About twenty kilometres north of the city of Boguchar, the Don River flows from north to south, suddenly turns around and flows eastward for nearly forty kilometres, then turns around again and flows southward toward the vast Russian hinterland to the south.

At this bend in the Don River, there is a city called Upper Mamun on the north bank of the Don River.

For several days, military trains loaded with soldiers and vehicles of all kinds have passed through Upper Mamun and whizzed across the river railway bridge south of the city.

About 1,500 meters east of the railway bridge, a wide road bridge is filled with a busy atmosphere as trucks, motorcycles, jeeps and tanks of all kinds travel north and south on the deck.

In the green belt on the north and south sides of the two bridges, on the anti-aircraft gun emplacements made of sandbags, observers with binoculars constantly look at the western sky.

Towards 10 o'clock in the morning, in the busy city of Shangmameng, the terrible air defense sirens suddenly sounded, and all the vehicles on both sides of the bridge, which had been in an orderly manner, suddenly became panicked. The Gaz trucks sped off the road, hiding in the woods on both sides of the road, or speeding straight into Upper Mamon.

On both sides of the bridge, the anti-aircraft gunners, who had nothing to do, swept away their previous lazy demeanor and gathered around the anti-aircraft guns in a charging attitude, and the muzzles of the guns of all sizes quickly rotated, pointing to the southwest sky.

A large black dot appeared in the southwest direction, and the outline of the plane was vaguely discernible without the need for a telescope.

As the group approached, from time to time Soviet fighters rushed to the bomber group, and then were intercepted by escort fighters, and a fierce air battle broke out next to the bomber group.

The 52-K 85-mm anti-aircraft gun opened fire first, and clouds of gray-black gunpowder smoke erupted near the bomber group in the distance.

The bomber group was still some distance from Upper Mamun when the city burst into heavy artillery fire.

Accompanied by the sound of artillery fire, at an altitude of about 2,000 meters, a formation of ME-262A-2a "Storm Bird" ground attack aircraft swept over Shangmameng from north to south.

Major Tefield, deputy leader of the EK-262 Flying Group, personally led a squadron of ground attack aircraft in a surprise attack attack on the city of Upper Mamon.

As he flew to the middle of the city, Major Tefield fixed his gaze on the bridge ahead.

"The target is here, let's go down."

Eighteen Storm Bird ground attack planes split into two teams and swooped down on two bridges south of the city.

Major Tefield, flying the plane and, accompanied by two wingmen, personally launched the first wave of attacks on the road bridge.

The plane dropped rapidly in altitude, and before it could fly over the bridge, the six-barreled "Gatling" machine gun suspended directly below the fuselage spun at high speed, and the 7.92 mm machine gun bullets fell into the street, making countless tiny craters in the solid pavement.

In the dust, the crater stretched all the way into the dense forest on the north side of the road bridge, sweeping past several Gass trucks and jeeps that had just crossed the bridge and had no time to dodge.

In the piercing sound of impact, there were many dense bullet holes in the Gas's trucks and jeeps, and the bullets drilled into the compartment, and red blood soon flowed from the cracks in the compartment.

Some quick-witted Soviet soldiers jumped out of the truck, holding their heads and throwing themselves into the fields on both sides of the road, just in time to avoid the strafing fire falling from the sky.

However, along with the machine-gun bullets, there were also butterfly bombs.

The tiled wings opened, and the SD-2 butterfly bomb floated in the air, looking like a swarm of butterflies swaying from a distance, but what brought the Soviet soldiers and anti-aircraft gunners on the ground was a direct fear to the heart.

Before the bombs could hit the ground, the air-detonation fuse detonated some of the bombs, and the sharp shrapnel shot like arrows into the ground, piercing anything that stood in their way.

Shrapnel pierced through the leaves, severing delicate branches and burrowing into the bodies of the anti-aircraft gunners on both sides of the bridge from all sides.

With screams, the gunners who were hit by shrapnel spurted blood all over their bodies and fell to the gun position.

Three crews, nine aircraft dropped bombs in turn, and the anti-aircraft fire on both sides of the road bridge was reduced by two-thirds.

Piloting the plane in a circle in the air, Major Tefield flew again to the road bridge with his wingman.

This time, the direction of the flight was not north-south, but from east to west.

Skimming over the green belt on the south side of the road bridge, the "Gatling" machine gun and the two MK 108 30mm guns on the fuselage opened fire wildly, hitting the branches and leaves of the woods.

