"Comrade Sokov, I'm calling you because I hope you can cover and assist the 7th Guards Army in crossing the river." After Zakharov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he said with a smile: "I didn't expect you.
Not only has this been taken into consideration, but it has also been implemented.”
Sokov understood the current situation very well and would never be complacent or get carried away just because of a few words of praise from Zakharov. He waited for the other party to finish and then said cautiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, although my troops occupied
Jinki Town has temporarily eliminated the threat of the enemy blocking the Dnieper River with artillery fire, but it is still not an easy task for the 7th Guards Army to successfully cross the river."
"Why?"
"The enemy cannot block the river with artillery fire. They may dispatch the air force to bomb the troops crossing the river." Although Sokov did not intend to ask Goryunov for help, he still kindly reminded Zakharov: "In order to ensure the crossing of the river,
It goes well, I'm afraid the superiors will dispatch the air force to cooperate with General Shumilov's actions."
"You reminded me very timely, General Sokov." Zakharov heard what Sokov said and said with emotion: "If you hadn't reminded me, I almost forgot that the enemy's air force is still very powerful and they are fully capable.
It caused huge losses to the troops crossing the river. I will contact General Goryunov shortly and ask him to dispatch the necessary fighter planes to provide the necessary air cover for the ground troops."
"Speed, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." Sokov warned worriedly: "Whether the 7th Guards Army can establish a stable landing site on the right bank depends entirely on their crossing speed."
"I understand, I understand." Zaharov said repeatedly: "General Shumilov's troops can only reduce losses by crossing the river as quickly as possible. I will discuss this issue with Comrade Commander later and see if we can
What kind of help can be provided to them?”
…………
At dawn, engineers of the 7th Guards Army repaired the pontoon bridge on the Dnieper River.
The pontoon bridge had just been repaired, and the 111th Guards Division, which had been waiting on the shore for a long time, immediately took the company as a three-way column, trotted across the pontoon bridge, and rushed to the right bank to join the commanders and fighters of the 188th Division there.
The 2nd Guards Regiment was the first to cross the bridge. When they arrived at the right bank, the company commander who was walking at the front saw a lieutenant colonel standing on the bank. He quickly ran over and raised his hand to salute him.
Respectfully said: "Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I am the company commander of the 1st Battalion and 1st Company of the 2nd Regiment of the 111th Guards Division. Who are you?"
"Hello, comrade captain." The lieutenant colonel stretched out his hand to hold the first company commander's hand, and replied with a smile: "Let me introduce myself, I am Lieutenant Colonel Majevo, commander of the 562nd Regiment of the 188th Infantry Division. I am here under orders.
Came to greet you."
After the two exchanged pleasantries, Majevo called an officer and told him: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, take this captain and his troops to the place we have arranged for them."
The second lieutenant agreed, and then said to the first company commander: "Comrade Captain, we have prepared a defensive area for you a long time ago. I will take you there right now."
After his subordinates left with the first company commander, Majewo continued to stand by the river, waiting for the leader of the Guards Regiment who would arrive at an unknown time.
Major Golia, commander of the second battalion, came over and asked: "Comrade commander, do the two anti-aircraft machine guns we captured need to be deployed by the river immediately?"
The two 14.5 mm caliber quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns captured by the Second Battalion were regarded as treasures by Majevo and were reluctant to use them because Sokov once said they could be used for horizontal fire against German armored vehicles and infantry.
At this moment, after hearing Golia's inquiry, he thought for a while, nodded slightly, and said: "Comrade Major, just place those two anti-aircraft machine guns by the river. If the German planes are really coming, they can hit them hard."
Teach them a lesson."
Golia agreed, turned around and left, preparing to go back to his camp to gather men and deploy the two captured anti-aircraft machine guns by the river to guard against possible enemy planes.
Before the anti-aircraft machine guns were deployed, more than a dozen enemy planes appeared in the sky.
The German commander saw countless people moving on the pontoon bridge on the river, and excitedly conveyed an order to his subordinates: "The Russian pontoon bridge was found below. All aircraft immediately lowered their altitude and prepared to drop bombs to blow up the pontoon bridge on the river; use
Machine gun fire on the bridge and the Russians who fell into the water..."
After receiving the order, the enemy planes lowered their flying altitude and dived towards the pontoon bridge on the Dnieper River. When the distance was about the same, they successively dropped the aerial bombs carried by the planes.
