Chapter 583 Night Aviation Regiment
As the saying goes, "Soldiers come to block, water comes to flood the earth", Paulus's countermeasure is to increase night fighters.
"Our fighter planes are enough to block their supply lines during the day!" Paulus said, "I estimate that there are not many amphibious landing ships of their kind, and the number of them that can be transported is very limited, so it is necessary to keep it secret in this way."
"But we don't have many night fighters!" The adjutant replied: "And the enemy is prepared. They have deployed a large amount of anti-aircraft firepower on the sandbar troops!"
After a moment of silence, Paulus said: "We can destroy these anti-aircraft fires during the day, Goetze, so that's not a problem! The problem is the night fighter... as long as it can stop these amphibious landing ship transportation!"
So, Paulus immediately called Hitler to ask for more night fighters.
Hitler felt very embarrassed about this.
Because at this time, Britain and the United States are increasing their bombing efforts on the German mainland, especially the Ruhr area, which is an industrial center in Germany.
(Note: From March to July 1943, the United Kingdom and the United States carried out 43 air raids on several cities in the Ruhr area, and the bombing air force made 18,506 sorties)
The purpose of the British and Americans in doing this is obviously to support the Soviet Union from another level.
Of course, there are also elements of British millwork in it.
As previously analyzed, when the Soviet Union was under full attack by the German army, the United Kingdom, which was located behind Germany, only needed to organize a large-scale landing to put Germany in the predicament of fighting on several fronts.
Stalin has always asked Britain in this way.
But what Churchill hoped more was that Germany and the Soviet Union would lose both sides, so he has been trying to postpone the landing that should have happened long ago until June 1944 (the Normandy landing). , If the United States does not land again, it may not need to land in the Soviet Union to defeat Germany alone.
As for the air bombing of the German mainland, it was only because the United Kingdom and the United States could not withstand the constant pressure from Stalin. This was more of a symbolic meaning... Bombing from the air was nothing more than dropping bombs on German soil. As for It is not what they need to consider whether the explosion is accurate or not.
Therefore, although the bombing was aimed at the German industrial area Ruhr, it did not cause much damage to Germany.
The German night combat capabilities were developed, of course, not to allow Paulus to block the supply line at Stalingrad, they were used to intercept British bombers at night.
After thinking about it for a while, Hitler finally transferred a night combat aviation regiment to Stalingrad under the command of Paulus.
Hitler said to the staff: "Germany is still Germany without a night combat aviation regiment, and if Stalingrad has one more night combat aviation regiment, it will no longer be Stalin's Stalingrad!"
This night combat aviation regiment flew from Germany to Karachi that day... At this time, Karachi has been used as the forward base for the German army to attack Stalingrad. Not only is Paulus's headquarters located here, but supplies, soldiers and even fighter planes are concentrated here.
Then, the pilot was thrown into battle immediately after a short three-hour rest.
The head of the aviation regiment, Colonel Fred, also had a dispute with Paulus because of this matter.
"You can't do that, General!" said Colonel Fred. "It took us five hours to get these planes here, landing three times to refuel along the way. Do you know how exhausting such a long flight is? Pilots need rest and time to adapt to the new environment and battlefield, but they only get three hours, and they don't even have a map!"
"I know, Colonel!" Paulus replied: "But the situation is like this, we have no choice!"
"We have…"
"You think there is!" Paulus interrupted Colonel Fred: "But have you ever thought that if you rest for one night, it means that the enemy can take advantage of the night to transport more supplies into Stalingrad. Do you know what the result is? You will never know, those rat-like enemies only need half a piece of bread a day to survive and aim at us in the ruins with their rifles! Do you think that the transport volume of this night can make How long will they last?"
Colonel Fred was speechless.
Because he knew that Colonel Paulus was right, war is sometimes like this, it has an "opportunity", and this "opportunity" is often fleeting.
For example, the current Stalingrad is the critical moment when the German army is blocking its supply, that is, the moment when Stalingrad is on the verge of running out of ammunition and food. Effort and casualties bought it back, maybe never.
Thinking of this, Colonel Fred no longer objected.
"Yes, General!" Colonel Fred stood up and replied: "But at least, you should show us the target to be bombed, such as a photo!"
"We don't have a picture!" Paulus replied: "Our reconnaissance plane failed to take a picture of it, or it succeeded and didn't come back!"
"Then we..."
"But you don't have to worry about not finding them!" said Paulus. "I think it's something that's part boat and part car, that is to say, able to maneuver on rivers and land! You'll find it easily! "
Colonel Fred couldn't help being taken aback, and said, "What a strange thing!"
"Yeah, but it works!"
That night, an aviation brigade took off to carry out bombing.
The establishment of the German Air Force is that an aviation regiment has three to four aviation brigades, and an aviation brigade has about 40 aircraft.
The 3rd Night Aviation Regiment commanded by Fred has only three air groups, and the whole regiment has 127 night bombers and fighters.
This should still be considered a small number of aviation regiments. During wartime, an aviation regiment generally has about 160 fighters, and it can even reach 270 fighters during the peak period.
The reason why there are few is because night bombers are advanced fighters equipped with radar, and the output has not kept up for the time being, so there can only be one regiment and three brigades.
Then the night sky over the Volga River became lively, especially at the south and north sandbars.
Searchlight posts swept back and forth, anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns continuously poured bullets and shells into the air, and the darkness of the sky was filled with the roar of fighter planes and the howling sound of aerial bombs falling everywhere.
After a round of bombing, Paulus asked Colonel Fred nervously: "How is the situation?"
"We found them, General!" Colonel Fred replied: "Maybe blown up, damaged dozens of amphibious landing ships, and lost two aircraft at the same time..."
Hearing this, Paulus couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. It seems that this tactic is feasible.
(end of this chapter)
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