Guderian was wrong this time. The Red Army's reinforcements were not halfway, but had arrived. First, they arrived in Kursk, one was the 58th Tank Division of the 47th Mechanized Army of the Red Army, and the second was the 197th Division of the 76th Infantry Army. Of course, what we want to talk about in this chapter is not these two divisions, because in front of them, the kgb air assault brigade was the first to arrive on the battlefield.

Due to the limitations of range and load capacity, the Red Army's helicopter group could not fly directly from Priluki to Kursk in one breath. Moreover, in order to ensure safety, the fleet must avoid Konotup and Kome occupied by the German army, so the last route to choose is to fly west to Kharkov first, and then fly from Kharkov to Kursk.

Along the way, a refueling station was set up every 150 kilometers, and he moved closer to Kursk step by step by step by step in the air. It is particularly worth mentioning that during such a large-scale operation, the Red Army's helicopter group did not have a single case of evil. Except for the time delayed due to the blizzard during this period, the entire air assault force flew from Priluki to Kursk at a rapid speed.

Moreover, unlike the airdrop paratroopers, it takes a lot of time to assemble and collect equipment, and the air assault brigade can almost immediately enter the battle after getting off the helicopter. This efficiency is really much higher.

It is precisely because of the high efficiency of the air assault brigade that senior generals such as Tukhachevsky, Yegorov and Ubolevichi made up their mind that each army should be equipped with an air assault brigade!

This scale is quite large. You should know that the Red Army now has more than 40 armies. If each army is equipped with an air assault brigade, it will be more than 40 air assault brigades, which can scare people!

Fortunately, Li Xiaofeng was not overwhelmed yet, and the increase in the number of helicopters in the land aviation was inevitable, but this does not mean that the Red Army needed so much air assault force. In his opinion, it was enough for the Red Army to maintain an air assault brigade in each military region. This would be the rapid response force of the military region. Of course, some key areas for building military regions and setting up one or two air assault forces is also possible.

In Li Xiaofeng's view, the Red Army does not need too many professional air assault troops. It is very urgent to add enough helicopters to each army, especially the mechanized army. It is probably not enough to join the brigade.

After some research and discussion, the General Staff recommended that one contingent regiment be popularized in each infantry army in the next five years (32 helicopters, including three transport helicopter squadrons and an armed reconnaissance helicopter squadrons), while the mechanized army would popularize two contingent regiments. Moreover, the formation of contingent regiments equipped with the mechanized army was different (48 helicopters, including 24 transport helicopters and 24 armed reconnaissance helicopters).

In fact, this requirement is a bit beyond the equipment production capacity of the Red Army. At this time, the Red Army infantry army can rank 100 (excluding the troops lost and disbanded troops, it is actually close to 80), and the mechanized army serial number can also rank 50 (actually only more than 30). How many helicopters do you need?

The scale of nearly 3,000 aircraft determines that the Red Army will produce nearly 600 helicopters every year, and you have to see that the Red Army is still expanding, and the original helicopters will continue to lose in battle. Let's put it this way. In the next few years, the Red Army will have to produce at least 1,000 helicopters a year to meet the demand.

For the Soviet Union, which had already had a very tight industrial capacity during the war, the pressure was probably quite large. And this was just the army's helicopters. Should the navy? Should the air force? You should know that the Air Force's interest in helicopters is not very large now, and the demand is high.

Fortunately, the more troublesome thing about these problems is Lao Tuo. As the chairman of the People's Committee and the Soviet Union's steward, he is fully responsible for these problems, and Li Xiaofeng is under a little pressure.

Let’s not mention these boring economic issues for the time being, but return to the battlefield. When the kgb air assault brigade arrived in Kursk, it immediately played a major role. Of course, it was not the soldiers of the assault brigade that were outstanding, but the armed helicopter troops.

