Chapter 115 Flying T34

After being baptized by a barrage of air-launched rockets, the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment was the elite division of the Wehrmacht. After completing a dive attack with the Il-2 attack aircraft group, it pulled up again and climbed, preparing to adjust the time for the second wave of attack routes. Various anti-aircraft weapons located behind the German second line of defense and on the infantry trenches immediately turned around and fired back.

The anti-aircraft artillery positions deployed at some positions behind the second line of defense of the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment were mainly equipped with FLAK38 20mm anti-aircraft guns and FLAK36 37mm anti-aircraft guns for high and low matching.

Although both anti-aircraft guns use independent magazine loaders for direct insertion of ammunition, they ensure the continuity of firepower output to a certain extent. However, its slow firing rate of 320 rounds per minute and 160 rounds per minute made it difficult to form a tight anti-aircraft barrage to pose an effective threat to the Soviet aircraft group. Therefore, through the anti-aircraft positions composed of these small-caliber anti-aircraft guns, it was really difficult for the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft group to give up the plan to continue the attack.

After being driven away and intercepted by the firepower network of the German air defense positions, the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft group immediately scattered and chose to evade. The powerful Mikulin AM-38 12-cylinder in-line water-cooled engine gave the Il-2 attack aircraft a powerful maneuverability far exceeding the German Stuka. After the Soviet pilots wearing thick armor continued to evade and adjust the flight path, they soon dived down again and launched another wave of attacks.

"Damn it! Those Russians are flying back again! At two o'clock, shoot them down!"

The command from the gunner drove the FLAK38 20mm anti-aircraft gun mounted on the mobile carrier to turn the muzzle with all its strength, but this anti-aircraft gun did not use an electric direction elevation machine, but still used the old antique hand-cranked direction elevation machine for manual rotation.

It is natural to imagine how bad the effect of using this purely mechanical and human-powered structure, which is quite laborious even on tank turrets, on small-caliber anti-aircraft guns that need to capture high-speed and flexible aerial targets, is.

The German anti-aircraft gun crew, which had arranged eight German soldiers to conduct air search, command the gun crew, load ammunition, fire, and manually turn the elevation and deflection machine, was obviously too busy. The eight-man team that overemphasized the high coordination and perfect cooperation between the gun crew members became a burden at this critical moment. The German anti-aircraft gun crew, which was in a state of high tension, soon made mistakes while being busy and bathed in the roar of the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft.

Click--

A machine gun magazine with 20 rounds of 20mm high-explosive fragmentation tracer incendiary bombs fell to the ground at this critical moment because the loader was too nervous.

When the anti-aircraft gun loader, who was slightly stunned and then showed a look of horror, was about to bend down and quickly pick up the 20mm magazine, which was a circle larger than his lunch box, to reload it.

The Soviet pilots noticed that there was a gap in the firepower of an anti-aircraft gun group on the German anti-aircraft position. Like a shark that smelled blood, they turned their noses towards the unobstructed attack route in an instant. The war truth of taking advantage of your weakness is much more effective than some useless shitty chivalry.

Da Da Da——

The sound of two 20mm Schwark cannons and two 62mm Schkas machine guns firing at the same time was as shocking as beating drums. The 20mm Schwark cannons were powerful enough to penetrate light tank armor and turn armored vehicles into a hornet's nest. They were extremely fierce.

The 20mm cannon chain, which was composed of a mixture of armor-piercing incendiary bombs and fragmentation incendiary tracer bombs, immediately turned the poor German anti-aircraft gun into a pile of twisted twists.

After leaving behind a shattered wreckage of an anti-aircraft gun and a pile of broken limbs, broken organs and flesh, the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft that had completed the attack roared past the German anti-aircraft gun position again at full power.

Before entering the final climb course, the Soviet pilot also left a small gift for the fleeing German infantry on the ground. Four 110-kilogram aerial bombs were thrown straight toward the ground with the inertia of the fuselage like hail. The German infantry bathed in the whistling sound of the bombs had no time to race with the bombs in their panic. The violent explosion wrapped the human body fragments and immediately rushed into the sky in the smoke.

Seeing that the Soviet "Flying T34" was about to leave after a show of force, the German anti-aircraft artillery position was naturally unwilling to be slapped in the face. The German anti-aircraft firepower network, dragging a green tracer barrage, immediately followed the flight path of the Il-2 attack aircraft as if in revenge.

The Soviet pilot, who was caught off guard and bathed in the clanging sound after being hit by several German 20mm anti-aircraft guns, realized that his precious plane was under attack and immediately began to evade and maneuver to avoid anti-aircraft firepower.

What surprised the German soldiers and anti-aircraft gun crews on the ground was that the high-explosive fragmentation incendiary tracer bullets fired by their own FLAK38 20mm anti-aircraft guns only left a string of sparks after hitting the belly of the Il-2 attack aircraft without any effect.

Generally speaking, high-explosive fragmentation incendiary tracer bullets designed for shooting aerial targets are enough to tear open the skin of the aircraft surface and cause a small-scale explosion after hitting the aircraft. Such power is undoubtedly fatal to aircraft with wing beams and fuselage skin structure. Fighters with wing beams made of wooden fuselages or flammable materials such as aluminum alloys will also catch fire, which is equivalent to a death sentence even if they are not shot down on the spot.

But what the German soldiers never expected was that the Soviet aircraft designers with great imagination actually laid heavy armor plates for their fighters.

The Il-2 attack aircraft, which is protected by 5 to 6 mm single-layer steel armor plates on the entire belly, is not afraid of direct hits from any small-caliber anti-aircraft weapons.

The 20 mm high-explosive fragmentation incendiary tracer bullets, which are enough to tear open the skin of ordinary fighters and cause fatal damage to key parts such as internal structures and engines, are not very effective after being used on the Il-2 attack aircraft.

The 20mm high-explosive fragmentation incendiary tracer bullets without dedicated armor-piercing warheads had almost no armor-piercing power. The collision delay fuse equipped on the warhead immediately triggered the explosive charge to explode after hitting the Il-2's belly armor plate, but the power of such a small 20mm charge was obviously not enough to tear open the 5mm thick steel armor plate on the belly of the Il-2.

The German soldiers on the ground were left with only the back of the Il-2 attack aircraft, which was still flying away as if nothing had happened after being hit by more than a dozen 20mm shells.