Red Moscow

The attack aircraft aviation regiment soon reached the sky over Safran, and under the ground guidance of the 41st Guards Division, it launched an attack on the German defensive positions and destroyed many firepower points.

Kurishenko gave the order to attack when he saw that the attack planes of the aviation regiment had completed their attack and began to return one after another. In fact, as early as when the attack aircraft launched a ground attack, Sidolin proposed to allow the troops to attack the German positions while receiving air support. It is a pity that his proposal was rejected by Kurishenko's air force who was attacking the German positions. If the attack was launched prematurely, it might cause unnecessary accidental injuries.

Seeing the Soviet attack aircraft regiment leave, the German army, who had avoided the air attack, returned to the trench, set up weapons on the edge of the trench, and just waited for the Soviet troops to come and throw themselves into the net.

Sure enough, the gunpowder smoke that filled the front of the position had just dissipated, and the attacking troops of the Soviet army appeared in front of the German army. However, the German army did not shoot, but kept silent. Anyway, the gunpowder smoke on the position had not completely dissipated at this moment, and the attacking Soviet army could not see clearly whether there were people on the position.

But when the attacking force was still two hundred meters away from the position, the German mortars fired.

First, there was the scream of shells in the sky, and then they fell into the ranks of Soviet skirmishers and exploded. Soldiers who reacted quickly fell down with the tactical instincts they had mastered; while those recruits who had little combat experience still walked forward stupidly, and then were blown away by the shells falling beside them.

Seeing that the Soviet offensive formation was blown up by artillery fire, the machine guns on the ground roared again, either knocking down the soldiers who were still advancing, or suppressing the veterans lying on the ground so that they could not lift their heads.

Seeing this situation, Sidolin in the observation station stomped his feet anxiously. Although there is an artillery regiment in the division, the artillery was lost in the last battle, and the superior has not had time to replenish it. At this moment, seeing the attacking troops being suppressed by the German firepower again, I thought painfully: "An artillery, even a small-caliber firepower, can destroy the firepower points on the German army's position and let our soldiers continue to charge forward."

Kurishenko, who was standing beside him, frowned when he saw this situation: "Why are our soldiers lying down? Let them stand up and continue to charge forward."

"Comrade commander," Sidolin hurriedly came out to stop Kurishenko's order and said, "Didn't you see that the firepower on the German positions was too fierce, and the firepower network formed by their mortars and machine guns , making it impossible for our soldiers to move forward. If we want to attack forcefully, we will definitely pay a heavy price."

While Kurishenko and Sidolin were still arguing, the roar of the aircraft engine came again from the air. The two looked up into the sky and found that there was only a lone transport plane slowly flying towards the German position.

"Hell, what is this transport plane doing to the enemy's position?" Kurishenko said with some surprise: "Are they planning to drop paratroopers behind the enemy's position?"

"It's impossible." Sidolin retorted loudly: "This kind of transport plane can only carry more than 20 paratroopers at most. If such a small number of paratroopers parachute over the enemy's position, they will be shot by all the German firepower on the ground before they land. Annihilated."

Faced with the sudden appearance of a transport plane, regardless of the confusion of the Soviet commanders and fighters, even the Germans wondered why a Soviet transport plane appeared here. Could it be that they got lost?

Just when the officers and soldiers on both sides of the Soviet Union were guessing, the hatch of the plane opened, revealing two black muzzles, and then the two sides saw the eye-catching muzzle flames, and the two tongues of flames poured towards the German positions. A piece of scorched earth, the logs above the earthworks can be interrupted, let alone the German officers and soldiers in the fortifications.

Although the weapon fired on the transport plane is a 14.5mm anti-aircraft machine gun, its power is not weaker than that of a 23mm machine gun. The transport plane hovered at low altitude, constantly tilting the tongue of fire, and the bullet casings were scattered from the air like flowers scattered by a goddess. Wherever the tongue of fire touched, the flesh and blood of the German army was immediately wiped out. The German positions that were shooting wildly just now were suddenly dumb.

