The decisive battle against the Third Reich

At 5:30 in the morning the next day, Qin Chuan and others were sitting on a transport plane flying to Crete.

The Italian Caproni transport plane can pick up up to 18 paratroopers. This is not a good thing for the German army, because the German army has 10 people in a squad, and a transport plane can barely pick up two squads that are not full. This makes a platoon Two or more transport aircraft must be used, which will undoubtedly bring great trouble to the assembly after parachute landing.

But there was nothing that could be done about it. After all, this was in Africa, and the Germans had to rely on Italian equipment for parachute landings... In fact, it was quite good to have transport planes for them to parachute.

It was pitch black outside the window, and if it weren't for the occasional white cloud drifting by, it would give people the illusion that the plane was stationary.

The flight time was accurately calculated: the sunrise time in Egypt in November is approximately 6:05 in the morning. Caproni flew at a speed of 250 kilometers and arrived at Crete, 300 kilometers away, just before dawn... like this The Italian pilots can successfully find the airdrop point, and the German parachute is safer and more suitable for them to launch an attack.

Werner looked up at the top of the cabin with some concern.

I don’t know whether it’s because the cabin is old or the Italians didn’t repair it carefully enough, but in the darkness, somewhere on the roof of the cabin was making constant “clucking” noises as the transport plane’s engine vibrated.

"This is the Italian transport plane!" Werner said: "I think we will be lucky if we can reach the target safely!"

"Don't worry, Sergeant!" Alfredo said, "I've seen worse things than this!"

"Oh, really?" Werner glanced at Alfredo and asked, "I'm a little curious about how you survived!"

Alfredo shrugged and replied, "That's why I choose to drive a car!"

There was a burst of laughter in the cabin.

At this time, the Italian pilot turned back to Qin Chuan and said in his newly learned German: "There are still five minutes!"

Qin Chuan turned around and ordered: "We will fly over the target area in five minutes, be ready! Remember, cut off the parachute as soon as possible after landing and make room for the comrades behind you!"

This is a little different from training... Training requires the parachute to be recovered and reused, but of course there is no time wasted in recycling it on the battlefield. At the same time, the weight of the parachute will also become a burden to the soldiers. The simplest and fastest way is to cut the parachute rope.

"Yes, Second Lieutenant!" the soldiers replied in unison.

Then, the sun jumped out without warning, and in an instant the glow was like a flaming red cloud billowing. Just as the soldiers were about to be intoxicated by the beautiful scenery, a black cloud exploded nearby, and at the same time, there was a violent vibration in the aircraft.

"Anti-aircraft guns!" Qin Chuan shouted: "They found us!"

Soon, there was a dense sound of machine gunfire below, and through the window you could clearly see the bullet lines streaking through the clouds.

A transport plane on the left was hit, and it fell with a harsh roar. For some reason, the pilot did not open the rear door, so no paratroopers jumped out... So everyone knew what their fate would be.

This kind of fear is very helpless. If they are on the ground, the soldiers can at least use their experience and tactical movements to avoid artillery shells and even pick up rifles to protect themselves. But in the air, all they can do is hope not to be too unlucky to be attacked by the enemy. Shot down by bullets or artillery fire.

At this time, I don’t know who sang the song of the paratroopers:

The sun is shining red, get ready!

Who knows if it will still be smiling at us tomorrow?

…

At first the sound was very low and trembling with fear, but soon everyone sang along, and then became louder and louder, causing the Italian pilots in front to frequently turn around and look at these German soldiers with incredulous eyes. , It’s incredible.

This is a good way to dispel fear. After singing for a while, the shells and bullets outside the window and the transport planes being shot down one after another or even disintegrating in the air are not so scary...

The slow speed of Italian transport aircraft is one of the reasons for the high casualties: slow speed means that it takes more time to cross the enemy's air defense positions. The enemy has more time and it is easier to target and shoot down these transport aircraft.

Qin Chuan believed that if the British had not thought that the German target was Malta Island and were unprepared, not many of these transport planes would have been able to fly over the airdrop point.

Then the red light in the cabin came on, and the dispatcher shouted loudly for the soldiers to prepare for parachuting. The German soldiers stood up and lined up in a single column, and hung their nine-meter-long fixed pull rope firmly on the top of the cabin. on the cable.

"See you on the ground, comrades!"

"See you on the ground!"

…

German soldiers blessed each other.

The cabin door opened, and the soldiers jumped out of the cabin one after another. Qin Chuan followed Werner, and Keller jumped out after Qin Chuan... Werner and Keller, the two submachine gunners, can basically be said to be Qin Chuan. Guardsmen, they always cooperate with Qinchuan's battles intentionally or unintentionally, or it can be said that they are protecting Qinchuan's safety.

After jumping out of the cabin, Qinchuan's surroundings were immediately filled with bright sunlight, and strong wind blew against Qinchuan's military uniform and body. After a brief free fall, the fixed pull rope opened the parachute. Qin Chuan only felt a strong pull upwards, and the speed of descent slowed down.

And this is the most terrifying thing, because it means that the paratroopers are naked and exposed to the crosshairs of the gunmen on the ground, without any power to fight back.

Tracer bullets from the machine gun shot up from the ground, and a row of bullets flew past Qin Chuan's feet. Qin Chuan could almost feel the air flow brought by them as they flew by. This made Qin Chuan subconsciously bend his feet, but he soon Realize this is a silly approach.

Several paratroopers were hit by bullets, and blood poured down like raindrops. They were actually dead on the parachute, but the parachute still hung them slowly down. Some of them were lucky, and the bullets hit their parachutes... but falling too fast would probably mean that they would fall to their death.

A transport plane was directly hit by an anti-aircraft gun. With a loud noise, the wing on one side of the transport plane was blown off. It lost its balance, black smoke came out of the window, rolled straight towards the ground, and then turned into ashes. A shocking fire.

Qin Chuan took a deep breath to suppress the fear in his heart.

He knows better that there is no point in worrying about the enemy's bullets and cannonballs now. He can't do anything and can't stop it. What he can do is to take this opportunity, that is, while it is still high in the air, to try his best to Understand the terrain of the ground.