Steel Soviet Union

After being baptized by a barrage of air-launched rockets, the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment was, after all, an elite division of the Wehrmacht. It used a fleet of IL-2 attack aircraft to conduct a dive attack and then climbed up again, preparing to adjust for the second wave of attacks. At the time of the passage, various anti-air weapons located behind the second line of German defensive positions and on the infantry trenches immediately began to turn around and fight back.

The anti-aircraft gun positions deployed at some positions behind the second defensive position of the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment are mainly equipped with FLAK38 20mm anti-aircraft guns and FLAK36 37mm anti-aircraft guns in a high-low combination.

Although both of these two types of anti-aircraft guns use independent magazines for direct insertion of ammunition, this ensures the continuity of firepower output to a certain extent. However, its slower firing rates of 320 rounds per minute and 160 rounds per minute are difficult to form a tight air defense barrage to pose an effective threat to the Soviet aircraft fleet. Therefore, it is really difficult to defeat the Soviet army through the air defense positions formed by these small-caliber anti-aircraft guns. The IL-2 attack aircraft group gave up its plan to continue the attack.

After being expelled and intercepted by the German air defense fire network, the Soviet Ilyushin-2 attack aircraft group immediately scattered and chose to evade. The powerful Mikulin AM-38 12-cylinder in-line water-cooled engine gave the Ilyushin-2 attack aircraft. The aircraft far exceeded the powerful maneuverability of the German Stuka. The Soviet pilots wearing thick armor quickly swooped down again and launched another wave of attacks after constantly evading and adjusting the flight path.

"Damn it! Those Russians are flying back again! Two o'clock direction, shoot them down quickly!"

The order from the gunner drove the FLAK38 20mm anti-aircraft gun mounted on the mobile carrier to rotate the muzzle with all its strength. However, this anti-aircraft gun did not use electric directional control, but still used an antique-like anti-aircraft gun. The hand crank direction raises and lowers the machine for manual rotation.

If this purely mechanical manpower structure, which is quite difficult to use on a tank turret, is used on a small-caliber anti-aircraft gun that needs to capture high-speed and flexible air targets, it is natural to imagine how bad the effect will be.

The German anti-aircraft artillery team, which arranged eight German soldiers one after another for air search, artillery team command, ammunition loading, firing, and hand-cranking of the high and low direction machines, was obviously a little overwhelmed, and too much emphasis was placed on the high degree of coordination among the artillery team members. The 8-person team configuration with perfect coordination has become a burden at this critical moment. The busy feet are not touching the ground and they are bathed in the roar of the Soviet Il-2 attack aircraft. They are highly nervous. The German anti-aircraft batteries soon made mistakes.

Click——

A machine gun magazine containing 20 rounds of 20mm high-explosive fragmentation tracer incendiary bombs fell to the ground at this critical moment because the loader's nerves were too nervous.

When the anti-aircraft gun loader, who was stunned for a moment and looked horrified, was about to bend down and quickly pick up the 20mm magazine, which was larger than his own lunch box, and reload it.

The Soviet pilots who noticed that an anti-aircraft gun group on top of the German air defense position had lost its firepower, were like sharks that smelled the smell of blood and instantly turned their planes towards an unobstructed attack channel, taking advantage of your illness to kill you. The truth of war is much more effective than some useless bullshit chivalry.

Da da da--

The sound of two 20mm Schwark cannons and two 62mm Schkath machine guns firing simultaneously is as shocking as a drum. It is powerful enough to penetrate the armor of light tanks and turn armored vehicles into a hornet's nest. The Wacker cannon is extremely ferocious.

The 20mm machine gun shell chain, which was a mixture of armor-piercing incendiary bombs and fragmentation-burning tracer bombs, turned the poor German anti-aircraft gun into a pile of twisted twists.

After leaving behind a riddled wreckage of an anti-aircraft gun, as well as broken limbs, broken organs, and minced meat, the Soviet Ilyushin-2 attack aircraft once again roared at maximum power from the top of the German anti-aircraft gun position. And passed.

Before entering the final climb, the Soviet pilots also left small gifts to the fleeing German infantry on the ground. Four 110-kilogram aerial bombs were moving towards them like hailstones with the help of the inertia of the fuselage. Throw it straight above the ground. The German infantrymen, bathed in the roar of the bombs, were so frightened that they had no time to race against the bombs. The violent explosions carried human body fragments and shot straight into the sky in the smoke.

Seeing that the Soviet "Flying T34" was about to move away after putting up a force, the German anti-aircraft artillery position was naturally unwilling to be slapped in the face. The German anti-aircraft firepower network dragging a bright green tracer barrage immediately followed as if retaliating. The Il-2 attack plane flew straight away and pursued it straight away.

Caught off guard by several rounds of German 20mm anti-aircraft guns, the Soviet pilots were bathed in the clanging sound. Only then did they realize that their precious aircraft was under attack and immediately began to evade maneuvers to avoid the anti-aircraft fire.

What surprised the German soldiers and anti-aircraft gun crews on the ground was that the high-explosive fragmentation tracer bullet fired by our own FLAK38 20mm anti-aircraft gun actually hit the belly of the IL-2 attack aircraft. In the end, there was only a string of sparks left without any effect.

Under normal circumstances, high-explosive fragmentation tracer bullets designed for shooting aerial targets are enough to tear apart the surface skin of the aircraft body and trigger a small-scale explosion after hitting a fighter aircraft. Such power is undoubtedly for a fighter aircraft with a wing spar and body skin structure. Equally fatal. Fighter aircraft with wing spars made of flammable materials such as wooden fuselages or aluminum alloys can also be ignited and catch fire. Even if they are not shot down on the spot, it is equivalent to a death sentence.

But what the German soldiers never expected was that the imaginative Soviet aircraft designers actually laid heavy armor plates to protect their fighters.

The IL-2 attack aircraft is protected by a 5 to 6 mm single-layer steel armor plate placed on the entire belly. It can be said that it is not afraid of direct hits from any small-caliber anti-aircraft weapons.

The 20mm high-explosive fragmentation tracer bullet, which is enough to tear apart the skin of a general fighter aircraft and cause fatal damage to the internal structure, engine and other key parts, does not work well after being used on the IL-2 attack fuselage.

The 20mm high-explosive fragmentation tracer bullet, which is not equipped with a special armor-piercing warhead, has almost no armor-piercing power. The collision delay fuse equipped on the warhead immediately triggered the charge after hitting the belly armor plate of the Il-2 aircraft. An explosion occurred, but the power of such a small 20 mm charge was obviously not enough to tear through the 5 mm thick steel armor plate on the belly of the IL-2.

All that was left for the German troops on the ground was the messy wind bathing in the back of the IL-2 attack aircraft, which flew away as if nothing had happened after taking more than a dozen rounds of 20mm artillery shells.