aircannonsinc Chapter 1157
Chapter 1157
A large number of fighters suddenly appeared in the German Air Force to join the battle, which immediately changed the balance of power.
The Soviet pilots who had been drawn out of part of their forces had lost their numerical advantage and had to fight hard first.
At this moment, facing an opponent whose number was almost twice theirs and whose quality was better than theirs, they were all desperate!
The large-scale air battle lasted for more than five hours and ended with the victory of the German army.
This air battle was the largest, most intense, and most devastating air battle in human history.
In the air battle, both sides successively invested 7,800 fighter planes, including 4,300 German and 3,500 Soviet.
After the battle, the Germans lost nearly 500 fighter planes, while the Soviets lost more than 1,700 fighter planes.
The Soviet Air Force, with more than half of its casualties, was almost completely destroyed, although there were still many remaining fighter planes.
But after they lost air superiority, the airports in the rear were the first to be attacked by German bombers.
After destroying these airports, the Soviet pilots faced an embarrassing situation: they couldn’t find a suitable place to land!
As a result, a large number of pilots had to abandon their beloved fighters and choose to parachute to escape.
Some brave pilots also tried to park their fighters in the wild, such as in grasslands, wheat fields, lakes or rivers.
However, these places do not have a complete logistics support system like airports. When landing here, the aircraft cannot be repaired and maintained, and there is no way to replenish fuel and ammunition.
So even if they landed smoothly, their fighters did not have the ability to continue fighting, and could only wait for the Germans to discover and destroy them one by one.
The disastrous defeat of the Air Force also affected the Army.
Without air superiority, the German bomber groups can bomb them more unscrupulously.
It was only a small-scale bombing before, but now it has become a large-scale, long-term bombing.
This time, the pressure on the Soviet army suddenly increased!
What’s worse than this is that the German bombers took off directly from the mainland and bombed the city of Mins in the rear.
After receiving the order, the Soviet troops in Mins City were desperately building the defense line during this period. As a result, the German bombing came before the defense line was built.
Facing the fierce bombing of B-52, the Soviet soldiers were killed and wounded, and they abandoned the outer positions and retreated back to the city.
As a result, affected by the bombing, the defense line that was originally expected to be built before the German troops came over was still not built until the two German armies were at the gates of the city!
Without the protection of the outer defense line, facing an isolated city, the difficulty of the German attack instantly dropped a level!
“Three days!”
Guderian looked back at the troops under his command, feeling extremely proud!
“In three days, we completed a large-scale mobile operation of more than 500 kilometers behind enemy lines, creating a miracle in the history of war!”
It took only three days to run 500 kilometers, and it was in the enemy’s rear. This is an extraordinary achievement.
Such a fast speed was unexpected by the Soviet army.
When the Soviet army in Mins saw two German troops rushing to their side, one in the south and one in the north, they were stunned for a long time and could not react!
“How come the Germans are so fast?”
Looking at the Germans who appeared on the north and south sides of them like a god, and immediately deployed their formations and prepared to launch an attack, the Soviet army in Mins was still a little confused. They felt like they were dreaming.
Three days ago, weren’t the Germans still 500 kilometers away?
How come they suddenly came to the city?
“Let the troops rest immediately, send people to help the artillery units build positions, and after the artillery positions are built, immediately launch artillery fire on the Soviet troops in Mins. I will go to the north in person to meet with General Bock!”
Guderian was in a hurry. After issuing a series of orders, he left quickly. With his guard battalion, he bypassed the city of Mins in front of hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops, ran to the German camp in the north, and met General Bock.
General Bock was still a little surprised by Guderian’s sudden visit.
The other party was the commander of an army group like himself, and there was no difference in rank, the same as him.
And the other party’s reputation in the army is much higher than his!
After all, Guderian has been leading troops to fight since 1919. He has fought many more battles than Bock, and has had several very outstanding performances.
For example, in the Second German-Polish War, Guderian’s The troops bypassed the front of the Polish army and ran hundreds of kilometers from the side to cut off the enemy’s retreat.
For example, in the Gallic Campaign, Guderian’s First Army unexpectedly set out from the Ardennes Forest and cut off the connection between the Benelux and other allied forces and Gaul in one fell swoop, causing the Allied forces to completely collapse!
Compared with Guderian, General Bock had very few achievements to show for himself, so he thought that his position in the army was not as good as his.
Originally, he was ready to go to the south and take the initiative to meet Guderian.
Unexpectedly, the other party was faster and arrived one step ahead.
Moreover, seeing that Guderian only brought a guard battalion with him, Bock was even more surprised.!
“”General Guderian, you didn’t encounter any danger along the way, did you?”
Bock asked with concern.
Guderian thought for a moment and shook his head:”There are a lot of troubles, but I haven’t encountered any danger yet!”
He thought the danger the other party mentioned was being attacked and harassed by the Soviet army on the march. As a result, the danger Bock mentioned was that he was running around with so many soldiers in the guard battalion in front of hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops. Didn’t the other party have any idea about him?
Seeing the flag of the First Army, the Soviet army should know what opponent they are facing, right?
In this case, seeing that the opponent’s commander was so careless, shouldn’t they send troops to intercept Guderian?
Why didn’t the Soviet army do this?
This is really abnormal!
“By the way, I came here to discuss with you, General Bock, and assign our respective tasks!”
Guderian didn’t want to fight in street battles, so he planned to give the credit for conquering Mins to Bock’s Eighth Army.
After all, this was the first time that Bock commanded an army group, and the Battle of Mins was his first battle.
If he could win the first battle and gain some military exploits, it would be of great help in establishing his prestige within the Northern Army Group.
Besides, for Guderian, his military exploits were already countless, and he didn’t lack this one.
Moreover, the First Army was good at field battles and long-distance raids, but not good at street fighting.