Chapter 751 Reconnaissance
Manstein was right. Although the Soviet army used crowd tactics against infantry, navy and even tank soldiers, hundreds of thousands of troops who caught up with the battlefield could be destroyed without frowning. But cherish life like gold.
In fact, it cannot be said that "life is like gold", because the Supreme Command has the same attitude towards pilots, such as sending them to the battlefield after only a few months of training.
However, at the beginning of the war, a large number of air forces were lost to German fighter planes, which seemed to make the supreme commander realize the reality: the air force is different from other military services. Crowd tactics won't work.
This is actually common sense, especially when the theory of air combat in World War II was quite mature.
Coupled with the heavy losses of the Soviet Air Force and the slow rate of industrial relocation and production, the Soviet Air Force kept a low profile most of the time, except in unavoidable circumstances such as the Red Square parade in Moscow, then it would be a serious adventure with the Germans Head-to-head competition for air supremacy.
Of course, if it is an important battle, the Soviet army will do the same, but very few.
At this time, the Russian army competed with the German army for air supremacy over Surovikino...
"How about the air battle?" Manstein asked.
"Our army shot down twenty-three enemy fighter planes!" The adjutant replied: "Five of them were attack planes! Our army lost seven!"
"Is there any sign of the enemy retreating?" Manstein asked again.
"No, no!"
Then Manstein fell silent.
This is not in line with common sense. If the Soviet army was just to "frighten" the German army, there is no need for them to not retreat after suffering such a heavy loss and it is foreseeable that they will continue to suffer heavy losses in the future... Their air force is about the same up.
So, there is only one explanation for this, and that is that the attack was real, and that the Russians had a good chance of breaking through the 29th Panzergrenadier line, otherwise the Soviets would never have done it.
"Haven't contacted them yet?" Manstein asked.
"No, no!" The adjutant shook his head.
"Send a reconnaissance plane immediately to reconnaissance the situation of Surovikino!" Manstein ordered.
"Yes, Your Excellency the Marshal!"
So the reconnaissance plane quickly flew to Suverokino under the cover of fighter jets.
Prior to this, air battles took place some distance away from Surovikino... The Soviet Air Force deliberately prevented the Germans from discovering Surovikino's situation, so dozens of fighter planes were distributed and tanked around Surovikino. As soon as the German fighter planes approached, they fought into a melee.
The German pilots didn't think much, and immediately fought with the enemy plane.
The result of this kind of fighting is usually that the German fighter planes have no fuel or ammunition and have to retreat... The Soviet fighter planes reinforce one wave after another, while the main battlefields of the German Air Force are Karachi and Stalingrad. It's Stalingrad, and they want to cover the safety of that airspace to ensure that transport planes continue to deliver supplies to the German 6th Army.
This puts the German Air Force at an absolute numerical disadvantage in the Surovikino airspace.
Thus, although the German Air Force achieved very good results: 7 to 23, an average of one aircraft was exchanged for more than three enemy aircraft, and this was achieved in the case of a numerical disadvantage.
However, the Luftwaffe failed strategically. They did not discover Surovikino's situation until two hours after dawn, and of course they failed to respond.
Until Manstein ordered reconnaissance...
The task is different if the reconnaissance is carried out. The purpose is to fly near Surovikino to take pictures.
In fact, the reconnaissance plane had to fly over Surovikino and take pictures at a low altitude to find the problem... The sky was lightly raining and the visibility was low. A dense fog hung over Surovikino, making it impossible for the outside world to peep into its secrets.
The German Air Force lived up to Manstein's expectations. They forcibly created a channel from the Soviet Air Force's ambush and interception all the way to cover the reconnaissance plane entering the target area.
However, the Luftwaffe also paid a heavy price... In this mission alone, five fighters and two reconnaissance planes were lost. In the end, a reconnaissance plane desperately lowered its altitude to conduct low-altitude observation when it was injured.
The pilot was almost stunned by what he saw.
The captain named Bohr was stunned for a while before he remembered that the most important thing is to send back the reconnaissance results, so he quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie and reported: "Unbelievable, Colonel! Surovikino disappeared...I mean, they were The water is flooded! Only high-rise buildings are left! There are corpses everywhere, although I can’t see them clearly, I think they are our people. I also saw a boat, which I think is the enemy’s! Surovikino is finished..."
Before Captain Ball could finish speaking, a Soviet fighter plane swooped down from the clouds, and with the sound of machine guns, the reconnaissance plane emitted black smoke and fell to the ground...because it was close to the ground and reconnaissance The speed of the machine was very fast, and it even made a few floats on the water surface before it turned into a fireball and disintegrated into several pieces.
"Flooded?" Manstein couldn't help being dumbfounded when he heard this information.
After hesitating for a while, Manstein searched upstream along the Don River on the map. After finding the reservoir, he nodded clearly and said, "Good idea! In this way, all the barbed wire, landmines, and anti-tank guns They're all trash!"
"What should we do now, Your Excellency the Marshal?" The adjutant was terrified: "We are about to be surrounded!"
"Reinforce Surovikino immediately!" Manstein ordered: "119th Infantry Division!"
The 119th Infantry Division is the reserve team of the Don Army's frontal defense line...It is very dangerous to transfer the reserve team to reinforce other troops, because if something happens in Karachi, the Don Army can only sit and wait for death.
But Manstein no longer cared about these.
Walking back and forth at the desk twice anxiously, Manstein ordered again: "Report the situation to the Führer immediately and ask for reinforcements!"
"Yes, Marshal!"
At this time, Major General Ellen's telegram was sent to Manstein's headquarters.
Major General Ellen was very smart. Although the 29th Panzergrenadier belonged to Paulus' 6th Army, he knew that the only person who could save him at this time was Manstein, and it must be Manstein, so he first contacted It is the Don Army.
Manstein sighed while holding the telegram, and then said to the communications soldier: "Call back and let them hold on to the last moment!"
Manstein sighed because he knew that the 29th Panzergrenadier Division was hopeless. Even if the 119th Infantry Division rushed to reinforce them, it would fill the gap on the second line and it was impossible to enter the Heze District to rescue them.
(end of this chapter)
