"Have you confirmed it? Are these two aircraft enemy aircraft?" the captain of the cruiser Girzio confirmed to the combat staff.
"It's not clear yet, but there are no signs of our African Army on these two planes." The staff officer said with a troubled face: "Actually, we are temporarily unable to determine the identity of the other party."
However, as soon as the staff member finished speaking, the 20mm Breda anti-aircraft gun outside opened fire.
The navy soldiers on each ship, whose nerves had already reached their peak, began to fire quickly in unison, pouring out hundreds of anti-aircraft cannon shells.
The soldier who took the lead in firing was none other than sailor Coradio Mazzola.
Coincidentally, Coradio Mazzola happened to be a rare expert in gun handling in the entire Italian Navy. As soon as the cannonball came out of the barrel, he felt that it was sure to hit.
Sure enough, a plane in the sky immediately dragged out black smoke and crashed into the ocean, while the other plane quickly lowered its altitude and made an emergency landing on the sea to escape.
.......
On the S.79 plane five minutes ago, Marshal Balbo was having lunch comfortably while discussing the situation on the African battlefield with Count Florio.
As a result, the plane suddenly made a loud "boom" and then began to descend sharply.
The S.79 aircraft Balbo was on suddenly lost its balance. Under the influence of the airflow, he fell heavily into the cabin.
Afterwards, although the unlucky Balbo clung to the edge of the chair, he changed his posture, but he could not change the fate of the plane's eventual crash.
.......
The Italian sailors on the cruiser Girgio were all cheering and celebrating their fruitful victory.
Ever since they arrived in Tobruk, they have been suppressed by those damn planes for so long, and today it was finally their turn to masturbate.
However, this joy did not last long.
When the crashing plane passed directly over their cruiser, the captain realized that it was actually an Italian S.79 plane?!
But it was too late, because the Italian soldiers had already finished their work.
The plane then passed over the Italian squadron and crashed into the sea ahead, bursting into flames.
The captain of the cruiser Girzio was really frightened when he discovered that a friendly force had been injured.
He immediately organized people to salvage and rescue him, but the results of the salvage frightened him even more.
Although the corpses on the plane had been burnt, the rank epaulettes on their clothes were still eye-catching. Except for the two generals who were major general and lieutenant general, the highest rank among the corpses was actually marshal!
Hunting and killing the marshal of a country! Such feats can be described as extremely explosive in war.
The premise is that you have to kill the marshal of the enemy country!
It is not difficult for everyone to guess that the Italian marshal who returned to Libya at this time could only be Marshal Balbo who was also the governor of Libya.
A dilapidated cruiser that was about to be scrapped could use the temporarily installed anti-aircraft guns to shoot down fighter planes flying in the sky. This was a rare and extremely high hit rate.
Moreover, there happens to be a marshal-level super-senior commander sitting in this fighter, which is extremely rare to see.
As for the hunted marshal, he was still the marshal of his own army. This is the first time in the entire history of war!
Marshal Balbo can be said to be the highest-ranking general killed in action among generals from various countries since the beginning of World War II.
Sadly, he died in the hands of his own people.
Coradio Mazzola's shot was a masterstroke, and the result was extraordinary because there was a marshal on board the plane.
The marshal who commanded thousands of troops was killed by him with one shot!
Moreover, this marshal is not just a simple man. He is a man of the hour who has appeared on the cover of Time magazine in the United States. He is a true aviation genius ranked among the best in the world!
You know, in Italy, Balbo almost had a military god-like existence.
Even in his original time and space, Balbo was the only Italian marshal who had never lost a battle in his life.
Of course, this may also be because he died before commanding the doomed North African campaign.
However, Balbo could be regarded as building the Royal Italian Air Force into Italy's leading elite force before he died in the crash.
This Italian Air Force Marshal, who was a pilot, was once invited to lunch by US President Franklin Roosevelt, and also received the lofty honor awarded by the Luftwaffe - the gold pilot-observer, dual qualification badge. So far, the winner of this medal
There are still only a few figures such as the Spanish Regent Franco.
The air force he built for Italy was vastly different from Italy's generally cowardly army.
In the North African campaign not long after, people would hear hilarious stories about the Italian Army surrendering at every turn. However, in the Royal Italian Air Force founded by Balbo, there would never be even a single pilot who surrendered!
Of course, this may also be because there is no way to surrender in an air battle...
But regardless of this, Italo Balbo, the Italian marshal who had never lost a single battle in his life and none of his pilots surrendered in air battles, could be considered to have met the standards of a qualified general.
After all, he was also a dignified marshal, but he was killed so simply, and he was killed by one of his own people, a little-known soldier among his own people.
How frustrating this must be!
The most important thing is that before the smug Balbo set foot on the soil of Africa, he became a ball of dust without any influence and became insignificant in the long history.
If there was any influence, it would be that Balbo used his own bizarre death experience to make Coradio Mazzola, a little-known person who was originally unknown, fortunate enough to leave his name in history.
Although his reputation is not very good, it is at least a reflection of his artillery skills, right?
In later generations, some people even put the Italian's record of shooting down the air marshal with one shot on the same tactical level as the U.S. military's hunt for Japanese Combined Fleet Commander Yamamoto Isoroku.
This is a major result that affects the overall situation of history!
Who said that the course of the war can only be determined by those high-ranking big shots? Now, Coradio Mazzola, as a private, killed Marshal Italo Balbo, creating a situation where little people can influence the direction of history.
A classic case!
Unfortunately, this impact is only negative.
One of Italy's best qualified generals could no longer make any contribution to the Italian army.
And the great Italian leader Mussolini was so angry that he fell into a coma again because of this ridiculously ridiculous piece of bad news... Well, this was barely a positive impact on Italy.
