Chapter 375 Thunder in the Snow

The booming sound of the artillery, like the catastrophe of the end of the world, tore every inch of land covered with snow. The powerful 152mm heavy artillery shells could lift the entire piece of land into the sky. Even tanks could not withstand such terrible power if they were directly hit. It is natural to imagine what the German soldiers with flesh and blood would be like when facing such artillery fire.

The shock wave of the artillery shells coming from a distance could still be felt even from a distance of one kilometer away. The flying snow in the air seemed to be stimulated by something and kept flying randomly. Malashenko, who saw all these scenes, had nothing but deep shock in his heart.

"It's really hard for those Germans. With this scale of bombardment, let alone the Japanese in Nomonhan, even if the Americans come here, they can only stand aside. If they bombard with this formation for an hour, the attack later should be much smoother."

It is a rare and pleasing show to watch the foreign scene with a telescope in hand from outside the turret. Facing this magnificent scene, Iushkin, who sat in the turret with Malashenko in front and behind, also raised his hand to open the turret cover above his head and stick his upper body out after temporarily changing positions with the loader Kirill.

Unlike Malashenko, he did not use a telescope to observe, but could see the magnificent scene of mountains and seas with his naked eyes. Iushkin, who had seen such a scene countless times, still felt his heart surging and could not hide his excitement.

"Every time I see such a scene, I am very excited. Comrade Commander, there is nothing more pleasing than seeing those fascists being enveloped in the Red Army's heavy artillery barrage! I will never get bored of such a scene even if I see it a thousand times!"

After hearing the sincere words from Iushkin, he couldn't help but smile slightly, slowly put down the telescope in his hand, and then spoke without thinking.

"There will be many opportunities to see such scenes in the future. When the air supremacy in the theater is completely controlled by our Red Army's fighter aviation, those German planes will not have the opportunity to act as recklessly as they do now. At that time, there will be no need to worry about the artillery units that are under air strikes and they can go all out. Today's scene is just a daily routine in the future."

It is a little different from what Malashenko expected.

After hearing what Malashenko said, Iushkin did not show too much joy and excitement. Iushkin, who never hides and is used to speaking his mind around Malashenko, is the same this time.

"Now it's just because of the weather that the German planes can't support the battlefield. Once the snow stops, the German planes will be as rampant as before. I heard some rumors that the German planes are much better than our Red Army planes, and the pilots' skills are not on the same level. Many people say that the battle in the sky is more difficult than our tank battle on the ground."

Compared to the overwhelming quality and quantity advantages of the Red Army tanks on the ground over the German armored forces at the tactical level, the Soviet Air Force has been suppressed and beaten by the German Air Force since the launch of Operation Barbarossa.

At the beginning of the war, most of them were destroyed on the airport and runway in a planned sneak attack without any opportunity to perform. As the war progressed, more and more Soviet Air Forces were deployed to the front battlefield, but they were still powerless.

Air battles, which attach more importance to pilot skills and personal abilities than tanks against armored battles, are obviously not won by the passion of Soviet pilots and the relatively backward aircraft in their hands. The cruel facts are not subject to human subjective will and are clearly there.

Although the battle in the sky was violently beaten by the German army and could not gain any advantage, the Soviet army had been suppressing it, in order to prevent the news from spreading and affecting the morale of other ground combat troops.

But the more you suppress some things and don't want everyone to know, the more they will develop in the opposite direction. Those Red Army soldiers on the ground who witnessed their own planes catching fire and smoking like dumplings in several battles for low-altitude air supremacy in the theater were not fools. The one-sided air battles that happened again and again were enough to explain the essence of the problem.

Malashenko, who never shied away from the real situation because of his identity as a time traveler in the future, basically did not deliberately prevent his subordinates from discussing these things.

In Malashenko's own opinion, the "one-sided" propaganda slogans that appeared in newspaper headlines and political commissars' loudspeakers were more deadly. If the soldiers only believed these things, it would cause big problems on the battlefield. The Red Army soldiers who charged at the forefront and shed their blood had the right to know the most real situation. Even Political Commissar Petrov, who worked with Malashenko, acquiesced to this and did not stop it after experiencing a series of events since the start of the war.

Iushkin did not comment on the slightly depressed words. He knew that the comparison of the air situation would only be fundamentally reversed after the appearance of advanced fighters such as La-7. Knowing that the Soviet Air Force still had a long way to go with blood and thorns, Malashenko spoke silently.

"There will be a day when German planes can no longer run rampant over our heads. Believe me, Iushkin, we can definitely hold on until that day comes!"

After hearing the comforting "chicken soup for the soul" from Malashenko, Iushkin, who knew that the war situation was extremely difficult, still trusted his commander with a forced smile.

"Of course, Comrade Commander, I'm still waiting to see the day when the red flag of hammer and sickle is planted in Berlin."

The roaring and roaring thunderous bombardment that lasted for a full hour finally came to an end when the German soldiers seemed to be about to collapse in the end of the world. The surviving German troops, who had no time to count the casualties and equipment losses, had just walked out of the shell-proof hole with shaky and trembling legs holding on to the earthen wall. There was a tooth-numbing sound of metal friction, even though the diesel fuel was being carried. The roar of the engine came suddenly.

"Ivan's heavy tanks! Those are KV1s, they are coming! Enter the position and stop them!"

The German soldiers who were shouting randomly and hurriedly ran to their respective positions on the pitted positions seemed so funny to Malashenko. He retracted his upper body into the turret and closed the top cover of the turret. , with a slight upward movement.