Everything has to be spoken of with facts, so can the new air combat strategy have good results? Let's take a quick look.

Starting from mid-November 1942, the combat air generals, led a "chasing the enemy" offensive. The commanders of each fighter squadron can leave the bomber group according to their own judgment and engage in combat with enemy fighters.

Lucinko, Krasovsky and others imagined that if the enemy fighter jets did not take off to fight, the Red Army's bomber group would sweep their airports, command posts, transportation hubs and all valuable targets. If the Germans took off to fight, the fighting masters represented by advanced Jacques-2, Jacques-3 and La-5 would kill them to the death. No matter who wins or loses, short-legged fighters represented by B-1o9 and -19o would not be able to harass the Red Army's bomber group, and the result was the same.

Everything seemed perfect, but the development of things was not as smooth as Lugenko and Krasovsky thought. On November 17, 1942, 655 bombers (including Il-4, Ti-2, Ti-3 and Pe-8) launched an attack, accompanied by more than a dozen regiments of Jacques, La series and Pe-2 fighters.

However, the climate in Belarus and Ukraine in winter was very harsh, and the meteorological conditions in the original target area were harsh, so the aircraft fleet was forced to attack secondary targets. Therefore, the "air superiority" escort system, which was already in the pioneering stage, had problems. Due to the harsh weather and poor communication, some fighter aircraft fleets were unable to always lead the flight in front of the bomber fleet.

This made the Luftwaffe find a gap. The large number of b-1o9 and 19o fighters carrying rockets hit the bomber formation. Only two regiments of Jacques-2 and La-5 were fighting hundreds of German fighters. About Tu-3 and Pe-8 were shot down, and 59 Il-4 and Tu-2 were lost. The Red Army only shot down 45 invading enemy aircraft. There were also a large number of bombers who ditched enemy aircraft and threw bombs in advance because they dodged enemy aircraft. The final bombing effect could only be said to be very unsatisfactory.

For a time, the bomber troops, especially the four-heavy bomber troops, were full of resentment and rumors were endless. Alxnis even found Li Xiaofeng again. However, a fairy called him in a few words: "The failure of this air strike was not only tactical problems, but also the main problem was the poor weather and communication and coordination, and a failure could not explain anything!"

Fortunately, the Soviet Union now has the confidence to let Li Xiaofeng say this. With the entire war machine running, the Red Army's ability to supplement consumption and combat losses was several times higher than that of Germany. Even if a four-heavy bomber in the enemy's controlled area meant losses of more than ten aircrews, the Soviet aviation school continued to transport well-trained reserve personnel. On the assembly line of several major aircraft manufacturers, huge bombers were manufactured at the fastest level. In contrast to the Soviet Union, Germany's war machines were always in a state of half-opening. Moreover, the German army lacked four-range bombers and basically could not threaten the Soviet Union's industrial base far away. As one went one to another, the Germans would only become weaker and weaker.

In addition, the Red Army's Air Force generals were also quickly summarizing the experience and lessons, constantly improving the details of the new tactics.?. By early December 1942, a large-scale air strike, known as a major week, kicked off:

On the night of December 3, the First Red Army Air Force Group launched a large-scale air strike against Warsaw.

On December 4, despite the bad weather, the First, Second and Fifth Army Air Force dispatched 16 bomber regiments to 7oo bombers under the cover of about 8oo fighters of 18 fighter regiments. In this battle, the Red Army bombers suffered minor losses, while the two historical cities above were in the heaviest pain since the outbreak of the war.

On December 5, the weather was still bad and the Red Army did not conduct large-scale bombing operations. However, fighters with Jacques-3 began to wander and hunt fighters at the German front-line airport.

On December 6, all the fighter and long-range bombers of the Red Air Force were dispatched to raid the Ruhr industrial zone in a long range and air strikes the major German industrial bases in Stuttgart and Dortmund.

After two days of rest, on December 8, it was found that the weather over Germany was good through reconnaissance. Red Army long-range bombers refueled through East Prussia visited Germany again, focusing on attacking German fighter aircraft manufacturing factories. During this operation, the power of the new escort system was fully demonstrated. The bomber crew claimed to shoot down 67 German fighter jets, while the escort fighter jets announced to shoot down 89 German fighter jets. 245 Tu-3s lost 33 and 6 Pe-8s lost 11.

During these seven days, the Red Army dispatched 38o bombers, lost 226 bombers, and lost only 32 fighters. Compared with the previous bombing operations, the bomber loss rate was only 3.5%, which was a significant decrease from the 9.2% loss rate in January.

Suddenly, the Luftwaffe was in a dilemma. If the concentrated attack of large formations would definitely be involved in air combat with Red Army fighters, so that it could not deal with its main attack targets, the small and flexible small team would be torn to pieces by the dense clusters of Red Army four bombers in minutes when they assaulted the bomber group.

