Red Moscow

Early the next morning, the defense area of ​​the 73rd Infantry Brigade was suddenly bombarded by the Germans.

Fortunately, the commanders and fighters were all well-trained. As soon as the cannon sounded, they immediately hid in the anti-cannon holes dug already.

After Sokov learned that the defensive position of Guchakov's brigade had been shelled by the Germans, he immediately ordered Sameko to notify the squadron to attack the enemy's artillery position immediately.

According to his thinking, although the number of bombers and attack aircraft is slightly less, it is still more than enough to deal with German artillery positions without anti-aircraft firepower.

Sameko knew that when the squadron attacked yesterday, it immediately disintegrated the German offensive. Therefore, upon hearing Sokov's order, he called the airport in the north of the city without hesitation, ordering the squadron to finish off the landing field on the right bank and attack the German army. artillery positions.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the aircraft squadron arrived at the landing site on the right bank, German aircraft appeared in the sky. In addition to bombers, there are also a considerable number of fighter jets. As a result, the eight aircraft of the two squadrons of the Soviet Army appear to be weak.

The squadron leader of the bomber squadron saw a large number of German fighter jets in the sky, and knew that if his squadron stayed here, it would become the target of German pilots. Therefore, he decisively issued an order to retreat to his subordinates, leaving only the fighter squadron to fight with the enemy planes that broke into the sky above the landing field.

The four pilots of the fighter squadron are all veteran pilots with rich combat experience. Facing German fighter jets that outnumbered their own by more than ten times, they tried their best to fly up and down in the air, and fought bravely with the enemy planes.

This aerial battle ended in less than five minutes. The fighter squadron shot down four bombers and two fighters, before being wiped out by the numerically superior German fighter group.

Sokov, who was staying at the headquarters, learned that the bomber squadron had returned and the fighter planes were still fighting the enemy planes in the air. He immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, and quickly ordered the communications director to connect himself to the Air Force Command.

As soon as he heard Goryunov's voice, Sokov said straight to the point: "Comrade General, the enemy has thrown a large number of planes over the landing field on the right bank. The two squadrons I sent were intercepted. Among them, the bomber squadron has successfully Returning, while the fighter squadron is still fighting the enemy."

"Approximately how many planes does the enemy have, and what type are they?"

Sokov quickly reached out to Sameko, motioning him to take the information he had just obtained to him. After Sameko understood what Sokov meant, he quickly handed over the information on the table.

Sokov looked down at the information in his hand and read: "The enemy dispatched a total of 24 fighter jets and 36 bombers."

"What?" Hearing a set of data read out by Sokov, Goryunov said in surprise: "Four fighters in the fighter squadron actually have to deal with 24 fighters and 36 bombers of the Germans. It's over, it's over, these pilots It's dangerous."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov heard that Goryunov was worried about his subordinates, and quickly covered the microphone with his hand, and then said to Sameko who was sitting opposite him, "What is the current situation of the fighter squadron?"

"According to the report from the front, so far, they have shot down two bombers and one fighter." Sameko replied: "Today they continue to fight."

After listening to Sokov's report on the latest battle report, Goryunov became anxious: "Damn it, our fighter squadron is at an absolute disadvantage, if we don't provide them with support as soon as possible, they will soon be wiped out by enemy planes. "

"Okay, Comrade General." Sokov said helplessly, "We will provide the fighter squadron with the necessary support."

As soon as Sokov put down the phone, Sameko couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade commander, how do you plan to provide support to the fighter squadron?"

"Shout to them immediately." Sokov ordered: "Let the fighter squadron retreat to the left bank of the Dnieper River, and use the antiaircraft artillery deployed by the river to deal with the enemy planes chasing them."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Sameko felt that Sokov's method was good. In order to protect the bridge on the river, a large number of air defense troops were deployed on both banks near the ferry. As long as the fighter squadron can withdraw to the river, the anti-aircraft artillery unit that is ready to fight can give the enemy plane a head-on blow: "I will contact the fighter squadron immediately and ask them to retreat to the left bank of the Dnieper River to attract German planes to pursue them. anti-aircraft guns to destroy enemy aircraft."

