Chapter 1829

   After the two enemy planes entered the sky above the defense area of ​​the 41st Guards Division, they could not see the targets on the ground at all because of the smog below them. But the German pilots were unwilling to leave, so they kept circling in the air, hoping to continue looking for targets after the smoke cleared.

  Sokov saw the enemy plane hovering overhead, but he never took any action, and he was full of doubts: "Strange, why didn't the German planes attack, but kept circling in the air?"

Yakov looked up at the enemy planes in the sky, and said with a smile: "Misha, the reason is actually very simple. The smoke on the German positions was blown to us by the wind, and the enemy planes in the sky couldn't see the target at all. So the pilots We can only hover in the air and wait for the smoke to dissipate before attacking the ground."

   "Yasha, how did you get in touch with the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion?" Sokov frowned and said, "I absolutely cannot tolerate enemy planes flying over our heads and let the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion shoot them down."

   "This is easy to handle." Yakov said: "You call Colonel Sidolin and ask him to notify the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion to eliminate the enemy planes in the air."

Although the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion is only 300 meters away from the observation post, Sokov will not send anyone to directly notify the enemy planes to fire in the opposite direction. After all, this is a leapfrog command, which will make the commanders below feel slighted. It affected their enthusiasm, so Sokov still decided to complete the matter according to the procedure.

   "Colonel Sidolin?" After the phone call, Sokov said into the microphone: "I am Sokov."

"Yes, it's me, Comrade Commander." Sidolin knew that Sukov would not call him for no reason, and he must have important tasks to assign to him, so he asked quickly: "Do you have any instructions? "

   "Did you see the two enemy planes flying back and forth over the defense zone?"

  Sidorin, who was answering the phone, poked his head out of the window and looked into the sky. Sure enough, he saw two enemy planes circling in the sky. He quickly replied, "Yes, Comrade Commander."

"Now that you have seen it, why haven't you given the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion an order to shoot down the enemy planes?" Sokov said with some dissatisfaction, "Don't you just let the enemy planes turn around our heads?" ?"

Sidolin heard the dissatisfaction in Sokov's tone, and realized that his work was not in place, so he quickly admitted his mistake: "I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, it's all my fault, it's my lack of consideration. The anti-aircraft machine gun battalion ordered them to shoot down the enemy planes in the sky."

"Comrade Colonel," Sokov was very satisfied with Sidolin's attitude, and he said earnestly: "Even if the German pilots cannot find the target because of the smoke on the ground. But if they are not eliminated, wait until our army's When the ground attack begins, they will be bombed and strafed by them. Although the casualties caused by the two enemy planes are limited, they will have a negative impact on the morale of our troops."

   After receiving the order, the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion immediately opened fire on the enemy planes in the air. The enemy planes that were circling in the air never dreamed that they would be attacked by anti-aircraft fire from the ground. One of them was hit immediately, and then it flew obliquely for a distance with a long smoke trailing behind it. When the pilot parachuted, he slammed into the ground and exploded. Fortunately, it fell on an empty space without people, and the mudstone and metal fragments splashed by the explosion did not pose a threat to anyone.

  Seeing that an enemy plane was shot down, cheers erupted from the air defense position, and then focused fire on another enemy plane, preparing to shoot it down as well.

  But the pilot of the other enemy plane was very cunning. He saw his companion's plane was shot and crashed, so he quickly raised the altitude and quickly escaped from the fire blockade area of ​​​​the anti-aircraft machine gun. Although more than 20 rounds of anti-aircraft machine gun bullets hit the fuselage and punched a row of bullet holes, they still couldn't shoot it down because they missed the vital parts of the plane.

  Finally, the commanders and fighters of the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion on the ground could only watch helplessly as the enemy plane raised its altitude and wobbled towards the distance.

Seeing an enemy plane fleeing, Sidolin felt extremely embarrassed. He did not expect that the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion only shot down one enemy plane. He quickly called Sokov and took the initiative to admit his mistake: "I'm sorry, Commander Comrade, I did not complete the task well and let an enemy plane escape."

