In the early hours of April 18, 1941, Moscow Central Radio. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The core leadership of INFO Radio was woken up at home by the sudden arrival of agents of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who secretly arrived at the station under strict "protection" - they did not know why, but they all knew that something big must be happening.

Comrade Popov, the No. 1 announcer, was told that an important statement would be broadcast sometime this morning, and in order to ensure the timeliness (confidentiality) of the broadcast, the text would not be recorded in advance, but would be broadcast live, and the broadcast time would be decided by his superiors, and he would have only 10 minutes to familiarize himself with the text.

Almost all important manuscripts are usually recorded in advance to ensure accuracy, and Popov is sensitive to the heavy responsibility this time, and from the moment he arrives at the office, he has completely lost his personal freedom, even when he goes to the toilet with two agents close to him.

At a quarter past 7 a.m., the daily work of Moscow Radio was as usual, but the spare broadcast room No. 2 had been locked down entirely. An officer of the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the rank of colonel informed Popov: "In 10 minutes an important statement will be broadcast." Only then did the officer take out a briefcase and open the sealed manuscript and hand it to Popov for preparation.

When Popov solemnly took the manuscript and saw the words "top secret" and the content inside, he took a deep breath in his heart, and then began to familiarize himself with the broadcast script. As the most senior announcer of Moscow Radio, Popov has experienced strong winds and waves, but this broadcast script still "shocked" his heart, because it was to the effect that because Romania had repeatedly provoked in the border areas and attacked Soviet military and civilian facilities, the Soviet Union would take necessary measures to carry out the necessary military retaliatory strikes against Romania if repeated consultations and warnings failed.

At the very moment when Popov was preparing the manuscript, the Soviet aircraft group was already about to arrive in the target areas of the Romanian oil fields according to the plan, and Porenin's aircraft group was about to attack.

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At dawn on 6 April, the Germans swooped down on Yugoslavia and Greece with overwhelming strength, crossing the borders of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Germany proper, and rapidly advancing on the poorly equipped defenders, who had been bombed in advance by the Luftwaffe's usual pre-bombardment.

The 2nd Army attacked Yugoslavia from Germany (Austria after annexation) and Hungary, and the 46th Panzer Division was in full swing, and the Hungarian Third Army, which was attacking together, was also advancing rapidly. In the Bulgarian direction, however, the 12th Army encountered temporary difficulties: the "Metaxas Line" gave the German elite 2nd and 5th mountain divisions a taste of gnawing hard bones, and progress was slow.

As a result of the Serb policy of national chauvinism, the Croatian and other ethnic soldiers in the Yugoslav army turned back after the German offensive began, and the German troops attacking Yugoslavia did not encounter much trouble, but were enthusiastically welcomed by the Slovenian, Croatian and German minorities with flowers in hand.

By Hitler's orders, Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia, was to be razed to the ground. For three days and three nights, Goering's bombers flew over the rooftops of the tiny capital, flying low and wreaking havoc - because there were no anti-aircraft guns in Belgrade. The three-day bombing killed at least 17,000 civilians and wounded many more, turning the city into a pile of rubble – what Hitler called the "punishment plan."

Yugoslavia did not have time to mobilize their small but capable army, and the Yugoslav Army General Staff made the mistake of trying to defend the entire country and was quickly crushed: on 13 April, German and Hungarian troops marched into the ruined Belgrade. On the 17th, the remnants of the Yugoslav Army (still 28 divisions) surrendered at Saranavo, and the Yugoslav King and Prime Minister fled by plane to Greece.

The Greeks, who had humiliated the Italians in the first 6 months of fighting, this time would not be able to withstand Liszt's 15 divisions (4 of which were panzer. Formation of the Twelfth Corps. But unlike the scattered Yugoslav fronts, Liszt's troops relied on strong attacks to break through the Greek lines - in the mountains of northern Greece, the elite German mountain troops even engaged in fierce hand-to-hand battles with the defenders!

In the early hours of April 6, the 5th Mountain Division of the Wehrmacht launched a fierce attack on the Greek positions, mountain artillery and anti-tank guns opened fire on the Greek fortress perched high on the Mount Eastby, and the Luftwaffe dive bombers appeared in the air and roared down to bombard the Greek positions indiscriminately!

The "Metaxus Line," which stood in front of the German mountain troops, deserved to be called "one of the most majestic fortifications in the world" -- the strong fortifications of reinforced concrete structures could not be completely destroyed by dive bombing and artillery bombardment, and the German mountain infantry would face a difficult mountain attack.

