Chapter 250 "Eight O'Clock" Heights

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

In a way, this idea was correct, because after the large-scale use of Maxim machine guns on the battlefield in World War I, no one knew how to attack... Attack in that era was almost synonymous with seeking death, so there was trench warfare in World War I, and there were tanks.

Moreover, the terrain near the airport was relatively flat and open, and the German army only needed to set up a few machine guns in the direction of the British army to make the British army helpless.

The problem was... The British army had much more troops than the German army, and they were also surrounding the German army. There was only one explanation for not daring to attack the German army at this time: not enough courage and confidence.

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

This gave the German army more time and space, otherwise, the mission of the first battalion would have ended here.

However, things did not go smoothly, and the German army had less and less time left.

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

Qin Chuan understood what Bazel meant. The pressure on the German army came from two aspects:

One was the threat from British fighter planes.

It was 610 kilometers from Port Said to Crete, which was only about an hour for the British Spitfire fighter.

If the British fighter planes arrived at Crete and landed at Iraq Airport and then took off again... then the British army would soon seize air supremacy, and even the British fighter planes would suppress the German First Infantry Battalion from the air. At that time, it would be extremely difficult for the German army to take the airport.

Another threat came from the British ground forces.

After the British army learned that the airport was under attack, they would definitely send reinforcements to the airport... This was indeed the case, because according to the intelligence obtained by the German army from the aerial reconnaissance aircraft, the fastest reinforcements would arrive in about 20 minutes, and then the reinforcements would come one after another like a tide. At that time, even if the German army had three heads and six arms, it would not be able to resist the British offensive.

"We must break through the enemy's defense as soon as possible!" Major Kleinman shouted at Captain Bazel, "Otherwise the whole plan will fail!"

"But the enemy's defense is very tight, Major!" Bazel objected, "If we force it, even if we break through the enemy's defense or even occupy the airport, it will be useless!"

Bazel was right, because there was only one outcome for a forced breakthrough, that is, the First Infantry Battalion suffered heavy casualties, but this also meant that the First Infantry Battalion could not defend the airport, and the first Infantry Battalion could only play a role in blowing up some facilities in the airport or the ammunition and fuel in the warehouse.

Then, it won't be long before the airport can be put back into use.

"Maybe we can think of other ways!" Qin Chuan said.

"What else can we do?" Major Kleiman said angrily, "There are serious errors in our intelligence, and twice... We have been harmed by those bastards in the Air Force!"

Major Kleiman obviously disliked the Air Force very much. Later, Qin Chuan learned that there was a reason for this. In a battle to attack France, the Air Force mistakenly regarded Major Kleiman's troops as enemies, so a round of bombing caused heavy losses to Major Kleiman's troops, including his son.

Therefore, Major Kleiman would find any opportunity to vent his anger to the Air Force, although he knew that this was not the time to complain.

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

"Our mission is to occupy the airport!" Major Kleiman refused without thinking.

"You're right!" Qin Chuan said, "But the purpose of our occupation of the airport is to block the airport, right? What if we occupy that high ground and can block the airport?"

"You mean..." Major Kleiman looked at the high ground, and then a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes: "Use mortars?"

"Yes!" Qin Chuan replied, "The high ground is about four kilometers away from the airport, within the range of our 80MM mortars, and we are high above..."

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

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

"Eight O'clock" High Ground is about 100 meters high, and a company of Greek troops is stationed there.

However, the Greek troops in this company are obviously not regular troops, because they don't even have enough rifles, so the German army easily took the high ground with just one charge.

After Major Kleiman climbed to the top of the mountain, he took out a telescope and looked down. He nodded and said to Qin Chuan: "You are right, Lieutenant, the runway of the airport is right under our noses!"

There is no doubt about this. From a height of more than 100 meters overlooking the airport, of course, everything in the airport can be seen clearly.

At this time, the Iraqi airport was in a mess. Several destroyed fighters were piled up on the side of the runway, emitting black smoke. That should be the work of the German fighter planes before. At the other end, there were several fighter planes that seemed to have just been loaded with ammunition and were about to take off for battle.

Seeing this, Major Kleiman immediately ordered: "Mortars ready!"

The mortar is an 80MM caliber mortar with a range of five kilometers. It would certainly not be difficult to bomb the airport from a high position.

"Fire!" With the order from Major Kleiman, ten mortars with good parameters "boom boom" fired a barrage of shells at the airport.

With the whistling sound of shells, three British fighter planes preparing to take off on the runway were immediately blown to the ground. One fighter plane saw that the situation was not good and immediately started to take off urgently to escape the bombing range of the mortar, but it was too late...

Then the second shell came over, one of which directly hit the wing of the fighter plane, instantly blowing the fighter plane sliding on the runway into several pieces, followed by another loud "boom", and the fighter plane full of fuel turned into a bright fireball.

"God!" Colonel Smith realized at this time that the German army was not retreating, but occupied the high ground south of the airport.

"We must take back the high ground!" Colonel Smith said, "Otherwise the airport will be under their blockade!"

At this time, Colonel Smith regretted why he had never taken the high ground seriously before.

But this is normal, because no one thought that the Germans would attack Crete, and no one thought that the Germans would target the airport on Crete in the first place.