In modern warfare, the consequences of losing air supremacy are terrible. Tie Anshan could not contact Lankovsky, and he did not know what the battle situation was like on the front line. He could only speed up the march, and he ordered the troops to speed up, and the Chinese reconnaissance plane detected them. The relevant information about the operation was submitted to Zhuang Houzhong. Zhuang Houzhong's first reaction was that the Northern Front Army had received reinforcements. Otherwise, where would the organic tank troops come from? However, every move of the Soviet army was under surveillance. The reconnaissance plane responsible for long-range reconnaissance found no signs of other Soviet troops approaching the Lake Baikal area. Where did this Soviet tank unit come from? Zhuang Houzhong did not dare to be careless and immediately reported this situation to Zhang Zizhong. An abnormal situation also aroused Zhang Zizhong's great concern. In view of his understanding of Vatutin and knowing that he was good at commanding large tank groups to fight, what he had to worry about was what if the sudden appearance of the Soviet tank unit was not accidental. .
"Lao Zhuang, I don't care what method you use, you must destroy this new Soviet tank force immediately. The Soviet army's military strength in the Far East is far greater than ours, and we must not lose our time advantage."
So far in the Battle of Lake Baikal, China has actually firmly grasped the initiative. However, Zhang Zizhong knew very well that the key to the Far East Army's dream-like start was that it caught the Soviets by surprise, not Simply because of the strength of the Far Eastern Army.
Zhang Zizhong asked Zhuang Houzhong's air force to destroy the Soviet tank division that suddenly emerged. This reaction of the Far East Army was unexpected by Vatutin. As soon as he received the report that Ti Anshan's whereabouts were exposed, he immediately notified his own air force Troops, let them prepare for attack, "Shevakovsky, the time has come for you to prove yourself. There are signs that the Chinese fighter planes will carry out air strikes on the Ti'an Mountain Department. I hope you can give the Chinese a Surprise, my request is that no matter how much sacrifice you make, you must ensure the safety of the Tie Anshan headquarters." In a telegram to Air Force Commander Shevakovsky, Vatutin wrote this.
Shevakovsky is thirty-six years old this year, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a sturdy back. When he received the telegram, he was doing tactical deductions with several of his subordinates. The air force of the Northern Front was not having an easy time in the Far East. The key reason is that the Far East Army has air defense radars with far better performance than the Northern Front Army. Therefore, Chinese radars often capture the Soviet fighter planes just after they take off, and then double or even triple the number of fighter planes are always dispatched. To intercept or intercept, in addition, Chinese fighter planes already have performance advantages, so in the past confrontations, the Soviet Air Force suffered a lot, so much so that when the Chinese Air Force launched an air attack on the Northern Front, Vatu Kyoto I dare not send them to fight.
This situation is naturally the greatest shame for a senior air force commander. Because of this, Shevakovsky's pilots learned that their ground forces had suffered heavy losses in the Chinese Air Force's air strikes. , and also made a farce of asking for a blood letter to fight, and shouted the slogan "Please let us die with honor".
"Commander's telegram." Before Shevakovsky finished reading the telegram, one of his men, a captain named Ivan Hinkel, asked loudly: "Did they ask us to go to war?"
Shevakovsky read the telegram unhurriedly, rolled his eyes, handed the telegram to Ivan Hinkel, and said: "The commander is ready to sacrifice our air force for the safety of the tank troops. Boys,
Are you afraid?"
As the top officer of an army, Shevakovsky seems not to say such things. However, Ivan Hinkel and others have been working under him for many years and have long been accustomed to his style. Ivan Hinkel shouted
He said: "I'm afraid, the Chinese devils can be stronger than the German devils. The German devils have been defeated by us. What's so scary about the Chinese devils? Comrade Commander, just give the order. We will definitely teach the Chinese a painful lesson."
"
Half an hour later, about 50 kilometers away from Irkutsk, a group of about 80 Chinese fighter jets were flying toward the tanks on Mount Ti'an.
As early as ten minutes ago, Tie Anshan received a warning from the Irkutsk air defense radar station, and Tie Anshan's response was to order his tanks to distance themselves and prepare for air defense.
The commander of these Chinese fighter planes is a major named Rao Guoguang. Major Rao Guoguang is only 28 years old this year. He has a baby face and always smiles before he speaks. In the Far East Air Force, he is
Known for his "good popularity", "Pay attention to your speed. You should be able to engage the enemy soon. Gao Changcun, your mission is to be vigilant. Remember this."
There were about eighty fighter planes, twenty-four of which were escorting golden eagles, and their commander was none other than Gao Changcun.
Gao Changcun responded loudly, and Rao Guoguang said again: "Old rules, Yang Gaoyun, you are the first batch to attack. Let me emphasize that your mission is to test the enemy's anti-aircraft firepower. You are not required to destroy many tanks."
"Sir, don't worry, it's not the first time." Yang Gaoyun replied with a confident tone.
At the same time, about 80 kilometers to the north from Rao Guoguang and the others, Ivan Hinkel was controlling a Golden Eagle with more than 110 Soviet fighter planes heading towards Rao Guoguang and the others at an altitude of about 300 meters.
Close.
The Soviet-German War caused the Soviet Union to lose a large number of pilots with practical combat experience. Later, the newly recruited Soviet pilots often only had thirty to fifty hours of internship flight time. For example, Shevakovsky's current
More than half of the pilots in the air force division had a total flight time of less than 300 hours. Therefore, after making the decision to launch a low-altitude raid on the Chinese fighter group, Shevakovsky picked over and over again, and finally only picked 110 pilots.
There are more than ten subordinates suitable for carrying out this combat mission.
Such an important operation should not be commanded by a small captain like Ivan Hinkel. However, Ivan Hinkel's situation is special. Although he has a low military rank, he has the best record under Shevakovsky.
A good pilot has never been promoted only because of repeated violations of military discipline. As an ace pilot, Ivan Hinkle is obviously very confident in himself. While he freely controls the fighter plane to fly forward smoothly,
Frequently saying on the radio: "Don't shake your hands, try not to look at the ground, and believe in yourself, we are the best." "Follow me, as long as we can appear suddenly in front of the enemy, victory will be ours."
"I repeat, once you find an enemy plane, immediately climb up as a team. Then, only focus on the Chinese bombers and fire. Remember, your target is the enemy's bomber."