Chapter 196 The Sky-Bearing Sword

When the German bomber fleet flying horizontally at an altitude of two thousand meters approached the last position close enough to the dock, the dock anti-aircraft artillery position, which had brought the German fleet into effective firing range, finally began to pour out firepower.

As the most important logistical supply line to ensure that the military and civilians of Leningrad could continue to resist and persevere, the Ladoga Lake Dock, which connected the only remaining lifeline in the rear, had been deployed and completed as a top priority when Marshal Voroshilov presided over the city defense work.

Deployed at the outermost periphery of the air defense position is a twin-mounted 25mm 72K fully automatic anti-aircraft gun, which is mainly responsible for air defense combat and interception missions in lower airspace.

As the main small-caliber anti-aircraft gun in the Red Army's land forces, this type of anti-aircraft gun is equipped in large quantities in the front-line troops. The gun crew is 6 people, and the manual hand-cranked steering machine and elevation machine are used as the gun pitch and rotation power.

The theoretical maximum rate of fire of a single gun is 240 rounds per minute. After adopting the twin-mounted parallel firepower, the anti-aircraft barrage can be further enhanced to improve the firepower. It has relatively good performance in terms of artillery ballistics and initial velocity of shells, excellent and reliable performance, and is convenient for large-scale wartime production. It can be regarded as one of the more outstanding small-caliber anti-aircraft guns in the early stage of World War II.

After that, the mid-stage air defense positions were deployed by 76mm 3K anti-aircraft guns.

The 76mm fixed-loaded delayed fuze anti-aircraft high-explosive bomb with a muzzle velocity of 810 meters per second, and its warhead warhead contains 180 grams of TNT charge. After exploding in the air, it can cause devastating blows to aircraft targets within a spherical area with a diameter of 30 meters. The broken shrapnel still poses a considerable threat to fragile fighters even at a distance of 50 meters.

In the core part of the air defense position, 12 M1939 85mm anti-aircraft guns are like heavy swords holding up the sky, with their muzzles raised high and pointing directly to the sky.

Similar to the 88mm anti-aircraft gun in the German army's equipment sequence, the M1939 85mm anti-aircraft gun, as the largest caliber anti-aircraft gun in the Soviet field force sequence, also has outstanding performance.

The 85mm fixed-loaded delayed-fuze high-explosive fragmentation shell used by this gun in air defense missions has a muzzle velocity of 792 meters per second, a theoretical maximum range of 15,000 meters, and a warhead charge of up to 660 grams of TNT charge, which is very powerful. When multiple guns are used in an organized salvo anti-aircraft shooting, they are enough to pose an extremely serious threat to high-altitude bomber groups.

It is worth mentioning that this type of 85mm anti-aircraft gun has extremely excellent performance ballistics and an excellent design that is easy to produce on a large scale in wartime.

In the subsequent wars, it also became the main firepower of the famous T3485 medium tank. At the same time, it was also equipped as the main gun weapon of the Soviet SU-85 anti-tank destroyer. The infantry was also equipped with the 85mm D44 anti-tank gun improved on the basis of this type of anti-aircraft gun. The M1939 85mm anti-aircraft gun and the German 88 gun were worthy of the reputation of "anti-everything gun" in the hands of the Soviet army.

With the three-level "high, medium and low" anti-aircraft firepower from far to near, the Soviet air defense position arranged from the core area of ​​the position from the inside to the outside can be said to be perfect in firepower and airtight, and is fully capable of threatening and intercepting any active German fighter planes that dare to invade the Ladoga Lake Wharf.

Like black flower buds, the 85mm and 76mm anti-aircraft shells exploded one after another around the height of the airspace where the German aircraft group was located.

Ordinary anti-aircraft artillery shells with fixed delayed anti-aircraft fuzes need to set the corresponding delayed fuzes according to the height of the enemy aircraft group visually observed on the ground before firing. The error is large. For the Soviet air defense positions, the first wave of anti-aircraft firepower can only be regarded as a test firing with the fuze setting corrected according to the actual effect.

Although the anti-aircraft shells that exploded one after another around the own aircraft group did not hurt any German fighters for the time being, it was obviously not the style of the German Air Force that was still domineering in 1941 to passively take the beating and fly straight and level.

Like frightened rabbits, the German bomber group immediately scattered in groups of three in a T-shaped bomber squadron for tactical evasion, trying to prevent the Soviet air defense positions from concentrating firepower in a single direction and reducing the probability of being shot down.

At the same time, 18 Messerschmitt BF-109E fighters accompanying the German bomber group also began to dive straight down from the sky to the ground.

The Soviet fighter unit that might come to intercept the German bomber group has not appeared yet. In this situation, the German escort fighter unit no longer needs to maintain high energy reserves. Attacking the Soviet air defense positions to open up an offensive route for the bomber unit has become the top priority at the moment.

Anti-aircraft high-explosive bombs detonated with pre-set delayed fuses are still acceptable when dealing with bulky bombers that are large and relatively clumsy and slow, and difficult to make high-overload maneuvers in time.

Although the time required for the shell to fly from the shell to the predetermined airspace altitude and then automatically detonate is not long, it is enough for a small fighter with high maneuverability and agile speed to easily avoid it, especially the BF109, which is known for its superb maneuverability and extremely small turning radius flexibility.

The BF109, which shuttled and flew in the smoke of the explosion of anti-aircraft shells, soon descended from the escort altitude to the low-altitude area. The scattered BF109 fighters, which regarded the Soviet large-caliber anti-aircraft guns as nothing, did not suffer any losses in the process and were about to fly over the air defense position to launch a dive attack.

At this time, the twin 25mm 72K fully automatic anti-aircraft guns deployed at the outermost edge of the entire air defense position turned their muzzles and shifted the attack targets from the German bomber fleet in the sky to these BF109s. The anti-aircraft barrage woven with high-speed small-caliber anti-aircraft shells was the absolute nemesis of intercepting these high-speed and agile fighters.

At the same time, the BF109 fighters that were intercepted by dozens of hot tracer fire rivers were unable to dodge for a while. Three BF109s that reacted half a beat slower were instantly blown up in the air at the same time and turned into a group of hot fireballs and debris.

Since the beginning of the war, the Soviet anti-aircraft artillery units, which have fought against the German Air Force many times, have become more and more mature in air defense skills and actual combat experience, and have gradually explored the specific flight performance of the German fighters and found the feel and skills to deal with the old German pilots.

With the support of the dense air defense firepower network, the Soviet anti-aircraft artillery units are no longer rookies, and now have the ability to fight against the German veteran pilots.

The blood of their comrades in the sky did not make these German veteran pilots who were accustomed to life and death shaken or hesitate. Compared with the heavy damage suffered by the German Air Force in the Battle of Britain, this insignificant loss is just a spark of fire. The BF109s flying in the anti-aircraft tracer barrage immediately launched an attack on the ground after cutting into the attack route.