I took a leave of absence today, a little uncomfortable, only two shifts! Tomorrow will continue the fifth watch!

***********

Air supremacy has always been a big problem for the Soviet army.

In addition to insufficient preparation, improper tactics, and insufficient quality of soldiers, a large part of the reason why the Soviet army was defeated in the early stage of the war was that it did not have air supremacy.

Because of the lack of air supremacy, the Soviet army was always unable to grasp the direction of the German offensive or even the retreat of its own troops...... A considerable part of the intelligence of this era relied on aerial reconnaissance, especially the Soviet army, which had insufficient communication equipment.

Because of the lack of air supremacy, the counteroffensive intentions of the Soviet army, which were hastily assembled, were always detected and prepared by the Germans first.

Also because of the lack of air supremacy, the Soviet ground forces were always easily disintegrated by the Germans in battles when they had the advantage of forces...... For example, the German army defeated the Soviet army's cluster attack of thousands of tanks with more than 100 tanks, and if there is no air superiority, it is simply a fantasy.

"Do we have air defense?" Major Zahakavich asked.

"No, Major!" Major General Panfinov replied: "We are fighting at the front, and it is difficult for the air defense forces to play their role!" ”

Air defense forces usually need reaction time, which is determined by the range of the air defense forces and the speed of German fighters...... If German fighters were targeting the Soviet frontline, such as tanks deployed on the front line, they would often suddenly emerge from German-controlled areas and attack, then complete the bombing and leave quickly within a few minutes.

At this time, even if the anti-aircraft fire opened fire with full force, or even knocked down the enemy aircraft, it would not change anything...... The tank has already been blown up by enemy aircraft.

"Do we have an air force?" Major Gavrilov asked.

"Absolutely!" Major General Panfilov replied somewhat helplessly: "But they are mainly used to protect the security of Moscow!" ”

This is one of the reasons why the military parade on Red Square can be carried out smoothly...... The Soviets concentrated their air forces in the skies over the city of Moscow.

According to statistics, in October, the Western Front made a total of 4,451 sorties, of which only 325 directly provided cover for front-line troops.

These 325 times were divided by the entire defensive line, and each unit received very little air support.

And this air support is obviously not able to provide air cover for the 4th Tank Brigade.

"If why don't we continue to hide ourselves?" Shulka asked: "I mean hide the tank and fight!" ”

Zakhakavich shook his head and said: "The front of our defense line is more than ten kilometers wide, and we have only 33 tanks...... If you hide your tanks and fight, it is possible to hide from enemy aircraft, but where are they hiding? Will the enemy definitely attack from here? ”

So Shulka understood.

It may not be difficult for a tank to hide in the snow, but the difficult thing is to say "offensive superiority" as mentioned earlier...... The breakthrough of the German army will not necessarily appear in the hidden position of the T34, if the T34 is scattered, the average number of T34s per kilometer is only 2 to 3 T34s per kilometer, which is much lower than the normal anti-tank density.

(Note: Anti-tank density of 20 units per kilometer is generally required)

After thinking about it, Shulka said: "Perhaps, we have the right to choose!" ”

"What is the right to choose?" Major General Panfinov did not understand what Shulka meant.

"Where did the Germans attack the most?" Shulka asked rhetorically without answering.

"Pashkovo location!" Major General Panfinov replied: "That area is the junction of the defense lines of the 1073rd and 1075th regiments!" ”

The junction is always the focus of the enemy's offensive because the troops here are under the command of two different units, and they often have poor coordination or lagging movements and unclear intelligence...... For example, in extreme cases, the soldiers of the 1075th Regiment defending this area have suffered heavy casualties, but the soldiers of the 1073rd Regiment have suffered few casualties, so after reporting, the commander of the 1073rd Regiment will often think that the fighting here is not fierce, and at this time, if the 1075th Regiment does not have enough troops to support, there will be a firepower gap.

Then Major General Panfinov searched the map for a while, then pointed to a point and said: "Here it is!" ”

"Then ......," said Shulka, "put us here!" We need to lay out a notch here, hide the tank around this notch......"

Several people in the command couldn't help but let out an "oh", and immediately understood what Shulka meant.

But that's easier said than done.

This is mainly due to the fact that it is daylight, and it can be a hassle for tanks to go to the front line and hide and ambush at predetermined "gaps" while remaining undetected by the enemy.

The solution was to build a snow road, like a two-meter-high snow wall piled up on both sides of the road, and use the snow road as a cover for tanks.

At this time, the snow layer is already one meter thick, and the snow is dug down and piled up more than one meter high next to it to form a snow wall of about two meters.

But in fact, this still could not block the tank, the height of the T34 tank reached two meters seventy-four, and the higher part was almost a turret.

Of course, the Soviets could choose to continue to raise the snow wall, but in fact this is not realistic.

First of all, digging further down is the frozen soil, which is a different thing than the soft snow layer, and it is very difficult to dig and the amount of work is too large.

Secondly, if you don't dig down, you have to keep piling up the snow wall...... This is also unrealistic, a wall of snow two meters above the horizon can easily attract the attention of the Germans, and a few shells will be exposed.

The solution was to wrap the tank turret or even the barrel in a white cloth, and then launch a counterattack against the enemy, at which point the tank was deployed into a lurking position.

This was a counteroffensive launched by the 333rd Regiment.

As Major General Panfinov said, about a kilometer in front of the line was a forest, which was used by the Germans as a staging point.

Shulka had reason to believe that there were German observers in that forest who were watching the Soviet positions and watching for Soviet movements, and that the deployment of tanks would not have escaped their eyes if it had not interfered with them.

So the counteroffensive soon began.

A rocket artillery company rained dozens of rockets into the forest in a short period of time, and more than a dozen howitzers also roared.

But that's not the point...... Mortars fired smoke grenades in front of the positions and even in the forest, and soon the entire battlefield was enveloped in smoke.

A battalion of the 333rd Regiment then charged the Germans.

But of course, it was just thunder and rain, and they were more likely to lie on the ground and shout and shoot indiscriminately.

This caused the Germans to hurriedly call for artillery fire to intercept and fire in the open space between the two armies' defensive lines, and the German light and heavy machine guns also "swished" into the smoke, so that there was a lot of gunpowder smoke and smoke in front of the position, as well as "rumbling" artillery and dense gunfire.

Taking advantage of this time, the T34 tank entered the tank bunker along the already dug snow wall.