Iron Cross

However, the sacrifice of the 17th Air Force Group Army was not without value. Due to the large-scale fighter battles that occurred for two consecutive days, for safety reasons, the Fourth Air Force stopped bombing Tambov. Using this extremely precious time, the Bryansk Front Army Not only did they all retreat to Tambov, they also desperately built many barricades. Of course, the losses in the air battle could not be concealed, and they were quickly reported to Moscow.

The loss was so great that even Stalin was alarmed and prepared to personally interrogate the air force issue, just as he had interrogated the production of IL-2 attack aircraft every day. He asked people to recruit the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense who was originally in charge of the air force and was appointed commander-in-chief of the air force just last month. General Alexander Alexandrovich Novikov, when they met, he immediately asked:

"Comrade Novikov, do you know that the losses on the front line are so huge?"

"I am fully aware that I am actually opposed to their being so reckless, but as you know, the decision-making power to deploy the Air Force Group and issue combat orders is not in my hands now. The Air Force Command only plays a coordinating role." The other party said calmly, but The dissatisfaction hidden under the calm made Stalin couldn't help but frown.

"Do you still think we should learn from the Germans and establish an independent air force organization and independent command?"

"This..." Novikov hesitated a little, not knowing what to say. He agreed with the second half of the sentence, but once he was labeled as "learning from the Germans", he couldn't say it. Although he was political He didn’t have much fighting experience, but he still had the basic ability to distinguish, so he had to explain in a simple way, “It is natural for the Air Force to cooperate with the commander of the front army to participate in the operation, and it is completely fine to accept the command of the base camp and the General Staff. The key is that the Air Force should listen to the Air Force for relevant combat tasks. The recommendations of commanders and combatants should not be made blindly, let alone apply the army's combat methods to the air force. Comrade Leytel's expectations for this air battle were too hasty. "

"Then tell me, what principle errors did Tambov make in the air battle?"

"We should not dispatch large formations of aircraft to engage in active air combat with the Germans. Fighter units should use multiple teams, small formations, and a large area to cover the Il-2 attack aircraft to launch assaults on the ground, and use aerial guerrilla warfare to force the enemy to run for their lives. The target is not the enemy's fighter jets. Or bombers, our main target should be enemy armor."

"Then why didn't the Germans target our armored forces?"

It was difficult for Novikov to answer this question. He could not tell Stalin clearly that the Germans did not need to bother attacking the Red Army's armored forces. Their armor alone was enough to wipe out the Red Army.

Stalin asked for a long time but failed to get what he needed. He felt that Novikov's words made sense. He waved his hand to signal the other party to stop arguing on this topic and asked him how he could change the situation in which the enemy was strong and we were weak in the air force.

Even Novikov didn't do this. In the early days of the war, the performance of the I-16 fighter jets commonly used by the Red Army was lagging behind and was beaten to a pulp by the Germans. The pilots were killed or captured in batches. After two years of the war, the front-line Red Army finally had fairly good aircraft such as La 5 and Yak 9. However, the quality of pilots has greatly declined. According to German standards, many of them are far from the level of qualifications for graduating from aviation schools. At most, they can fly the plane, aim and fire at the target, and even tremble during the landing. Weiwei makes people very uneasy.

Pilots of this quality currently account for the majority of Red Army pilots. Due to declining industrial capacity and resource constraints, in order to ensure production, these new aircraft use many inferior parts and wooden structure substitutes. The overall trouble-free time does not exceed 50 hours, but the poor pilots cannot even fly these 50 hours - - Most pilots' flying life does not exceed 12 hours. Strictly speaking, the combat effectiveness of the 17th Air Force Group is above average.

The aircraft loss ratio of both sides on the Eastern Front has remained between 1:7 and 1:8. At the beginning, the German military's monthly aircraft production was less than half that of the Soviet Union. At the same time, it had a major advantage when it was distracted by the war in North Africa and Western Europe. When Germany increased its production After reaching 3,000 aircraft per month (almost equivalent to the monthly output of the Soviet Union) and increasing the proportion of fighter production, the IL-2 attack aircraft, which had been so impressive on the Eastern Front, was severely damaged and could never recover. Although the Tiger tanks were The Il-2 can't do anything, but the Bf-219 can easily shoot down the Il-2. If it weren't for the fact that the average pilots of the Air Force's 17th Army were not bad, and most of their equipment were cutting-edge fighter jets, the exchange ratio would be far from 150:800.

But when Stalin conveyed Novikov's opinions to the General Staff, he was met with serious protests.

