Colonel Niers was not as optimistic as Lieutenant General Linus. He believed that the enemy's attack would pose a considerable threat to Butul Village.
This is not only because Colonel Niels has a sensitivity to the battlefield that he has cultivated through long-term front-line combat, but also because he knows who is commanding this battle.
"This idiot!" Colonel Niels complained when he turned off the communicator: "He doesn't know that the 'breakout hero' is commanding this force, and that guy has already given us too many 'surprises'!"
There were indeed many "surprises". Not to mention, just now he had made the famous German general Manstein lose his position. Everyone could see that the Don Army Group was in trouble at this time.
"Which team are we going to attack, Colonel?" the adjutant asked over the communicator.
After thinking about it, Colonel Niels ordered: "It's not one team, Colin, it's all of them!"
"You mean we have to divide into three teams to fight?" The adjutant was a little surprised: "But we only have twenty planes!"
"Yes!" Colonel Niers said: "So we have to be fast, understand? Use the fastest speed to shoot down every enemy plane you see, and don't let any plane get close to Butul Village.
!”
"Yes, Colonel!" the adjutant responded, and immediately divided the team into three teams to fight from three directions.
This is an almost impossible task, especially at night... Night combat tests the pilot's vision, because they must use a little moonlight or starlight to observe the position of the enemy aircraft, and even be able to distinguish the enemy aircraft from its outer outline.
It's a friend.
And such a battle will take time, because they can't suddenly swoop down from the clouds at high speed to attack the enemy like during the day... In the dark, they don't even know where the enemy is. The result of swooping down from the clouds at high speed is likely to be an enemy.
Crash into enemy aircraft.
Therefore, the tactic of night combat is usually to maintain a speed similar to that of the enemy plane, or to be precise, a faster speed, keep up with it, and then shoot it down.
Some night fighters simply mount the machine gun on the nose and tilt it upward. The pilot controls the fighter plane to go behind and below the target and shoot down the target from the bottom up... This is because in night battles, it is usually from the bottom up with the starry sky as the background.
Easier to determine the target's location.
Therefore, Colonel Niels ordered to divide the twenty aircraft into three parts to fight the enemy aircraft and destroy all sixty targets in a short time... This was beyond the capabilities of the German pilots, even if the enemy
Without fighting back or changing course, the German pilots couldn't use it as a target drone.
However, Colonel Niels's purpose was not really to complete the mission.
As an experienced commander, he certainly knew that this was an impossible task.
Colonel Niels had other plans for doing this. He hoped to use this method to create an atmosphere in which the German Air Force was capable of intercepting every group of enemy aircraft, and then scare the Russian pilots to let them "know"
Retreat from difficulties."
Colonel Niels is right in this idea. This is actually a kind of psychological warfare.
If they are intercepted separately, although one of the teams can be wiped out, the other two teams will fly to the target without any scruples... This is a taboo for military strategists. At least a few planes will be needed to harass them and make the enemy nervous and panic.
, only in this way can they make mistakes, and only in this way can the enemy's combat effectiveness be reduced to a minimum.
Facts have proved that Colonel Niels was right, because a considerable number of "Il" attack aircraft hurriedly launched rockets under the harassment of German fighter planes, even though they were experienced and excellent pilots.
This feeling can only be experienced by pilots who actually fly "Il" attack aircraft: German fighter planes shot down their own fighters one after another, just like a roll call. No one knows whether they will be the next one. And they just
You need to turn around and escape from the area after firing the rockets, and no one can even blame... Because in the dark, no one knows who is a random attacker and who is not. There is no name written on the rocket, even if it is written.
The name will also disappear due to the explosion, and no one has definite evidence to prove that the pilot did not aim.
So, all you need to do is report to your superiors: "I've taken aim!" and then shoot the rocket out with a "swish, swish, swish"... turn around and leave, and you're safe.
They don't even need to return to the base to be "safe". As long as they turn around, the German fighter planes will not target them. Any fool knows that they should intercept those planes that have not finished firing their rockets.
As a result, many rockets actually hit the Soviet airborne troops' positions hard.
But this is all for later.
Major Gavriel, who was in charge of commanding the "Il" fleet, saw several fighter planes passing by in the starry sky from a distance, so he ordered: "Attention, enemy planes intercept! Enemy planes intercept! Machine gunners prepare for battle!"
"
The machine gunner immediately became nervous.
As mentioned before, the advantage of the "Il" attack aircraft is that it has a certain air combat capability, especially the rear seat with a machine gun with a muzzle facing backward, which can shoot directly at enemy aircraft following it.
This is especially useful in night battles, because night battles often mean that the distance between the two aircraft is closer and the speed is slower.
But all German fighter planes are veterans, and they know the performance of these Soviet fighter planes very well, so they will not follow the target in a rigid manner, but will slightly lower the nose of the plane and hide under the tail of the target... There is a rear seat aircraft.
The gunner has a blind spot for shooting. Unless the gunner can lower the muzzle of his gun and break the tail of his plane, there is nothing he can do even if he can see the plane below.
Then, the German fighter plane raised its nose slightly, and a string of bullets flew towards the rear seat gunner... This is the standard procedure for shooting down the "Il" attack aircraft. First kill the rear seat gunner, and then slow down.
, the "Il" with poor maneuverability became a lamb to be slaughtered.
The battlefield immediately began to boil with the sound of motors and machine guns. From time to time, several "Il"s were hit or even exploded, and the flames illuminated the dark night sky.
German pilots even consciously shot down high-altitude targets first, and then illuminated the targets below after the targets were on fire, allowing them to launch another attack more quickly.
"Steady!" Major Gavriel shouted on the walkie-talkie: "Keep the course! No evasion, repeat, no evasion!"
They really can't dodge, because they have to know their height. Only in this way can they calculate the target position from the fire... In other words, they are actually target drones. (To be continued)