Ponomarenko issued an emergency order. On July 19, the 101st Long-range Aviation Regiment, which was under the direct control of the guerrilla movement headquarters, assembled from various airports to the airport in Tula.
Tula, during the Battle of Moscow, the German army tried to attack Moscow's flanks from this city.
The Soviet army defended the city and the entire southern defense line at the cost of huge casualties.
Tula is the southern gateway to Moscow. Now the city and surrounding areas are quite safe. Moscow, the core of the Soviet Union, has been turned into a huge solid fortress, and a large number of troops formed in the Ural Mountains and Siberia have passed through the capital.
Northern battlefield.
The Soviet Bryansk Front and Voronezh Front have been engaged in fierce battles with the invading German army. Although the blue plan launched by the German army affected Voronezh, and even the city of Voronezh was captured by the German army, General Vatutin still led his troops to guard the south of the city of Moscow.
As a result, because Tula is close to the capital, reinforcements going to the south of the capital to defend against the enemy continue to pass through this city and go south. A large number of new ordnance and equipment must also pass through this city.
Therefore, some new airports had to be built around the city of Tula.
The requirements for airports for various types of aircraft in this era are not as stringent as those of later generations. Even a pure dirt runway is acceptable, as long as it has been run over several times by a road roller and is strong and flat enough.
Although the front line is only more than 200 kilometers away from the capital Moscow, German aircraft can easily bomb Moscow. This kind of air raid carries huge risks. The German army has been forced by the Soviet air force to regain its strength and does not dare to be rampant again.
The Soviet Air Force is competing with the German Air Force for air supremacy. Even if the German BF109 and FW190 fighter jets continue to improve, the Soviet Army will never be a small aircraft like the I-16. The most advanced La-5 fighter jet has begun mass production. Over Kaluga,
The Soviet army flew such aircraft to participate in combat against the enemy.
The airport in Tula is filled with a large number of fighter jets of all types, and various aviation units are dispatched frequently. Therefore, every day, a large number of trucks loaded with ammunition continuously arrive at the warehouse near the airport.
The Soviet Union is a large-scale producer of fighter jets and ground attack aircraft, but it is outright weak in long-range bombers. Even though the Soviet Union produced the largest An-225 heavy transport aircraft in later generations, the current level of the Soviet Union is far inferior to
U.S.
The 101st Long Range Aviation Regiment consists of forty-six aircraft:
A bomber squadron equipped with ten Il-4 bombers
A transport squadron equipped with twelve Li-2 transport aircraft
Two mixed squadrons, equipped with a total of twenty-four TB3 heavy bombers
By 1942, the Soviet Air Force began to implement a new organization. A fighter aviation regiment had three squadrons of thirty-six fighters, and a bomber aviation regiment had three squadrons of thirty-six fighters.
At the same time, the Soviet Army also established a special air force unit, the Transport Aviation Division. The first Transport Aviation Division was established first, with jurisdiction over the 101st and 102nd Long-Range Aviation Regiments.
Because the guerrilla movement is far better developed than that plane, the guerrillas in the occupied areas have a huge demand for supplies. Therefore, the two aviation regiments of the 1st Transport Aviation Division, which serve as "delivery personnel", have more than 10 squadrons under their jurisdiction.
The number of military aircraft in the general aviation regiment.
Different from ordinary aviation regiments, the current tasks of the 101st Long Range Aviation Regiment include transporting supplies to the guerrillas in occupied areas, transporting artillery shells built by the guerrillas to transport political commissars and transporting the sick and wounded, and even loading bombs to bomb key targets.
Therefore, the regiment is equipped with a large number of old TB3 bombers, which can be used as transport aircraft and can also drop bombs.
However, the regiment does not have a fighter organization, and its missions either operate under the cover of friendly escort fighter aircraft, or operate in the early morning or dusk.
The most outstanding thing about this group is the identity of its leader - Grizodubova, she is a woman!
An urgent telegram was sent to Grizodubova's office. This senior female pilot with a gold star medal on her chest realized that she was about to carry out a transport operation that was different from the past and of great significance.
The guerrilla movement headquarters distributed many more documents, and the details of the mission became increasingly clear.
This heroic female Soviet test pilot, a hero of the Soviet Union during the war, flew to a military airport outside Kaluga on the afternoon of the 19th. Some of her subordinates have already arrived here. It can be said that this gathering is for this unit
In a rare comprehensive gathering, many air force soldiers met each other and hugged each other.
