"Damn, the Germans didn't give us a chance at all!" Looking at the airfield frequented by the bombers, the American commander complained to the British officers beside him in a depressed manner. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

They had come from afar in the hope of taking off from Crete to bomb Libyan airfields - but now the Luftwaffe had attacked the airfields, and the Italian fleet had also appeared on the sea.

The runway of the airfield was partially blown up, and now the big guys like the B-17 are a little overwhelmed by the take-off.

"According to information from Greek intelligence officers, the Germans are gathering paratroopers and organizing a landing force...... The scale is quite large. The British officer said nervously.

It's really hard for him, and now he has to face the situation of fighting alone in the Mediterranean. Although he has a lot of troops at his disposal, he also faces many enemies.

The fleet of the Italian Navy had sailed to the open sea, and in the afternoon it was shelling the positions of the British. Although the other side does not seem to want to destroy the airport, the pressure is undoubted.

The pilots of the US Army Air Corps, noisily hoping to get out of this dangerous place quickly. No one spoke again of the aerial bombs that were already on the way, nor of the bombing of Libya.

The Germans could attack in 24 hours, and the news sensitized everyone. The British army and the withdrawn Greek army were divided at this moment.

The British naturally hoped that they could continue to resist, at least until the American bombers had finished bombing the Libyan oil fields, and then study the matter of surrender.

But the Greek army had already surrendered by this time, and it was a bit unjustifiable for the defenders of Crete to continue to hold on.

With such a relationship, the British army became no longer trusting the Greeks on these islands. The two sides are wary of each other, which has a direct impact on the defense of the island.

On a small island of Crete, there were troops from the British, natives from the Middle East, Greek soldiers, and volunteers from the United States.

In such a chaotic situation, it is conceivable how solid a line of defense can be established by mobilizing the army to organize defense.

"Rush to repair the airport! We'll leave tonight! If any of you want to go along, we can take some people away. "The officers of the US Army Aviation do not want to stay here for a moment.

Behind him were 50 B-17s, which were used to bomb Libya, and if all of them were lost in Crete, wouldn't the whole project be bankrupt?

"We have some wounded...... If you can ship it back to the Middle East, thank you very much. The British officer who stayed behind said gratefully.

Now he was in a state of disarray, Crete was in chaos, and the German offensive could begin at any moment. The fierce battle was on the verge of breaking out, and there was really not much time left for the British.

Suddenly, the terrible air defense sirens sounded, making everyone's hearts skip a beat! At the sound of the voice, the British officer raised his head to look at the sky, just in time to see the light of a searchlight in the sky, projected among the clouds.

"The Germans are coming! The Germans are coming! A soldier ran over in a panic, shouting loudly, as if to warn everyone of the danger.

As a result, when he ran to the side of the British officer, he was blocked by the British officer's outstretched hand: "Shout what?" Is it an air strike by enemy aircraft, or something else is happening, make it clear! ”

The soldier was stopped by the commander and hurriedly saluted, but the answer was confused: "We don't know, we saw the plane, and the alarm went off." ”

Hearing the other party's answer, the British officer could only put down the hand blocking the other party and turned his gaze to the sky again.

Then, in the glow of the searchlight, he saw a round black shadow. So, a cold air poured into his internal organs, making him shiver.

Immediately afterwards, the British officer shouted loudly: "German paratroopers!" Keep the troops on alert! Don't mess around and defend the island! ”

The expected German airborne troops finally appeared, and when this force did arrive, the British officers were not relieved, but found themselves even more nervous.

The mountain of pressure made the British officer breathless. The round parachutes in the sky opened one after another, and it was almost desperate.

……

In the sky, accompanied by the explosion of anti-aircraft guns, Lyman pitifully found that his plane was jolting violently.

Like a ship floating on the sea, such turbulence makes the crew of the plane very uncomfortable. Gunther, who had always been chattering, now closed his mouth with a pale face.

Although he couldn't see the other party's face, as the plane trembled, Lyman felt that Gunther opposite him must be pale. He knew it had to be so, as if he had seen it with his own eyes.

"Gentlemen! Open the hatch! Our destination has arrived! The pilot turned around and shouted at the paratroopers in the fuselage behind him.