Sokov and Sameko had just formulated a plan to lure the enemy, but they hadn't had time to give an order. A phone call came in, and Sameko picked up the receiver, and it turned out that it was Guchakov. He hurriedly asked: "Comrade Major, what happened to you?"

"Comrade Commander," Guchakov had to raise his voice and yelled into the microphone because of the huge explosion over there, "I just received a report from the observation post that our fighter squadron is flying under the enemy's command. Under the attack of the plane, the whole army has been wiped out."

"What, the entire army was wiped out?" Sameko asked in an unbelievable tone: "Comrade Major, is your situation accurate? The fighter squadron was really wiped out under the enemy's attack?"

And Sokov, who was sitting by the side, happened to hear the word "annihilated" and hurriedly asked, "What is annihilated?"

Sameko hurriedly covered the microphone with his hand and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Major Guchakov reported that our fighter squadron has been completely wiped out under the attack of enemy planes."

Sokov had known for a long time that his own fighters were not superior in performance and quantity, and it was basically impossible to retreat completely. At this moment, when he heard that the fighter squadron had been wiped out, he quickly raised his chin at Sameko and motioned him to continue asking: "Ask Guchakov, have any of our pilots parachuted?"

"Comrade Major," Sameko nodded, and asked into the microphone: "The commander asked me to ask you, have all our pilots parachuted?"

"Yes, they all parachuted." Guchakov replied on the phone: "The observation post reported to me that after the plane was hit, all four pilots parachuted in time. But one parachute did not open, and The other pilot was attacked by German fighter planes after parachuting and died on the spot. As soon as the shelling is over, I will immediately send people to search and rescue the remaining two pilots."

"Damn German pilots," Managarov said through gritted teeth after Sameko recounted Guchakov's report, "they opened fire on parachuted pilots."

"You know, a fighter plane is the pilot's weapon. The pilot abandons the plane and jumps, which is equivalent to putting down his weapon, which has no lethality." Gorokhov said slowly: "As far as I know, on the battlefield , It has become a habit and a rule not to fire at skydiving pilots. The reason for doing this, to put it bluntly, is to leave a way out for yourself. The variables on the battlefield are very large. This time you let the enemy pilots go , Maybe the next time you parachute by yourself, the enemy will deliberately let you go because you didn't kill them all."

"The most urgent task," Sokov knew that it would be very difficult to find the German pilot who fired at the Soviet pilot, so he said to the crowd, "it is to find the other two parachute pilots and prevent them from having another accident."

After saying this, Sokov told Sameko: "Chief of Staff, please call General Goryunov and tell him the bad news. I hope he can send more fighters to the right bank sooner." Landing on the field to avenge his fallen men."

The air force had no chance to destroy the German artillery positions, which allowed the German artillery to shell the positions of the 73rd Infantry Brigade for an hour as originally planned.

Due to the short time since the landing site was established, there was no time to build permanent fortifications made of reinforced concrete. The field fortifications built by the soldiers in a hurry were almost destroyed under the fierce German shelling.

Guchakov was an old subordinate of Sokov who knew how to minimize casualties under such heavy shelling. From the beginning of the bombardment, except for a few observation posts, the rest of his troops withdrew to the anti-slope position to hide, so as to avoid the bombardment and reduce unnecessary casualties.

The German army, which gained air supremacy on the battlefield, did not wait for the bombardment to end before the ground troops began to move towards the infantry brigade's position. When they advanced to 800 meters from the position, they stopped advancing and waited patiently for the end of the shelling. According to the plan in advance, as soon as the shelling stopped, the tank would stop at a distance of 800 meters, and support the infantry with artillery fire to destroy the firepower points on the position.

