The infantry didn't have time to dig textbook fortifications, but at least they had a trench deep enough to withstand a shell as long as they didn't get a direct hit. The follow-up troops of the Pen, Fun and Pavilion www.biquge.info also brought up "heavy weapons" within an hour, half-buried several 45-mm anti-tank guns and eight 82-mm mortars of a fire platoon in the ground, which can be regarded as carefully building a defensive position in a limited time.

In addition to the loss of power of the No. 7 self-propelled gun, the 11 SU-12s and 6 T34s that could still be moved in Yakov's hands were all carried out before the battle, and the vehicles were moved back so that at least they would not be subjected to the first round of shelling by the Germans. When they are needed, they can be shelled from the rear positions, and they can quickly drive to the original positions to fight.

On the battlefield ahead, except for the still burning tanks and the cold sound of ammunition explosions, everything was quiet, like the darkness before dawn, which made everyone's hearts heavy.

"Company commander, what a good land, it's not a loss to die here." Pavel handed Yakov a cigarette and lit it for the company commander by the way.

"Don't worry, we can't die yet, don't sigh like this, you've read too many novels." Yakov cheered up his artillery commander - Pavel was not a pessimist, he was not afraid of sacrifice for the Soviets, but this tranquility heralded an even more fierce attack: the fearlessness of optimism!

"Company commander, the divisional artillery has made contact with the artillery of the defending army in Grodno, and part of the artillery in Grodno will support our division in the face of the enemy, and we need to indicate the direction."

"Let Radio Alexandria hang up, don't have a problem." The platoon leader was in the company's reserve company command vehicle, the radio had a range of 35 km, and Alexander was trained to give instructions on shelling.

There was a sound of the air being torn apart in the air, and Yakov threw the cigarette butt out of the car: "Shelling, hide your head!" ”

Dense German shells fell on the entire front, and the explosion of large-caliber grenades turned up several floors of dirt! Shrapnel flew sideways, but the shells did not fall on Yakov's head, they all fell on the heads of the infantrymen!

The Germans had invested in it, and the artillery of the motorized corps was strengthened to the 3rd SS Panzer Division, and the overwhelming shelling seemed endless, and Theodore-Ike was going to bomb the opponent to pieces first, and then tear through the defense line of the 14th Red Army Tank Division in one go.

The shelling for a full 10 minutes, as at the beginning of the year, suddenly stopped again. It's a pity that Yakov couldn't measure the position of the German artillery, otherwise his 76.2 cannons, which had a long range, would not have let the fascists wreak havoc unscrupulously! The range of the German 105-mm howitzers in the data is not as far as that of their own cannons.

"Attention all tanks, immediately enter the forward position, the German tanks are coming up!"

In the standard German shelling procedure, ten minutes is a gap, followed by a gap of four to five minutes of shelling - the "dogmatism" of the Junkers.

Self-propelled guns and tanks rumbled to the forward positions, and the infantry positions in front of them were full of holes, full of large and small craters, but fortunately, the trenches were basically still there, and the soldiers were busy rescuing the wounded and digging out the people buried in the soil!

There was a roar in the air, and it could be heard coming from the rear, "Ours!" Our planes! "The soldiers cheered at their own Stalinist eagles!

More than a dozen fighters painted with red stars flew from a height of 3000 meters, but strangely enough, these fighters did not reduce their altitude to attack the Germans who should be several kilometers away, but climbed in height rapidly!

"There are German planes, they are there to intercept, presumably to bomb us."

Yakov knew that the Germans were so skilled in air-ground combat that it was time to come after so long of preparation: Yakov's troops were not afraid of German tanks, but their ability to defend themselves against threats from the air was really limited - and those fighters were expected to be able to hold off German planes!

"Will Vasily be on it?" I unconsciously thought of my brother, who should still be in Moscow now. Just a little distraction, and the attention returned to the battlefield, "The Germans are up!" ”

As Yakov expected, less than five minutes after the shelling stopped, German shells whistled again towards their positions, but not as dense as before—the rate of fire of the cannons was limited by the temperature of the barrels.

Clouds of brown smoke and dirt from explosions ahead, and a few shrapnel flew sideways, making the SU-12 armor clangle - the armor plates more than ten millimeters thick around the fighting compartment were still able to block bullets and shell fragments.

The gunners pressed their heads low enough, lest they cut off their heads with recklessness, and that would be a big loss!

Dense German tanks appeared in front of the position, behind which there were a large number of German infantry and half-track armored vehicles! The anti-tank guns and mortars on both flanks began to fire, and high-explosive shells whizzed towards the German infantry: the gunners had just hid behind the mound and held back their fire, and as soon as they fired, it was the maximum rate of fire!

