Iron Cross

Tyulenev's concern was about the air force. Since the German army entered the Middle East in early January, the reconnaissance activities of German aircraft began to increase significantly. Some came from the direction of Turkey, and some came from the direction of Persia. The reconnaissance range was very wide, including Baku and the main defense areas of Transcaucasus were within the reconnaissance range of the Germans. He had to read a lot of intelligence summaries about the German reconnaissance every day to speculate on the next action target of the German army.

He asked the air force to send more forces to shoot down the relevant German reconnaissance planes more than once, but the terrible thing was that the air force had no way to deal with these German reconnaissance planes. The Caucasus Front had almost no radar, and all air defense required visual alert. When speaking to the General Staff, someone proposed to ask Moscow to support some radars. After repeated consideration, Tyulenev refused - it was not that he did not know the benefits of radar, nor that he did not want new things, but that he knew how valuable these things were to the current Red Army, and it was very likely that he would not get them even if he asked. Finally, except for a few radar stations arranged in the direction of the Baku oil field, which were better than nothing, the air defense in other directions required visual interception guided by the ground.

The best fighters used by the Caucasus Front for interception were the Yak-1 or MiG-3, and there were only a few La-5s, which encountered great difficulties when facing the German reconnaissance combination of Bf-219 and FW-190. The German army usually used Bf-219s that had been modified for reconnaissance and then performed by experienced pilots. They swaggered around taking photos and conducting reconnaissance at low altitudes, and it was not difficult to find them. The problem was in interception - whether it was Yak-1, MiG-3 or La-3, they were not the opponents of Bf-219 in a one-on-one low-altitude battle. If it was two-on-one, or even more-on-one, the Bf-219 would slip away quickly, and only the La-5 could barely keep up. Once the other aircraft were thrown away and only the La-5 was left, either the Bf-219 would turn around and eat the La-5, or the FW-190 hovering secretly overhead would take advantage of the situation and swoop down to destroy the La-5. In the reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance operations that lasted for more than half a month, Germany not only completed the reconnaissance mission as scheduled, but also shot down 14 Soviet aircraft, with only 3 losses.

Qiulenev did not blame the Air Force too much. He knew that they tried their best, but he asked to record the German reconnaissance in detail and report it every day. According to his experience, in modern warfare, the areas with relatively high frequency and density of enemy aircraft reconnaissance are generally the directions where the enemy is about to launch the main attack. He paid close attention to the movements of German aircraft, but after watching for a long time, he still felt that he could not get the point - German aircraft were here and there, and seemed to be interested in everywhere, and he could not see what the focus area was at once. For this reason, he could only ask his subordinates to be more vigilant in distress.

There was one thing that was even more strange. Although German planes often came to conduct reconnaissance, they did not bomb the Transcaucasus region and the Baku oil fields. He could understand why they did not bomb the oil fields - the Germans wanted to keep them for themselves, but he really couldn't understand why they did not bomb other places. Someone once suggested taking a preemptive approach and sending large bombers to bomb the Iraqi oil fields, but Chulenev rejected it after repeated consideration. Now there are not enough bombers, and it is difficult to achieve results in the face of German interception. There is no advantage except for losses in vain. On the other hand, if the oil fields were so easy to destroy, the Proshtina oil fields in Romania would have been bombed flat by the Red Army countless times. So a very strange situation of "peace and tranquility" between the Soviet and German air forces appeared in the Transcaucasus, and the German bombers only focused on bombing the British and Indians in Persia.

But the new German aircraft has always been the biggest threat to the Caucasus Front. As far as Chulenev knows, the situation encountered by the Caucasus Front is far from an isolated case. Red Army pilots have encountered more and more Bf-219s on various battlefields. This aircraft is slightly slower than the Bf-109 commonly used by the Germans, but it has very good low-altitude maneuverability and is flexible. No Soviet aircraft (whether it is Yak-1, MiG-3 or La-3) is its opponent. The British Hurricane performed even worse, and the newly commissioned La-5 was also slightly inferior. The Bf-219 only needs to be careful when facing the P-39 - because this American-aided aircraft is not only sturdy but also operated by veterans of the Soviet Air Force. Unfortunately, the P-39 is too small in number, and with the FW-190A as a partner, it has a firm grasp on various other Red Army aircraft. This aircraft is so popular that most Bf-109 pilots of the Eastern Front Air Force are willing to wait in line to replace this new aircraft.

Of course, the Russians also discovered that the Bf-219 lost this advantage once it entered medium and high altitudes. The problem was that except for some hot-headed novices, others were unwilling to keep up - there were obviously FW-190s waiting above, which made it very difficult for the Red Army pilots to deal with. What made the Red Army even more hateful was that this aircraft could reach a range of 1,500 kilometers without auxiliary fuel tanks, which was almost twice that of the Bf-109 and greatly surpassed the Red Army's short-legged aircraft. Therefore, the Red Army's bombers or attack aircraft - whether it was Pe-2, SB-2 or Il-2, basically could not escape being shot down as long as they were bitten by the Bf-219.

