Entry: May 7, 1941

May 7th, 1941

South of Tobruk

With my kill report now confirmed by the Luftwaffe, I'm awarded the Iron Cross. And with that, another opportunity to keep adding kills to my belt. Today, a final mission to Tobruk. Wilhelm suffered injuries whilst helping the ground crew chief with the engine. He suffered extensive burns to his hands and to his arm. He's sent to the infirmary and is expected to fight again in a few short weeks. In the meantime, I was granted permission to be flight leader for this mission; a fighter sweep north of Tobruk and over the Mediterranean Sea. We took off from base, encountering fierce flak while passing over the port of Tobruk. "Johannas! Don't take this route again!" cried Hans, my wingman (now element lead in the finger 4 formation). Fortunately, none of my flight was hit, and we pushed on to our destination. Over the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, we spotted our quarry; a flight of 4 British Hurricanes, and a lone C-47 Dakota transport plane. There was some cloud cover between us and the British. I then got us into the clouds and surveyed the situation. "The British must be transporting something in that plane; it must be critical supplies!" I thought to myself. I quickly noticed that the British were maintaining their heading, a good sign that they didn't see us. The adrenaline was taking it effect; "ATTACK! ATTACK!!" I yelled over the radio, and the flight quickly split up. Everyone dove towards the British, 2 of us scoring hits against the escorting Hurricanes; 1 was quickly turned into a ball of flame and plummeted towards the blue sea. The other three retaliated; but they failed to even get near our tails! The 3 surviving Hurricanes were quickly shot down, I managed to shoot down 1 of the 3. Then, I remembered the C-47 and it's supplies for the British troops. We hastily reformed into the characteristic finger 4 formation and followed the lumbering hulk's last known bearing. Within minutes, we spotted it. Without wasting a single second, I closed the range and shot the hulk full of holes. Within a second, the plane was full of holes, smoking, and was burning. It soon crashed into the sea. Finally, we got back to base. As it turns out, the C-47 was carrying vital supplies; much needed ammunition and top secret documents about our lines, i.e. our types of tanks, supply lines, and other information pertaining to us. With the mission over, I did all the required paperwork and filed in the report. As I made my way to the infirmary to see how Wilhelm was doing, I saw Hans, watching the bombardment of Tobruk. "Like the fireworks?" I asked Hans.
"You know, we won't win this war", Hans ominously predicted," And it's all Hitler's fault."
I scoffed at the notion, and went on to see Wilhelm. He was recovering quickly, already for the next mission. As the sun sets, I ponder on Hans' prediction...