The Germans' plan is indeed very vicious. Although the infantry brigade is equipped with a lot of anti-tank rocket launchers, but the range is only more than 100 meters. If you want to destroy the German tanks, you must leave the defensive position and get as close to the enemy's tanks as possible . But in this way, the anti-tank team will be attacked by German infantry, and will soon be wiped out by the infantry with superior numbers.

As soon as the shelling stopped and the gunpowder smoke on the Soviet positions had not been blown away by the wind on the Dnieper River, the German infantry strode towards the position in scattered formation.

The observation post that stayed on the position found that the enemy's infantry was advancing towards the position, and quickly blew the whistle, urging everyone to enter the position as soon as possible and prepare for battle.

The first company commander, Captain Narva, led his company back to the smoky position from the reverse slope position, and he was soon stunned by the scene in front of him. There was no trace of the winding trenches, and there were large and small bomb craters everywhere, as well as thick floating soil. As soon as a person stepped on it, the floating soil immediately covered his ankles.

He looked up at the enemy in the distance, and then shouted to the soldiers standing on the ground: "Comrades, what are you doing standing there, wanting to be the target of the Germans? Why don't you hurry up and repair the fortifications?" , and strive to prepare ourselves a hiding place before the enemy reaches our position."

As soon as Narva's voice fell, the soldiers took off their engineering shovels and rushed to dig the bunker, trying to complete the necessary soil work before the Germans approached the position.

Fortunately, the fortifications on the battlefield were all repaired by the soldiers themselves, and they had a relatively good understanding of the terrain. After finding the approximate location, dozens of shovels went down, and a personal bunker was formed. Soon, they connected individual bunkers into one piece. When the German army entered the range of 300 meters, the commanders and fighters of the company lay down in the half-dug trench just dug, and aimed their weapons at the approaching enemy.

The attacking German troops had never dealt with Sokov's troops before, so they thought that what they were facing was a Russian army whose combat power was far inferior to their own.

The German commander saw that his troops were less than 300 meters away from the position, but the position ahead was still smoking, but there was no movement at all. Seeing this situation, the German commander was a little apprehensive. According to his past experience, when his troops reached this distance, the Russian troops had already opened fire with light and heavy firepower, trying to prevent their troops from approaching the position with intensive firepower. .

The reason why the Russians opened fire at a distance of 300 meters is because if they cannot keep their troops out of this distance, when their troops enter the range of 100 meters, the heroic German officers and soldiers only need ten or twenty In seconds, they can rush into the Russian positions and completely defeat them.

The German army quickly entered the range of 200 meters, but the Soviet army's position was still quiet, so that the German commander wondered whether the defenders on the position were all wiped out in the shelling that ended not long ago It has to be clean, otherwise how could it be possible that the gun has not been fired yet?

The German commander knew that the friendly forces were attacking the No. 1 outpost on the right flank. Although there were many defenders on the position, because there were no solid fortifications, as long as the artillery bombarded them for a round, they could be almost wiped out. If the Russians hadn't sent reinforcements in a steady stream, it wouldn't have taken two days of fighting to take down a small outpost.

Although his troops were getting closer and closer to the position, the German commander still did not take it lightly. He felt that the idea of ​​the Russians abandoning their positions and fleeing, or being wiped out by their own artillery fire was unreliable. He would rather believe that the Russians on the position are very confident, and that no matter how close his enemy is to the position, he will not be able to rush into the position he is holding.

The German commander thought to himself, if this is the case, it would be terrible. If his troops want to seize the position here, they will probably pay a very heavy price.

When the soldiers rushing to the front were less than 50 meters away from the trench, there was a sudden burst of gunfire, and the light and heavy machine guns on the position, as well as other firearms, were all firing desperately.

The fifty or so German soldiers who rushed to the front fell to the ground in response, and the soldiers following behind saw that the firepower in the position was too fierce, so they immediately fell down on the spot, or rolled into the nearby bomb crater, and fired back at the position. As for the soldiers who were shot not long ago, there were still a few who survived, and their painful wailing clearly reached the ears of their companions.