The Dora cannon, perhaps not the world's largest caliber, is definitely the most terrifying "conventional" artillery. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 info Because of its great power, it is very difficult to find a target worthy of the "Heavy Gustav" shelling, because the average city is simply not enough to be the target of its shelling, the level is not enough, and only the kind of city full of fortresses is worthy of the "Heavy Gustav".

Minsk was still "not qualified" according to reason, but the determination of the defenders made Hitler make up his mind - to destroy the Minsk city defense with the ultra-slow rate of fire of the "Dora" alone is tantamount to a fool's dream, and perhaps it would have been more appropriate to attack the "Stalin Line" in the early stage, but it did not catch up. Hitler wanted the enormous psychological deterrent it could inflict - the defenders could not predict whether a deadly bombardment would fall on their heads: if they were hit, they would definitely be dead or alive!

The shelling of "Dora" is different from bombing, which is a visible threat, while shelling is an unpredictable call of death, which has an extremely significant negative impact on the psychology of any army, and morale will soon drop. What's even more terrifying: perhaps the defenders will not be able to understand for a moment where such a violent explosion came from!

"Dora", the ultimate mammoth in the train cannon!

Strangely, the dense cluster shelling of the Germans lasted only for a short time, and there was no large-scale infantry attack, and it seems that the Germans wanted to gradually deplete the morale of the Red Army with the shelling of "Dora" and other railway runs.

Lin Jun found a chair on the top floor of the factory and sat down steadily, looked at his watch after a while, and then looked up at the clear sky. Huge clouds of smoke appeared irregularly and intermittently in the city, but none of them were the work of "Dora", and the guards were accustomed to shelling the guards with heavy artillery of this scale.

At the two airfields east of Minsk, 35 P2 dive bombers capable of sortie were being prepared, and ground crews were doing everything they could to prepare for the sortie as quickly as possible.

At Airport 6, Colonel Polbin held an emergency briefing on the side of the runway.

"All 12 bombers of the three major teams at the No. 8 airfield will use cluster bombs to suppress the anti-aircraft fire deployed by the Germans in the target area, and the first brigade of the 2nd Regiment of the 1st Guards Fighter Division will escort us, and the acting captain of the group, Captain Kozhdub, is known to everyone." Polbin gestured to Kozhdub beside him.

A simple diagram of the operation was drawn on the blackboard supported by the wooden shelf: "The target is a giant railway cannon, which, according to Marshal Prenyakov's prediction, is not much smaller than a destroyer, a pile of steel like a hill!" ”

The dozens of crews standing in front of Polbin were not novices, and a few of them had seen the railway monsters of the Germans, but they had never seen anything "not much smaller than a destroyer", and they were a little "short-circuited in the brain" when you imagined it. However, a short circuit is a short circuit, and I already have a general concept in my mind.

"Remember, it's the size of a hill, beyond our understanding of any cannon, and seeing a monster like that means you've got the right target." To be honest, Polbin couldn't even imagine what the marshal said the cannon looked like!

"It's not far away, and we will enter the search with the three teams at the airport via Route 2 on the north side. In order to ensure suddenness, all planes should not fly at an altitude of more than 200 meters when they attack, and after arriving at the target area, the three teams were dispersed to cooperate with the three detachments on our side to search for them in three round-trip routes. Got it?! ”

"Understood!" The pilots' answers were simple and straightforward.

"All of us have practiced ultra-low air-dropped bombs, remember that all of our planes only have one chance. The Germans deployed a large number of small-caliber anti-aircraft guns near the target, and there should also be smoke devices for chemical defense troops. Once a target is found, whoever it is, the attack is launched at the same time as the report is reported. All planes carry only underwing bombs, and 100 kg is of little use against that thing. What's the problem? ”

A lieutenant gestured, "Do you need to attack other important German targets if you find them?" ”

"No aircraft shall attack any other target until the complete destruction of the target has been confirmed." Polbin's answer was clear - even if you saw Hitler, you would have to wait until the cannon was reimbursed!

The pilots scattered and walked to their respective planes, and Polbin and Kozhdub coordinated again.

"We will escort at an altitude of 300 meters, don't worry about the German fighters, but their anti-aircraft artillery fire is very fierce, good luck to you." Kozhdub will lead 24 Lag-5 escorts.

"All the same, good luck to you."

This will be around Minsk, on both sides of the dense anti-aircraft fire network, from the medium and high altitude to penetrate the defense is equivalent to "50 percent suicide", the low altitude threat is even more downless -- but once you enter the control zone of the small-caliber antiaircraft artillery position, it is a life of death. It is precisely for this reason that Polbin opted for a zigzag course and ultra-low-altitude bombing, rather than the nearest straight course and high-precision dive bombing: the main threat was not around the target, but in the middle of the road.