When they were attacked by the attack aircraft aviation regiment, the German officers and soldiers were not worried. After all, after fighting for so long, anyone who has not been attacked by air is ashamed to say that he has been on the battlefield. But now this transport plane of the Soviet Army is simply perverted, fighting in circles around its own position, without even a place to hide, how can this battle be fought?

Since the Soviet army has such a transport plane, who knows if a second or third plane will appear later? After more transport planes equipped with weapons arrive, if I stay on the ground, I am afraid that I will die without a whole body. Therefore, some cunning German officers and soldiers abandoned their positions, bent down and ran back along the traffic trench, hoping to escape the death in the air.

It was called an air fortress by Sokov, and it was called the air death transport plane by the Germans. After shooting around the German position, it stopped shooting and threw aerial bombs down to destroy those that looked relatively solid. civil firepower point.

The Soviet commanders, who had been suppressed by the German firepower and could not move, stood up and cheered when they saw how powerful their transport plane was, and then rushed to the German position with their weapons.

There were only three or four groups of officers and soldiers fleeing from the position, but when they saw the Soviet troops pressing up, the Germans on the position knew that they could not hold the position, so if they stayed here, they were either killed by the machine guns on the plane or killed by the ground. The troops were shot and killed indiscriminately. If they wanted to save their lives, they could only retreat, so they all joined the escape queue.

"Great, this transport plane is really great." After seeing the outstanding performance of the Sky Fortress, Sidolin raised his hands and cheered: "Our pilot is really great, and he was chased away by the enemies on the ground after a few rounds of strafing. gone."

When the transport plane first appeared, Kurishenko thought that the appearance of this plane was superfluous. Because this place is not suitable for airdropping supplies, and it is not suitable for airborne paratroopers. Seventy-eight out of ten are planes that have lost their way.

But seeing the strafing of the transport plane, at least one-third of the German troops on the ground were knocked out, and the rest were unwilling to fight. Seeing the infantry rushing up, they had no luck with shooting, so they turned around and ran away. After he let out a long breath, he shook his head and said, "I really didn't expect that this modified transport plane would be so powerful that it could easily defeat the defenders on the ground. This matter must be reported to Comrade Commander immediately so that He's sending us more transport planes like this."

In fact, Kurishenko did not need to order this matter. As soon as Sidolin saw his troops rushing to the German position, he went to the radio operator and dictated to him the telegram sent to the headquarters.

Before he finished dictating the telegram, he received a call from Colonel Papchenko, the head of the 122nd regiment: "Comrade Chief of Staff, our regiment has completely occupied the enemy's position."

"Comrade Colonel," Sidolin told the other party, "Hurry up and make statistics to see how many enemies have been eliminated."

"It's not easy, Comrade Chief of Staff."

Sidolin was taken aback for a moment, and then asked back: "Comrade Colonel, I just asked you to count the casualties of the German army. Is this task difficult to complete?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, this is a very difficult task." Unexpectedly, Papchenko said unexpectedly: "Major Sukharev, the chief of staff of the regiment, personally led a team of soldiers to search the battlefield. It was horrifying to find the positions strafed by anti-aircraft machine guns, with broken logs and bloody corpses everywhere, and almost no complete body in sight."

After listening to Papchenko's description, Sidolin couldn't help taking a deep breath. He really didn't expect that the machine gun equipped on the transport plane could be so powerful. After he hung up the phone, he dictated the content of the new message to the operator again, and reported to Sokov one by one what happened here and the results of the battle.

When he returned to Kurishenko, Sidolin said with emotion: "Comrade commander, I really didn't expect that this kind of transport aircraft armed by the Air Force is so powerful. If not one plane came here today, but a squadron , I am afraid that none of the Germans on the ground will be able to escape."

Although Kurishenko did not hear Papchenko's report, he also witnessed the performance of Sky Fortress not long ago, so he agreed with Sidolin's statement: "Yes, if the commander Send us this kind of transport plane as soon as possible, maybe our troops have already entered the designated position."

Besides, after receiving the telegram from Sidolin, Smirnov quickly browsed through it, and then excitedly said to Sokov: "Good news, Comrade Commander. The 41st Guards Division, under the cover of the Air Force, has already Successfully captured Safran."

