USSR 1941

After the air force was in place, Novikov asked the various air force armies to take the initiative to engage in some small-scale battles with the enemy.

Although the combat situation is not ideal... this is determined by the quality of the pilots and fighter jets, but it is obvious that the combat efficiency is several times higher than before, which can be seen from the attendance rate and reaction time of the fighter jets.

"The response is very good!" Novikov said excitedly to Shulka: "All units report that they can receive their tasks in a timely and certain manner. Everyone knows what they have to do!"

Shulka knew what this meant: the mixed air force took off two batches of fighters at the same time, and the Air Force Army may have taken off three batches, four batches or even more aircraft.

That is to say, with the same number of fighters and pilots, the number of fighters that the Soviet army can invest and command at the same time is several times that of before, which undoubtedly enhances combat effectiveness, especially attack aircraft and bombers.

The reason why attack aircraft and bombers are emphasized is that they are mainly ground attack aircraft that cover infantry.

The fighter plane and the enemy mainly conduct air combat, which depends more on the performance of the fighter plane and the quality of the pilot.

But for attack aircraft and bombers, the quantitative advantage will definitely change qualitatively, especially for attack aircraft, which take off batch after batch to continuously bomb, straf, and reconnaissance. A large number means that infantry can break through the enemy's defense line more easily and quickly.

Therefore, to laymen, it seems that the reformed Air Force Group Army does not seem to be much different from before, but experts like Novikov know that there is a big difference.

Among them are the benefits brought about by headquarters optimization and fighter cluster operations, some of which are not discovered until they are actually put into the battlefield.

Prior to this, because an aviation division was operating in a mixed formation, the Soviet radar could only serve as an early warning of enemy fighter planes and could not guide its own troops... The radar at this time was still relatively backward, and there was no Identification system, so the fighter plane is just a bright spot or a signal wave on the radar.

Therefore, the radar soldiers cannot identify which are fighter planes, bombers or attack planes, so they have no way of guiding and cannot effectively command.

After the fighter planes are classified, the problem in this aspect is solved or partly solved, because it is only possible for fighter planes to take off from a certain airport, and it is only necessary to keep track of this fleet and report their distance and position from the enemy in due course, so the fighter planes The fleet can be prepared and accurately rush to the designated location to participate in the battle.

These were unimaginable before. The Soviet Air Force, especially the fighter planes, often failed to go into battle because they got lost when they reinforced friendly forces.

"You know, Comrade Shulka!" Novikov said with emotion: "Until now, I didn't feel that I was in command of the Air Force!"

Shulka understood what Novikov meant.

Although Novikov was also an air force commander before, but after he gave orders, there would always be such and such problems, as if he was commanding a group of disobedient children, some of whom could not even understand his words and would just run around Barking.

Now that the Air Force has been revamped, every plane is where it should be, so there is a real "command" feel to it.

Although the reform has been partially completed, the Air Force still needs a period of training.

At the same time, the infantry was undergoing intensive training and reorganization.

The reorganization of the infantry is not due to any organization or system issues, but to allocate troops and equipment according to the combat plan.

The distribution of strength is divided into two factions, one is the staff of the former Stalingrad Front Army (now the Don River Front Army) headed by Zhukov. The other faction is Shulka and Khrushchev.

"I think we should place our main forces on the Don Front and the Stalingrad Front!" Zhukov pointed to the map and said, "The Don Front is located to the north of Stalingrad, and the Stalingrad Front is located to the south of Stalingrad. Attack the river bank defended by the Romanian army from the north and the north, and advance in depth. This can encircle the German 6th Army and break the siege of Stalingrad in a very short period of time! As for the Southwest Front, it should open up another air force. In this way, whether we encircle the German 6th Army or successfully cut off the enemy's supply line, we can force the German army to be unable to maintain the attack on Stalingrad!"

Objectively speaking, what Zhukov said makes sense.

but……

"The purpose of doing this is to force the Germans to retreat, Comrade Zhukov!" Shulka said: "Although a small depth of interspersed encirclement can form an encirclement in a short period of time, it also means that we are far from the German Sixth Army. If it is too close, it is very easy to be flanked by the German 6th Army and the Romanian army and be surrounded by anti-encirclement, and eventually develop into a melee surrounded by each other!"

"But in this way our goal is achieved, isn't it?" Zhukov said: "The enemy has no time to attack Stalingrad, they must organize a breakout!"

"If our strategic goal is only to relieve the siege of Stalingrad, then it is indeed possible to win by doing so!" Shulka said: "But why is our strategic goal not to encircle and wipe out the German Sixth Army and simultaneously relieve the siege of Stalingrad?" ?”

These words immediately aroused commotion and objections in the conference room:

"That's impossible, Comrade Shulka, those are the elite German troops!"

"We can only hope that we can fight off the Germans and defend Stalingrad, which is already a great victory!"

"If we do this, it is likely to be bad. The Germans are not so easy to deal with!"

...

Although no one said it clearly, Shulka knew that from the very beginning, including Zhukov, they agreed with his plan to encircle the German Sixth Army, but they did not really want to encircle it. The city of Gele forced them away.

In fact, this is also the case in history. When the Soviet army launched a counterattack, it did not expect that it could successfully encircle the German 6th Army, because the German army was too strong compared to the Soviet infantry. The Soviet officers and soldiers had a deep fear of the German army. So most of them thought that the German army would break out easily.

The problem was that Hitler did not allow the German Sixth Army to break through.

The reason for not allowing it was because Goering assured Hitler that even if the Sixth Army was surrounded, he could rely on the Air Force to airlift enough supplies for the Sixth Army.

Hitler believed it.

As a result, the airlifted supplies were far from what was expected, and in the end the demise of the German Sixth Army was unavoidable.

"Of course we can!" At this moment Khrushchev stood up: "Nothing is impossible!"