"Report, the catapult is ready, everything is normal." The sailors of the catapult squad reported to the squad leader. The Archangel was equipped with two aircraft catapults, and at that time, large warships of various navies would carry one or two reconnaissance planes, which were mainly used to find the position of enemy ships in the vast sea area or to fire naval guns in artillery battles.

The Archangel was equipped with three Ar.196 water reconnaissance aircraft, but now hanging on the catapult tow frame was a Fi.156 "White Stork" reconnaissance aircraft painted in desert camouflage.

At that time, the world had not yet developed a perfect steam catapult technology, and the catapult on large warships was more like a large ballista, which generally used compressed air or gunpowder to push the piston, drive the pulley on the rail, and throw the aircraft along the launch rail. Because the carrier-based aircraft at that time were not large in weight and the speed required for take-off was not high, the thrust of these catapults could meet the needs of that time.

The aircraft catapult installed on the [Archangel] is gunpowder propulsion, and the acceleration when launched is quite ferocious, which has high requirements for the pilot's physique and technique.

"Lehard! Stay connected! An army officer stood outside the safety line of the catapult and shouted to the driver with his hands folded.

The engine of the "White Stork" had started, but the pilot still heard the shouting, he turned his face to look at the officer, and then smiled and gave a thumbs up as an answer.

"Five, four, three, two...", the ejection squad leader began for a few seconds. Launch! The sergeant waved his arm, the operator quickly pulled down the lever, and the catapult was immediately ignited.

The gunpowder in the propellant chamber was ignited, and the high-temperature and high-pressure gunpowder gas began to expand sharply in the cylinder, pushing the connecting rod connecting the piston and the pulley to fly forward at a speed of 220 kilometers per hour.

The "White Stork" was smoothly ejected outboard, and the plane flew forward for a distance of more than ten meters, and then began to climb smoothly upward.

"Oh!" The German sailors who watched the scene from the side of the ship cheered, waving their white naval caps.

"The course turns to 106, and the altitude climbs to a thousand." The observer-navigator in the back seat looked at the sea below, then picked up the route map and began to orient him.

"Here is "Black Hawk", called "Mother Goose". Ensign Lehard said as he pressed the microphone into his throat.

"Hello" Black Hawk ", here is "Mother Goose", the signal is clear. The Archangel's response came from the headset.

"Now I'm going to go to the skies over Area A and keep in touch at all times." Lehard nudged the joystick, and the plane began to slide slowly.

"Roger, good luck, Black Hawk. ”

"Thank you, and so do you." Lehard flattened the fuselage, increased the throttle of the engine, and the light "White Stork" reconnaissance plane flew towards the coastal town not far away.

=============================================

"Wellman, keep shooting, pay attention to the top of that dirt slope, well hit!" Sergeant Snarr gripped the hatch grip of the commander's conning tower and stared at the observation periscope in front of him.

"Car No. 3 went around the enemy flank from the left flank, and No. 2 took care to provide cover for No. 3." The voice of the platoon commander, Second Lieutenant Fitzel, came from the headphones.

"Number Three understands!" Sergeant Snarr replied with his headphones covered.

"Leaving the road, we went around the left behind the dirt slope." The sergeant ordered to the driver.

The second platoon of the third company had a total of six eight-wheeled armored vehicles, divided into three squads, tactical vehicle numbers from 321 to 326, except for two saber-toothed tigers, the remaining three were Type 231 armored vehicles with a 20-mm machine gun, and a 233 heavy communication vehicle with an obstacle breaker in the nose.

The platoon commander sits in the heavy communication vehicle and directs the combat operations of the whole platoon, while the deputy platoon commander, that is, the senior non-commissioned officer of the platoon, leads the heavy firepower squad, that is, the two saber-toothed tigers, are responsible for the main attack mission.

Sergeant Snarr's armoured vehicle No. 323 roared down the road, sprinting toward a small mound in the distance over a gravel field full of thorns.

"These people are a complete rabble!" Sergeant Major Merkel paused slightly, then pulled the trigger of the sniper rifle.

"They're all dressed in the same clothes, sir." A member of the Grey Sword crew held on to the butt of the MG40 machine gun and fired a long shot at the crowd in the distance.

"This is the army of Saudi Arabia? It was an eye-opener. Jürgen wiped the dirt from his face with his cuff and reloaded the pistol.

==============================================================

The battle had started five minutes earlier, and it was a textbook-like encounter. As for why the two sides met here, the story has to start more than an hour ago.

Just as the battalion operations staff feared, the landing of the Germans really could not be concealed for long. A tribal trader who drove his camels between Yanbu and Jeddah had been sleeping on a nearby hillside the previous night, and had been praying early morning on the hillside when the Germans had begun to land, and he had witnessed a scene that was deeply frightening.

The Arab merchant couldn't comprehend what he was seeing, but he subconsciously felt that he should report the discovery to the officials at the port of Yanbu immediately, and maybe get some reward.

