Chapter 246 Airborne

At 5:30 in the morning of the next day, Qin Chuan and others were sitting on a transport plane flying to Crete.

The Italian Caproni transport plane can carry up to 18 paratroopers, which is not a good thing for the German army, because a German squad has 10 people, and a transport plane can barely carry two squads that are not fully staffed. This means that a platoon must be divided into two or even more transport planes, which will undoubtedly cause great trouble for the assembly after the parachute.

But there is no way around it. After all, this is in Africa, and the German army has to rely on Italian equipment for parachuting... In fact, having a transport plane for them to parachute is already quite good.

It was pitch black outside the window. If it weren't for the occasional white cloud floating by, it would give people the illusion that the plane was stationary.

The flight time was precisely calculated: the sunrise time in Egypt in November was about 6:05 a.m., and Caproni flew at a speed of 250 kilometers, and arrived at Crete 300 kilometers away just at dawn... In this way, the Italian pilots could find the airdrop point smoothly, and the German parachute landing would be safer and more suitable for them to launch an attack.

Werner looked up at the top of the cabin with some concern.

I don’t know if it’s because the cabin is old or the Italians didn’t repair it carefully enough, but somewhere on the top of the cabin in the dark, the vibration of the transport plane engine kept making a "cuckoo" sound.

"This is the Italian transport plane!" Werner said, "I think we are lucky to reach the target safely!"

"Don't worry, sergeant!" Alfredo said, "I have seen worse ones than this!"

"Oh, really?" Werner glanced at Alfredo and asked, "I am a little curious about how you survived!"

Alfredo shrugged and replied, "That's why I chose to drive a car!"

There was a burst of laughter in the cabin.

At this time, the Italian pilot turned around and said to Qin Chuan in the German he had just learned, "Five minutes left!"

Qin Chuan turned around and ordered, "We will fly over the target area in five minutes, get ready! Remember, cut off the parachute as soon as possible after landing and make room for your comrades behind you!"

This is a little different from training... Training requires the recovery of parachutes for reuse, but on the battlefield, of course, time will not be wasted on recovery. At the same time, the weight of the parachute will become a burden on the soldiers. The simplest and fastest way is to cut the parachute rope.

"Yes, Lieutenant!" The soldiers answered in unison.

Then, the sun jumped out without any warning, and in an instant, the rosy clouds were rolling like red clouds on fire. The soldiers were just about to revel in the beauty of the scenery when a black cloud exploded nearby, and the plane also shook violently.

"Anti-aircraft guns!" Qin Chuan shouted, "They found us!"

Soon, there was a dense sound of machine guns and cannons below, and through the window, one could clearly see the bullets passing through the clouds.

A transport plane on the left was hit, and it fell down with a piercing whistle. For some reason, the pilot did not open the rear door, so no paratrooper jumped out... So everyone knew what their fate would be.

This fear was very helpless. If it was on the ground, the soldiers could at least use their experience and tactical actions to avoid the shells or even pick up rifles to protect themselves, but in the air, all they could do was hope not to be too unlucky to be shot down by enemy bullets or artillery fire.

At this time, someone sang the paratrooper song:

The sun is emitting red light, get ready!

Who knows if it will still smile at us tomorrow?

…

At first the voice was small and trembling with fear, but soon everyone joined in, and then it became louder and louder, causing the Italian pilots in front to turn their heads frequently and look at the German soldiers with incredible eyes. It was incredible.

This is a good way to dispel fear. After singing for a while, the shells and bullets outside the window and the transport planes that were shot down or even disintegrated in the air were not so scary...

The slow speed of the Italian transport planes was one of the reasons for the heavy casualties: the slow speed meant that it took more time to pass the enemy's air defense positions, and the enemy had more time and it was easier to aim and shoot down these transport planes.

Qin Chuan believed that if the British had not thought that the German target was the unprepared Malta Island, there would not be many transport planes that could fly over the airdrop point.

Then the red light in the cabin lit up, and the dispatcher shouted loudly for the soldiers to prepare for parachuting. The German soldiers stood up and lined up in a single column, and hung their nine-meter-long fixed ropes firmly on the steel cables on the top of the cabin.

"See you on the ground, comrades!"

"See you on the ground!"

...

The German soldiers wished each other well.

The cabin door opened, and the soldiers jumped out of the cabin one after another. Qin Chuan followed Werner, and Keller followed Qin Chuan and jumped down... Werner and Keller, the two assault gunners, can basically be said to be Qin Chuan's guards. They always cooperate with Qin Chuan in combat intentionally or unintentionally, or they can also be said to be protecting Qin Chuan's safety.

After jumping out of the cabin, Qin Chuan was immediately surrounded by bright sunlight, and strong winds blew Qin Chuan's uniform and body. After a short free fall, the fixed rope opened the parachute, and Qin Chuan only felt a strong pull upwards, and the speed of descent slowed down.

This is the most terrifying thing, because it means that the paratroopers are nakedly exposed to the crosshairs of the ground gunners and have no ability to fight back.

The tracer bullets of the machine guns shot up from the ground, and a row of bullets flew past Qin Chuan's feet. Qin Chuan could almost feel the airflow they brought when they flew past, which made Qin Chuan subconsciously bend his feet, but he soon realized that this was a very stupid thing to do.

Several paratroopers were hit by bullets, and blood was sprinkled like raindrops. They were actually dead on the parachutes, but the parachutes still hung them and slowly fell down. There were also some who were lucky, and the bullets hit the parachutes... but the fast descent speed might also mean that they would fall to their death.

A transport plane was directly hit by an anti-aircraft gun. With a loud bang, the wing of one side of the transport plane was blown off. It lost its balance, and the window was emitting black smoke. It rolled straight to the ground and then turned into a shocking ball of fire.

Qin Chuan took a deep breath and suppressed the fear in his heart.

He knew clearly that it was meaningless to worry about the enemy's bullets and artillery shells. He could do nothing and could not stop them. All he could do was to take advantage of this opportunity, that is, while still high in the air, to understand the terrain as much as possible.