Major Linton held the same questions as Captain Braukamp. Although this anxiety could not be revealed on his face, it was still tormenting his heart. After he was forced to calm down, he couldn't help calling Malta to ask about the situation. The base's call came quickly, telling him that the Italian tanker had left the port "absolutely, surely", so that he would not be anxious and wait with peace of mind. Before he could finish smoking a cigarette, the second telegram came again, saying that according to the latest intercepted telegram, Guderian was also asking about the tanker's situation. The Italian called back and told him that he had confirmed that he had left the port and that the time was delayed only because the port was transferred, and that it might be 48 hours later than the original time.

"So that's it." Captain Braukamp, ​​who received the notification from Colonel Linton, cursed secretly. No wonder there was no sign of the tanker. It turned out that the unreliable Italians were habitually late. It didn't matter to him if the enemy was willing to come and wait for two more days. For a moment, he felt much more relaxed. Thinking that it was still early, he planned to go back to the cabin to take a nap first - staring at the sea all day and night, he felt a little unable to hold on.

Suddenly, Corporal George, who had been leaning against the railing, turned his head and asked, "Captain, why is there a 'buzzing' sound? Is it abnormal where the submarine equipment is running?"

"No, the engine is operating normally." Captain Braukamp listened carefully, but did not hear the "buzzing" sound the other party said. The conversation between the two attracted everyone's attention. Everyone interrupted the chat and listened carefully, but they all said they did not notice it. Corporal George himself was a little suspicious. After listening to it, he didn't hear the sound again. He thought he might have heard it wrong and forced a smile: "Maybe I didn't have a good rest and had hallucinations."

Unexpectedly, Captain Braukamp just turned around, and another low-class soldier raised his hand: "Sir, I heard it too." He told everyone with a positive expression that he was not hallucinating.

Everyone listened carefully again, some people said yes, some people said no. Now Captain Braukamp became cautious, checked carefully, and called out from the hatch cover to ask about the situation. The Navigator's reply was "Everything is normal."

At this time, the sound became clearer and clearer. Braukamp himself heard it. It was definitely not the sound that the submarine would make. He was wondering where the sound came from. Corporal George suddenly shouted: "In the air! The sound is in the air, it is the sound of the plane."

"Airplane?" Captain Braukamp immediately lifted the high-power telescope on the deck and looked in the direction George prompted. Sure enough, he saw an aircraft flying from the north, not at a high altitude. Did they go to bomb Tobrook? But whether it was the Malta base or the Alexandria base, the planes that took off from the Malta base should be east-west. Why did this come from the north and so few? Due to the telescope height limitation, he did not find the escort fighter hidden in the clouds higher.

But he saw clearly that these aircraft were all four-engine, and they were very typical heavy bomber features. As far as he knew, neither German nor Italian did they have four-engine bombers. The only one with this feature was the Royal Air Force, so he laughed: "This is probably our Air Force going to bomb the German guys..."

Everyone was relieved by him when he said this, and some even suggested: "The damn Italians are not showing up yet, so why don't the planes look for them."

Captain Braukamp laughed while insisting on observing the plane to see what model it was. After watching for a long time, he felt that the plane coming seemed to be very different from the model he had observed in the past, not to mention that even heavy bombers should not fly so low.

"Not good!" He suddenly screamed, "All personnel returned to the cabin immediately, dived in urgent need, prepare..." Before he could finish speaking, he was the first to run towards the hatch cover like an arrow leaving the stringer

The people around were stunned for a moment. Although their minds could not turn, the body's conditioned reflex was not slow. Seeing that the captain was the first to run into the hatch and climbed down the ladder with his hands and feet, the others followed one after another, fearing that they would fall to the end. The captain was at a loss by the captain's roaring order and asked subconsciously: "Is the Italian coming?"

"No! It's far more terrifying than the Italians..." Captain Braukamp, ​​who was still in shock, was gasping for his soldiers while commanding his soldiers to take their place, "I see clearly that the German iron cross signs are painted under the wings. It's not a Royal Air Force bomber at all, it's a German Fw-200! I once heard the old guys fighting in the Bay of Biscay talk about him. This is a very difficult guy to deal with - he also has four engines, so he's really deadly!"

"Quick!" As Captain Braukamp shouted at the top of his lungs, the last crewman finally landed in the cabin and covered the hatch with a "bang". The submarine finally began to sink urgently. The sea water quickly poured into the water cabinets on both sides of the submarine, and the submarine's huge body gradually disappeared on the water surface.

