Chapter 899: A Surprise Attack

For this air raid, Italy prepared dozens of transport planes, which can transport more than 2,000 soldiers at a time.

Because Sicily and Malta are not far away, the Italians plan to transport a whole division of troops to Malta in several batches.

As long as Malta can be occupied, even if the British react, it will not be so easy to retake Malta.

After all, the Italian Air Force is not inferior to Britain and France in the Mediterranean. Without air superiority, it becomes very difficult to land on Malta.

After confirming that the British Air Force has fled, Italy immediately launched a bombing of important facilities on Malta.

Among them, the focus is naturally on the military bases on Malta.

Italy is also aware of the number of British troops stationed on Malta. If it can use air strikes to eliminate some of the British troops, the subsequent paratrooper attack will become much easier.

As for the airport on Malta, it is temporarily out of the bombing range of the Italian Air Force.

In the eyes of the Italians, if their air raids were successful, the airport would be in their hands, so there would be no need for bombing.

Even the relatively complete military airport built by the British could be used by Italy as an important facility to resist the British attack.

After the bombing, the transport plane at the rear also began to approach Malta Island and began to deploy the Italian paratroopers that had been prepared long ago.

There were about 2,000 paratroopers deployed this time. They would take the lead in occupying the military airport on Malta Island, and rely on the military facilities of the military airport to confront the British army on Malta Island.

As long as they could hold out until the next batch of paratroopers arrived, the Italian army would have a foothold on Malta Island.

Similarly, if these paratroopers did not hold out until the next batch of paratroopers arrived, Italy would only lose 2,000 troops at most, which was not a loss.

This was much better than the navy going out together to carry out a large-scale landing on Malta Island.

If the navy and transport fleet were dispatched, the Italian navy would suffer huge losses if they encountered the main force of the Royal Fleet.

For Italy, a country whose navy was not very strong, this level of loss was absolutely fatal, and it was also something that should be avoided as much as possible before deciding to have a naval decisive battle.

Fortunately, the Italian paratroopers had also undergone corresponding training, and the airborne process was relatively smooth, with basically no accidents.

In order to avoid the Italian air raid, most of the British troops had already taken shelter in the air-raid shelter, and the military airport at this time did not have too many guards.

More than 2,000 Italian troops quickly occupied the entire airport and regained control of various military facilities at the airport.

The British were indeed wealthy, and a large number of anti-aircraft weapons and heavy weapons were deployed at the military airport on the small island of Malta.

These weapons were also used by the Italians to guard against possible counterattacks by the British army.

What they did not expect was that the British army had no plan to attack them.

In fact, at this time, the British army commander Major General Matthews was constantly in contact with Egypt and France.

When the British learned that Italy had dispatched hundreds of aircraft and might carry out airborne operations, they responded.

First, the fleet located in the eastern Mediterranean, some faster warships will quickly go to Malta to guard against warships that the Italians may use.

The French Air Force in Tunisia and the British Air Force in Egypt have also taken off, and they are rushing towards Malta.

The number of these aircraft combined has exceeded the number of aircraft deployed by the Italians.

This is not over yet. In order to prevent the Italians from making a move, the British fleet in Cyprus is also rushing towards Malta.

About half an hour after the Italian paratroopers occupied the military airport, the French Air Force and the British Air Force that had retreated returned to the sky over Malta.

After meeting the Italian Air Force again, the British Air Force launched an attack again, pouring all its firepower on the Italian Air Force without any reservation.

The French Air Force was not far behind, and very tacitly launched various attacks on the Italian Air Force.

Although most pilots' attacks were quite conventional, there were also some pilots with strong talents. They had mastered more skilled driving skills in long-term flight operations, and their planes were more smooth and skilled.

These people are the ace pilots vigorously promoted by various countries. Although they are all flying the same type of fighters, the combat effectiveness of these ace pilots with more skilled driving skills is far greater than that of ordinary pilots.

However, it is not so easy to train an ace pilot. In addition to a lot of training and flight time, the pilot himself needs to have special talents and inspiration for flying.

This is just like artistic creation. Although acquired efforts are equally important, what determines the upper limit of pilots is often the invisible and intangible potential.

At present, a small number of ace pilots have been born in various countries, and they are also the treasures of the air forces of various countries.