Since the establishment of the unit, each squadron of the regiment has usually received and executed tasks independently, and many times it is even a single-aircraft airdrop mission. Fighters have been destroyed in the sky, and new soldiers and aircraft have been added, allowing the unit to maintain a high level of comprehensive strength.
Quality.
Ponomarenko did not believe that the troops that had been suddenly assembled could quickly load up supplies and fly non-stop to Lechica in the midst of the war. But their actions must be rapid. After discussions at the headquarters, Ponomarenko gave the order to the 101st Long-Range Aviation Regiment.
, on the afternoon of July 20, the entire regiment's aircraft, escorted by a fighter aviation regiment, launched a large-scale airdrop of assistance to Lechica.
On the morning of July 19, Yang Mingzhi had no idea about any of this. The guerrilla republic had long implemented a self-reliant development model, so as a commander, when his troops encountered severe logistical pressure, his first thought was not to report to his superiors.
They wanted food and guns, but they had to find ways to raise them themselves, such as searching every German corpse and looking for ammunition left on the German positions.
Logistics was only on the verge of collapse, it had not yet collapsed. However, when Yang Mingzhi successfully arrived at Blacksmith Village, a telegram from the front reached the Guerrilla Republic and even Catfish Village.
It turned out that when the fighting in Lechica ended in the early morning, the Soviet army immediately launched a city-wide search.
This search is not a big deal. In addition to counting the captured prisoners of war and confirming that 950 were captured, more than 200 "peaceful residents" were also found. In fact, these so-called "peaceful residents" were either from the puppet army.
Family members, or family members of the "militiamen". They were women, and the Soviet soldiers simply believed that they were war refugees. They did not persecute these people in any way, and even threw the pre-cooked potatoes in their arms to them.
Women were protected by the Soviet army. As for those prisoners of war, when the Soviet army captured them, they discovered that the so-called prisoners of war were actually divided into two types of people. One was officers and soldiers of the police regiment who wore standard uniforms and had a clear organization;
They are "militiamen" with all kinds of weapons and all kinds of weapons, who are armed by "citizens" and have no fighting ability.
The former are pure traitors, and their number of survivors is very small. They all survived after desperate resistance. The Soviet army did not immediately start killing, and a violent beating was indispensable. The latter's "militia",
Because they resisted very weakly and surrendered immediately, the Soviet army was quite polite to such people.
Those "militiamen" had almost no fighting will. Many told Soviet officers about their past and apologized for their mistakes in doing things for the German army.
A few words of apology or a slap in the face could not arouse the Soviet army's sympathy at all.
Frontline commander Lavrenti had his own considerations, which was to make full use of the human resources of the prisoners.
After receiving the verbal pardon of "not being executed", those "militiamen" suddenly became very good guides. Therefore, when the flames after the war were still burning in the city, especially the burning buildings in the train station became
The beacon that illuminated the whole city, the Soviet army, under the guidance of a large number of guides, successfully found the German arms warehouse and grain warehouse.
The ammunition stored in the city of Lechica is enough to equip two regiments, and the weapons of the Soviet army are mostly German weapons. This night, the ammunition of the attacking troops received a very important supplement. As for the replenishment of military rations, the flour stored in the city
It is enough to feed 10,000 people for two weeks. But they are still in the flour state, so to eat them you basically need to make porridge.
In addition to food and ammunition, the Soviet army also occupied the military hospital in Lechica. The violent Soviet soldiers brutally massacred the few seriously wounded German soldiers who had not yet evacuated. As for the female nurses they found, they took them away by force. After all, these women brought
Going back to the hospital will be of great use. Some medicines were seized, but the quantity is not large.
The soldiers couldn't understand the German on the medicine bottles, so they put them all into sacks based on the principle that something is better than nothing. They simply swept away the entire hospital's medical supplies and returned home fully loaded with supplies.
In the old headquarters in Catfish Village, Yang Mingzhi looked excitedly at several telegrams sent from the assault.
"Now I understand ancient wars and why generals always ordered their men to sack cities."
"Uh... why?" Village Chief Bobosky asked curiously.
"The telegram makes it very clear that the supplies our offensive forces have obtained through seizures are enough for them to fight for another week. We don't even need to transport food and the few back ammunition over long distances for the time being."
"That's great. The reserve ammunition should be sent to our Catfish Village. In theory, we will fight the German army today, right?"
Hearing this, Yang Mingzhi frowned unconsciously.
"Seriously, it's already morning. Why haven't our scouts discovered the Germans yet? Our troops have already completed the ambush as planned and are just waiting for the enemy to fall into a trap."