After making up his mind, the merchant acted quite decisively, and he abandoned the goods on the donkey, and began to run to the port of Yanbu on the not very honest livestock. Twenty kilometers sounds like a long distance, but in fact, riding a horse is a distance of more than ten minutes, and the donkey may have shorter legs, but it is not slow to run.

The mayor or chief of government in Yanbu is a chieftain of a tribe under Juhaina, an in-law of the Saudi family. Abdullah. Hashem. Mohammed. Adil.

Everyone knew that Yanbu was a fat and oily city, and it had always been the direct territory of the ruler, and being able to become the political governor of the city at least proved that he was deeply trusted by the royal family.

However, Lord Adil's life was not very comfortable, and since he became a political officer, he has watched this once prosperous port decay day by day.

Maritime trade came to a standstill, with only a few ships carrying dates docking here each month, and a few Omani and Italian colonial ships were supposed to replenish their supplies, but when war broke out in Europe, the British navy blocked the Red Sea routes, and no foreign merchant ships called at Yanbu from June.

Adil is now only able to extract some taxes from a small number of pilgrims, most of whom go to the Saudi royal family, and the number of pilgrims has been declining in the past two years because of some doctrinal conflicts.

The Magistrate didn't know how long he would be able to hold out, and he had a large tribe of more than 2,000 people to feed, and if it weren't for the high status and privileges of the Magistrate, he would really want to throw away this troublesome position and take the tribe back to the desert to raise camels.

"My lord, a merchant has come to report that a group of foreigners have landed at Nadim Bank." An official wearing a checkered turban hurried into the room and whispered to Adil, who was sitting on the carpet eating breakfast.

"What? Is there such a thing? When did it happen. Adil straightened up with the soft velvet cushions.

"He reported it at sunrise, less than an hour ago." The official replied respectfully.

"Who is it?" The Administrator asked.

"He couldn't tell, except that he was riding in a huge iron ship with some strange trucks unloaded on board." Officials reported.

The trader had never seen a German wheeled armored vehicle, and he thought it was just a special-shaped truck.

"It's strange that I wasn't notified by Riyadh." Adil picked up the black tea on the tray: "Could it still be those Italians?" ”

An Italian expedition had been sent to the nearby mountains, which had been rejected on the spot by Adil, who hated all Westerners from the bottom of his heart.

"Not really, I heard that Italy was at war with Germany, and I think it was more likely to be those smugglers." The official voiced his guess.

"Is it a weapon or something else?" Adil began to feel energetic, and he picked up the hookah stick at hand.

Many smugglers took risks for their profits, transporting weapons and luxury goods from abroad to the shores of the Red Sea, risking the dangers of running aground, and then transported inland by trucks and caravans to sell to the chiefs and tribes of the nomadic tribes.

As the author said earlier, not every tribe was loyal to the Saudi royal family at that time, and they bowed to Saudi Arabia more for religious reasons, because Ibn Saud still had the title of Grand Imam on his head. There were still frequent armed clashes between the tribes, each tribe was looking for ways to increase their power, weapons and medicines were hard currency in the desert, and smugglers were always popular with the chiefs.

In order to suppress the growth of these tribes, Saudi Arabia has been trying to prohibit this private arms trade, because it has clearly affected the stability of his rule. Beginning in September, arms smugglers caught without royal permission will be punished with stakes if they are caught by the government.

"According to the merchant, there were at least four iron boats, not very many, about twenty people, and six trucks disembarked with them."

"It seems that this is another group of desperate smugglers, who chose to land so close to Yanbu, it seems that they didn't take me seriously." Adil angrily shook off the hookah stick in his hand.

"Hathem, gather my troops immediately, I will personally lead the troops to arrest these filthy maggots!" The magistrate stood up and walked over to the weapon rack by the wall, from which he removed an ornate Arabic scimitar with an ornamented outer sheath.

PS: The new January has begun, please vote for the guaranteed monthly pass, I hope this month's results can be higher than last month.

Thank you again for your support, last month we held the ranking of the category list, and when the dust fell at the last second, the author's mood is difficult to describe in words.

I'll continue to work hard to update this month.,Let's talk about this month's update plan first.,Basically, the update speed of one chapter a day won't change.,And then some random additions will be made depending on the situation.。 The standard of monthly pass plus change is a little different from last month, and it is initially set at one chapter for every 500 monthly passes (two hundred votes per chapter is really unbearable.) If there are 4,000 monthly tickets this month, it means that there will be eight chapters to be added, and the number of random additions will not be less than eight chapters, and the rest of the time is mainly a chapter update, always give me some time to catch my breath and get back to blood.

There's only one chapter in today's update.,At the end of last month, I fought too hard.,Let me relax tonight.,You can go to the supermarket to buy something.,Lie on the bed and flip through the information.,I hope you understand.。

In the end, everyone has three days to discuss how to decide on the name of the fan, and after three days, I hope to be able to negotiate a fan name that everyone is satisfied with.

Thank you all for your support, the author will continue to work hard.