However, the aerial bombs that fell from the sky did not hit the pontoon bridge. Instead, they landed around the bridge and exploded. Water columns shot up into the sky, and the splashing water drenched the soldiers on the pontoon bridge.
When the German pilots saw that they had not hit the target, they pulled up the plane, hovered at high altitude for a while, and then dived down again. The leading enemy planes were the first to drop aerial bombs towards the pontoon bridge, but they still failed to hit the target. But this time
The explosion point was very close to the pontoon bridge. A dozen unlucky commanders and soldiers fell into the river one after another when a water column near the pontoon bridge rose into the sky.
Some of the officers and men who fell into the water were cut down by flying shrapnel, and some were rushed into the river by the air waves of the explosion. After falling into the river, the uninjured officers and men jumped to the edge of the bridge, grabbed the wooden board, and tried hard to move forward.
Climbing up. After the wounded commanders and soldiers fell into the water, they were washed downstream by the fast river. The blood flowing from their wounds was quickly diluted by the current.
Seeing this, Majevo, who was standing on the shore, turned to Golia and asked loudly: "Major, when will your anti-aircraft machine guns be in position?"
"Come on, come on," Hearing that Majiewo kept urging him, Golia couldn't help but feel a little anxious. He first urged his subordinates, and then turned back to Majiewo and said: "Comrade leader, give me three more minutes.
We can put the anti-aircraft machine guns in place."
Seeing enemy planes dive-bombing the pontoon bridge and the commanders and soldiers crossing the bridge, the anti-aircraft guns on the left bank opened fire. Clouds of black smoke burst into the air, and were quickly blown away by the wind.
In order to avoid the anti-aircraft guns on the left bank, the enemy planes gradually flew closer to the right bank, dropping bombs and strafing at the pontoon bridge and the commanders and fighters on it. Because they did not find any anti-aircraft firepower at this location, they flew at a very low altitude.
However, what the German pilots did not expect was that it was not that there was no anti-aircraft firepower on the right bank, but that it had not been deployed yet. Seeing that two anti-aircraft machine guns had been deployed, Golia decisively gave the order to fire.
As the order was given, two anti-aircraft machine guns suddenly opened fire, and eight tongues of flames spewed out from the eight barrels rolled towards the low-flying German aircraft. The German army cluster that had just completed a new round of bombings was suddenly attacked from the ground.
The fire struck, and it immediately hurriedly raised up like a frightened rabbit.
But one unlucky aircraft was hit by an armor-piercing bullet from an anti-aircraft machine gun. It pulled up desperately and flew diagonally towards the German defense zone, with a long black smoke drawn out from behind the tail fin.
Seeing this scene, Majewo excitedly waved his fist and said excitedly: "I hit it, I hit it, brothers are really great."
The enemy plane that was hit flew forward not far, and suddenly lost control and fell downwards. A black shadow popped out of the cockpit, and then the plane fell to the ground. After the explosion, a ball of fire rose up. The black shadow just now opened.
Parachute, slowly falling downwards.
Seeing the German pilot parachuting, Majewo quickly shouted to the side: "Here comes someone, someone comes here!"
A sergeant came to him and asked: "Comrade commander, what are your instructions?"
"Comrade Sergeant," Majevo pointed to the parachute still floating in the air and said to the sergeant: "Take a squad and bring back the German pilot. Don't let him escape back to the Germans.
go."
"Don't worry, comrade commander." The sergeant said confidently, "I will never give him a chance to escape over there."
"Stop dawdling, sergeant." Sergeant Majevo seemed to have a lot to say, so he interrupted him and urged: "When the Germans see their pilots parachute later, they will definitely send troops.
In response, you must catch the pilot alive before they do. Do you understand?"
"clear."
After the sergeant led the people away, Majewo turned his attention to the pontoon.
Although the German bombing and strafing did not blow up the pontoon bridge, many bridge decks began to burn. The soldiers crossing the bridge had to risk crossing the burning place. There were some unlucky soldiers who did not move quickly enough.
, when passing through the burning bridge, their clothes and pants were ignited by the fire, and they had to jump into the river to extinguish the flames on their bodies.
Golia returned to Majewo, looked at the burning area on the pontoon bridge, and asked Majewo anxiously: "Comrade leader, you see, there are several bridge decks on the pontoon bridge that are burning. If they are allowed to burn,
If you go down, the bridge will soon be burned through."
"Calm down, Comrade Major." After hearing this, Majevo said expressionlessly: "Our task is only to meet the friendly forces crossing the river. As for the flames on the pontoon bridge deck, friendly engineers will naturally be responsible for extinguishing the fire.