Captain Braukamp knew it right, and the Fw-200C long-range maritime patrol bomber nicknamed "Vulture". After the launch of Operation Rolling Stone, the aviation power on Crete was secretly increasing. These "Biscai Merchant Ship Killers" were also transferred to take on patrol and anti-submarine missions in the surrounding waters. When Guderian used fake telegrams to lure the British, his series of tricks were used simultaneously, and several aircraft were sent to the tanker's necessary routes and destinations to investigate.

Waiting for an opportunity to find out the British ambush power. Fw-200 had searched the relevant sea areas for a day yesterday, but it was not discovered because the Furious and Voyager strictly implemented the lurking order. This morning, a radio listening team on Crete intercepted the telegram signal from the southern waters. Although it could not decipher the content, it was undoubtedly the British. It was just that it was not known whether it was a warship or a submarine. In terms of time, it was exactly when Major Linton communicated with the base to communicate the ambush situation.

Captain Braukamp only knew that the vulture was coming to him, and he didn't know that there was a vulture patrolling further away. The Furious Slot where Major Linton was located was discovered earlier than him.

The vulture swept back and forth in this sea area, lowering its height to a height of only more than 100 meters from the sea level. The calm and currently rarely visited Mediterranean is now extremely easy to explore. Suddenly, an observer noticed the ripples slowly disappearing on the sea surface and shouted: "Captain, look, what is that?"

The captain picked up the telescope and looked carefully. Although the ripples had gradually dissipated, it was still certain that there were large objects nearby that fell down. There was no problem on the sea surface, but the visibility of the sea water under the sun was very high, so he quickly betrayed the Voyager. The captain saw the dark thing under the water slowly sinking, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "That's a submarine."

“Our?”

"No! British."

"Why are you so sure?"

"First, the base did not explain that there were our submarines nearby; second,..." The captain laughed, "If it were our submarines, why would he hide so quickly? Only the enemy submarines would quickly dive with guilt..."

"Hahaha! That's great. I finally found this guy. I thought today would be as futile as yesterday..."

"Depth bomb preparation." The captain's order was very calm, "The depth is 30 meters, no, 35 meters."

Not long after, the bomb dropper replied: "The hedgehog bomb is ready."

"Prepare, let it go!" A hedgehog bomb was immediately pushed down, and in a short while, a huge column of water burst out from the sea.

The average water depth in the Mediterranean waters was only 50-60 meters, while the Frantic and Voyager chose to ambush the tanker in the sea outside the port, with an average water depth of only 45-50 meters. Captain Braukamp originally expected the entire boat to sit at the bottom - that would have a chance to get rid of the plane overhead, but time was his enemy. The submarine had used its best efforts to dive, but it was still not as fast as the speed of the plane throwing deep-water bombs.

"Continue, let it go." The deep-water bomb on the vulture continued to be dropped.

"Captain! Deepwater Bomb!" The sound of the bomb entering the water was extremely clear in the sonar. The submarine listener suddenly screamed in horror, "It's coming for us."

"Preparation for anti-impact, the leak plug team is ready to plug the leak." Captain Braukamp had no time to think about it, and could only issue targeted orders with all his might. He felt that his teeth were clattering, and he kept praying that the enemy's bomb should not be dropped too accurately.

"Boom!" The bomb exploded not far away, and the hull vibrated violently, but it seemed to be unscathed. The submarine was avoided without any danger. However, the explosions around it made the sea water chaotic. The Voyager was shocked and shaking left and right. When the sixth hedgehog bomb exploded, the huge pressure shocked all the lights in the cabin. A large number of pipes could not bear the pressure and began to spray out water columns. The plug-in team members rushed forward to maintain the situation.

"Current to 45 meters." Although the captain could no longer see the shadows under the water, his intuition told him that the enemy was still under the water. "Continue to send, he can't run away!"

When the 7th deep-water bomb fell, the Voyager's good luck finally came to an end. The deep-water bomb almost exploded at the bow of the boat. The huge pressure generated instantly formed a terrifying water pressure through the transmission of water. The overwhelmed submarine's pressure-resistant shell made a "crunch" sound of metal tearing that made people's teeth. Finally, it could not support it and shattered. The sea water suddenly poured into the cabin. The Royal Navy's submarine could never float.

After all the water columns subsided, the captain carefully observed the movements on the sea surface and found that large areas of oil and crew members' personal belongings slowly emerged, "Guys, good job, we sank a British submarine." Cheers resounded throughout the cabin!

While we were talking, the navigator received a call from another plane: "Vulture 1, Vulture 1, I am No. 2, I am No. 2, we just sank a submarine, and we judged it to be British from the floating wreck."

On the morning of September 7, two submarines of the Royal Navy Mediterranean Fleet sank in the waters outside Tobrook Port. All 113 people below Major Linton were killed, none of whom survived.
Chapter completed!