Therefore, the Bf-219, like the Tiger tank, has become the target that the Russians are least willing to face. Although the exchange of the Bf-219 is not as terrifying as that of the Tiger, building an aircraft is easier than building a tank. The Tiger has gone from 10 Production started in March, and the monthly output in January was only more than 170 units. The Bf-219 was officially mass-produced in early December. In just over a month, the output suddenly exceeded 400, and it is expected to exceed 800 by March. , if HNA’s needs were not prioritized, there would be more Bf-219s on the Eastern Front.

The challenges posed by the Bf-219 profoundly reflect the crisis faced by the Red Army's air power in recent months. This difficulty is caused by a combination of factors:

One is because aid supplies from Britain and the United States have not arrived. Since November, the Soviet Union has been unable to obtain more than 50,000 tons of aluminum ingots that it has demanded in total. The lack of metal materials has directly restricted aircraft production, forcing the Russians to only use wood to make aircraft. This is certainly not enough to build a good aircraft. . However, they never expected that the Americans actually sent out all the aluminum ingots. Unfortunately, these materials either sank in the Indian Ocean or became German trophies in Egyptian docks and warehouses, totaling nearly 30,000 tons. The aluminum ingots are currently being transported nervously to Germany, and in a few months they will be turned into planes to meet the Russians again.

Second, Germany has invested in new models. New aircraft represented by the Bf-219 gave full play to their advantages of long range, outstanding low-altitude performance, and high level of dogfighting on the Eastern Front battlefield, causing the Red Army to suffer miserably. In addition, the newly launched aircraft also include the He-218, which is more troublesome than the Bf-219. In the past, the Stuka would slowly drop bombs and then fly back slowly, giving it enough time. For the Red Army fighter jets to practice target, the Germans could only rely on their sturdy airframes to carry them. Now the new dive bombers almost throw the bombs with a "swipe", and then run away with a "swoosh", and the volleys are slower in response. The pilots of the aircraft could not even see clearly what the other side looked like, so the first version circulated within the Red Army was that the Germans had developed a new type of fighter—a fighter with dive bombing capabilities. The He-218 was enthusiastically sought after by Stuka pilots - of course the bomber must be as strong as the Stuka, but it would be better if there was a bomber that the enemy could not figure out. Some people called this the real "Lightning Bomber" , the former king of blitzkrieg Stuka was forced to serve as a ground attack aircraft.

In fact, the Russians don't know that the first modification of the He-218, the He-218C equipped with the MW-50 (methanol and water mixture injection device), has appeared, which can provide an additional 200 to the engine in an emergency. Horsepower. At this time, the He-218 can fly at a high speed of 632 kilometers/hour (the carrier-based aircraft is slightly heavier and can only reach a speed of 619 kilometers/hour), which is faster than the Bf-219, but the duration is only 15 minutes, and more There will be damage to the engine after the first use.

At the same time, due to Hoffmann's strong guidance and the successful use of high-low matching of Bf-219 and FW-190A, as well as the technical staff of Daimler-Benz, they finally got the idea and no longer tried to make one engine completely compatible. The performance in various airspaces is high, medium and low, so a first-stage two-speed supercharger was installed on the DB605D (DB605 is an upgraded version of the DB601 series) engine, which quickly matured and was put into mass production (mainly taking care of mid- and low-altitude performance). The engine's horsepower reached 1,700 Horsepower, the size and diameter are slightly larger than the currently used DB601E series, and the weight will be nearly 200 kilograms. Heinkel's technicians are re-improving the body structure and adjusting the center of gravity distribution based on the new engine. According to their optimistic estimates, after the successful installation of this engine, the He-218 can fly above 615 kilometers per hour even without taking drugs, and its take-off and landing performance at low speeds will become better.

Another commendable progress is that because Hoffmann and Speer collected a large amount of rare metals, German researchers no longer worry about the shortage of materials. In addition, they refer to the design details of the British Merlin engine and Japanese high-temperature alloys. technology exploration, they are making rapid progress in related fields. After taking control of the oil fields in the Middle East, German aviation no longer uses coal-to-liquid fuel according to Hoffmann's approval - they can finally use No. 96 C3 fuel with abundant financial resources. Companies such as Farben began to vigorously study fuel standards above No. 110 With additives, these experts will not have to worry about taking care of the low-grade fuel of No. 87. Therefore, the installation of a two-stage three-speed turbocharger (focusing on high-altitude performance) in the DB603AA series engine has finally taken shape. In the laboratory The figure obtained is 1850 horsepower, but it will take a while before it is practical.