The battle between the British army and the German and French forces on the ground became increasingly fierce, and the battle between the British Air Force and the Italian and French Air Force in the air never stopped.
With the weak alliance of the Italian and French air forces, the competition among the three countries in the air is likely to intensify.
As General Wavell said, mastering air superiority will master the initiative in war.
In fact, the British army failed to control the air and defeated the Italian and French coalition forces in succession. This can be said to be a laughing stock of the Italian and French armies on the battlefield of World War II.
Now, the French and Italian bombers are working together to bomb the British troops on Highland 4 in turns.
The bomber group that carried out the bombing this time was mainly composed of the Italian Air Force that had withdrawn to Algeria, accompanied by two French bombers as assistance.
There was no way around it. The air force in Berante's hands was not large to begin with. Even the size of the army was something he had to recruit and expand on the spot with great difficulty.
As the main force, the Italian Air Force includes a total of 5 fighters and 12 bombers. In other words, it is an Italian Air Force bomber squadron that performs the bombing mission.
Although the British army also dispatched fighter jets to penetrate and intercept, they were not able to stop them all because they were not as numerous as the Italian fighter jets.
Although the quality of Italian fighter jets is far inferior to that of British fighter jets, the Italian fighter pilots did display a rare fearless spirit this time when they faced British fighter jets that had much better flying qualities than them.
, performed at an extraordinary level, engaging in aerial dogfights with British fighter jets at an exchange ratio of almost 1:1.
During the air battle, an Italian fighter jet was unable to shoot because the machine gun on board was damaged. At that moment, the Italian fighter pilot actually used a pistol to shoot at the British fighter jet (Italian fighter jets are open-top, this is not a joke)
, is a fact), after firing all the bullets, the Italian pilot showed his fearless spirit and drove the fighter jet towards the British fighter jet. Because the Italian military plane carried a large amount of ammunition, the explosion was still
This affected other British aircraft in the surrounding area.
It has to be said that Balbo, the former Italian Air Force veteran and Libyan Governor who was killed by his own people, created a good foundation of courage for the Italian Air Force, especially the Libyan Air Force. Although he did not have the opportunity to see it, the Italian Air Force also
It is indeed Italy's best-performing military branch.
Two fighter jets belonging to both sides collided violently, like a brilliant firework blooming in the sky. The Italian bomber squadron responsible for providing fire support to the 5th Division of the French Colony took advantage of the British fighter jets to be attracted by the Italian fighter jets.
On the occasion, he flew past the area where the British fighter jets were located and headed towards his mission area.
British pilots were extremely frightened by what the Italians were doing. They even suspected that the people sitting on the Italian military plane were not romantic Italians, but tough Germans!
After a while, the British plane responsible for intercepting was killed or injured, leaving only two planes hovering in the sky.
But then, they also woke up. Their target was Italian bombers, not fighter jets!
As a result, the British fighter jets immediately abandoned the Italian fighter jets and began to rush towards the Italian bomber group, and used the machine guns and cannons on their aircraft to shoot at the Italian bomber group.
British fighter pilots knew very well that once these Italian bombers were let go, the British troops on the ground were likely to suffer a huge blow.
It is worth mentioning that the British fighter pilots, with the support of Britain's sufficient national strength before the war, were obviously well-trained and were a group of experienced veterans.
Their shooting accuracy and attack positioning were very impressive. In just five minutes, they shot down more than half of the Italian bomber squadron's aircraft.
This caused the Italian bomber squadron to suffer huge losses. When they finally flew over the mission area, there were only five Italian bombers left and two bombers sent by the French army.
The arrival of these seven bombers still caused heavy damage to the British ground forces on Highland 4.
The Italian bombers took off with a full load, so they carried a lot of bombs on board, and the bombs hit the British troops very badly.
The British commander on the ground was so angry that he cursed his "incompetent" air force and threatened to file a complaint with his superiors, accusing the British Air Force of serious negligence in Africa.
And these Italian bombers were also working hard. The Italian pilots were selectively dropping bombs on targets on the ground that they thought were valuable, and at the same time they had to avoid attacks from fighter jets tracking the British army.
However, three Italian bombers were too focused on bombing ground targets and ignored the British fighters that came immediately.
As a result, before they had time to throw away the ammunition they carried, they were shot down by British fighter jets.
Because these bombers were bombing ground targets when they were shot down, their flying height was not very high. Once they were hit by British fighter jets, they quickly fell to the ground.
The downed Italian pilots also died on the ground as the plane crashed because they had no time to parachute.
The pilots of the other two Italian bombers were much smarter. They did not focus entirely on bombing ground targets, but paid great attention to the position of the two British fighter jets, trying not to let the other side occupy their rear.
It is easy to attack your own position.
Of course, whenever there is an opportunity, the two Italian bombers will drop bombs on high-value targets on the ground. But even so, the two Italian bombers were somewhat injured, but it did not affect their flight.
As for the fighter jets tracked by the British army, although there were only two, they knew very well how much damage these bombers would cause to the ground forces.
This was simply a humiliation to these British pilots! Because of this, after the British fighter jets shot down three Italian bombers, they continued to chase the remaining two Italian bombers and the French bomber.
They swore in their hearts that they must shoot down all Italian bombers as soon as possible. Only in this way can they wash away their shame.
The pilots of the two Italian bombers and the French pilots in the other two bombers also knew one thing in their hearts at this time... They would definitely not be able to fly back.
After all, bombers cannot fly as fast as fighter jets, and the aircraft's flexibility is also much worse than that of fighter jets.
They are doing their best to delay the time of being shot down, so as to provide maximum support to the besieged French troops on the ground.
This is the only thing they can do now.
The two Italian bombers finally threw away all the ammunition they carried, and then began to stagger away from the battlefield.
Although the two Italian bombers failed to escape the murderous hands of British fighter jets in the end, the other two French bombers were able to escape because the Italian planes attracted firepower. This was considered not to be completely wiped out.
It can be said that the Italian Air Force performed very well, almost to the point of admiration!
In contrast, the Italian Army, which Johnson considered to be the biggest threat and was slowly approaching, looked a bit unsightly.
Contrary to Johnson's guess, Garibaldi's army was not in a hurry to rush to the front line. And the Italian army was not the trump card Rommel planned...