Seeing with his own eyes that at least two of the fighting anti-aircraft gun positions were hit by machine guns, and the corpses of the gunners were scattered all over the gun emplacements, Major Tefield pulled up the level in satisfaction.

"Let's retreat first, and then come later."

The "storm birds" flapped their wings and turned away, leaving behind dilapidated anti-aircraft gun positions on the north and south banks of the two bridges.

As agreed, the first group of German bombers to expose their targets descended on Upper Mamont.

Two brigades, nearly 100 JU-88G bombers opened the bomb bay in their bellies, and thousands of 50-kilogram bombs fell from the sky, covering the small town of Shangmameng and the bridge south of the town.

The continuous explosion of bombs set off a storm of flames, starting from the woods on the south bank of the Don River, extending all the way north, setting off a tall white column of water on the quietly flowing surface of the Don River, and then sweeping the entire city north of the Don River like a rolled carpet.

In the violent explosion, the houses collapsed, and the shattered rubble and masonry flew into the sky along with the smoke of gunpowder, and the whole city was surrounded by the pungent smell of gunsmoke.

In the chaos, an even more deadly blow fell from the sky.

Four three-plane formations, divided into two groups, each group of six JU-88G bombers left the group, nose downward, straight towards the two bridges over the river.

Three 1000-kilogram aerial bombs fell one after another, one fell into the water, and two were in the middle of the road bridge deck.

Under the black smoke that reached into the sky for hundreds of meters, the solid bridge deck collapsed instantly, and it fell to the surface of the river with a clatter, stirring up columns of water.

Three more aerial bombs followed, two of which missed, and one hit the bridge deck, which had not been hit before, and was still intact.

In the explosion, the last section of the bridge collapsed, leaving only a lone pier standing on the water.

Almost at the same time, the railway bridge to the west of the road bridge did not escape destruction, and the broken rails fell along with the broken bridge below, sinking into the raging Don River, leaving only the piers to prove that there was once a bridge here.

The news of the destruction of the bridge soon spread to the city of Boguchar, and Marshal Timoshenko listened to the continuous explosions outside, and his heart was filled with anxiety and anxiety as he moved to the headquarters in the basement due to the air raids.

For a whole morning, from the airfield in the suburbs, to Boguchar, where he was located, and now to Upper Mamont, Luftwaffe bombers were everywhere.

"Where are our fighters? Why let the Germans bomb us? Marshal Timoshenko shouted into the phone, and on the other side of the phone was the commander of the Eighth Army of the Air Force, which was assigned to the Southwestern Front.

"Comrade Marshal, from morning to night, our fighters never stop sorties, and without our sacrifices, there would have been more bombs on your head. Our sacrifices are so great that you can't imagine it, do you know that this morning, Comrade Khrushchev's son, Captain Leonid Khrushchev, flew planes to the battle, and he has not come back until now, they went out with a squadron of 10 planes, and only one came back, what else do you want us to do? ”

Hearing the bad news, Marshal Timoshenko turned his head to look at Khrushchev, who was looking at the map on the side, his mouth squirmed a few times, and he reluctantly shouted: "Our sacrifices are great, and the sacrifices of the Germans are also great, let the troops continue to attack, I will immediately report our situation to Moscow, and ask them to send as many planes as possible." ”

Hanging up the phone, Marshal Timoshenko hesitated for a while, and finally decided to hide the disappearance of Captain Khrushchev.

To the west of Boguchar, in the southeast corner of the city of Rosohi on the Kalitva River, Chen Dao was in the division headquarters of the armored division of the "Imperial Marshal", looking at the telegram and nodding repeatedly.

"Very well, the airfield south of Boguchar is finished, and they can only use the airfield further back to fight. The city of Boguchar was in ruins, the bridge across the river at Ma'mun to the north had been blown up, and their reinforcements had to take a longer detour to reach the battlefield. Or defy our air raids to repair bridges across rivers and train stations. It depends on whether they repair it quickly or we blow it up quickly, the answer, of course, is undoubted. ”

Major General Schumacher asked: "What are we going to do next?" ”

"You lead the troops to stay here and continue to be in position, there is no point in me staying here, I need to try my luck with General Mandolfer, and see if we can find more material for our friends in the press, and strive to get Stalin out of the brain as soon as possible, and go to the company of Mr. Churchill in Britain."

。 m.