Chapter One Thousand and One: The Decisive Battle Begins
Compared with the increasingly tense war situation, it was only a trivial matter for Chinese soldiers to bring a Soviet woman to her house after having her belly enlarged. Therefore, Zhang Zizhong quickly forgot about it. At around three o'clock that afternoon, as the Chinese and Soviet troops The aviation forces under the German Group A have successively sent out a sufficient number of fighter planes to compete for air supremacy in the battlefield area. The Battle of Osa has entered the final stage. To this day, the three warring parties no longer dare to take any chances regarding the importance of air supremacy. And because Manstein wanted to use his own strengths to attack the other's weaknesses, the Soviet air force was the nemesis of its superior armored forces. Therefore, even though he knew that his own air power was weaker than his opponent's, he could only bite. Zhu Ya ordered the air force under his command to come out in full force, hoping that the sacrifice of the air force could be exchanged for the armored forces to retain a greater advantage.
Chen Chong was promoted to the commander of the expeditionary force aviation force after defeating the German ace pilot Hartmann. He therefore became the youngest general and commander of the Chinese Air Force. Perhaps inspired by this appointment, After that, the pilots of the aviation force directly under the expeditionary force performed particularly bravely. Under the leadership of Chen Chong, they successively won many local battles against the German Air Force, and gradually changed the air power balance between the two warring parties in the Osa region. , thereby overpowering the Soviet Russians and Germans and becoming the real master of this airspace,
A new combat mission was issued, and Chen Chong smelled the atmosphere of a decisive battle. He knew that his real test since taking office as the commander of the aviation force directly under the expeditionary force was coming, because the expeditionary force did not have an advantage even with the ground forces of the Soviet Red Army, and the heavy weapons The equipment was far weaker than that of the German army, so he understood Zhang Zizhong's request. He knew that the purpose of their presence on the battlefield would be to maintain suppression of the German Air Force and to deal a heavy blow to the German armored forces. He convened a meeting with his officers above the squadron leader. First, he conveyed the spirit of Zhang Zizhong's command, and then encouraged everyone: "Brothers have always aspired to become an ace among aces like Hartman. To be honest, this is also my goal. Of course, now my opportunity to go to the battlefield has been deprived. So I can only count on my brothers in the headquarters to help me." Everyone laughed, he paused for a moment and said seriously: "Everyone hopes to shoot down more enemy planes. What I want to emphasize now is that this Our opponent is not just the German air force. The German tanks and tank destroyers are also the ones we need to focus on taking care of. So I don’t want you to be there when our infantry needs us to help them destroy the German tanks. Fighters chasing the Germans, do you all understand what I mean?"
Zhang Zizhong had the courage to engage in a decisive battle with the Germans and launch an offensive even though he was at a disadvantage in terms of strength and equipment. His biggest reliance was Chen Chong's aviation unit and Wang Chengyi's Second Artillery Unit. In terms of anti-tank capabilities, the equipment commanded by Jiang Tiezhang The armored units of the "Siberian Tiger" and "Phoenix" (actually just one) and Jiang Tongmin's helicopter brigade are actually more targeted, but because these two units are limited in scale, they are not enough to fight against the entire armored cluster of Group A at the same time. strength, so Zhang Zizhong could only rely on Chen Chong's aviation unit and Wang Chengyi's Second Artillery unit.
While all parts of the expeditionary force, including the Allied Forces, were ready to fight at any time, the Soviet Red Army's southwest front had already launched an attack on the German Army Group A under the command of Timoshenko. Timoshenko was a do-it-or-leave-it kind of person. A perfectionist who pursues the best in everything he does, since he was unable to oppose Stalin's decision, he would definitely go all out. Therefore, although he was very dissatisfied with the Soviet Red Army taking the lead in the offensive, he still took out the Treat this decisive battle with full strength,
From the time Manstein organized the surprise attack against the Allied Forces, there were no secret tactical moves between the two warring parties. Therefore, when the Soviet Red Army gathered in front of the German Fourth Army, the Germans were already ready for battle. ,
Just like the major battles that took place in other places during this period, the first shot in this battle in the northwest region of Sabi was still fired by the air forces of both warring parties. After nearly half a year of recuperation, the Soviet Air Force has recovered its strength to a certain extent. , and because Stalin has purchased a total of more than 300 fighter planes of various types from China in recent times at all costs, the combat power of the Soviet Air Force has made a qualitative leap.
At the beginning of the battle, a group of dive bombers from the Soviet Air Force, escorted by two squadrons of fighter jets, raided the German forward positions from the southeast. They were then tenaciously sniped by a group of fighter jets from the Luftwaffe. Then, the Soviet Air Force immediately increased their numbers. A brigade of fighter jets was sent to join the battle, and the German Air Force was not to be outdone. It also increased the number of sniper fighters. Using this refueling tactic as a model, the Soviet and German Air Force successively invested a total of more than 500 fighter planes in the fight. This also gave this decisive battle a cruel tone from the beginning.
In the headquarters of the Expeditionary Force's aviation unit, Chen Chong stared closely at a radar monitor in front of him, his face always showing a high level of excitement. Almost every minute, blue or red light spots disappeared. Such a tragic air battle , even though he had been in battle for a long time, he couldn't help but be dazzled by it. This decisive battle allowed the Soviet Red Army to take the lead in the attack. This was regarded as a victory in China's military diplomacy. This situation was certainly related to the persistence of Zhang Zizhong and other senior leaders of the expeditionary force. , is also related to the efforts of the Supreme Command and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Chen Chong was originally quite dissatisfied with this, worried that the Soviet Air Force would steal their limelight, but now he is full of joy. It is not that he underestimates the German Air Force. I mean, I'm just used to fighting in a rampage and direct display of strength, so I don't really like to strike from behind. "Did the Russians call? No, okay, I want to see how long the Russians can hold on." He paid attention. While looking at the screen, he asked Tian Xiaofeng, the chief of staff in front of him, from time to time.
The fighter planes of both sides were still fighting fiercely in the sky. On the ground, Timoshenko confirmed that the outcome of the air battle could not be determined in a short period of time, and decisively issued an attack order. Timoshenko had an excellent view of the overall situation. Since a decisive battle was inevitable, He then decided to try his best to resolve part of the battle before Army Group A and the Second Armored Army merged, and at least to determine the winner and control the initiative on the battlefield. In this way, even though the air suppression failed to be achieved as planned, he still decided to launch a ground offensive immediately.
"Empty..." The Soviet artillery opened fire. For this battle, Timoshenko assembled more than a thousand artillery pieces. A thousand artillery pieces fired fiercely at the positions of the German Fourth Army from more than ten artillery positions. ,In an instant, the German forward position was engulfed by fireworks,