After hearing this, Sokov said disapprovingly: "General Ryazanov dispatched an aviation regiment of attack aircraft to attack a field fortification without permanent fortifications. It would be a strange thing if he could not achieve significant results."

"No," but Smirnov shook his head and said: "After the assault aircraft aviation regiment attacked the German positions and left, the 122nd Guards Regiment launched an attack on the enemy's positions. But unfortunately, the Germans Under the attack of our air force, the casualties were not too great, and they used powerful firepower to block the attack of the Guards Division, preventing the troops from advancing."

"What, the air strike didn't work?" Sokov couldn't help being taken aback when he heard the news, and then asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, didn't you tell me that they had already occupied the Safran position? What's going on?"

"That's right, Comrade Commander." Smirnov explained to Sokov: "The ground attack of the aviation regiment is not very effective. But Colonel Sidolin said that one of the armed transport planes used anti-aircraft machine guns. Shooting down at the enemy's position from a high position, and kept shooting in circles, it was this plane that defeated the Germans. But seeing that the German army began to flee, the commanders and fighters of the Guards Division launched an attack again, and finally succeeded in taking the position .”

"Armed transport aircraft?" After repeating the word twice, Sokov realized that Sidolin was talking about a modified air fortress, so he tentatively asked Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you mean, I Let the flying fortress transformed by General Ryazanov assist the Guards Division to successfully capture the enemy's position?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Smirnov raised the telegram in his hand, nodded and said, "The actual situation is indeed as you said. In the battle of Fulan, he has made great achievements."

Sokov took the telegram and checked it carefully. After reading it, he fell into deep thought: "Colonel Sidolin said that due to the power of anti-aircraft machine guns, the German officers and soldiers who were hit by bullets basically did not have complete bodies, so it is impossible to count the specific number of enemies wiped out."

"I really didn't expect that the modified sky fortress would be so powerful." Smirnov also didn't expect that the sky fortress could achieve such a record in the first battle. He asked Sokov cautiously: "Comrade commander, See if you can contact General Ryazanov and ask him to modify a few more of these planes."

"I think it's okay." Sokov nodded in agreement with Smirnov's proposal, but added at the end: "But the number should not be too many. I think it's best not to exceed ten."

Smirnov was surprised by Sokov's words: "Comrade Commander, we can achieve such a record with just one sky fortress. If the number of modifications is greater, the role it will play on the battlefield will be greater."

"It's not what you imagined, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov waved his hands and said, "This is the first time that the sky fortress went to war today, and it caught the Germans by surprise. Since they know that we have this kind of sky fortress, they will definitely Figure out a way to deal with it. You must know that the air fortress is transformed from a transport plane after all. The flying speed is slow and the armor is weak. All the anti-aircraft weapons of the Germans can shoot it down. If we transform a large number of air fortresses and put them into battle , I am afraid that they will be lost in one battle."

A staff officer ran over and handed a telegram to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, this is a German telegram we just intercepted."

Seeing that Smirnov read a few lines, Sokov showed a startled expression on his face, and quickly asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what did the Germans say in the telegram?"

"Comrade Commander," Smirnov said with a smile on his face, "Uman's enemies reported to Manstein that our army is equipped with a new type of fighter plane that can attack ground targets while circling at low altitudes. The defenders inflicted heavy casualties. The Germans called this aircraft the Reaper from the sky."

Sokov couldn't help being happy when he heard it: "The Germans said it very vividly. Our aerial fortress attacks the ground from the air. Isn't it the god of death from the sky? If they don't want to be summoned by the god of death, the best way The only way to save your life is to hide away as soon as you see our army’s air fortress appearing.”

"Comrade Chief of Staff," he said to Smirnov, seeing that Smirnov was still standing still, "you should call General Ryazanov as soon as possible and urge him to rebuild a few more flying fortresses as soon as possible. Also, at last So that he can report the matter to General Goryunov, anyway, the other party is his immediate superior, and such a major matter as remodeling an aircraft should not be concealed from his superiors."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Smirnov nodded and said, "I will convey your opinion to General Ryazanov and ask him to pass the matter on to General Goryunov."