Guderian didn't feel good, and since he entered Kursk, he felt that the Russians were strange from the inside out. One moment it is tough like it is made of steel, the next moment it is nonsensical and it looks like a second force, and then the next time Nima looks like a stimulant. For example, on May Day, for a bourgeoisie like Guderian, Labor Day was weakened, and the ghost only celebrated Labor Day, and it was the right way to take advantage of the Russians to be ruthless.

So on this day, Guderian had the idea of taking advantage, but what made him strange was that at first the reaction of the Russians was normal, and the resistance was not fierce. But at about ten o'clock in the morning, as the nasty song "Holy War" sounded on the battlefield, the Russians exploded! Either the small universe erupted or transformed into a Super Saiyan, and Nima slashed his attacking troops with a blow, almost crushing them.

This continued for three full days, and it was not until the fourth day that the momentum waned. But even these three days were enough for Guderi to be terrified with peace of mind, his front was almost torn apart by the Red Army, and even at the most critical moment, he had already ordered the whole army to retreat. It's just that the General Staff and the Wolf's Lair did not approve it.

During these three days, Guderian more than once suspected that the reinforcements of the Red Army had arrived on the battlefield, otherwise it could be so powerful? But the results of aerial reconnaissance slapped him in the face again and again - the Red Army, without any reinforcements, arrived on the battlefield.

Guderian was depressed anyway, because it made his image worse in Hitler's eyes, and now the Führer had begun to give instructions directly to Paulus, ignoring him.

This is definitely not a good sign, and there is nothing that Guderian can do to change it. Of course. Guderian was not alone in feeling a headache on the battlefield. As the commander of the 38th Army. Konev was also restless. Like Guderian, he was anxious about the current abnormal state of affairs in the troops.

Hey? Some comrades may wonder, the troops behaved forcefully, what are you Konev anxious about? Isn't that sick? Are you on the side of the Germans?

Konev was certainly not a traitor, and his fears were very justified. Objectively speaking, apart from the bonus of weapons, the combat effectiveness of the officers and men of the 38th Group Army is actually inferior to that of the German army.

The encouragement of the Red Square parade is a bit overdone. This made the fighters burst out with extraordinary combat effectiveness. However, this state of beating chicken blood is unsustainable and overdrawn. Once this momentum has passed, the performance of the troops will probably take a sharp turn for the worse, and there will be no new excitement at that time, and it will not be beaten by the Germans!

So, one thing Konev has been doing these days, and that is to control the emotions of the troops and avoid situations where the excitement is too high. The result? Think about it, if the result is good. Does Konev still need to be so worried?

"The mood of the troops is too high, from the point of view of real combat. This is extremely disadvantageous. The task of our army was to hold back the Germans, and it was very likely that too much exuberance would scare the enemy away with too much force, and after the euphoria had disappeared, the combat effectiveness of the troops would plummet. Now that this terrible situation has arisen, I solemnly advise you, Ijeronim. Comrade Petrovich, please order the 37th Army to accelerate its advance, my troops may not hold out for long! ”

When Ubolevich received this telegram in Moscow, he did not feel good in his heart, he knew very well that this was a side effect of the military parade on Red Square, and it was also necessary to be measured in cheering and cheering, and it was obvious that this big tonic pill was a bit too much. The current 38th Army is on the rise, and it will soon be exhausted. What's even more terrifying is that there is still no cure, and in desperation, he can only order Vasilevsky to speed up.

However, Vasilevsky's side also had a lot of problems, his troops had rushed from Voronezh to Kharkov, during which the consumption of troops was very large, and he was originally prepared to recover while arranging defenses. But who would have thought that before they had built their positions, they would be told that the enemy was not coming. This was a great blow to morale, and even worse, his troops had not yet had any time to recuperate, and had to immediately go north to Kursk. This tossing and turning directly led to the demoralization of the troops and the physical shortage.