"
Hearing what Majewo said, Golia sighed softly and stood aside without saying a word. He just looked at the burning bridge deck and the commanders and soldiers who were walking through the fire and even had to jump into the water.
Although they are worried about their safety, in their own position, they are powerless.
Fortunately, the engineers on the left bank discovered that the bridge deck of the pontoon bridge had been hit by bullets and was on fire. They immediately came over with various tools and wooden planks. They were going to extinguish the flames on the bridge deck and then repair the damaged bridge deck.
Since both sides of the Taiwan Strait had anti-aircraft firepower, the German bombers did not dare to fly too low to avoid becoming targets of anti-aircraft firepower. They could only hover at high altitudes, looking for the right time to dive and drop bombs.
But before the German bombers could find the fighter planes, the Soviet fighter planes arrived on the battlefield and attacked the German aircraft. The aircraft of both sides started fighting over the Dnieper River. For a time, dozens of Soviet and German aircrafts,
Different heights of lift and roll.
With no worries, the engineers of the 7th Guards Army rushed onto the pontoon bridge, carrying tools and materials to repair the bridge deck damaged by German aircraft, so that the following troops could pass smoothly.
The anti-aircraft firepower deployed on both sides of the Taiwan Strait stopped shooting with the arrival of Soviet fighter planes to avoid accidentally injuring their own people. The anti-aircraft gunners and anti-aircraft machine gunners stood next to their weapons, looking up into the sky, watching the Soviet and German air force.
duel.
One Soviet fighter aircraft performed particularly well. It either dived down from a high altitude and shot at the cockpit of the enemy aircraft, or quickly pulled up from below to attack the belly of the enemy aircraft. Facts have proved that his tactics were
It was very effective. In just a few minutes, two enemy planes were shot down by him, and a wounded enemy plane dragged a long smoke tail and escaped from the sky above the Dnieper River.
"This pilot is not bad." The outstanding performance of the fighter plane was clearly seen by Majevo on the ground. He turned to Golia and said: "Comrade Major, if our air force can have a few more pilots like this, then the first
The air control over the Nieper River will be firmly in our hands."
"That's right," Golia nodded and said, "We should report this pilot's heroic deeds to our superiors and request that he be given the honor he deserves."
While the two were talking, Majewo suddenly exclaimed: "Oh my God, what is he going to do?"
Golia quickly looked up into the sky and saw the fighter plane just discussed rushing towards an enemy plane. But for some reason, the pilot did not fire. Golia thought: Could it be because of the bullet?
When the light is gone, the pilot wants to rush over and collide with the enemy plane?
Soon enough, just as the two planes were about to collide, the Soviet fighter plane suddenly made a ninety-degree rotation and slammed one wing into the German plane's wing. The German plane
The wings of the plane broke apart, and then the entire plane lost control, rolled in the air and fell to the ground. It soon fell into the ground and made an earth-shattering explosion.
Looking at the Soviet fighter plane again, although the fuselage shook a little after level flight, it could obviously continue to fly.
Seeing this, Majewo couldn't help but raise his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and said with emotion: "This pilot is really great. He can actually use this tactic to shoot down the enemy plane. It's incredible."
"I really didn't expect it," Golia also echoed: "When I saw the fighter plane ramming towards the enemy plane, my heart was in my throat, thinking that both sides would definitely perish together. I didn't expect that the pilot was so brave and wanted to
Using such a move to kill the enemy's aircraft was simply awesome."
Compared with the German bombers, the Soviet fighter planes that appeared over the Dnieper River not only had an advantage in numbers, but also far exceeded the enemy's maneuverability. Therefore, less than ten minutes after the battle, the surviving German bombers were all
They left the battlefield one after another and flew towards their home airport.
After driving away the German bombers, the Soviet fighter planes returned home after running out of ammunition. The rest of the Soviet fighter planes stayed on patrol over the Dnieper River, ready to destroy any German planes that suddenly appeared.
The flames on the pontoon bridge were completely extinguished thanks to the efforts of the engineers of the 7th Guards Army. The damaged bridge decks were also replaced or repaired to prevent the commanders and soldiers crossing the river from missing the bridge.
Seeing that the pontoon bridge was basically repaired, Majewo raised his hand to look at his watch and said to Goliath: "Now that the pontoon bridge has been repaired, I think the commander of the 2nd Guards Regiment will cross the river soon. After he crosses the river,
, he and I will hand over the defense, and then we can take you to the rear for rest and recuperation."