Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.

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Chapter 21- The Mareth Line

(March 26, 1943)

As a little rain shower starts in the Mediterranean, the bow of the Nimitz dips slightly into the trough of a wave. On board the deck, the deck crew are racing to prep the air wing for action. Red shirts hurry across the deck, pushing carts loaded with bombs and missiles towards waiting aircraft. Purple shirts monitor their fueling hoses and the meters to ensure they get the proper level of fuel into each aircraft. Yellow shirts are starting to move a pair of F-14s that are already prepped over to the catapults. Brown shirts are monitoring the whole process while blue shirts start removing the chock and chains.

Nimitz had been stationed off the coast of Italy for months, ensuring Malta remained safe from attack from Italy, keeping the Italian Navy in port, and launching bombing raids against targets in Italy. However, just over a day ago, the Nimitz received a request passed on to them by British command that had been sent from General Montgomery, requesting that the Nimitz come south and support his attack against the Mareth Line in Tunisia. Today was the day he planned to launch a massive flanking attack against the Italo-German 1st Army that would hopefully finally break their lines. It was hoped that a defeat of the Italian and German forces forces here would break their hold on Tunisia and lead to a quicker end to the end of the North Africa campaign.

Nimitz is now about 80 miles south of Malta. Her final staging area for the operation is about 100 miles south of Malta, but Yelland has ordered that the strike force be launched now, so that they can start their airstrikes in time to support General Montgomery's attack.

On the flight deck, Commander Byron does a walk around of his F/A-18, making sure all of his control systems are in order and the Hornet is ready to fly. He also does an inspection of the ordnance being fixed to his fighter's pylons. Today, in addition to his wingtip Sidewinders, he has two Sparrows on his under-fuselage hardpoints, and six Mk80 500 lb bombs and 4 Rockeyes on his under-wing pylons, as well as a centerline fuel tank.

"Commander!" Byron turns around and says his aircraft's plane captain approaching. As he looks at him, the plane captain calls out, "She's fully fuelled, Commander. And the red shirts are getting the last Mk80 secured right now. She'll be ready to start moving in 20 seconds."

"Good!" Byron calls. He then moves around to the other side of the Hornet and climbs up the ladder into the cockpit. He quickly starts strapping in, making sure all of his switches are in their correct positions. Finally, he secures his oxygen mask over his face and closes the canopy.

Byron watches as the mobile generator powering up his fighter disconnects and the plane captain gives the thumbs up. Byron powers up the engines, and soon the fighter is running.

By now, the launching has begun. The first four Tomcats are already in the air, and a pair of Intruders are now on the forward catapults.

Byron soon gets the signal, and releases the brakes, allowing his Hornet to start moving slowly across the flight deck towards the catapults.

Byron waits patiently in his cockpit as the aircraft ahead of him take off at 30 second intervals per catapult. Thankfully, it's only a few mor minutes before it's time for his turn on the catapult.

Byron taxis into position, and the catapult crew get him locked into the catapult. It doesn't take long before the shooter gives the signal, and Byron shoves his throttles to full power before the catapult springs forward, hurling the Hornet into the air.

Byron pulls the nose up and climbs into the midday sky over the Nimitz and her task group, forming up with the rest of the strike force. About a third of the planes have launched and are circling the task force.

The aircraft continue to launch and assemble over the task force, with one flight of Tomcats already en route to scout ahead and try to clear the airspace over the battlefield. It doesn't take too long before the strike force is in the air and finally turns south-west for the battlefield, about 12 minutes behind the advance flight of Tomcats.

As the strike force continues towards the battlefield, the advance flight of Tomcats reaches the battlefield over the Mareth Line. Almost immediately, Commander Owens, the lead pilot, picks up several aircraft over the battlefield over enemy lines.

"Dagger 1 to Hawkeye 1-1. Picking up contacts over enemy lines. Confirm identity," Owens calls over the radio.

"Dagger 1, Hawkeye 1-1. Desert Air Force confirms no friendly fighters over enemy lines. Cleared to engage," a controller on the Hawkeye calls over the radio.

"Copy. Engaging," Owens responds. He then immediately noses down slightly and banks right, heading towards the detected enemy fighters, the other three Tomcats following close behind.

Owens' RIO begins working to lock up the distant fighters. It doesn't take more than seconds before he says, "I've got a lock on one of those fighters. The one closest to us."

"Fox One!" Owens calls out over the radio, and a Sparrow falls away and ignites, streaking away and heading for the enemy fighters. It doesn't take long before the other three Tomcats launch Sparrows of their own.

Travelling at over Mach 3, it doesn't take long for the Sparrows to reach the targeted fighters, a formation of Italian Macchi 202s. One Sparrow malfunctions and loses lock, plunging into the sands below. The other three Sparrows hit home. Two blow their targeted fighters to pieces. The last one, although it fails to detonate, strikes the 202 hard enough that it punches right through the fuselage just behind the cockpit, causing enough damage to send the fighter crashing into the sand. The other three 202s in the formation immediately turn away from the attacking Tomcats and try to escape. Owens, although he knows he could easily catch them, decides just three fighters is not worth it, and holds back. The four Tomcats set up a patrol over the battlefield at 20,000 feet.

