In order to confirm the pilot's performance, each "Cheetah" is equipped with a camera.
Whether it's a bombing in the air or a crash, it's all considered a pilot's achievement.
The fighter jet was damaged and fell, and either caught fire or smoked. Anyway, there must have been some movement.
The BF109 that was forced by Rodri to crash into the English Channel had its fuselage intact until the moment it crashed, with no signs of being attacked. Therefore, Rodri was not sure whether it was shot down or not.
The air battle ended with a resounding victory for the "Cheetah" and "Flying Fortress".
The "Cheetah" destroyed and shot down 65 BF109s in total, with only one fuselage damaged, and it insisted on flying back to the airport.
The "Flying Fortress" successfully completed its mission. After completely destroying the Saint-Roch Airport, there were still three "Flying Fortresses" that had not finished dropping their bombs.
So these three "Sky Fortresses" went to the Saint-Roch Port and bombed the facilities in the port.
This also makes sense.
As the home port of the Saint Roch fleet, Saint-Roch has complete port facilities.
In order not to be exploited by the Germans, the bombardiers of the "Flying Fortress" could only drop bombs in tears.
Anyway, even if these bombs are not thrown into Saint-Roch, they will be thrown into the English Channel. The bombers must empty the bombs when landing to avoid accidents.
Rodri was lucky enough to be the best among all "Cheetah" pilots with four achievements.
After Xu Xiu learned of the situation, he attributed the crashed BF109 to Rodri.
So the first ace pilot of the Southern African Air Force in World War II was newly revealed.
Rodri's ace pilot is much more valuable than Jose Luis' ace.
When Jose Luis entered the war, the German aircraft involved in the war were still old Henkel He-51s. Now all German aircraft have been replaced by BF109s.
And it is still BF109D or BF109E, which is more advanced than the first generation BF109.
When the Battle of Britain first broke out, there was still a gap between the skills of German pilots and the skills of German pilots today.
The technology of British pilots is improving, and the technology of surviving German pilots is also improving. During World War I, the Red Baron shot down 80 Allied aircraft. In World War II in another time and space, Germany's Erich Hartmann shot down a total of 352 aircraft.
Allied fighter planes.
While the air battle over Britain was going on, Fat Baldy was also ready to invade Greece.
In the previous European wars, Italy had few opportunities to perform. Germany's actions in Europe did not require the cooperation of the Italian army, so the mustache naturally did not need to discuss military operations with the fat bald man. This made the fat bald man feel that his self-esteem was seriously damaged.
The fat bald man needs to prove that the Italian army's offensive power is no less than that of the German army.
Greece has become the best choice for fat bald people.
After occupying Algeria, Fat Bald began to prepare for the invasion of Greece.
The Italians were actually in trouble at this time. In Italian East Africa, the Southern African Army, with the cooperation of the Indian Ocean Fleet, had begun to launch an offensive, and the Italian servants were routed thousands of miles away.
In Italian North Africa, although Wavell was unable to attack, he had the defensive support of the British Mediterranean Fleet. If the Italians dared to launch an attack in the direction of Egypt, then the long coastline of Italian North Africa would become the target of attacks by the British Mediterranean Fleet. The Italians
Nor dare to act rashly.
The Mediterranean fleet is not easy to mess with.
The Southern African Army and the Indian Ocean Fleet are also difficult to deal with.
On the one hand, the fat bald man wanted to stabilize Italy's situation in North and East Africa, and on the other hand, he also wanted to show Italy's strength to the mustache, so Greece became the best target.
However, Italy's mobilization ability is far from what Fat Bald had imagined.
Italy's industrial capabilities cannot support war in three directions at the same time.
In fact, when Fat Baldy launched his attack, his military industry advisor reminded him that Italy simply did not have the ability to support three regions in a war at the same time.
The fat bald man ignored the dissuasion and insisted on launching a war of aggression against Greece.
On September 5, the Italian government issued an ultimatum to the Greek government, requiring the Greek government to open its borders within three hours and allow Italian troops to enter some important targets in Greece.
This ultimatum actually works with or without it.
Because at the same time as the Italian government issued the ultimatum, Italian troops had crossed the border into Greece, and the war had actually broken out.
After receiving the Italian ultimatum, the Greek government immediately sent requests to London and Pretoria, hoping to obtain Allied support.
As early as 1939, the British government promised to provide assistance if war broke out in Greece.
Britain in 1939 was completely different from Britain in 1940.
In 1939, in order to gain more national support, Britain could make any kind of promise.
In 1940, Britain had lost its most powerful ally on the European continent and faced a serious threat from Germany. London was being bombed indiscriminately by the Germans every night and had no ability to provide support to Greece.
Southern Africa then became Greece's only savior.
Of course, aid from Southern Africa also comes with conditions.
The fastest way to aid Greece is to send troops from Cyprus.
The distance between Cyprus and the Greek island of Crete is only 550 kilometers.
