Chapter 389: Eagle on the Eastern Front

Just like Karl Uss, Michael Wittmann, and Ernst Bachmann on the ground, if there is any representative ace on the German Stuka dive bomber, which is the number one representative of the sky blitzkrieg, Hans Ulrich Rudel is definitely the most representative super king, no one else.

As a fanatical Nazi, Rudel has a fanaticism that ordinary people cannot understand for any war initiated by the German army. In order to be able to personally devote himself to the German army's war against the conquered countries and contribute his part, Rudel, who was originally just doing a relatively safe reconnaissance aircraft pilot job, voluntarily submitted an application to his superiors and took the initiative to request to be transferred to the ground attack aviation wing with a high risk factor to perform dive bombing missions.

Rudel, who had a strong ambition in his heart, lived up to expectations after being transferred to the ground attack aviation wing. With his superb flying skills and extraordinary talent, he immediately stood out in his Stuka dive bomber.

By the end of 1941, Rudel, who held the rank of lieutenant, had accumulated more than 300 sorties and achieved many brilliant results. The targets destroyed by him ranged from Soviet infantry trucks to Soviet light and heavy tanks.

But if we talk about Rudel's most proud and famous achievement, it is the brilliant achievement of destroying the Soviet Red Navy's Mara battleship during the Battle of Leningrad.

In this battle, Rudel drove his Stuka with only half of the fuel and removed the additional armor. He carried a one-ton heavy aerial bomb that was not used in normal dive bombing missions. The target was the Red Navy's Mara battleship, which was anchored outside Leningrad and bombarded the attacking German army.

Rudel, who worked closely with his comrades and wingmen, broke through the weak anti-aircraft firepower network on the Mara battleship and launched a death scream. The one-ton heavy aerial bomb dropped by him accurately hit the rear of the bridge of the Soviet Mara battleship near the middle section.

The one-ton heavy aerial bomb that smashed through the upper deck of the Mara battleship with gravitational potential energy exploded inside the lower cabin of the Mara battleship. The earth-shaking explosion severely damaged the Mara battleship and forced it to sink in the port. The young Rudel ushered in the most glorious moment in his military career - sinking a battleship.

Rudel, who continued to work hard, attacked many times on the battlefield of Leningrad afterwards, severely damaged the October Revolution battleship and severely damaged a Soviet cruiser again, and destroyed four Soviet armored trains, 23 artillery positions and 15 bridges on the ground, destroying Soviet tanks and killing infantry.

Such a brilliant victory was the absolute number one ace in the ground attack aviation force of the entire Eastern Front Air Force, not to mention Rudel's own unit. Rudel himself was awarded the Air Force Honor Cup and the Knight's Iron Cross Medal for his outstanding performance in Leningrad. His comrades who admired and envied him gave Rudel a resounding nickname - Eagle of the Eastern Front.

He was trapped on the airport for nearly half a month by the blizzards of the past few days. Rudel felt uncomfortable all over if he didn't take off to fight and drop several tons of bombs to destroy some targets. If there is a kind of person in this world who is born for war, then Rudel must be counted and ranked among the top.

Rudel, who heard the laughter of his comrades around him, did not join them but chose to keep a straight face. This situation did not mean that Rudel was a rigid person who was not good at communicating with others. It was just that the bad situation of not taking off for combat in recent days had already made Rudel in a very bad mood.

"Damn it, who knows how many days we haven't taken off for combat? Sleeping on that tattered camp bed all day is almost making me sick. If this goes on, I feel that I will rust and break down, just like those fighter planes abandoned in the hangar and no one cares about them."

The German pilots who were originally laughing and making a scene turned around immediately after hearing such abrupt words. They saw Rudel, who had already put on his flying leather cotton hat and goggles, holding his neck and shaking his head gently, as if he had rested for too long and his body was not very flexible.

The young German pilot, who had expected Rudel to join in the conversation, smiled even more after hearing this, and spoke in the same joking tone as before.

"You should think about good things, Rudel, such as how many Russian tanks we can destroy later. The mission briefing just now mentioned that the front line is now full of Russian heavy tanks. I have asked Colonel Strauss. The Russian heavy tanks move as slowly as the stupid bears on Russian land. They can't escape our attack. It is estimated that your record will soon add another batch of Soviet heavy tanks."

The young German pilot, who was getting more and more excited, was full of smiles and longings on his face.

In his opinion, those Soviet heavy tanks that could only crawl slowly on the ground were not worth mentioning. After all, no matter how powerful the heavy tanks were on the ground, they could not fly into the sky. As long as there was no interception by Soviet fighters, what they had to do later was just to drop aerial bombs on the tops of these iron turtles' heads. Strictly speaking, it was not much more difficult than ground attack training.

The relaxed and happy smile of his colleague in front of him did not seem to change Rudel's rigid face.

In the short six months since the launch of Operation Barbarossa, he has flown more than 300 combat missions. Rudel, who has fought with the Soviet ground forces as if it were a daily routine, knows very well that the Soviet ground anti-aircraft firepower should not be underestimated.

The 7mm DShK heavy machine gun equipped by the Soviet infantry can easily perform air defense tasks after being assisted by a tripod. This kind of heavy machine gun with powerful firepower is very common even in ordinary Soviet infantry divisions.

Rudel had suffered a great loss from this thing when bombing a Soviet infantry division position before. The dense 7mm tracer anti-aircraft bullets almost tore the wings of Rudel's plane in half. If it were not for the Stuka's solid fuselage structure, which was relatively resistant to attack, Rudel, who dived straight down to a height of only 300 meters from the ground, might not be able to come back.