Sokov knew that using an anti-aircraft machine gun to shoot down an enemy plane was still a matter of luck, so he didn't blame Sidolin, but said kindly: "Colonel Sidolin, it is already very good to be able to shoot down an enemy plane." What a great record. Please express my gratitude to the commanders and fighters of the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion for achieving such a result."

But he felt that the Germans had suffered a loss, and he would definitely not let it go. He quickly reminded the other party: "Also, you tell the comrades in the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion that they just shot down an enemy plane, and the Germans will definitely take revenge. Let them Don't let your guard down and be ready for air defense operations at any time."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Sidolin replied, "I will convey your thoughts to them."

  Sokov's worries soon became a reality.

  In less than half an hour, eight enemy planes appeared in the sky, and they formed a formation of four, heading towards the position of the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion.

   Seeing the enemy plane getting closer and closer, Koshkin's expression suddenly became tense, and he shouted at Sokov: "Comrade Commander, it's not safe here, why don't you move quickly?"

   "Transfer, where to transfer?" Sokov said angrily: "There are so many enemy planes in the sky, and we have such a large group of people running out to be a target for the Germans?"

   Koshkin, who was blamed, did not dare to refute, so he could only turn to Yakov for help, hoping that he could say a few good words for him. Seeing this, Yakov hurriedly came out to smooth things over: "Misha, don't get angry, Lieutenant Koshkin is also kind. After all, the smoke has cleared at this moment, and the enemy planes in the air can clearly see the targets on the ground. Our observation post The possibility of being discovered again. I think, if it is possible, it should be transferred?"

"Yasha, it is precisely because there are a large number of enemy planes in the sky that we cannot transfer." Sokov said firmly: "Once we leave the observation post, we will be exposed to the sight of enemy pilots. You're going to be lambs to the slaughter, bombed and strafed by them."

  Although Sokov said these words once before, in order to dissuade Yakov from continuing to persuade him, he repeated them again.

Seeing that Yakov seemed to want to say something else, Shtemenko guessed that he was worried about the safety of himself and Sokov, so he hurried out to smooth things over: "Colonel Yakov, I think it's good to stay here. Don't look Enemy planes are hovering in the sky, but it is still a question of whether they can find us. But if we are exposed as soon as we leave here, I think it is better to stay."

   These enemy planes were not directed at the observation post at all. They rushed directly to the air defense position several hundred meters away. One after another, the planes swooped down one after another and dropped aerial bombs on the ground, causing smoke and flames to burst into the sky.

   At this moment, the anti-aircraft machine gun on the ground roared. Just as an enemy plane dived down, it was rolled over by the intensive crossfire in front of it, roared and crashed into the ground, exploded with a "boom", and then began to burn blazingly. Seeing the anti-aircraft firepower on the ground like a dream, the enemy planes that followed were frightened and quickly turned to avoid it.

  But the speed of the plane is no match for the bullets, and two enemy planes were hit during the climb. Thick smoke came out from under one wing, and it wobbled and flew back in the direction it came and went, while the other enemy plane, because the entire tail was shattered, fell from the air in a free fall, and fell to the ground after a while. Once on the ground, the pilot didn't even have the chance to parachute, so he died with the plane.

Seeing that the anti-aircraft machine gun battalion shot down two enemy planes and damaged one in just a few minutes, Sokov nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "It seems that the combat effectiveness of the air defense battalion of the 41st Guards Division Not bad, including the enemy plane just now, three planes have been shot down and one plane has been damaged."

  But Yakov was obviously not as optimistic as Sokov. He looked in the direction of the air defense position, his brows were furrowed into two knots: "Misha, don't you feel that the firepower on the air defense position is getting weaker?"

As soon as his words fell, an aerial bomb that fell from the sky exploded at a distance of more than 50 meters from the observation post. The blast wave pulled a soldier hiding nearby from the ground and threw it high into the air. Then it fell down again. Seeing the soldier lying there motionless after landing on the ground, Sokov guessed that he might have encountered misfortune.

  Seeing this situation, Sokov secretly screamed in his heart that something was wrong. Because the 3rd and 4th Divisions of the Airborne Forces, who are preparing to participate in the attack, are hiding not far from here. If enemy planes bomb them, it may cause huge casualties to the troops.