"Maybe the enemy is very cunning, or maybe we underestimated the power of the mire in the swamp area."
Yang Mingzhi frowned and shook his head. He looked at the map laid out on the desk and came up with a new possibility - because of the liberation of Lechica, the German army must find a way to retake the city, so they were ordered to sneak attack the enemies of the Guerrilla Republic.
The assault went north.
Yang Mingzhi quickly asked: "Did they send a secret telegram to the 21st Guerrilla Brigade, which was preparing for an actual uprising?"
Boboski waved his hands and said, "Of course not. If they have a telegram, your headquarters in Blacksmith Village will know it early in the morning."
"Indeed."
Yang Mingzhi was a little confused. Unbelievable things always happened on the battlefield. What was the reason for the delay in the German army's actions? Is it really just the obstruction of the mud?
Yang Mingzhi straightened his military cap, tightened his armed belt, and shouted at the door: "Abram!"
"Here!" the guard platoon leader hurried into the room.
"Now gather comrades, I want to move the headquarters to the right bank of the Pripet River. This time, I want to go to the front line to direct the operation."
"Yes!" Abram saluted and turned to leave.
Yang Mingzhi's decision shocked Boboski: "Comrade Commander, do you plan to take the lead?! You..." Boboski paused for a moment before saying the word "brave."
"Haha, you are complimenting me when you say you are brave. The current situation is more complicated. I stay in the rear and only rely on radio to command the front line, which is far less efficient than me personally going to the front line. Besides, I have never been afraid of fighting the enemy head-on."
The dirt road leading to the river was blasted with a large crater by the troops. Water quickly accumulated in the crater, making the road basically unwalkable.
It was summer, and the reeds in the wetlands on both sides of the Pripet River were growing so fast that a person could hide completely by just hunching over.
At present, there is no real road leading to the river. Yang Mingzhi held a submachine gun in his arms, led the entire guard platoon and several communication soldiers, and reluctantly trudged forward in the knee-deep mud. The condition on the right bank of the river is better than that on the left bank.
After personally setting foot on this dirt road, Yang Mingzhi was convinced that this would be a disaster for the German army. He even increasingly believed that the German army's movement was later than planned because of the poor road conditions.
The fact is just as Yang Mingzhi guessed.
It turned out that the German army moved south along the river from Nalovla on the morning of the 17th, and soon faced a major problem - mud.
The German assault gun III and half-track armored vehicles were the combat power they could rely on. These armored vehicles were too heavy, especially the assault gun III. Its ten-ton body was a nightmare to move forward in the swamp.
The equipment of ordinary German soldiers was also very poor. They found that many sections of the dirt road that should have been flat were completely turned into paste by the rising river water.
What caused them the most mental breakdown was the section of road 18 kilometers away from the riverside town of Nalovla. This area was completely turned into a swamp. The soldiers exploring the road used wooden sticks to test the depth of the mud, and they suddenly discovered that this place was
It's actually up to one meter deep.
Armored vehicles and horse-drawn carriages loaded with supplies have been ravaged by the mud. They almost always need the help of soldiers to push them when moving, or the soldiers assault to cut down trees in the distance and spread the tree trunks in the mud to allow the vehicles to move reluctantly.
The police group responsible for the most important logistics transportation, that is, the "21st Guerrilla Brigade" that is preparing to actually defect to the Soviet army, is maintaining great patience.
They can actually take action now. In order for the German army to smoothly enter the hinterland of the swamp and be completely annihilated by the local Soviet army, they must march in the mud with a lot of effort and carry a large amount of baggage as an excellent friendly force.
The German army began to encounter unbearable mud on the afternoon of the 17th, and finally encountered the damn one-meter-deep muddy road section in the evening.
Faced with the huge difficulties before them, the two commanders of the German army decided to resolutely complete the mission. With such an attitude of the officers, the grassroots soldiers could only bite the bullet and follow. However, many soldiers have begun to doubt that such a muddy road will still last.
How far to go? The environment here is so muddy. Will there be fighting with guerrillas?
They started their journey south with full confidence, but their energy was wasted crazily in the mud.
During the break that night, Sean, the commander of the 700th Division, and Krieger, the commander of the 734th Division, were very worried about the future battle in the temporary tent set up.
The current predicament of the German army is obvious. If the march continues on the 18th, the morale of the troops will be quickly exhausted. However, the two officers knew their mission well, and the troops had already penetrated deep into the swamp.
The mission is still to sneak into the hinterland of the Soviet army in the swamp.