However, between Cyprus and Crete, there is also the Zozecanisos Islands belonging to Italy, which always threatens the waterway between Cyprus and Crete.
The Zozekanisos Islands, also known as the Twelve Islands, were occupied by Italy during the Italian-Turkish War. The archipelago consists of 12 larger islands and more than 150 small islands, 26 of which are inhabited, most of them Greeks.
After the Italian-Turkish War, the Twelve Islands became Italian territory. Italy had a garrison on the largest island, Rhodes. The island had solid permanent fortifications on land, as well as a warship homeport and a submarine base.
In fact, Greece and Southern Africa had been in contact as early as a year ago. Greece hoped to obtain assistance from Southern Africa, and thus launched a series of long-term negotiations.
At that time, Italy had not yet occupied Algeria, and the threat to Greece was not urgent. Therefore, Greece was not interested in the proposal to lease islands in southern Africa and establish a forward base, and the negotiations eventually broke down.
Now that the Italian invasion is imminent, the Greeks finally gave up their reserve and actively invited the Southern African Defense Forces to establish a forward base in Crete, which far exceeded the expectations of the Southern African Defense Forces.
Crete is the largest island in Greece. It is about 260 kilometers long from east to west, 60 kilometers wide from north to south, and only 12 kilometers narrowest. It covers an area of 8,236 square kilometers. The terrain of the island is mainly rugged mountainous terrain, which forms the main east-west axis of Crete.
The special mountain range is divided into 4 mountain groups and has a natural harbor.
As the highest administrator of southern Africa in the Mediterranean, Arthur agreed to Greece's request on behalf of southern Africa and decided to send an expeditionary force to assist the Greek army in resisting the invasion of the Italian army.
In order to better help the Greeks, Arthur decided to send the most elite 35th Division to Greece to participate in the war. While escorting the Cyprus squadron, they also launched an attack on the Italian army entrenched in the Twelve Islands to completely remove the Italians' control of the waterway.
threaten.
"No problem, the Cyprus Squadron already has the ability to perform these two tasks at the same time." Mike Tolan was full of confidence. When southern Africa entered the war, Mike Tolan repeatedly requested to launch an attack on the Italian army entrenched in the Twelve Islands.
The Southern African Ministry of Defense took the matter into consideration and did not agree.
After "Operation Ballista", the naval power in the Mediterranean region changed dramatically, and the Italian Navy became the most powerful navy in the Mediterranean region on paper.
However, if the British Mediterranean Fleet and the Southern African Cyprus Squadron join forces, the Italian Navy will be dwarfed.
Also because of "Operation Ballista", the relationship between the Royal Navy and the French Navy deteriorated, leading to the possibility of the French Navy joining forces with the Italian Navy.
If the French Navy and the Italian Navy join forces, their strength will be reversed.
So now both sides are trying to avoid the enemy. For this reason, Commander Cunningham of the Mediterranean Fleet has led the entire Mediterranean fleet to dispatch many times, trying to find a decisive battle with the Italian Navy.
The Italian Navy did not want to fight a decisive battle with Cunningham, so it only sent destroyers and submarines to harass the movements of the Mediterranean Fleet, which in turn caused considerable losses to the Mediterranean Fleet.
On June 12, an Italian Navy submarine sank an old reconnaissance cruiser of the Mediterranean Fleet, starting a raid between the Italian Navy and the Mediterranean Fleet.
Two days later, the submarines of the Mediterranean Fleet were attacked by Italian Navy submarines, and the Mediterranean Navy lost two submarines.
On June 17, an Italian Navy submarine was sunk.
On the 19th, the Italian Navy and the Mediterranean Fleet each lost one submarine.
On the 23rd, a Mediterranean Fleet destroyer was sunk, and Italy lost another submarine on the same day.
On July 9, the main force of the Italian Navy and the main force of the Mediterranean Fleet encountered each other, and a naval battle broke out. The Mediterranean Fleet's "Warspite" directly hit the Italian Navy's "Caesar" at a distance of 20 kilometers, setting a record for the longest distance hit by the world's navy.
.
During this period, as southern Africa did not participate in the war, the Cyprus Squadron did not get a chance to perform.
But just because you didn't get a chance to perform doesn't mean you don't have the ability.
After the outbreak of the European War, the strength of the Cyprus Squadron was greatly improved. From less than 30 warships at the beginning, it now has four heavy cruisers, two aircraft carriers converted from "Table Mountain" class supply ships, and 12
A huge fleet including 1 light cruiser, 26 submarines, and more than 40 other warships.
The Cyprus Squadron has thus become the strongest squadron in the Southern African Navy, second only to the Indian Ocean Fleet and the Atlantic Fleet.
That's why Mike Tolan is so impatient.
"General, don't underestimate the Italians -" Arthur reminded Mike Tolan not to underestimate the enemy.
"Hahaha, Lord, you may not know that the only thing I'm worried about now is whether the Italians can make the Greeks feel a real threat." Mike Tolan probably didn't even expect that what he said was really true.