Not only is the morale low and the physical strength is urgent, but even the wear and tear of the equipment is relatively large, for example, the tank troops are in a hurry all the way, as we all know, the B2 engine is not very durable, and the 37th Army is a new unit, the equipment and personnel are not fully run-in, and the problems are naturally more. Coupled with the terrible weather, the 37th Army's journey north was extremely difficult.

"Hey......" Ubolevich sighed, this is the evil result of a military miscalculation, if there had been no miscalculation before, this battle would have been much easier.

The problem is that there are no ifs and no assumptions on the battlefield, and winning or losing is winning, even if it is shit luck winning, it is also a winner. Now Ubolevich must think carefully about how to go to reinforce Konev.

However, Ubolevich really did not have any extra troops on hand, there was only the 38th Army around Kursk, and the closest unit to them was the 40th Army of Voronezh, but this 40th Army was just an empty shelf, and it could not even make up a single army under its command, and most of them were recruits who had just entered the army, and they could not even do the most basic positive steps, and it was a dream to expect them to go to war.

Ubolevich's side was frowning, while Konev's side was cloudy, and the negative effects of the fight had already begun to appear, and the troops that had been fierce the day before turned into opium-goers, hardly the enemy of the Germans. If it weren't for Konev personally rushing to the front line to supervise the battle and stabilize the morale of the army, the 38th Army would have to poke a big hole on this day.

For the Reds, it was a nightmare, and for the Germans, it was a surprise. Paulus recalled: "The resistance of the Russians is getting weaker and weaker, and although I don't understand what is causing this, I think it is a good opportunity!" It is entirely possible that the assault cluster will once again pierce the defense line of the Russian army, according to the Führer's plan, and will completely reverse the unfavorable situation of the previous stage on the Western Front! ”

It is not difficult to see from Paulus's words that he admired the crazy Hitler a little. And this is also an important turning point on the battlefield. He and Guderian are no longer at all. He was probably ready to carry out Hitler's battle plan without compromise.

Naturally, this was not good news for Guderian. It's just that the tank monster didn't realize this at the time. He still considered Paulus to be his own, a real German soldier, not a slave of the Führer like Jodel and Keitel.

At Paulus's suggestion, the offensive was intensified, which put more pressure on Konev, and this pressure also forced Ubolevich to find a way to reinforce Konev more quickly, otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.

At the beginning of May, the Germans were given a chance to win the battle. If they can seize this opportunity, they will really be able to break through the Red Army's defense line in Kursk. Although it may not necessarily have a decisive impact on the overall strategic situation, it is still possible to disrupt the military deployment of the Red Army and gain the initiative on the battlefield.

And at this critical moment, it was Li Xiaofeng who made a move to change the direction of the battlefield, and when the 38th Group Army was crumbling, it was he who sent the most valuable support force.

"Ijeronim. Petrovich, I heard you're in trouble? Li Xiaofeng asked with a smile.

Ubolevich looked at a certain immortal, a little puzzled, he could guess the intention of a certain immortal to come to him. Definitely for the reinforcement of Konev. But he couldn't think of any way for an immortal to conjure up reinforcements. It's not Ubolevich who bragged, he went through every unit on that battlefield like a sieve. None of them had the possibility of reinforcing Konev.

So Ubolevich wondered where a certain immortal could conjure an army, and if there really was such a miracle, he was really convinced.

Li Xiaofeng didn't go around in circles, and directly revealed the answer: "Do you remember the air assault brigade of the KGB?" ”

Ubolevich, of course, remembered that during the siege of Kyiv, the isolated city would not have been able to support it if it had not been for the helicopters provided by the KGB to deliver valuable supplies to Kyiv. But Ubolevich still does not understand, what does this have to do with reinforcements?

"The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Air Assault Brigades of the KGB have previously been on the defensive mission of Priluki, and the three assault brigades together have about 20,000 people."

