Chapter 736 Atlantic Strangulation War (45)
For the aircraft groups of both sides with a relative speed of more than 800 kilometers, 100 kilometers is just a few minutes. The German army quickly rushed to the Allied aircraft group that was busy gathering and adjusting the formation. The latter was forced to fight in a hurry. Hartmann rushed over like a tiger into a flock of sheep, and forcibly cut the opponent's team into two with a squadron.
Hartmann was not as arrogant as Marseille. His combat targets only chose fighters. He accepted all the big and small ones. He had fought B-17 and beat old Swordfish. He fought all the British and American things that could fly over the sea. The target he focused on at the beginning was SBD. He rushed over and fired continuously in just 40 seconds and beat down 2 SBDs. His efficiency was unbelievable.
A strange scene appeared in the sea and sky. The smaller number of German planes pressed hard on the Allied aircraft. The latter dodged left and right and could not find a good way to break through. The worst was the TBF formation carrying torpedoes. They were slow and flew low. Although they were covered by the F6F-5 fighters, they still became live targets of Bf-219 and were "well taken care of". One after another fell into the sea.
As the battle between the two sides unfolded, both sides could not help but feel surprised. The German pilots believed that the opponent was not weak, much stronger than the American troops they had encountered in the past few days, and it was not an opponent that could be easily dealt with. The British and American pilots were shocked by the skilled skills and strong fighting spirit of the German pilots. Didn't the officers say before departure that the German fighters were almost worn out by other troops of the side? Why could a large group of them still emerge? Are all Germans supermen? Can they be resurrected after death and fall? As for the skills of the German pilots, they are also amazing. I really don't know how the Germans gathered these ace pilots for the Navy?
According to British and American standards, the German Navy, especially its fighters, is an absolute concentration camp of ace fighters. The worst pilots here have a history of shooting down 7 enemy planes, and there are many pilots who have shot down 30-50 planes. Now 50 points is the starting point for the German fighter ace (shooting down a single-engine plane accumulates 1 point, twin-engine aircraft 2 points, 4-engine aircraft 4 points, and so on). Those who have returned from the Eastern Front to the Navy are embarrassed to show up if they don’t have more than a dozen points. Otherwise, who will master the complex cross-platform tactics? Even students who graduated from the Navy’s independent aviation school have to go to the Eastern Front, the "novice village", to practice before they dare to be taken back for use. If they can’t survive on the Eastern Front, going to the Navy will sooner or later end up killing themselves.
Five minutes passed, and then ten minutes passed. Although the Allied planes kept falling, Koch, who was sweating profusely, found that his side seemed to have suffered a lot of losses. It was becoming increasingly difficult to defeat the enemy within 15 minutes as he had just boasted. As time went on, the Allied planes that arrived at the scene continued to gather.
Seeing that the situation had developed beyond expectations, Koch immediately ordered the fighter unit to recover and prepare to regroup... In the 15-minute battle just now, the German army lost 17 planes and the Allied army lost 55 planes. The exchange ratio between the two sides was only a little over 3:1. Since the Allied army gathered more than 30 planes later, the force ratio over the battlefield was now 43:85, and the Allied army still had a double advantage in numbers. Seeing the German army retreat, they rushed over relentlessly.
Cunningham's fleet had a total of 7 aircraft carriers, including 4 US aircraft carriers: Bunker Hill (Essex) class, Bataan, Cabot, Monterey (all Independence class); 3 British aircraft carriers: Unicorn, Intrepid (Essex class) and Cowpens (Independence class). Although there were many, the Independence class and Unicorn only had 30 aircraft per ship. After overloading the Essex class, there were a total of 326 aircraft. The cautious Cunningham selected 242 aircraft to launch a full-deck attack, leaving 84 aircraft to cover the fleet.
If more than 240 aircraft had attacked together as originally planned, the 72 German aircraft would certainly not have been able to stop them. However, due to the uneven quality of Allied pilots, only 94 aircraft arrived at the battlefield in the first batch - the most elite pilots in the entire British and American aircraft carrier formations. Other aircraft arrived at the scene in small formations one after another. When the German interceptor group withdrew, 140 aircraft had arrived at the attack site. After losing 55 aircraft, there were still 85 aircraft.
The German pilots fighting on the front line were not aware of these situations. They only felt that the enemy seemed endless and could never be defeated. When they heard the order to retreat, they took turns to cover each other and retreat. Hartmann was in the mood to kill. He had just solved 4 aircraft by himself. It was when his hands were hot. He was a little surprised when he heard the order to retreat. He also subconsciously observed the entire battlefield carefully. It was this short hesitation of just over ten seconds that made him fall into the encirclement and pursuit of 4 F6F fighters.
