Iron Cross

It was still dark, but the airstrip in the valley was already dark and crowded with troops waiting to retreat.

Yesterday the German air raid on Recife caused great damage to the area, but at least the pressure on Patton was reduced. The number of people evacuated was the largest in recent days, and the number of aircraft lost was also the smallest in recent days.

This smoothness also gave the Army Aviation the courage to persevere. Groups of pilots were transferred from various aviation bases in the Caribbean, Central America, etc. to build an air evacuation bridge for Patton's troops. This was why Rommel agreed with Garland. The reason why Germany temporarily spared Patton's troops during the air raid on Recife - cutting off the opponent's way of life all at once is fun, but it is obviously too dry. How can we let a steady stream of US military pilots rush to die?

On this day, not only all the naval officers and soldiers were successfully evacuated, but also more than 2,000 wounded were taken away. This was a great encouragement to other officers and soldiers holding on in the valley, who gritted their teeth and withstood the German onslaught. In fact, Rommel did not let the troops use their full strength, and he did not have enough heavy equipment. He did not have to lose too much force to attack the US military - he had captured enough prisoners, and he would wait for the Grizzlies equipped with 150mm self-propelled howitzers to catch up. , Americans can't bear it.

What inspired the trapped American officers and soldiers was their commander: George Patton.

Patton personally summoned the first-level officers of the battalion to explain the truth of the siege and the order of retreat, and said, "I will be the last to leave. I will never leave without watching everyone get on the plane! In addition, I reiterate again that any Anyone who deviates from the retreat order and attempts to retreat first will be deemed to have escaped from the battlefield and will be punished as a deserter!"

Not only did he say that, he also did it.

He took the three infantry battalions and military police left behind by Roosevelt's cluster to take charge of the retreat. He even took an open jeep to inspect the defensive positions at night to let the soldiers see that the supreme commander was with them. , try your best to cheer them up.

In terms of enforcing discipline, he also shocked the entire army with his ruthless iron-bloodedness.

Two lieutenant colonels and a major were obviously only slightly injured, but they deliberately pretended to be seriously injured and tried to retreat first, but were caught by the military police. One was the son of a congressman, one was the son of a large Texas real estate developer, and the other even had some connection to the Patton family.

Everyone thought that Patton would only give them a scolding. After all, they had high military ranks and were indeed injured - it was just an exaggeration, not a lie.

But not long after, a shocking order came down: "Public shooting! To serve as a warning to others!"

"But... they..."

Patton said with tears: "In the face of a national crisis, officers should set an example. If they run away, what will their brothers think? What will other people think? We cannot tolerate them!"

"Sir..." a staff officer lowered his voice, "This is not good for your future..."

"Future?" Barton shook his head, "I have no future..."

When the gunfire rang out, everyone turned their heads and didn't dare to look. However, the order and speed of the subsequent boarding were much better. Anyone who was lucky enough to dare to challenge the order and tried to escape first had to weigh their own safety. Heft and Patton's determination.

As the sky dawned, the first transport plane began to take off. The pilot, Lieutenant Johnson, carefully adjusted the throttle valve to ensure that the two engines of the C-47 could obtain sufficient power. He had performed three transport missions and knew how to obtain it quickly. Enough speed and quickly left the valley, so he was determined to be the lead aircraft today.

While paying attention to the surrounding situation, the navigator reported: "Flying speed 60 miles per hour... 70... 80... red light!"

The red light meant that the plane was fast enough to leave the runway and take off. When everyone in the transport cabin felt a vibration, the plane had steadily lifted off.

"Prepare to retract the landing gear!"

Although the altimeter still shows zero, 16 aircraft in the entire formation have left the runway one after another. Johnson gently adjusted the throttle valve and increased the engine speed to more than 2300 rpm, and the flight speed increased to 230 km/h. He raised the nose of the plane and began to climb. The altimeter numbers kept climbing, 300 meters, 500 meters, 800 meters.

"Quickly form a boxed formation, the navigator is on alert, and the machine gunner is ready!"

He issued orders in an orderly manner through the microphone. The aircraft originally at the end of the team increased their horsepower and speed and rushed over to form a formation. The original long snake formation was soon transformed into a two-layer box-like structure: 6 aircraft on the top, and 6 aircraft on the bottom. 10 aircraft.

This is a formation that has been explored in practice and is conducive to better building its own anti-aircraft firepower - although a few 12.7mm rounds hitting German aircraft only scratched the opponent's itch.

After the reorganization of the box formation was completed, 24 P-51 fighter jets rushed over to cover the left and right wings.

Based on the experience of the past two days, the German army generally prefers to attack transport aircraft that have just taken off or are about to land, because at this time the latter is slow and has poor maneuverability, making it easy to succeed. After the fighter escort has traveled 200-250 kilometers, the Germans will generally stop bothering them. Therefore, the tactics of the Army Aviation are very simple. Assemble a larger number of fighter jets for cover, usually covering a distance of 200-250 kilometers. Then the transport aircraft will fly to the destination alone, and the fighter jets will turn around to cover the next batch of transport aircraft.