On that day, the German army organized a large-scale armored offensive, with engineers opening the way and infantry centering, followed by groups of No. 3 and No. 4 tanks. Especially the No. 4 2 tanks were particularly annoying, and their kk40 tank guns had a long range and good accuracy. The German army always used them to kill the Red Army's bunkers and firepower points at a long distance, causing considerable casualties.

The Red Army had no good idea before. At a distance of 1,500 meters, the smoothbore gun of the T-35a was not powerful, so basically he didn't want to cause trouble for the Germans. He could only watch the German tanks rage.

Some comrades might say, how could they stare at dazed? Rush up! The Red Army tankers did the same at the beginning, and drove the T-35a without hesitation, ready to teach those unhonest German colleagues a lesson. But soon they found that something was wrong. Germany was also prepared, and a considerable number of 88mm anti-aircraft gun arrays were arranged behind the No. 42 tank. At a distance of 1,500 meters, the Lak36 could basically penetrate the turret of the T-35a, and at this time, the T-35a could only kill mosquitoes.

I have to say that the Germans use fishing tactics very well. They lure the T-35a out with No. 2, and then use Lak36 to snipe. It is really that the main gun that bullies T-35a is not powerful!

After suffering several losses in a row, the Red Army also knew that unless the T-54 came, it would be impossible to deal with the enemy by relying solely on T-35a. So they simply placed some T-35a as a fort and fire point. Anyway, your No. 4 2 doesn't wear T-35a, and if you have a genital, you can't bet your life within 600 meters.

Is this trick useful? It has a certain effect, but it is not very meaningful, because No. 4 2 cannot do anything to t-35a at long distances, but this does not mean that t-35a is safe. The German army concentrated a large number of heavy artillery with a caliber of 150 mm or above to focus on bombarding the positions stationed by the Red Army tanks. Although not necessarily every t-35a will be hit by heavy artillery, the shock waves and fragments generated by the explosion of large-caliber ammunition can still destroy many t-35a equipment, such as the more delicate sighting equipment.

Moreover, the German infantry and artillery coordination or the coordination between infantry, armored soldiers and artillery was tacitly cooperated. Under the cover of heavy artillery, the No. 4 tank could fully break into a distance that was enough to destroy the T-35a. At this time, everyone exploded each other. The quality of German tankers was higher and the aiming equipment was better, so the results of the battle were naturally greater.

Anyway, in order to break the Red Army's tank advantage, the German army tried every means to grasp every detail and make a fuss. The tactical advantages were fully utilized. Therefore, even though the officers and soldiers of the 38th Group Army vowed to resist to the death, they were still eroded by the German army step by step.

This situation continued until the armed helicopter arrived at the battlefield. There was always a saying in later generations: tanks are the best anti-tank weapon. This is actually incorrect. Air power is the anti-tank weapon with the highest efficiency and consumption ratio, whether it is the Il-2 or the armed helicopter. Its anti-tank efficiency is much higher than that of tanks.

The main reason why the Red Army was bullied so badly before was that the number of Il-2s was insufficient, and the German army deployed a large number of fighter jets to suppress the Red Army's fighter jets, making it difficult for the Il-2 to perform. Different helicopters, such aircraft that are active at ultra-low altitudes are very troublesome for most fighters. Not many fighter pilots dared to dive to a height of 100 meters to deal with the helicopter. Moreover, because of the rotor, the helicopter's natural steering is more flexible than that of the fighter jet. When the fighter pilot clumsily twisted his body at ultra-low altitudes and attempted to aim the cannon at the damn iron dragonflies, the helicopter pilot only needs to gently push the joystick and the tail rotor makes it extremely convenient for this aircraft to adjust the nose pointing.

In short, at ultra-low altitude, fighter jets dare not play dog ​​fights with helicopters, which is really a death. At this time, German pilots also felt this feeling. When they carefully lowered the height and adjusted the direction of the nose, the opponent flew up and down lightly, and their nose could point at their landlines at all times, constantly sending greetings with the machine gun below the nose.

