"Comrade Chief of Staff, please read this official letter." After reading the official letter, Sokov handed it to Vitkov and said with a smile: "In this way, all our problems will be solved."
When Vitkov took the official letter and read it, he couldn't help but smile: "Comrade Commander, I really didn't expect that the General Staff took such good care of us and actually assigned two aviation divisions to our group army."
Sokov faced the four air force commanders and asked: "Where is your field airport?"
"Grodivka," Colonel Nechepolenko glanced at the map on the table, then pointed to a location directly east of the Red Army village and said, "Our field airport is right here."
"Well, it's less than ten kilometers away from the city." After looking at the location of the field airport, Sokov nodded and said, "When the infantry needs air support, you can dispatch it in time."
"Comrade Commander," Vitkov approached Sokov and asked him for instructions: "How do you plan to use our air force?" He asked intentionally to remind Sokov that since it is the air force under his own jurisdiction,
troops, then air strikes on the enemy's lines of communication become a possibility.
"Two comrades, colonels," Sokov heard the implication of Vitkov's words and asked: "Do you have any reconnaissance aircraft in your division?"
"Needless to say," Nechepolenko quickly replied: "Not only all types of aircraft, but all aircraft at the aviation division level are equipped with reconnaissance aircraft."
"Now that we have reconnaissance planes, it will be easier." Sokov called the other three air force commanders, stood at the table, and said to them: "According to our reconnaissance, the enemy passes the bridge from the right bank of the Dnieper River every day.
To transport supplies to the enemy on the left bank, the first task I give you is to send out a reconnaissance plane to figure out the enemy's transportation route."
Colonel Nechepolenko was the commander of the Bombing Aviation Division. When he heard what Sokov said, the first task he thought of was to dispatch enough bombers to carry out air strikes on the bridge on the Dnieper River. He interrupted and asked: "Commander
Comrade, do you plan to have our division blow up the enemy's bridge?"
"Comrade Colonel, you guessed wrong." Sokov shook his head and explained to Nechepolenko: "The enemy knows very well that the bridge over the Dnieper River is a channel to ensure the supply of materials for the frontline troops, and they will not hesitate to do so.
We must protect this lifeline at all costs. If we send out bombers for bombing, we will definitely encounter intensive anti-aircraft fire, causing the bomber formation to suffer huge losses. Even if we blow it up after paying a huge price, to the enemy
With the ability, it can be repaired quickly.”
After hearing what Sokov said, Colonel Nechepolenko became confused: "Comrade Commander, then why did you send our reconnaissance plane to conduct reconnaissance on the enemy's transportation lines?"
Sokov picked up the red and blue pencils, drew a line from Pavlograd to the Skeleton Division's defense area, and said to Nechepolenko: "Comrade Colonel, the task I gave your division is to wait for the reconnaissance plane.
After understanding the situation of the enemy's convoy, immediately dispatch bombers to carry out the bombing, and we must reduce the supplies obtained by the Germans to the minimum."
"Use bombers to bomb the enemy's transportation lines." Nechepolenko asked hesitantly: "Comrade Commander, wouldn't this be too wasteful? Instead of using bomber formations to deal with German trains or cars, it would be better to
It would be more appropriate to bomb the German positions."
"Even if we dispatch bombers to bomb the enemy's positions." Seeing that Colonel Nechepolenko did not understand his intention, Sokov explained to him: "If the enemy's fortifications are blown up, they will also attack them overnight."
Repair it quickly. And if we bomb their transportation lines, we don’t need to send too many planes each time, two or three will do. If we blow up a truck or a wagon, the enemy will get less supplies.
One car or one wagon. If things go on like this, the enemy will have a serious shortage of supplies, which will be very beneficial to our future attacks."
After Sokov's explanation, Nechepolenko finally understood what was going on. He nodded vigorously and replied affirmatively: "I understand, Comrade Commander. The enemy must have deployed powerful weapons near important facilities.
Anti-aircraft firepower. But if the vehicles being attacked are transport vehicles, the Germans have not equipped these vehicles with sufficient anti-aircraft firepower. Then we can basically complete the task of disrupting the enemy's communication lines with zero casualties."
"Comrade Colonel, you are right." Sokov said with a smile: "We will use this method to destroy the German transportation lines, so that the enemies at the front will soon be short of food and medicine."
In the afternoon of that day, the reconnaissance aircraft of the 202nd Bomb Aviation Division took off to conduct reconnaissance on the road between Pavlograd and the Totenkopf division's defense line to see if there were any enemy transport convoys.
The pilot of the reconnaissance plane was lucky. After flying twice in the air, he saw a convoy of vehicles appearing on the ground. Except for the two armored vehicles that opened the way in front and one armored vehicle that was cut off from the rear, the rest were all the same.
He quickly reported to the division headquarters via the radio: "Division headquarters, division headquarters, I discovered a German transport convoy in Area 11."
Nechepolenko quickly asked: "How many vehicles are there in the enemy's convoy?"
"Except for the two armored vehicles leading the way and one armored vehicle behind, there are about forty covered trucks." The pilot replied: "The entire convoy is about one kilometer long, and it is easy to identify targets in the air."
After finishing the call with the reconnaissance plane pilot, Colonel Nechepolenko immediately ordered his chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, immediately send a four-plane formation to take off, rush to area 11, and carry out air strikes on the German transport convoys moving on the ground.
.”
Two minutes later, four bombers on standby took off and headed towards Area 11, preparing to air attack the German transport convoy there.
The German convoy on the ground had been traveling on this road for a month or two and had never been attacked by Soviet air attacks. Therefore, the auto soldiers believed that the Russians would not use aircraft to deal with them at all. Therefore, just now
When they discovered the reconnaissance plane in the sky, no one made a fuss. They knew very well that even if the reconnaissance plane discovered them, they would not be able to attack them.
What they didn't expect was that after traveling less than two kilometers on the muddy road, the roar of an aircraft engine suddenly came from the air. The experienced soldiers immediately recognized that it was a Russian bomber and hurriedly
