Chapter 111 Blood in the Sky

The weather on the morning of July 23 was not bad, but it was definitely not very good, at least that was the case over the city of Yelnya.

The thick cumulonimbus clouds floating in the sky pulled the boundary between the blue sky and the earth very low, low enough for the German attack aircraft in the ground support attack to completely fail to notice the existence of the Soviet air force hovering above the clouds waiting for prey.

In order to win the Battle of Smolensk and defend the gate to Moscow, the Soviet supreme leader Comrade Stalin did everything he could and spared no effort.

At the beginning of the war, the Soviet air corps of the front-line fronts were completely wiped out by the Germans, the Soviet fighter planes on the production line were in short supply, and the Soviet air corps of the Far Eastern Military District could not rush to support in time. As the supreme leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin once again demonstrated his unique courage of being arbitrary and having a leadership style.

At this moment, the Soviet aircraft groups swooping down from the clouds in the sky were none other than the elite Soviet air corps that had been responsible for protecting the Soviet heartland Moscow's sky.

In order to solve the problem of the serious lack of air support for the Soviet army on the front line, Stalin, who ignored the advice of almost all his subordinates, insisted on withdrawing a considerable part of the Soviet air corps responsible for protecting the capital Moscow's sky to support the front line.

Although such a decision seems to be a risky move at the moment, if it is viewed from the perspective of future generations, Comrade Stalin's decision has to be said to be a correct decision with great leadership courage.

Although the Soviet air forces that had just completed the transfer from the rear Moscow direction and assembled at the Smolensk front were not many in number, the models were relatively complex, with all types of Miglag.

But even so, these Soviet pilots who had been eager to fight the Nazi fascists who invaded their homeland were still fearless. After gathering all the fighters that were already in place and able to fly on the field airport, they roared their engines all the way to the Yelnya theater where the fighting was the most intense.

As the most equipped modern low-wing fighter in the Soviet Air Force's organizational sequence at the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, the MiG-3 fighter, which was originally designed for high-altitude combat, was used for low-altitude air supremacy. Although it cannot be said to be fully utilized, the Soviet Air Force, which adheres to the principle of using what it has, now has no room for nitpicking and choice.

When a mixed fighter formation consisting of 18 MiG-3 fighters and 16 LaGG-3 fighters swooped down from the sky under the cover of cumulonimbus clouds, it caught the German aircraft group that was performing ground attack missions off guard.

Realizing that the Soviet Air Corps, which had been strangled to death by their own side at the beginning of the war, had revived, these German fighter pilots who survived the British Spitfire fighters with superb skills in the Battle of Britain did not hesitate at all. They immediately waved the joystick in their hands and drove the flexible BF109E3 fighters to head-on the Soviet fleet.

For a time, the 16 German BF109E3 fighters that kept biting each other in the ups and downs and the total of 34 Soviet fighters were in a very difficult fight.

The German pilots who survived the Battle of Britain relied on their superb skills and the advanced performance of the BF109E3 fighters to remain at a disadvantage even in the case of numerical disadvantage.

Although the Soviet pilots, who had an absolute numerical advantage, were slightly inferior to the Germans in terms of air combat skills and aircraft performance, these Soviet pilots who were responsible for defending the capital of their motherland were not easy to deal with.

Most of these young Soviet pilots, who were burning with lofty beliefs and full of passion, were experienced pilots who had participated in the Soviet military operations against Poland and Finland.

On one side were veteran pilots with advanced quality advantages and absolutely rich combat experience, and on the other side were experienced airmen who had a sense of justice in defending the motherland and were not rookies who were easy to mess with.

The scales of victory began to tremble violently and swayed as if they were placed with almost equal weights. The crimson and green tracer barrages, as brilliant as New Year's fireworks, crossed the sky in jagged lines. After witnessing such a large-scale real air battle for the first time on the ground, Malashenko was fascinated for a while.

"It is said that machine guns, machine guns and dogfights are the romance of air combat for men, but this scene is true. It is worthwhile to witness such a scene."

The large-scale air battle involving nearly 100 aircraft from both the Soviet and German sides could not be determined for a while. At most, there were four fighter planes in the sky that could not be distinguished as Soviet or German, spraying flames and thick smoke at the same time and falling to the ground.

On the other side, the Stuka dive bombers, which were frightened by the sudden appearance of the Soviet fighter group, were bulky and slow-flying, like "pregnant seagulls" with almost no air combat capabilities. At this point, they no longer cared about performing any ground attack missions, and then fled to the safe airspace far away from the air supremacy dispute area.

Looking at the upset death vultures above his head, they finally fled away temporarily because the outcome of the battle for air supremacy was still undecided. Malashenko realized that this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attack was unmissable. He immediately picked up the communicator in his hand and shouted loudly.

"Before those Stukas come back, we must rush into the German positions and tear apart their defenses! Break through the camp and attack!"

"Ula!"

"Ula!"

The participation of our own aviation force was like a shot in the arm into the attacking Soviet troops. The KV1 heavy tanks, which had pushed the output of their diesel engines to the maximum, were heading towards the Grossdeutschland Infantry that was already close at hand at full speed. The regiment rushed to the position.

After the first heavy tank led by Malashenko broke through the battalion, countless Red Army soldiers holding their weapons high also followed the tanks and marched forward bravely, inspired by the majestic slogans.

Staring at this terrifying scene in his telescope, Colonel Stockhausen, the commander of the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment, remained silent for a moment and slowly put down the telescope in his hand. Finally, he spoke again in a seemingly calm tone. .

"Prepare a submachine gun for me, Bolt. This may be our last battle."