The first batch of one hundred and eight Warhawk-2s achieved their expected goal after nearly half of the fighters were damaged. The anti-aircraft fire on the entire Soviet position was almost plowed, and only the anti-aircraft machine guns, which were less than a single digit, were still struggling to hold on.

Except for a dozen or so warhawk-2s that were damaged and abandoned their planes and parachuted out of their positions in China, the rest of the damaged planes were shaky and insisted on flying back to the airport.

However, before the Soviet air defense could catch their breath, the second group of warhawks came to the skies over the Soviet positions. This time, the Soviets no longer had enough anti-aircraft machine guns to form intensive firepower, and the few anti-aircraft machine guns that there were were were simply not enough to pose a threat to the warhawks.

In the situation where wolves saw their prey, those anti-aircraft machine guns were like feathers falling into the sea, and they could not even make a splash, and they were wiped out at once. With the control of the airspace guaranteed, the second batch of one hundred and eight Warhawk-2s began to look for worthy targets on their own.

And the Soviet armored clusters, which were rapidly advancing on Soviet positions, became the best targets.

"Guys, just received an order from the commander-in-chief. Our armored forces are demining, helping our brothers on the ground to slow down the advance of the enemy's armored forces. Let's go up together and find the target we are interested in. A command reached the ears of all the pilots.

In the middle of the Soviet position, here is not far from the Soviet minefield. More than 1,000 Soviet-made tanks are rapidly leaping towards the target. However, they did not wait for their so-called opponents, but immediately faced the threat from the air.

After determining the order to attack, the warhawks in the sky swooped down in flocks towards the tanks that were crawling on the ground. The aviation machine guns kept strafing, hitting the tanks with a bang. Some hit the tank and went directly through the top armor of the tank, and the tank was directly hit with a thousand holes.

There are two models of more than 1,000 Soviet-made tanks, the largest of which is the T-26 light tank, which was finalized by the Soviet Union in the early thirties, and nearly 500 medium tanks, the T-34/76, which were finalized last year, that is, in three or seven years. Although the performance parameters of the two tanks differ in many aspects, they all have one thing in common, that is, the turret caliber is unified at 76 mm. This is in order to better penetrate the foreign trade type of Chinese leopard, and the caliber of the tank gun is finalized.

This 76-mm tank gun is capable of penetrating a hundred mm of ordinary steel plates at a distance of one kilometer. And in the case of armour-piercing shells, ordinary shells will be greatly discounted.

As the T-34/76, which was later known as one of the strongest tanks in World War II, the Soviets made this tank three years ahead of schedule under the stimulation of China and the imitation of the Chinese leopard, which satisfied the entire Soviet army. In later generations, this type of tank was praised as a model among tanks, and naturally had its own uniqueness. It's just that here, the name has been occupied by the Chinese leopard, and the advent of the T-34/76 is seen more as an imitation of the Chinese leopard. To put it bluntly, it was the Soviet Union that stole China.

However, it cannot be denied the capabilities of the Soviet Union in the military industry, and the emergence of this tank can completely suppress the Chinese Leopard foreign trade tank. If it weren't for this tank, Stalin would not have wrestled with China. Officially, this tank gave the Soviet side a lot of confidence.

As a relatively early tank, the T-26 is much worse than the T-34 in all aspects of performance. In addition to the caliber of tank guns, in terms of armor protection, it is even weaker. It can be said that it is a thin-skinned tank that sacrifices armor protection for the most firepower and speed. In addition to the direct praise of the tank gun, in the climbing and cross-country and the trip, it was completely exploded by the T-34/76.

At this moment, the gap between the two tanks was directly reflected under the aviation machine gun, and the 20-mm aviation machine gun hit the T-34/76, leaving only some white spots. And if you hit the T-26 in those places where the armor is weaker, it is impossible to place the 20-mm aviation machine gun. It's just that these places where the armor protection is relatively weak are not the fatal point of the tank, and the tank crew did not stay there. So, even if the tanks were badly damaged, the tanks still walked on the ground.

However, as the plane dived closer and closer, the armor that could still be protected did not work. The thickness of the T-26's armor is only 15 mm, and the top armor is only 12 mm, and at close range, it cannot stop the 20 mm aviation machine gun at all. Because these aviation machine guns are inherently armor-piercing.

In just a brief dive, more than thirty T-26s were already paralyzed on the ground, and the occupants inside were also swept to minced meat. It was as if the shells had pierced through the top armor of the tank and were very lethal to the crew inside.

However, the matter was not over yet, and at this time the second batch of warhawks also carried a lot of aerial bombs. The pilots also felt that the lethality of the aviation machine guns had been offset a lot, and they specifically aimed at those places where the tanks were more dense, and dropped bombs under the belly.

For a time, the entire marching contingent of the Soviet tank forces was in disarray, some with 500-kilogram bombs, others with 250-kilogram bombs. In the ranks of Soviet tanks, people are already on their backs.

