The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Look, warship!" Qin Chuan and others heard someone shouting as soon as they stepped onto the dock.

The German troops on the pier quickly became busy. They were either looking for cover or preparing artillery... But in fact, if it was an enemy warship, it would be useless to do this. They could use large-caliber naval guns to destroy the pier several kilometers away. For flat ground.

Qin Chuan followed the soldiers and ran out of the covered part of the cruise ship. Sure enough, he saw a few black spots slowly appearing on the sea level. Qin Chuan habitually raised his rifle and looked in that direction through the scope, and then released it again. Come to think of it... the 2.5x power scope has no effect on distant objects at all.

Then Qin Chuan took the telescope hanging on his waist to observe.

This is a Priest 6*30 telescope, a standard German military telescope. 6 represents the magnification and 30 represents the objective lens diameter... Qin Chuan, who specializes in German military history, knows that such a telescope is worth 115.50 marks, which is equivalent to 115.50 marks at the exchange rate at that time. The cost of an MG34 machine gun.

So Qin Chuan protected it very well, and tried not to take it out of the mirror box if it was not in use, to prevent the dust in the desert from staining the lenses.

Several warships appeared in the aperture of Qinchuan's telescope, and then several more...

"Whose warship is it?" Werner asked nervously.

Qin Chuan saw a little red on the warship flag, so he replied: "It's Italian!"

The Italian flag at this time was somewhat different from modern times. In addition to the three colors of green, white and red, the red shield and white cross, the coat of arms of the Savoy dynasty, was added in the middle. (Note: This Italian flag withdrew from the stage of history in 1946 with the collapse of the Italian royal family.)

The German soldiers couldn't help cheering after hearing this. Although they did not recognize the combat effectiveness of the Italian army, it was exciting to see an Allied fleet appear at this time and bring reinforcements.

The most excited person is of course Alfredo. During this period, he has been like a shadow in the German army... He always chooses the safest place to hide, and the German soldiers are accustomed to his behavior.

It is said that Kuhn also discussed with Barzel whether to take Alfredo to a corner and let him disappear forever, but in the end he gave up the idea... This is partly because Alfredo's existence does not affect After all, he was not a German soldier. On the other hand, he was worried that if the news leaked out, it would affect the alliance between Germany and Italy.

"Look, the Italian warships, our warships!" Alfredo raised his hands and shouted: "Long live Italy! Long live the navy! Great, I can go back, I am safe..."

Alfredo couldn't help but kneel on the ground and cover his face while crying. All the German soldiers looked at Alfredo with contempt. Werner also spat in Alfredo's direction with disdain. said: "Italian!"

But Qin Chuan can understand Alfredo's feelings, because this is not a place for people to stay at all. It is full of blood and death every moment, full of dangers every moment, and challenges the limits of human endurance again and again. .

In fact, Qin Chuan also had the urge to yell or even cry like Alfredo deep in his heart several times, but Qin Chuan knew that it would not help.

Suddenly, several black figures in the sky caught Qin Chuan's eyes. Qin Chuan raised his telescope and took a look. His expression changed greatly and he said, "Mosquito reconnaissance plane!"

Bazel looked in the direction indicated by Qin Chuan, nodded and said, "The British are ready. They know we have reinforcements and will probably send the air force to intercept!"

As he spoke, Bazel shouted to the soldiers: "Prepare for air defense, there will be a fierce battle soon!"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers responded, turned around and hurried away.

The so-called air defense preparation is to build air defense positions.

Of course, the equipment is taken from the warehouse... The British army warehouse has all kinds of equipment, and anti-aircraft equipment is no exception.

However, due to the low air defense needs of the British army, the British army's previous opponent was the Italian army. Although the Italian army's fighter planes were large in number, most of them were old and backward fighters. The British Air Force did not pay attention to them at all. , so the British army does not have much air defense equipment.

The German soldiers searched in the warehouse for a long time before launching a dozen Bofors 40MM anti-aircraft guns.

This anti-aircraft gun is produced in Sweden... It is a weapon used by very few Allies and Axis powers and is regarded as standard air defense equipment: the British army purchased it directly from Sweden and Poland, and the German army purchased it indirectly from Sweden through Hungary. Buy.

Because countries around the world use it for air defense, it is also known as the "Air Defense Screen of All Nations."

Then the soldiers carried dozens of Vickers heavy machine guns from the warehouse, arranged them in circles of sandbags, and quickly built an air defense position.

However, the total number is only fifteen small-caliber anti-aircraft guns and heavy machine guns... This air defense force can only be said to be better than nothing. It mainly depends on the anti-aircraft firepower of the Italian fleet.

The fleet is getting closer and closer, and the national flag with the red shield and white cross emblem is swaying fiercely in the sea breeze. It is indeed the Italian fleet. In the distance, there are navy soldiers waving semaphores on the bow of the ship.

Seeing their lineup, Qin Chuan was half relieved, because this fleet had ten ships, including one battleship, seven destroyers, and the other two were transport ships, obviously transporting reinforcements.

Although these warships appear to be a bit old, they can still handle general bombing.

"Plane!" someone exclaimed at this time: "British plane!"

Sure enough, a row of black spots appeared under the dazzling sunshine from the east, densely packed with at least hundreds of them.

"Air raid siren!" Bazelle yelled.

The piercing whistle sounded over the port. On the one hand, it notified the German soldiers to prepare. On the other hand, it also warned the Italian fleet and asked them to approach the port and fight alongside the air defense forces on the shore.

However, Bazel's intentions were in vain, because with the sound of air defense sirens, the speed of the Italian fleet obviously slowed down.

At first, Qin Chuan thought that the Italian fleet was preparing for battle, because the fleet was indeed not suitable for docking when encountering an air attack. They should spread out over the open sea and drive at high speed, and if necessary, make some snake-like maneuvers to avoid the enemy. plane bombing.

Later, Qin Chuan discovered that this was not the case. The Italian fleet's first reaction was actually to escape.

The British bombers swooped down amidst the roar. What surprised Qin Chuan was that the target of the British bombers' attack was not the Italian fleet, but the port and several cruise ships parked in the port.