The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The tragedy of the "Intrepid" aircraft carrier continues.

The fire quickly spread across the flight deck as the burning fuel spread. Soon, the fighter planes that were not detonated were quickly set alight.

At this time, the British naval soldiers on the aircraft carrier should push these fighters into the sea, but the fire blocked their steps, so they could only watch the fighters being swallowed up by the flames, and then another group exploded with a "boom" Flame fuel also leaked out.

The flight deck became a tomb of the British Navy. Fuel flowed everywhere with flames, like lava from a volcano, burning wherever it flowed. It flowed from the deck to the cabin below, blocking the passage and cutting off the crew's escape. On the way back, hundreds of sailors shouted in panic in the cabin, but no one could hear their voices. The soldiers had no choice but to escape into the water like dumplings to avoid being burned alive by the fire.

Unlike the British Navy and Air Force, which were caught off guard and fell into chaos, the German and Italian Air Forces had a clear division of labor and conducted this war in an orderly manner.

Generally speaking, it is very difficult to fight the battle in an "orderly manner" under such circumstances. After all, the fighter planes in the sky can be said to be "a chaotic dance of demons" and no one can tell who is who.

But it’s not difficult to say it’s actually difficult.

The German and Italian forces made a plan before the war...the Italian Air Force was responsible for bombing warships, and the German Air Force was responsible for fighting with the British Air Force.

This allocation is of course reasonable. The Italian Air Force itself is not an opponent of the British Air Force. It cannot be compared in terms of fighter performance or pilot quality, so of course it cannot deal with the British Air Force.

On the contrary, there is no difficulty in carrying out the mission of bombing the British warship, because the warship is right there. As long as you have the chance to reach the sky above the warship... open the bomb bay and drop the bomb, it will be completed.

The German Air Force had advantages over the British Air Force in terms of fighter aircraft performance and pilot quality. Of course they were responsible for the air. Of course, because the German army also has some excellent "Stuka" bombers, it also takes care of the sea.

Air Marshal Kesselring said to the Italian Air Force: "For you, there are no planes in the sky, neither British planes nor German planes. The battlefield is only you and your target... British warships!"

As a result, the Italian Air Force even knew that there was a British fighter plane biting him in the tail, but they turned a blind eye.

Because they know that in fact, even if they take evasive actions, etc., the performance of Italian fighters and bombers will not help. They might as well leave their lives to God or the German Air Force.

The German Air Force did not live up to their expectations. They were usually able to shoot down enemy planes before the British fighter planes shot down the Italian fighter planes, or the British planes were destroyed by the German fighter planes immediately after they shot down the Italian fighter planes... This was very important to the German and Italian air forces. It is said to be very cost-effective, because it is actually exchanging an Italian fighter jet for a British fighter jet.

But the Italian fleet, because the British navy could not safely shoot into the air...the anti-aircraft artillery shells exploded in the air in strings, and even the anti-aircraft machine guns fired a dense barrage in the air. It is very easy to cause accidental injury when working together.

This gave the Italian bombers an opportunity. One after another, they swooped down and dropped bombs at low altitudes on the British warships.

After the "Invincible" aircraft carrier was damaged and set on fire, the "Invincible" aircraft carrier was not immune. A BR bomber dropped two bombs on the "Invincible" aircraft carrier. One fell into the sea and exploded, and the other hit the elevator. , penetrated directly into the aircraft hangar and exploded. Fortunately, there were no fighter planes in the hangar, so the explosion only damaged the hangar and the elevator.

A "Stuka" bomber dived down from a high altitude at a high angle towards the cruiser "Neptune" with a harsh roar and a high speed.

The "Stuka" bomber is a dive bomber. Compared with the horizontal bomber, its advantage is that it has a high hit rate because it dives down from the air at a nearly right angle, and the bombs it drops will fall towards the target in a similar trajectory to the bomber. , you don’t even need a complicated aiming system to complete this process.

The "Neptune" was also aware of this danger. The anti-aircraft cannon shells on the warship rained down on the target. However, because the target's speed was too fast and the angle changed too much, the anti-aircraft cannons missed one after another, and instead shattered several fighter planes flying nearby. In the air... Because the fighter plane disintegrated so quickly, the gunner didn't even see clearly whether it was the enemy's or his own fighter plane.

At the same time, Captain Andre, the captain of the "Neptune", urgently ordered an evasive maneuver, but it was too late. Two bombs fell from the sky with a sharp whistle...one hit the starboard side without exploding and fell into the sea. Two bombs destroyed the ship's chimney and exploded in the engine room. As a result, only one boiler on the ship could operate normally, and the ship's communication system was completely paralyzed.

Captain Andre was about to be thankful that the "Neptune" could still hold on, but he heard the soldiers on the side of the ship shout loudly: "Torpedo found!"

Andre quickly ordered: "Full right rudder!"

However, because the cruiser almost lost power and was very slow, Andre could only watch the torpedo draw a long water line in the water and go straight to the side of the ship, and then explode with a loud "boom".

After a while, all the power of the "Neptune" disappeared, and a large amount of seawater poured in from the damaged hull, causing the hull to collapse. Colonel Andre could only order to abandon the ship.

Almost at the same time, the destroyer USS Northwest, which was busy shooting in the air, was also hit by two torpedoes. Only then did Lieutenant General Tovey realize that there was a group of enemy submarines lurking in the sea...

Lieutenant General Tovey guessed correctly. These submarines were the submarines of the Toulon Fleet. Five of them were German "U" submarines, which were underwater troops sent by Hitler to reinforce the Mediterranean operations. Three of them were French submarines of the Toulon Fleet. Submarines... The German army captured nineteen submarines from the Toulon Fleet. Unfortunately, the German Navy did not have enough submarine crews. Other submarines were still in training, and only three had combat effectiveness. So in the end, only eight submarines participated in this battle. battle.

But this was enough for the British navy to drink a pot. Bombs in the air, torpedoes in the sea, and explosions were heard all the time. Some warships even collided with the transport ships that were fleeing in panic. The scene was chaotic for a while.

Finally, the Italian bombers dropped their bombs and withdrew. The remaining British fighter planes withdrew from the battle. The German aircraft group circled half a circle like a demonstration over the fleet, and then flew towards Italy.

All that was left to the British was a patch of flames and black smoke on the sea. A few warships that sank to only a small part stayed unwillingly for a while, and then disappeared into the sea.