According to German statistics, when 2o aircraft attack a fire net composed of 1ooo machine guns at the same time, each aircraft faces the threat of 5o machine guns on average, while when there are only 4 aircraft, each pilot will face the firepower of 25o machine guns! Also, please note that the Red Army's aviation machine guns and machine guns are both types of blood-shooting, and their shooting is much faster than those of Britain and the United States, which means that their firepower is stronger!

In this major week, the German local industry suffered a heavy blow, for example, the fighter factory was forced to shut down for a while. Fortunately, Sperer used his intelligence in time to resume production. However, the aircraft can be produced, but the experienced old bird pilots that have been lost are not so easy to supplement.

During the entire December, a total of 225 fighter pilots in the German army were killed or missing, and another 141 were injured and withdrawn from the battle. This month, Germany lost 17.9% of the total number of fighter pilots in service!

Please note that Germany's human resources are too limited compared to the Soviet Union. Even if its national quality is higher, it is far from sufficient number of the Red Army.┞┿┝. Moreover, as the elites who participated in air combat since 1939 died, the average quality of the Luftwaffe's Air Force is inevitably declining.

The heavy losses allowed both sides to rest for a while, but soon, after January 1943, the Red Air Force once again took the initiative to launch a new round of offensives. This time they pointed their finger at Berlin. The previous successful experience told the Red Army generals that even because of face issues, Hermann Goering would devote all his strength to defend Germany's heart.

On January 1o, seven bombers headed to Berlin. There were 8o3 escort fighters around. The Luftwaffe's Air Force intercepted with all its might and dispatched a total of 528. The Red Army's bomber damage rate once again reached 10%, losing a total of 75 bombers. But the German army only achieved a Pyrrhus victory (Pyrrhus paid a very high price to win), because its own losses were as high as 118, and after another loss of about 15% of fighter pilots, the Luftwaffe could no longer fight against another air strike against Berlin two days later.

This time, 65o bombers came to Berlin again under the escort of nearly 9o fighters, and the German army could only dispatch 15o orders to intercept (12o orders of single fighters and twin fighters). The Red Army claimed to shoot down 77 German fighters, and its own losses were only 35 bombers.

A day later, when the Red Army came for the third time, the German army could no longer piece together a decent air defense force. For the first time, the Luftwaffe could only watch while the opponent attacked its main defense target. Of course, another reason why the German army's bystander this time was that there was a big problem with their gasoline supply. When Ploicesti was destroyed, the fuel supply became very tight, and the previous several large-scale bombings consumed a large amount of air fuel from the Luftwaffe. In order to ensure the supply of the front line, they could only "unprepared" with the hinterland.

Of course, the Soviet Union's losses were actually not light. In February, it had to suspend large-scale strategic bombing. The pilots could not bear it, and the loss of the aircraft was also a big problem. But this time, Alxnis did not complain to a certain immortal, but instead accepted the result happily.

Because Alxnis felt that this was the strategic bombing he wanted, even if he failed to get more accurate statistical results, just from the feedback from the front line, this new and more aggressive tactic was successful.

Why do you say that? Because the frontline aviation report. Starting from late December, when they cover Il-2 or Su-2 to assault the German front-line positions, they can clearly feel that German fighters are not keeping up with the pace. Especially in the continuous air strikes, German fighters can easily stop.

Without the cover of German fighters, the threat of medium-sized bombers and Stuka of the Luftwaffe was significantly reduced. It was basically difficult to organize large-scale air support, and even if it barely took off, they would soon stop after the escort fighter jets were flooded by the Red Army.

Rokosovsky also had a strong say in this regard: "A year ago, when the enemy brazenly provoked the war, his air force left a deep impression on us. Most of our armored forces were actually destroyed by the enemy's air force. Marshal Tukhachevsky's several large-scale counterattacks organized by Marshal Tukhachevsky always lost in the air. By the end of 1942, when the enemy tried to break through the defense line of our Second Front Army of Belarus again with air-ground joint tactics, the situation was completely different. Our superior air force firmly controlled the sky, and the enemy's Stuka could no longer destroy our tanks unscrupulously. Now it's our turn to tell the German armored forces how to be human with their tails!"

Rokosovsky was right. In the face of the Red Army's air superiority, Hitler's high hopes for the Red Beard soon seemed to be weak. After December, the Red Army's air strangle, the ground's strict defense and fierce counterattack, coupled with the influence of the shortage of oil supply, the German armored forces were once again facing the situation of being dumplings!

Just as the whole world was waiting for the Red Army to win the Kursk battle again, two far-reaching major events occurred, one was done by the Germans themselves. Manstein, the tactical master, fully demonstrated his talents and took advantage of the Ukrainian Second Front to turn to the direction of Bryansk, and actually broke through the defense line of the Ukrainian First Front and surrounded Kiev again!