As several German pilots who were not afraid of death either crashed into the ground with one mistake or were abused by more flexible opponents, they soon gave up on chasing these annoying iron dragonflies, and they would say, "Let the anti-aircraft guns teach the Russian iron dragonflies a lesson!"

So are the German anti-aircraft guns threatening to armed helicopters? Objectively speaking, there is indeed a threat, and even no anti-aircraft guns are needed. Anti-aircraft machine guns can threaten the safety of helicopters. However, helicopters are not particularly easy to target. Especially for those bulky Lak36 anti-aircraft guns, it is difficult to pose too much threat to the helicopter.

One is that the helicopters are flying too low, and most anti-aircraft gunners have not trained to strike such low-altitude targets. Secondly, these helicopters are too flexible. They do not have to advance along a fixed attack route like attack aircraft and bombers. They can hide behind the woods the moment before. Then they suddenly jump up in the next second, and after a brief aim, they immediately pour out fire. After the fight, the pilot pressed the control rod and hid back behind the woods. Not only the woods, but also the hills on the battlefield, and houses can become their shelters, and for the gunners, it is simply a nightmare to find the place of the helicopter among these numerous shelters. Even if they find it, it is not enough time for them to solve the shooting of the various elements. Often, they have just finished measuring the distance and the armed helicopter has fired ammunition and slipped away.

In the words of German gunner William, "The bulky 88 gun is not suitable for helicopters. The gyro and pitch rates are too low. On the battlefield, we would rather use 20mm anti-aircraft guns to deal with those annoying flies. Even installing a high-fire gun rack on the mg-34 is better than the 88 gun!"

For the Red Army helicopter pilots, they are more afraid of those flexible small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, so in order to ensure survival, they will maintain sufficient distance. After all, the small-caliber anti-aircraft guns have a short range and limited power. Their most commonly used tactics is to approach the German tank group with the help of cover of the shelter, and then suddenly jump up and fire all the rockets out, then quickly retreat or lower the height to hide again.

In order to cooperate with the helicopter operations, the Red Army's artillery also joined in. Once the No. 4 tank was discovered, they immediately concentrated their firepower and violently bombarded the German positions behind the No. 4 tank, suppressing the German anti-aircraft artillery and anti-aircraft machine guns, and winning the opportunity for the armed helicopter to open fire.

It should be said that this tactic is still very effective. Soon the German army discovered that continuing the fishing tactic was meaningless, because the No. 4 tank they released as bait suffered heavy losses, and there was no survival under the rain of rockets like a plow of the enemy's armed helicopters.

The result of this battle also deeply affected the armored soldiers of the German and Red Army. The German army once again strongly demanded that tanks be equipped with anti-aircraft machine guns or small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, otherwise they would only be beaten when facing armed helicopters. After watching the implementation of this set of tactics in person, Ubolevic immediately suggested to the Military Commission: "The self-propelled anti-aircraft gun project with mb-lt-36 tracked infantry transport vehicle chassis should be restored immediately. In the future large-scale deep combat, the enemy's air force will be a major concern for our army's armored assault cluster. The survival of the armored cluster without anti-aircraft firepower is worrying!"

Ubolevic's suggestions are naturally very important. Li Xiaofeng was the only one who valued armored cluster field air defense before. Other senior generals believed that it was enough to have the cover of front-line aviation troops, but now it seems that this is far from enough.

Soon the relevant design bureau in Leningrad received a task, requiring them to develop self-propelled anti-aircraft guns based on the mb-lt territory within one month, with the specific requirement being able to assault forward with the tank battalion or mechanized infantry battalion.

Speaking of which, the efficiency during wartime is high, especially this project has attracted the attention of Kejing, and this person personally came up with three plans within three weeks.

The simplest solution is to install the quadruple 145mm anti-aircraft machine gun on the mb-lt chassis, which is quite simple and even simple. Naturally, this too simple solution was quickly eliminated.