Ubolevich seemed to understand what a certain immortal meant: "You mean to transfer these assault brigades to Kursk?" But Priluki is too far from Kursk......"

Li Xiaofeng said with a smile: "It's quite far, if you take land transportation, it will definitely be too late." But what does an air assault brigade do? ”

Ubolevich was stunned, he fully understood what a certain immortal meant, someone was preparing to airlift the assault brigade of the KGB to Kursk to participate in the battle!

"Is this possible?" Ubolevich muttered.

"Possibly!" Li Xiaofeng replied calmly, "I have already calculated, our army's existing helicopters and transport planes can basically meet this task, and there will be no problem in transporting troops in three batches......

Ubolevich smiled bitterly: "I'm not worried about transportation, but about whether the air assault brigade of the KGB can take on the task of blocking the Germans head-on?" Aren't they better suited to the Special Operation? ”

It has to be said that the generals of the Red Army, even of the rank of Ubolevich, were skeptical about the combat effectiveness of the air assault brigade. In their opinion, this lightly armed force can only take on the task of harassment and sabotage behind enemy lines. They are not competent in conventional warfare.

This was evident during the siege of Kyiv, where Shaposhnikov was obviously under great pressure due to the tension of his troops, but the three air assault brigades in front of him still turned a blind eye, and only ordered them to engage in sabotage behind enemy lines and second-line garrison work, which was simply treating the air assault brigade as a reserve.

This made Li Xiaofeng very angry and depressed, he was obviously going to send the air assault force to Kyiv to brush up the results, but it turned out to be a garrison force watching the field, you say, what is this called.

Of course, this is actually quite normal, after all, the results of Tukhachevsky's play with the Airborne Forces at the previous stage were laid out there, and there were almost no bright spots, except for heavy losses. And in the eyes of Shaposhnikovs, the air assault troops are actually short-legged airborne troops who cannot parachute, and they think that their combat effectiveness is not as good as that of the airborne troops, how can this be on the front line?

In this regard, Li Xiaofeng was quite speechless, because the air assault force of the KGB was an elite that he had carefully built, although its heavy firepower was not very powerful. But it is still much stronger than the Airborne Forces, who were loved by Tukhachevsky.

Let's put it this way. The Air Assault Brigade is armed with a water AS-30 gun family. There was a street for squad fire to throw off the Red Guards, not to mention the Germans, who were armed only with 98K rifles. In terms of support firepower at the brigade level, the air assault brigade is indeed inferior to the average infantry division, and does not have so much heavy firepower, but it is still much stronger than the paratroopers of the Red Army.

The air assault brigade is armed with three artillery battalions, a rocket artillery battalion with 18 12-barreled 107-mm rocket launchers, and a howitzer battalion with 18 122-mm howitzers of the M1940 type. Finally, there was an anti-aircraft gun battalion armed with 18 37-mm anti-aircraft guns.

Neither the 107 rocket launcher nor the 37-mm anti-aircraft gun is worth saying more, but the 1940-mm howitzer of the M122 type is worth mentioning. This type of artillery is actually a special artillery adapted for air assault units on the M1938 122mm howitzer.

According to the load limit of the heavy helicopter of the air assault brigade, the weight of 2.5 tons of M1938122 grenade is too heavy to move at all. At the same time, Li Xiaofeng refused to introduce Western 105-mm howitzers (the power of 122 howitzers is much greater), in his opinion, the air assault brigade was already suffering from heavy firepower, and if it was replaced with 105-mm howitzers, it would be even more difficult to kill the potential enemy.

So he insisted that the 122-mm caliber must be maintained, as well as that the main performance of the new light 122 grenade was not inferior to the M1938 of the Soviet infantry equipment. Next, around the weight loss of M1938, NORINCO is very troubled.

First of all. NORINCO replaced the steel gun mount of the M1938 with a light alloy gun mount, such as aluminum alloy and aluminum-magnesium alloy. as well as titanium. After testing in various environments, the final production was the most expensive titanium alloy gun mount (only its performance could meet the requirements). This alone saved the weight of the whole gun by almost 400 kg. Of course, at the same time, the cost has almost doubled.