And this is the so-called Second Kiev Defense Battle. Of course, this time it is smaller in scale and shorter in time. And with the decision-making of the Military Commission, the defense battle hastily ended.

Another more important event was the creation of the Japanese. On December 7, 1942, the Japanese Joint Fleet, led by Yamamoto Iroku, stabbed the big American hornet nest!

I won’t go into details about the specific process, it’s similar to history. Americans were careless and suffered heavy losses.

Of course, the Japanese were not the most happy about this incident. When Churchill learned the news at the Prime Minister's House in Downing Street, he was so happy that he jumped out of his chair, dancing like a child, and almost missed the tongue to send Roosevelt a congratulatory message.

This is indeed not a fault for Churchill's words, because the participation of the United States in the war was too important to the British Empire, and it can almost be said to have pulled the British Empire back from the edge of the cliff. Stimulated by the good news of the United States in the war, Churchill immediately ordered Montgomery to launch a new round of offensive in Alamein. In his words, "It is necessary to let American friends see the power of the British Empire."

At the Prime Minister's personal request, Montgomery naturally could not say no, and the proud British also tried to avenge him. The last attack on Alahman failed due to the intelligence leak. This time, Montgomery, who was well prepared, was about to bleed the Desert Fox.

According to Montgomery's arrangement, on December 15, the British army in North Africa launched the "Arena" operation. At 4:20 am, after 5oo cannons aimed at the German positions for an hour, the British 49th Division officially launched an attack. At this time, there was a lot of sand and dust, and due to the shelling, the entire front of the attack was covered with smoke, and the visibility was only about five meters at one point.

The Haarlem County Battalion of the 146th British Brigade was first dispatched. However, the vanguard company soon lost its direction under the interference of sandstorm and smoke. This made the battalion commander and his chief of staff very angry, but when the two tried to find the lost vanguard company, they also got lost. In other words, when the Lincoln County Battalion of the 146th Brigade attacking with them began to exchange fire with the German army, almost the entire Haarlem County Battalion did not know where to wander around.

It was not until the 11th Battalion of the Royal Scottish Regiment of the 147th Brigade was about to attack from the east that the traces of the Haarlem County Battalion were finally revealed. They were in chaos and were attacked by the Germans. Yes, the comrades read that they were not wrong. The British who should have attacked were instead attacked by the Germans in a defensive position. This world is so wonderful.

Seeing the friendly pills, the 11th Battalion of the Royal Scottish Regiment naturally wanted to get a brother, so they immediately attacked the German army. However, the Germans were not vegetarians, and under the cover of some infantry artillery and mortars, they used machine guns to beat the 11th Battalion of the Royal Scottish Regiment to the point of urination. The battalion was about to collapse at one point, but fortunately the officers stabilized the morale of the army in time.

However, even so, the situation of the battalion was very bad. Faced with the fierce firepower of the German army, the battalion's officers and soldiers were shot and fell down every step forward. The fierce battle was around 9 a.m., and the British barely captured some of the German positions. However, the German army's defense system was still very complete and resisted tenaciously with the support of most solid permanent fortifications.

As the 11th Battalion of the Royal Scottish Regiment made little progress, the 147th Brigade invested the 7th Battalion of the Duke of Wellington to attack the right wing of the German Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. This time, the British army, which had a great advantage in strength, quickly cut off the contact between the armored reconnaissance battalion and its division headquarters.

As more and more British troops entered the battlefield, the pressure on the German army became increasingly greater. By noon, the British army finally made progress, penetrated three kilometers into the German defense line, and tried to detour and encircle the German army.

Captain Ziegler, the commander of the 8th Armored Company of the German Army, recalled: "In this battle, I knew the true value of these young grenadiers. When the enemy was shelling, they hid in foxgloves and often squatted for half an hour, or even an hour. But everyone had no complaints. When the enemy rushed up, they jumped out of the foxglove with their weapons and fought fiercely with the enemy... I couldn't see their expressions... I saw many touching scenes with my own eyes: without any orders, the grenadiers automatically ran to the injured comrade, rescued him or took over him to continue fighting..."

However, in the history of the 11th Battalion of the British Royal Scottish Regiment, which lost 7 officers, 194 non-commissioned officers and soldiers, there are only a few words: In this fierce battle, the enemy's tenacious resistance and the fierce artillery fire between the enemy and us will always remain in the memory of the soldiers participating in the battle.

The battle continued, and the British soon lost the ability to continue to break deeper. The reason was that Rommel sent an armored force to counterattack. Under the command of battalion commander Gotz, the three armored companies of the battalion (all equipped with black panther tanks) counterattacked the infiltration of British troops. Under the attack of powerful black panther tanks, the British infantry rushing into the German defense line seemed panicked... (To be continued.)

ps: Bow to thank the most powerful 6th Army, uqing1985, tianen2o18, southern wanderers, glorious charter and comrade Juventus!
Chapter completed!