And the tank units on the ground did not pay attention to the planes in the sky, and now the Soviet armored forces are clear that their target is the Chinese tank units blocked by minefields, and not those nasty guys flying around in the sky. And even if they want to take care of it, there is no way, the tank gun and the machine gun on the tank are simply out of reach. Unless it's a tank crew who shows off his head and hits the roof of the car and shoots at the sky with a pistol.

The Soviet tank clusters that were burying their heads in their heads, although there were constantly planes in the sky harassing them, did not slow down their pace of progress much. Especially those T34/76 tanks, which are not afraid of the planes in the sky at all. Unless they are accurately hit by aerial bombs, they will not be able to have much impact on them at all.

Zhukov in the command had already expected the end of the air defense forces, and after receiving that the air defense forces were wiped out by the Chinese Air Force, he did not have much feeling in his heart. He was already prepared for this result. The news can't always be bad, otherwise Zhukov wouldn't have been here for so long. Immediately after the news of the elimination of the air defense forces, he also received one of the few good news in this war. That is, the Chinese tank cluster was blocked by a minefield, and now the entire Chinese armored cluster is wandering outside the minefield.

This news made him feel some comfort in his heart, and it didn't make his mood worse.

However, the good news did not last long, he received the tank unit under attack by the Chinese Air Force, and in just ten minutes, hundreds of tanks had been lost. Among them were a dozen T-34/76s for which he had high hopes. Just when he was lamenting the loss of nearly 100 tanks, the troops in front reported that the Chinese tanks had passed through the minefield one after another and were advancing towards the third line of defense set up by the Soviet Union.

"Did the front line report how the Chinese tanks broke through the minefield, how could it be so fast." Zhukov now wants to know most about how the Chinese tanks passed through the minefield, and if such a minefield rested on the heads of the Soviet tank troops, it would be absolutely impossible to pass through it in an hour. And the Chinese tank forces have now broken through in less than twenty minutes, how did they use to get through?

"It didn't say that in the message."

"Send a telegram to the front line and ask them to report back to me the details." Zhukov spoke directly, and before waiting for the signal corps to carry out his order, he immediately spoke again: "Generate electricity for the tank cluster, leave the Chinese planes alone, rush to the third line of defense at full speed, and the Chinese tanks must not be allowed to break through the third line of defense." At the same time, the Fifth Army was ordered to press forward on the front line, and it was necessary to ensure that the Chinese army was blocked on the third line of defense. Tell me the commander of the Fifth Army that if the third line of defense is breached, then he will not have to come back to see me. ”

Zhukov's mood turned bad again, the third line of defense was much stronger than the front and the second. Because it was already the main outer defense line of the Kyakhta military fortress, a line of defense carefully built by the Soviet Red Army for a long time, and it was used as a forward defensive position of the fortress before. The forward defense line and the second line of defense were only built in the past month, and there were no concrete bunkers, which were very fragile, and the purpose was only to be regarded as the forefront, with a buffer room. Moreover, in terms of defensive strength, the first two lines of defense did not have many troops because of their protective capabilities. In total, there were only 6 divisions of 50,000 men, and on the third line of defense, Zhukov put 30,000 men, and with the Fifth Army, there were 80,000 people on the third line of defense. Whether in terms of quantity or quality, it is not comparable to the two lines of defense in front.

Time turned, and when the Chinese tank group advanced through the trenches, it came to the minefield that the Soviets had urgently planted. When they arrived, they received information from the special forces who had infiltrated the rear of the Soviet Union, and when they learned that there was a minefield of the Soviets ahead, the tank clusters stopped. No matter how good the protection capability of the Chinese tiger is, Su Yusheng did not want to use his tank force to test the power of the Soviet Union's mines.

However, the Soviet Union had a good plan, and China also had a ladder over the wall. Special armored vehicles, which had been following the tank cluster, soon came to the minefield, where an armored minesweeper battalion took up position. At the sound of an order, each minesweeper first threw out several chain ropes tens of meters long, and dense detonators were hung on each chain rope. All the detonators are detonated at the same time, and the mines buried in the ground are detonated by blasting.

Twenty-four minesweepers then lined up neatly, with a round tumbling ball in the shape of an iron pear in front of the car. As the armored vehicle advanced, as if ploughing the field, the iron pear was rolling rapidly, loosening the entire ground ground. By rolling, touch and detonate a mine buried in the ground.

In front of the minesweeper, under the rolling of the iron pear, mines were constantly detonated. When the iron pear rolls, the serrations on it are very dense, and unless it is a very small mine, it will definitely be found.

When the minesweeper completely passed through the minefield laid by the Soviets, less than twenty minutes passed, which is the reason why the Soviets laid the minefield for a relatively long time. The tank swarm then quickly passed through the minefield laid by the Soviets along the safe passage cleared by the minesweepers.

(To be continued)