The 23 Pi-2s, carrying a total of 92 250-kilogram high-explosive shells, should be able to blow up that target - surprise is the key. Polbin couldn't figure out how the marshal had calculated the five-kilometer radius, but as long as the target was within that range, the pilots would have been able to dig it out!

The ground crew is attaching the last batch of high-explosive bombs to the bomb hooks, and the mechanics have completed the final pre-takeoff tests.

Polbin entered the plane in a flight suit, and the crew was in place - a direct order from Marshal Prenyakov, Polbin, the new commander of the bomber division, was absolutely going into battle in person, and his bombing skills were absolutely the best!

All crews were in place, and the airfield fired two green flares; Increasing the throttle, the engine roars. The ragers took off first, followed closely by 23 Peters-2.

After only a circle over the airfield, three groups of planes arrived - they were fully ammunition, not only with four 250-kilogram cluster bombs hanging under their wings, but also with 100-kilogram anti-personnel bombs in the belly and rear of the engines: they would do everything in their power to suppress the German anti-aircraft fire in the target area.

Compared with high-explosive bombs and ordinary anti-personnel bombs, cluster bombs are much more effective at exposing targets, and it is not an exaggeration to describe them as "metal storms", but they are basically powerless against hard targets -- that is the best choice for dealing with air defense positions.

From the time the order was received to the time the first plane took off, Polbin took only 40 minutes, which was already extremely efficient - the fuel was full, but the bombs needed were a very large amount of work, and the two airfields were experienced and well-trained.

Lin Jun waited on the roof of the building for the news that the group had taken off, and in such a short period of time to assemble such a special attack group, Lin Jun was very satisfied with the efficiency of Kobets and Polbin.

In 40 minutes, "Dora" opened fire again only 10 minutes earlier, and the huge shells did not accurately hit any buildings, but landed in the Svisloch River, blasting the river, broken ice and mud dozens of meters high, and "incidentally" completely destroying a large section of the embankment. From a distance of 47 kilometers, it was already good to have a general hit rate, and the Germans could not expect the accuracy of the "Dora" to be comparable to the close shelling of tank guns.

Lin Jun's estimation that the next giant shell, weighing more than four tons, would be fired in an hour -- the "data" that "Dora" can only fire 14 shells a day seems to be correct.

According to the Germans, the shortest interval between shelling of "Dora" is 15 minutes, which is estimated to be the interval between the first and second shots, after which the interval will be longer and longer until a relatively stable constant.

The enormous amount of heat generated by almost two tons of ****** will be absorbed by the bore and barrel, and there is a final limit that must be set - it takes a long time for the heavy steel to dissipate heat, even though the temperature is already below freezing.

It is no wonder that later generations have mixed reviews of "Dora", and most of them belittled it: except for specific occasions, its combat value cannot be maintained at a relatively reasonable level compared with the cost of building and using it.

、、、、、、

The 35 Peters-2s were divided into four squads and flew over their zone of control at a speed of 380 kilometers per hour from an ultra-low altitude of 100 to 150 meters, with the Rags at a slightly higher position. Penetrating at ultra-low altitudes requires skillful skill and courage, and the roar of the aircraft group attracts the attention of the officers and men of their own positions on the ground -- at such an altitude, when the planes of their own air force whizz behind them, the feeling is quite shocking and exciting for the people on the ground (except, of course, comrades who are dozing off, they will be very annoyed). ）。

The pilots did not pay any attention to the reactions of the comrades below, and the preoccupation of the pilot already required a high degree of mental concentration, and there was still a severe test waiting for them -- as soon as they crossed their own control zone, the anti-aircraft guns and machine guns of the Germans were "warmly welcomed."

The altitude is low enough, the fleet is fleeting, and the threat of ground anti-aircraft artillery fire is not very large. Bolbin measured the angle and distance - the target area was not far ahead.

"I am a swooper, and the detachments disperse according to the plan, searching for targets." Polbin gave the order, and the four detachments dispersed according to the predetermined plan, with a slight rise in height to 300 meters. As soon as a target is discovered, the leaders of each detachment will report their positions while launching an attack -- in fact, they can see each other as soon as they shout in the intercom, and a radius of five kilometers is only a small circle in the air.

"One o'clock direction, German fighters! Height 1000 number eight frames! Fighter jet follow me! A call from the "Eagle 13" came from the headset: the Pet-2 don't need to be distracted, they just need to find the target as quickly as possible and destroy it! (To be continued.) )