USSR 1941

Paulus immediately sent a fighter brigade and two attack aircraft brigades to join the battle. (A brigade of about 30 aircraft)

At this time, the German army actually did not have serious "strike aircraft", and its ground attack missions were usually "Stuka" bombers and "Henschel" attack aircraft. The real "attack aircraft" should be in 1944. The "Protruding Claw Eagle" developed... "Protruding Claw Eagle" is also the prototype of the American A10 attack aircraft.

From this perspective, the innovations of the Americans are not very good. Attack aircraft, helicopters, and missiles all came from German ideas, and even the moon landing was completed by German scientists.

This time, the Germans sent the "Henschel" attack aircraft.

It was sent because the "Henschel" attack aircraft was more suitable for fighting in low visibility than the "Stuka" dive bomber... The reason why the "Stuka" dive bomber is called "Dive bomber" is because it needs to dive towards the target at a higher altitude, which enables it to obtain higher speed and momentum towards the target, so that the accuracy can be improved in series.

But this also determines that it needs to see the target at a higher position. In rainy weather, it can't see the target at all, so it can't aim and dive. If this kind of bomber is forced to dive on the target, it will be very dangerous. .

The "Henschel" attack aircraft, known as a tank opener, is an attack aircraft with a cannon. It can fly at low altitude and use armor-piercing shells to attack enemy ground armor targets. The altitude difference is low so that it can be used in poor visibility Even perform tasks at night.

Colonel William was in command of this reinforcement.

In fact, Colonel William is mainly in command of the fighter unit, because there is no doubt that the fighter is definitely more important when the fighter and the attack aircraft jointly perform missions... The fighter is responsible for the task of protecting the safety of the attack aircraft. If the goal is higher, it is to destroy all the enemies. Things that can fly in the air, even anti-aircraft guns on the ground, and then the attack aircraft can safely attack the enemy's armored targets.

"I don't like to fight in this kind of weather!" Colonel William looked at the surrounding sky and said to the adjutant through the walkie-talkie: "I feel danger everywhere, and this kind of weather is very suitable for the enemy to ambush!"

"Don't worry, sir!" the adjutant replied: "Even if there are enemies in ambush, we can beat them away! Remember? We captured a young cabbage last time..."

As he spoke, he laughed "haha" with several people.

The so-called "tender cabbage" was a Soviet pilot.

The German army always likes to call those enemy pilots who are shot down and can parachute in time as "cabbage".

Because the combination of parachute and pilot looks like a cabbage.

And "cabbage" is often of high value to German pilots.

First of all, it is because there is an unwritten rule among the pilots, that is, once the pilot successfully parachutes, the plane will not attack and let it land.

It is said that even American and Japanese pilots abide by this unwritten rule, until the Japanese army was beaten in the Pacific battlefield in the middle and late period and began to go crazy and ignore everything, so they ignored this rule.

Secondly, pilots are of great value to both the enemy and us.

The reason is that it takes time and cost to train a pilot, and the combat experience of being shot down is even more rare and valuable, so if the pilot can be rescued, he will soon be able to fly into the sky and fight again even better than before.

Therefore, for the enemy, it is necessary to make every effort to capture the enemy's landing pilots.

In the previous air battle near Stalingrad, the German army destroyed Soviet fighter planes one after another, and of course there were many "cabbage" that fell from the sky.

But the situation of the captives disappointed the German pilots, because each of the "cabbage" was only eighteen or nine years old, and some of them went to the sky to fight after only a few months of learning to fly, and it became meaningless to capture them.

The Germans also referred to these pilots as "tender cabbages".

It means that the combat quality and experience of Soviet pilots are not at the same level as them.

However, Colonel William was not as optimistic as his subordinates. Sometimes he drove the plane out of the team to conduct reconnaissance, and sometimes let the plane fly upside down to observe the blind spot.

But nothing was found along the way.

The adjutant was a little strange about Colonel William's cautiousness, and he asked, "Colonel, have you noticed anything?"

"I'm not sure, Eric!" Colonel William replied: "That's a bad feeling, although I know that most of the Russian pilots are rookies, but... I don't know if you have noticed, their combat effectiveness is obviously Enhanced, I mean recently!"

When Colonel William said this, the German pilots fell silent.

What Colonel William said was true, everyone actually felt similar pressure... In the past, the Russian air force operations were very chaotic, or it could be said that the reaction speed was very slow, and the German pilots could easily finish one shot and then another one slice.

But now, the Russian fleet is elusive one after another, and there is still coordination with each other.

In other words, although the people are still those people, and the planes are still those planes, their combat effectiveness is not the same.

"I believe they're growing!" Colonel William said, "or you can say learning, and learning fast, which means they're getting harder and harder, which means we have to be more and more careful, understand? "

"Yes, Colonel!"

"Yes, Colonel!"

...

"Twenty miles away from the target!" Major William then ordered: "Get ready for battle, pay attention, our task is to ensure the safety of the B fleet!"

"Yes, Colonel!"

At this moment, the adjutant suddenly exclaimed: "Enemy plane, three o'clock direction!"

"And ten o'clock! They're everywhere, at least twice as many as we are!"

"The colonel was right, we were ambushed by them!"

...

Colonel William gritted his teeth and ordered: "Get ready to fight!"

William looked around, and then added: "Order B fleet, the mission is cancelled, let them return immediately!"

After hesitating for a while, Colonel William added: "Fleet A, the mission is cancelled, your task is no longer to protect fleet B! Fight freely!"

Colonel William's orders were correct, and he knew immediately that the mission could no longer be carried out normally.

At the same time, he canceled the order for the fighter planes to protect the attack planes... This is because he clearly knows that in the face of such a large enemy fleet, and the opponents are all fighter planes and he is prepared, if his own fighter planes stick to their missions and want to protect the attack planes If not, the result is that no one can escape from here.