Chapter 590 Ambush

Because time was not on the German side, even though Manstein had no way to deal with the Kerch Line, he still made an offensive plan.

The first thing to be launched was of course the air battle.

In this regard, Manstein arranged it very successfully. He estimated that if the Soviet army was reinforced in terms of tanks, then the air force would definitely be strengthened.

So, Manstein sent out bombers first, and fifty BF109s and FW190s hid in the clouds a little later to ambush.

The Stuka bombers focused on the Soviet KV tanks as soon as they came up... This was the mistake of the Soviet army putting tanks on the front line. The tanks were so big, especially the KV tanks, and they had a towering turret, which exposed them to the German army's sight at the first time.

Then, Manstein asked the signalman to indicate the location of these tanks to the pilots... The German army did a good job in coordination, or it can be said that due to the needs of blitzkrieg, the communication and coordination between air and infantry have always been very close.

Although the KV tank had thick front and side armor, the Germans had to use tungsten core armor-piercing bullets at a distance of 30 meters to penetrate the rear armor... It is said that during the Battle of Leningrad, some German infantrymen risked their lives to approach the KV tank and tried to blow it up with twice the amount of explosives. As a result, it was still intact except for the broken tracks, which scared the Germans and made them run away.

But no matter how thick the armor of this KV tank is on each side, the 30MM thickness of the top armor is still its weakness, especially the Stuka bomber is a high-speed dive bomber, it rolls in the sky and dives down at a large angle of almost 90 degrees... The bombs dropped are both accurate and of astonishing momentum. Not to mention that they can easily penetrate the top armor of the KV, even if they can't penetrate it, they will shock the Soviet members in the KV tank to death.

So there is no suspense, several KVs were blown into a ball of fire without being able to play any role, and the "Stuka" bombers immediately attacked other tanks, artillery and cars that they could find.

Of course, the Soviets would not allow the German bombers to destroy their tanks one after another, and immediately called in a large number of "Seagull" fighters for support.

But this was already in Manstein's plan. When the German bombers saw the Soviet fleet coming from afar, they turned around and left the battlefield.

If Kozlov or Mehlis were smart commanders, they would order the fleet to give up the pursuit and instead bomb and strafe the Germans and then return.

The reason is simple. The maximum speed of the "Seagull" fighter is 442 kilometers per hour, and the maximum speed of the German "Stuka" bomber is 410 kilometers per hour. The speeds of the two are similar. When the Soviet fleet catches up with the "Stuka", I'm afraid that the fuel will run out and I can't return.

But Mehlis hysterically ordered loudly: "Catch up with them and destroy them all!"

In Mehlis' mind, he only thought that if he continued to avoid fighting like this, then wouldn't the German bombers be able to destroy all the tanks on the defense line back and forth? !

What he didn't expect was that the German army was still cautious because they knew that the Soviet army still had a considerable number of air forces. Once these air forces were eliminated, the German bombers could do whatever they wanted.

Needless to say, the subsequent air battle: fifty German fighter planes that had been prepared for a long time suddenly dived down from the clouds, and then there was a fierce sound of machine guns... One after another, "Seagull" fighter planes fell from the sky with black smoke.

The maximum flight speeds of the German BF109 and FW190 fighter planes were 710 kilometers and 760 kilometers respectively. Attacking the "Seagull" fighter plane with a speed of only 442 kilometers per hour at this speed was simply a sledgehammer to kill a chicken... The speed of the fighter plane in the air battle is extremely important, because it means that the faster side can attack the other side in any posture and direction at will, while the other side has no chance to aim, and can only stare at the target in the cabin stupidly for a while, and then suddenly jump to the back in front of him.

The result of the air battle was undoubtedly the Soviet defeat. Although the Soviet army had as many as 150 fighter planes, there was no problem of "fighting with more against fewer" in air battles... Fighters with a generation gap were often completely destroyed without even touching the opponent's hair.

This time was also the case. Only 18 of the 150 Soviet fighter planes could return, and they were all injured. Only one German fighter plane was injured by a stray bullet and the pilot parachuted and was successfully rescued.

Manstein was very satisfied with this air battle, and the first stage of his offensive plan was successfully completed.

Then, when the "Stuka" fighter returned to the base and re-loaded with bombs and flew over Kerch again, Manstein's second stage of the offensive was launched.

The first thing to be fired was rows of artillery shells.

Ironically, most of these artillery shells were captured from the Soviet army... The German army adhered to the principle of using Soviet artillery shells first and then their own artillery shells. After all, carpet bombing does not require high accuracy, and it is not a pity to fire captured artillery shells.

The combination of artillery shells and the bombing of the Stuka bombers only caused flames and smoke everywhere in the Soviet positions.

Then, with Manstein's order, the infantry charge followed the artillery fire extending backwards.

This was somewhat different from the previous German charge... Usually, tanks basically covered the infantry charge.

But now, doing this in such a muddy battlefield would obviously cause trouble for themselves.

The infantry was followed by groups of engineers. As the infantry charged, they began to use stones, logs, sandbags, etc. in the hope of filling a path for the tanks to attack.

Manstein's offensive strategy is certainly correct:

The infantry attacking behind the artillery fire may be able to break through the enemy's defense line. If not, the engineers will guide the tanks step by step in the rear and prepare for the next attack.

But all this seems to be in vain.

When the German soldiers approached the Soviet defense line 500 meters away, the Soviet army opened fire. Heavy bullets were flying everywhere on the battlefield. The German soldiers who had no cover to hide fell in pieces... although they lay on the ground from time to time. They dodged bullets and then suddenly jumped up and forward, but it was still to no avail. The muddy ground made their tactical movements as clumsy as new recruits. In a short time, the muddy ground was full of blood and corpses.

In desperation, Manstein had to withdraw them.

"Colonel!" After thinking about it, Manstein shouted to Colonel Slain: "I'm wondering whether the firepower of the 1st Infantry Regiment can suppress them?"

Hearing this, Qin Chuan couldn't help but be stunned. Manstein was going to send the First Infantry Regiment to such a battlefield.