" aircraft carriers discovered the British aircraft attacking from high altitude in advance, so Hessman Jr. and his 11 men had already flown their planes to an altitude of 4,000 meters, seizing a favorable altitude in advance. Although the practical ceiling of the Blenheim bomber is nearly 2,000 meters higher than that of the Fokker Zero, dropping bombs at that altitude poses no threat to surface ships at all, and the probability of hitting the target is about the same as winning the lottery jackpot. So these Blenheim bombers broke through from an altitude of 3,000 meters, and were now caught by the Fokker Zero diving from an altitude of 4,000 meters.

The Blenheim aircraft flying in formation also discovered the incoming Fokker Zero at this time, but they did not disband the formation and throw away the bombs to escape separately, but continued to maintain the formation and counterattacked with two top machine guns at the same time.

Little Hessman is now an experienced "old bird". When the enemy's machine guns opened fire, he knew that his opponent was just an inexperienced novice and was very panicked, because most of the machine guns opened fire too early, before the Fokker Zero entered the effective range.

Little Hessman evaded the plane left and right, using the abnormal flexibility of the Fokker Zero to pass through the fire net formed by machine gun bullets. Soon, a Blenheim plane was within the best shooting distance of Little Hessman's plane. He was not in a hurry. He first fired a burst with two 7.92mm machine guns. After seeing two strings of flames accurately sweeping across the back of the enemy plane, he did not hesitate to press the firing buttons of the machine gun and cannon at the same time. Two 20mm cannons and two 7.92mm machine guns roared and fired deadly ammunition, making terrible holes in the wings and fuselage of a Blenheim plane. Even one engine was hit and caught fire. The plane could no longer maintain its altitude and fell headfirst with thick smoke.

"This is the sixth one!" Hessman muttered in a low voice, and then he steered the plane towards a P-39 "Flying Snake" flying towards him.

"The sixth one" is Hessman's "number of kills". The road to becoming an ace pilot must be paved with the wreckage of enemy planes! Today's air battle will undoubtedly allow Hessman to take a big step forward on this road.

When Hessman shot down a "Blenheim" light bomber, other Fokker Zero pilots were also firing fiercely. In the first round of the two sides, 6 "Blenheim" light bombers were shot down by Hessman's squadron. At the same time, 12 Fokker Zeros of the 10th Carrier Aircraft Group also shot down 5 "Blenheim" aircraft.

However, the remaining 61 "Blenheim" bombers did not give up. After a brief chaos, these planes once again assembled into a formation and continued to pounce on the Italian aircraft carrier fleet that was forming an air defense formation dozens of kilometers away.

However, these "Blenheim" aircraft that can only carry out horizontal bombing are not the only means of the British. While the "Blenheim" aircraft and P-39 were breaking through from high altitude, at an ultra-low altitude of only 20 to 30 meters above sea level, 24 "Fulmarine" fighters were escorting 60 "Blue Squirrels" carrying torpedoes quietly approaching the Italian aircraft carriers. They are the real deadly killers!

"Marshal, the aircraft carrier fleet was attacked by air!"

With the report of the staff, the atmosphere in the Medici Villa suddenly became tense.

"The number of enemy aircraft, are they carrier-based?" Hessman asked immediately.

"There are about 100 enemy planes, some of which are Blenheim light bombers."

Hersmann and Admiral Cavgnari exchanged glances, and Cavgnari said, "Can shore-based aircraft be dispatched now?"

Jeshonnek replied, "There are 3 squadrons of BF-110 and 3 squadrons of Fw-190. However, the range of the Fw-190 is only 835 kilometers, and it needs to be equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks to barely reach the destination, and it can't stay in the air for long."

"Send them all out!" Hesmann said immediately, "Let the Fokker Zeros that are directly covering the battleship force also rush to reinforce!"

"Marshal, there is no need," Jeshonnek said with a relaxed look, "There are 24 Fokker Zeros covering the aircraft carrier now, and there will be no accidents."

"It's always better to be cautious!" Hesmann frowned slightly, "We don't know where the British aircraft carrier is... By the way, send all the Ju88s that can be dispatched to the vicinity of the aircraft carrier fleet. If the enemy planes return, follow them."