Chapter 620 Battle of Malta (2)

“Boom, boom, boom!”

“Da da da~”

“Doctor, call the doctor quickly.”

“Ah~, my hand, my hand, my hand is broken!”

At this time, in a position on the island of Malta, the heart-piercing voice of the British army was heard everywhere. The culprit behind all this was the behemoths in the sky, the airships.

At this moment, several airships were constantly attacking them. The machine guns on the airships sprayed flames, and the bombs thrown from the cabins roared and landed on the top of the British army on this position.

At this time, the British positions became scattered under the attack of the airship, and the four artillery pieces had already been scattered into parts, because they were destroyed the first time they were discovered. Then these soldiers suffered. The defense of the trenches against attacks from the air was greatly reduced, and the trenches also restricted the movement of the soldiers, making it easier for the machine guns on the airship to attack.

Some airships have lowered their heights to a dangerous distance of about a thousand in order to more easily attack the British troops on the ground.

Although this height is a bit dangerous for the airship, the British army below has no desire to attack at all. Because only the rifles in their hands and a few Maxim heavy machine guns can be used against the air, and there is no way to deal with the airships that look like they are easy to fight, but they can’t reach them.

Therefore, the vast majority of British officers and soldiers at this time could only flee in all directions, trying to find a suitable hiding spot. The few soldiers who were not afraid of death were desperately shooting with machine rifles, trying to provide cover for their comrades. But most of them don’t end well, because the gunners on the airship can easily find guys who dare to offend them.

Of course, the British army actually had other ways, that is to use anti-aircraft artillery. At present, the British army can carry out air defense and is equipped with the most is the Vickers 2-pound automatic gun. It is essentially like an enlarged version of the Maxim machine gun, with ammunition supply, water-cooling sleeves, etc., except that it is a bit bulky, whether it is reliability or power to deal with the slow airship in the air, both are excellent. s Choice.

Of course, this machine gun also has a disadvantage, that is, it cannot attack air targets above 1,500 meters. Because the muzzle velocity of the gun is only 510 meters per second, the effective range of the gun is 1,500 meters. Of course, it does not mean that the shell can only hit 1,500 meters high, but at this height, the effect of gravity on the shell will be very large, causing its ballistic trajectory to be basically in a downward state.

Of course, this anti-aircraft cannon is still very powerful for big guys like airships. So far, six of the seven airships lost by Italy on the island of Malta were shot down by this anti-aircraft cannon.

However, this kind of air defense weapon does not have much equipment for the defenders of the island of Malta. There are only a few dozen doors. Most of them are used to protect the military facilities in Valletta Port and its surrounding areas. Only a few doors are arranged for other points. area.

Obviously, the British army in this position does not have this kind of air defense weapon. All they have is the air defense effect of machine guns and rifles, which must have been seen. It is completely better than nothing, it can only play a psychological role, and the actual effect is useless.

In addition to this position, the defenders of the island of Malta have been hit by airships in many places today.

Some suffered minor casualties, while others suffered heavy casualties. The main reason for all this is that the airship reconnaissance has already figured out the layout of the island’s defenders, especially the layout of air defense firepower.

For the port of Valletta and its surroundings, where anti-aircraft fire is intensive, airships attacked less. After all, looking at the chain of fire constantly emerging from the ground, the huge airship only dares to attack in the sky it protects.

However, the height of 2,500 meters has a great impact on the bombing and shooting of airships. In addition, there are fewer airships in the air raid on the port of Valletta, resulting in very slight losses.

When the bombed airships left, there was a cheer from the port of Valletta, which was the joy of the British soldiers to repel the enemy’s air attack.

At this time, the excited cheers on the face of the British army did not look like they had repelled an enemy air attack, but rather like they had achieved a complete victory.

It’s not that British officers and soldiers are getting unhinged, and they’re venting their stress. Although the high-level military officials blocked the news, the grass-roots officers and soldiers were not stupid at all. After the war, there were no more warships in Malta’s naval port, but the number of warships was reduced. Don’t think that the grassroots officers and soldiers don’t know what this means.

Although there are more defenders on the island, the most important thing to defend the island of Malta is the navy. As long as there are many powerful warships, even if the defenders are very few, they will feel at ease. Because of the protection of the warships, it is impossible for the enemy to land on the shore.

And these days after the war, the Maltese defenders never saw their mighty and majestic fleet again. Although according to what the above said, this fleet was deterring the Italians, but they knew when they saw the airship plundering over their own head. , there is still some credibility left for this statement.

Therefore, the mood of the Tianshou army has not been high, and it belongs to the more depressed kind. Of course, if you continue to suppress like this, it will cause a great blow to morale, so the defenders need to vent.

Generally speaking, to vent a soldier’s emotions, alcohol and **** are the best options. But it is a pity that it is wartime, and the soldiers are so drunk that even officers without common sense know that it is impossible. As for sex, I’m very embarrassed. I’m currently working as a decompression worker in Malta, but there are only more than 20 people. They are exhausted and they can’t do the decompression work for the officers and soldiers.

So they can only divert their pressure and preach that it is the Italians who caused everything, and everything is the fault of the Italians.

Judging from the current performance of the defenders, this propaganda is still very useful. UU reading www.uukanshu.com

Major General Behrens, the commander of the island, was not so optimistic about the victory of the port officers and soldiers.

For he knew that this was but a prelude to the Italian attack, and that this airship attack was but a prelude to the battle for Malta that followed.

Of course, he immediately sent a telegram to Alexander and London about the attack on Malta.

In the evening when Malta was hit by an air attack, London announced that the local fleet would conduct its one-week maritime patrol and tactical exercise, and the exercise location was in the North Sea.

London’s announcement of this news is not only the report of Major General Behrens, but the British also have an eye in Italy. The officers and soldiers who got on the ship and prepared to land in Palermo were so conspicuous that anyone who was not blind could see it.

So after the news of the Palermo landing officers and soldiers boarding the ship reached London, the Admiralty immediately launched a secret reinforcement plan, and the next step was naturally the cover for the local fleet to go out to sea for training patrols.

(End of this chapter)