Then, with squinting eyes, Lyman staggered to his feet and staggered to the door of the cabin, turning back and shouting to his soldiers: "Stand up! Get ready to skydive! ”

Yes, stand up and get ready to skydive! All the soldiers got up on the bumpy plane, and they had a very heavy load of supplies on them, so it was very difficult to stand up.

With the help of each other, everyone finally stood in the small cabin, and after Lyman confirmed it, he opened the cabin door next to him.

A cold wind rushed into the Junkers JU-25 at once. Everyone involuntarily narrowed their eyes, and the light of a searchlight was constantly shaking in the distance.

"Hang up the umbrella lock! Gentlemen! Straighten your body as far as you can! Lyman dutifully confirmed loudly at his post: "Check it and report the number!" ”

"Ready!" The first soldier shouted. Then the second and third, and when the last anti-tank soldier shouted that he was ready, Lyman gave way to the hatch.

"Jump! Jump! Jump! He shouted a word over and over again, urging his soldiers to jump out of the cabin. When the first soldier jumped out of the cabin as he ordered, a volley of tracer bullets flew right in.

Although he didn't hit the plane, he also frightened Lyman, who was standing at the door. Then the second soldier jumped out of the cabin, illuminated by the light of the tracer bullet.

The scale of the German airdrops clearly exceeded the number imaginable by the defenders of Crete, and the number of anti-aircraft guns on the opposing side was not very large, and although it looked terrifying, it did not cause any substantial distress to the German paratroopers.

Gunther writhed at the door of the cabin for a while while he was parachuting. His face was pale, and Lyman felt as if he were a prophet who could predict what was happening before him.

When the last soldier with a bazooka jumped out of the cabin, Lyman saw the co-pilot who had come to close the hatch.

"Goodbye!" Accompanied by the noise of the air, the sound of cannons outside the window, and the roar of the engines, Lyman shouted such a sentence and jumped out of his plane.

One of the buckles in his arms was ripped open by Lyman, and the weapons, food, and most of the ammunition tied to him fell off, pulled by the strap tied to his waist, and fell to the ground.

This structure was also learned from the later American paratroopers, allowing the bulky materials to fall to the ground first, so as to reduce the paratroopers' own load and ensure the safety of the paratroopers.

Listening to the whistling wind in his ears, the new umbrella allowed him to keep his body upright as much as possible in the air. He saw tracer projectiles flying into the sky in the distance, but he couldn't see the earth beneath his feet.

The darkness of the night, which provided excellent cover for the German paratroopers, also deprived them of an unfamiliar reference to the landing landmark.

The paratroopers did not know where they were airdropped and in which direction they were rallied, so it was the right choice.

After all, the preparation time was too hasty, and they had just arrived in Greece for only one day. They spent most of the day resting and doing recovery training, and then they met to get their targets.

Some targets have simple aerial photographs, such as airports or important highway nodes, as well as important buildings.

There are also some targets that don't have any reference at all, and are simply marked on the map, which makes people feel annoyed when they look at it.

Then, everybody was a little too naïve - when they were thrown off the plane, they realized that they couldn't see anything clearly.

They couldn't find any reference at all, except for the tracer bullets of the enemy in the sky and the flickering light of the flares! Including the earth, they have little sense of direction.

"What the hell!" Grumbling in a small voice, Lyman felt the pull on his waist suddenly decrease, and before he could recover his senses, his feet hit the ground.

Without the slightest bit of mental preparation, he felt his face hit the grass, and his feet stumbled on his supply bag, which was quite accurate.

Before Lyman could struggle to his feet, the huge parachute cloth over his head was covered. Then Lehmann, who was dizzy, could only give up the idea of getting up.

He rolled over and began to work hard to open his parachute, so that he could see the scene around him and make his next decision.

Then, he opened the parachute with all his hands and feet, and found that he still couldn't see the surroundings clearly, so he could only temporarily touch the darkness to sort out the material bags under his feet.

He pulled out his STG-44 assault rifle from above, and then pulled the bolt with a quick movement, pushing the bullet into the chamber.

The bolt smoothly returned to its normal position, making a crisp rattling sound. It seems that the fall from a height did not damage the weapon, and Lyman's luck was not bad.