() It was the first time in history that airborne troops landed in front of the enemy and defeated them while receiving supplies and support from the air...

Hitler sent the paratroopers into the cold palace, which was undoubtedly a disaster for the SS, which had three full-fledged paratroopers. In addition to cursing those damn Wehrmacht grandsons in his office, Zhang Jun was formulating a new parachute operation

The plan is to target the island of Malta.

The strategic location of Malta Island is also very important. As long as Germany occupies Malta Island, and then uses the airport above and arranges some aircraft on it, it can cut off the Mediterranean routes of Britain and France, and various strategic materials that Britain and France plundered from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

Forget about transporting it back to the UK from the Mediterranean. It has to take a detour of more than 10,000 nautical miles to get back to the UK. This is a huge disaster for the UK.

Germany's occupation of the island of Malta has another invisible strategic benefit, which is that it will establish a route between Italy and North Africa that is protected by the air force at all times. Even if Germany does not have a single warship in the Mediterranean, it is not very afraid of the British and French fleets. Germany

It is only necessary to transport dozens of submarines to deal with British and French submarines. Historically, Rommel failed in North Africa because he did not have sufficient supplies. Now if Zhang Jun can capture the island of Malta, then the history of North Africa must be rewritten.

Don't underestimate the North African front. At this time, the islands of Crete and Malta formed a sharp sword that penetrated the Mediterranean and penetrated directly into the Mediterranean lifeline of the British army. The supplies needed by the North African Army would continue to flow.

are continuously sent to Africa, and then directly threaten Egypt and West Asia from the sea. At the same time, the offensive of the African Army of the North African Army

, it will be easy to drive the British army out of the Mediterranean. The pro-German forces in Turkey and Syria and Iraq in West Asia will smoothly take power and escape from British control. Using this advantage, it will be easy to completely defeat the remnants of the British army in West Asia.

As a result, Germany's broad southern flank from the Persian Gulf to the North Atlantic can be restored once and for all.

Even if the war against the Soviet Union is launched, the offensive of Army Group A can be echoed from the Caucasus and the Soviet army can be flanked from the north and south. In addition, from the Bosporus Strait and Dardany Strait to the Black Sea and from the Persian Gulf to the Caspian Sea via land.

The two maritime transportation lines are also important maritime communication lines for the Soviet Union, and they are also an important lifeline for the Soviet Union to receive supplies from its allies in the future war against the Soviet Union. Blocking this road is also an important move to strangle the Soviet Union.

In addition, Germany has other strategic options. After taking over Egypt, it can take over the Suez Canal, which can completely turn the Mediterranean into the EU's internal sea. The Middle East colonized by Britain and France will be completely exposed to the torrent of German steel. I don't know that Britain and France are losing

If we lose oil from the Middle East, will it become a country with severe oil shortage like Germany?

That is the strategy for the future. Taking advantage of the two months now, Zhang Jun must let the SS paratroopers attack again to capture the island of Malta, which is 810 kilometers away from Crete. This distance has exceeded the reach of many Junkers transport aircraft.

The combat radius, for example, the longest range of the "Junkers-iu52" is only 1,250 kilometers, and the combat radius is only more than 600 kilometers. Zhang Jun wants these German transport aircraft to be put to use, but it can only be reduced by one-third

transport capacity, and then add one-third of the carrying capacity of fuel, so that these transport aircraft can function. The short legs of German aircraft are a fatal weakness! Fortunately, Zhang Jun bought 300 B-29s in advance.

This makes the United States regret selling these aircraft to Germany, but there is no regret in selling. Capitalists are willing to sell the rope to hang themselves. This is a huge strategic mistake caused by the greedy nature of capitalists.

Zhang Jun has no choice. Hitler has already stated that he will not use paratroopers on a large scale, but Zhang Jun has to submit a battle plan for large-scale use of paratroopers at this time. If it were anyone else, Hitler would probably fight it to the end.

, of course, Hitler would not do this to Zhang Jun, but he is definitely unhappy. You are not slapping the great head of state in the face. But Zhang Jun must implement this plan for Germany's future strategy. Hitler will be angry.

He was angry. Zhang Jun still had no choice but to hand over the parachute plan to Hitler.

Zhang Jun's plan was written in great detail, and he made it very clear why Germany wanted to occupy the island of Malta. Hitler knew the strategic advantage Germany would gain by occupying the island of Malta. Zhang Jun's previous campaign plans were usually approved in one day, but

This time Zhang Jun waited for five full days before Hitler finally approved Zhang Jun's parachute plan.

On January 22, 1940, Zhang Jun received Hitler's approval for the parachute plan. Zhang Jun was not idle these days while waiting for Hitler's approval, trying his best to collect relevant information about the island of Malta.

There was originally a British infantry division stationed on the island of Malta, but the British, Greek and New Zealand troops on Crete all retreated to the island of Malta. Now there are nearly 50,000 troops on the island. The British and French air forces have three flying groups, eighty

A "Spitfire" fighter jet recently produced by the UK, a piston aircraft comparable to the BF109, there are also forty bombers, a full aviation group, and the UK urgently transported about two dozen bombs to the island of Malta.