Solution 2 is a little more complicated, which is to install the dual-mounted m1939l63 gun. This plan seems pretty good, but the general equipment department quickly discovered that this greatly wastes the mb-lt chassis. Using this expensive chassis with a double 37 is too luxurious.

So soon a new plan was issued to Kejing, ordering him to continue research and development with the chassis of T-26 and BT series tanks, which developed into the zsu-37 self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. However, the production of this gun was not very large, because the chassis of T-26 and BT series was not ideal and had limited performance.

The final development into the zsu-57 was Plan 3. Installing a dual-mounted 57mm anti-aircraft gun on the mb-lt's chassis made the Red Army quite satisfied. In some special occasions, the gun also undertakes some emergency anti-tank tasks and firepower sweeping tasks, which is also a one-shot multi-pot.

In the late stage of the war, the Red Army developed the zsu-57-2 field air defense system based on the zsu-57. Yes, experienced comrades can see the difference between the two at a glance. To put it bluntly, it is a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. Most of the time, the combat method of the zsu-57 is to fight alone. To be honest, the combat effectiveness is limited.

The zsu-57 is completely different. Not only anti-aircraft guns, but also supporting command vehicles, ammunition supply vehicles, radar vehicles and logistics repair vehicles have all been tracked. This is a complete system. The combat effectiveness has been greatly improved. Especially with the advancement of the Soviet electronic industry, 57mm-level anti-aircraft guns can also be equipped with radio near-fighting fuzes, which is a huge threat to helicopters that are as tall as a tree.

Of course, these are all later stories. Back to the battlefield itself, when the Red Army's armed helicopters were put into battle, the German army's offensive resistance was unprecedented. On May 4, the day before Hitler's date, even if Guderian invested 400 tanks in one breath, he could not shake the Red Army's defense line. But after the vanguard of the 37th Army arrived in Kursk, even if the German army invested more troops again, they could not move forward.

"The enemy is much stronger than we expected," Guderian said in a meeting with Marshal Bock, the commander of the Central Army Group. "Our army's offense has been repeatedly frustrated, and it is no longer meaningful to continue the attack. I think it is timely necessary to turn to defense, and it is best to be prepared to retreat."

Bock was very distressed. As a soldier and Guderian's superior, he believed that Guderian's analysis had some truth. But he knew the meaning of the superior. The head of state was already very angry before and issued a death order, requiring that Kursk be conquered. Now Guderian has once again brought up the old story. Isn't this unpleasant?

So he could only answer: "I think your assault cluster should continue to attack temporarily, at least conquering Kursk. It is more appropriate to talk about retreat after capturing Kursk!"

Bok's meaning is very simple, just give Hitler a step and take Kursk. The head of state's order was completed, and it would not embarrass the head of state if he retreated. It should be said that Bok had good intentions, but it undoubtedly disappointed Guderian.

At this time, the sense of crisis in his heart became stronger and stronger. If possible, he really didn't want to stay on the periphery of Kursk for an extra minute. However, the superiors still insisted on continuing to attack and had to take Kursk. Isn't this a fatal blow?

Of course, Guderian knew why this was just face. No one dared to confront Hitler head-on, no one dared to challenge him, and even a marshal like Bock would not dare to say the "truth".

But Guderian insisted on telling the truth. He believed that his assault cluster was already facing huge danger. How can we care about face at this time? The most important thing is to save our lives. Only by preserving our strength can we turn the tables in the future.

So after leaving Bock's headquarters, Guderian did not immediately return to his front-line command, but immediately sent another sincere telegram to the General Staff and Wolf's Cry, suggesting to retreat immediately.

After sending this telegram, Guderian immediately boarded the plane and flew to Ligov, but when he landed at Ligov and just walked out of the cabin, the adjutant who was waiting on the runway sent him a dismissal telegram from the General Staff and Wolf's Knot... (To be continued.)

PS: Bow to thank the old students, retouch nslm, drunk Wufeng and comrade Juventus!
Chapter completed!