Chapter 865： Guard the canal

The Suez Canal, extending from Port Said in the north to the city of Suez in the south, is 190 kilometers long. It is a sea-level waterway that connects the Mediterranean and the Red Sea and provides the nearest route from Europe to the land near the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific.

Since the excavation, it has become one of the most frequently used routes in the world. It is also the boundary between Asia and Africa, and the main channel for people from Asia to communicate with Africa and Europe.

This important communication route must be in the hands of Britain!

Therefore, the British stationed a large number of troops in Egypt, even if the British troops were in a disadvantageous state in the battle with the Germans in western Egypt, and even if the British troops in Alexandria were besieged, no one thought about mobilizing the troops here.

In the Suez Canal area, there are thousands of troops stationed in the British 23rd Infantry Division, the commander of the garrison Lindemann, who has not had a good night's sleep these days.

The battle on the frontline turned abruptly, and the Suez Canal was Rommel's ultimate goal!

If the Germans wanted to seize the Suez Canal, they must first control Port Said in the north of the canal. Therefore, under the leadership of Lindemann, these days, the British army dug out anti-tank trenches outside, and the trench width exceeds four. Mi, the German tank, can't make it through.

In the middle of the night, in his sleep, he was awakened by his adjutant. When he hurried to the front of the sand table, he heard the news that couldn't be worse.

"The German army ran a long distance and attacked Cairo. They are likely to move on towards the Suez Canal." The adjutant said: "According to the speed of the German offensive, it is possible that after dawn, the leading German troops will appear in our control. Area."

"Order the troops and prepare to go into battle." Lindemann said: "We will defend the Suez Canal to the death."

Although the Suez Canal is quite long, the most critical node is the Port Said. This is the starting point of navigation. Now, there is no need to worry about the Germans destroying the canal. After all, the Germans still want to continue to use the river.

If the Germans want to get this river intact, they must occupy Port Said. It is conceivable that the fighting here will be even more cruel.

At the same time, in an air force base in the Canal District, a fighter plane was dragged out of the hangar.

The recent battles have caused great losses to the British. When the German ground troops were advancing, Stuka and HS129 were all accompanied by the advancing, and they carried out indiscriminate bombings on the British army.

The British Air Force also rose up to resist. Unfortunately, the quality of fighter jets cannot be overcome, and they do not have an advantage in quantity. When the British homeland was defended, almost all the elite pilots were dimmed, and now there are Those are newbies.

Therefore, the British Air Force in Egypt was quickly maimed. However, in the Canal Zone, there is still an air force left. Moreover, they have recently changed shotguns and received the latest fighter jets from the United States!

The P-40 is a fighter jet developed by the American Curtis Company before the war based on the improvement of the P-36 "Eagle". The main thing is to change the engine from the "Twin Hornets" star engine to the turbocharged "Allison". V-1710 inline engine.

Prior to this, P-36 has achieved great success and sales are quite high.

Therefore, only the engine was modified to make this aircraft mediocre and almost featureless. Throughout World War II, this aircraft was almost a flash in the pan.

However, since the P-36 has been mass-produced, it has been tested in actual combat and only a few changes to the production line are required to produce the P-40. It was almost the only model that could be mass-produced and sold in the United States at the beginning of World War II. In other words, its output was quite high!

After this aircraft was manufactured, the first overseas buyer was France. Unfortunately, the 100 P-40 ordered by the French were surrendered under the German blitzkrieg before they left the factory.

Now, in the context of supporting the UK, these aircraft have been sent to the Middle East.

Captain Loso watched the ground crew hang up his plane. At this time, Dongfang had gradually brightened.

In front of the nose, the pattern of the huge shark's mouth is very eye-catching.

Painting the front of the plane as a shark's mouth looks very powerful. This idea is not the first one created by Chennault. The British Air Force fighting in North Africa first came up with this beautiful painting.

In all fairness, this aircraft is a bit worse than the Spitfire. The body structure did not move, but the engine power was increased to 1150 horsepower. The liquid-cooled engine made its windward area much smaller. Even so, it was the highest than the Spitfire. The speed is about a hundred lower.

What's more, the high-altitude performance of this aircraft is also quite poor, as soon as it passes 6000 meters, its speed and controllability drop sharply.

In history, the British bought back this fighter, named the Tomahawk, some were dispatched to train, and others were sent to the second-line battlefields, namely the Middle East and North Africa, to serve as fighter-bombers.

And now, these fighters are the main force of the air force in the Suez Canal area. They did not participate in the battle some time ago and have been maintained in good condition. Their only mission is to protect the Suez Canal!

When this fighter was exported to the UK, four 7.7mm machine guns were added to the wings, which became a model with two 12.7mm machine guns on the nose and four 7.7mm machine guns on the wings. It seemed to have good firepower, but, The German fighter planes have long since used aerial cannons. Large-caliber aerial cannons can blast a large hole with one shot.

Now, watching the ground crew nervously reloading, Loso had an impatient impulse. He silently lit a cigarette and watched the ground crew busy.

"Woo, woo." At this moment, a sharp air defense siren suddenly sounded over the entire base Damn, the Germans came so quickly!

"Quick, quick, start the engine!" When he heard the air defense alarm, Loso quickly ran to his fighter plane, and the ground crew was busy loading the ammunition. He had already left the plane. At the same time, he was shaking. The ground handling vehicle stood on a ground handling vehicle.

He put his crank on the propeller, and it happened to be stuck together with the slot on the axis of the propeller. He bent over, waiting for Loso's instructions.

Turning on the switch and connecting the oil line, Loso shouted loudly: "Hurry up!"

launch! The ground crew started to shake the crank, and the propeller turned up with the crank, from slow to fast.

On the right side of the front of the nose, all were exhaust pipes. As it shook, a stream of black smoke came out, and the black smoke became more and more. At the same time, the engine also heard a louder noise.

"Boom, boom," the engine was like two stinky farts, followed, happily spinning, and it was already started!