"Fascist SS!" Black uniform, "Attention all, 1500 meters, target German armored target!" ”

The distance was getting closer, and the German tanks fired a round of high-explosive shells and replaced them with armor-piercing shells one after another.

"1500 meters, put!"

The cannon roared, and Pavel fired a blunt-headed armor-piercing projectile like an eye, accurately hitting the leading German tank!

Suddenly, Yakov noticed the roar of planes in the air again, and the altitude was very low! Looking up, more than a dozen single-engine planes with red stars painted on their wings roared over their heads at an altitude of less than 500 meters, flying towards the German tank cluster at a small angle!

"Il-2!" Yakov unconsciously shouted, he had seen a picture of this plane in the study of the Andrei brothers, and the air marshal said that he had also introduced this type of aircraft to himself, an aviation layman, - a strike plane, a tank killer, a nightmare for armored forces!

"Hit hard, those planes are our tank killers, the Germans are going to be finished!"

Lieutenant Grigory Mikhainovich Melnikov spotted German tanks more than 10 kilometers away, and when his squadron took off from the Druskiningkai airfield a few dozen kilometers away, he was ordered to support the Western Front in the battle on the outskirts of Grodno and to destroy the Germans in every possible way.

A squadron of Yak-1 fighters escorted itself in the middle of the air, and the group saw the German aircraft group to the west at a distance, and the ground battlefield was not far ahead! The fighters chose to intercept the Luftwaffe, while the squadron of fighters continued to divide into three four-plane formations to lower their altitude and approach the battlefield -- those German planes should have also come to the battlefield to "join in the fun"!

In what seemed to be an instant, the battlefield ahead was already full of explosions, and the fierce German tanks and infantry rushed to their ground positions under the cover of artillery fire.

Glancing at the sides of the wings, there were two "huge" 132-mm rocket launchers, each with four powerful rockets, and a 50-kilogram anti-personnel blast bomb on each of the outside of the nest, and six more in the magazine! This is the new Il-2 two-seater strike aircraft and flying regiment tank! There are also two 23mm cannons and two 7.62mm machine guns in the wing, and the armor is thick enough that as long as there is no threat from enemy fighters, it is the terminator of these Germans in front of you!

"I'm Squadron Leader Melnikov, the squadron is scattered and attacks freely!" The 12 planes immediately dispersed -- this is the standard combat method of the Il-2: patrol and fly in a formation of four planes at an altitude of 800 meters, disband immediately as soon as a ground target is discovered, take turns to carry out a small-angle dive attack on the target, and use rockets, aerial guns, and machine guns to shoot at the tank loading.

"Let's give the fascists a taste of rockets first! Finally with bombs! "Yes, Squadron Leader! I look at the back and rest assured! Sergeant George, in the back seat, replied loudly that he needed to carry out the final bombardment, and that he had to watch out for the possibility of a sudden appearance of German fighters.

Melnikov drove the Il-2 to lower altitude, the engine hummed, and when he was less than a kilometer away, he pressed the rocket launch button - he fired in bursts, and 8 132mm rockets whizzed towards the German tank and infantry junction! The dirt kicked up by the explosion of the rocket flew high, and the Germans on the ground were blown up!

Continuing to depress the altitude, he rushed diagonally towards the two German tanks lined up in a straight line, and the flight altitude was already less than 50 meters at an oblique distance of 250 meters! Pressing the machine gun launch button fiercely, seeing the ballistic trajectory clearly appear in the air, he pressed the machine gun fire button between the lightning and flint, and the 23mm machine guns on both sides roared and fired dense armor-piercing shells!

Using machine gun bursts as a reference, Melnikov fired two bursts and added a luxurious configuration to the two German tanks for free before pulling up - a skylight! This is also the audacity of the artist, and two cars will be reimbursed for one attack!

The front armor of tank No. 4 is still good, but the top armor, like all tanks, is impossible to block 23-mm armor-piercing shells at such close ranges!

The height of the plane was already less than 20 meters, Melnikov pulled it to the left, and he could feel the slightest vibration of the fuselage being hit by a bullet - the MG-34 machine gun on the German armored car below was frantically firing at the Il-2 in the air, but the "flying tank" didn't care at all!

The German assault cluster is considered to have fallen out of bad luck! A single shot of 12 Il-2 rockets in the air made the attacking SS cry bitter, and their own tanks became the target of these Russian planes! What's even worse: they can attack continuously, and they don't care about their anti-aircraft machine guns! (To be continued.) )