"Hey! The Germans may have been afraid of us, and they did not intercept our patrol fighters for a day. In the headquarters, a staff officer said with a confident smile.

Since the Soviet side entered service with the MiG and Lager fighters, they have already achieved two "great victories" in air battles.

However, in these two great victories, the Luftwaffe lost only about 10 fighters in total, while the Soviet Union was shot down by almost 25.

According to the losses of both sides, in fact, the Soviet Union suffered losses in both air battles, and the battle loss ratio was as high as 2 to 1.

However, compared with the previous combat data of the two air forces, the Soviet air force can be regarded as recovering the field, and barely controlled the losses within an acceptable range.

But when it comes to details, the Soviet side is the main air force, and the pilots are all elite retained.

And most of the fighter pilots shot down on the German side were novices and rookies, not the main force.

Yevgny, as a commander on the front line of the Soviet Air Force, of course, also knew the gap.

But they needed a victory so badly that he was ready to seize the opportunity in front of him and suppress the Luftwaffe.

Zhukov also assured him that as long as he held off the Luftwaffe for a month, the Battle of Kursk would be successfully concluded and the Soviet ground forces would be able to hold back the German army.

As long as it is delayed for a month, it will be mid-August, and then the Germans will continue to move south, and they will really have to consider the weather conditions in autumn and winter.

In the fall, precipitation will increase a bit, and the number of air force sorties will gradually decrease. Coupled with the fact that the German Army was once again mired in the mud, the Soviet side was able to easily stabilize the front.

If nothing else, Zhukov even felt that he could hold most of Ukraine and not let the Germans occupy all of Ukraine.

"We have to cover the ground forces and do the following points!" Yevghny commanded his men.

"First! Cover the ground forces and transport the collected grain to Stalingrad as much as possible! He held out a finger and spoke emphatically.

Then he stretched out a second finger and continued to emphasize: "Second, cover the ground forces and compete with the Germans for air supremacy in local airspace in the Kursk region!" ”

He had about 400 advanced fighters in his hands, some of which were transferred after the start of the Soviet-German war, and some of which were produced after the Soviet-German war.

In fact, before the outbreak of the Soviet-German war, the Soviet Union began mass production of Lager and MiG fighters.

It's just that at that time, because the two aircraft were not too stable, the production was not large.

In addition, most of these two fighters are also deployed in the south, that is, in the regions of Ukraine. Its purpose was to cover the superior ground forces on the southern front and to break into the oil-producing areas of the Axis powers occupied by Romania.

However, before the offensive could start, the central and northern defense lines of the Soviet Union were broken through by the Germans, so the Soviet troops on the southern front were afraid that their own invasion of Romania would attract German troops to attack their right flank, and the attack was over.

Because of this, most of the advanced equipment of the Soviet Union was concentrated in the Zhukov cluster. Later, Stalin moved south to Stalingrad, bringing with him more priority supplies.

With these powers, Zhukov hoarded a large number of T-34 tanks, as well as many advanced fighters, and finally stabilized his position.

This is also the reason why the Luftwaffe has only hit the advanced fighters of the Soviet Union on a large scale so far.

In fact, these Soviet fighters were not too advanced, but they were more difficult to deal with than the I-16 fighters that Germany was used to dealing with.

"Increase the number of front-line fighter patrols! We have to put on a decisive posture and let the German air force turn its attention from the ground to the sky! Yevghny clenched his fists firmly and loudly encouraged his subordinates.

"Ulla! Long live the Soviets! All the officers in the command raised their arms and cheered loudly.

Speaking of which, they have also been suppressed by the Luftwaffe for too long, and they really need victory to vent their low mood.

After all, German planes have been raging in the skies of the USSR for 4 whole months. During these four months, the most willing thing for the Soviet ground forces to do was to look at the sky and complain that their air force was dead.

Now that they finally have the ability to compete with their enemies, they are especially happy.

But when everyone under his command was rejoicing, Yevgeny also clearly realized that the Luftwaffe was sinking extraordinarily, and a major counterattack was already brewing.

After all, the current situation is still Germany with an overall advantage, and it is not the character of the Luftwaffe to really retreat when losing 10 aircraft at this time.

"What exactly are the Germans brewing...... Could it be that they are mobilizing more planes to go south? He looked at the few places marked on the map that were suspected to be German military airfields, and thought to himself that a surprise attack would cause some chaos for the Luftwaffe.

"How's the Il-2 attack aircraft ready? If there are enough of them, let the attack aircraft units and bomber units prepare to bomb the field airfields on the German front! He looked at his chief of staff and ordered.

Now in his hands, he probably has more than 200 SB-2 medium-range bombers and more than 100 Il-2 attack planes that he has just equipped.

If these attacking forces were to be put into attack, they would certainly cause considerable trouble for the Luftwaffe.

Even if these planes were lost, the Soviet Union's air defense operations would not have suffered much losses, but if it could get away with destroying a few German front-line field airfields, then the Soviet Union would have the possibility of taking the opportunity to regain air supremacy near Kursk.

The temptation was so great that even Yevgny was a little tempted. He decided to implement two battle plans, and whichever one took the lead, he could be regarded as picking up the advantage.

"Let the Il-2 attack aircraft unit take off during the day and, under the cover of fighters, attack a German field airfield!" He pointed his finger at the suspicious area marked on the map and gave the order to attack.

"Then, tonight, let the SB-2 bombers take off and bomb these airfields as well, trying to destroy some of the German field airfields, so that our subsequent battle will be much easier." His fingers circled the map and watched as the Chief of Staff gave the second order to attack.