Thousands of tons of various strategic materials. As for the British Mediterranean fleet, it can't help much except transportation, and Zhang Jun will not fight naval battles with them. Besides, Germany has no naval power in the Mediterranean. As for the Italian navy, it looks powerful and has been overtaken by the British.

The fleet beat him up several times, but they couldn't help Zhang Jun.

After Zhang Jun analyzed the British army, he began to take stock of his own strength. The only ones Zhang Jun could use were three paratrooper divisions. The aircraft itself had an aviation force, but these aircraft were all short-legged aircraft. After flying to the island of Malta, they would not be able to fly at all.

If we don't stay, we won't be able to fly back. Even the German heavy fighter BF110 can't support the island of Malta. It seems that we can only ask the National Defense Force for help.

How could Zhang Jun be discussing the battle without Rommel? The two men began to discuss intensely in front of a huge sand table:

"Commander, we only have three paratrooper divisions. They all have light weapons and light artillery. If these 30,000 people parachute without the support of armored divisions, they will not even have a chance to retreat. What awaits them

The only way is to annihilate the entire army. If Commander, you don’t come up with a perfect plan, I will not allow you to implement this risky plan."

Rommel's temper was getting worse, and it seemed that Zhang Jun had to come up with some "dry stuff" to convince Rommel.

"Haha, of course my deputy commander, we have been cooperating for such a long time. Have you ever seen me make arbitrary decisions about those three elite paratrooper divisions? I am not sure. Do you dare to send them into the tiger's mouth?"

"Then please tell me, Commander."

"This is my plan. In the first step, we use ten B-29s to bomb the airport on the island of Malta. Their chicken coop will be destroyed first, so that the British and French coalition forces will completely lose their air force support, so that our paratroopers will not be afraid.

Enemy air threat.

In the second step, we use 152 B-29 aircraft to parachute 152 Panzer III tanks, and then use 80 B-29s to transport a division of paratroopers and three basic ammunition, so that we have one paratrooper

Armored division, the task of this paratrooper division is to capture the airport on the island.

The third step is to wait for 20 hours after the paratrooper armored division departs. Our other transport aircraft will reduce the carrying capacity by one-third, add auxiliary fuel tanks, and carry the remaining two paratrooper divisions to airdrop at the paratrooper armored division point. These two paratrooper divisions are approximately

1,200 aircraft are needed.

For the third escort group, I plan to send an aviation regiment with a total of 164 J-6 fighter jets. Our J-6 fighter has a range of 1,600 kilometers. After arriving at the island of Malta, it can continue fighting for 40 minutes. It would be best if we can capture the enemy's airport in 40 minutes.

, if we can't capture it, make an emergency landing at our parachute point, which may cause huge losses. In addition, we also have 18 B-29 bombers that can be fully loaded with bombs to clear the way for the paratroopers and armor. Anyone who dares to block the road will be wiped out.

My deputy commander, this is my plan, you should think about it and see if it is feasible."

"Um……"

Rommel said yes and stopped talking. Instead, he stared at the huge sand table and started thinking. Of course, Zhang Jun would not disturb Rommel. He made two cups of strong tea himself, then brought a cup to Rommel and went to find it.

Went to a place to sit down and enjoy tea.

After a long time, Rommel finally spoke:

"Commander, your plan is feasible. This paratrooper armored division will be used in actual combat for the first time. I think we still need a few days to train those armored troops to carry out basic airborne landings. In addition, we can contact General Model

, please ask them to immediately find out the defense map of Malta Island. If they can't get the defense map, they should at least know whether there are any ambushes in the large flat areas on Malta Island. The paratroopers of the National Defense Forces suffered heavy losses last time."

"Okay, my deputy commander, your suggestion is very good. I will contact General Model and ask him for help. As for the basic parachute training of Panzer III tanks and armored troops, I think about five days will be enough. This

5 is enough time for us to do all the other work."

Zhang Jun's plan to parachute to the island of Malta has been basically finalized. The rest is to actively make various preparations. The SS's special code is the original book code. If you want to decipher Zhang Jun's code, you must obtain Zhang Jun's code.

In the code book, Zhang Jun also changes this code once a month, and there is absolutely no possibility of it being deciphered.

Zhang Jun specially ordered a new type of parachute for his paratrooper division. This kind of parachute is much better than the old parachute. Soldiers can parachute with their sidearms. There is no need to separate the sidearms from the people. Paratroopers are originally particular about surprise attacks.

, as a result, after landing, we still have to look for weapons drop bays. If something unexpected happens, it is very likely that the paratroopers will not even have weapons. Isn't this the biggest tragedy?

This special parachute for the Panzer III tank also needs to be specially produced. It must be large enough and strong enough. This is an airborne tank with more than ten tons. But these are not German parachute manufacturers. All parachutes are used in Germany.

The manufacturer will be finished in just a few days.
Chapter completed!