So far, the aircraft production of various countries has been improved, and the worst powers can also produce thousands of aircraft per year.

But it is not so easy to train pilots. Even the UK cannot say that it can train thousands of good enough pilots within a year.

This also leads to the fact that countries attach more importance to pilots than aircraft, and even have relevant regulations.

In the case that the aircraft cannot be saved, countries will give priority to ensuring the safety of pilots.

After all, if a pilot changes an aircraft, he can still take off and fight, but if an aircraft changes a new pilot, it will take a long time of training and fighting to grow into a qualified air force.

With the help of French aircraft, the British Air Force is finally no longer at a disadvantage in terms of quantity.

Although some of France's aircraft are not the most advanced products, they are more than enough to carry out this air battle.

Bang! Boom!

The various exchanges of fire in the sky formed a gorgeous picture. Although the picture is beautiful, it is also deadly.

An Italian plane resolutely chose to crash into the French plane because it ran out of ammunition.

This collision directly shattered the two planes in an instant, and the pilots on the planes also completely lost their signs of life. With a bang, they fell to the ground with the wreckage of the plane.

Such a tragic scene not only did not scare off the air forces of both sides, but made the interaction between the air forces of both sides more intense.

It has to be admitted that no matter how powerful the Italian Army is, the performance of the Italian Air Force is still quite excellent.

Of course, the British and French air forces are not bad either. Although they can't be fearless, they are definitely qualified air forces.

Although they are in a stalemate with the Italian Air Force, the British and French air forces are no longer panicked.

Because they understand that more planes are rushing towards Malta at this time. The longer the time drags on, the greater the advantage of Britain.

The most embarrassing thing should be the 2,000 Italian paratroopers who have successfully occupied the airport.

After the British Air Force killed a comeback, the Italian Air Force could no longer care about the paratroopers on the ground.

It is precisely because of this that the British army began to walk out of the air-raid shelter and launched a full-scale attack on the military airport occupied by Italy.

The Italian Air Force in the sky had no time to take care of the ground troops. As soon as they wanted to attack the British troops on the ground, they would be interrupted by the British and French planes on the side, or even directly destroyed by the British and French planes.

War in the air is no joke. Anyone who is hit by the enemy may face the danger of crashing.

In particular, a considerable number of aircraft from Britain, France and Italy are wooden aircraft, so the probability of crashing is even higher.

In this comparison, the all-metal aircraft supported by Australasia to Britain and France actually have advantages.

At least all-metal frame aircraft do not have to worry about machine gun strafing, which alone is far superior to wooden frame aircraft.

After a long stalemate in the air, the Italian Air Force finally found something wrong.

These British and French air forces did not mean to fight them to death, but they stuck to them like dog skin plasters.

This also means that the purpose of the British and French air forces is likely to delay them and wait for more aircraft support.

Without much thinking, the Italian Air Force decided to retreat.

Compared with the more than 2,000 paratroopers on the ground, the Italian Air Force cares more about its own casualties and losses.

After all, the economic value of 2,000 soldiers and hundreds of aircraft is completely unequal.

"They want to retreat, follow them, don't let them run away." Seeing that the Italian Air Force seemed to have the intention to retreat, the British Air Force Commander Alliance ordered.

The air battle has reached this point. Without the commander saying much, the British pilots are manipulating the aircraft to constantly harass the Italian Air Force's retreat route.

Facing the constant harassment of British and French aircraft, it is not so easy for the Italian Air Force to retreat.

After all, once they turn back, it means that they will hand over the aircraft's butt to Britain and France. Faced with such a live target, the British and French pilots will not let it go, and their hands are red from pressing the fire button.

The Italian Air Force naturally discovered the purpose of Britain and France. The Italian commander looked gloomy and decisively ordered: "The fifth and sixth squadrons stay to stop them, and the others evacuate quickly."

Faced with such a situation, only by leaving a part of the aircraft behind can the safe evacuation of the large air force be ensured.

The fifth and sixth squadrons are the most suitable for the rear air force. Because the fifth and sixth squadrons of the Italian Air Force are the latest to be formed, their aircraft are all relatively cheap Fiat-based fighters, which are built simply to increase the production of fighters.

The advantages of such aircraft are low cost and high production, and the disadvantage is that the comprehensive combat effectiveness is not as good as the modified aircraft.

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