Steel Soviet Union

Paulus, who was taking command in the underground command post, looked earth-colored and lifeless. He could not see any hope of life and almost collapsed in despair.

But on the other side, Colonel Malashenko, commander of the 1st Guards Heavy Tank Brigade, who got up early in the morning and had enough to eat and drink, had a different scene.

The defense and annihilation war that began in November last year has now been progressing step by step and steadily to the final moment.

During the two months before the New Year, Malashenko took his replenished and once again strong 1st Guards Heavy Tank Brigade to complete the task assigned by the superior front army headquarters to separate the two groups of German troops in the south and north of the city. . A relatively small battle loss was achieved in exchange for a tactical victory of great significance, and now all that was left was the final blow to completely ruin the Sixth Army.

"Lavery, have you informed the troops to assemble?"

Malashenko, who was still holding half a piece of bread in his mouth, asked loudly questions to Lavrinenko who was assigning specific tactical tasks as he walked.

Also holding breakfast bread in his hand, Lavrinenko, who was eating and assigning combat tasks to several battalion commanders, tilted his head, saw Malashenko walking towards him, and immediately spoke.

"The assembly order was issued ten minutes ago. The vehicles of each battalion should have been warmed up and prepared. Kulbalov is keeping an eye on the specific situation. You can ask him in detail when he comes over. Look, he There it is, already heading this way."

Today's combat mission was about half an hour ago. Malashenko personally presided over the brigade headquarters meeting to explain the updated orders from the front army headquarters to Lavrinenko, Political Commissar Petrov and other core command personnel.

At the moment, he is just assigning specific combat tasks to lower-level combat units through Lavrinenko. Malashenko, who is performing his own duties, no longer has to ask about these details that reassure him, and just leaves them to Lavrinenko with confidence. Linenko can just do it.

"Come on, don't worry about Comrade Brigade Commander. Turn your head and let's continue talking."

"Today's main offensive area is the same as yesterday. It is still focused on the offensive mission against the enemy's heavy troop group entrenched in the heavy industrial zone in the north of the city. The difference from yesterday is that the superiors require that our brigade must achieve a decisive breakthrough in today's offensive. So our offensive must be even more intense than yesterday."

"The first is the 1st Battalion. Commander Kurbalov is temporarily absent. His battalion will be mainly responsible for the offensive mission in this section."

Malashenko, who was drifting away, could no longer hear clearly what Lavrinenko, who was spreading the map on the ground and poking at the marked strategic locations to arrange combat missions, was saying. He was obviously limping when he walked. Kulbalov, who was not very smooth, was walking towards him with a smile.

"The troops have been warmed up and ready to attack the Germans at any time! When will we set off to crush the enemy? Comrade Brigade Commander."

Only the core commanders of the brigade, Malashenko and Lavrinenko, knew the specific attack time. Malashenko, who rolled up his sleeves and glanced at the time on his watch, swallowed the last bite of bread in his mouth and looked behind him. The distant roar and roar of aircraft engines above the sky were heard quietly.

"No need to wait any longer, look, they're already here."

High in the sky where Malashenko raised his hand and pointed, a bomber formation composed of 32 Figure 2 twin-engine tactical bombers was approaching in a dense black formation.

Standing on the ground, Malashenko could vaguely see these Figure 2 bombers that were not flying very high. Some of them had opened the bomb bay door in the belly of the aircraft, revealing the black steel aerial bombs inside. , exudes the smell of death.

These Figure 2 tactical bombers, fully loaded with 500 kilograms of aerial bombs, will be the pioneers. When it is inconvenient to use artillery for precise fire coverage in the city, they will provide the first guard heavy tank brigade led by Malashenko and other friendly forces. The troops opened up attack routes.

Let as many of the lingering German defense forces entrenched in the heavy industrial zone in the north of the city be reduced to corpses and ashes in the bursting iron rain of aerial bombs, so as to minimize the pressure on the upcoming ground attack.

Strictly speaking, since the launch of the Stalingrad counteroffensive, both Malashenko and Kulbalov have seen such a large and intensive action of their own bomber formations for the first time. This is all due to the air superiority. The derivative consequences of changing hands to the Soviet army.

Since the beginning of 1943, the air superiority over the main city of Stalingrad has been fundamentally subverted.

The monthly production of La-5 fighter jets has increased sharply in the rear, and now it has rapidly expanded to an extremely astonishing number like a balloon.

As the most focused and important battlefield in the entire Patriotic War, the air battle in the direction of Stalingrad concentrated more than half of the total output of newly produced La-5 fighter jets.

The Luftwaffe, which was originally able to suppress its opponents, began to struggle more and more in the battle, and the number of fighter losses soared like a crashing stock market on a roller coaster.

At the beginning of January, the German Air Force entrenched in the direction of Stalingrad was able to organize several large-scale air battles, fighting almost all of the Soviet army's new La-5 fighter jets in the dark and unwilling to give in.

However, the number of Soviet fighter jets seemed to be increasing instead of decreasing, just like a virus multiplying. The number of Soviet fighter jets was increasing, and the pilots of the German fighter wing who had been conducting continuous high-intensity sorties finally could no longer hold on.

After suffering several major losses in air battles, they had to quietly lick the wounds of the horrific battle losses. Without the protection of fighter jets, the number of battle losses of the German transport aircraft formations was able to soar exponentially.

The air superiority over the main city of Stalingrad has been subtly seized by the Soviet army. The German transport aircraft formation that came to airdrop life-saving supplies to the Sixth Army encountered organized ambush and interception by Soviet fighter jets several times. In a panic, he threw the supplies out of the warehouse and ran away as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, many of the airdropped supplies that were hastily thrown down were thrown over the heads of the Soviet positions. From a visual distance that could be seen through a telescope, I watched helplessly as precious life-saving supplies were thrown into the enemy's control area. Inside.

The desperate and hungry German frontline commanders had only bad curses to vent their anger, but in the end they had no effect and did not help.

Watching the formation of these Figure 2 bombers roaring overhead and heading towards the enemy-occupied area, the rather emotional Kulbalov could not help but speak quietly.

"It's different now, Comrade Brigadier, the sky finally belongs to us!"