The supply plan was finalized, and both Tupikov and Timoshenko attached great importance to the operation.

The newly formed units of the Soviet Army, they were given new designations and belonged to the battle sequence of the Southwestern Front, and the fighters of the new units were constantly rushing from their hometowns to the front.

Air forces were the first to arrive and landed at various field airfields.

At the beginning of the war, the Soviet Air Force suffered heavy losses, and as the war expanded, the Air Force lost even more aircraft. But the war also greatly stimulated the Soviet industry, and the planes of this era were relatively better built, and a large number of new aircraft were rolled off the production line.

Lvotovska, a very ordinary Soviet town. Because of its location on the front line, it has become a huge military camp. Most of the population was sent to the rear by the authorities, while the young and middle-aged were conscripted and sent to the front as regular troops after a simple training.

The town has a large lawn that has been transformed into a front-line airfield.

The troops involved in the air replenishment of the 284th Division gathered here, and Tupikov even personally arrived at the scene.

Before the operation, he also had to personally inspect the goods. The commander of the operation, Ivanov, was on Tupikov's side.

"Originally, as the chief of staff, there was no need for me to enter this front-line airfield at all. If it is to supervise the implementation of the task, it is sufficient for the Front Command to send a special commissioner. Now that I'm here, you're aware of the importance of this action. "Tupikov gave Ivanov a wake-up call and made him understand the level of concern of the command about the operation.

Ivanov gathered all the crew members and lined up at the airfield, waiting for the chief of staff to review it.

It's almost October, and the weather isn't very good these days. The autumn rainy season in Russia has arrived, and the rainy weather has a huge impact on air flights. Fortunately, it was a semi-cloudy day, and the task should be completed without a hitch.

In front of Tupikov, more than a hundred crew members lined up neatly.

Tupikov gave them an order: "Comrades, this task is not trivial. We must come to the aid of our comrades, for you must risk your lives to go deep behind enemy lines and deliver goods accurately to the swamps of Pripet.

You may wonder why we have to send out a large number of transport planes, even to the point of frantically dropping tanks with bombers. I will now tell you about the determination of the command, because this mission is not only practical assistance, but also symbolic! ”

Prior to that, Ivanov and his aviation, as well as the air crew, were shocked by the madness of the command. Many people are lamenting that the top brass of the army absolutely does not understand the Air Force, and it is understandable that paratroopers are parachuted with parachutes on their backs, and now they are actually going to parachute tanks in the same way.

At the same time, blankets and winter uniforms were the majority of the supplies transported, and almost all of the remaining space was used to transport wheat flour.

Tupikov's reprimand made everyone understand, because the 284th Guards Division is a heroic unit. This unit received the title of Guard, purely by iron and blood. Annihilating and crushing three German divisions, and even an armored division, as an infantry division. In the current war, this record is unique.

But because the performance was too conspicuous, the troops were almost wiped out. "Comrades, the 284 Guards Division has withdrawn into the swamps, they have absorbed a large number of routed troops, and combat effectiveness is rapidly recovering. Today our task is for the leader to give direct orders to the headquarters of the Front, so you are carrying out the orders of Stalin himself! We must help them, because they and you and I are part of the South-Western Front.

They are required to absorb all the resistance forces in the swamps, and eventually when it comes time to fight back, they will be a very combat-ready new force. “

The warriors erupted in an astonishing roar, this time a somewhat risky action was considered for the future battle of the front. The operation is today, and theoretically in two or three hours, the fleet will be able to reach the top of the swamp.

Before leaving, Tupikov checked the supplies to be delivered again. He was particularly concerned about those tanks, for which Ivanov still pointed out worriedly: "In the past, when we airlifted tanks, they were disassembled after the bombers were over. Now choose to be violently airdropped, and the tank is likely to be broken. ”

Tupikov shook his head: "Just do as you are told." Even if the tanks do break, those people don't throw them away as waste. They have an arsenal that will not be wasted as long as it is metal. ”

Ivanov didn't think so much about it, looked at his watch, it was already nine o'clock in the morning, and it was time to carry out the mission.

Therefore, before departure, the air transport team sent a radio to the swamp, communicating in the form of Morse code.

Today is the day of air supply, and Yang Mingzhi and Yevlov woke up at dawn. Yang Mingzhi was even more exaggerated and quickly dressed, so scared that star fruit and other medical staff thought something was wrong. As a wounded, he rushed to the division headquarters in a hurry and held a morning meeting. All the battalion commanders and battalion commissars in the unit gathered in the conference room of the division headquarters to receive orders.