"Comrade General Secretary, I am not shirking responsibility, nor is it the General Staff's random command. The policy of concentrating the use of the air force group's forces to regain air control is something we have unanimously discussed and recognized. In the final analysis, it is because the current combat effectiveness of the air force is not good, and the quality of the pilots is also poor. , that’s why we suffered huge losses, but can we stop fighting because the losses were too great?” Zhukov retorted, “In any case, the German bombers were stationary for at least two days, allowing the Bryansk Front to successfully withdraw from Tambov and have Opportunity to build a defense line. If we follow Comrade Novikov's opinion and attack the enemy's tanks and ignore the enemy's aircraft, the enemy's bombers will still cause heavy losses to us. If Tambov is lost, I will keep this Air Force Group For whom?”

"The number of German tanks is about 2,500. If we follow Comrade Novikov's advice on destroying tanks, how many tanks can we destroy? 300? 500? I have never heard that in a large battle, 300 tanks can be destroyed by attack aircraft alone. Even if 500 tanks are eliminated this time, so what? The enemy still has 2,000 tanks." Vasilevsky's tone was fast and urgent, and his tone was very unpleasant. "In the end, some comrades in the Air Force are just greedy. They don't dare to fight with the enemy's bayonets, they just want to fight the tanks - because they know that even in the worst case, the enemy tanks will not pose a threat to our aircraft."

Kuznetsov then added: "Comrade General Secretary, I have always been in charge of the navy and don't know much about the air force. However, it is obviously a fact that the air forces of the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany are stronger than ours. I have only heard that they are developing fighter jets or bombers. , I haven’t heard that they focus their air force operations on ground attacks. If an air force doesn’t even dare to compete for air supremacy, what is it called an air force?”

After hearing this, Stalin's face was filled with uncertainty. In the end, he said nothing and only motioned for the three of them to retreat.

Novikov didn't know how much trouble he got into with his quick words - he thought that sending out large formations to fight was Letel's hothead, but he didn't expect that the base camp had given the nod, and Zhukov, Vasilevsky and Ku Znetsov all agreed with this opinion. He scolded all three of them with his "blind command", and of course the others had to fight back.

If the matter only ended here, it would still be reasonable for the public to talk to the mother-in-law, but Novikov was obviously unlucky. That night, Stalin's son Vasily, who served as a major in the Air Force, suddenly came back. The reason was to report the recent work situation to the base camp on behalf of the group army. In fact, the commander of the group army sent Vasily to see his father, and at the same time he wanted to get more supplies and equipment for the group army. ——Who dares not to buy it when Stalin’s son comes forward?

When Stalin asked his son what he thought about this matter, Vasily rolled his eyes and replied lightly: "Aircrafts, especially fighter jets, must be built to deal with enemy aircraft, but Commander Novikov also said something. To a certain extent, many of our pilots are not skilled enough to fly aircraft and may be better suited to fight tanks, but it would be a waste to use our experienced pilots to fight tanks.”

The first part is quite satisfactory, but the following words are intriguing: "Air combat experience can only be accumulated in face-to-face combat. The braver the pilot, the easier it is to survive and achieve results. Look at me, haven't I shot down 5 aircraft so far?" If I only dare to hide in the rear and fight tanks, when will I become an ace pilot?"

Of course Vasily's result of shooting down 5 aircraft is true - no one dares to lie about this kind of thing. The problem is that when he went to the sky to perform the mission, he was surrounded by a bunch of excellent pilots to escort him, and then he gave up the easiest target to shoot down. The "Crown Prince" was fighting, but Stalin himself was in the center and didn't know it. He thought his son was making rapid progress.

As soon as these few words were said, Novikov was immediately associated in Comrade Stalin's mind with "vacillation in compromise and fear of difficulties". Although he looked the same on the surface, it would be difficult to get the impression that once this thing breaks, Make up for it.

Moscow was also prepared to transfer the 2nd Air Force Army over, but Baghramyan reported that the assault troops faced serious air threats and hoped to wait until June 1 before transferring. Vasilevsky thought twice and believed that the Central Front Army It was also important, not to mention that Tambov's need for air power was no longer so urgent, so it was decided to only transfer two more aviation fighter divisions from the direction of Moscow to Leitel, and then temporarily give up the air superiority over Tambov. But he never mentioned Bagramyan's request. He only told Letel that the losses in the last air battle were too large and it was due to Novikov's strong opposition. Letel was so angry that he cursed in the headquarters. Afternoon Novikov.

Seeing that the Russians were not fooled, Model could only ask his troops to encircle the gap first. However, the commanders of the two armored group armies responsible for the encirclement had disagreements about whether to attack Tambov immediately according to the original plan. General Rudolf Schmidt believed that the Red Army should take advantage of the unstable foothold to launch a fierce attack and capture the city as soon as possible, while Reinhardt believed that although Tambov's defense system was not strict, it still had more than 200,000 troops. It is impossible to defeat it within a week. Not only is it a waste of time to attack the south, but it will also damage the precious tank power of the Armored Group Army.