Chapter 631 Airborne Troops (3)

80 transport planes only airdrop 1,600 people in each batch.

Peterkov did not realize at all that this was a taboo in airborne operations... The most important thing in airborne operations is to be able to put a large number of troops into the battlefield at the same time. Only in this way can greater combat effectiveness be unleashed, causing the enemy to respond hastily regardless of the situation. .

Otherwise, a batch of more than a thousand people would be eaten by the enemy as soon as they were dropped, and a group of more than a thousand people would be eaten by the enemy shortly after being dropped in. In this way, the airborne landing is actually to deliver prisoners to the enemy.

The reality is worse than that.

The first batch of 80 Li-2s arrived over Baku at about five o'clock in the morning. Their mission was to land two miles outside the city of Baku, and then occupy Baku with lightning speed... Obviously, the Soviet army wanted to With the help of the people of Baku.

If the German army was not prepared, this plan would indeed cause a lot of trouble for the German army.

But now, their plan is almost suicide.

Qin Chuan and others looked at the parachutes falling in the sky with bewildered expressions... They couldn't believe that the Soviet army's landing place was in the city of Baku.

"What are they doing?" Eberhard asked: "Don't they need to conduct reconnaissance before airborne? They should know the preparations we are making in Baku, right?"

"They're Soviets, Major!" Kuhn replied, "Anything you can't imagine could happen to them!"

"Are you planning to discuss it until the Soviets have their feet on the ground?" Qin Chuan ordered: "Act immediately!"

"Yes, Major!" the officers and soldiers responded, and then immediately drove to the Soviet parachute point.

The result of this battle can be imagined... This cannot be said to be a battle at all, but a hunting.

The German army drove motorcycles and cars quickly to the Soviet parachute point, and then waited below for the Soviets in the air to fall.

Many Soviet soldiers raised their hands before their feet even touched the ground, because they knew that there was no hope for this airborne landing.

Of course, there were also some Soviet soldiers who were blown far away by the wind, but in general, this Soviet airborne force was defeated by the Germans before they could gather in a hurry.

More importantly, the frontline commander Major General Glazunov had just landed on the ground and sent a "smooth landing" telegram to the headquarters. Then the radio broke down... The major general in the dark was blown five kilometers away from Baku. Where he was, he did not see his troops being attacked by the Germans for the time being, so it was indeed a "smooth landing" for him.

The radio station was never repaired after that... Problems with Soviet radio stations were common.

The result of this was that the command never received warning of the failure of the first batch of airborne landings and that the German army was fully prepared in Baku.

So the second batch airborne again near Baku... This batch was half an hour apart from the previous batch. It was composed of 25 newly arrived Li-2 transport aircraft and 50 Turbo-3 bombers that Peterkov assembled as guest transport aircraft. .

This stunned all the German officers and soldiers. They were familiar with airborne operations and could not believe that the Soviet army would do this.

But they couldn't believe it, but they still attacked in time and once again easily defeated the elite Soviet airborne troops hanging on parachutes who were defenseless.

Only then did the Soviet command receive a warning, because the commander of the second batch of airborne Soviet 8th Brigade hurriedly reported to the command on the way to escape: "Comrade Petkov, the situation is very bad. It wasn’t a group (of the first airborne troops), it was the Germans who were there, and we were attacked by them as soon as we landed!”

Only then did Peterkov realize that something was wrong, and he quickly changed the parachute plan and changed the landing site to a basin ten kilometers away from Baku... This way, the parachute troops would have time to assemble and use the favorable terrain to carry out the operation. defense.

But it was too late, it was already daylight.

The third batch of transport planes bound for Baku was intercepted by German fighter planes without any surprise.

Of course, the Soviet army also sent fighter planes to escort, and even the 4th Aviation Group Army in the North Caucasus sent more than 60 fighter planes to join the battle.

But none of this could stop the German army from massacring Soviet transport planes... The German fighter jets basically ignored the Soviet Seagull fighters, flying back and forth between the clouds and the Soviet aircraft group, always shooting down a few of them every time they dived or climbed. Transport aircraft.

The speed of 710 kilometers per hour is not the same order of magnitude as the speed of 240 kilometers per hour. The Seagull fighter jet with a speed of 442 kilometers per hour can only stare at it.

And when the transport plane was destroyed at this time, it was really beautiful to watch, because from time to time, airborne troops would jump out of it and hang on their parachutes and fall.

In the end, the Soviet transport plane was almost beaten before it reached its destination. Only more than 300 people were able to successfully land at the destination.

Of course, these more than 300 people would not make a difference. The German army only sent one battalion and the battle ended in half an hour.

In the blink of an eye, the 10,000-strong Airborne Fourth Army that Stalin planned to deploy to play a major role in Baku was lost in half.

After receiving this information, Stalin couldn't help but turned pale with anger. He, who had always been calm and calm, couldn't help but curse at this moment: "Shameful, incompetent, these losers, they always have a way to make themselves lose to the Germans!"

But objectively speaking, it makes no sense for Stalin to scold him like this, because fundamentally speaking, all of this was actually caused by him...such as the appointment and dismissal of commanders, the development of transport aircraft, and the training of airborne troops, etc.

To put it another way, even if Stalin was powerless, he should at least know that with the speed of the Li-2 transport plane and the ability of the Soviet airborne troops, it is impossible to quickly assemble and deploy them to the battlefield within a few hours.

However, no matter how much he scolded, this mess still had to be cleaned up.

After calming down and thinking about it, Stalin knew that the Baku oil fields could not be taken back.

Although Stalin was reluctant to admit this, he had to face the reality. Especially even if the Soviet Union took back the oil fields, it would be useless... because the German army would definitely blow up all the facilities at the last moment.

On the other hand, if the war situation was allowed to develop like this, the entire Caucasus region, including the Transcaucasian and North Caucasian Fronts, would be completely surrounded by the attack of the German Army Group A.

At that time, the two fronts would lose the barrier of the Caucasus Mountains and the oil and military factories in the Transcaucasus. The two fronts would have no choice but to surrender.

Thinking of this, Stalin could only grit his teeth and give an order: "Order the Transcaucasian Front and the 4th Air Army to destroy as many refineries and oil fields as possible, and then withdraw from the Caucasus region and move to Stalingrad!"