"Order all the soldiers, enter the first level of combat readiness. All of them urgently assembled and stood by, ready to receive supplies. ”

Yang Mingzhi demanded that the troops should be divided into the woods and swamps as battalions, and that the distribution area of the troops should be large. After seeing the materials dropped by the group, they quickly went to look for them and brought them all back.

Political Commissar Fuming himself parachuted into the swamp before, and he gestured with his hands and gave the battalion commanders the style of the airdrop package, and after everyone received the order, they quickly began to act.

Yang Mingzhi himself was not idle, in order to facilitate the group to find them, he still ordered the soldiers to light a fire and throw a few tires into it, creating black smoke.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the two sides made official contact. The transport aircraft group was codenamed "Eagle" and sent a message to Yang Mingzhi's side.

The telegraph operator quickly deciphered the code and wrote a line of small print: The eagle has taken off.

"Great! And they got into action. Yang Mingzhi was excited and shook hands warmly with several people from the division.

Yerentina was also happy to keep her mouth shut, and there was a lot of flour in the supplies delivered, and she liked this too much. Because he is Chinese, this Berekov is very good at cooking, making flour into strips to cook vegetable soup (her understanding of noodles), which is really delicious.

In Lvotovska, dozens of aircraft propellers buzzed and turned. Tupikov and his entourage watched with their hands behind their backs, he was wearing an overcoat, and his clothes were blown by the strong wind.

Having reached the full load of the TB3 bomber, these guys with huge wingspans glided a full two kilometers and flew successfully.

At first, the ground crews present were very worried about the planes with tanks on them, and they were worried that they would not be able to fly at all, but they did not expect to succeed.

The tank went up to the sky, and the people underground were cheering with joy. Tupikov looked up at the blue sky, a satisfied smile on the corner of his mouth, and couldn't help but feel a little worried.

At this time, Ivanov was on a bomber, and the cabin was full of supplies. The method of dropping supplies is not much different from dropping bombs, a few buttons are pressed, the bilge opens, and these burlap pockets fall with their parachutes.

He instructed the pilots: "You fly the plane well, don't slack off for a moment, and we will complete the task steadily." ”

The pilot naturally nodded, and couldn't help but ask a stupid question: "Captain, what if we run into an enemy?" We've already flown into the occupied zone. ”

"Then fight!" Ivanov said solemnly, "You and I both know that the operation must be dangerous, so we have a lot of fighter escorts this time." ”

Ivanov was confident in the success of the operation, after all, the range was not long, and the fighters could always escort the aircraft. Besides, he has the cover of thirty fighters, and the enemy must dispatch a large group of aircraft.

The transport fleet had been in contact with the swamp for an hour, and as they penetrated deeper into the subsidence zone, the danger of the fleet soared rapidly.

Because of the huge body of the TB3, the German reconnaissance plane immediately reported to the front-line airfield on the ground, claiming to have spotted the enemy bomber group.

The air battle was imminent, and ten BF109s were urgently lifted into the air. The Germans occupied a large number of airfields in the USSR, and German fighters took off from airfields near Poltava and quickly climbed to prepare for air combat.

After entering the occupied area, the Soviet fighter pilots became nervous one by one, and everyone did not believe that the Germans would ignore the actions of such a big goal. Every crew member prayed that the Germans would be all blind or blind by choice.

Soviet fighters were not yet equipped with airborne radios, and German fighters were standard. For this, these short and even cute Seagull fighters, they have three aircraft as combat squads. The long plane shook its wings, reminding the wingman to be vigilant.

Just high in the air, the German "hunters", using the sun as a cover, ten BF109s made a fearless dive.

"Follow me and attack a bomber!" The German captains skillfully used their radio superiority, and the various wingmen received orders to concentrate their forces on a TB3 bomber.

The attack was sudden, with numerous bullets raining down on the bombers, and the trained German pilots specialized in the engines of the planes.

The hapless TB3 had no choice but to make a move, with a tank underneath it, and was flying at its maximum capacity. The sudden attack directly caused the two engines to stop, and the leaked fuel caught fire. The plane landed with black smoke and a loud whistling sound.

Ivanov was horrified to see all this, "immediately order all planes to defend themselves!" ”

Without an order, the fighters went into battle, and the machine gunners on the top and bottom of the other TB3 bombers went into action, and the air battle began in full swing. (To be continued.) )