And Shitemenko was also aware of this, and he said to Sokov: "Comrade Sukov, your offensive troops are hiding not far away. If enemy planes launch air strikes there, it will definitely cause serious damage to the troops." Great casualties. Once you suffer heavy losses, you will have to postpone the attack."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov picked up the phone, connected to the Army Group Command, and said to Smirnov who answered the phone: "Please contact General Goryunov and request that the air force be dispatched to the sky over Safran. Our troops provide air support."

   Smirnov was taken aback for a moment, and then asked back: "Comrade Commander, what happened? You know, our offensive has not yet started, and it is obviously unrealistic to obtain air support."

Sokov hurriedly told Smirnov what happened here, and finally said: "An anti-aircraft machine gun battalion of the 41st Guards Division is staunchly defending, although it successfully shot down three and wounded one. If this air defense position is destroyed by the enemy, then the thousands of commanders and fighters we hide nearby may also be attacked by enemy planes. Once the troops suffer heavy casualties, the attack will have to be postponed.”

  Smirnov knew very well in his heart that if the attack time was delayed, it would disrupt the attack plan designated by the Front Army Command, which would definitely lead to reprimands from superiors. In order to avoid this situation, he quickly assured Sokov: "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, I will immediately contact General Goryunov and ask him to send the air force to provide you with air support."

  The remaining five enemy planes in the air swooped down towards the anti-aircraft position at the risk of being shot down, dropping bombs and strafing the anti-aircraft machine guns on the ground. After the enemy planes swooped down one after another, after dropping the bombs, they quickly pulled up the planes with the smoke from the explosion, preparing to circle in the air before attacking the air defense positions on the ground again.

Sokov stood at the door of the observation post, looking solemnly at the enemy planes in the air, listening to the increasingly sparse gunshots, feeling extremely heavy, and watched his air defense force being bombed and strafed by the enemy planes. , exhausted little by little, but powerless.

   Just then, four silver fighter planes appeared in the sky. The original four-aircraft formation of fighters immediately divided into two two-aircraft formations after reaching the sky above the defense zone, and rushed towards the few enemy planes that were raging in the sky.

  The anti-aircraft machine guns on the ground stopped firing. Sokov didn't know whether they were all sacrificed, or the anti-aircraft machine guns were all blown up by enemy planes, or they ran out of ammunition. His eyes were fixed on the fighter planes of both sides in the sky, watching them flying up and down in different spaces and chasing each other.

  The German bombers were no match for the Soviet fighters, and they were all shot down in less than five minutes. The supremacy of the air over the battlefield has returned to the side of the Soviet army.

"Lieutenant Koshkin," Sokov called Koshkin in front of him and told him, "Take someone to the anti-aircraft position immediately, see what's going on there, and come back and report to me as soon as possible. Understand? "

   "Understood." Koshkin replied loudly, turned around and left the observation post, called two soldiers, and led them towards the air defense positions.

  The phone in the observation station rang, and Sokov picked up the receiver: "I'm Sokov!"

"Comrade Commander!" Smirnov's voice came from the receiver: "I followed your order and got in touch with General Goryunov. He said that his main air force will wait until the ground offensive begins. I was worried that it would delay your work, so I contacted General Ryazanov and asked him to send fighter jets to support him."

"Comrade Chief of Staff." After listening to Smirnov, Sokov realized why the fighter jet formation came so quickly. It turned out to be General Ryazanov's subordinates. The airport where they were stationed was less than 50 kilometers away from here. Can arrive at the battlefield in a very short time: "Please express my gratitude to General Ryazanov. It is precisely because his subordinates arrived on the battlefield in time that we can minimize the loss."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will convey your thoughts to General Ryazanov. If you need anything else, please call me, and I will do my best to assist you."

  As soon as the phone was put down here, there was the scream of shells piercing the air. Soon, Sokov saw those shells fall again on the German positions that had just cleared the smoke. Seeing that the enemy's position was quickly shrouded in gunpowder smoke again, Sokov knew in his heart that this was the second round of shelling by the artillery of the front army. When this round of shelling was over, the ground troops would formally launch an attack on the enemy's position.

  (end of this chapter)