The huge explosions one after another almost destroyed the entire pier with earth-shaking ferocity. Malashenko, who had entered the air raid shelter to temporarily avoid the air attack, felt the violent shaking of the concrete ground under his feet. This kind of entire underground
The sense that the building was about to collapse, with even the air-raid shelters trembling, was something Malashenko had never encountered before.
"Damn, the earth is shaking like this. It's like riding a roller coaster. No, it's more exciting than a fucking roller coaster! They say artillery is the god of war. No matter how powerful this field battle is in the face of air strikes,
The artillery group can only be regarded as a younger brother."
It’s exactly what Malashenko is complaining about at this moment.
Compared with this kind of planned carpet air strikes against a single fixed ground target or area, the traditional ground artillery group really pales in comparison to this level of powerful air strikes.
A heavy aerial bomb rains down bombs with explosive power measured in units of one hundred kilograms of TNT equivalent, enough to eclipse any large-caliber heavy artillery with a charge calculated in double-digit kilograms.
The earthquake-shaking air raid that turned the entire pier into a sea of ruins and flames came and went as quickly as it came. After the German bomber formation dropped all the one-ton heavy aerial bombs it carried, the pier's air defense positions were ravaged in a mess and suffered casualties.
The heavy-hit German BF109 fighter fleet also turned around and left together with the bomber formation.
Compared to the ruins of the wharf, which was already a sea of flames and ruins, the price paid by the well-prepared Luftwaffe in this air attack was only the drizzle of a total of 12 fighter planes shot down.
When the air raid ended, the German aircraft fleet had basically all fled away, and a formation of 24 Lagers and 12 MiG fighter jets belonging to the shore-based aviation arm of the Baltic Fleet arrived belatedly.
There is no advanced equipment such as long-range air search radar, which is still a black technology at the moment, to support the Baltic Fleet shore-based aviation pilots who maintain combat readiness at the airport and are on call at any time, until the airport dispatch headquarters receives a message from the superior terminal.
The news of the attack required an immediate attack and interception before setting off.
It’s just that this back-and-forth dilly-dallying and time-wasting has long missed the best opportunity to intercept the Germans. It only took less than twenty minutes from the sound of the air defense siren to the landing of the last aerial bomb, and the Soviet interceptor group was accurately calculated.
The Luftwaffe's approximate arrival time did not leave any chance to the former.
Although the Soviet pilots hovering over the messy dock were unwilling to do anything, they still had no other choice. The Germans who had already walked away did not leave any chance for the Soviet pilots to fight.
The German Air Force, which had a very clear tactical purpose, specifically targeted the Ladoga Lake pier for this trip. Any secondary goals other than this must serve the main goal first and should not be based on the Soviet aviation.
The target Luftwaffe has no need or reason to fight with it.
No matter how badly damaged the dock was after a massive bombing by the Germans, the Leningrad soldiers and civilians who had long been accustomed to the continuous bombing by the Luftwaffe did not complain too much and turned to the German aircraft fleet.
After Yuan Dun flew away, he immediately walked out of the air raid shelter and started to continue the unfinished work.
After all, complaining with your mouth cannot bring about any actual changes. Doing it with your hands can change the current bad situation more than talking with your mouth.
Walking his somewhat frivolous body along the long air-raid shelter corridor connected to the ground, he saw the sun again. Malashenko, who had experienced such a large-scale air raid for the first time, was still frightened, as if his soul was being roasted on a fire.
As for the near-death feeling of almost collapse and suffocation, Malashenko, who was still alive after the disaster, really didn’t want to experience it a second time.
"I really don't know how long this kind of days of being bombed every day will continue until the siege of Leningrad is lifted? Damn it!"
Knowing what he should do now, Malashenko immediately started shouting loudly to the people around him who had walked out of the air-raid shelter. Familiar names and accents were calling to the soldiers of the Independent First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion.
They all moved closer to their immediate superiors.
Malashenko, who had a thirsty mouth, yelled loudly for at least two minutes before summoning all his subordinates in the crowd around him.
After taking stock, Malashenko was pleasantly surprised to find that the experienced crews under his command who had just finished the battle at the Yelniya salient had not lost much.
These tank crews who have received professional military training and air defense drills are obviously much calmer when encountering air attacks than ordinary civilians who are chaotic and at a loss.
Although it sounds a bit disgraceful like a deserter, after the air raid siren sounded, the first batch of personnel who evacuated to the air raid shelter in an orderly manner according to the order to temporarily avoid the air raid included almost all of Malashenko's subordinates.
Vehicle crew.
Such a situation cannot be called a cowardly behavior in Malashenko's eyes. After all, no matter how powerful the tanks running on the ground are, they can't reach the aircraft in the sky. This is simply a complete conflict between the arms.
Fair fight.
Under such circumstances, it would be a complete idiot to remain stupid and not run away. The world-leading truth of leaving green hills without worrying about running out of firewood also applies to the battlefield.
As a battalion commander, Malashenko, who relies on his ability to use steel on the blade, naturally does not want to see his troops wasted in air strikes. The difficult ground battle in Leningrad has not yet officially begun for Malashenko.
start.
The time that went back and forth over and over again has gone from the dawn when Malashenko just arrived at the dock, to the cloudless sky in the east when the sun rises in the blink of an eye.
Unsure whether the Germans would continue to launch a second wave of air strikes to expand the results, Malashenko knew that time was running out. After counting the number of people, he immediately commanded the troops and began to rescue the tanks that had just been unloaded on the dock before the air strikes.
and equipment.
Although it is almost self-evident how much equipment could have survived the devastating air raid that shook the earth just now, but Malashenko, who knew that every tank was extremely precious in this difficult situation of being surrounded on three sides,
Unwilling to give up, even if he could only save one tank, it was meaningful to Malashenko.
Malashenko, who was disgraced by the rubble and various debris, led his troops to the battle in person. Like a scavenger, he began to manually clean and rummage through the ruins of the equipment unloading point in his memory.
The hard work paid off, and a shout of surprise echoed in Malashenko's ears just a few minutes later.