USSR 1941

Hearing this, Novikov fell silent.

Shulka's drawing from the bottom of the pot made Novikov's argument untenable, so his deduced results were naturally untenable.

Khrushchev immediately became excited: "Yes, Comrade Novikov! We can use ground troops as bait, and then the Germans will not only have the problem of fighter jets protecting bombers, but also the problem of insufficient ammunition!"

Zhukov also interjected: "If the Air Force is still worried about not being able to win under such circumstances, then I don't think their existence is meaningful, because I believe that after several years of growth, they will still not be the opponents of the Germans! "

This is a rough statement, because in this way the Soviet Air Force can occupy a great advantage. If the Air Force does not dare to participate in the war, the gap is too big, or it is simply a psychological problem, just like Heru Xiao Fu often said: cowards.

"But what's the point of doing this?" Novikov's rebuttal was a little weak: "I mean, the ground troops are advancing under the enemy's bombing, and when they penetrate Karachi, they are already a remnant army! At the same time, some places cannot Avoid, such as logistics supply troops!"

"That's what we need to think about, Comrade Novikov!" Zhukov replied: "In fact, the infantry has always fought in such an environment, and I don't think that previous battles with the enemy, including the Battle of Kharkov , or the attack on Kotluban has received strong support from the air force!"

Zhukov was expressing his protest to Novikov in another way, because a large part of the reason why the previous large-scale offensive was easily repelled by the German army was the lack of air support.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Novikov said. "Without strong air support and just being passive or using ground forces as bait, our chances of winning are very slim!"

As a result, this has entered into an endless loop of mutual disobedience.

"We can also use deception tactics!" Shulka said.

"Deception tactics?" Novikov looked at Shulka suspiciously.

"Yes!" Shulka replied: "I didn't say that the infantry would use real tanks and real cars as bait!"

"Yes!" Khrushchev continued: "We can use fake tanks, fake cars, and fake anti-aircraft batteries!"

Novikov was silent for a while, and finally said helplessly: "Comrades, you may not know that the Air Force is undergoing reforms. I might as well tell you that they don't even have a normal establishment!"

"I know this!" Khrushchev replied: "But we have planes and pilots, don't we? Does it take a long time to give them a staff?"

"Yes, it will take a long time!" Novikov replied: "It may take several months, or even longer, because we are not sure which solution is correct!"

Khrushchev and Zhukov couldn't help but glanced at each other, they seemed to understand what Novikov meant.

Shulka also understands that the reform and organization of the Air Force is not as simple as that of the Army. The Army only needs to organize these people and equipment into one team and then build a top-down command system, and then pull it out to practice. That's about it.

But the Air Force, especially the Soviet Air Force of this era, almost wants to overthrow it and start over with a more scientific, reasonable, and combat-effective organization, which requires reasoning, verification, training, etc. division.

In fact, Novikov did exactly that. After all, Germany was the opponent of the Soviet Army. The Luftwaffe was able to knock down the Soviet Air Force so quickly and fiercely and rub it on the ground. This proves that their theory, organization and tactics are correct.

Just like the usual method used by the Germans, if you encounter a new enemy tactic and don't know how to deal with it, it is very simple to use the same tactic as the enemy.

The same is true for the Soviet Air Force at this time, so Novikov is doing a job, which is to collect information from pilots who have participated in the battle, or use reconnaissance planes to observe the formation and tactics of German fighter planes, etc.

And these will become the theoretical basis for the reform of the Soviet Air Force after integration.

For example, Novikov is famous for his pioneering use of the German two-machine formation tactics in Leningrad...

Prior to this, the Soviet army had continued to use the three-aircraft formation during World War I.

The three-aircraft formation may be suitable for World War I, because the fighter jets in World War I have weak firepower and slow speed. When the three-aircraft formation is facing the enemy head-on, it can attack the target from three directions at the same time, so the probability of achieving results in the first attack is very high.

However, with the advancement of the industry, fighter jets are getting faster and faster, and the defects of the three-aircraft formation are magnified: the three-aircraft formation is a leader aircraft with the first two wingmen behind, and there is no problem when flying in a straight line, but as long as it makes a turn, Especially when turning at a large angle, it is inevitable that the inner wingman must slow down because the angle is too large, while the outer wingman has to speed up to maintain formation because the distance of the outer wingman is lengthened. Unable to turn the nose in place.

In actual combat, it is necessary for fighter jets to turn at a large angle, which is a normal means to avoid enemy pursuit.

As a result, the lead plane and wingman in the three-aircraft formation were pinned down by each other. During the battle, the pilots spent a lot of energy on keeping up with the planes of their comrades instead of the enemy's. Inevitably suffer a loss.

Novikov made a decisive decision and ordered to change the three-aircraft formation into a two-aircraft formation in the air battle commanding Leningrad... There is no problem with the inside and outside of the two-aircraft formation, and the wingman can make the same angle as the lead plane directly behind and speed maneuvers.

This made Novikov famous in the first battle, and was soon promoted to the deputy defense people's commissar in charge of the air force. After completing the reform of the air force, he was promoted to the commander-in-chief of the air force.

"As I said, we need a few months!" Novikov changed his attitude: "If I can wait until then, I agree with this combat plan. But if before the reform of the Air Force..."

Speaking of Novikov, he shook his head helplessly: "It's not that I don't want to, it's not that we're not brave enough, or that the pilots don't work hard, but we have to face reality... At this time, our air force is like a loose sand, We cannot count on them in this state to help our military to victory!"

What he said was well-founded, and Khrushchev had nothing to say.

"We can't wait for a few months!" Zhukov said: "To be exact, Stalingrad can't wait for a few months!"

"So unfortunately!" Novikov spread his hands: "As I said, this plan won't work!"

"Why don't we talk about the reform of the Air Force?" Shulka said: "Maybe it won't take so long!"