However, reducing 400 kg is not enough, according to the load requirements of heavy helicopters in the Soviet Union at that time, the weight of the whole gun should not exceed 1.8 tons. And now there are more than two tons, which is still a combination.

On the one hand, the metal formula of the body tube was improved, and the hydraulic self-tightening technology of the single body tube was creatively developed (a certain immortal provided technical support), thereby reducing the thickness of the body tube and further reducing the weight.

Finally, the anti-recoil device of the gun carriage was further optimized, and the weight of the whole gun was finally successfully controlled at 1.85 tons. Although it is still a little exceeded, it can finally be driven by the optimization of the heavy-duty helicopter engine.

Of course, it is only worth mentioning that Ubolevich was at one time interested in this ultra-light 122 grenade, after all, the Red Army had a limited level of mechanization and poor artillery towing capacity, and there was an urgent need for lighter and more powerful guns. But after Ubolevich inspected the gun, that is, understood the price of the gun, he immediately dismissed the idea of changing the outfit. Because the price of the cannon is 3.5 times that of the M1938122 grenade!

If you buy two M1940s, you can buy seven M1938s, and Ubolevich will still calculate this account. In the end, 108 M1940 guns were produced, of which 90 were equipped with the five air assault brigades of the KGB, while Tukhachevsky's Airborne Forces purchased 18 guns experimentally, although the Airborne Forces never used this kind of artillery in real combat due to the lack of suitable airdrop equipment. And the Airborne Forces also do not have a good impression of the "bulky" M1940, who left them without suitable towing equipment!

This is support firepower at the brigade level, and the six assault battalions of the air assault brigade also have direct fire support units. This fire support unit is highly synthetic, typically armed with eight 120 mm mortars, eight 14.5 mm twin anti-aircraft machine guns, and eight 100 mm recoilless guns. Compared to the 81 or 82 mm mortars at the battalion level of ordinary infantry divisions, this is unprecedentedly powerful.

Therefore, don't look at the air assault brigade of the KGB as a light combat unit, but its firepower is not particularly weak, compared to the average light infantry division of the Red Army, except for the absence of heavy artillery of the 152 mm level, the others are not particularly bad. Even in terms of anti-armor capabilities, the air assault brigade is much stronger than the ordinary infantry division, after all, each air assault brigade is equipped with a brigade of helicopter gunships, compared with anti-tank guns and tanks on the ground, the helicopter gunships are the best anti-tank killers.

Let's put it this way, the KGB's air assault brigade is a highly integrated modern combat unit, and its combat effectiveness is very strong, except for the lack of armor capabilities and the disadvantage of a low degree of motorization after being detached from the support of helicopters. And this is the key reason why Li Xiaofeng is confident that they will go to Kursk.

Of course, for the time being, only Li Xiaofeng understands this, and a group of senior generals, including Ubolevich, believe that letting the air assault brigade go is probably sending them to death, after all, the German armored forces are too terrifying. Of course, in the end, Ubolevich did not refuse Li Xiaofeng's kindness, because for him, every life-saving straw must be grasped, and the air assault brigade is even a fly, but it is not a piece of meat at all!

On the morning of May 5, the airport in Priluki was enveloped in a noisy hum, the loud noise of helicopter blades muffled out all other sounds, and hordes of fighters scrambled to the cabin or stuffed boxes of equipment and provisions.

This uproar continued for another five whole days, during which the Red Army miraculously transported more than 20,000 men to Kursk, and it was these 20,000 soldiers who guaranteed victory in the Battle of Kursk...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to a cart of rice cakes, pig dashing 2, zz120, lawlf, the light of gold, the glorious charter, the Xuanyuan Extreme Holy Emperor, hzwangdd and Comrade Juventus!