Fighter planes need lights when taking off. Without lights at the airport means that the airport knows nothing about the enemy situation. Or, they know that the Germans are landing on the Taman Peninsula but they did not expect that the Germans would arrive at the airport Solione Airport so soon.

This is indeed the case.

This is not only because of Major General Kotov’s misjudgment mentioned earlier, but also because the Soviet air force was being reorganized at this time... Before that, the Soviet Air Force should have called it the "Aviation Force".

Simply put, there is no independent air force but only aviation corpses, such as the commander aviation, front-end aviation, army aviation... These aviation corps are commanded by various front-end and even army armies among the Soviet troops.

This obviously has many problems, such as infantry commanders usually do not have experience in air combat and do not know how to properly command air combat. Mehlis made such a mistake in the Battle of Kerch Peninsula.

For example, the air force is scattered among infantry and cannot flexibly mobilize according to the needs of the battlefield, and cannot achieve information sharing... This army was attacked and could not mobilize other army aviation reinforcements. Because it did not have this power, a ridiculous scene often occurred in the early stages of Soviet-German air battle: when German fighter jets flew over the Soviet Union in large numbers, the Soviet air force had only a small number of air forces to fight on the other hand, but a large number of fighter jets were idle on the ground.

The reason is that they did not receive any orders to fight, and their commanders believed that it was the business of other armies and had nothing to do with them.

But this thing in the air does not require advancement through lines of defense like land operations. The Luftwaffe will soon turn its target to fighter jets that are parked at the airport and have not taken off... In other words, at least half of the Soviet fighter jets were eliminated on the ground before they even took off.

In order to eliminate these disadvantages, the Soviet army began to reorganize the aviation force from May 1942 to establish an independent air force, namely the Air Force Group Army.

In the Caucasus region is the 4th Air Force Army, commanded by Versining, which concentrates fighter jets originally scattered in the Southern Army into an Air Force Army for unified command.

Colonel Khrizov, the 11th Aviation Division stationed at Solione Airport, faced such an embarrassing situation. He didn't even know who his superior should ask for instructions or ask for information at this time.

Should fighter jets withdraw from Solione Airport?

This may be the right choice, because the enemy's location is too close to the airport, only 35 kilometers... This is obviously very dangerous for fighter jets.

However, on the one hand, this will be regarded as "cowardly and cowardly" by superiors. On the other hand, if the front line needs support from fighter jets after dawn, it will miss the opportunity to fight.

Don’t fighter planes withdraw from the airport?

Then the more than 200 fighter jets of the Aviation Division could only wait quietly for the verdict of fate in the airport.

Just as Colonel Khrizov was hesitating, gunshots suddenly came from outside the airport. Colonel Khrizov stood up from his chair like a spring and looked out the window, then turned to ask the staff officer: "What's going on? Why are there gunshots?"

"I don't know, Comrade Khrizov!" The staff officer replied: "It may be that our people had a conflict with the deserter!"

"Is it the enemy?" Khrizov asked again.

The staff officer looked at the watch and replied: "It shouldn't be the case. Now it's only an hour and fifteen minutes before the Germans landed on the Taman Peninsula. They can't be so fast..."

Before he finished speaking, a guard hurriedly ran in and reported, "Col. It's German. They've hit here!"

Khrizov's face turned pale. After a moment of silence, he shouted: "Hurry, order all planes to take off!"

But it's too late to issue this order...

The first infantry regiment was the one who fought to the airport.

The scouts walking in front did not launch an attack after reaching their destination. All parts of the German army knew when they should do what they should do. The most important thing about scouts is not scouts is to reconnaissance rather than combat.

So, they did the necessary reconnaissance and sketched the defense of the airport at a high place without disturbing the enemy.

So Qin Chuan learned at the first time that the frontal defense is stronger, and there are five fortresses that are troublesome. The side door defense is weaker, with only two bunkers on one left and one right.

"We should attack from the front!" Qin Chuan said.

"Why?" asked Colonel Slain.

"The side door seems easier to attack, but it is farther from the airport runway!" Qin Chuan replied: "And there is also a construction area on the way. Once the Soviets entangle us in the construction area, the enemy's fighter planes may take this time to escape."

Colonel Slain nodded. Although it took time for the fighter to take off, every time a fighter plane flew away, it would be a loss for the Germans.

"On the contrary, as long as the main gate can break through quickly, they can seize the runway as soon as possible!" Qin Chuan pointed to the sketch and said, "As long as our tanks can drive near the runway... they can't even escape a single plane!"

So Colonel Slain stopped thinking about it and immediately ordered: "Attack from the main gate!"

Three 38T tanks rumbled up, followed by a large number of German soldiers.

The Soviet guards had not even realized that the enemies were in front of them, and they shouted and cursed, as if they were very dissatisfied with the tanks turning on the dazzling headlights toward them.

The next second, the tank stopped, and then fired a shell at the bunker with a "boom". At the same time, the machine gun fired rows of bullets at the Soviet soldiers... Blood was rushing out from the Soviet soldiers under the headlights of the tank. Because the light was very strong, even the blood drippings scattered into the air could be seen clearly.

Then the German army launched a fierce attack on the main gate.

The tank continued to advance, and the soldiers followed the tank tightly and slowly moved forward, occasionally poking out from behind to fire a shuttle bullet in the direction of the Soviet army... Since the German army used MP43, even though they occasionally poked their heads to shoot, their firepower was much stronger than that of the Soviet army.

Several Soviet soldiers hurriedly hid in the bunker and set up machine guns to fire, but the bullets hit the tank's armor without posing any threat to the German army except for making crisp sounds!

"Go up and blow it up!" A Soviet officer ordered: "Don't let the tank approach, otherwise we will be done!"

The officer was right. The bunker cannot be moved, but the tank can move. When the tank moves to the bunker... the enemy can rush up and stuff grenades and explosives into the bunker.

But the Soviet officer was wrong. The German army did not need to rush to this distance to stuff grenades and explosives into the bunkers.
Chapter completed!