USSR 1941

Please take a leave of absence today, I feel a little uncomfortable, there are only two updates! Tomorrow will continue five more!

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Air supremacy has always been a big problem for the Soviet army.

The reason why the Soviet army was defeated at the beginning of the war was that, apart from insufficient preparation, improper tactics, and insufficient quality of soldiers, a large part of the reason was that it did not have air supremacy.

Because they did not have air supremacy, the Soviet army was always unable to grasp the direction of the German army's attack or even the retreat of its own troops... A considerable part of the intelligence in this era relied on aerial reconnaissance, especially the Soviet army with insufficient communication equipment.

Because there is no air supremacy, the Soviet army's hastily formed counterattack intentions are always discovered and prepared by the German army first.

It is also because of the lack of air supremacy that the Soviet army’s ground troops are always easily disintegrated by the German army when they have a superior force in battle... For example, the German army used more than 100 tanks to defeat the Soviet army’s group attack of thousands of tanks. No air superiority is simply a fantasy.

"Do we have anti-aircraft units?" Major Zakhakovic asked.

"No, Major!" Major General Panfinov replied: "We are fighting at the front, and it is difficult for the air defense to play a role!"

Air defense units usually need reaction time, which is determined by the range of the air defense unit and the speed of the German fighter planes... If the German fighter planes are targeting the Soviet frontline, such as tanks deployed on the front line, they often come from the German-controlled area. Show up and attack, then bomb and leave within minutes.

At this time, even if the anti-aircraft firepower is fully fired or even the enemy plane is shot down, nothing can be changed... The tank has been blown up by the enemy plane.

"Do we have an air force?" Major Gavrilov asked.

"Of course there are!" Major General Panfilov replied with some helplessness: "But they are mainly used to protect the security of Moscow!"

This is also one of the reasons why the Red Square military parade can go smoothly... The Soviet army concentrated its air force over the downtown area of ​​​​Moscow.

According to statistics, the Western Front dispatched a total of 4,451 sorties in October, of which only 325 directly provided cover for the frontline troops.

These 325 times are divided by the entire defense line, and the air support that each unit can get is pitifully small.

And this air support is obviously unable to provide air cover for the Fourth Tank Brigade.

"If we don't continue to hide ourselves?" Shulka asked. "I mean hide the tanks and fight!"

Zhakavic shook his head and said: "Our front line of defense is more than ten kilometers wide, and our tanks are only 33... If we hide our tanks to fight, although it is possible to avoid enemy planes, where are they hiding? Okay? Will the enemy definitely attack from here?"

Then Shulka understood.

It may not be difficult for tanks to hide in the snow, but the difficulty is just like the "offensive superiority theory" mentioned before... The breakthrough of the German army may not appear in the hidden position of T34. If the T34 is scattered, it will be more than ten kilometers On average, there are only 2 to 3 T34s per kilometer, which is far lower than the normal anti-tank density.

After thinking about it, Shulka said, "Perhaps, we have the right to choose!"

"What right to choose?" Major General Panfinov didn't understand what Shulka meant.

"Which position did the Germans attack most violently?" Shulka asked without answering.

"Paskovo's position!" Major General Panfinov replied: "That area is the junction of the defense lines of the 1073rd and 1075th regiments!"

The junction is always the focus of the enemy's attack. The reason is that the troops here are commanded by two different units. They often have poor coordination or lag in mobilization, and unclear intelligence... For example, in extreme cases, the 1075 regiment defending this area The soldiers have been killed and wounded,

The soldiers of the 1073 regiment did not have many casualties, so after the report, the head of the 1073 regiment often thought that the fighting here was not fierce, and if the 1075 regiment did not have enough troops to support it, there would be a gap in firepower.

Then Major General Panfinov searched the map for a while, then pointed to a point and said, "It's right here!"

"Then..." Shulka said: "Just put us here! We need to make a gap here, and hide the tank around this gap..."

Several people in the headquarters could not help but "oh", and immediately understood the meaning of Shulka's words.

But that's easier said than done.

This is mainly because it is daytime and it is a hassle for tanks to go to the front line and hide and ambush in the predetermined "gap" while remaining undetected by the enemy.

The way is to build a snow road, just like the two-meter-high snow walls piled up on both sides of the road, and use the snow road as a cover for the tank.

At this time, the snow layer was already one meter thick, and the snow was dug down and piled up next to it to a height of more than one meter, forming a snow wall of about two meters.

But in fact, this still can't block the tank. The height of the T34 tank is 2.74 meters, and the higher part is almost a turret.

Of course, the Soviet army can choose to continue to increase the snow wall, but this is actually not realistic.

First of all, digging down is the frozen soil. Compared with the soft snow layer, the frozen soil is two different things. It is very difficult to dig and the amount of work is too large.

Secondly, if you don’t dig down, you have to continue to pile up the snow wall... This is not realistic. The snow wall two meters above the horizon can easily attract the attention of the German army, and it will be exposed after a few shells.

The solution is to wrap the tank turret and even the barrel with a white cloth, and then launch a counterattack towards the enemy, and then the tank will deploy into the ambush position.

This was a counter-offensive launched by the 333rd regiment.

As Major General Panfinov said, there is a forest about one kilometer in front of the defense line, which was used by the German army as a rallying point.

Shulka had reason to believe that there were German observers in the forest staring at the Soviet positions and paying attention to the movements of the Soviet troops. If they did not interfere with them, the deployment of tanks would hardly escape their eyes.

The counter-offensive soon began.

A rocket launcher poured dozens of rockets into the forest in a short period of time, and more than a dozen howitzers also roared.

But the point is not this... Mortars fired smoke bombs in front of the position and even in the forest, and soon the entire battlefield was shrouded in smoke.

A battalion of the 333rd regiment immediately charged towards the Germans.

But of course, this is just a lot of thunder and rain, they are more lying on the ground shouting and shooting indiscriminately.

This caused the German army to call artillery fire to intercept and shoot the open space between the defense lines of the two armies. The German army's light and heavy machine guns also "squeaked" into the smoke, so there was gunpowder smoke and smoke in front of the position, as well as the sound of "rumbling" guns. and dense gunfire.

At this time, the T34 tank entered the tank bunker along the snow wall that had been dug.