Faced with such a difficult situation, Hartmann showed no fear and immediately dived at full speed. The enemy planes behind him also dived to chase him. They knew that their F6F was faster than the Bf-219 when diving. Although the difference was not big, Hartmann only had one plane, which was completely at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. After the American planes chased them, the speed of both sides increased and the distance became closer. The British pilots also fired from time to time. Hartmann smiled as he shook his wings to avoid the 12.7mm bullets behind him.
At a height of only 800 meters above the sea, Hartman used the ace compulsory course on Socotra Island - the sweeping trio somersault. Using the dense low-altitude atmosphere and dazzling movements, he turned three somersaults in a row at low altitude and turned the plane upside down. The pursuing enemy plane was caught off guard. Although it tried to pull up and change to a dive, it still couldn't avoid rushing over. It happened that Hartman, who was upside down, calmly observed the position of the enemy plane below, cursed a stupid bird and launched a vertical attack directly. The 20mm machine gun fire quickly drilled a row of holes on the opponent's cabin cover. After a few screams, the pilot fell directly into the sea and died.
The other three planes were startled and panicked, and their pursuit was also slow. Hartmann immediately seized the opportunity and attacked the second F6F at low altitude. In terms of low-altitude circling and flexible maneuverability, the F6F was far from being a match. After three or two circles, Hartmann circled it to the side and fired fiercely when the two sides crossed each other - he gave all the last 12 rounds of 20mm cannon ammunition to the opponent, and the unlucky American pilot also plunged headfirst into the sea and was hopeless.
The other two planes were so frightened that they dared not continue to fight, and simply turned around and flew away. Hartmann, who had used up all his machine gun ammunition, did not dare to act rashly. He immediately changed direction and quickly left the scene. After confirming that he was safe, he shouted on the radio: "Ah...ah...I shot down two more planes. I shot down a total of 13 planes today...4 planes away from the record!" Marseille's feat of shooting down 17 British planes in one day was put on the screen and was well-known in Germany. It established his prominent status as the first ace pilot in Germany. All fighter aces with ideas worked hard to surpass their goals, and Hartmann was no exception. If he shot down another 4 planes, he could not only tie the record, but also break the 100-plane mark in total. However, he was in a hurry to escape now that he had used up all his machine gun ammunition. When he was escaping, he was very calm. It would be a death wish to land on an aircraft carrier at this time. He immediately thought of the land-based airport on Newfoundland Island, where there was not only fuel but also ammunition! Koch was busy commanding anti-aircraft fighters to meet the enemy. He could vaguely hear Hartmann's voice on the radio, but he had no time to be distracted because the Allied aircraft were firing at the fleet. Although the anti-aircraft firepower was very fierce, it still couldn't stop the enemy from launching a desperate attack. The German losses soon came.
With a "boom", the integrated aircraft carrier Elbe was hit by a 1,000-pound bomb, which happened to be on the deck near the bridge, and immediately blew a huge gap. This was not the end. A torpedo thrown by a TBF also hit the warship. After being hit twice in just 2 minutes, the Elbe could not hold on. After all, this was an integrated aircraft carrier converted from a cruise ship. It looked bigger than the Skyhawk and the Harrier, but in fact its defense capability was very fragile. Not only did the port side begin to take on water and tilt, but the engine and boiler were also damaged, and the speed suddenly dropped to only 12 knots.
"Sir, the Elbe has been badly damaged and may not be saved."
Marshal's face turned pale and he immediately rushed to the porthole to see. Although he could not see the damage of the Elbe clearly due to his line of sight, the billowing smoke fully demonstrated the ship's predicament. He said bitterly: "If it can't be saved, we can only abandon the ship..."
Before he finished speaking, there was another loud "boom" next to him, and a towering water column rose from the starboard side of the Suffren heavy cruiser - he had just resisted a torpedo for the flagship Zeppelin, which was injured by a bomb that destroyed a turret yesterday. This time it could no longer hold on. Less than 15 seconds after the captain gave the order to abandon the ship, it slowly sank at a speed visible to the naked eye.
After Koch commanded the fleet's anti-aircraft fighters to retreat, he organized a second line of air defense interception at close range. Although the Do-412s in the rear tried their best to charge, they still could not protect them completely. So far, the German army has shot down a total of 104 Allied aircraft of various types, and lost 29 of its own aircraft. However, the US aircraft groups rushing to attack the aircraft carrier formation from all directions are still in an endless stream. It is only a matter of time before losses occur. However, they did not expect to lose a heavy cruiser and an auxiliary aircraft carrier at once.
Some of the Allied fighters that completed the attack withdrew, but the bad news of the German army continued. At 3:47, Marshal received a telegram that made him extremely painful: "The Skyhawk was hit by 2 bombs and lost its ability to take off and land. We are currently trying our best to save it..."