Chapter 914 The Sky Belongs to Us

Paulus, who was commanding in the underground command post, had a dull face and was lifeless. He could not see any hope of survival and was almost collapsed and desperate.

But on the other side, Colonel Malashenko, the commander of the 1st Heavy Tank Brigade of the Guards, who got up early in the morning and had eaten and drunk enough, had a different view.

The defense and annihilation war that began in November last year has been advancing step by step and steadily until the last moment.

In the two months across the New Year, Malashenko led his 1st Heavy Tank Brigade of the Guards, which had been strengthened again after replenishment, to complete the task of dividing the two German groups in the south and north of the city assigned by the superior front headquarters. With relatively few battle losses, they exchanged for a tactical victory of great significance. Now they only need to completely bury the Sixth Army.

"Lavri, have you notified the troops to assemble?"

Malashenko, who was still holding half a piece of bread in his mouth, asked loudly to Lavrinenko who was arranging specific tactical tasks while walking.

Lavrinenko, who was also holding breakfast bread in his hand and arranging combat tasks for several battalion commanders while eating, tilted his head and saw Malashenko walking towards him and immediately responded.

"The assembly order was issued ten minutes ago. The vehicles of each battalion should have been warmed up and ready. Kurbalov is watching the specific situation. You can ask him in detail when he comes over. Look, he is over there, already walking this way."

Today's combat mission was about half an hour ago when Malashenko personally presided over the brigade meeting to explain the updated order of the front command to Lavrinenko, Political Commissar Petrov and other core commanders.

At present, it is only through Lavrinenko's mouth that specific combat tasks are arranged for the subordinate combat units. Malashenko, who has his own duties, no longer needs to ask about these details that make him feel at ease. He just leaves it to Lavrinenko to do it.

"Come on, don't worry about the brigade commander, turn your head and continue talking."

"Today's main offensive area is the same as yesterday, and it is still focused on the offensive task against the enemy's heavy troops entrenched in the heavy industrial zone in the north of the city. What is different from yesterday is that the superiors require our brigade to make a decisive breakthrough in today's offensive, so our offensive must be more fierce than yesterday."

"First of all, the first battalion, Battalion Commander Kurbalov is not here for the time being, and his battalion will be mainly responsible for the offensive tasks in this section."

Malachenko, who was walking farther and farther away, could no longer hear what Lavrinenko was saying, who spread the map on the ground and poked the marked strategic locations with his hands to arrange combat tasks. Kurbalov, who was obviously limping and walking a little unsteadily, was walking towards him with a smile.

"The troops have been warmed up and are ready to attack the Germans at any time! When will we set out to crush the enemy? Comrade Brigade Commander."

Only the core commanders of the brigade, such as Malashenko and Lavrinenko, knew the specific time of the attack. Malashenko rolled up his sleeves and looked at the time on his watch. He swallowed the last bite of bread in his mouth and pointed quietly at the roar of the aircraft engine coming from the sky behind him.

"No need to wait any longer, look, they are here."

Above the sky where Malashenko raised his hand and pointed, a bomber formation composed of 32 Tu-2 twin-engine tactical bombers were rushing in a dense black formation.

Malashenko could vaguely see these Tu-2 bombers that were not flying very high when he was standing on the ground. Some of them had opened the bomb bay doors on the belly of the aircraft, revealing the black steel aviation bombs inside, which were baring their fangs and claws, exuding the smell of death.

These Figure 2 tactical bombers loaded with 500 kg aerial bombs will become the pioneers, opening up offensive routes for the First Guards Heavy Tank Brigade led by Malashenko and other friendly forces when it is inconvenient to use artillery for precise fire coverage in the city.

Let the lingering German defense forces entrenched in the heavy industrial zone in the north of the city be turned into corpses and ashes as much as possible in the explosive iron rain of aerial bombs, so as to reduce the pressure on the ground offensive to the greatest extent.

Strictly speaking, since the launch of the Stalingrad counterattack, neither Malashenko nor Kurbalov has seen such a large formation of their own bombers in intensive action for the first time, which is all due to the derivative result brought about by the transfer of air supremacy to the hands of the Soviet army.

Since 1943, the air supremacy over the main urban area of ​​Stalingrad has undergone a fundamental subversion.

The La-5 fighter jets, whose monthly production has risen sharply in the rear, have now expanded rapidly to an extremely astonishing number like a balloon.

As the most important battlefield in the entire Patriotic War, the air battle in the direction of Stalingrad concentrated more than half of the total output of the newly produced La-5 fighters.

The German Air Force, which was originally able to suppress its opponents, began to perform more and more in the battle, and the number of fighter losses soared sharply like a roller coaster of a collapsed stock market.

In early January, the German Air Force entrenched in the direction of Stalingrad was able to organize several large-scale air battles, and fought against the almost uniform Soviet new La-5 fighters.

However, the number of Soviet fighters, which was increasing instead of decreasing, was like a virus multiplying, and the more and more Soviet fighters were fighting, the more the pilots of the German fighter wing who had been fighting continuously with high intensity could no longer hold on.

After suffering several major air battles in succession, they had to lie dormant and lick their wounds. Without fighter cover, the number of German transport aircraft formations that suffered losses rose exponentially.

The air supremacy over the main urban area of ​​Stalingrad had been subtly seized by the Soviet army. The German transport aircraft formations that came to airdrop life-saving supplies to the Sixth Army encountered organized ambushes and interceptions by Soviet fighters. Several times, they hurriedly threw the supplies they carried out of the warehouse and ran away.

Unexpectedly, many of these hastily dropped airdrops were thrown over the heads of the Soviet positions. Through the telescope, they could see the precious life-saving supplies being thrown into the enemy's control area.

The desperate and hungry German front-line commanders had only bad curses to vent, but in the end, they did not have any effect and did not help.

Looking at the formation of these Tu-2 bombers roaring overhead and heading straight for the enemy-occupied area, Kurbalov, feeling quite emotional, could not help but speak quietly.

"It's different now, Comrade Brigade Commander, the sky finally belongs to us!"