Chapter 650 Blazing Sky (Part 1)

"As long as the flies in the sky are driven away, the battle on the ground will be easy!"

Yes, Malashenko did say so, and he thought so 38 minutes ago.

But when the 81 tanks of the 14th Armored Corps of the Sixth Army, which rushed to follow Paulus's order, rushed towards Malashenko like a mad bull rushing into a porcelain shop full of red bottles, Malashenko realized that it was not easy to end up boasting too much.

The 14th Armored Corps, which was in an offensive deployment state, immediately took action upon receiving Paulus' order. Nearly 100 tanks, which were originally used to tear apart the last broken field defense line of the Soviet Army in the suburbs, rode directly on Malashenko's face without anyone expecting it.

Nearly 200 tanks gathered on a piece of land less than two square kilometers and broke out in an encounter. It is difficult for people who have not witnessed such a scene to imagine how terrible the scene of artillery fire flying in the dust is.

The sky above was still burning with aviation fuel, and the ground beneath his feet was shaking slightly like a magnitude 5 earthquake due to the intensive maneuvers of nearly 200 tanks.

At this point, Malashenko had no way to retreat. Behind him were three Soviet infantry divisions accompanying the attack.

The main force of the Soviet infantry division, which was also deployed according to the offensive, had left the position. A large number of unprotected infantry were exposed on the flat terrain with only the First Guards Heavy Tank Breakthrough Regiment as cover.

Malashenko knew very well that if he retreated at this time, it would be equivalent to the failure of the entire counterattack group!

Infantry without any heavy anti-tank firepower could not withstand the crazy attack of hundreds of German tanks. What Malashenko had done to the German infantry before would be returned to the Soviet infantry in the same way!

Just as Malashenko was looking at the German armored group rushing towards him in front of him, worse things came one after another.

Behind the dusty German armored group, the BF109 fighters that were roaring all the way with full throttle have already arrived!

What makes people feel even more desperate is that this batch of German BF109 fighters that came urgently are not those rotten fish and shrimp broken models that are easy to deal with, but the BF109F4 that was praised by German pilots as "the best flying BF109" and was later known as "Gundam F4"!

The BF109F4, which has reduced the weight of the fuselage to the extreme, has abundant power and amazing maneuverability at low altitude! Turning, diving, climbing, and high-speed directivity are all excellent. In the battles that have appeared before, it is basically a one-sided battle that presses the Soviet fighters in the sky and beats them violently. These BF109F4s that are coming in full force and speed are seen by Alelyukhin as soon as they enter the battlefield airspace.

"The German reinforcements are coming! Comrades, charge up and fight! Ura!"

In order to support the urgent ground battle on the front line, the German field airport in the rear urgently adjusted the take-off order. The first wave of fighters launched were not fighters but bombers and ground attack aircraft. Fighters that cannot support the ground battlefield are useless even if they have mastered the air supremacy of the theater. The Soviet tanks with strong armor and powerful guns are not afraid of the small water pipe machine guns on the German fighters.

After launching the first wave of bombers and attack aircraft, the German ground crew did not stop, and then rushed the second batch of fighters out of the hangar and sent them to the runway.

The time interval between the two waves of aircraft taking off was no more than half an hour. Before the two teams of LaG 3 fighters led by Lieutenant Alekhin had cleaned up the group of ugly big yellow ducks, the BF109F4s, which were much faster than attack aircraft, had already rushed over.

Lieutenant Alekhin, who showed no fear, had already encountered the German BF109F4 for the first time. In the past few months, he had personally shot down two of them.

Alekhin knew very well that the flying performance of these familiar German fighters in front of him was outrageous. Without considering the pilot's technical level and operating ability, the Lager 3 in his hand was no match at all, just like a piece of scrap metal.

But these were not the reasons for Alekhin to be afraid. His past learning experience and actual combat experience made Alekhin very clear. The battle in the sky only distinguished between the brave and the weak. Once he came into contact with the German fighters with much better performance than himself, he would have no way out.

The Red Army Air Force could die in the desperate roulette of head-on shooting with German fighters, but he must not die because of fleeing and being bitten by the Germans and having the steel plate of the flight seat penetrated!

The battle between the Soviet pilots and the superior German Air Force was heroic, but also tragic and one-sided.

The remaining 12 LaG3 fighters led by Lieutenant Alekhin were shot down on the spot in less than five minutes after they came into contact with the German BF109F4 fleet.

The German pilots, who were not afraid of the low-altitude dogfights with Soviet fighters, brought the excellent low-altitude performance of the BF109F4 to the extreme. Even when the fighting energy was not dominant, they could rely on the excellent body performance to cleverly avoid the shooting windows that the Soviet pilots had barely managed to catch and easily get rid of them. They even used scissor maneuvers to bite back the opponent's six points and shot down the Soviet fighters in one fell swoop.

The extremely flexible BF109F4 was like a flying swallow and was extremely difficult to catch. Lieutenant Alekhin, who was doing large overload maneuvers continuously, sat in the cockpit and held the joystick tightly in his hand. His whole body was already soaked with sweat and his flight suit was exhausted and panting.

The sweat from his forehead kept sliding down into the corners of Aleukhin's mouth, which was bitter and wet. The early morning sunlight shining directly from the windshield of the cockpit above his head was constantly raising the temperature. Lieutenant Aleukhin, who was thirsty and exhausted, was still panting and fighting with the BF109F4s who had an absolute advantage.

The number of comrades and wingmen around him was getting smaller and smaller. When the battle reached the eighth minute, the tenth LaG 3 fighter that Aleukhin counted with his own eyes was finally bitten by the German BF109F4 who refused to let go after repeated maneuvers and failed. The 20mm shaft gun and two 20mm wing gun pods opened fire at the same time, breaking the wing on the spot with three prongs. The hot fireball with thick black smoke fell to the ground like a dazzling meteor across the sky.

At this moment, including Lieutenant Alekhin's own LaG 3 fighter, there were only 3 Soviet planes left in the sky above the battlefield.

On the other hand, none of the 12 BF109F4s that the Germans put into battle were shot down!

Although it was embarrassing to say, Lieutenant Alekhin had to admit it.

The 12 German Air Force fighters in front of him not only had much better performance than himself, but also had the ability to surpass all 13 Soviet pilots including himself in terms of technology. The dozens of small marks painted on the tail rudder and under the cockpit cover of the aircraft were the best proof.