Meanwhile, just past the coast, the Hawkeye assigned to monitor this operation is monitoring the incoming strike force from the Nimitz. One of the controllers calls out to the controller who responsible with communicating with General Montgomery's headquarters, "Our planes are about 5 minutes out."

"Copy that," the other controller says in response. He then passes the message on to Montgomery's HQ. A minute later, he says, "Montgomery has given our planes free reign once they get to the battlefield. No specific targets. He wants a general bombing of the Italo-German ground forces."

"Copy that," the first controller responds. He then gets on the radio and calls out, "Hawkeye 1-1 to all inbound aircraft. You have been given free range of all enemy targets."

"Copy that," Commander Byron responds from the cockpit of his Hornet.

The strike force increases speed slightly and begins to separate slightly, covering more airspace. Then, as one, they descend to just 4,000 feet, ready to begin their attacks on the enemy ground forces.

Byron leads his formation towards the northern flank of the Italo-German lines. The Axis army has been badly hit during the recent weeks, and although they still have plenty of troops, their tank force has been greatly depleted, with an estimated force of only 150-200 tanks left, as well as some artillery pieces. Although the British have a far greater tank and artillery strength, Montgomery wants their artillery and tanks hit hard before launching his attack.

Sure enough, as Byron and his flight reach their target area, they can see a small German tank force of the 1st Army, with 8 tanks, 2 artillery pieces, and about a dozen anti-tank guns.

"Alright, boys. We go in one at a time. Stick with a Rockeye on this first pass," Byron orders. He then pushes the throttles forward a bit, accelerating to 400 mph, and noses down about ten degrees. Reaching for the armament switches, he arms one of his Rockeyes. Then, at about 2,000 feet, Byron presses the pickle button, and the Rockeye falls away from the Hornet. Seconds later, the trailing wire is tripped, and the bomb splits open, dispersing the 247 bomblets. The bomblets disperse in the slight wind, falling over an area a bit bigger than a soccer field. One bomblet scores a direct hit on a German tank and blows right through the turret, while a few more bomblets damage the body of the tank. Two more bomblets take out an anti-tank gun, and another caused some slight damage to another tank. About 21 German soldiers are killed or wounded by the Rockeye.

The German soldiers yell and curse at the F/A-18 as it streaks over their heads and pulls into a climb. Then, Byron's wingman follows in and drops his own Rockeye, taking out three anti-tank guns and about 20 more soldiers. The third and fourth Hornets follow up with their Rockeyes, taking out two more tanks and three howitzers.

The Hornets pull up and circle around the target area. Byron takes a minute to scan the sand below and figure out just how much damage had been done, then calls out, "Let's hit 'em one more time."

He then wings over and dives down towards the German formation. Deciding to stick with the Rockeyes, he arms another one, and at 1,800 feet, drops his second Rockeye. The other three Hornets follow his lead, each dropping a Rockeye on the German formation.

As the Hornets pull up out of their second run, the number four man looks back at the German position. Compared to what they started with, the Germans have just one tank left and just one anti-tank gun. All of their other tanks and guns have been destroyed, and almost 60 soldiers have been killed, with more wounded.

The Hornets climb to 5,000 feet, while Byron uses binoculars to scan the desert below. Looking in the direction of the British lines, he can see gun flashes, indicating that the British have started their attack.

"Looks like the Brits have started their attack," Byron says.

"Alright. Let's keep hittin' 'em," his wingman calls out.

The Hornets now split up into pairs and separate to target more Italo-German positions. Meanwhile, the Intruders are hitting the troop concentrations far behind the enemy lines, while the Tomcats are patrolling in individual flights across an almost 60 mile stretch. The Tomcats have been meeting with great success with their missiles, knocking down any approaching Italian or German fighters well before the fighters could get within range of their machine guns.

Meanwhile, on the Hawkeye, the controller responsible for communicating with Montgomery calls out, "Montgomery's officers report shelling has begun and troops are ready to begin their advance. Requests the Hornets hit the tanks and artillery hard to clear the way for the ground advance."

"Copy," the air controller responds. He quickly gets on the radio to relay this request. Meanwhile, the commander aboard is monitoring feeds from all his controllers. Everything is going very well. The Hornets and Intruders have already disrupted the Axis forces, and are continuing to wear them down, while the Tomcats have established air supremacy over the battlefield, allowing aircraft from the Desert Air Force to begin assisting the Hornets and Intruders in their attacks. Hopefully, it won't be too long before the Mareth Line is broken.

And, I'll end there. I hope you liked this chapter.

Next chapter will be a bit different, but should still be good. It should be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review and stay tuned.