After the air force was in place, Novikov asked each air force group to take the initiative to engage in some small-scale battles with the enemy.
Although the combat situation is not ideal...this is determined by the quality of the pilots and the quality of the fighters, but it is obvious that the combat efficiency is several times higher than before, which can be seen from the attendance rate and reaction time of the fighters.
"The response is great!" Novikov said excitedly to Shulka: "All units reported that they could receive their tasks in a timely and definite manner, and everyone knew what they were going to do!"
Shulka knew what this meant: the mixed aviation force took off two batches of fighters at the same time, and the Air Force Group may have taken off three, four or even more batches of aircraft.
In other words, with the same number of fighters and pilots, the Soviet army could invest and command several times more fighters at the same time than before. This undoubtedly enhanced combat effectiveness, especially attack aircraft and bombers.
The reason why attack aircraft and bombers are emphasized is that they are mainly ground attack aircraft that cover infantry.
Fighters mainly engage in air combat with the enemy, which depends more on the performance of the fighter and the quality of the pilot.
However, the numerical advantage of attack aircraft and bombers will definitely bring about qualitative changes. Especially attack aircraft, which take off batch after batch to continuously bomb, straf, and conduct reconnaissance. A large number means that infantry can break through the enemy's defense line more easily and quickly.
Therefore, to laymen, it seems that the reformed Air Force Group is not much different from before, but experts like Novikov know that the difference is huge.
Among these are especially the benefits brought by command optimization and fighter group operations, some of which were only discovered after they were actually put into the battlefield.
Prior to this, because an aviation division was engaged in mixed combat, the Soviet radar could almost only serve as an early warning for enemy fighters and could not complete the guidance of its own troops... At this time, the radar was still relatively backward, and there was no
Identification system, so the fighter plane is just a bright spot or a signal wave on the radar.
Therefore, the radar soldiers cannot identify which ones are fighters, bombers or attack aircraft, so they have no way to guide them and cannot effectively command them.
After the fighter planes are classified, this problem is solved or partially solved, because only fighters taking off from a certain airport need to be continuously tracked and timely reported on their distance and position from the enemy, so the fighters
The aircraft fleet can be prepared and accurately arrive at the designated location to participate in the battle.
These were unimaginable before. The Soviet Air Force, especially its fighter planes, often failed to enter the battle because they got lost when they were reinforcing friendly forces.
"You know, Comrade Shulka!" Novikov sighed: "Until now, I never felt like I was commanding the air force!"
Shulka understood what Novikov meant.
Although Novikov was also an air force commander before, problems like this always occurred after he issued orders, as if he was commanding a group of disobedient children, some of whom could not even understand what he said and would just run around.
Yelling.
Now, the Air Force has a completely new look due to reforms. Every aircraft is where it should be, so there is a real sense of "command".
Although the reform is partially completed, the Air Force still needs a period of training.
At the same time, the infantry is also undergoing intensive training and reorganization.
The reorganization of the infantry is not due to organizational or institutional issues, but to allocating troops and equipment according to the combat plan.
The distribution of strength is divided into two groups. One group is the staff of the original Stalingrad Front (now the Don Front) headed by Zhukov. The other group is Shulka and Khrushchev.
"I think we should put our main forces on the Don Front and the Stalingrad Front!" Zhukov pointed to the map and said: "The Don Front is located to the north of Stalingrad, and the Stalingrad Front is located to the south of Stalingrad. At the same time, they are located from the south.
, attack the river bank defended by the Romanian army from the north and advance in depth, which can encircle the German 6th Army in a short period of time and relieve the siege of Stalingrad! As for the Southwest Front, it should open up another area in the air force.
This way, whether we encircle the German 6th Army or successfully cut off the enemy's supply lines, we can force the German army to be unable to sustain the attack on Stalingrad!"
Objectively speaking, what Zhukov said makes sense.
but……
"The purpose of this is just to force the Germans to retreat, Comrade Zhukov!" Shulka said: "Although a small-depth interspersed encirclement can form an encirclement in a short time, it also means that we are far away from the German 6th Army.
If it is too close, it is extremely easy to be flanked by the German 6th Army and the Romanian Army and counter-encircled, and eventually develop into a melee that encircles each other!"
"But this way our goal is achieved, isn't it?" Zhukov said: "The enemy has no time to attack Stalingrad, they must organize a breakout!"
"If our strategic goal is only to relieve the siege of Stalingrad, then it is indeed possible to achieve victory by doing this!" Shulka said: "But why is our strategic goal not to encircle and destroy the German 6th Army and relieve the siege of Stalingrad at the same time?
?”
These words immediately caused a commotion and opposition in the conference room:
"This is impossible, Comrade Shulka, those are the elite troops of the Germans!"
"We only hope to repel the Germans and defend Stalingrad. This is already an amazing victory!"
"If we do this, something bad may happen. The Germans are not that easy to deal with!"
…
Although no one said it clearly, Shulka knew that from the beginning, including Zhukov, who agreed to his plan to encircle the German 6th Army, they did not really want to encircle it. They just wanted to remove the German 6th Army from Stalin.
Forced away from the gates of Gullah.
In fact, this is also the case in history. When the Soviet army launched a counterattack, they did not expect that they could successfully encircle the German 6th Army because the German army was too powerful compared to the Soviet infantry. The Soviet officers and soldiers had a deep fear of the German army.
Therefore, most people thought that the German army would break out easily.
The problem was that Hitler did not allow the German 6th Army to break out.
The reason why it was not allowed was because Goering assured Hitler that even if the 6th Army was surrounded, he could rely on the air force to transport sufficient supplies to the 6th Army.
Hitler believed it.
As a result, the airlift of supplies fell far short of expectations, and the final destruction of the German 6th Army was inevitable.
"Of course we can!" At this time Khrushchev stood up: "Nothing is impossible!" (To be continued)