The British offensive was quickly defeated...... Without the cover of tanks, they don't know how to fight.

In a way, this idea was correct, because since the Mark-Pyre machine guns were used on the battlefield on a large scale in World War I, everyone did not know how to attack...... Attack was almost synonymous with death in those days, and that's why there was trench warfare in World War I, and that's why there was such a thing as tanks.

Moreover, the terrain near the airport was still relatively flat and empty, and the Germans only needed to set up a few machine guns in the direction of the British troops, so that the British troops would have nothing to do.

The problem is ...... The British army had much more troops than the German army, and they were still surrounded by the German army, and there was only one explanation for not daring to attack the German army at this time: they did not have enough courage and confidence.

In this regard, Colonel Smith gave himself a good excuse: "The Germans have new equipment of unknown characteristics, and in addition, the German paratroopers may appear in other directions." So, hold your position and protect the airport......"

This gave the Germans more time and space, otherwise the task of the 1st Battalion would have ended here.

However, things did not go well, and the Germans had less and less time left.

"We only have less than half an hour left!" Bazel looked anxiously at his watch.

Qin Chuan understood what Bazel meant, and the pressure from the German army came from two sides:

One was the threat of warplanes from the British.

It was 610 kilometers from Port Said to Crete, a distance of about an hour for a British Spitfire.

If the British fighter planes arrive at Crete and land at the Iraq airfield, they will take off again...... Then the British army will soon fully seize air supremacy, and even British fighters will suppress the German 1st Infantry Battalion from the air, and it will be even more difficult for the German army to take the airport at that time.

Another threat came from the ground forces of the British.

When the British learned of the attack on the airfield, they would certainly send reinforcements to the airfield...... This was indeed the case, because according to the information obtained by the Germans from aerial reconnaissance planes, the fastest reinforcements arrived in twenty minutes, and then reinforcements came in one after another. At that time, even the Germans could not resist the British offensive even if they had three heads and six arms.

"We must break through the enemy's defenses as soon as possible!" Major Kleiman shouted at Captain Bazel: "Otherwise the whole plan will fail!" ”

"But the enemy is well defended, Major!" Bazel objected: "If we rush hard, even if we break through the enemy's lines or even occupy the airfield, it will not help!" ”

Bazel was right, because there was only one outcome to a forced breakthrough, and that was the 1st Infantry Battalion suffering heavy casualties, but it also meant that the 1st Infantry Battalion could not hold the airfield, and the 1st Infantry Battalion could play a role of blowing up some facilities in the airfield or ammunition and fuel in the warehouses.

Then, it won't be long before the airport is back in use.

"Maybe we can think of something else!" Qin Chuan said.

"What else can be done?" Major Kleiman said with some annoyance: "There is a serious error in our intelligence, and it is twice...... We've been miserable by those bastards in the Air Force! ”

Major Kleiman was obviously very disgusted with the Air Force, and Qin Chuan later learned that there was a reason for this, during an attack on France, the Air Force mistook Major Kleiman's troops for enemies, so a burst of indiscriminate bombardment caused Major Kleiman's troops to suffer heavy losses, including his son.

So, Major Kleiman would find any opportunity to vent his grievances to the Air Force, even though he knew it wasn't the time to complain.

"Major!" Qin Chuan pointed to a high ground on the flank amid the sound of artillery and said, "Maybe we can choose to occupy that high ground!" ”

"Our mission is to capture the airfield!" Major Kleiman refused without thinking about it.

"You're right!" Qin Chuan said: "But the purpose of our occupation of the airport is to block the airport, isn't it?" What if we occupy that high ground and be able to block the airport? ”

"You mean......" Major Kleiman looked at the high ground, and then there was a glimmer of hope in his eyes, "with mortars?" ”

"Yes!" QIN CHUAN REPLIED: "THAT HIGH GROUND IS FOUR KILOMETERS AWAY FROM THE AIRPORT, WITHIN THE RANGE OF OUR 80MM MORTARS, PLUS OUR CONDESCENDING ......"

"Great idea!" Major Kleiman did not hesitate, he immediately ordered: "Retreat, change the target, take the high ground at eight o'clock!" ”

After that, this high ground was named the "Eight O'Clock" high ground by the German army.

At "eight o'clock" the heights were more than 100 meters high, and a company of Greek troops was stationed.

However, the Greek army of this company was obviously not a regular army, because they did not even have enough rifles, so the Germans easily took this high ground with only one charge.

After Major Kleiman climbed to the top of the hill, he took out his binoculars and looked down, then nodded and said to Qin Chuan: "You are right, second lieutenant, the runway of the airport is right under our noses!" ”

There is no doubt about this, and the high ground of more than 100 meters overlooking the airport can of course see everything at the airport clearly.

At this time, the Irak airfield was in shambles, and several destroyed fighters were piled up on the side of the runway emitting black smoke, which should have been a good thing done by the German fighters before, and several fighters on the other side seemed to have just been loaded with ammunition and were about to take off into the air for battle.

Seeing this, Major Kleiman immediately ordered: "Mortar ready!" ”

THE MORTAR IS AN 80MM CALIBER MORTAR, IT HAS A RANGE OF UP TO FIVE KILOMETERS, AND THE CONDESCENDING BOMBARDMENT OF THE AIRFIELD BELOW WILL CERTAINLY NOT HAVE ANY DIFFICULTY.

"Put!" With Major Kleiman's order, ten mortars with better tunes "bombarded" at the airfield.

Listening to the whistling sound of shells, the three British fighters on the runway preparing to take off were immediately blown up, and one of the fighters saw that the situation was not good, and immediately started to take off urgently to escape the range of the mortar's bombardment, but it was too late......

Immediately after that, the second shell passed, one of which hit the wing of the fighter plane, and in an instant, the fighter plane taxiing on the runway exploded into several pieces, and then there was a loud "boom", and the fighter plane filled with fuel turned into a bright fireball.

"God!" It was then that Colonel Smith realized that the Germans were not retreating, but occupying the high ground south of the airfield.

"We must take the high ground back!" Colonel Smith said: "Otherwise the airport would be under their blockade!" ”

At this time, Colonel Smith regretted why he had not taken that high ground into account before.

But this is also normal, because no one expected that the Germans would attack Crete, and even less that the Germans would target the airfield on Crete in the first place.