It doesn't matter if some German fighter jets harass you midway, because there are usually many waves of fighter jets escorting the enemy in the air. Once an emergency occurs, other waves of fighter jets can immediately add to the combat patrol system, relying on the advantage of hitting more and fewer enemies to repel the enemy.

But they didn't know that Garand had changed his tactics again today.

At dawn, German fighter planes also began to take off, and for the first time, they brought auxiliary fuel tanks.

The target of the German attack today was neither Recife nor the US military airfield. He wanted to set up an ambush in advance to attack the transport planes without fighter protection!

The sky was getting brighter and brighter, and the sun was rising slowly. Johnson, who was flying in the front, felt that everything was fine in front. He could even see the undulating hedges on the hilly areas in the distance, and the crisscrossing rivers or streams. It was so calm that it didn't seem like a war.

"Sir, the fighter planes sent us a signal that they were ready to return!"

Johnson looked up and saw that several fighter planes next to him had begun to adjust their noses. He raised his thumb and shook it without caring whether the other party could see it.

The whole process was almost as easy and smooth as yesterday. Did the Germans go to Recife again today? Those poor children.

The formation continued to fly forward for more than 20 minutes. As long as they continued to fly at this pace for another 2 hours, this mission would be successfully completed.

A ray of sunlight shone through the cockpit glass, making the cockpit feel a little warm. Johnson, who got up early in the morning to perform the mission, even felt sleepy and had the urge to continue sleeping, but he knew it was impossible. The lives of the entire plane - all crew members, 14 seriously injured and 5 lightly injured soldiers were all tied to him. How could he have such an idea? He immediately suppressed this emotion and continued to concentrate on flying the plane.

Suddenly, a hurried voice came from the headset: "Fighter, 1 o'clock."

This was the news reported by the machine gunner. Johnson and the navigator did not find the situation. The navigator immediately looked around and even put on sunglasses to avoid the interference of sunlight.

After careful search, nothing was found.

"Did you really see it?"

"I saw it. There are a few small black spots, but it seems to be at 3 o'clock now."

Johnson looked to the right again. As his sight rose and the distance approached, he finally saw a small black spot swooping down, and the outline became clearer and clearer.

"Oh no, it looks like a Ta-152! Yes, it must be him! It has a pointy head and flies fast!"

The navigator was very nervous: "We are in big trouble now!"

"Attention, members of the formation, there is an enemy plane, tighten the formation immediately." Johnson greeted the members of the formation while urgently calling the fighter group behind, "Borg, Borg, I am the blue team, I am the blue team, we are intercepted by enemy planes, we need support!"

"I have been waiting for you for a long time!"

The 8 Ta-152s that had been lurking and hovering in the sky immediately swooped down after discovering the target, approaching from the side hemisphere of the US military formation - the heavy machine gun firepower network in the rear hemisphere of the enemy was not fun either. As the distance continued to close, the 4 20mm cannons began to fire fiercely.

"Ah... I was hit..."

"Boom!" The fuel tank of one plane was directly exploded by the MG213 cannon. Amid the exclamations of the crowd, the entire plane turned into a blazing fireball and fell down. It seemed that only the pilot had successfully parachuted - not to mention that there were no more parachutes for the passengers, even if there were, how could the wounded and sick parachute?

When the US fighter planes that heard the news and supported arrived at the scene, all the 16 transport planes in this formation were shot down except Johnson who cleverly escaped the ambush circle. The whole process took less than 9 minutes.

On the fourth day of the air transport retreat, the Americans suffered a great loss in front of the ambush tactics carefully prepared by Garland, and lost 127 transport planes and 28 fighters in one breath, while the German army lost only 9 planes.

Not only did the Americans lose so many planes, but they also lost the wounded and sick who were successfully transported with great difficulty.

When the war report was sent back to Washington, Arnold was pale and staggering. The war of attrition in the Pacific had come to an end temporarily, but the war of attrition in South America was constantly devouring the essence of the Army Aviation. After only a few days of air transport, the backbone of the medium-sized transport aircraft formation was broken. Some pilots were even temporarily transferred from bomber positions.

So far, the number of experienced crews in his hands has dropped to less than 2,500 (excluding strategic air transport). If this continues, the entire South America and the Caribbean will completely become a black hole for the US Army Aviation.

That night, he found Truman and earnestly stated the reasons why air transport could no longer continue.

"If you insist on doing this, I will have to resign! I can't watch the young man die like a moth to a flame. At this point in the war, the Army Aviation has the highest casualty rate among all branches of the military. Patton's men are American soldiers. Aren't my men American soldiers?"