After the battle began, the mountain infantry of the 5th Mountain Division had to cut the barbed wire fence in front of them with wire cutters, brave the mines and machine-gun bullets that sloped down from the top of the hill, and try to get around the flanks of the Greek bunkers and make a final settlement with explosives packs and flamethrowers. They did not have time to clear the mines, that would be suicide, they were completely covered by the fire of the Greeks, and many of them were blown up into the sky after entering the minefield.

For the first time, after the outbreak of World War II, German mountain troops really tasted the hardships of mountain warfare. The Greek army fought back resolutely, and the Germans suffered greatly from the Greek artillery fire along the entire line - they had to crawl to the edge of the communication trench and use grenades to eliminate the Greeks inside. Then jump in and, upon reaching the entrance to the bunker, blast open the armored door with a pile of explosives packs - something that can only be done without being discovered by the Greeks. Once spotted by the Greeks stationed in the higher forts, the dense barrage of machine-gun bullets would immediately turn the mountain infantry into hornet's nests.

For four whole days, the 5th Mountain Division did everything with all its might, using all means, including bayonets, sapper shovels and teeth, to conquer all the fortresses on the mountain.

While the 5th Mountain Division was bogged down in hand-to-hand combat, the 6th Mountain Division on the division's right flank was lucky enough to have a much easier route - to climb a 7,000-foot-high snow-capped peak and bypass the "Metaxus Line" in one day. After the division entered Greece from South Macedonia, it fought in tandem with the 2nd Panzer Division, which also belonged to the 18th Mountain Army, and stood in front of them by the combined forces of the British Commonwealth and Greece.

Britain sent about 4 divisions from Libya, with a total of 53,000 Commonwealth reinforcements, to Greece to support. However, the British, like the Greeks, were initially defeated by the heavy bombardment of German armored forces and air forces.

On 9 April, the 6th Mountain Division and the 2nd Panzer Division occupied the port of Thessaloniki, and the Greek 2nd Army had to surrender. On the 16th, the soldiers of the Mountain Division arrived in Katerini, where they were to face a fierce battle: the main forces of the British and New Zealand armies were in tight positions behind the defensive line.

Lin Jun, who was in Odessa, paid close attention to the situation in the Balkans, and now knew that the reality was ripe and it was time to do it!

On the 17th, when it was learned that the Germans and the Anglo-Greek forces were engaged in a decisive battle in Caterini, Lin Jun gave the troops an order to attack, and the raid time was set for the early morning of the 18th.

On the night of the 17th, Lin Jun's command had been transferred to Odessa Airport, and the tarmac was busy, and the ground crew was making final preparations and inspections. The pilots will get up early tomorrow morning, and at dawn hundreds of planes will arrive over the Proyesti oil fields and will drop bombs within five minutes of the Moscow radio broadcast.

At three o'clock in the morning, the atmosphere in the command was tense, the planes at the Odessa airport were going to take off at a quarter of four o'clock in the morning, and the pilots were already up.

Fedor Petrovich Porenin walked into Lin Jun's command headquarters in a flight suit: as today's air commander, he got up a little earlier than the other pilots.

"The situation is normal, and our troops on the border are already on standby." When Lin Jun saw his old subordinate coming in, he gave him a reassurance pill first.

This time it was not only necessary to bomb the Romanian oil fields, but also to pull out several nail strongholds of the Romanian border guards on the border, where the two main divisions of the Odessa Military District were already deployed, and when the agreed time for the bombardment was to be launched, an attack would be launched - the muzzles of several hundred artillery pieces were aimed at the Romanian border posts.

Porenin's responsibility is great, and if this cross-border bombing raid can be carried out, his name as the air commander will go down in history - how spectacular will it be that 800 planes will perform the same mission?!

The timing of sorties at the southern airfields will be based on their respective geographical locations, which have been precisely calculated, and all the planes will meet on their own side of the border to form three large groups of planes to cross the border and bomb according to their respective objectives.

Lin Jun had not slept all night, and this air raid was not only the largest bombing campaign in military history, but the consequences would be even more unpredictable -- whether to break out into full-scale war immediately or to continue to wait until next month's scheduled westward expansion.

At 3:30 a.m., the pilots appeared on the tarmac after breakfast and boarded their respective planes. At four o'clock, two hours before dawn, the group will take off in the dark.

In the twilight, Lin Jun in the tower looked at the time and gave the order to set off: the hundreds of engines of the huge fleet roared, and the huge bombers flew into the vast night sky one after another. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )